Orthodox Icon of Restoration of the Icons

The Triumph of Orthodoxy COPYRIGHTED ART. Do not copy or deep-link to without prior permission from "Come and See" Icons, Books & Art.

1st Sunday of Great Lent
Troparion (Tone 2)
Advancing from ungodliness to the true faith, and illumined with the light of knowledge, let us clap our hands and sing aloud, offering praise and thanksgiving to God; and with due honor let us venerate the holy icons of Christ, of the all-pure Virgin and the saints, whether depicted on walls, on wooden panels or on holy vessels, rejecting the impious teaching of the heretics. For, as Basil says, the honor shown to the icon passes to the prototype it represents. At the prayers of Thine undefiled Mother and of all the saints, we beseech Thee, Christ our God, to bestow upon us Thy great mercy.

This icon commemorates the restoration of the icons by the ever-memorable rulers of Constantinople, the Emperor Michael and his mother, the Empress Theodora, during the patriarchate of St. Methodius the Confessor. Those who denied the true humanity of Christ and His incarnation went about smashing icons. They gained power in and over the Church. The Seventh Ecumenical Council was called and addressed this heresy. In 787, the Church affirmed the incarnation of Christ and the use of icons. Wicked rulers and subverters of Orthodoxy however gained power and continued smashig the icons. The true Church was practically driven into hiding and many saints were martyred. On the First Sunday of Great Lent, March 11, 843, Empress Theodora ordered the Patriarch to hold an assembly in the Church to restore the Holy Images and Crosses which had been in hiding.

This Icon is by the hand of Nicholas Papas. It is from St. Philip Antiochian Orthodox Church in Souderton, PA.

Order # phn-17