Icons and iconography in the West Syriac Church
Icons and iconography in the West Syriac Church

Summary/Abstract: From an Orthodox perspective, the heresy condemned at the Second Council of Nicaea (the Seventh Ecumenical Council, 787), iconoclasm, is considered to be the last form of development of the heresies condemned at the previous six ecumenical councils, as it comes directly against the very scope of Christ’s incarnation – human’s transfiguration, and, finally, against the doctrine of salvation. Christ is the perfect human and, in consequence, those who follow and imitate Him, Virgin Mary and the saints, are His very ‘icons’ who reached the holiness by participation to Christ’s divine life. In the context of thecommemorative year 2017, dedicated by the Romanian Orthodox Patriarchate to the icon painters and iconography, it is interesting and quite new for the Romanian theological landscape to focus on the theology of icons and sacred art in the West Syriac Church, which had a parallel existence with the Byzantine Church (from 451 onwards, at least) and did not really take direct contact with the iconoclast movement. And yet, one can find the icons present in its cult and determinative, during the liturgical year. This paper will be dedicated to this subject, observing two directions – one dedicated to the theological base of the icons’ usage in the cult and a second one presenting and analysing some concrete ancient icons and their connection with the annual liturgical festivals in the West Syriac Church.

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