- The Orthodox Tradition makes distinction between: latria, the adoration given to Christ himself as Lord creator of all things (and to the bread and wine transubstantiated in the Body and Blood of the Lord); hyperdulia or superveneration, accorded to the Mother of God as Birth-giver of God, and veneration or honor, that is due to the saints on the basis of three connections with Christ.
- The nature of God - The Holy Trinity cannot be represented depicted, bring invisible and without form. The Father is represented as He appears in the visions of the Prophets and the theophanies of the Old Testament (under the appearance of a young man in the description of Avraam (Genesis 18:1-3). The same thing for the Holy Spirit, Who comes under the form of a dove with the occasion of Epiphany of the Trinity at the Baptism of Jesus in Jordan (Matt. 3:16). The visions, the theophanies and the other events from the history of salvation, can be depicted and venerated. The iconography must respect in all the dates of the Holy Scripture.
The Seventh Ecumenical Council of the Church, meeting at Nicea in 787, condemned the Iconoclasts, gave proof from the Scriptures and the Fathers of the Church of the veneration of holy images, and defined the doctrine. The decree, in substance, stated:
"Following the tradition of the Catholic Church, we define that, in the same manner as the image of the precious Cross, so should be likewise venerated, and placed in churches, on walls in houses, and streets, the images of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Holy Mother of God, of the angels, and of all the saints. For, those who frequently have before their eyes and contemplate those sacred images are more deeply impressed with the memory of those they represent, and give them an honorary adoration, but do not indeed offer them that real adoration which the Faith teaches should be given to God alone."
"Christians do not call images gods, neither do they serve them as gods, nor place their hopes of salvation in them, nor expect future judgment at their hands; but, while refusing to pay them the honor due to God, they salute them out of respect to the memory of those they represent, and as a token of the love they entertain for the originals."
After the middle of the ninth century, iconoclasm died out in the East. It is common knowledge that the Protestant sects still accuse Orthodox and Catholics of idolatry because they venerate and love sacred images and pictures; sure proof that one heresy leads to another and that Iconoclasm still persists in its cold, unchildlike, unbending and heretical hold on hearts too proud to embrace a devotion so supremely human and simple and loving, and, therefore, so infinitely pleasing to God.
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