Idols .

​

see The Two Great Iconoclasms .

​

"Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen." 1 John 5:22 .

​

Just as in the very first verse of the Gospel of John, where John tells you from the very start that Jesus is God himself, John, the apostle of love tells you in the very last verse of his first epistle to avoid idols. How sad the orthodox laity have been tricked into idolatry by the simple trick of calling their idols "icons", and being idolatrous toward them is similarly revamped as "venerating them".

​

The most laughable justification for making idols of Jesus quoted by the Orthodox is, that Jesus was the "image of the invisible God" and an image is an icon, thus Jesus was a walking talking icon, thus icons of Jesus are fine. I suppose then that is why they frequently make icons of the devil and demons, demons don't forget include false gods like Moloch, Beelzebub and Dagon, as they are the spitting image of themselves, as were Mary and the saints. The fact is you see images were allowed in the old covenant, but not of God or any thing representing a god or that which was adored or worshipped. Plus the OT commandment was to not MAKE them and neither should they worship them.

​

Icons are images usually of Jesus, Mary, saints, pseudo saints, angels, Aerial Toll Houses (often simply idols renamed) may also be cast in metal, carved in stone, embroidered on cloth, painted on wood, done in mosaic or fresco work, printed on paper or metal.

​

Whole nations in the old testament hurtled into a lost eternity in Hell because of idols. Israel was judged by God in the old testament over adultery against God with idols. Yet the Orthodox are surrounded by them.

​

The New Testament and idols .

​

It is very not worthy that when God through the Apostles stated 4 important noteworthy things to abstain from in the new and better covenant, they were:

(see Acts 15:29 +  )

​

1) Abstain from pollutions of idols (Acts 15:20) meats offered to idols (Acts 15:29), they keep themselves from things offered to idols (Acts 21:25). (things is a word inferred in Greek, and may differ from just  meats or foods).

2) From blood,

3) From things strangled,

4) From fornication:

 

quote:

"from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well." Acts 15:29. Which means the Eastern Orthodox do not "do well, as.....

​

1) Their religion is saturated with idols (so much that after shedding blood of iconoclasts wanting to get5 rid of them) they call keeping their idols "The Triumph of Orthodoxy" in their feasts as if Orthodoxy and idols are synonymous. 

2) The teach they drink human blood in the eucharist.

3) Meat killed by strangulation is allowed in Orthodoxy (blood saturated).

4) They commit sexual immorality - that is both adultery and fornication - this word in Acts 15:29 is not qualified or modified by a context as it is in Matthew 5:32 and 19:9, so it means "sexual immorality". By not teaching the real meaning of the word in Matt 5:32 is fornication. the Orthodox do not lay emphasis on keeping virginity before marriage. By allowing divorce and remarriage for adultery they also teach sexual immorality, this time adultery.

​

The Old Testament and idols .

The old testament law, and the judgements upon Israel and Judah when they broke those laws concerning idols, was so specific, how anyone can be fooled into practicing the idolatry Catholics and Orthodox believers commit is amazing!!!

​

"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:" Exodus 20:4 .

​

"Thou shalt not make 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 waters beneath the earth:" Deuteronomy 5:8, 

​

"Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places:" Numbers 33:52 .

​

The word "pictures" in the KJV, American KJV, and Webster's Bible, is translated instead "imagery" in the Young's Literal Translation. The point is - do you really believe God thought carved images of false gods were evil, but all the pictures they painted of them were not? Think again. I personally think the KJV is correctly interpreting the word as "pictures". Thus these icons that are really idols were against the old Law of Moses, and that law is essentially the same (not retained - essentially the same as - for the old law was "done away" 2 Cor 3).

​

see also the KJV for Ezekiel 8:12 & 23:14 "pictures". You must remember these idols were of false gods, images in the Temple of God were not of false gods, and show - yes - you can have photos of your family. But in Orthodoxy they make images of God, and the demons the word of God tells us were the "gods of the nations" like Moloch, Beelzebub and Dafon to name but a few. 

​

​

Iconoclasts .

I think I should mention that those who force iconoclasm on other people, like Oliver Cromwell, and those in the First and Second Great Iconoclasms are not in my opinion biblical. Forcing other people to destroy their idols by violent threat is not biblical, but if you gave me an idol as a gift, I would either not accept it or take the opportunity to destroy it, That is different. The true Faith is nonviolent. 

​

When you see the treasures of king Tut, almost everything carved has some symbolic meaning, even seemingly ordinary decorations on a child's chair found in a chamber symbolised the union between the two halves of Egypt. The same in ancient Babylon. The Eastern Orthodox religion have done the same type of things in their "churches" where buildings stole the name of the assembly of God, and worldly possessions took precedence over spirituality. Integral to all this were the statues and paintings of the false gods of Babylon, Egypt, Assyria etc. The Orthodox may insist "We only do high relief! They are not graven images therefore!" However it is obvious that in ancient Egypt they used high relief carvings on walls to record history. That is no credible excuse used by the Orthodox. An idol is an idol is an idol. Jesus was God in the flesh - making idols of him is not right. That there are idols in Orthodoxy is highlighted by their own division over making any paintings or statues of God the Father, but for some reason the debate is not as intense over paintings and carvings of the Holy Ghost, even though the sin of the unforgivable blasphemy is about Him.  

