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(149) According to the measure of
the "spirit and truth" with which you begin to pray
before the holy icon, for instance, of the Saviour,
in the same measure the Spirit of Him Who is
represented upon the icon is attracted to the icon.
So that if your faith, in the presence of the
Person, represented upon the icon attains such a
height that you see that Person living before you,
then by grace He is actually there. The
wonder-working images which speak, from which flow
tears, blood, etc. are examples of this, and this is
why such images all look extraordinarily living and
expressive. What can be impossible to God, Who is
able to give life to stone and form man out of it?
He can miraculously accomplish the same with a
painted image. "All things are possible to him that
believeth" (St. Mark IX. 23); and the Highest
miraculously comes down from heaven to him that
believeth. He is similarly united with, and works
miracles by the sign of the life-giving cross.
(150) The icons of the Saviour in
every orthodox house show His omnipresence, His
sovereignty in every place, whilst the images of the
Saints - the presence with us or the nearness to us
of the Saints, by the grace of God, as members of
the one body of the Church, united under the one
Head - Christ.
(151) If I pray to God with
hearty, lively, and perfect faith, then I am not
only near Him, as a son living in the same house is
to his father, but I am also near to all the
heavenly powers, to all the saints, reigning in
heaven; and they are no farther away from me than
the icons before which I pray. Therefore it is an
excellent custom with us to have in our houses icons
of the Lord, of His most pure Mother, of the
archangels, guardian angels, and of the saints, and
to pray before them: their nearness to our bodily
sight betokens their greater nearness to our
spiritual sight, armed with undoubting faith.
Nearness: "There is joy in the presence of the
angels of God over one sinner that repenteth" (St.
Luke XV. 7, 10), just as in the parental house
brothers rejoice when one of them, who had offended
against his father, repents of the offence he has
caused his father by his behaviour.
(152) By reverencing icons -
firstly, I reverence in them God, Who has begotten
before all worlds the Son, His living Image, Who
gave material being to the infinite thought of God
the Father, by creating the worlds and all the
creatures that were in the thought of God, and man,
created after the image and likeness of God;
secondly, I honour in them the image of God
incarnate; thirdly, I honour in them myself, my own
image of the immortal god-like man, called to be a
partaker of the Divine nature, to union with the
Lord, to be the temple of the Holy Ghost. Also I am
involuntarily incited to venerate, icons because I
see manifested in them the power of God, saving the
faithful and punishing unbelievers, in the same way
as I see and feel this same power in the sign of the
Lord's cross, which is called life-giving by reason
of its miraculous power. For all these reasons,
icons replace for me the persons themselves whose
names they bear. The images of the saints upon the
icons represent to us the nearness in the spirit of
God's saints, who all live in God and are always
near to us in the Holy Ghost, through our hearty
faith and prayer to them. For what can be far away
for the Spirit of God, Who is everywhere present and
filleth all things, "going through all
understanding (gifted with understanding) pure and
most subtil spirits?" (Wisdom VII. 23). "There is
joy in the presence of the angels of God over one
sinner that repenteth" (St. Luke XV. 7, 10). This
means that the, disposition of our souls lies open,
not only to God, but also to the angels, "Standing
before Thee and before Thy terrible holy angels, I
bring before Thee my evil and wicked doings, and
confess them and reveal them" (Fourth Prayer of St.
Simeon the Metaphraste before Holy Communion).
(153) If anyone would ask you why
you pray to soulless icons, what profit you derive
from them, say that we derive incomparably greater
profit from our icons than we do from the kindest
and most benevolent living persons; say that blessed
power and help to our souls always comes to us from
icons, saving us from sins, sorrows, and sicknesses;
especially from icons of the Saviour and of the
Mother of God; that one single look with faith upon
them, as upon the living and those who are near to
us, saves us from cruel sorrows, passions, and
spiritual darkness; that if touching the Saviour's
garment, and the garments and handkerchiefs of the
Apostles could restore health to the sick, much more
are the images of the Saviour and of the Mother of
God powerful to heal believers of every affliction,
in accordance with their faith in the Lord and in
His Mother.
(154) You gaze upon the icon of
the Saviour and see that He looks at you from it
with brightest eyes; this look is the image of how
He actually looks upon you with His eyes, that are
brighter than the sun, and sees all your thoughts,
hears all your heartfelt distress and sighs. The
image is an image, and represents in lines and signs
that which cannot be delineated, cannot be given in
signs, and can be comprehended by faith alone.
Believe, then, that the Saviour always protects you
and sees each one of you - with all your thoughts,
sorrows and sighing, in all your circumstances, as
upon the palm of the hand. "Behold, I have graven
thee upon the palms of My hands; thy walls are
continually before Me," (Isaiah XLIX. 16) says the
Lord God. How much consolation and life are
contained in these gracious words of the Almighty
and Provident God! Therefore pray before the icon of
the Saviour as before Himself. The Lover of man is
present in it by His grace, and with the eyes
depicted in it really looks at you: "The eyes of the
Lord are in every place" (Proverbs XV. 3), while
with His ears as represented on the icon, He hears
you. But remember that His eyes are the eyes of God,
and His ears are the ears of the omnipresent God.
(155) As you see on an icon the
face of God's Mother, so does She, the Most Pure
Mother of the Vigilant Eye (of the Lord), see your
whole soul, all your thoughts, feelings, intentions,
undertakings , all your passions, weaknesses,
failings, virtues, too, of cour, your sighs, tears,
all your piety, hears your gratitude, praise, your
hidden and open prayers. Marvellous is Her
knowledge: She is the Mother of the Omniscient and
Omnipresent, Who created our hearts.
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