The Cathodox repeatedly stress that Jesus is the “image of the invisible God,” using it as proof that we can make visible representations of Jesus and worship them. After all, if Jesus is the image of God, and we worship the Father through His Son, then why shouldn’t we worship the Son through images?
But Jesus isn’t the image of God after that manner. The word “image” really means “copy.” Jesus is the “exact image and representation” of the Father’s nature. He isn’t a lifeless icon, nor is He a visible icon of the Father. Remember, the Father is invisible! So if Jesus is a copy of the Father, he’s a copy of an invisible being. The flesh which Jesus wore was not copied from the Father, but from us. When you see His flesh, you see yourself, since He put on OUR nature. Jesus’ true nature is still invisible, being covered by a veil.
But the Cathodox continue to push this lie that the physical appearance of Jesus is what constitutes the image of God. They say God is honored when we bow down to lifeless images and offer them gifts, like incense, candles, and crowns. But the church fathers explicitly condemn the idea of worshiping God’s image through lifeless pictures:
Through the mouths of others also that serpent is wont to speak in this wise: “We adore visible images in honour of the invisible God.” Now this is most certainly false. For if you really wished to worship the image of God, you would do good to man, and so worship the true image of God in him. For the image of God is in every man, though His likeness is not in all, but where the soul is benign and the mind pure. If, therefore, you wish truly to honour the image of God, we declare to you what is true, that you should do good to and pay honour and reverence to man, who is made in the image of God; that you minister food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothing to the naked, hospitality to the stranger, and necessary things to the prisoner; and that is what will be regarded as truly bestowed upon God. And so far do these things go to the honour of God’s image, that he who does not these things is regarded as casting reproach upon the divine image. What, then, is that honour of God which consists in running from one stone or wooden figure to another, in venerating empty and lifeless figures as deities, and despising men in whom the image of God is of a truth? Yea, rather be assured, that whoever commits murder or adultery, or anything that causes suffering or injury to men, in all these the image of God is violated. For to injure men is a great impiety towards God. Whenever, therefore, you do to another what you would not have another do to you, you defile the image of God with undeserved distresses. Understand, therefore, that that is the suggestion of the serpent lurking within you, which persuades you that you may seem to be pious when you worship insensible things, and may not seem impious when you injure sensible and rational beings. – Recognitions of Clement, Book 5, Chapter 23
The Cathodox venerate and hold feasts in honor of “saints” who are actually murderers. They believe lifeless images hold more valuable than living people made in the image of God. There is no greater example to prove these people are deranged haters of God’s image than their beloved Saint Theodosia of Constantinople:
After some time, when the impious Leo seized the kingdom [the throne] and the most pious Theodosios had withdrawn from the kingdom, the scoundrel immediately cast down the great patriarch Germanos from the patriarchate with clubs and swords because he would not obey the impious dogmas. He then hastened to cast down and surrender to the fire the holy and masterly icon of Christ our God, which was situated above the gates—the place which, because of that image, is called the Chalkē [the Bronze Gate]. While this was being carried out and the guardsman was upon the ladder, intending to strike down the holy icon with an axe, the blessed Theodosia, along with other pious women, seized the ladder and, throwing the guardsman to the ground, delivered him to death. They then went to the patriarchate and stoned the impious Anastasios, the [intruder] patriarch. Immediately thereafter, the rest of the women were beheaded; but a certain cruel and inhuman executioner, dragging the saint toward the Bous [the Bull], took a horn and slaughtered her. Having competed so well in the struggle, they surrendered their spirits into the hands of God. Her assembly (Synaxis) is celebrated in the holy monastery of Christ the Savior the Benefactor [Euergetes]. – Synaxarium Constantinopolitanum [Hippolyte Delehaye’s 1902 edition, Column 828-830]
They call this woman Theodosia of Constantinople a saint and a martyr because she tried to prevent an officer from destroying an icon by deliberately knocking over the ladder he was climbing in order to make him fall to his death. She did this to save a painting. And thus, the Cathodox call her a martyr and celebrate a feast in her honor every year. That’s right, killing the LIVING image of God in order to save the DEAD image makes you a martyr! What are you, Muslims? It’s the Muslims who think that getting oneself killed while killing others is martyrdom, but true Christian martyrdom is when one suffers without inflicting harm on anyone else. This woman was rightly executed for murder.
1 Peter 2:19-20 – For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God.
1 Peter 4:12-16 – Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.
“But it wasn’t murder! The guard just HAPPENED to die when she knocked the ladder over!”
What if she had taken a knife and stabbed a man to death for destroying an icon? Would that be murder? It would? So your only contention is that her action wasn’t necessarily meant to KILL the man, but only to cause him severe bodily harm. That same reasoning could be applied to anyone who shoots at someone with a gun or stabs them with a knife.
I worked with my dad as a roofer for three years. Whenever my father or my brothers were climbing up a ladder to a precarious place, we would hold the ladder tightly for them to prevent it from falling. We knew a fall from a second or third story could be fatal. But this woman deliberately knocked the ladder out from under the guard, killing him. Tell me, if your child had climbed a tall ladder, and someone walked up and deliberately knocked the ladder over because they hated your child, and your child died, would that person not be a murderer?
