What are icons?

Icons, as we see from the etymology of the word (εἰκών – mirror image, living representation), are images, representations of either God in the Trinity, or of the Savior Jesus Christ, or of saints or angels. They adorn our churches and homes, not only because of their aesthetic character, but also because of their liturgical character - because, being sacred images, they give us the real feeling of the presence of God or of the saint represented in the icon.

Through icons, people contemplate the Kingdom of God and enter into a direct dialogue with divinity, for as Father Dumitru Stăniloae stated, "the icon represents a true window through which man and God can look at each other face to face".

Because they are representations of holy persons, they are not made just like that, but according to precise criteria, imposed not so much by the rules of art and culture as by the doctrine of the church. These criteria are contained in the so-called Ermines of painting, which show us how different iconographic scenes or holy faces should be depicted.

In iconography, the emphasis is not on the personality of the artist, but on the face of the saint, seeking to express as best as possible the significance of the painted event. This is also understandable if we take into account the fact that icons visibly express, with the help of colors, the Word of God, which has led to the icon being called the Bible of the illiterate over the centuries.

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