Basic Types of Correlation between Text and Icon, between Verbal and Visual Icons

Whenconsidering Byzantine theology, even of the earliest period, one cannot fail to observe that the word ‘icon’ was used by theologians in a much broader sense than is the custom today. These early theologians called the entire cosmos God's icon—it was God's creation. During the celebration of the liturgy the Bishop or Priest was referred to as Christ's icon. The Gospels too were referred to as an icon; the Gospels represented the icon of Christ in written form, as Maximus the Confessor had written as early as the 7th century.1 Therefore icons were not just visual or decorative; they were also verbal and of a literary nature. 1 Максим Исповедник, прп. . Т. 1. М.:Мартис, 1993. С. 175. [Maximus the Confessor, in Works, Vol. I. (Moscow: Martis, 1993), p. 175.] What, then, is a verbal icon? A verbal icon must fulfill three main conditions....