The Moral, the Existential, and the Ontological
Part 7, Icons, Art, and Ontology
To write The Slavery of Death I did a deep dive into Eastern Orthodox theology. I did so to explore the Christus Victor themes in Orthodox soteriology, how they place death at the center of the human predicament. That is something I've already discussed in this series, how salvation concerns ontology (human finitude) as much as morality (love, social justice, and our need for grace). During my time studying Orthodox soteriology I also explored Orthodox iconography. Because of this, icons have become an important part of my devotional life.
For this series, here's the point I want to make about Orthodox icons. Icons are not merely "art." Icons are not simply "pictures." Rather, as the Orthodox put it, icons are "windows into heaven." That is to say, the icons ontologically participate in the realities they visually display. When you look at, say, an icon of a saint, that saint is really looking back at you through the icon. Just like you and I can look at each other through a glass window. Icons are mystical and sacramental in this way, ontological portals into heavenly realities. When you stand in an Orthodox church all the icons surrounding you display the "great cloud of witnesses" described in Hebrews 11. Heaven is directly "looking upon" the liturgy, connected and participating.
Let's now map all this onto our moral, existential, and ontological framework.
As a Protestant, my default approach to icons is primarily symbolic and aesthetic. The icon is "art." Holy and wholesome art, but primarily art. The icon, for me, isn't ontological. It isn't mystical or spooky, a real portal into the Otherworld. The icon isn't a "hole in the universe" through which another World can enter. The icon isn't the wardrobe that takes me into Narnia. My experience with the icon is largely symbolic and existential. The icon represents realities that are not immediately present. Heaven is vaguely "somewhere else" rather than looking directly at me.
It's this disconnection from the ontological layer that separates Christian art from Orthodox iconography. Christian art is moral and aesthetic, but not ontological. That Orthodox icons participate in and connect with ontological realities is what sits behind the Orthodox practices of icon veneration. Miss the ontological aspect of Orthodox iconography and you'll never understand veneration.
Personally, I find the Orthodox vision of icons as "windows into heaven" quite lovely. But as a Protestant I don't venerate icons. (Well, sometimes I do kiss icons and statues.) I stand, mostly, at an ontological remove. I find myself mainly on the aesthetic side of the experience and haven't wholly bridged over to the ontological. And a lot of that concerns practices. It's one thing to theologically appreciate an ontological insight. But it's quite another to experience ontological mysteries through practices of veneration. Incense, icon lamps, candles, bowing, kissing, and crossing yourself--these are practices that carry you across the art-to-ontology divide. And in many ways, icon veneration is just an example of what has to happen in all areas of our disenchanted lives if we are to bring the Impingement of the Real back into view.
Practices of hallowing and rituals of sacralizing, these are ontological interventions, ways to stitch ourselves back into the Real.
There is a vision here of how to punch a hole in the universe.
I struggle to see how participation can lead to bridging the gap, if I still don't believe in the ontological elements of something like icons, I can participate comfortably while personally acknowledging the artistic and symbolic meaning, but this doesn't seem to follow that this will lead me to truly believing in said ontological assertion behind the Orthodox view. And frankly I'm not sure yet that it matters, if they're right then absolutely it matters to bridge that gap and embrace the ontological truth, but if the Protestant perspective is correct, ontologically that is, that there is not some spiritual window to heaven there, only symbolic, then wouldn't it be wrong to try to convince yourself in some ontological belief.
Maybe my argument is simply I'm not convinced embracing EVERY ontological connection possible is wise, if some are inaccurate. This might be the case for some mainline 'believers' who find meaning in Jesus but don't believe in the ontological truth of his resurrection. But my belief is the primary distinction here is potentially just what may eventually be revealed to be ontologically correct someday. I do believe Jesus did that, but I don't believe icons are spiritual portals saints look through. Should I? Why?
Belief that something takes us to this magical world does change our experience. I saw this recently when I was down in the Amazon and spent time with people that have grown up in the small tribes in the jungle. Noises in the night are spirits, the jungle is made up of life from the beyond.... and I saw how it did enrich their lives. They are part of this greater, mysterious and magical place. Seeing the benefit, can I jump in? People often go down there to engage in the Ayahuasca ceremonies and this can take one there... certainly for a time. Is the icon any different than the belief in other pagan practices that lead to the heavens and the gods? Hm... Richard, you say that you have crossed into that mindset... and while I do believe in God and have faith that there is so much more, can we turn what we see, like an icon, into a more magical window to the heavens? As I see how amazing life is - creation, how animals find their way to their mate, find the one place they were born... how trees know to feed their sick neighbor.. or how our brains can match the brain of another, allowing for great empathy and attachment... all these things that also seem magical.... well, maybe that is a door.