had some of those issues meself. Mary goes with the saints since, for us, she is the great example and not the great exception. she shows what everyone is called to be. she is unique in her closeness to God, but she is not unique in that I can have that closeness as can you, and everyone. where she is now is where I am called to be, because becoming close to God is not something that ever ends. so she is further along than I am (as is every saint), but I am called to that level of closeness as well.
prayer is merely a petition. since the saints are alive in Christ, and God is the God of the living and not of the dead, prayer to a saint is merely asking the saint to pray for us, much in the same way you might ask a friend or loved one to pray for you.
icons are merely, theology in color. images were used in the Temple and Tabernacle, so there has always been a difference between a graven image (which is worshiped itself) and a holy image (which visually aides man in his worship of God).
hope this makes sense.
and what you could do is just check out your closest Orthodox Church or contact the priest for a sit down. I can say that in the 9ish years that I have been looking into the Church and been in the Church, I have never not felt at home when I have been in a Church for whatever reason (retreat, services, etc).
Thanks, Army Matt
As far as icons, venerating items, etc. - I have statues of Jesus (I believe the Orthodox Church specifically speaks against statues used
in worship?) and artwork that remind me of Christ and our relationship with Him. I have no problem with being placed in mind. When specifically worshipping, I don't mind images being shown. The specific thought in my mind is that those images remind me of Christ, or what He did, and so on. I do not regard the images themselves as sacred nor worship them. Particularly since they are modern artistic renditions, I think this is even more important.
I tend to agree with my husband (though he surprised me) but as he explained, someone kissing the Scriptures, say, or a cross necklace, do not constitute worship in his mind or seem wrong, but just "kissing means you love something" and with that explanation I am satisfied.
I'm sure I have more nuances to consider. Bowing down before a statue and actually worshipping the statue itself is impossible for me to consider.
I'm thinking about Mary, and the saints.
The angel told John to get up and not worship him. Only God is to be worshipped, is what I get from that. So I am asking myself, does prayer = worship? Most specifically, would asking someone to pray FOR you be worship, if that's all it was. That seems less a problem. I am trying to find if ever we are told to direct prayers only to God. I can't recall offhand that we were, but we don't have any other example to follow either, as far as I can tell.
And my mind goes (forgive me) to Saul calling up Samuel. I know that is a totally different thing, but it's the only example in Scripture I can think of where a living person speaks to a dead one.
Depending on exactly how Mary is regarded ... I can see giving her a place of prominence. I can see giving the Apostle John a place of prominence. But I do see Jesus as having a special place among men that no other, including Mary, can ever approach in terms of Who He is, and what He has done for us.
Anyway, those are some of my thought on the problems and questions I have. I don't fully understand the Orthodox viewpoint, and have not explored these particular questions beyond just hearing what people comment in passing, so I don't mean to be unfair in my comments. I do know I don't understand fully, and I prefer to know what someone really believes before ever commenting on it.
I thank you for your help, and patience, and everyone here. I hope very much nothing I've said here offends. It is just my limited understanding at this point.
Thank you all.
