( Vladislav Andrejev, Questions of Iconology: Icon as Art, Life and faith; Prosopon Journal no.6, 2007; Pp. 11 )
Having discovered that the icon's exclusive and unique role in the life of the Church is its singular purpose of being a tool for worship and prayer, we now need to unlearn some misconceptions about icons in order for us to fully appreciate and spiritually benefit from them.
Icons are not to be regarded as mere "art pieces." They should be regarded as windows through which the seeker attempts to "reach out" to God, who initiates the salvific dialogue by reaching out to the one who venerates them.
It is for this reason that the process of producing an icon is not called painting. Rather, icons are written, hence, "iconography."
Paintings are products of human artifice. They are creations of the artist's genius and talent. In paintings, it is the artist who communicates whatever he fancies. It is the artist who is the boss, the celebrity, the one who is hailed for what has been crafted. The human author is central in any secular work of art. He, the artist, looms big and large over the community, the audience, and the patrons who snap up his latest works. Man IS the creator of the artwork. Art-making is exclusively within the province of humanity.
The exact opposite happens in iconography or icon-writing. Here, man recedes in the background. He is merely a co-creator, a participant, a collaborator in the whole enterprise of icon-making. Icons are the extensions of the mystery of the Incarnation of Our Lord. In each legitimately written Icon is being "given birth" again and again the Deified Humanity of the Un-circumscribable Eternal Word-made-flesh, whose glory is made manifest even in the images of his holy servants (the saints as icons of Jesus Christ who is The Icon of the Most Holy trinity). God's true authorship of the icon is the reason behind one of the most ancient description of the icon as that which is "not-made-by-human-hands," Acheiropoietos.
An icon's place in the community is NEVER on the walls of residences, galleries and museums. Icons are not to be regarded as some exquisite furnishings or objet d'art that complete the decoration of a room. They are rather "living and life-giving" presences of the Savior through His and His Saints' images, which ceaselessly open up the portals of the Heavenly Mansion to us here below. An icon's proper place can only be the sanctuary, the church temple, and its exclusive use is for worship and contemplation.
ONE CAN ONLY PROPERLY APPROACH AN ICON AS ONE WOULD HONOR AN INVITATION.
An icon to the one who contemplates it progressively becomes a portal, a gentle guide, a mirror, a window, a sanctuary and back to being a portal through which the soul, after each encounter, emerges renewed and transformed into an agent of transformation for others as well.
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