Number DOI: http://doi.org/10.33209/2519-4348-2707-9627-2024-12-152

VB. – № 12, 2024. – P. 33-45

Published: 22 October 2024

Summary

In modern religious literature, the polemic about the important issue – veneration of icons does not subside. The article rethinks the attitude of Christian apologists to cult images in the context of iconoclastic tendencies. The texts of early Christian authors dealing with this issue have been analyzed and systematized. The historical conditioning of their attitude to the veneration of cult images in the cultural and religious context of the era is highlighted. The analysis of the texts proves that the vast majority of their authors actually condemn pagan practices of venerating images, their critical statements do not apply to Christian images. However, some apologists, mostly intellectuals, whose theoretical baggage was formed under the significant influence of the ideas of Platonism, Stoicism and Hellenized Jewish philosophy (in particular, Philo of Alexandria), took a negative position regarding any religious images, including prohibition of their use in Christian worship. Following the Platonic tradition of a critical attitude towards fine art as an illusory reflection of reality, they denied the ability of art to express the sacred and, accordingly, the expediency of using religious images for a cultic purpose. It is substantiated that the ideas of early Christian apologists had a significant impact on the formation of the theory and practice of religious art. The paradox was that in the following centuries these ideas inspired not only iconoclasts, but also icon worshipers, who shared a negative attitude towards naturalistic illusionist images, contrasting them with the icon’s sacred symbolism. In our opinion, a promising direction for further research is the analysis of iconographic and semantic features of early Christian art.

Key words: religious images, early Christian apologists, theological discourse of icons, sacred art, iconoclasm, icon veneration.

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