St. Theodore The Studite: A Philosophical Analysis

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The true essence, spirit, energy or whatever you choose to call it can be copied and we can relate the essence and iconography to the copy whether it is a painting, sculpture or other art work even though we know it is obviously not the real thing. There is only one original of anything that can contain the absolute true essence. It can be likened to the difference between the body and the soul. To me the only way I can describe Neo- Platonic theory is the human spirit reaching Nirvana, heaven or perfection, whatever the individual chooses to believe and learning this while going thru life. In reading about St. Theodore I was reminded of Plato and his thoughts on coping of images and his view that it destroyed the original. My understanding after reading St. Theodore the Studite is that he was an opponent of iconoclasm, which forbade the use of images of Christ and the saints. There is general concern about worshipping images I think mainly due to religious teachings, scripture and the 2nd commandment of the 10 Commandments. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth” (Exodus 20:4–6; Deuteronomy 5:8–10). The belief that an image itself is the object of worship, and itself has or embodies a spirit with inherent powers. This commandment has been interpreted in a variety of …show more content…

I also think that radical terrorist groups use it as a religious excuse and see it as an opportunity to terrorize a certain groups of people and destroy their icons and idols or whatever their fundamental

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