Skip to the content
Icon of Christ
› ›

Statues

tu es Petrustu es Petrus
edited December 1969 in Non-Orthodox Inquiries
What is your view of veneration of Statues?
i know that the Orthodox venerate Icons.

In the Latin rite of the Catholic church we venerate statues.

God bless,

Sam

Comments

  • astral_angelastral_angel
    wut does venerate mean?
  • tu es Petrustu es Petrus
    venerate \VEN-uh-rate\, verb:
    To treat someone or something with deep respect, reverence or deference; revere.

  • minatasgeelminatasgeel
    i we don't except them because they are like idels. and we worship the one ALL-HOLY God and not any Statues that are made of stone or anything else. and by the way that's one of oour church dogmas(rites), that there's no Statues in a COC church. only icons because by looking at an icon of a saint, you would know what is his or her story. and that's in our church, icons are WRITTEN not drawn. i would try to get you more info about that.

    tu es Petrus , where do you live and if in the US where excatly. i think you a lot of quations about our church and everything. so i thought you might wanna come to like a youth english meeting. i think a lot of church are around especily in NJ.
    so tell me about if you're intersted.
  • tu es Petrustu es Petrus
    I live in Maryland. we have a couple of coptic Orthodox churches around. I am actually very confused about the present situation in the Catholic church. But i do not know if my relegion allows me to go to such meetings.

    God Bless,

    Sam
  • minatasgeelminatasgeel
    i think it's no prob to do so. it's just a normal english touth meetings. i think you sould ask and see if you're allowed.
  • tu es Petrustu es Petrus
    what exactly is it?
  • minatasgeelminatasgeel
    what we do here in nj is, a prayer in the agpeya, than some songs, and than a small sermon. it's not really a sermon but it's like a topic or a disgussion. it's somtimes abouna but mostly church servants. and than we go to like a game room, and have aghapy and some fun for a while. am sure it's vary similer up ther.
  • tu es Petrustu es Petrus
    cool thanks for the information :)


    sam
  • mmatt95mmatt95
    actually, there's nothing wrong with statues, thats what we believe. We just don't use them in the coptic church, because of our history with pagan egyptian religion idols.
    It's a matter of tradition, an icon and a statue basically serve the same goal, and both have nothing to do with idol worship, because we venerate the persons they represent, and do not worship (in the case of an icon/statue of Christ) / venerate the statue / icon itself.

    if the use of statues was wrong in church, we wouldnt have them in our homes either.
  • tu es Petrustu es Petrus
    [quote author=Hos Erof link=board=12;threadid=3041;start=0#msg45625 date=1137109387]
    actually, there's nothing wrong with statues, thats what we believe. We just don't use them in the coptic church, because of our history with pagan egyptian religion idols.
    It's a matter of tradition, an icon and a statue basically serve the same goal, and both have nothing to do with idol worship, because we venerate the persons they represent, and do not worship (in the case of an icon/statue of Christ) / venerate the statue / icon itself.

    if the use of statues was wrong in church, we wouldnt have them in our homes either.


    That is exactly what we believe! I here many orthodox call my an idolater becasue i own statues and venerate them. But i also own Icons of the greek tradition that i venerate.
  • PopeKyrillosPopeKyrillos
    Hey again,

    I think the whole idea of staues is weird. A question about that came to Bishop Suriel at the convention. He said the are not banned from the church. They are just not encouraged, Because like you said mina about the idol thing.

    PopeKyrillos
  • Unknown
    I know this discussion has grown somewhat cold, but I would like to interject something in hopes of bringing in some historical information. The Western Church, long before any schisms with the East, has always had a tradition of venerating statues. They could not have known about Eastern traditions of venerating icons instead. There was no internet in those ancient times (ha!).

    This being said, however, there is more that separates East and West today than mere differences in customs. Ecclesiology, the theological understanding of what makes the Church THE CHURCH is what keeps Romans and the Orthodox apart. Let's go beyond surface differences to get at those things which truly separate the descendants of West and East. I hope that rather than casting aspersions upon customs we don't understand we can instead come to understand the real reasons we are no longer in One Church and work to heal these wounds for the glory of Christ.
  • Unknown
    There's nothing wrong with statues as such (although they were generally avoided in order to discourage idolatry). However, we do not use them because they cannot serve the same function as an icon.

    A statue is a 3 dimesional object, usually attempting to capture a person as they would have looked when they were alive in the world, thus pointing us no further than where we are. The purpose of an icon is to portray a person in their glorified state. They are called windows into heaven and point us to towards the next world, something 3D objects cannot do affectively.
  • Unknown
    In my opinion, and it may be wrong, I think that we don't because it may be like a practice of worshipping idols. I'm not sure. I would expect it not to be, but maybe Orthodox11 may be right. I think that it's kinda like regoing through the earlier practice of idolism.

    love lots,
    CopticChica21
  • Kristina123Kristina123
    have you noticed there are no statues inside a church nothing is 3D only 2D images are allowed as i guess a 3D one can be considered like an idol!?!?! (someone told me that once)
  • kokiiekokiie
    i think its fine having statues in our homes because we dont look up to the statues as saints/ God.. but rather a figure that represents them.
Sign In or Register to comment.