Page 255 - Orthodoxy Zizioulas

T H E I C O N A N D T H E T R U T H O F P R E S E N C E
is present, the Father and the Spirit are also present, for no
Person of the Trinity is ever isolated from the others. Thus
every iconic representation grounded in Christ becomes,
through Him, revelation of the whole Holy Trinity.
For this reason every representation of God in created form
signifies a real presence. This is possible not because divine
essence can be depicted, nor because divine energies can be
painted, but because the Son and Logos hypostasizes creation.
Saint Maximus says that the mystery of the Incarnation is in-
tended to be continuously active and present in all creation.
The Incarnation is not confined to a moment in history; it is
the permanent possibility by which creation becomes bearer
of divine presence.
The Church is the supreme place of this iconic manifesta-
tion. According to Saint Maximus, God’s presence in creation
cannot be understood through abstract analogy or mental
ascent from symbol to idea. It is known only through symbol,
type, and icon—terms which in his thought are nearly syn-
onymous. These are not unreal or merely figurative signs.
They are manifestations of a mystery hidden in itself yet re-
vealed in a concrete hypostasis. In symbol and icon, the invis-
ible meets the visible, the uncreated meets the created, and
this meeting takes place in the person of Christ.
Christ Himself is therefore the type and symbol of Himself.
In Him the apophatic mystery of God and the kataphatic rev-
elation in history meet in one hypostasis. This is why the
Church, in the Mystagogy of Saint Maximus, is called the im-
age of God, the image of creation, and the image of humanity.
In the Church all that is divided is brought together: created
and uncreated, heaven and earth, paradise and world, intelli-
gible and sensible, male and female. All oppositions are united
in Christ, and through this union the ineffable mystery of the
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