Iconic Icons: The Holy Trinity
The Holy Trinity, three Divine Persons sharing one Divine Essence, is the basis of Christianity (followed just slightly by Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity Incarnate). Despite Its necessity for the understanding of Christianity, for centuries It was represented in iconography. The Incarnation is the theological basis of iconography: because Christ had a human body, "when Christ is seen, then His image is potentially seen, and consequently is transferred by imprint into any material whatsoever," as St. Theodore the Studite says (3.D.2). St. John Damascene states this even more obviously: "Therefore I boldly draw an image of the invisible God, not as invisible, but as having become visible for our sakes by partaking of flesh and blood. I do not draw an image of the immortal Godhead, but I paint the image of God who became visible in the flesh" (1.4). It is only because the Second Person of the Trinity became Incarnate, taking on a human body, that H...