ee their icons, we recall their superior character and deeds. In doing this, we think pure thoughts and experience higher feelings. It is designed to lead us from the physical to the spiritual realm (Whiteford 1).Icons are intended to make us want to imitate the virtues of the people in the icons. The more the icons are seen, the more we want to mimic the people in them.The icons help transform our character and to bless us. They do this by instructing us, reminding us, uplifting us, and stirring us up morally and spiritually. They lead us to perfection. The more we dwell on perfection, the closer we come to it (Whiteford 1).The last function of the icon is a means of worship and veneration. It is a means of worshipping God and venerating His saints. It is symbolic, leading us from the material to the spiritual. When a person enters the Orthodox Christian Church, they light a candle and put it on the icon-stand on which is set the icon representing the sacred person, persons or event specially celebrated by the particular church. Then they bow before the icon, make a sign of the cross, kiss the icon, and say a brief prayer. This is not an act of worshipping the icon. Worship is only given to God. It is an act of honorable veneration (Copple 1). When the functions of icons are ignored and the important distinction between veneration and worship is lost sight of, iconoclasm, the condemnation of icons, is a result. This is what happened in 726. The Byzantine Emperor Leo the Isaurian issued an edict that condemned the making and veneration of icons. The icon is an image or symbol, and it is designed to lead us to that of which it is an image or symbol. The veneration of an icon is not the act of worshipping it. Anyone who would charge of idolatry shows ignorance to the nature and functions of icons. They are intended to help us grow in the image and likeness of God (Copple 1)....
