Religious Icons

While in the Los Angeles area this past weekend for a gigantic dorkfest moot court competition, I had the chance to visit The Getty Museum.  I hadn't researched the museum or its current exhibits, so I had the surprise of seeing a fascinating exhibit entitled "Holy Image, Hallowed Ground: Icons from Sinai."

The exhibit (see here for more info) focuses on a large collection of religious icons and other artifacts from the Monastery of St. Catherine, apparently the oldest continuously operating Christian monastery in the world.  St. Catherine's is situated at the base of Mount Sinai, near the burning bush where God spoke to Moses.  Mount Sinai is also where Moses received the Ten Commandments.  Today, the Monastery is part of the Eastern Orthodox Church.  Amazingly, the Monastery lent many precious icons to the Getty museum and allowed them to be transported halfway around the world to be exhibited.

Icons (paintings of saints or other Christian figures) are used in Orthodox practice in order to help provide a connection to the divine.  The idea is to confront the viewer with a reflection or image of holiness, and the icons are used both in private prayer and in corporate worship.  The internal-church battle during the 8th and 9th centuries over the use of icons gave us the term Iconoclasts, "a term that has come to be applied figuratively to any person who breaks or disdains established dogmata or conventions."   St. Catherine's icons were spared during this period because of its remote location within the Byzantine Empire.  Protestants in general don't appear to have a clear stand on icons (Calvin was against them, Luther was for them, as long as Christians "did not worship them in the place of God," according to wikipedia.)

Several things struck me about the exhibit.  First, the images were very powerful and moving.  Part of that was, I think, my knowledge that I was looking at some really old stuff that has been used by Christians in worship for almost 1,500 years in some cases.  Looking at these icons allowed me to participate in the same experience as many early Christians, which was almost surreal.

Another amazing aspect was the amount of people at the exhibit.  Near the end, there was a short film that was being shown, explaining the history of the monastery and the icons.  I found it very strange that what was really going on in this secular museum was a bit of worship.  If many of the visitors had heard of a similar exhibit at their local church, I wonder how many would have attended?  The two classmates I was with almost certainly would not have been there.  But, because of the context, the people visiting the exhibit got to experience something profound about the Christian experience.

Finally, I wonder about the word "iconoclast" and what meaning it has for us today.  In many ways, MBCC is part of an "iconoclastic" movement to break away from some dogma of the larger church (or at least that is my sense, Bruce can feel free to correct me :).  But in other ways, we are of course trying to maintain traditions and practices that are important to worship.  Seeing this exhibit made me realize that there is a whole aspect of worship that I hadn't really been acquainted with, since it is not part of western Christianity.  So, if there is a point to this paragraph, it is only that we should be careful of what we get rid of in the name of progress.

Comments

[PCha]

Thanks for sharing about your trip...sounds very interesting. I am a bit of a fan of Eastern Orthodox icons myself. Also agree with you about MBCC being iconoclastic, especially when it comes to religious traditions. But when it comes to cultural stuff, MBCC seems to be very iconic (if that's the correct word) and very much in tune with today's visual culture (e.g., video clips during sermons).

[Reyes-Chow]

nice post as usual and i am glad the dorkfest was good. in terms of mbcc being iconic or iconoclastic, i think what you will begin to see is more use of icons/images/art as it makes sense and helps us to move towards god. i have always been a big believer in bringing back the ancient in new ways, and now i think we are more ready for it.