Is it okay for Catholics to venerate Orthodox icons?

[Cavaradossi]

Dont worry about what i said…its just my experience of leaving EO for RC and not hanging onto anything like EO prayer ropes or icons or incense ,Holy water and all that anymore

people are different…if you broke up with your ex girlfriend and were rulpulsed by her you wouldnt likely keep a ring she gave you or photos or gifts,maybe you would get rid of them completley…others may keep them

Obviously we dont use the sacraments of other churches we are not in communion with ,why use sacramentals then?

One time years ago i went to my Orthodox church,and i brought with me two plastic Catholic statues of Christ and Mary as i didnt want them anymore,the Priests daughter said give them to me and we will burn them…
thats what they think of Catholic sacramentals…

i popped into an Orthodox church i used to go to a few weeks ago to light a candle
after i drove out i went past straight away my old greek baptism sponsers,which i never hardly see or avoid

The ‘people’ of the Church ‘make up’ the church ,and the people also make and pray over icons ,Holy water ,and sacramentals,

so i gather if we come into communion with sacramentals ,then we may then come into communion with the church and people who made them

The eastern Catholics here always say the spirituality of their church is eastern and different to Latin spirituality,so if you would join their church you would then live a life in communion with other eastern Christians with the same spirituality and have more in common with them…

If you bless yourself with Water or pray ,you cant expect Jesus or Mary themselves to come from heaven and visit and teach you the ways of salvation,the church and people of the church are their for us to rub shoulders with and learn Christian charity ,love and practice virtue,

so whichever Church and people we want to rub shoulders with is up to us

Peace

Actually I doubt the burning was offered out of spite. This is standard practice for disposing of damaged icons, prayer ropes, etc. in Orthodoxy. It is considered far worse to throw some blessed object in the trash than to burn it and bury its ashes. Had you had some icons that you needed to dispose of, they likely would have done the same thing: burned them.

 

[Paul_theApostle]

Having read your post over again and considered it more closely, I must say I am very sorry about your experiences, whatever they were, that led you to leave the EO for the RC (and not the EC).

I can appreciate not wanting to hang onto prayer ropes and the like that remind you of the EO and those experiences - but all the sacramentals you mentioned were and are part of the sacramentals of the Latin Church. The most popular form of the rosary still is the knotted cord and people in the West used to wrap them around their wrists just as the Orthodox do so today.

As for the attitudes of some Orthodox - they are hardly universal. I have met many Orthodox priests who keep statues in their offices. The Greeks and Russians can have an aversion to anything Latin, to be sure. But so too can Eastern Catholics and sometimes even more and for various historical reasons.

I have received and keep sacramentals from various Churches not in communion with one another. I would hope that the walls of separation that we ourselves have built (and “in the Name of God”) do not reach as high as heaven.

Again, I’m sorry for your experience of this.

Alex

Hi Alex,

I grew up Latin Catholic ,after going to and then leaving EO i returned back to the latin church.

As i said with the Sacramentals, i was just going from my experience with EO ,and if others like having EO icons or prayer ropes etc then whatever please them.

Like you said ,we cant expect to build walls up against each other.

ive just been away from RC for a long time…also having so many EO friends compared to zero Western friends,one good RC priest told me to make a fresh start also

Ive been in the east too long…so im more eager nowadays to pray with or bless myself with Catholic sacramentals to find my Catholic indentity a bit more.

With the bad experiences,well …either like my EO priest once said ,‘the church is like Christ in the manger,all the members are the rough(imperfect) straw/hay that Christ lies in’
So relationships with other members in the church may not be smooth at times.

And that the road to heaven is narrow,and sometimes other people may push/bump us aside trying to get through the narrow way.

well i feel like ive been pushed aside in EO,and have experienced that all we church members are imperfect and can be rough people at times and sometimes hard to get along with.

or

that all of this has helped lead me back to RC ‘the true church’ and ‘See of Peter’
which is a good thing according to RC

Thank you,
God Bless

Paul

 

[Paul_theApostle]

Actually I doubt the burning was offered out of spite. This is standard practice for disposing of damaged icons, prayer ropes, etc. in Orthodoxy. It is considered far worse to throw some blessed object in the trash than to burn it and bury its ashes. Had you had some icons that you needed to dispose of, they likely would have done the same thing: burned them.

Ok

 

[Alexander_Roman]

Hi Alex,

I grew up Latin Catholic ,after going to and then leaving EO i returned back to the latin church.

As i said with the Sacramentals, i was just going from my experience with EO ,and if others like having EO icons or prayer ropes etc then whatever please them.

Like you said ,we cant expect to build walls up against each other.

ive just been away from RC for a long time…also having so many EO friends compared to zero Western friends,one good RC priest told me to make a fresh start also

Ive been in the east too long…so im more eager nowadays to pray with or bless myself with Catholic sacramentals to find my Catholic indentity a bit more.

With the bad experiences,well …either like my EO priest once said ,‘the church is like Christ in the manger,all the members are the rough(imperfect) straw/hay that Christ lies in’
So relationships with other members in the church may not be smooth at times.

And that the road to heaven is narrow,and sometimes other people may push/bump us aside trying to get through the narrow way.

well i feel like ive been pushed aside in EO,and have experienced that all we church members are imperfect and can be rough people at times and sometimes hard to get along with.

or

that all of this has helped lead me back to RC ‘the true church’ and ‘See of Peter’
which is a good thing according to RC

Thank you,
God Bless

Paul

Have a good Easter, sir!

Alex

 

[couponfit]

I bought an Orthodox Icon of Our Lady of the Gate. And I was really fascinated and moved by the image. I know that this question has been asked before. So could some one please direct me to the correct thread.
Is it okay for Catholics to venerate Orthodox icons?
Are there saints who are exclusively “Orthodox saints”? Can Catholics venerate them?

Yes, because veneration allows us to focus our thoughts and prayers on a matter. It’s like asking, can we feel inspired by a work of art?

 

[ConstantineTG]

YES! It is very okay. Unless you are one who thinks there is more than one heaven, more than one body of Christ. There is one heaven, one body of Christ, the saints of the Orthodox and the saints of the Catholics are in one heaven, one body of Christ. So it is okay to venerate the icons of the saints of either “communion”.

 

[Marybeloved]

I have two sets of Jesus Orthodox icons and Mother of God icons as my desktop screen savers and some I’ve saved on my Computer. Sometimes just the right one seems to appear when I need a particular assurance and I just happen to be looking at the computer screen for some reason- it’s quite funny. I got them here: orthodoxphotos.com/screensavers.shtml (Have just noticed they added a third one for Saints)

I’ve attached three of my favourites-The First one I’ve often used in prayer.