Victorian Council of Churches

Mar 30, 2023 (adapted from article by PBS)

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican has formally repudiated the “Doctrine of Discovery,” the theories backed by 15th-century “papal bulls” that legitimized the colonial-era seizure of Native lands and form the basis of some property laws today. It was based on the notion that European Christians had a divinely mandated duty to “find” and populate new territories, and that the lands they discovered were “empty” until they were claimed by Europeans

The statement was a response to decades of Indigenous demands for the Vatican to formally rescind the papal bulls that provided European kingdoms the religious backing to expand their territories, for the sake of spreading Christianity.

In the mid to late 15th century, European monarchies had their eye on territorial expansion and creating a slave trade, so they petitioned the pope to issue a series of papal bulls between 1452 and 1493 that legitimised the now five century old colonial project.

A Vatican statement said the papal bulls, or decrees, “did not adequately reflect the equal dignity and rights of Indigenous peoples” and have never been considered expressions of the Catholic faith.

The statement said the papal documents had been “manipulated” for political purposes by competing colonial powers “to justify immoral acts against Indigenous peoples that were carried out, at times, without opposition from ecclesial authorities.”

It said it was right to “recognize these errors,” acknowledge the terrible effects of colonial-era assimilation policies on Indigenous peoples and ask for their forgiveness.

In the statement, the Vatican said: “The Catholic Church therefore repudiates those concepts that fail to recognize the inherent human rights of Indigenous peoples, including what has become known as the legal and political ‘doctrine of discovery.’”

The statement marked a historic recognition of the Vatican’s own complicity in colonial-era abuses committed by European powers.

The “Doctrine of Discovery” was a legal concept coined in a 1823 U.S. Supreme Court decision that has come to be understood as meaning that ownership and sovereignty over land passed to Europeans because they “discovered” it.

The Vatican offered no evidence that the three papal bulls (Dum Diversas in 1452, Romanus Pontifex in 1455 and Inter Caetera in 1493) had themselves been formally abrogated, rescinded or rejected, as Vatican officials have often said. But it cited a subsequent bull, Sublimis Deus in 1537, that reaffirmed that Indigenous peoples shouldn’t be deprived of their liberty or the possession of their property, and were not to be enslaved.

Doctrine of Discovery and Australia
(adapted from an article by Paul Gregoire)

UK Captain James Cook arrived on the east coast of the continent these days referred to as Australia in August 1770, and he claimed the island in the name of King George III, on the basis that it was terra nullius: “that no one owned the land prior to European assertion of sovereignty”.

This proclamation has always been troubling as over 500 different First Nations existed upon this continent at the time, with an estimated 750,000 people living within them.

Cook’s assertion was backed up by the Doctrine of Discovery: a series of papal bulls, or decrees, made by the Pope.

The Discovery Doctrine sets out that European Christians were able to acquire lands that were deemed “empty”, even though Indigenous peoples lived there. And this was possible as the doctrine asserts non-Christians to be nonhumans and, therefore, unable to own the land on which they live.

So, according to the doctrine, discovery actually means found by European Christians.

Yet, despite the obvious questionable legal aspects to this doctrine of European racial superiority, its dictates continue to influence the laws and functioning of our settler colonial nation, and others like it, both at common and statutory law.

Terra nullius

In 1835, the Port Phillip Association began settling the land in the vicinity of Melbourne following representative John Batman having established a treaty with Wurundjeri elders. Yet, British legal authorities later deemed this void (citing a precedent set in the US as the reasoning). .

This finding then led NSW governor Richard Bourke to make an 1835 proclamation, which prohibited settlers from entering into treaties or land deals with First Nations people, as the land belonged to no one prior to the British Crown. And this established the doctrine of terra nullius in local law.

The 1889 UK Privy Council case Cooper versus Stuart involved a dispute over land that the colony of NSW wanted to reclaim from William Cooper, whose father was granted the land by the NSW governor-in-chief in 1823 on the proviso that the state may reacquire it from him in the future.

Prior to the court ruling against Cooper’s claim that “the rule against perpetuities” prevented NSW from taking back the land, it had to be established whether British law operated within the colony, and the court found that it had held since 1788, due to the doctrine of terra nullius.

On this matter, the Privy Council ruled that “at the time when it was peacefully annexed to the British dominions”, the land now bearing the name NSW was “a tract of territory practically unoccupied, without settled inhabitants or settled law”.

