Page 347 - Orthodoxy Zizioulas

A R T A N D T H E T R U T H O F P E R S O N H O O D
in the Kingdom. This eschatological dimension is inseparable
from the personal, because every person must be protected from
being overcome by death.
How is this achieved? Here lies the grandeur and true artistic
value of the icon. It is achieved through light. The light cast upon
the faces of the saints is not natural light, for natural light
produces shadows, and shadows belong to decay and death.
Natural light distinguishes beings by means of shadow, but
shadow is precisely what belongs to corruption. In the icon, this
must be overcome. The light that illumines the icon is therefore
the Uncreated Light, the light that comes from God Himself, a
light that reveals distinction without producing shadow, and
therefore without introducing death. In this lies the unique
power of iconography: it protects the particular being from
decay and allows it to survive in transfigured existence.
For this reason ecclesial art is never simple imitation of nature.
The icon does not reproduce appearances as photography does;
it reveals the truth of persons as they will be in the age to come.
It is not a portrait of empirical reality, but a manifestation of
eschatological identity. In the icon, matter becomes bearer of the
Kingdom, and art becomes theology in color and form.
Human creativity, like divine creation, is also oriented toward
the future. A work of art may not be immediately recognized; it
may take time before it is confirmed as worthy of lasting survival.
Like all human acts, it awaits its future hermeneutic and
ultimately its last judgment. Only then does it receive its final
ontological confirmation. Art therefore has an eschatological
dimension: it awaits fulfillment beyond the present moment.
This is why art belongs so deeply to the life of the Church. The
icon, the hymn, the architecture of worship, the poetry of
liturgy—all these are not ornaments added to religion, but
manifestations of creation’s eschatological truth. In the Church,
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