Saint Paisios of Mount Athos Answers the Questions of
his Young Visitor
The Orthodox Church uses the icons in prayer. Is this
the right thing to do?
The Lord says: “I am the Lord your God. You shall not
make for yourself a carved image nor any likeness of anything. You shall not
bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God”.
The Orthodox Church worships icons. Is this the right thing to do?
The saint
responded. A mother whose child is fighting in a war, fears for his life, day
and night. She is constantly in anguish and always anxious. Suddenly, she gets
a letter from her child with his photograph inside. When she sees the
photograph, what does she do? She takes it into her hands and she kisses it,
and afterwards she brings it up to her chest so that it always touches her
heart. Well, what do you think? Do you think that this mother with such burning
desire for her child believes that she is kissing a photograph? She, of course,
thinks that she is kissing her very own child! The situation is the same for
the faithful people who have a burning respect and passion for the All Holy
Theotokos and the Saints. We don’t venerate the icons but rather we venerate
the holy persons they depict. And we venerate these holy persons not because
they are the faces on the icons, but because they fought and many times they
died for Christ. God is jealous, that is the truth, though He is not jealous of
us venerating His own children (the saints). He is jealous when we venerate the
devil and the devil’s children. The father isn’t jealous of his own children.
Do not worry, the Lord is proud and happy when He sees you respecting and
loving His Mother and the Saints.
From the article “A conversation with Saint Paisios”
published in the journal “Osios Gregorios” a publication of the Holy Monastery
of Osios Gregorios of Mount Athos 20th edition (1995),
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