The Honour that Orthodox Christians offer to Saints and Holy Relics

How is it that the Orthodox reverence icons and relics, bowing down to them, when in Acts 10:25-26 it is clear that Peter did not allow Cornelius to bow down before him since he was just a man?

Answer: 

Very Rev. Ihor Kutash kutash@unicorne.org 

When Cornelius did obeisance to Peter he was doing it out of the context of pagan culture for whom such obeisance was practically the same as worshipping a god - they were polytheists. Peter would obviously have corrected such an action. But in the course of time - as a result of contemplation and dialogue over controversies such as that of iconoclasm - the icon-smashing movement that dominated the Eastern Church from 725 to 842 - the insight came that the honour given in humility and respect to the icon (written or enfleshed in a human person who is the living image of God) is in fact offered to its Source - God. Once the insight came many Scriptural references were seen as referring to this - as for example the brass serpent God had Moses make in the wilderness so that when people who had been bitten by serpents looked at it with faith they would be healed. Now, it is quite common for Orthodox believers to bow down before each other - especially, for example, at the Sunday of Forgiveness which opens the way to the Great Fast before Pascha (the Feast of the Resurrection) - and they certainly do not believe that they are worshipping each other as God. The same holds true when they venerate icons. They do not believe that they are literally bowing before or kissing a god - for it is profoundly held - and many have died confessing this faith - that there is only One God, the Creator and Sustainer of all that is - from Whom all comes and to Whom everything is going.

It is also held that since the earthly temples (bodies) of holy folk were conduits of the energies fo God during their life, they continue to be worthy of the highest respect after they have left the earthly domain. Orthodoxy is incarnational - we are profoundly aware of the significance of the arrival of the Messiah Jesus. It means for us that God has united Himself with His creation in a profound and intimate way so that matter and spirit are not at enmity with each other, but that rather matter has become spirit-bearing in a way that it had not been before His arrival. Hence the respect paid to these bodies - called Holy Relics (these also include clothing and items used by these holy ones).

Ukrainian Orthodoxy