​

Idols are built into Eastern Orthodoxy - They are used in their so called icons (usually idols renamed) their high relief crucifixes and other carvings, and Engolpion, on mitres, on croziers (ferula), and witchcraft symbols on uniforms, plus attached to all these things are the incantations performed in their man made rites and rituals that amount to nothing more than the"strange fire" of Aaron's two sons who God killed on the spot for paganizing the old covenant temple, or the sorcery of the witch of Endor. Statues do exist in Eastern Orthodoxy, but as a trade off with iconoclasts they stopped using them as much to prevent further iconoclast "wars".

​

Icons -

Eastern Orthodoxy is totally saturated with idols they rename icons. There is even division among them about whether it is blasphemy to add idols of God the Father to their repertoire of idols of God the Son. An aspect of their utter blasphemy, is the debate over idols of the Holy Ghost is not so hotly contested, and this is probably because they are so blasé about this through their day to day blasphemy in Epiklesis.

​

I am of the honest opinion that the weirdly distorted faces, heads and bodies of Eastern Orthodox icons, combined with flooding the church with the giddy smell of burning incense, thrown into every corner with thuribles, is meant to induce an attenuated form of an opium den religious drug trip, a kind of religious almost hypnotic state is imposed on victims who enter into their dens of idolatry they call churches, as a surrealist imitation of a visionary trance is thrown at them from all sides, often coupled with mantra type chanting.

​

1) The home shrine full of idols - is clearly taken from the Eastern religions, is what devastated ancient Israel in their idolatry phase.

​

2) Surrealist religious drug trip imagery similar to opium dens in churches - combined with giddying incense burning. 

​

3) The Iconostasis - An iconostasis is a whole wall full of idolatrous icons in an Orthodox church!

​

3) under construction......

​

Crucifixes - 

​

A crucifix versus the empty cross of Evangelicals, Protestant and Anabaptists, symbolizes the differences in salvation. Evangelicals have an empty cross as Jesus is resurrected, the complete work of Christ for salvation thus being finished, as described in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, but the Catholics and Orthodox still have Jesus on the cross, doing repeat sacrifices over and over again (blasphemy) the catholics as a statue, the Orthodox usually in high relief.

​

1) Only certain "top" bishops may wear a crucifix,  - as part of their Babylonian uniform.

 

2) Early processions - Eastern Christian liturgical processions called crucessions included a cross or crucifix at their head. These may have helped to provoke the Iconoclasms? (see Crucifer ).

​

3) Iconostasis - An iconostasis is a whole wall full of idolatrous icons! In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the crucifix is often placed above the iconostasis in the church.

 

4) "Golgotha" Crucifix - In the Russian Orthodox Church a large crucifix ("Golgotha") is placed behind the so called Holy Table (altar).

 

5) An idol procession in church - During Matins of Good Friday, a large crucifix is taken in procession to the centre of the church, where it is "venerated" by the faithful. (note - "venerated" is just another term for idolised, along with the eucharist bread, that they idolatrously say is "God in the flesh".)

​

6) Removable idol - Sometimes the idol (called soma or corpus) is removable and is taken off the crucifix at Vespers that evening during the Gospel lesson describing the Descent from the Cross. The empty cross may then remain in the centre of the church until the Paschal vigil (local practices vary).

​

7) The blessing cross - The blessing cross which the priest uses to bless the faithful at the dismissal will often have the crucifix on one side and an icon of the Resurrection of Jesus on the other, the side with the Resurrection being used on Sundays and during Paschaltide, and the crucifix on other days.

​

8) Fighting demons with idols - "The Exorcist" called Gabriele Amorth was a Roman Catholic Exorcist who stated before he died and went into a lost eternity that the crucifix is one of the most effective means of averting or opposing demons. In folklore, it is believed to ward off vampires, incubi, succubi, and other evils.

​

9) Feasts of the Cross - there are several different Feasts of the Cross in the Eastern Orthodox Liturgical Calendar, full of idols and links with their version of the mass .

​

10) A rood or triumphal cross - (usually more associated with Catholicism)  is a cross or crucifix, especially the large Crucifixion set above the entrance to the chancel of a medieval church.Alternatively, it is a large sculpture or painting of the crucifixion of Jesus.

​

Engolpion - 

(ἐγκόλπιον "on the chest")  plural: ἐγκόλπια, enkólpia) is a medallion with an icon (idol) in the center. worn around the neck by Eastern Orthodox bishops. The icon (idol) is normally surrounded by jewels (sometimes real) and topped by an Eastern-style mitre. mitre. It often also has a small jewelled pendant hanging down at the bottom.

