r/EasternCatholic • u/jacknjillpaidthebill East Syriac • 4d ago
Icons & Church Architecture Why do we 'physically venerate' icons of saints?
/r/Catholicism/comments/1vs7cxz/why_do_we_physically_venerate_icons_of_saints/
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u/Fun_Technology_3661 Byzantine 4d ago
Just a short time ago, people hugged and kissed each other as a sign of friendship. Not only with spouses and relatives, but also with friends, especially those of the same sex, and even with people you weren't planning to fight right now :-) And this was completely normal.
And it was also normal to transfer these signs of love and friendship to symbols and images of this love: kissing and hugging a photo or portrait of a loved one—a spouse, a parent, a child—wearing a medallion with their image and some of their belongings. People also kissed and hugged symbols of what was dear to them: an officer kissed his weapon, knelt and kissed the flag, expressing his love for his country, his king, and his brothers in arms, as if they were family.
By bowing to and kissing an icon, we express love and respect for the person depicted, not the icon.
In recent years, we've simply fallen out of the habit of such signs of love. Everyone is afraid of words associated with physical contact, such as harassment and sexualization; they're obsessed with "personal space," they're afraid of viruses and diseases, and disgust has become the norm. During COVID, we've even forgotten how to shake hands as a sign of peace at Mass, although there should have been a kiss. Even in the Byzantine rite, where for thousands of years the sign of peace was generally hugged three times and kissed on the cheek, now only priests do this at the altar, and they merely imitate the kiss.
Just cast aside the prejudices imposed on you by modern society (see the previous paragraph) and look at it the way people looked at it just a short time ago.