The 1992 High Court Mabo decision overturned the legal fiction of terra nullius, recognising that First Nations people have prior claim to the land. And this led to the passing of the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth), which created a process of establishing where native title exists.

But native title has been watered down over time. Initially, this was seen with the 1996 Wik decision of the High Court, which found that while native title can coexist with pastoral lease rights, when a conflict of interest exists, the leaseholder’s rights always prevail, and native title is extinguished.

UN – abolish the doctrine

“The Doctrine of Discovery had been used for centuries to expropriate Indigenous lands and facilitate their transfer to colonising or dominating nations,” the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues outlined in 2012.

The forum’s theme that year was the enduring impact of the Doctrine of Discovery, with attending Indigenous delegates asserting that the continuing influence of the pope’s decrees need to be understood and then dismantled.

The provisions of articles 28 and 37 in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples were raised, which recognise Indigenous people’s right to redress and compensation due to their occupied lands, as well as their rights to treaty and other constructive arrangements with the state.

In addressing the UN Permanent Forum in 2012, then Native Title Council of Australia executive officer the late Brian Wyatt called on the Human Rights Council universal periodic review process to take into the consideration how the doctrine continues to influence and take steps to redress it.

And Wyatt further stated that the legal justification for colonising Australia was “confused”, that the impact of the doctrine has devastated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and he called for a raising of awareness around the severity of their marginalisation.

A new volume of ‘The Future of Mission Cooperation’ was released by the World Council of Churches in a hybrid event on 24^th March. It can be downloaded for free here. It is the third volume produced by the International Missionary Council (IMC) to reflect on the centenary of the IMC (1922-2022).

The decision to form the IMC was taken in 1920, after the First World War hindered mission cooperation and the fostering of unity. The following year 61 representatives of churches, mission societies, and other bodies gathered at Lake Mohonk, in upstate New York, for the council’s founding meeting.

In 1961, at the WCC 3rd Assembly, the IMC was integrated into the WCC and transformed into the WCC’s Commission on World Mission and Evangelism (CWME).

The new volume of ‘The Future of Mission Cooperation’ offers a wide spectrum about those engaged in the practice and study of Christian missions and offers contemporary insights into the broad and complex landscape of global Christianity. 

The book is an intentional shift of de-centering the focus of the IMC as an organisation, to movements and actions in various regions.

The first part of the book provides nine regional reports produced by study centres/groups. The reports paint a vivid picture of choice and challenges facing churches and mission actors in today’s world and illustrate how diverse and multi-faceted mission has become in the world. 

The reports witness to the reality that there are relationships among churches which breathe the spirit of colonialism, and dependence of exclusivist practices which push certain groups, communities or whole churches to the margins. Many churches are tainted by racism and social inequality. Mission is not only about bringing the gospel to people or working for justice and reconciliation or about diaconia. It is about the willingness and capacity of the churches as well for metanoia and a self-critical transformation, and the journey towards decolonization of mission. 

People in positions of privilege have much to learn from the daily struggles of people living in marginal conditions through struggle in and for life. Those at the margins often have the epistemological privilege of recognising exclusionary rules and practices that threaten their survival and can best discern the urgency of their struggles. At the same time, marginalised people are reservoirs of active hope. 

Previously, one was led to believe that ‘mission problems’ are in the global south, and that the solutions came only from the global north. In a place of dialogue, both can be seen as having problems and providing solutions. Just principles of partnership are prioritised in contrast to dispensing power by a privileged few. Multi-level global dialogue spaces are integral to future mission co-operation and authentic decolonizing. 

More locally, we need to think less of the ‘migrant church’ and more about recognising the commitment to witnessing to Christ as a legitimate expression of Christian faith, whatever form it takes. ‘Migrant churches’ need to be seen as a contemporary expression of the richness of the Trinity. 

World Christianity is no longer identified with any one region or culture but finding expression in every part of the globe. It was the historic task of the International Missionary Council to navigate a journey from a ‘west to the rest’ understanding of mission, to one of ‘from everywhere to everyone’. When we are called to mission we are necessarily brought into a dynamic relationship with others who share the same calling regardless of how different they might be from ourselves. 

Trans Day of Visibility is March 31st each year. It seeks to recognise trans and gender diverse experiences and celebrate achievements.

