In art history, the study of the conventional meanings of iconographic art, which is art that is meant to convey some doctrine or traditional story. The iconographer identifies the saints represented on cathedral windows, for example, by noting the tools or animals that were included in the pictures specifically for the sake of identification.
In
Eastern Orthodoxy, the church has established an extensive set of rules and guidelines to be used for writing icons, both in general and for particular icons. (Quick note on word usage: icons are not "painted", they are "written." They are also "read" by the viewer, rather than just viewed.) Because the icons communicate theological truth, they are often just as careful to write icons correctly as they would be to compose written doctrines and dogmas. Eastern Orthodox theologians often find it useful to "quote from" or refer to a particular icon when making a point, just as they might cite a document written by an earlier theologian or council. The responsibility of writing icons is often carried out by monks. A
saint must be canonized by a synod of bishops before icons of the saint can be written and put into use.
In practice, icons are often illuminated with a candle or jar of oil with a wick. Besides the practical purpose of making them visible in an otherwise dark church in the days before electricity, this simply means that the saint(s) depicted are illuminated by the Christ, the Light of the World. Orthodox Christians venerate or show honor and respect for icons in a variety of ways, in order to show honor and respect for the people and events depicted. They do not worship icons, for worship of icons was forbidden by the same council that defended their use, the Second Council of Nicaea. By venerating icons, Orthodox Christians acknowledge that matter is not inherently evil, but can be used by God. St. [John of Damascus]? observed that iconoclasts who attacked the use of icons often found themselves denying the goodness of matter to such an extent, that they wound up doubting the real incarnation of Jesus Christ as fully human, or that he was resurrected with a real physical body.
There is a vaguer popular sense of the term: a list of the familiar character types, cliches, and celebrities in a given field.
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