The engolpion is suspended from the neck by a long real gold chain, sometimes made up of intricate links. A portion of the chain will often be joined together with a small ring behind the neck so that it hangs down the back. An Engolpion may come in many different shapes.

​

history - quote "The custom of bearing on the person objects of this character was evidently derived from the pagan practice of wearing bullae, containing amulets round the neck as a protection against incantations." wiki - Engolpion . 

​

the abomination of degrees of authority symbolised through Engolpion (idols) -  

​

1) Ordinary bishop;s Engolpions - All bishops wear a particular kind of engolpion called a Panagia (Greek: Παναγία), which depict Mary the mother of Jesus (who many Orthodox call "The Mother of God" - turning the icon inside the engolpion into an idol similar to that of mother goddesses and fertility goddesses of Greece, other pagans.)

 

2) Primate Bishop's Engolpion -  All primates and some bishops below primatial rank have the dignity of wearing a second engolpion, which usually depicts Christ.

   

3) Archimandrite Bishop's Engolpion - some may be awarded an engolpion does not bear an icon of Christ or the Theotokos, but of the Cross.

​

4) extra idol power - When the bishop dresses up for so called Divine Services, he will wear also a pectoral cross.

​

5) Peter had no gold - "silver and gold have I none." Acts 3:6.

​

Pharisees - like the Pharisees, whom Jesus described in Matthew 23, loving greetings in the market places and to gad about in long robes, he engolpion may be worn at all times as part of the bishop's street dress or choir dress.

​

witchcraft incantations + idols - When a bishop is "vested" before the Divine Liturgy, if he has the dignity of wearing an engolpion in addition to the Panagia, the Protodeacon chants the following prayer as the subdeacons place it on the bishop: "Thy heart is inditing of a good matter; thou shalt speak of the deeds unto the King, always, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen" making up hocus pocus religious witchcraft incantations over the abomination of wearing idols, redoubling their evil.

​

origins - wiki quote "The custom of bearing on the person objects of this character was evidently derived from the pagan practice of wearing bullae, containing amulets, round the neck as a protection against incantations; the Church endeavoured to purify this usage from superstition by substituting objects venerated by Christians for those to which they had been accustomed before conversion. According to St. Jerome, however (in Matt., c. xxiii), some of the faithful in his day attached a superstitious importance to these aids to piety; he censures certain classes of women who seem to have, in some degree, identified sanctity with an exaggerated veneration for sacred relics: "Hoc quod apud nos superstitiosae mulierculae in parvulis evangeliis et in crucis ligno et istiusmodi rebus, quae habent quidem zelum Dei, sed non secundum scientiam, factitant" (That which superstitious women amongst us, who have a certain zeal for God but not of right knowledge, do in regard to little copies of the Gospels, the wood of the cross, and things of that kind)."  Engolpion  .

 

the abomination of Engolpia and epiklesis / metousiosis - Some engolpia are hollow, so they may be used as a reliquary. The pagan practice of wearing bullae and amulets, which Babylonian type practice was adopted by the Roman Catholics and Orthodox religions, was even linked with the central abomination of both religions, the mass or their hocus pocus fake eucharist, by monks who carried "the elements" of the eucharist in hollow engolpia or "eucharistic lockets" around their necks, and as both religions worship the mass bread as an idol, that is just another form of idolatry connected to engolpia. Travelling bishops eucharistic lockets would have been made and ornamented with much more precious materials than those of ordinary monks.

 

 

​

​

​

​

​

​

The 2 Great Iconoclasms .

Not everyone who has been Orthodox has been blind enough to be deceived by idols. the the Two Great Iconoclasms people tried to get rid of them. The Orthodox are so blind that they think killing those who tried to get rid of their idols, was and is quote "The Triumph of Orthodoxy" The Feast is kept in memory of the final defeat of iconoclasm and the restoration of the icons (idols) to the churches. One main result of this is that the Orthodox only make high relief idols of Jesus to hang around their "top" bishops necks, not full Catholic style crucifixes. Was Jesus not God in the flesh? Then why the idols? They even make idols of God the Father and the Holy Ghost. 

​

​

​

The first iconoclast period: 726–787 :

The Eastern Orthodox will often state falsely the first iconoclast period started later, perhaps 730. However the trigger for Emperor Leo III’s prohibition of icons and other idols was the huge volcanic eruption in 726 in the Aegean Sea interpreted as a sign of God’s anger over the veneration of icons.

​

question" ARE YOU SURE that the volcanic eruption in 726 AD in the Aegean Sea was NOT the wrath of God against icons and other idols? When you consider Leo III's reaction to it? How sure???

​

The second iconoclast period: 814–843 :

​

​

Links :

​

Aniconism :

Aniconism in Christianity .

Byzantine Iconoclasm :

​

​