What is the Second Commandment?
Thou shalt not make to thyself an idol, nor likeness of anything, whatever things are in the heaven above, and whatever are in the earth beneath, and whatever are in the waters under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down to them, nor serve them; [Exodus 20:4-5 Brenton's LXX]
How is this Commandment to be understood?
This Commandment is distinct from the former, for that treateth concerning the True God, and His being only One, and taketh away and prohibiteth the vain crowd of false Gods; whereas this Commandment relateth to certain outward rites and ceremonies. Namely, that we should not only not worship false gods, but that we should also not make or dedicate any graven image in honor of them; nor give religious worship unto idols, or perform sacrifices and solemn rites to them. Those, therefore, sin against this Commandment who worship idols as gods, and offer sacrifice unto them, and trust in them. According to the Psalmist, “The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the works of the hands of men; A mouth have they, but they shall not talk; eyes have they, but they shall not see; Ears have they, but they shall not hearken; for neither is breath in their mouth. May the ones making them become like them, and all those having trusted in them!” [Psalm 134:15-18 Brenton's LXX]
They also break this Commandment, who give themselves up to covetousness; of whom the Scripture speaketh thus, Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. [Col. 3:5 ONT] Gluttons, likewise, and they who are given up to riotous living, sin against this Precept; of whom the Scripture thus speaketh, “whose god is the belly, and who glory in their shame—they who mind earthly things!” [Phil. 3:19b ONT] Moreover, they are guilty of breaking this Commandment, who use enchantments and juggling; who put their trust and confidence in fortune and fate; who seek by sooth-saying and divinations to know what is to come to pass, and pretend to foretell future things by the lines of the hand, by witchcraft and conjuring up of spirits, by observations of water, and the like. They, also, who endeavor by spells and sorcery to transform men into brutal forms; and they who wear amulets for turning away of evils, and who carry about them, or bind on their bodies, scrolls inscribed with oracles, or prophecies, or magical characters; and by looking on such scrolls, or muttering over them certain invocations, or whirling them around them, do believe that nothing, whilst such charms are present, can have power to hurt them; whether fire, or water, or sword, or any other weapon. And all they who use conjuring wands, knotted strings, and other unlawful remedies; which are also condemned and disallowed by the art of curing and physicians. Whether the same be by magical verses, or characters, or any other kind of thing, which they hand up, or interweave, untie, or any way else apply; as in earrings for the ears, in rings for the fingers, or otherwise.
What are we to think of the Images, which the Church worshippeth and reverenceth?
There is a very great difference between images and idols. An idol is a mere fiction and invention of men; as the Apostle testifieth, [“Concerning then the eating of things sacrificed to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God except one.” 1 Cor. 8:4 ONT] An idol is nothing in the world. But an image is a representation, shewing forth a real thing that is actually being in the world; as the image of our Saviour Christ, of the holy Virgin Mary, and of all other Saints. Besides, the heathens worshipped their idols as god, and offered sacrifices unto them; thinking gold and silver to be true deities; as of old did Nebuchadnezar [cf. Daniel 3]. Whereas we, in worshipping and reverencing images, do not adore the painting or the wood, but we respect the Saints who are thereby represented; and worship [venerate] them with that kind of worship which is called dulia; placing them, by the representation, before our eyes as if they were in our sight, and we really beheld them. As, for instance, whilst we worship a Crucifix, we thereby set Christ Himself before our mind, hanging upon the Cross for our Salvation; and unto Him, with religious gratitude, do we bend our knees and bow down our heads. So, in like manner, when we reverence the Image of the Virgin Mary, we ascend, in our minds, unto the most holy Mother of God; to her it is that we bow down our heads; to her we bend our knees; and it is her, with the Archangel Gabriel, we proclaim the most blessed of all men and women. It is evident, therefore, that the worship of holy Images, which is received into the Orthodox Church, is not contrary to this Commandment; as it is neither the same with that which is given to God, nor is it addressed unto the work of art, that is, the picture, but unto the persons of those Saints whom the Images represent unto us. Furthermore, as the Cherubims that overshadowed the Ark of the Covenant [cf. Exodus 25:10-28] represented those real Cherubs who serve God, and stand before His Face in Heaven; and the Israelites worshipped and reverenced them without breaking this Commandment of God: and in like manner, as the Jews sinned not, nor broke this Command of the Decalogue, but rather honored God with more glory, when they worshipped the Ark of the Covenant, and received it with honor and respect. [And the ark of the Lord lodged in the house of Abeddara the Gethite three months, and the Lord blessed all the house of Abeddara, and all his possessions. And it was reported to king David, saying, The Lord has blessed the house of Abeddara, and all that he has, because of the ark of the Lord. And David went, and brought up the Ark of the Lord from the house of Abeddara to the city of David with gladness. And there were with him bearing the ark seven bands, and for a sacrifice a calf and lambs. And David sounded with well-tuned instruments before the Lord, and David was clothed with a fine long robe. And David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of a trumpet. ... And they bring the ark of the Lord, and set it in its place in the midst of the tabernacle which David pitched for it: and David offered whole-burnt-offerings before the Lord, and peace-offerings. And David made an end of offering the whole-burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, and blessed the people in the name of the Lord of Hosts. And he distributed to all the people, even to all the host of Israel from Dan to Bersabee, both men and women, to every one a cake of bread, and a joint of meat, and a cake from the frying-pan: and all the people departed every one to his home. II Basileion 6:11-19 Brenton's LXX] So neither do we transgress this Command of the Decalogue by reverencing holy Images, but rather more highly praise God, [for] “Wonderful is God in His saints.” [Psalm 67:33a OP]
Nevertheless we must take care that every Image has the name of the Saint it representeth inscribed on it, that thereby it may be the more readily answer the intention and design of the worshipper.
