May images of Christ and the saints be made, and should they be honoured?
a passage states it a passage rules it out
Common ground
These are affirmed by more than one position, so a passage saying only this counts for none of them.
- God the Father, in his divine nature, cannot be pictured
- Worship (latria) belongs to God alone
- Idols of pagan gods are forbidden
- The Incarnation made God visible in Christ (shared doctrine; not by itself an argument for icons)
Images venerated
Orthodox Catholicthe honour paid to an image traverses it, reaching the model, and he who venerates the image, venerates the person represented in that image.Second Council of Nicaea, Definition (787)
What sets it apart: The passage approves honouring an image with outward acts (kissing, bowing, lights, incense), or says honour given to an image passes to the person shown.
Formally defined: Second Council of Nicaea (787)
No early passage in the library states it yet.
Images allowed as adornment, not venerated
LutheranCandles, golden vessels [tapers, altar-cloths, images), and similar adornments are becoming, but they are not the adornment that properly belongs to the Church.Apology of the Augsburg Confession, XXIV.51 (1531)
What sets it apart: The passage allows images in churches for decoration or teaching while forbidding any honour or reverence toward them.
Formally defined: Apology of the Augsburg Confession (1531)
No early passage in the library states it yet.
Images not to be used in worship
Reformed BaptistBut may not images be permitted in churches in place of books for the unlearned? A. No, we should not try to be wiser than God.Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 98 (1563)
What sets it apart: The passage says images must not be in churches or used in worship at all, not only that they must not be honoured.
Formally defined: Heidelberg Catechism (1563); Westminster Confession (1646)
No secure early statement. Earliest, from a work of uncertain authorship: Epiphanius of Salamis, c. 403.
Every deciding passage, earliest first
Epiphanius of Salamis, c. 403
Doubtful authorship: Known only through iconoclast quotation; Nicephorus denied Epiphanius wrote it, and scholars still debate it.
He presents a testament to the citizens, a binding testament, in which he urges them not to bring images into churches or into the cemeteries. "Pay attention to yourselves and hold fast the traditions you received. Do not turn aside to the right or to the left. And in this matter, beloved children, keep memory: do not bring images into churches or into the cemeteries of the saints. Instead, always keep God in memory in your hearts. But not even in an ordinary house is this permitted, for a Christian must not be distracted through the eyes and the wanderings of the mind. Let the things toward G…
- Rules out: Images venerated
- Rules out: Images allowed as adornment, not venerated
- States: Images not to be used in worship
Epiphanius of Salamis, c. 403
Doubtful authorship: Known only through iconoclast quotation; Nicephorus denied Epiphanius wrote it, and scholars still debate it.
Pay attention to yourselves, and hold fast the traditions you received. Do not turn aside to the right or to the left. And in this, beloved children, keep the memory of not bringing images into churches or into the cemeteries of the saints, but always keep God in memory in your hearts.
- Rules out: Images venerated
- Rules out: Images allowed as adornment, not venerated
- States: Images not to be used in worship
Epiphanius of Salamis, c. 403
Doubtful authorship: Known only through iconoclast quotation; Nicephorus denied Epiphanius wrote it, and scholars still debate it.
I have heard that some claim to depict even the incomprehensible Son of God, yet I have no memory of seeing anything of the kind. Which of the ancient fathers of Christ, having painted an icon, ever placed it in a church or in a private house, or upon the lintels of doors? Which of the ancient bishops [painted] Christ?
- Rules out: Images venerated