A vigil for the international day of trans visibility has been organised by Revd Canon Dr Garry Deverell.
Venue: St Mark’s Anglican Church, 250 George St, Fitzroy
Date and time: Friday, March 31, at 6.30pm.

Podcast: Why were neo-Nazis at an anti-trans rally in Melbourne on Sunday 19th March?
This podcast discusses what happened, and the rise of far-right extremism in Victoria and why they’re targeting LGBTQ+ communities in Australia. Listen here.

Anti-trans hate. How do we make sure Australia doesn’t go down the same path as the US and UK?

Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney condemns violent protests
“The Catholic Church teaches that all people should be treated with dignity and respect. Violent acts towards anyone is incompatible with the Gospel and never acceptable”.

In response to the anti-trans rally in front of the Victorian State Parliament on March 18, Uniting Church (Vic/Tas) Moderator David Fotheringham issued the following statement:
“The Uniting Church stands against ideologies of hate. It is distressing to hear that there was a rally of anti-trans activists, including neo-Nazis, on the weekend. Ideologies driven by supposed superiority and hatred of others are abhorrent. The Uniting Church seeks to be welcoming of trans and non-binary people. All of our trans members and friends warrant support and love, within and beyond the church. We also extend our sympathy and support to the Jewish community, also impacted by the actions of some of the protesters.”

This is my body: hearing the theology of transgender Christians (eds Michelle O’Brien and Christina Beardsley). This book emerged ‘from the frustration that others were often speaking about us, but without us. The churches’ tendency is to pronounce about trans people and intersex people rather than engaging with them and hearing their stories. The book brings together articles and narratives by trans Christian people, as well as allies, with the hope that it will encourage other trans Christians to add their insights to the growing literature of trans theology’.

Prayer resources

Sandy‘s prayer resources page

The National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA) will host a roundtable for the Australian Churches Ecological Taskforce (ACET) in Melbourne THIS FRIDAY.
Date: Friday 24th March, 10am-2pm (free event, including lunch)
Venue: Centre of Theology and Ministry, 29 College Crescent, Parkville
* Where are our churches at in responding to current ecological challenges?
* What issues are on the horizon requiring our response?
* What will we do together as a combined ecumenical group?
Registration through Trybooking.
You can also attend online – select “not applicable-attending online” option in dietary requirements.
Zoom link details will be emailed to you on the Friday morning.

IPCC Press Release
Urgent climate action can secure a liveable future for all

March 20, 2023 — There are multiple, feasible and effective options to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to human-caused climate change, and they are available now, said scientists in the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report released this week.

“Mainstreaming effective and equitable climate action will not only reduce losses and damages for nature and people, it will also provide wider benefits,” said IPCC Chair Hoesung Lee. “This Synthesis Report underscores the urgency of taking more ambitious action and shows that, if we act now, we can still secure a liveable sustainable future for all.”

In 2018, IPCC highlighted the unprecedented scale of the challenge required to keep warming to 1.5°C. Five years later, that challenge has become even greater due to a continued increase in greenhouse gas emissions. The pace and scale of what has been done so far, and current plans, are insufficient to tackle climate change.

More than a century of burning fossil fuels as well as unequal and unsustainable energy and land use has led to global warming of 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels. This has resulted in more frequent and more intense extreme weather events that have caused increasingly dangerous impacts on nature and people in every region of the world.

Every increment of warming results in rapidly escalating hazards. More intense heatwaves, heavier rainfall and other weather extremes further increase risks for human health and ecosystems. In every region, people are dying from extreme heat. Climate-driven food and water insecurity is expected to increase with increased warming. When the risks combine with other adverse events, such as pandemics or conflicts, they become even more difficult to manage.

Losses and damages in sharp focus

The report brings in to sharp focus the losses and damages we are already experiencing and will continue into the future, hitting the most vulnerable people and ecosystems especially hard. Taking the right action now could result in the transformational change essential for a sustainable, equitable world.

“Climate justice is crucial because those who have contributed least to climate change are being disproportionately affected,” said Aditi Mukherji, one of the 93 authors of this Synthesis Report, the closing chapter of the Panel’s sixth assessment.

“Almost half of the world’s population lives in regions that are highly vulnerable to climate change. In the last decade, deaths from floods, droughts and storms were 15 times higher in highly vulnerable regions,“ she added.

21st of March this year will mark the 24th year that Harmony Day has been celebrated in Australia. Since its inception, the main message of this day is “Everyone Belongs,” an inclusive motto that promotes multiculturalism and diversity. It’s now ‘Harmony Week’.

