On the Divine Images: Theology Behind the Icons and their Veneration in the Early Church

Abstract

This article looks into the history of the church and its dealings with iconoclastic controversy of the 8th century. The research singles out various concepts in discussion of the most prominent apologetic to the iconoclastic movement and theologian of icon veneration – Saint John of Damascus. Looking through the theological discourses of Saint John of Damascus the article detects the early church teaching about icons and their veneration in the liturgical tradition of the early Christianity. The relevance of such a research is such that it addresses modern iconoclastic concepts and misunderstandings of the tradition of icon veneration from the scholarly and theological, as well as from the historical perspectives.