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Iconography
Its History and their
Connection
to Modern-Day Retablos
Orthodox iconography has three basic functions in the Eastern
Christian Church. Icons depict in lines and color what the
scriptures and other writings of the Church say with words. Second,
they function as a means for the Orthodox Christian to affect true
worship. Third, iconography
possesses a sacramental function symbolizing where Divine reality
and created reality meet.
For Orthodox Christians, iconography is indispensable because icons
teach us and bring us to the mystery of the presence of God that is
unique to the visual arts. The colors and lines of icons are not
meant to imitate nature; the artists aim at demonstrating men,
animals and plants, and the whole cosmos can be rescued from their
present state of degradation and restored to their proper "Image".
The Orthodox dare say this because Jesus Christ’s Divinity and
humanity meet in one person.
Icons ('image') and retablos ('behind the altar') share a common
history. The ‘depicting' or painting of religious images began
with events in the history of the Christian church. For the
Orthodox, the Veronica Veil or Christ’s face wiped during his walk
to Golgotha represents the first image of Our Lord, Jesus Christ
recorded to Christians in the New Testament. Many believe that St.
Luke painted the first images of the Blessed Virgin Mary. One
image reportedly was painted on what many believed to be the back of
the table used for the Last Supper.
Even in the Old Testament and Judaism, King Solomon decorated the
Temple with images of cherubs. There are also many
archaeological finds of events from the Old Testament in the remains
of ancient synagogues.
As the Christian faith grew in numbers after the death of Christ,
iconography supported the belief in the Incarnation of the Divine in
visible material form. St. Eusebius, a bishop and early church
historian, recorded many representations of Christ and his apostles
found to be in existence for some time, during his ministry, to
various towns.
  
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