We may add, furthermore, in conformation of what we have said concerning the worship of holy Images, that the Church of God, in the Seventh General Council, hath pronounced a dreadful anathema against the image-breakers; and hath established and confirmed, to all ages, the worship of holy and venerable Images: as it is manifest in the IXth Canon of that Council.
[Canon IX of the Seventh Œcumenical Council: “All boyish whim whams and mad bacchanalia, the false writings that have been brought forth against the venerable icons, must be turned in to the Bishopric of Constantinople to be put away together with the rest of heretical books. If, on the other hand, anyone should be found hiding these, if he be a Bishop, a Presbyter, or a Deacon, let him be deposed from office; but if he be a layman or a monk, let him be excommunicated. Interpretation: The present Canon decrees that all the false writings which the iconomachists composed against the holy icons and which are flimsy as children’s toys, and as crazy as the raving and insane bacchantes—those women who used to dance drunken at the festival of the tutelary of intoxication Dionysus—all those writings, I say, must be surrendered to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, to be put together with the other books by heretics—in such a place, that is to say, that no one will ever be able to take them therefrom with a view to reading them. As for anyone who should hide them, with a view to reading them himself or providing them for others to read, if he be a bishop, a presbyter, or a deacon, let him be deposed from office; but, if he be a layman or a monk, let him be excommunicated.” Rudder, Cummings, trans., Orthodox Christian Education Society, Chicago, 1957, p. 439.]
For what reason, then, was Hezekiah praised in the Old Testament, who break in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had formerly set up and dedicated? [“And it came to pass in the third year of Osee son of Ela king of Israel that Ezekias son of Achaz king of Juda began to reign. ... And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David did. He removed the high places, and broke in pieces the pillars, and utterly destroyed the groves, and the brazen serpent which Moses made: because until those days the children of Israel burnt incense to it.” (IV Basileion 18:1-4 Brenton's LXX) Note: the Hivites—snake worshippers—were one of the national groups living in Canaan that the Israelites failed to remove when they entered the Promised Land, and, in the end, they intermarried and "served their gods" (cf. Deut. 12:2 and Judges 3:6); it is easy to imagine in this case that the brazen serpent became to these people a god.]
Because the Jews began to fall away from the worship of the true God, worshipping the serpent as true God, and offering incense unto it; as the Scripture sheweth. Therefore to cut off this evil, and that it might not spread further, Hezekiah break in pieces the serpent, that it might give no further occasion of idolatry to the Israelites. But had there not been given unto it the worship of latria, he would not have broken the serpent, nor have condemned the Israelites of idolatry. We Christians do not worship images as gods, nor in our approaches to them do we depart from the latria which is due only to God Himself; but rather, by the help of the image, are we, as it were, led by the hand unto God; whilst, in their images, we honor the Saints as the Friends of God, with the worship of dulia, and beseech them to render our God propitious and favorable unto us. But if anyone, out of ignorance, should worship images, otherwise that herein is taught, surely it would be better that such an one should be instructed rightly in this matter, than that the worship of venerable images should be banished of the Church.
Q. What is forbidden in the Second Commandment?
A. Idolatry
Q. What is idolatry?
A. Idolatry is giving divine worship to any image, or the likeness of any thing that is in heaven, in earth, or in the water under the earth; that is, when one approaches such an image in the humility of his heart, and fears it, puts his confidence in it, as having in itself invisible virtue or efficacy. Thus the old heathens worshipped images, which the Christians do usually, by way of contempt, call idols.
