Explanations of Icons

  • Thread starter Thread starter holdencaulfield
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
H

holdencaulfield

Guest
Why do these Icons always portray him with brown angels wings? Did he really have wings? :confused:
 
Malachi 3:1

[SIGN]Behold I send my angel, and he shall prepare the way before my face. And presently the Lord, whom you seek, and the angel of the testament, whom you desire, shall come to his temple. Behold he cometh, saith the Lord of hosts.[/SIGN]

Mark 1:2

[SIGN]As it is written in Isaias the prophet: Behold I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare the way before thee.[/SIGN]

Others translate “angel” as “messenger” because angelos and malakh translate as MESSENGER.

Who brought the message of Christ?

St. Mark 1:3-6
A voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. John was in the desert baptizing, and preaching the baptism of penance, unto remission of sins. And there went out to him all the country of Judea, and all they of Jerusalem, and were baptized by him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins. And John was clothed with camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and he ate locusts and wild honey.
Click to expand...
That’s why he looks like this in his Icons:

http://www.melkite.org.au/images/us...John Church/Beheading of John the Baptist.jpg

I like this one as his head is also at his feet.

The wings are metaphorical, so to speak.
 
I like that Icon as well. So I assume that he is not literally meant to have angels wings. Any significance in why the wings are brown instead of white?
 
Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!

That is Christ. Holding the Soul of His Mother the Theotokos.

No one has seen the Father so He is not shown in Icons.
Jesus Christ: “He who has seen me has seen the Father.”

Father Deacon Paul
 
A little bit off topic but, who is that that Christ is carrying in His hands?

**The Soul of His most holy Mother, the Theotokos.

Three days later, when St. Thomas the Tardy (who missed the Dormition) came to see her one last time, the disciples opened her tomb and found her body gone and the grave filled with flowers.

Later she herself affirmed that her body had been taken to Heaven as well, and reunited with her soul. She has passed beyond death and judgement and lives totally in the Age to Come.**
 
holdencaulfield said:
A little bit off topic but, who is that that Christ is carrying in His hands?
Click to expand...
You’ll notice that in the Iconography there is an allusion to the Nativity. The soul of the Theotokos is wrapped in swaddling clothes in her infancy in heaven just like Our Lord was wrapped in swaddling clothes in His infancy on earth.
 
I see, so just as she cared for Him, now He cares for her. It’s beautiful symbolism.

And we also could say perhaps that He is caring for her soul in Hades, because her body has yet to be returned to her soul. It all works so well.
 
Volodymyr_988 said:
No, her body and soul are united in Heaven.
Click to expand...
However not at the time the Icon is portraying. The Icon is portraying only her Dormition. I believe that her body stayed present on Earth for several days. So at this time her soul was in Hades, and her body on Earth. After her Assumption her soul was reunited with her body. Am I correct in this.
 
Our Lord took her soul to Heaven. Depending on which tradition you hold, her body joined her soul right away or after 3 days.

Remember she was sinless, no Hades/Purgatory/Sheol for her.
 
Volodymyr_988 said:
Our Lord took her soul to Heaven. Depending on which tradition you hold, her body joined her soul right away or after 3 days.

Remember she was sinless, no Hades/Purgatory/Sheol for her.
Click to expand...
Ok so I was correct ?Right? Am I misunderstanding something. I thought that Hades was the place after death and that Hell, Purgatory, Heaven were just states of being inside Hades?
 
No, Heaven is not in Hades. Remember the gates of hades will not prevail against The Church. This includes the Church Triumphant in Heaven.

Hades may be a part of Hell/Gehenna/Tartarus, I don’t know.

I would say that “limbo” could be hades, and that possibly Purgatory. But since the Church Suffering is in Purgatory, the idea that Purgatory is Heaven’s Antechamber might fit better.
 
Volodymyr_988 said:
No, Heaven is not in Hades. Remember the gates of hades will not prevail against The Church. This includes the Church Triumphant in Heaven.

Hades may be a part of Hell/Gehenna/Tartarus, I don’t know.

I would say that “limbo” could be hades, and that possibly Purgatory. But since the Church Suffering is in Purgatory, the idea that Purgatory is Heaven’s Antechamber might fit better.
Click to expand...
Oh I was under the impression that this was the understanding. I’m going to link you to an article if you don’t mind reading it. Hades - Wikipedia

I just want your opinion.
 
The article is from Wikipedia. I trust wikipedia like I trust broadcast news.:rolleyes:

I still think that Hades is not Heaven. It might be a catch all for the intermediate states (Baby Limbo, Patriarch Limbo, and Purgatory.) I think Gehenna/Tartarus/Hell is either separate or the worst part of Hades.
 
Volodymyr_988 said:
The article is from Wikipedia. I trust wikipedia like I trust broadcast news.:rolleyes:
Click to expand...
I totally agree.
I still think that Hades is not Heaven. It might be a catch all for the intermediate states (Baby Limbo, Patriarch Limbo, and Purgatory.) I think Gehenna/Tartarus/Hell is either separate or the worst part of Hades.
Click to expand...
I have yet to find any definitive teaching about this. I don’t really know. It doesn’t matter, but I would like to know. I will post more if I can find anything.
 
**This is another interesting Icon. What is the meaning of this one? **

It’s St. John of Damascus and his Ladder of Divine Ascent–not a book for beginners.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top