Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv and All Ukraine shared a message on social media reflecting on the theological meaning of icons and their central place in the Orthodox faith, especially in connection with the Sunday of Orthodoxy and the beginning of Great Lent.
In his message, the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine emphasized that the Church’s teaching on icons was definitively affirmed by the Second Council of Nicaea, which rejected both iconoclasm and superstitious forms of idolatry.
“The theological teaching about icons… was confirmed by the Seventh Ecumenical Council,” he wrote. “Icons are not simply images of the Lord Jesus Christ and the saints, but a material witness of our faith in the truth of the incarnation of the Son of God and in the truth of our salvation through union with Him and deification by grace.”
Metropolitan Epifaniy explained that while the divine nature is invisible and cannot be depicted, the Son of God truly became human through the Incarnation. Because Christ assumed a visible human body, His earthly image—seen by those who witnessed His life, death, and resurrection—can be represented in iconography.
“In this way the Church bears witness to its faith in the true incarnation of the Son of God,” he wrote, adding that when believers venerate icons, they do not honor the material itself but the person depicted. Through icons, prayers and reverence are directed toward Christ, the Theotokos, and the saints.
He also warned against misunderstanding the meaning of icons. Some, he said, treat sacred images in a superstitious way, as if the icon itself possessed power. The Church, however, teaches that all grace comes from the Holy Trinity alone.
The Metropolitan stressed that the proper veneration of icons affirms key truths of the Christian faith: the Holy Trinity, the Incarnation of Christ, and the possibility of human salvation through union with Him. “Those who reject the veneration of holy icons thereby cast doubt on the faith in the incarnation of the Son of God and in humanity’s ability to attain salvation,” he wrote.
Reflecting on the first Sunday of Great Lent, he reminded believers that salvation cannot be achieved through external practices alone. Fasting, repentance, or self-reflection without true faith in Christ and participation in the sacramental life of the Church cannot lead to salvation.
Finally, Metropolitan Epifaniy drew a parallel between historical and contemporary challenges facing the Church. Just as the Church overcame iconoclasm in the past, he said, it must also confront modern ideological distortions.
“As in the past the iconoclasts disturbed the Church, so today the followers of the ‘Russian world’ disturb it,” he wrote. “But we believe that no matter how long it takes, this storm will be calmed by God’s power, truth will prevail, and true Orthodoxy—not distorted by false teachings—will once again triumph.”
