How could God squeeze himself into our world and still be God? In what way was Christ both God and man? And what about those who sought to be followers of Christ—if they painted pictures of Christ and venerated them, were they moving toward the mystery of holy communion with God or were they moving away from it, opening themselves to the sins of heresy, idolatry, and pride? Iconoclasm was a century-long violent conflict in Byzantium over these very basic but difficult questions about God. The battle was eventually won by the “iconodules,” those who believed icons were a positive and even necessary element of Christianity. In 843, the Church instituted the annual “Triumph of Orthodoxy” feast day to remind the faithful that the icon or holy image is a fundamental consequence of Christ’s incarnation, and that icons are an integral part of the Orthodox faith.
Prosopon School founder Vladislav Andrejev observed that most renditions of the festal icon for the Triumph of Orthodoxy did not maximally express the theological implications of the event, but only visually restated the historical facts. In writing this “newly revealed” icon, Andrejev sought not only to testify to the historical event, but also to open up the scene to include a didactic representation of the theological triumph, or real significance, of the icon. This interpretation comes from Andrejev’s practicing of iconography for forty years and prayerful consideration of the writings of the theologians of the Church.
Christ, the Logos Emmanuel, is the firstborn image of God (Colossians 1:15). Along with the other sacramental actions of Church life, the writing and venerating of icons further incarnate God’s action and testify to the daily necessity of incarnation. In the New Testament, the apostle James says that “Faith without works is dead,” which, from an iconographer’s perspective, could be translated as “faith that does not gain an incarnate image is dead.” In other words, our very actions are the concrete image or icon of faith. Thus, icons testify to a real, touchable, knowable, gritty faith. Without them, faith is ephemeral, transitory, and changeable.
The first register depicts the historical triumph of icons by showing the throngs of faithful in the nave and the clergy inside the altar contemplating and celebrating together the mystery of the incarnation in Divine Liturgy. Through celebrating a communal meal, the “Eucharist,” called the “holy mysteries” in Orthodoxy, the faithful are united and initiated into a loftier participation of the Divine. The tiny Christ (Logos Spermatikos) lying in the chalice is the first of five icons of Christ depicted in the icon’s registers, arranged vertically from earth to the highest reaches of heaven, and begins our lofty ascent. Also, within this register is the second icon, an icon of the Theotokos “oranta,” who prays continually for the Church, for it is through her that the Son of God, the essential image, was enfleshed.
The second register thematically moves beyond the earthly realm into the heavenly, but still created, realm and shows yet another gathering, this time a formal Synaxis of Archangels. The angels celebrate the Eucharist simultaneously with the people on earth and bow toward the icon of the Logos Emmanuel, Christ. During the Divine Liturgy, the faithful affirm this concelebration by singing the Cherubic Hymn, “Let us, who mystically represent the cherubim and seraphim, sing the thrice-holy hymn to the life-giving trinity, lay aside all earthly cares, that we may receive the King of all, invisibly escorted by the angelic hosts. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.”
The gold background of the third register symbolizes a still higher and more mystical movement up the ladder into the Kingdom of Heaven. Here, we are brought into the uncreated realm at the throne of God. We behold the Place, or Face of his Presence, personified by the angel Shekinah, a name inherited from Jewish tradition and used by such Church Fathers such as Isaak the Syrian. The angel represents the Glory of the Lord and discloses Christ as Logos, the mystical icon, his hands raised in blessing.
In the fourth and highest register, the uncreated angels Holy Sophia and Holy Agaphia stand guard holding books that name the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end of all, Jesus Christ. He is the head of the heavenly and earthly Church, and He is the image of all actions depicted below in icons and in faith. We see that the Triumph of Orthodoxy is in fact his triumph. In Christ is gathered all the fullness of the Image (icon/action) of God. Under his great gaze, all ceremonial actions of the Church enact the mystical ladder or path that leads all who seek to grow from the Image into the Likeness of the Logos, the Son of God and Lord Jesus Christ.
The undepictable Word of the Father became depictable when
He took flesh of thee, O Mother of God, and He combined divine beauty with the defiled image, restoring its ancient dignity; and, in confessing our salvation, we express it in word and work.
~ Festal Kontakian