The Veneration of Sacred Objects

The Holy Scriptures speak of God being worshiped at his holy temple, where the ark of the covenant lay:

“Yahweh reigns, let the peoples tremble; He sits enthroned above the cherubim, let the earth quake! Yahweh is great in Zion, And He is exalted above all the peoples. Let them praise Your great and awesome name; Holy is He. The strength of the King loves justice; You have established equity; You have done justice and righteousness in Jacob. Exalt Yahweh our God And worship at the footstool of His feet; Holy is He.

“Moses and Aaron were among His priests, And Samuel was among those who called on His name; They would call upon Yahweh and He would answer them. He would speak to them in the pillar of cloud; They kept His testimonies And the statute that He gave them. O Yahweh our God, You answered them; You were a forgiving God to them, And yet an avenger of their evil deeds. Exalt Yahweh our God And worship at His holy mountain, For holy is Yahweh our God.” Psalm 99:1-9

The Greek rendering is interesting in that it speaks of God’s footstool being worshiped:

“Exalt the Lord our God, and worship his footstool (proskyneite to hypopodio ton podon autou); for he is holy.” Psalm 98:5 LXX 

And:

“Let us come into His dwelling place; Let us worship at the footstool of His feet. Arise, O Yahweh, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength. Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness, And let Your holy ones sing for joy...

“For Yahweh has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His habitation. ‘This is My resting place forever; Here I will inhabit, for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her needy with bread. Her priests also I will clothe with salvation, And her holy ones will sing loudly for joy. There I will cause the horn of David to spring up; I have prepared a lamp for Mine anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame, But upon him, his crown shall blossom.’” Psalm 132:7-9, 13-18

This indicates that God is not against material objects being made and venerated, since the temple itself is a physical icon patterned after the heavenly tabernacle where God dwells in the full display of his glory:

“And let them make a sanctuary for Me, that I may dwell among them. According to all that I am going to show you, as the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture, just so you shall make it.” Exodus 25:8-9

“And see that you make them after the pattern for them, which was shown to you on the mountain.” Exodus 25:40

“Then you shall erect the tabernacle according to its plan which you have been shown in the mountain.” Exodus 26:30

“Its poles shall be inserted into the rings, so that the poles shall be on the two sides of the altar when it is carried. You shall make it hollow with planks; as it was shown to you in the mountain, so they shall make it.” Exodus 27:7-8

“Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He, who spoke to Moses, directed him to make it according to the pattern which he had seen.” Acts 7:44

“Now the main point in what is being said is this: we have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister in the holy places and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices; so it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer. Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the Law; who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, ‘See,’ He says, ‘that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.’” Hebrews 8:1-5  

“But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy places once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the trespasses that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.

“For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it. For a covenant is valid only when men are dead, for it is never in force while the one who made it lives. Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the Law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, ‘This is the blood of the covenant which God commanded you.’ And in the same way, both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry he sprinkled with the blood. And according to the Law, one may almost say, all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

“Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter holy places made with hands, mere copies of the true ones, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy places year by year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.” Hebrews 9:11-28

“Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food.’ So Yahweh sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people so that many people of Israel died.

Another icon that God used to bring salvation or healing is the bronze serpent:

“Then the people came to Moses and said, ‘We have sinned because we have spoken against Yahweh and against you; pray to Yahweh, that He may remove the serpents from us.’ And Moses prayed for the people. Then Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Make a fiery serpent and set it on a standard; and it will be that everyone who is bitten and looks at it, will live.’ And Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the standard; and it happened, that if a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived.” Numbers 21:4-9  

Our Lord himself pointed to this icon being a type and foreshadowing of his crucifixion for the salvation of the world: 

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.” John 3:14-15

Christ’s appeal to the image of the bronze serpent opened the door for the Church to fashion and venerate icons of his crucifixion to bring about spiritual blessings and healings.

After all, if an image of a serpent on a pole could grant healing, how much more so an icon of the cross of the Incarnate Son of God who specifically died to heal the world of its sin?