21st March is also the United Nations  International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination – IDERD (and a remembrance of the Sharpeville massacre in South Africa on 21st March, 1960). In present-day South Africa, 21 March is a public holiday in honour of human rights and to commemorate the Sharpeville massacre.

It’s a harder day to ‘sell’. It speaks plainly about ‘what is’ – that racism and racial discrimination still exists, including in Australia.

Harmony Day was introduced in 1998 by the government of the day as a more user friendly, accessible way to promote multiculturalism and harmony. It has positive connotations of cooperation, inclusiveness, belonging, mutuality, respect, understanding. Such positivity is to be applauded, but not at the expense of naming the reality that underlies the day.

(Read this article for a longer history about the development of Harmony Day, including the Eureka research findings).

The Hon Andrew Giles MP, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship And Multicultural Affairs, has issued this statement for Harmony Week 2023 where he includes an appeal to the international community to step up its efforts to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination.

“Welcome to a week of celebrating our wonderful, diverse and vibrant multicultural society. We’re privileged to share this beautiful country with the world’s oldest continuing culture. This is a fundamental part of who we are.

For more than 60,000 years First Nations peoples cared for country. Appreciating and understanding this truth is a vital part of what it means to be Australian.

We’re also a majority migrant nation. In 2023 more than half of all Australians were born overseas, or have a parent who was. We have different backgrounds and life experiences, but we all believe in our shared values based on freedom, respect, fairness and equality of opportunity.

Harmony Week also begins with International Day of the Elimination of Racial Discrimination; a day that called on the international community to step up its efforts to eliminate all forms of racial discrimination.

We’ve come a long way as a nation but there is still much more work to do. We’ve grown and we’re increasingly not afraid of having difficult conversations about our past, present and future, of questioning our ways and acknowledging our mistakes, and finding new ways to live better, in harmony.

We’re working together to ensure diversity and equity are part of our everyday reality. It starts with little things. Whether it’s at school or the workplace, at our many cultural or sports centres, this Harmony Week share an aspect of your culture, engage in meaningful conversations, make an effort and learn something new.

Happy Harmony Week”.

The Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Council of Australia (FECCA) writes:

We believe it is important to acknowledge that racism exists and that we should all work collaboratively to eliminate it. It is time that the community reclaim the original UN-declared day, rather than undermining lived experiences of racism in favour of promoting the idea of harmony. In the process, we can still celebrate the great diversity of cultures that makes Australia unique, and without addressing racism, we will not achieve harmony. 

One of the first steps in overcoming racism is naming the problem, and this is one day of the year in particular where this should be done.

The United Nations theme for 2023 focuses on the urgency of combating racism and racial discrimination, 75 years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This is an opportunity for Australians to reflect on the nation’s history of racism and recommit ourselves to implementing strategies that tackle this complex issue.

The Challenging Racism Project in a 2015-2016 survey found that 20% of Australians surveyed had experienced racial discrimination in the form of race hate talk, and 5% had been attacked due to their race. This is particularly relevant amongst First Nations peoples, as the 2022 Australian Reconciliation Barometer published by Reconciliation Australia revealed that 60% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had experienced at least one form of racial prejudice in the past six months.

Furthermore, Australians are becoming increasingly aware of the prevalence of racism in their country, as according to a report compiled by the Scanlon Foundation Research Institute, 60% of respondents thought that racism in Australia was a ‘very big’ or ‘fairly big problem’, compared to 40% only a year prior.

Everyone has a part to play in shaping the Australian culture, and contributing to a society that is fair and equal – for all. This IDERD, let us unite to reshape the meaning behind the day, understand the roots of racial discrimination and inequality in Australia, challenge the status quo, and take action to create positive change within our communities. In the process, we can still celebrate our rich multicultural tapestry.

The following resources discuss the history of Harmony Day and the reframing to IDERD, and what meaningful action you can take to fight racism today, and every day.

