New Testament, from the lives and legends of thesaints, and even from old mythologies, modified, of course, and harmonized with Christian teaching. (For the details of Christian iconography see the articles, Diptychs; Ivories; Metal-work; Mosaics; Painting; Reliquaries; Sculpture; Windows; Wood-Carving;)
The object of iconography is to give the history of these various representations, to note their prevalence or absence at some particular time or in some particular place, to compare those of different lands and different periods, to explain the personal or historical, and to interpret the symbolical. Studied thus, they have an important historical and dogmatic interest, as they attest the unity of ecclesiastical tradition and the faith of the age in which they were produced.
Special articles dealing with subjects of Christian iconography, besides those already mentioned, are Anchor; Dove; Eucharist, Early Symbols of; Fish, Symbolism of; Lamb; Nimbus. See also Ecclesiastical Art.
Molanus, De historia imaginum (1570); Detzel. Die christliche Ikonographie (Freiburg, 1895): Barbier de Montault,Traité d'iconographie chétienne (Paris, 1890): Didron, Iconoqraphie chretíenne (Paris, 1843) — Eng. tr. in Bohn's Library: Helmsdorfer. Christliche Kunslsgmbolik und Ikonographie (Frankfort. 1839); Alt, Die Heiligenbilder oder die bildene Kunst und die theol. Wissenschaft in ihrem gegenseitigen Verhältnisse (Berlin. 1845); Jameson, Sacred and Legendary Art (London, 1848); Husenbeth, Emblems of Saints (London. 1860): Twining, Symbols and Emblems of Early and Mediaeval Christian Art (London. 1860).
Iconostasis (Gr. (
Greek characters) picture screen, from (Greek characters), image, picture, and (Greek characters), I place), the chief and most distinctive feature in all
Greek churches, whether Catholic or Orthodox. It
may be said to differentiate the Greek church completely from the Roman in its interior arrangement.
It consists of a great screen or partition running from
side to side of the apse or across the entire end of the
church, which divides the sanctuary from the body
of the church, and is built of solid materials such as
stone, metal, or wood, and which reaches often (as in
Russia) to the very ceiling of the church, thus completely shutting off the altar and the sanctuary from
the worshipper. It has three doors: the great royal
door in the middle (so called because is leads directly
to the altar upon which the King of Kings is sacrificed),
the deacon's door to the right, and the door of the
proskomide (preparation for Mass) upon the left, when
viewing the structure from the standpoint of a
worshipper in the body of the church.
Two pictures or icons must appear upon every iconostasis, no matter how humble in the Greek church; the picture of Our Lord on the right upon the Royal door, and that of Our Lady upon the left. But in the finer churches of Russia and the East the iconostasis has a wealth of paintings lavished upon it. Besides the two absolutely necessary pictures, the whole screen is covered with them. On the royal door there is always the Annunciation and often the four Evangelists. On each of the other doors there are St. Michael and St. Gabriel. Beyond the deacon's door there is usually the saint to whom the church is dedicated, while at the opposite end there is either St. Nicholas of Myra or St. John the Baptist. Directly above the royal door is a picture of the Last Supper, and above that is often a large picture (deisus) of Our Lord sitting crowned upon a throne, clothed in priestly raiment, as King and High-priest. At the very top of the iconostasis is a large cross (often a crucifix in bas-relief), the source of our salvation, and on either side of it are the pictures of Our Lady and of St. John.
Where the iconostasis is very lofty, as among the Slavonic nationalities whether Orthodox or Catholic, the pictures upon it are arranged in tiers or rows across its entire length. Those on the lower ground tier have already been described; the first tier above that is a row of pictures commemorating the chief feasts of the Church, such as the Nativity, Annunciation, Transfiguration, etc.; above them is another tier of the twelve Apostles; and above them a tier containing the Prophets of the Old Law; and lastly the very top of the iconostasis. These pictures are