Q. What shall we say of images used by Christians?
A. These are not idols; for they were not introduced in order to be worshipped, but to bring to our remembrance the Works of God; neither is the respect paid them to be esteemed idolatry, while it cannot be called divine worship, such as that formerly preached in Greece, and mentioned in the Seventh General Council, which forbids to put our confidence in them, or to worship them in spirit and in truth, as we do the Supreme God, though it allows a civil respect, such as embracing or kissing, to be paid to the images of Christ, or the Saints, directing the devotion to God only when thou bowest before the images.
[The Symbolum, from the Decree of the Faith of the Fourth Session of the Seventh Œcumenical Council, or Nicæa II, of A.D. 787: “Christ has delivered us from idolatry by His incarnation, His death, and His resurrection. It is not a Synod, it is not an Emperor, as the Jewish sanhedrim (the false Synod of A.D. 754) maintained, which has freed us from the error of idolatry; but it is Christ the Lord Himself who has done this. To Him, therefore, belongs the glory and honour, and not to men. We are taught by the Lord, the apostles, and the prophets, that we ought to honour and praise before all the holy God-bearer, who is exalted above all heavenly powers; further, the holy angels, the apostles, prophets, and martyrs, the holy doctors, and all saints, that we may avail ourselves of their intercession, which can make us acceptable to God if we walk virtuously. Moreover, we venerate also the image of the sacred and life-giving cross and the relics of the saints, and accept the sacred and venerable images, and greet and embrace them, according to the ancient tradition of the holy catholic Church of God, namely, of our holy Fathers, who received these images, and ordered them to be set up in all churches everywhere. These are the representations of our Incarnate Saviour Jesus Christ, then of our inviolate Lady and quite holy God-bearer, and of the unembodied angels, who have appeared to the righteous in human form; also the pictures of the holy apostles, prophets, martyrs, etc., that we may be reminded by the representation of the original, and may be led to a certain participation in his holiness.” From the acts of the Seventh Session: “... that as the figure of the sacred cross, so also sacred figures —whether of colour or of stone or of any other material—may be depicted on vessels, on clothes and walls, on tables, in houses and on roads, namely, the figures of Jesus Christ, of our immaculate Lady, of the venerable angels, and of all holy men. The oftener one looked on these representations, the more would the looker be stirred to the remembrance of the originals, and to the imitation of them, and to offer his greeting and his reverence to them, not the actual latreia which belonged to the Godhead alone, but that he should offer, as to the figure of the sacred cross, as to the holy Gospels (books), and to other sacred things, incense and lights in their honour, as this had been a sacred custom with the ancients; for the honour which is shown to the figure passes over to the original, and whoever does reverence to an image does reverence to the person represented by it. Whosoever shall teach otherwise, and reject that which is dedicated to the Church, whether it be the book of the Gospels, or the figure of the cross or any other figure, or the relics of a martyr, or whoever shall imaging anything for the destruction of the tradition of the Catholic Church, or shall turn the sacred vessels or the venerable monasteries to a profane use, if he is a bishop or cleric, shall be deposed; if a monk or layman, excommunicated. Thus we believe: this is the doctrine of the apostles. Anathema to all who do not adhere to it, who do not greet the images, who call them idols, and for this reason reproach the Christians with idolatry. ... If anyone does not allow the explanation of the Gospels by figures, let his be anathema! If anyone does not greet these things which are made in the name of the Lord and the saints, let him be anathema! If anyone rejects the tradition of the Church, written or unwritten, let him be anathema! ...” Hefele, A History of the Councils of the Church, from the Original Documents, Vol. V. A.D. 626 to the Close of the Second Council of Nicæa, A.D. 787, Clark, trans., Edinburgh, 1896, pp. 369-370, 374-376.]
Q. Who are the transgressors of this Second Commandment?
A. All such as give the images that worship that is due only to God, which is expressly forbidden in the Seventh General Council, as before mentioned. Whence it will follow, that those that bring the image to church, and there bow before it, and others, who pay more respect to gilded images than plain ones; and lastly, those who will not pray at all without the use of images, all those men transgress against the Decree of the Seventh Council.
Q. What is a graven image, as spoken of in the second Commandment?
A. The Commandment itself explains that a graven image, or idol, is the likeness of some creature, in heaven, or earth, or in the waters, which men bow down to and serve instead of God.
