Blessing icons

[Epistemes]

Should a priest bless icons of saints?

I’m not sure if they should only bless sacramentals and images of Jesus and Mary, or if the blessings can also be for holy cards and images of saints.

 

[b_justb]

I had my Icon of the Holy Trinity blessed at a Liturgy of The Presanctified Gifts during this past Great Lent by an Antiochian Orthodox Priest. He laid the Icon on the alter through the entire liturgy and then blessed it afterwards. He sprinkled it with holy water as he prayed over it and I had to make sure the water droplets stayed on the Icon. The prayers over the Icon during the blessing were very moving.

 

[Kuryakyn]

Should a priest bless icons of saints?

I’m not sure if they should only bless sacramentals and images of Jesus and Mary, or if the blessings can also be for holy cards and images of saints.

Of course they can! And yes, it’s a good idea to have them blessed.

 

[AnIrishCatholic]

The school i work at had them blessed by the parish priest

 

[Woodstock]

It is common practice to bless icons. There are several routes available including a prayer of blessing, placing them on the altar for a length of time, or having them blessed on the Triumph of Orthodoxy (first Sunday of Lent, celebrating the downfall of Iconoclasm in the 9th Century) when a procession of icons is held and they all are blessed.

When using the terminology of sacramental, the holy cards you refer to would be included. A Roman Catholic priest could bless these holy cards or icons. An Eastern Catholic priest might prefer only to bless those which are icons and not those which are pictures.

After they are blessed, they should be treated with reverence and disposed of properly. Should the need arise, they would need to be burned or buried.