In fact, this very notion is picked up by a letter attributed to Barnabas, which some believe was composed in the late 1^st century AD:

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In a similar way he makes another declaration about the cross in another prophet, who says, "'When will these things be fulfilled?' says the Lord. 'When a tree falls and rises up, and when blood flows from a tree.’" ⁶⁷ Again you have a message about the cross and the one who was about to be crucified. 2. And he again tells Moses, when Israel was attacked by a foreign people, to remind those under assault that they were being handed over to death because of their sins. The Spirit speaks to the heart of Moses that he should make a type of the cross (typon stavrou) and of the one who was about to suffer, that they might realize, he says, that if they refused to hope in him, they would be attacked forever. And so Moses stacked weapons one on the other in the midst of the battle, and standing high above all the people he began stretching out his hands; and so Israel again gained the victory. But then, when he lowered his hands, they began to be killed.⁶⁸ 3. Why was that? So that they may know that they cannot be saved unless they hope in him. 4. And again in another prophet he says, "All day long I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient people that opposes my upright path."⁶⁹ 5. Again Moses makes a type of Jesus (typon tou ‘Iesou), showing that he had to suffer and that he will again give life—this one whom they will think they have destroyed. This type came in a sign given when Israel was falling. For the Lord made every serpent bite them and they were dying (since the act of transgression came by Eve through the serpent). This was to convince them that they will be handed over to the affliction of death because of their transgression. 6. Moreover, even though Moses himself issued this command—"You will have no molten or carved image as your god"⁷⁰—he himself made one, that he might show forth a type of Jesus (typon tou ‘Iesou). And so Moses made a bronze serpent and displayed it prominently, and he called the people through a proclamation. 7. And when they came together they begged Moses to offer up a prayer on their behalf, that they might be healed. But Moses said to them, "When any of you is bitten, come to the serpent that is displayed on the tree and hope, in faith, that even though dead, it can restore a person to life; and you will then immediately be saved [or healed].” And they did this.⁷¹ Again you have the glory of Jesus in these things, for everything is in him and for him. 8. Again, why does Moses say to Jesus the son of Naue [Or: Joshua the son of Nun; Jesus is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew name Joshua], when he gave this name to him who was a prophet, that all the people should listen to him alone? Because the Father reveals everything about his Son Jesus. 9. And so, after Moses gave Jesus the son of Naue this name, he sent him as a reconnaissance scout over the land and said, "Take a small book in your hands and record what the Lord says, that in the last days the Son of God will chop down the entire house of Amalek at its roots."⁷² 10. Again you see Jesus, not as son of man but as Son of God, manifest here in the flesh as a type. And so, since they are about to say that the Christ is the son of David, David himself speaks a prophecy in reverential awe, understanding the error of the sinners, "The Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit at my right side until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.'"⁷³ 11. And again Isaiah says the following: "The Lord said to Christ my Lord, Ί have grasped his right hand that the nations will obey him, and I will shatter the power of kings.'"⁷⁴ See how David calls him Lord; he does not call him son.

⁶⁷ 4 Ezra 4:33; 5:5.

⁶⁸ Cf. Exod 17:8-13.

⁶⁹ Cf. Isa 65:2.

⁷⁰ Cf. Lev 26:1; Deut 27:15.

⁷¹ Cf. Num 21:4-8.

⁷² Cf. Exod 17:14.

⁷³ Ps 110:1. 

⁷⁴ Cf. Isa 45:1. (The Apostolic Fathers, Volume II: Epistle of Barnabas. Papias and Quadratus. Epistle to Diognetus. The Shepherd of Hermas, edited and translated by Bart D. Ehrman [Harvard University Press, in 2003}, pp. 57, 59, 61; emphasis will be mine)

The logic of Barnabas is biblically sound, since the bronze serpent was deliberately meant to foreshadow the vicarious death of the Lord Jesus on the cross for the salvation of the nations.

Therefore, since God himself commissioned the fashioning of the bronze serpent, why then would he be against his Church fashioning images of the cross of his uniquely beloved Son?

Further Reading

Veneration of Icons

VENERATION OF THE SAINTS PT. 1