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Glossary · Koine Greek

εἰκών

Image; likeness.

Tagged: Catholic Eastern Orthodox

Technical Meaning

A sacred image of Christ, the Mother of God, or the saints, painted on wood in the Eastern tradition and also worked in mosaic and carving. The Second Council of Nicaea (787) settled its place: the honor shown the image passes to the one it depicts, so icons receive veneration, never the worship due to God alone. John of Damascus grounded the practice in the Incarnation; God made visible can be depicted.

More Greek Terms

Illustration for aniconism Glossary Term aniconism Without images. An icon of Dionysius the Areopagite, the long-bearded bishop holding a scroll of his writings. Glossary Term apophatic By denial or negation. A round miniature of the creation of Eve, with God the Father blessing the new-made woman amid the animals of Eden. Glossary Term cataphatic By affirmation. An icon of the fathers of Nicaea holding the text of the creed, headed by the emperor Constantine. Glossary Term homoousios Of the same essence or substance. A fresco of Gregory of Nazianzus in bishop's vestments, holding the Gospel book and a pastoral staff. Glossary Term hypostasis That which stands under; a subsistence. Illustration for iconoclasm Glossary Term iconoclasm Image-breaking. A Byzantine mosaic of Christ washing the feet of his disciples at the monastery of Hosios Loukas. Glossary Term kenosis An emptying. A medieval miniature of the Tree of Jesse, with Christ's ancestors arranged in the branches of a great tree rising from Jesse. Glossary Term oikonomia Household management; the stewardship of a house. A Byzantine manuscript page of Aristotle's Metaphysics in Greek uncial, with later Latin notes in the margin. Glossary Term ousia Being; essence; substance. Andrei Rublev's icon of the Holy Trinity, the three angels seated in a circle around the table with the chalice. Glossary Term perichoresis A going around together; mutual indwelling. A page of a medieval commentary on Peter Lombard's Sentences, its dense Latin scholastic text filling two columns. Glossary Term theologia Speech about God; discourse concerning divine things. Theophanes the Greek's icon of the Transfiguration, Christ in white at the summit between Moses and Elijah, the disciples below. Glossary Term theosis Deification; being made god.

Related Across the Site

A medieval miniature of the Tree of Jesse, with Christ's ancestors arranged in the branches of a great tree rising from Jesse. Glossary Term oikonomia Household management; the stewardship of a house. A page of a medieval commentary on Peter Lombard's Sentences, its dense Latin scholastic text filling two columns. Glossary Term theologia Speech about God; discourse concerning divine things. A text in Arabic Language Arabic The scriptural and liturgical language of Islam, and a language of scripture and worship for Arabic-speaking Christians. A text in Biblical Hebrew Language Biblical Hebrew The original language of the Hebrew Bible, preserved in the square script with Tiberian vocalization, and still the language of Jewish prayer. A text in Classical Armenian (Grabar) Language Classical Armenian (Grabar) The classical language of Armenia, whose alphabet was invented for Bible translation; still the liturgical language of the Armenian church. A text in Koine Greek Language Koine Greek The common Greek of the Hellenistic world: original language of the New Testament and of the Septuagint, and foundational for Greek Christianity. A text in Septuagint Greek Language Septuagint Greek The Greek into which the Hebrew Bible was first translated, in Alexandria; the Old Testament of the early church and of Orthodoxy today. A text in Syriac Language Syriac The Aramaic dialect of Edessa: language of the Peshitta and of Syriac Christianity, still prayed in its churches.

Religious Art & Images

Andrei Rublev's Trinity icon: three angels seated around a table with a chalice, before the house, the oak, and the mountain. Art Entry Rublev's Trinity Andrei Rublev's icon of the three angels at Abraham's table (c. 1411), painted for the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius; the supreme achievement of Orthodox icon painting and its theology made visible. A panoramic view up into Hagia Sophia's dome and semi-domes, ringed with windows, the seraphim and the great Ottoman calligraphic roundels visible. Art Entry Hagia Sophia Justinian's great church in Constantinople (532–537), whose dome seemed to contemporaries to hang from heaven; and whose mosaics record, in one building, icon, iconoclasm, conquest, museum, and mosque.

The whole glossary