As a Cathodox, you’re forced to justify murder, even praising it as heroic, all while pretending to honor the living image of God (which you clearly don’t). You are the true iconoclasts, destroying the image of God! This is a perfect illustration and summary of your satanic way of thinking. You put more value on a lifeless image you made with your own hands than the living image formed by God. You command that dead paintings be kissed, but you neglect the command from God to greet each other with a holy kiss. And the few of you that do practice some form of kissing don’t even do it on the mouth because it disgusts you.
Icons Attacking People:
The Cathodox are well aware of the weakness of their lifeless icons. That’s why they’ve made it a point to scare their congregations into thinking their icons might punish them if they’re not protected! Here’s a story often told about the most famous icon on Mount Athos, which they have named She Who is Quick to Hear, which holds its own feast day in the Orthodox church on November 9th. In the Dictionary of Eastern Orthodoxy (found on Orthodox Wiki), it says this:
“The best-known miraculous icon of the Holy Mountain Mount Athos, after Panagia Portaitissa [painted by Luke], is an ancient wall-painting of the Blessed Virgin….”
Here is the famous story of this wonderful, demonic painting:
The first testimony to the miracle-working powers of this icon was revealed in an incident that took place near the refectory of the monastery. Before the icon was a passageway, through which the fathers generally passed on their way to the Refectory. The steward also passed that way in the performance of his duties, not only by day, but also by night. Sometimes, in the night, he would pass before this icon while carrying a burning torch. Once, in I664,this steward, Nilos, while passing by as usual, with the torch giving off soot, heard a voice coming from the icon, which said, “In the future, do not come here with a lighted torch and do not blacken my Image with soot.”At first, Nilos was afraid of these words; but then, telling himself that one or another of the brothers had spoken to him, he went back quickly to his cell, passing on as before. A voice came to him a second time from the icon, saying, “Monk, unworthy of this name! Will you go on much longer carelessly and shamelessly blackening my Image?” At these words, the Steward went blind, and then only did he understand whose words these were; and, sincerely confessing his sin, he deemed himself worthy of such punishment for his inattention to the words of the Most Holy Virgin Theotokos. The brothers of the Monastery learned what had happened, and consequently they placed a sanctuary lamp before the icon, and had it censed every night, while praying diligently that Nilos might receive back his sight. Day, and night he prayed fervently and wept before the countenance of the Divine Mary, the Mother of our Lord. With sincere tears of repentance he entreated forgiveness for his inattentiveness toward her voice and that he might be healed’ And she, as the Good Protectress, did not disdain the prayers of the blind man.One day, while he was praying and weeping before the holy icon, he heard a voice: “Nilos! Your prayer has been heard. I forgive you and shall give back sight to your eyes. When you have received this mercy from me, announce to the brothers that I am their Protectress, the Guardian and Defender of this Monastery dedicated to the Archangels. Let them and all Orthodox Christians come to Me in necessities, and I will forsake not one of them. For to all who have recourse to me in veneration, I will be their Advocate, and all their petitions will be fulfilled by my Son and God, for the sake of my mediation before Him, for which reason My icon shall be called “She Who Is Quick To Hear;” for I shall speedily show mercy and fulfill the petitions of all who hasten to it.” Following these joyful words, Nilos received back his sight. Report of this miracle swiftly spread throughout the Holy Mountain and many monks, desiring to be eyewitnesses of this miraculous event which had been taken place in their time, came to the Monastery, where, with reverence, they prostrated themselves before the image of the Mother of God, and with amazement, saw the Steward who had been suddenly struck blind and then received back his sight. In the meantime, the brothers of the Monastery, by general consent, having prayed with sincerity and reverence to the Mother of God, closed up the passageway to the refectory. And having decorously enclosed the place where the holy icon was situated, to its right they erected a beautiful church in the name of the Most Holy Theotokos “She Who Is Quick To Hear.”
What a beautiful story! First the monks learned that their icons were helpless to protect themselves, just like the idols of the pagans, and after Mary got very angry at being blackened, the monk was struck with blindness! Oh, what wonderful miracles! These icons are such a boon to humanity, striking people with plagues! And oh, how “quick” was the icon to hear! It only took Nilus multiple DAYS of weeping and praying all night long to get a response! These icons are masters at gaslighting. The only quick thing about that icon was how fast it brought a curse on the monk! This is a perfect example to show how these demonic freaks have become full-blown idolaters, worshiping demons who have taken up their abode in paintings of unveiled women.
