www.byzcath.org Forums Mysteries: The Life of Worship Icons & Iconography The meaning of icons

It is impossible to understand the whole deepness and beauty of icons. But we can try with the help of a famous book by Leonid Ouspensky and Vladimir Lossky
http://books.google.ru/books?id=iqn...q=the%20meaning%20of%20icons&f=false

I personally like the lessons taught through iconography but I also feel that sometimes we read more into them than we ought

I like the deep spiritual format of icons but feel that there is something to be learned about religious imagery in general.

I am a bit confused by the HO ON in the Cross surrounding the head of Christ - it seems the King James Version indicated the symbol as "I Am" due to the fact that Western Christianity does not understand the Greek alphabet or symbolism

Just for a point of clarification, I did not mean to imply that Western Christianity does not seem to understand the Greek symbolism., but that the Western Church relies on imagery in a different manner (statues, holy pictures, etc.) but I do know that some of the symbols (such as Chi Rho and the Alpha and the Omega) are not completely foreign to Western Christianity. For exampole, Our Lady of Perpetual Help icon is deeply revered in the Western Church, although few people are aware of the deep symbolism in the icon.