Resources:

• Racism. It Stops With Me. – Australian Human Rights Commission
• Fight Racism – United Nations 
• Fact Sheet – International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination – Australian Human Rights Commission
• Harmony Day should not be used to sweep racism under the rug – Queensland Human Rights Commissioner, Scott McDougall (Sydney Morning Herald) 
• It’s Harmony Week, but let’s discuss what it is really about: racism – Erwin Renaldi (ABC)
• Racism at work: a call to anti-racist action for Australian organisations – Peter Anderson (The Conversation) 

Viewers of The Project were shocked to hear a comedian who was a guest on the show tell a crude and distasteful joke this last week that tried to be clever in linking a commonly used word (‘nailing’) for a sexual act with the crucifixion of Jesus. Waleed Aly appeared stunned at the joke, while other panel members laughed at the joke. The Project issued a public apology.

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia has issued a carefully worded and thoughtful statement.
·
PUBLIC STATEMENT OF DISAPPROBATION
It is with a deep sense of sadness that the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia expresses its profound discontent and denounces the extremely distasteful and rather deplorable content aired on The Project, on Tuesday 28th February 2023 relating to Jesus Christ and the contemptuous derision of His suffering and crucifixion on the Cross. Equally inappropriate is the fact that such suggestive and disparaging remarks of a sexual nature were aired at a time in the early evening, 6.30 pm, when children were more than likely to be viewing such material.
It is well known to all who believe in Christ – and indeed have done so throughout the centuries, with countless Christians suffering martyrdom and death for their faith – that the selfless sacrifice of Christ on the Cross is the most striking and compelling reminder of God’s boundless love for the entire world. Whilst formerly a most brutal instrument of torture and defeat, a most scandalous form of death in Roman times, the Cross, through Christ became the most pre-eminent symbol of life, love and freedom, of renewal and eternity. It is for this reason that such scorn and ridicule to more than half of the Australian population for whom Jesus and His sacrifice on the Cross is considered sacrosanct, was both highly offensive and openly disparaging.
At a time when all people seek equal rights and justice – and do so rightly – it is equally important to be reminded of our common responsibilities, our common efforts and goals, as one human race, which are far more congruous than are our differences. Indeed, it is quite unfortunate, in our day and age, that many are quite happy only to lay claim to their rights but neglect their requisite responsibilities. Everyone is free to believe in Christ or not, but no one has the right to disparage the Christian God, Christian teachings, and sacred symbols – or in fact those of any other religious faith. Rather, it is incumbent upon all of us to foster a culture of peace and solidarity, creating bridges and opportunities for dialogue; promoting ways in which all people can have the right to exercise their religious beliefs in a spirit of amity and fraternity without fear of violence or ridicule. Anything less can only be a negation of our human dignity, nobility and mutual self-respect.

In Sydney, on the 4th day of March, 2023
With fervent prayers
† Archbishop MAKARIOS of Australia
Primate of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia

Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay, the new general secretary of the World Council of Churches. Here he reflects on the ecumenical movement and ‘young people’.

The ecumenical movement can never succeed in the future or present without the involvement of young people. Young people are the ones who bring new ways of thinking, new changes, new insights, a new appreciation of things, and new levels of engagement. Because young people bring this to us, we cannot neglect the young people. We cannot say, “they can wait until later.”

The WCC 11th Assembly said that young people should be involved in WCC’s governance, they should be involved in our programs, in our reference groups and our commissions, and they must be involved in the life of the WCC. I believe young people bring a greater understanding of spirituality different from what some of us have been accustomed to, yet challenging and engaging, relevant, and contextual. Young people make us think differently about many issues but help us realize the need for spirituality, the need for recreating the one human race, and dealing with environmental issues – I find young people are so geared up about environmental issues.

We need them to bring new life to our churches. We need them to speak into ecumenical organizations and into every aspect of Christian life and living. We don’t want tokenism. We want challenge. We want insightful movements. We want engagements. We also have the Bossey Ecumenical Institute that actually focuses on young people and theology. Without young people, we are in trouble!

The Sunday Times on 4th March featured an article by Sophia Spring, following an interview with singer Nick Cave on the publication of his book, Faith, Hope and Carnage.

Nick Cave grew up in Wangaratta and sang as a choirboy in Wangaratta Holy Trinity Cathedral. Throughout his career he has startled his audiences with lyrics saturated with God and echoes of the Bible. He is not exactly a stranger here.

In his recent book of conversations with the music journalist Sean O’Hagan, Faith, Hope and Carnage, he speaks with raw clarity about how his creative energy has been fed by the experience of agonising grief and loss. At the heart of this is the death of Arthur, his 15-year-old son, in 2015, after falling from a cliff edge near Brighton — one of many bereavements in his life. Heartbreakingly Cave has since lost another son, 31-year-old Jethro. All this has come to be bound up for him with the awareness of the holy. He has been drawn back to some sense of belonging within the battered, inarticulate and compromised community that is the Church.