Q. What is forbidden then by the second Commandment?
A. We are forbidden to bow down to graven images or idols, as to supposed deities, or as to likenesses of false gods.
Q. Are we not hereby forbidden to have any sacred representations whatever?
A. By no means. This very plainly appears from hence, that the same Moses, through whom God gave the Commandment against graven images, received at the same time from God an order to place in the Tabernacle, or moveable Temple of the Israelites, sacred representations of Cherubim in gold [“And thou shalt make two cherubs graven in gold, and thou shalt put them on both sides of the propitiatory.” (Exodus 25:18 Brenton's LXX)], and to place them too in that inner part of the temple to which the people turned for the worship of God.
Q. Why is this example worthy of remark for the Orthodox Christian Church?
A. Because it illustrates her use of holy Icons.
Q. What is an Icon?
A. The word is Greek, and means an image or representation. In the Orthodox Church this name designates sacred representations of our Lord Jesus Christ, God Incarnate, His immaculate Mother, and His Saints.
Q. Is the use of holy Icons agreeable to the second Commandment?
A. It would then and then only be otherwise, if any one were to make gods of them; but it is not in the least contrary to this Commandment to honor Icons as sacred representations, and to use them for the religious remembrance of God's works and of His Saints: for when thus used Icons are books, written with the forms of persons and things instead of letters.
Q. What disposition of mind should we have, when we reverence the Icons?
A. While we look on them with our eyes, we should mentally look to God and to the Saints, who are represented on them.
Q. What general name is there for sin against the second Commandment?
A. Idolatry.
Q. Are there not also other sins against this Commandment?
A. Besides gross idolatry there is yet another sort more subtle, to which belong;
1. Covetousness.
2. Belly-service or sensuality, gluttony, and drunkenness.
3. Pride, to which belongs likewise vanity.
Q. Why is covetousness referred to idolatry?
A. The Apostle Paul expressly says that covetousness is idolatry, [“Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. (Col. 3:5 ONT)] because the covetous man serves riches rather than God.
Q. If the second Commandment forbids the love of gain, what contrary duties does it thereby necessarily enjoin?
A. Those of contentedness and liberality.
Q. Why is belly-service referred to idolatry?
A. Because belly-servers set sensual gratification above every thing; and therefore the Apostle Paul says “whose god is the belly” [Phil. 3:19 ONT]; or, in other words, that the belly is their idol.
Q. If the second Commandment forbids belly-service, what contrary duties does it thereby enjoin?
A. Those of temperance and fasting.
Q. Why are pride and vanity referred to idolatry?
A. Because the proud man values above every thing his own abilities and excellencies, and so they are his idol: the vain man wishes further that others also should worship the same idol. These proud and vain dispositions were exemplified even sensibly in Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who first set up for himself a golden idol, and then ordered all to worship it. (Cf. Dan. 3.)
[“In his eighteenth year Nabuchodonosor the king made a golden image, its height was sixty cubits, its breadth six cubits: and he set it up in the plain of Deira, in the province of Babylon. And he sent forth to gather the governors, and the captains, and the heads of provinces, chiefs, and princes, and those who were in authority, and all the rulers of districts, to come to the dedication of the image. So the heads of provinces, the governors, the captains, the chiefs, the great princes, those who were in authority, and all the rulers of districts, were gathered to the dedication of the image which king Nabuchodonosor had set up; and they stood before the image. Then a herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, ye peoples, tribes, and languages, at what hour ye shall hear the sound of the trumpet, and pipe, and harp, and sackbut, and psaltery, and every kind of music, ye shall fall down and worship the golden image which king Nabuchodonosor has set up.” (Daniel 3:1-5 Brenton's LXX)]
Q. Is there not still another vice which is near to idolatry?
A. Such a vice is hypocrisy; when a man uses the outward acts of religion, as fasting, and the strict observance of ceremonies, in order to obtain respect from the people, without thinking of the inward amendment of his heart. [“And whenever thou art praying, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites; for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, in order that they might be made manifest to men. Verily I say to you, they have received their reward. But thou, whenever thou art praying, enter into thy chamber, and after thou shuttest thy door, pray to thy Father Who is in secret; and thy Father Who seeth in secret, shall render what is due to thee openly. But when ye pray, do not begin to repeat the same vain words over and over again, even as the heathens; for they think that they shall be heard for their loquacity.” (Mt. 6:5-7 ONT)]
Q. If the second Commandment forbids pride, vanity, and hypocrisy, what contrary duties does it thereby enjoin?
A. Those of humility, and doing good in secret.