Studia Theologica No. II (IV) / 2017
The icon – a testimony to the Incarnation of Christ the Saviour
His Eminence Varsanufie The theological foundation of icon veneration is examined through patristic, conciliar and liturgical sources, arguing that the icon's central dogmatic function is to bear witness to the Incarnation of the Son of God and the consequent possibility of human deification. Figures such as Saint Athanasius the Great, Saint John of Damascus, Father Stăniloae, and the Seventh Ecumenical Council are invoked to show that rejecting the icon is equivalent to denying the reality of Christ's Incarnation.