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Orthodox Icon and Religious Image. an Inter-Religious Analysis

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Orthodox Icon and Religious Image. an Inter-Religious Analysis ORTHODOX ICON AND RELIGIOUS IMAGE. AN INTER-RELIGIOUS ANALYSIS Ioan Emil JURCAN Abstract: This paper is a comparison between different religious icons, images or symbols. Such an approach is necessary in order to highlight the iconic depth of an authentic Christian theology. Every religion has, as a symbolic element, the idea of struggle and spiritual power, but Orthodoxy implies love and the anastasic meeting with God, rather than the force. I will present several symbols from Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, etc. In these symbols we will seek the common elements that can create a connection between these religions and the Christian world. The orthodox Icon has a line that exceeds any other non-Christian religious symbols. It is about the epectatic dimension that turns art into a ladder of Bethel, an ascent to the infinite Divine, which is not force, fecundity, or abundance, but primarily Love. Keywords: Christianity, Islam, icon, image, Shinto, Hinduism Introduction The terms image and icon need a key element in their mutual relationship, namely the term man. It does not necessarily mean man as an individual, but especially man in his connection with God. Man becomes an image, but he can also achieve the tendency towards the icon. He is an image through creation, but his purpose is to become an icon. The world is therefore based on images, but these images have as a result the path towards the iconic state, towards the state of holiness. The equation icon-image mainly applies to the man with transcendental tendencies, the man in search of the sacred and of holiness. In any religious cult, man needs the sacred image, that is why there are no PhD, Professor, “1 Decembrie 1918” University of Alba Iulia (Faculty of Orthodox Theology), Alba Iulia, Romania. 16th International Symposium on Science, Theology and Arts (ISSTA 2017) religious beliefs without having sacred, imagistic landmarks. The sun is an almost universal image in all pre-Christian religions, and even after Christ. Why was the sun chosen as a sacred image or icon of the divine? Before answering, we must say that we find the sun as a landmark in almost every religion of the world. In some of them it is even the supreme deity of heaven, the reference point of any cult. 1. The Sun as an Icon in different religions. Egyptian Religions We will take as an example the faith of the Egyptians. The forty- two districts had the same cult: the cult of the sun. Whether it was called Atum or Aton or Ra or any other collateral name, it was the same: the sun. Not necessarily the solar celestial body, but especially the idea of life derived from the sun was the condition that made this star to be the religious landmark of the Egyptians. The Egyptians knew very well that where the sun rises and where the light is, there is life. The opposite of the sun, of light, and of vegetation, means desert, dryness, darkness and death. Thus, the fact that the shore of the Nile, flooded and penetrated by the sun’s rays, was rendered very fertile for agriculture, and gave two grain crops per year and other vegetables needed for life, made the Egyptians dependent on the cult of the sun. The Pharaoh, in his conflict with Moses, also receives as a punishment, among the ten wounds, the darkening of the sun. An eclipse that lasts a few days defies scientific explanation of such a phenomenon and creates panic among the Egyptians and the Pharaoh’s court. When the sun does not appear for a few days, the religious system of Egypt falls, because Ra is the reference center of the cult, and the Pharaoh is Ra’s son. When Ra no longer shows his face, God is gone, God is no longer, or no longer wants to be the God of Egypt. And immediately the Pharaoh promises to let the people go out of the country, obviously to the country where milk and honey flow, Canaan. 