On the Icons Sunday, celebrated during the Holy Fasting Period, rites were held in the churches of the Greek Orthodox, who mostly live in Istanbul, Izmir, Hatay and Mersin, within the scope of Covid-19 measures. The Istanbul Greek Patriarch, Patriarch Bartholomew, who led the ceremony held in the Istanbul Greek Patriarchate, blessed the icons. The Icons Sunday was celebrated with rites at the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in the Iskenderun district of Hatay and the St. Mihail and St. Gabriel Greek Orthodox Church in Mersin. In the holy liturgy, in which parts of the Bible were read, candles were lit and prayers were made, the consecration of icons was also performed.
While some members of the congregation in Hatay, under the leadership of Church Father Yusuf Nicholas Papasoğlu, toured the church with the icons they brought from their homes, special prayers were recited.
This special ritual, which was performed during the Lent Period, was also performed in other Orthodox Churches of Hatay. Congregation members also came together at Antakya Saints Peter and Paul Greek Orthodox Church, Samandağ Saint İlyas Greek Orthodox Church and Altınözü Sarılar Neighborhood Saint Georgios Greek Orthodox Church for the Icons Sunday Mass.
“Holy Icons are not ubiquitous Gods”
The Icons of the Holies testify that man was “created in the image and likeness of God” and sanctified as God’s living image through purification. For more than a hundred years, from the reign of Emperor Leo Isaurian (717-741) to the end of Theophilos’ reign (829-842), the Church of Christ was persecuted by icon breakers (iconoclasts).
After Theophilos’ death, his widow, Empress Theodora, fought to preserve Orthodoxy with Patriarch Methodios. This Queen, whose memory is eternal, honored the icon of God in front of Patriarch Methodius and other witnesses of faith and righteous people and said the following holy words: ”…Know that the Holy Icons are not ubiquitous Gods and are never worshiped, but whoever doesn’t show the necessary respect to holy icons and doesn’t show them affectionate respect just because they’re images of the prototype, damn him!”
With the decisions of the seventh universal council convened in Ephesus in 787, the church had won a victory over the deadly and false doctrine. These celebrations were established in 842 and an official document called the ‘Sinozikon’ was read in churches today. This document banned all superstitions and heretics by name. Orthodoxy is the church of ancestors, saints and righteous. Celebrating issues foretold by the Old Testament prophets and received from the apostles, penned by the ancestors and approved by the world. Through them, the holy church remained upright and showed the whole world the truth received from the Lord Jesus Christ.
In this Market of Icons, Orthodox people living in the majority of Istanbul, Izmir, Hatay and Mersin regions also remember this holy event and call the venerable day the Sunday of the victory of true teaching against heresy. (SAT-7 Turkish/İlyas Edip Terbiyeli)