Few books have brought home more completely the way in which grief and creativity work together. The book also reveals the way in which faith, without ever giving a plain, comforting answer, offers resources to look at what is terrible without despair or evasion. Cave’s faith is not that of a man looking for shortcuts or consolations. At one point he speaks about the “spiritual audacity” that he felt coming to birth in the wake of Arthur’s death — “a kind of reckless refusal to submit to the condition of the world”. 

He has rediscovered what can only be described as joy, through “an altered connection to the world”: “spasms of delight”, a brightness uncovered in things, coexisting with the “dark, vacuous space” of loss. This is a joy that has nothing much to do with “feeling happy” or with satisfaction. “It’s there, despite ourselves … not attached to anything.” This double vision, Cave says, is fundamental to the religious impulse. It explains why in church he feels able to hold together both the doubt and pain and the sense of anchorage.

The full article can be read here.

The Triumph of the Veneration of the Icon celebrated with a procession of the icons around the church.

(from an article by Fr Stephen Freeman)
No spiritual activity permeates Orthodoxy as much as veneration. For the non-Orthodox, veneration is often mistaken for worship. We kiss icons; sing hymns to saints; cry out “Most Holy Theotokos, save us!” And all of this scandalizes the non-Orthodox who think we have fallen into some backwater of paganized Christianity. It is not unusual to hear Orthodox who more or less apologize for this activity and seek to minimize it. “We are only trying to give honor to the saints, etc.” What is lacking, all too often, is a vigorous explanation for the work of veneration and its central place in the Christian life.

The normal mode of “seeing” in our daily world can be called “objective.” We see things as objects, and nothing more. Indeed, we see most people as objects unless we have reason to do otherwise. Sometimes we see people as objects in order not to see them as otherwise. But this objective viewing is an extremely limited and limiting way of seeing anything. Veneration brings us to a different form of seeing.

It is carefully noted in the accounts of Christ’s resurrection that he is unrecognized at first, and on more than one occasion. Mary Magdalen mistakes Him for the gardener. The disciples on the road to Emmaus talk with Him while they are walking but do not recognize Him until the moment at which He disappears. The disciples who are fishing do not recognize Him until after they have a miraculous catch of fish.

The silliest explanations of these failures to recognize are the ones that try to attribute it to grief. The stories clearly have something else in mind. This “something else” is particularly revealed in Christ’s encounter with Mary Magdalen. She thinks He is the gardener and wants to know to where the body of Jesus has been moved. But suddenly this “gardener” calls her by name, “Mary.” And she recognizes Him.

What has taken place is the change from an objective seeing to a personal seeing. It is only in the realm of personhood that we experience communion. We do not and cannot commune with “mere” objects. The Resurrection, among many things, represents the triumph of the personal over the objective. The Resurrected Christ cannot be seen in an objective manner, or, at least, He cannot be seen for who He is in such a manner. It would be more accurate, or helpful, to say that He is discerned, or perceived, rather than merely seen. Both “discerned” and “perceived” imply something more from the observer than simple seeing. (In truth, “seeing” should be more than “mere seeing.” In Greek, the verb, “to know,” is derived from a root meaning “to see.”)

Veneration is far more than the acts of bowing, kissing, crossing oneself, offering incense or lighting candles. Those things become veneration when they are offered towards the person who is made present in an icon. An icon that becomes an object ceases to be a true icon and becomes mere art, or worse, the object of a fetish. The Fathers taught that an “icon makes present that which it represents.” The veneration of an icon is an encounter with a person.

It is worth noting that in one of the better treatments of the theology of icons – saints are generally painted “face-to-face” rather than in profile. Judas and demons are frequently seen depicted in profile, on the other hand. There are exceptions to this rule, some by the hands of very competent iconographers. Nonetheless, the general observation remains important. We encounter persons, as person, face-to-face. The impersonal, objective treatment of another person is an act of shaming and inherently hides our own face from them.

At some point, the Church’s use of iconography became distorted and became the Church’s use of art. Art is interesting and serves the end of beauty (when done well). But this development in the Church (primarily in the West, and occasionally in the East as well, as certain styles were copied) represents a turning away from the icon as encounter and the objectification of human beings and nature. It is among the many serious steps that created the notion of a secularized world.

