Orthodox Response to James White: Kissing Icons Shows Love to Christ, Not Wood

The speaker responds to James White's criticism of the Orthodox practice of kissing icons. According to the speaker, White made a significant error by comparing the veneration of icons to the handling of a photograph of a deceased loved one. White reportedly said that it would be inappropriate for parents but appropriate for children to lovingly frame, decorate, and kiss such a photograph at a funeral, placing this behavior within the bounds of Christian freedom.

The speaker then challenges the audience to consider whether anyone can show the same kind of visual affection to an image of Christ or the saints. He answers his own question negatively, explaining that the audience lacks personal knowledge of the persons depicted in those images. However, the speaker asserts that believers can indeed know Jesus at a personal level and enter into a relationship with him.

It is this personal relationship, he concludes, that explains why Orthodox Christians kiss icons: the act expresses love toward the person represented, not toward the material wood and paint. The discussion thus turns on the distinction between a photograph of a family member, which only those who knew the person can meaningfully venerate, and an icon of Christ, which all believers can venerate because all can know Christ personally.

The speaker's argument defends the theological basis of icon veneration against the charge of idolatry by grounding it in a living relationship with the prototype.