The Second Commandment of God's Law
«Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.»
By this commandment the Lord forbids man to make for himself idols—whether material or imaginary—to serve them, to bow down before them, or to render them any honors.
This commandment was given in times when idolatry was a disease of mankind. At that time individual people and entire nations deified various elements of nature, heavenly bodies, images of people, animals, all kinds of monsters—everything in which dark superstition saw something inexplicable and supernatural. The Old Testament faith, and later—Christian teaching, brought people the bright doctrine of the one Creator of the universe, a loving Father who cares for people. Over the centuries Christian faith displaced ancient superstitions almost everywhere, and paganism now lingers only in a few corners of the world as remnants of former darkness—partly in Japan, China, India, among wild tribes of South America and Africa, living out its final days.
For modern man, literal worship of idols is unthinkable and even ridiculous. Nevertheless, if not the letter, then the spirit of the second commandment, which forbids bowing down to anything except the one God, is violated by many. Modern idols have become wealth, earthly happiness, physical pleasures, veneration of leaders and chiefs. “Science” becomes an idol when its voice is set in opposition to faith. Anything to which a person becomes excessively attached, to which he devotes his strength and health to the detriment of the salvation of his soul, becomes an idol. Passions: drug addiction, drunkenness, smoking, gambling, gluttony—all these are cruel idols of the unhappy sinner. The Book of Revelation of John the Theologian (Apocalypse) predicts an increase of paganism in the last times of the world, speaking of the enslavement of people to wealth, passions, and superstitions (Rev. 9:20–21). The holy Apostle Paul says: «Covetousness is idolatry», and regarding gluttony: «Their god is their belly» (Col. 3:5; Phil. 3:19).
On the veneration of holy icons: To reject the veneration of holy icons and other religious objects by appealing to the second commandment is incorrect. An icon depicting the Holy Trinity or the Savior, in the Orthodox understanding, is not perceived by an Orthodox person as a deity, but as a reminder of the true God. The icon conveys in outlines and colors what Holy Scripture describes in words. Here the image serves as a symbol on the same level as the word.
When praying before an icon, Orthodox people render honor not to the material from which the icon is made, but to the One who is depicted on it. Man is so constituted that his sight, hearing, and other senses have a tremendous influence on his thoughts and spiritual state. It is much easier to direct one's thoughts to the Savior and to feel His closeness when one sees before oneself His most pure face, or a cross, than when there is an empty wall or something that distracts one's thoughts from prayer.
The veneration of the holy saints of God, their icons, and relics (holy remains) also does not contradict the second commandment. The saints are our elder brothers. We have one God, while angels and saints are our helpers in the work of salvation and intercessors before God. We turn to them, asking them to pray for us before the throne of God and to help us in what is good. For the Lord Himself commanded: «Pray one for another». As we know from the Gospels, the Lord often helped those for whom others prayed, in response to their prayers. It must be understood that man is called to be saved not alone, but precisely in the Church—in this great family in which all must help one another attain salvation. We who believe on earth and the saints in heaven constitute one spiritual family.
It is instructive that Moses, through whom God gave the commandment forbidding idols, at the same time received from God the command to place golden cherubim on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant. The Lord said to Moses: «Make them at the two ends of the mercy seat… There I will meet with thee, and I will speak with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim». The Lord also commanded Moses to weave images of cherubim on the veil separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place, and on the inner side of the fine linen (made of expensive woolen fabric) coverings that covered not only the top but also the sides of the tabernacle (Ex. 25:18–22, 26:1–37). In Solomon's temple there were sculptural and embroidered images of cherubim on all the walls and on the temple veil (1 Kings 6:27–29; 2 Chron. 3:7–14). The cherubim on the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant were also renewed (2 Chron. 3:10). «And when the temple was finished, the glory of the Lord (in the form of a cloud) filled the house» (1 Kings 8:11). The images of cherubim were pleasing to the Lord, and the people, looking upon them, prayed and bowed down.
There were no images of the Lord God in the Tabernacle and in Solomon's temple because during the greater part of Old Testament history people were not deemed worthy to see the Lord. There were no images of Old Testament righteous people because at that time people had not yet been redeemed and justified (Rom. 3:9, 25; Matt. 11:11). According to tradition, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself sent a miraculous image of His Face to the Edessan prince Abgar, later called the “Image Not Made by Hands.” Having prayed before the image of Christ, Abgar was healed of his illness.
The holy evangelist Luke, who was a physician and painter, according to tradition, painted and left behind icons of the Mother of God. Some of them are located in our homeland—Russia. From these images of the Savior and the Virgin Mary, Christians later made copies, many of which the Lord glorified with miracles. Thus wonder-working icons came into being.