The symbol and the icon – visibile manifestations of Christ in the Holy Liturgy
The symbol and the icon – visibile manifestations of Christ in the Holy Liturgy

Summary/Abstract: As visible manifestations of the eschatological realm in the liturgical practice of the Church, the symbol and the icon belong to the empirical world, and their characteristic note is given by their correlation with the transcendence. By the agency of the Holy Spirit, the two become environments through which Christ reveals His presence and saving actions in the Church. They both unveil and shroud, at the same time, the novel reality of the Aeon to come, for in this world “we know only in part”, in such a manner, so as to make the man crave eschatological perfection. Both the icon and the symbol engage the human spirit in its wholeness, which in turn requires a certain degree of ascesis and spiritual delicacy in order to perceive their message. The liturgical symbol is both an “icon” of the economy of salvation and an “icon” of the world to come. During the Holy Liturgy, everything becomes a window to the eschatological realm, all the painted icons and the liturgical rituals point to the mystical Eucharistic Reality, the warrant of our future wholeness.

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