Confessions of a Reformed Iconoclast

It was a hard sell and I had to push off into the deep end to make any progress. That is, attend a presentation at the Orthodox Church in Freehold on the Feast of the Triumph of Orthodoxy.

The priest, an iconographer himself, showed a modest collection. Icons of the Theotokos -- never referred to by name; "Mary" apparently a four-letter word among the Orthodox, too -- the saints, the Christ.

When I mention to Father that I am Catholic, the conversation cools considerably as he deadpans, great friends with my pastor. Hard to believe; can't imagine my Fr. V. having "great friends." But clergy exaggerate with impunity, especially in matters of Christian charity and during the sermon.

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I want to say something about beauty but I'm not qualified. If there is a science or art of aesthetics, I haven't studied it. I'm an admirer of beauty not a producer.

While in the workaday world, I valued simplicity, not beauty. Simplicity was beauty. In the discipline of computer programming, like its parent mathematics, simplicity is king, is elegant, is beauty. Occam's Razor and all that. Maybe the workplace downsizng / rightsizing challenge to "do more with less," work around the clock, made me counter "why should I?"

I am learning what's lacking and longing for loveliness.

Being at home, planting flowers, decorating the inside and the outside, even for holidays or simply the change of seasons.

And the irony: that me, this reformed iconoclast, me, studying the Book of Revelation, me, sees its vivid images, visions and icons of heaven, Jesus, the saints and hears the warning against idolatry, like a refrain, nearly an anthem. And I wonder, "Does the existence of a counterfeit tacitly sanction the authentic?" Well, no.

Chronologically, no, by about 100 years, at least.

Could the "word pictures" of Revelation be taken as endorsement by a later generation? After all, a picture is worth 1,000 words. To my knowledge, appeal is made to the Incarnation, the "constant practice of the church", an ecumenical council of the church, Nicaea II, ... but no support is found in Scripture. Again, to the best of my knowledge.

Yet, I force myself to possess holy cards, to use them as bookmarks in my sacred books and to look at them without hostility. Because of the Creed set at Nicaea I -- We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church