And the most admirable Justin has rightly denounced them as robbers. For, as it is the practice of some to capture persons and then to restore them to their friends for a ransom, so those who are esteemed gods, invading the bodies of certain persons, and producing a sense of their presence by dreams, command them to come forth into public, and in the sight of all, when they have taken their fill of the things of this world, fly away from the sick, and, destroying the disease which they had produced, restore men to their former state. – Tatian the Syrian, Address of Tatian to the Greeks, book 1, chapter 18
These spirits, therefore, are lurking under the statues and consecrated images: these inspire the breasts of their prophets with their afflatus, animate the fibres of the entrails, direct the flights of birds, rule the lots, give efficiency to oracles, are always mixing up falsehood with truth, for they are both deceived and they deceive; they disturb their life, they disquiet their slumbers; their spirits creeping also into their bodies, secretly terrify their minds, distort their limbs, break their health, excite diseases to force them to worship of themselves, so that when glutted with the steam of the altars and the piles of cattle, they may unloose what they had bound, and so appear to have effected a cure. The only remedy from them is when their own mischief ceases; nor have they any other desire than to call men away from God, and to turn them from the understanding of the true religion, to superstition with respect to themselves. – Cyprian, Treatise 6, chapter 7
Peter, anxious for such desirable life, and preferring his own benefit to that of many, had said, It is good for us to be here. But since charity seeks not her own, Jesus did not this which seemed good to Peter, but descended to the multitude, as it were from the high mount of His divinity, that He might be of use to such as could not ascend because of the weakness of their souls; whence it is said, And when he was come to the multitude; for if He had not gone to the multitude with His elect disciples, there would not have come near to Him the man of whom it is added, There came to him a man kneeling down, and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son. Consider here, that sometimes those that are themselves the sufferers believe and entreat for their own healing, sometimes others for them, as he who kneels before Him praying for his son, and sometimes the Saviour heals of Himself unasked by any. First, let us see what this means that follows, For he is lunatic, and sore vexed. Let the physicians talk as they list, for they think it no unclean spirit, but some bodily disorder, and say, that the humours in the head are governed in their motions by sympathy with the phases of the moon, whose light is of the nature of humours. But we who believe the Gospel say that it is an unclean spirit that works such disorders in men. The spirit observes the moon’s changes, that it may cheat men into the belief that the moon is the cause of their sufferings, and so prove God’s creation to be evil; as other dæmons lay wait for men following the times and courses of the stars, that they may speak wickedness in high places, calling some stars malignant, others benign; whereas no star was made by God that it should produce evil. – Origen of Alexandria, Commentary on Matthew 17:14-15
3. But what can be the reason that they love also to dwell in the tombs? They would fain suggest to the multitude a pernicious opinion, as though the souls of the dead become demons, which God forbid we should ever admit into our conception…. The possessed themselves, it is replied, cry out, “I am the soul of such a one.” But this too is a kind of stage-play, and devilish deceit. For it is not the spirit of the dead that cries out, but the evil spirit that feigns these things in order to deceive the hearers. For if it were possible for a soul to enter into the substance of an evil spirit, much more into its own body. Nor indeed is it possible for a soul, torn away from the body, to wander here any more. For the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God; Wisdom 3:1 and if of the righteous, then those children’s souls also; for neither are they wicked: and the souls too of sinners are straightway led away hence. And it is evident from Lazarus and the rich man; and elsewhere too Christ says, This day they require your soul of you. Luke 12:20 And it is not possible that a soul, when it is gone forth from the body, should wander here; nor is the reason hard to see. For if we, going about on the earth which is familiar and well known to us, being encompassed with a body, when we are journeying in a strange road, know not which way to go unless we have some one to lead us; how should the soul, being rent away from the body, and having gone out from all her accustomed region, know where to walk without one to show her the way? And from many other things too one might perceive, that it is not possible for a disembodied soul to remain here. For both Stephen says, Receive my spirit; Acts 7:59 and Paul, To depart and to be with Christ is far better; Philippians 1:23 and of the patriarch too the Scripture says, that he was gathered unto his fathers, being cherished in a good old age. And as to the proof, that neither can the souls of sinners continue here; hear the rich man making much entreaty for this, and not obtaining it; since had it been at all possible, he would have come, and have told what had come to pass there. Luke 16:27-28 Whence it is evident that after their departure hence our souls are led away into some place, having no more power of themselves to come back again, but awaiting that dreadful day. – John Chrysostom, Homily 28 on Matthew
Icons Can’t Defend Themselves:
When mocking the idols of the pagans, one of the first points mentioned by the church fathers (aside from images being lifeless, inferior to the worshipers, and made of corruptible matter) was that the idols couldn’t even defend themselves from thieves and attackers who might destroy them. The church fathers absolutely punk the stupid idolaters on this point, joking about how their idols are supposedly so powerful (even possessing the “energies” of God, as Athenagoras says), but they need their worshipers to dust them off and wipe away the cobwebs! These images can be easily destroyed by the worshipers if they’re not careful, and yet they’re worshiped as if they were superior!
One of the main attacks levied against Christians by the pagans was that they appeared to be atheists, worshiping no god at all. The Romans believed that real worship requires an altar, sacrifices, and most important of all, images. But Christians responded to the pagans by saying, “The true God is immaterial, and therefore He must be worshiped without an image, using spiritual sacrifices.” But if the Cathodox are correct, that Christians ALWAYS used images, altars, and incense, then this chapter in history never would have happened! The Christians never would have been accused of atheism if they had always worshiped God in the same way as the rest of the world!