Teaching & Comments by Father Martyn: Ikons: Image and Likess

The word ikon, a Greek word, means “image” and it is a key statement and understanding from the Old Testament that finds its full definition in the New. In the ancient creation stories from Genesis, we read, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; ...’ So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Image is mentioned three times, just so you get the point!

Now the purpose of an image – be it a proper ikon or an ordinary painting, is that it represents something – a person, a landscape. It reveals something, beyond itself. A painting is just oil or watercolour on canvas or paper, in a frame. Yet we do not think of that as we look at the image – we think of what it represents. A Canaletto painting of London or Venice is like looking out of window at the real thing. A good portrait is like looking at the actual person.

So what about us, as being the image and likeness of God? Well we can admire the achievements of humanity, especially in great people of world history – but there are also some dark qualities when we look at Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany. If we are the image of God, it is a bit distorted. In the first two chapters of the Letter to the Hebrews, we find an explanation of the opening phrase about Jesus, He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being. Christ is the undistorted image – he is what we are supposed to be like.

If we look on Jesus as the perfect ikon/image of God, we can see the qualities we need to lay hold of in his love and grace. To put it in another way, to become like Christ is to restore the dignity of being an undistorted image of God. The Letter to the Ephesians puts it this way, after a discussion on vocations in the Church, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. In fact, to be the image of God also means we become fully human – we are to be as God intended humanity to be. We see that in today’s Gospel reading, a Christ who is an open being, always in relationship to others in compassion, mercy and justice.

To be truly human is to go beyond ourselves (like the painting) in our relating to Him and our fellow beings; we cannot be human without this.