Icons are considered a form of art, though they were not created for art's sake. The reason for their appearance is purely religious and it manifests itself in serving the Church. Icons differ from other forms of art not only because of their purpose. They are understood and interpreted in a special way. Icons are highly symbolic, they express the category of holiness and sanctity. They do not just depicts Saints, they transmit the sacred message to the believers. The colours are chosen according to the concepts they symbolise and ideas they stand for. Proportions seem to be weird, but they correspond to certain scheme or "matrix” of any icon – the position of each Saint is strictly determined. Icons can't be interpreted as other forms of art – freethinking isn't allowed. Trying to comprehend a picture, one usually relies on his own understanding, paying attention to his own emotions evoked by the masterpiece, looking for the author's message or creating his own one. Icons stand aside from any personal interpretation. They are "encoded” and usually there's only one way to "decode” their message. Symbols in iconography do not correspond to "the symbol as an imaginary device” that presupposes variation of treatments. In this way icons can be compared to riddles or puzzles – in order to understand the whole message one has to look deeper, far beyond what is depicted, into the very hidden symbolic meaning.
