Icons depict Saints. Hence, the way we understand Saints influences and predetermines the way we perceive icons. Who are the Saints? I regard them as usual, ordinary people who are morally higher than other people, who are spiritually perfect or almost perfect. Just, for example, prophets. The Saints understand Life and share the sense of Life they have grasped with other people. Therefore, we may conclude that Saints are teachers preaching spirituality. As far as icons are concerned, I believe there are at least two ways of understanding them. The first one is: icons as an object of religious worship. But that is characteristic only for believers, true believers. A more common way of perceiving icons is peculiar to the majority of people, to average people. They (me as well) view icons as an object of history, an object of Art. Hence, when looking at an icon the first (a believer) will admire it and undergo very strong emotions that other citizens will never understand. Sense has nothing to de when dealing with the Soul. At the same time, when a non-believer is looking at an icon, he/she will probably ask some questions like, “Who is the painter?”, “Which century does it date back?”, or even “Who is the Saint depicted here?”. In my opinion, both ways of understanding icons have a right to exist. It does not matter very much how to appreciate things. It is much more important not to be ignorant.