2. The Image in Precolumbian Civilization Another civilization related to the cult of the sun is the pre- Columbian one: the Mayan and the Azteca, but also the Inca. In these religious cultures the sun is also vital. The people depend on the sun and, as such, they create a mythology of their need for the sun to emerge from 232 ARS LITURGICA. From the Image of Glory to the Immages of the Idols of Modernity its weakness during winter and to become strong and fertilize the earth. The sacrifices of the hearts, that were being performed daily, through the pulse of the heart pulled out of the chest, helped to push the sun on the circumference of the sky, and as such, people felt the blessing of this god. Almost all the temples were east-west oriented, precisely to capture the sun’s circuit on the circumference of the sky, and to accomplish this cult in the complexity of the daily life. In the Aztec culture, the sacrifice of the heart to the sun was a normal practice, which made the Spanish conquistadors unable to accept such a cruel society that naturally kills hundreds and thousands of people for just a few pulses that were considered the driving force that pushes the sun into the sky. 3. Shintoism and Image Below, I would like to take some religious symbols of other religions, to compare them semantically and in depth with the Christian ones. Having this path, I wanted to capture some of the symbolic elements of the Far East, then to get closer to the Christian European world. For the Japanese world, the sun is the central symbol, represented under the name of the goddess Amaterasu1. The royal family is believed to descend from this goddess, a fact which gives it a maximum priority in Japanese society. The Japanese defeat in World War II lessened this cult of royalty. And yet, these three elements (the comb, the mirror and the sword) are considered to be the three things received by the royal house from Amaterasu. The symbolic religion of Japan defines the boundaries between the sphere of the sacred and the profane. The entrance into the sacred world is done through a delimitation: it is that tori gate or the sacred rope that breaks the world. The world, for this faith, is one that must be continually purified of evil spirits. For this purpose, a kind of whiplash is used to rid the evil, which leads more to an empathetic magic and less to spiritual depth. This is the onus. The space is thus bounded between the sacred (the world of kami) and the profane (the world of demons), and kannushi (the Shintoist priests) are the ones who delimit this world. The samurai society, the bushido code, the kamikaze rule, the 1 On this subject see J. Gordon MELTON, Religious Celebrations. An Encyclopedia of Holidays, Festivals, Solemn Observances and Spiritual Commemorations, vol.I (A-K), Santa Barbara – Denver - Oxford, ABC CLIO, 2011, p. 492- 493. 233 16th International Symposium on Science, Theology and Arts (ISSTA 2017) blind sacrifice for the hierarchical superior, all these elements create out of this civilization a spirituality of total obedience of sacred character. The simplicity of the temples and the harmony in that space is complemented by the total obedience to the rule of law, considered as coming from the goddess Amaterasu. 4. Cult of Image in Hinduism In the Hindu world, the religious symbol has another valence, because the religious thinking emphasizes the world’s cyclicality and reincarnation. Here we find as symbolic and iconic element, highly appreciated by the Hindus, the famous dance of Nataraja representing the world in relation to the god Shiva. Everything is supposed to be a sacred dance, in which the god dances on the head of the Apasmara demon, symbolizing ignorance, within a circle of fire (the symbol of cyclicality and reincarnation). Shiva is the god of destruction in view of reconstruction, for through it the world is destroyed to create another cosmic cycle. The raised right hand symbolizes creation, while the left hand represents the destruction of the creation. The right hand lowered to the chest means protection, and the left-hand shows salvation. The world is the circle of fire, and the snake that cools it represents the energy (kundalini). Here as well the soteriological differences are insurmountable. What Hinduism has in its terrifying iconography is the image of Shakti, which appears as a woman desiring blood, which brings death and reincarnation (Fig. 5). The gods of well-being and happiness sometimes have animal faces such as Ganesha (Fig. 6), or Hanuman, the monkey god (Fig. 7). What can we conclude in this speech? That there is a big difference about soteriology and human life in its earthly evolution towards the Christian faith. It is another perception of the idea of salvation and of relating to the divine. 5. Image in Islam The Islamic world, which completely lacks symbols and images, still has some images that are considered part of the historical ensemble of Islam. If Muslims have eliminated from the Mosque any form of painting representing a human being or any kind of creature, they have 234 ARS LITURGICA. From the Image of Glory to the Immages of the Idols of Modernity instead kept images defining this religion. It is the presence of the sword and the Qur’an, which has become the leitmotif of radicalism. It started from Muhammad’s famous sword, which appears on some flags of Muslim countries (Fig. 8)2.
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