Icons are works of art—most commonly paintings depicting a person, such as Christ, an angel, Mary, or another saint. But they are not merely art. Icons have a mediatorial role in liturgical practice (e.g., prayer). The Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America defines an icon as follows: “In the Orthodox Church an icon is a sacred image, a window into heaven. An image of another reality, of a person, time and place that is more real than here and now. More than art, icons have an important spiritual role.”
