Icon I am not sure about...

[deusveritasest]

If any RCC or Orthodox would like to explain to me about one Icon that I have a hard time with,, The Orthodox Icon of God troubles me a bit.
Don't get upset- I love Icons and would like to have more (I only have 2 now) .
But it says in the CCC that it is not right to have one of GOD.
I have seen some in Orthodox parishes, I have always felt funny about them. Not just because of the CCC (I did not know about that until much later) but it does not seem right. Can anyone tell me why I am having a stumbling block on this?

There is nothing wrong with depicting God the Word because He has taken on visible flesh.

Depicting God the Father, on the other hand, is prohibited by the canons of the EOC. Doing so is an odd piety that shows up in some sections of the Church in violation of the canons.

[deusveritasest]

To be honest, I did not know an icon of God existed, I thought you were talking about an Icon of our saviour, Christ. 

Be careful when referring to the just the Father as God and the Son as Christ that you are not falling into Arianism or Nestorianism.

[ozgeorge]

Yes, it is against the canons of both the Quinisext and Seventh Ecumenical Councils to depict God the Father.

Could you please quote the relevant Canons from these Ecumenical Councils which forbid depictions of God the Father? I don't think they exist, but perhaps I have missed them.

[Alveus Lacuna]

Yes, it is against the canons of both the Quinisext and Seventh Ecumenical Councils to depict God the Father.

Could you please quote the relevant Canons from these Ecumenical Councils which forbid depictions of God the Father? I don't think they exist, but perhaps I have missed them.

I am also curious to see these prohibitions in canons. I'm thinking about purchasing the icon on my avatar because I really like it, and while this has been discussed ad infinitum on this forum, I'm not sure that one can make a case against depicting the Ancient of Days since we depict icons of Christ in Glory and other phenomena in the mandorla.

Also, if the moderators wasn't to merge this with the evil and infamous God the Father in Iconography thread, they have my blessing.

[Nigula Qian Zishi]

Out of curiosity, from Wikipedia:

In Eastern Orthodox Christian hymns and icons, the Ancient of Days is sometimes identified with God the Father; but most properly, in accordance with Orthodox theology he is identified with God the Son, or Jesus Christ. As such, Eastern Christian art will sometimes portray Jesus Christ as an old man, the Ancient of Days, to show symbolically that he existed from all eternity, and sometimes as a young man to portray him as he was incarnate. This iconography emerged in the 6th century, mostly in the Eastern Empire.[1] It was declared by the Russian Orthodox Church at the Great Synod of Moscow in 1667 that the Ancient of Days was the Son and not the Father.[2]

1 Cartlidge and Elliott, 69-72
2 The Tome of the Great Council of Moscow (1666-1667 A.D.), Ch. 2, 43-45; tr. Hierodeacon Lev Puhalo, Canadian Orthodox Missionary Journal

[orthonorm]

Yes, it is against the canons of both the Quinisext and Seventh Ecumenical Councils to depict God the Father.

Could you please quote the relevant Canons from these Ecumenical Councils which forbid depictions of God the Father? I don't think they exist, but perhaps I have missed them.

*crickets* for nearly three years.

[Nigula Qian Zishi]

Yes, it is against the canons of both the Quinisext and Seventh Ecumenical Councils to depict God the Father.

Could you please quote the relevant Canons from these Ecumenical Councils which forbid depictions of God the Father? I don't think they exist, but perhaps I have missed them.

*crickets* for nearly three years.

There are no canons per say about the icon, but there is the spirit of the 7th Ecumenical council.

As Orthodox Wiki says:

Icons depicting God the Father do not conform to the teachings of the Seventh Ecumenical Council. God the Father is invisible and not able to be depicted. Since Christ was born of the indescribable Father, the Father cannot have an image.

Here is but one quote from the epistle of Pope St. Gregory II’s letter on the Holy Icons to Emperor Leo the Isaurian:

“Why do we not delineate and paint the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ? Because we have not seen and known Him, and it is impossible to delineate and paint the divine nature.” This epistle of St. Gregory was adopted into the minutes of the Seventh Ecumenical Council. This council stipulated that we depict only the incarnate person of Christ. God the Father was never incarnate, and was never therefore depictable as a human being, perish the thought! He is invisible to all created beings.

Let us take another quote, and this time from the great St. John of Damascus. From his book on Christological Arguments: “If we made an icon of the invisible God, we should certainly be in error, but we do nothing of the sort, for we are not in error if we make the icon of the incarnate God, Who appeared on earth in the flesh, and Who, in His ineffable goodness, lived among men and assumed the nature, quantity, shape and color of flesh.”

There are many more fatehrs who wrote ont his too, but I am not sure any Early Church Fathers wrote positively about making an icon with God the Father Shown.

1 Corinthians 10:23 "All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not."

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