Apologetics

Why do Orthodox Christians kiss and bow to icons?

Responding to panelists who call icon veneration worshiping dirt while admitting they would be uncomfortable putting a Bible on the ground, he says they are exposing a prejudice, not an argument — they already share the instinct of reverence toward holy objects and simply refuse to extend it to what is unfamiliar. Historically, he points to unearthed catacomb churches with icons on their walls and to the angels placed over the tabernacle in the Old Testament, arguing iconography has two thousand years of precedent and is not a modern Orthodox invention.

Exodus 25:18-20