Icon

An icon (from Greek {{polytonic|?????}}, eikon, "image") is an image, picture, or representation; it is a sign or likeness that stands for an object by signifying or representing it, or by analogy, as in semiotics; in computers an icon is a symbol on the monitor used to signify a command; by extension, icon is also used, particularly in modern popular culture, in the general sense of symbol — i.e. a name, face, picture or even a person readily recognized as having some well-known significance or embodying certain qualities.

Images from Constantine to Justinian

Constantine to Justinian (337-430)

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After the legalization of Christianity under Constantine, and its adoption as the Roman state religion under Theodosius I, Christian art began to change remarkably not only in quality and sophistication, but also in nature. Paintings of martyrs and their feats began to appear, and early writers commented on their lifelike effect, one of the elements Christian writers most criticized in pagan art — the ability to imitate life. Nilus of Sinai, in his Letter to Heliodorus Silentiarius, records a miracle in which St. Plato of Ankyra appeared to a Christian in a dream. The Saint was recognized because the young man had often seen his portrait. This recognition of a religious figure from likeness to an image was also a characteristic of pagan pious accounts of appearances of gods to humans.

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It is also in this period that the first mention of an image of Mary painted from life appears. Theodorus Lector, in the History of the Church 1:1 (excerpted by Nicephorus Callistus Xanthopoulos) stated that Eudokia (wife of Theodosius II , died 460) sent an image of ?the Mother of God? from Jerusalem to Pulcheria, daughter of the Emperor Arcadius (this is by some considered a later interpolation). The image was specified to have been ?painted by the Apostle Luke.? In later tradition the number of icons of Mary attributed to Luke would greatly multiply.

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The first depictions of Jesus were generic rather than portrait images, generally representing him as a beardless young man. It was some time before the earliest examples of the long-haired, bearded face that was later to become standardized as the image of Jesus appeared. And when they began to appear there was still variation. Augustine of Hippo (354-430) said that no one knew the appearance of Jesus or that of Mary (De Trinitatis 8:4-5). Gradually, however, paintings of Jesus took on characteristics of portrait images.

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At this time the manner of depicting Jesus was not yet uniform, and there was some controversy over which of the two most common forms was to be favored. The first or ?Semitic? form showed Jesus with short and ?frizzy? hair; the second showed a bearded Jesus with hair parted in the middle, the manner in which the god Zeus was depicted. Theodorus Lector remarked (Church History 1:15) that of the two, the one with short and frizzy hair was ?more authentic.? He also relates a story (excerpted by John of Damascus) that a pagan commissioned to paint an image of Jesus used the ?Zeus? form instead of the ?Semitic? form, and that as punishment his hands withered. However the "Zeus" form eventually prevailed.

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Though their development was gradual, we can date the full-blown appearance and general ecclesiastical (as opposed to simply popular or local) acceptance of Christian images as venerated and miracle-working objects to the 6th century, when, as Hans Belting writes, "We first hear of the church's use of religious images...(Likeness and Presence, University of Chicago Press,1994). "...As we reach the second half of the sixth century, we find that images are attracting direct veneration and some of them are credited with the performance of miracles" (Patricia Karlin-Hayter, The Oxford History of Byzantium, Oxford, 2002). "Beginning in the sixth century, emperors tolerated the reproduction of icons, and they used them for their personal acts of devotion" (Alain Besancon, The Forbidden Image,University of Chicago Press, 2000). "In the post-Justinianic period the icon assumes an ever increasing role in popular devotion, and there is a proliferation of miracle stories connected with icons, some of them rather shocking to our eyes" (Cyril Mango, The Art of the Byzantine Empire 312-1453, University of Toronto Press, 1986).

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