An icon
celebrating the veneration of icons, the Triumph of Orthodoxy is
the festal icon for the first Sunday of Great Lent. As Lent is a period of
communal fasting which continues for seven weeks, such triumphalism early on is
understandable: it helps to strengthen the faithful for the coming days. It is
also understandable given the century of struggle which preceded the events in
the Icon; years in which it seemed as though the Faith of the Church was
overcome.
Outwardly the
Icon is showing the result of a regional synod in Constantinople, held in 843
A.D., where the controversy over the veneration of Holy Icons was finally
settled. The debate over whether images of Christ, His angels, and the Saints
should be venerated, or even whether they should exist, raged for over a
century. The word “debate” masks the nature of the controversy: since 726 A.D,
various Byzantine emperors opposed to icons (iconoclasts) had used
state-sponsored violence to strip churches of images, imprisoning, mutilating,
and murdering those who continued to venerate the icons. Many priests and monks
– who in the main venerated icons – fled to parts of the Church outside of the
Byzantine Empire*: i.e. to Rome.
Upon the death
of the last Iconoclast emperor, Theophilos, his young son Michael III, with his
mother the regent Theodora, and Patriarch Methodios, summoned the Synod of
Constantinople in 842 to bring peace to the Church. The council affirmed the
legitimacy of the Second Council of
Nicea, which declared iconoclasm a heresy way back in 787,
and declared:
“We define that the holy icons, whether in color,
mosaic, or some other material, should be exhibited in the holy churches of
God, on the sacred vessels and liturgical vestments, on the walls, furnishings,
and in houses and along the roads, namely the icons of our Lord God and Savior
Jesus Christ, that of our Lady the Theotokos, those of the venerable angels and
those of all saintly people. Whenever these representations are contemplated,
they will cause those who look at them to commemorate and love their prototype.
We define also that they should be kissed and that they are an object of
veneration and honor, but not of real worship, which is reserved for Him Who is
the subject of our faith and is proper for the divine nature. The veneration
accorded to an icon is in effect transmitted to the prototype; he who venerates
the icon, venerated in it the reality for which it stands”.
After the
conclusion of the council there was a triumphal procession from the Church of
Blachernae to Hagia Sophia, restoring the icons to the church.
The Icon
depicting this event is often named, in Greek, the Restoration of the Holy
Icons (Η Αναστήλωσις των εικόνων). At the center
is the Icon of the Virgin Hodegetria, depicting the
Theotokos as the “Directress”, pointing to Christ in her arms. This icon is
believed to be the first one painted by the Evangelist Luke and so held a very
special place in Constantinople’s history. The icon is held high by two angels,
whilst gathered around are various saints and martyrs holding icons themselves.
The number and identity of the surrounding saints can vary, but the ones shown
in the icon at the top of this post are usually always shown.
They are:
Top row (from
left): St Theodosia (feast day May 29), Venerable Ioannikos
(Nov. 4), Theodore of the Studion (Nov. 11), Theodore Graptus (Dec. 27), and
Stephen the New (Nov. 28).
Bottom row: Regent
Theodora, the young emperor Michael, and Methodius, Patriarch of
Constantinople, who together convened the council (Jun 14); Michael, Bishop of
Synnada (May 23), and Tarasius, Bishop of Constantinople (Feb 25).
Not all of the
saints gathered were at the Council, and indeed some were murdered long before
the synod was convened; all are presented in the Icon because of their
unswerving defense of the Orthodox Faith regarding the veneration of icons.
Other related saints sometimes shown include St John Damascene (Dec 4), St
Theophylact (Mar. 8), and St Cassiane the Hymnographer (Sep 7).
All this
happened on the first Sunday of Great Lent, which is why the Triumph of
Orthodoxy continues to be celebrated on this day, often with processions of
Icons.
Source: https://iconreader.wordpress.com/2011/03/13/the-triumph-of-orthodoxy-and-holy-icons/
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