Jesus, as an artistic subject, is equally accessible to all. His use in art renders Him as object. Indeed, Jesus is frequently used to “make a statement.” But this is the anti-icon, the betrayal of the personal as made known to us in the Resurrection. Christ becomes historicized, just one object among many to be dissected and discussed.

Of course, Christians are free. We may decorate our lives with art as we choose so long as we don’t confuse art with iconography, nor religious sentiment with spiritual encounter. But our engagement with art can easily overtake our experience of icons. Our culture knows how to “see” art, but icons remain opaque. Only the true act of veneration reveals what is made present in an icon.

I can recall my first experience with an icon. I had bought a print from St. Vladimir’s and mounted it. I would have it in front of me during my prayer time. I would look and think, and look harder. I think I expected to “see” something or for there to be a trail of thoughts inspired by my looking. But it was simply empty. I was a young college-age Anglican at the time and had no idea how to find my way into the world of an icon.

Some decades later, I became Orthodox, having written a Master’s thesis on the theology of icons and come to understand them. The summer following my conversion, I visited St. Vladimir’s Seminary for my first time. I was surprised when I walked into the chapel to see that the icon of the Virgin on the iconostasis was the original of the small print I had begun my journey with. And then I could see her. All of the journey seemed intensely personal, without accident or caprice. She had brought me home!

This is something that veneration begins to reveal to us. We do not think about the saints or imagine them. In their icons and our veneration, we come to know them. We see them face-to-face and even learn to recognize them and their work and prayers in our daily lives. The world is not accident and caprice. It is deeply intentional and personal, and conspiring towards our salvation.

The “objects” in our lives are nothing of the sort. It is only the dark and callous objectivity of the modern heart that has so disenchanted reality. We imagine ourselves the only sentient beings marooned on a small, blue planet in space. We wonder if there is “life” out there, as if there were anything else anywhere.

The world is icon and sacrament. But it cannot be known until we see it face-to-face. And you will not see anything face-to-face unless and until you venerate it. Veneration is a word that describes the proper attitude to the whole of creation.

On the veneration of the Icon, St. John of Damascus stated the following:
“I do not venerate the creation over the creator, but I venerate the creator who became creation like me, and came down into creation without humiliation and without being debased, in order to glorify my nature and make me to be partaker of the divine nature …. For the nature of flesh has not become deity, but, as the Word became flesh without change, remaining as he was, likewise the flesh became Word, without losing what it is, identifying moreover with the Word hypostatically. Thus, taking courage, I represent God, the invisible, not as invisible, but insofar as he has become visible for us by participation in flesh and blood. I do not represent the invisible deity but I represent the flesh of God which has been seen.” (P.G. 94, 1236Bc).

As Valentine’s Day approaches, the World Council of Churches (WCC) is sending a message about healthy relationships: “Love Heals, Not Hurts.” The campaign, now in its fifth year, is part of the WCC Thursdays in Black global movement for a world free from rape and violence.

The special Valentine’s message, also shared via social media cards, is an annual tradition that’s part of the WCC’s work toward gender justice.

In a video reflection, WCC general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay noted that the Bible tells us that love is the greatest of all spiritual gifts.

“It is a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person, or a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep care for a parent, child, family member, or friend,” he said. “Love values and respects the other person, supports their wellbeing, and demands nothing in return.”

This is the love, Pillay continued, that many share and receive in familial, platonic, and romantic relationships. “In this season of celebrating love, sharing symbols of love is natural and healthy,” he said. “At its best, such sharing strengthens us as individuals, communities and society.”

The WCC, in 1998, declared sexual and gender-based violence a sin, and reiterated condemnation of such acts in 2018. Yet, violence against women and girls, men, and boys continues daily, as tragic statistics show.

Approximately 81,000 women and girls were murdered across the globe in 2020, or one female every 11 minutes. Among them, 46,980 women and girls died as a result of intimate partner violence. 

One in three women face physical, sexual, or some other form of abuse in their lifetime. “We may not realize that this translates to more than one billion women and girls being affected by abuse and other forms of violence, and 736 million girls and women being subject to intimate or non-partner physical or sexual violence,” said Pillay.

Love is not easily provoked and is not evil, concluded Pillay. “Love heals, love restores, love redeems,” he said. “This Valentine’s Day and always, the WCC stands against rape and violence.”