"Because god was so compassionate that he became man for our salvation, and did not come in the case of Abraham and the prophets in the appearance of man, but rather in the form of man, and lived on the earth keeping company with men, committed miracles, suffered, was crucified, arose from the dead, and because all of this has truly happened,  and people have  witnessed it,  that is the reason why artists have drawn him,  so that he may be glorified and that we may be taught of him, we who were not witnesses to what occurred during that time, and that we may realize how blessed our lord is, as we have believed without seeing, but only through having heard of him.  And even because we are not all literate, nor can we all find time to read, the holy fathers had decided correctly, like exactly some heroic actions, although we do not have in our mind the passion of our lord,  when we see in an icon of the crucifixion of Christ, we remember our  lord's passion that resulted in our salvation, therefore when we kneel, we do not worship material, but that what is represented by the material, in the same manner that we do not worship the matter of the bible or the matter of the cross, but rather what is expressed by them.  This is what occurs even in the worship of the mother of God the Virgin Mary by honoring her we honor Christ himself, as he was born through her.  The same occurs for the achievements of the saints, the achievements which urge us to bravery,  religious zeal,  mimicking of their virtues which  glorified God,  respecting their righteousness and honor, we are showing the love that we all have for the same bishop our Christ, and honoring an icon we honor the standard that is Christ.  This tradition is not written,  just as the tradition to turn to the east when we worship the cross and many more similar to these are not written."

 

Directly Related:

This writing deals with iconoclasm, a period in which icons were destroyed. To see information on this period see,  iconoclasm.