They have also other modes of honouring these images, after the same manner of the Gentiles. They crown these images, and set them up along with the images of the philosophers of the world that is to say, with the images of Pythagoras, and Plato, and Aristotle, and the rest. They also possess images, some of them painted, and others formed from different kinds of material while they maintain that a likeness of Christ was made by Pilate at that time when Jesus lived among them. 130–202) in his Against Heresies (1:25 6) says scornfully of the Gnostic Carpocratians: According to Lampridius, the emperor Alexander Severus ( r. 222–235), himself not a Christian, had kept a domestic chapel for the veneration of images of deified emperors, of portraits of his ancestors, and of Christ, Apollonius, Orpheus and Abraham. The 4th-century Christian Aelius Lampridius produced the earliest known written records of Christian images treated like icons (in a pagan or Gnostic context) in his Life of Alexander Severus (xxix) that formed part of the Augustan History. It went missing in 1204 when Crusaders sacked Constantinople, but by then numerous copies had firmly established its iconic type. Further legends relate that the cloth remained in Edessa until the 10th century, when it was taken by General John Kourkouas to Constantinople. 400 ?) mentions a painted image of Jesus in the story and even later, in the 6th-century account given by Evagrius Scholasticus, the painted image transforms into an image that miraculously appeared on a towel when Christ pressed the cloth to his wet face. This version of the Abgar story does not mention an image, but a later account found in the Syriac Doctrine of Addai ( c. 50 CE) sent a letter to Jesus at Jerusalem, asking Jesus to come and heal him of an illness. He relates that King Abgar of Edessa (died c. Īside from the legend that Pilate had made an image of Christ, the 4th-century Eusebius of Caesarea, in his Church History, provides a more substantial reference to a "first" icon of Jesus. Christian tradition dating from the 8th century identifies Luke the Evangelist as the first icon painter, but this might not reflect historical facts. It is unclear when Christians took up such activities. Statues and paintings of various gods and deities were regularly worshiped and venerated. Pre-Christian religions had produced and used art works. Image of the Saviour Not Made by Hand: a traditional Orthodox iconography in the interpretation of Simon Ushakov (1658). At the same time there has been change and development. Since then icons have had a great continuity of style and subject far greater than in the icons of the Western church. Widespread destruction of images occurred during the Byzantine Iconoclasm of 726–842, although this did settle permanently the question of the appropriateness of images. The icons of later centuries can be linked, often closely, to images from the 5th century onwards, though very few of these survive. Modern academic art history considers that, while images may have existed earlier, the tradition can be traced back only as far as the 3rd century, and that the images which survive from Early Christian art often differ greatly from later ones. Įastern Orthodox tradition holds that the production of Christian images dates back to the very early days of Christianity, and that it has been a continuous tradition since then. In the Greek language the term for icon painting uses the same word as for "writing", and Orthodox sources often translate it into English as icon writing. Comparable images from Western Christianity can be classified as "icons", although "iconic" may also be used to describe a static style of devotional image. Icons are most commonly painted on wood panels with egg tempera, but they may also be cast in metal, carved in stone, embroidered on cloth, done in mosaic or fresco work, printed on paper or metal, etc. Although especially associated with portrait-style images concentrating on one or two main figures, the term also covers most religious images in a variety of artistic media produced by Eastern Christianity, including narrative scenes, usually from the Bible or the lives of saints. The most common subjects include Christ, Mary, saints and angels. They are not simply artworks "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". An icon (from the Greek εἰκών eikṓn 'image, resemblance') is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, the Roman Catholic, and certain Eastern Catholic churches.