The Sacred Heart of Jesus

Pensees · Post by **Pensees** » Mon 1 January 2007 1:21 am

Do Orthodox Christians believe in the Sacred Heart of Jesus? The reason why I ask this question is that there are several Byzantine-style icons I have seen of Jesus and His sacred heart like this one:

http://www.biblia.com/jesusart/jesus-heart-icon-18.jpg

Peace.

GOCPriestMark · Post by **GOCPriestMark** » Mon 1 January 2007 5:25 pm

Pensees · Post by **Pensees** » Mon 1 January 2007 8:24 pm

If not, are there any specific reasons?

Anastasios · Post by **Anastasios** » Mon 1 January 2007 8:44 pm

Pensees wrote:
If not, are there any specific reasons?

Those are "monastery icons." That is a group taht is new age and worships hindu Gods alongside Christ. They cater to Byzantine Catholics. that's why they have a sacred heart icon.

Pensees · Post by **Pensees** » Mon 1 January 2007 9:25 pm

Like I said, it appears in several places:
http://www.altavista.com/image/results? ... &miwxh=all

Is there anything specifically wrong or incorrect with this depiction of Christ?

Peace.

GOCTheophan · Post by **GOCTheophan** » Tue 2 January 2007 8:07 am

Pensees wrote:
Like I said, it appears in several places:
http://www.altavista.com/image/results? ... &miwxh=all

Is there anything specifically wrong or incorrect with this depiction of Christ?

Peace.

Yes.

On the Latin cult of the "Heart of Jesus."

In connection with this decree of the Council it may be seen how out of harmony with the spirit and practice of the Church is the cult of the "sacred heart of Jesus" which has been introduced into the Roman Catholic Church. Although the above-cited decree of the Fifth Ecumenical Council touches only on the separate worship of the Divinity and the Humanity of the Saviour, it still indirectly tells us that in general the veneration and worship of Christ should be directed to Him as a whole and not to parts of His Being; it must be one. Even if by "heart" we should understand the Saviour’s love itself, still neither in the Old Testament nor in the New was there ever a custom to worship separately the love of God, or His wisdom, His creative or providential power, or His sanctity. All the more must one say this concerning the parts of His bodily nature. There is something unnatural in the separation of the heart from the general bodily nature of the Lord for the purpose of prayer, contrition and worship before Him. Even in the ordinary relationships of life, no matter how much a man might be attached to another — for example, a mother to a child — he would never refer his attachment to the heart of the beloved person, but will refer it to the given person as a whole.

Protopresbyter Michael Pomazansky (1888-1988)

Anastasios · Post by **Anastasios** » Tue 2 January 2007 8:20 am

Pensees wrote:
Like I said, it appears in several places:
http://www.altavista.com/image/results? ... &miwxh=all

"Like you said"?! Most of those are the same image, others are obviously Catholic paintings, and one is from the apostate Robert Lentz. they are all basically the same prototype anyway.

Is there anything specifically wrong or incorrect with this depiction of Christ?

Peace.

Well we don't venerate the sacred heart in Orthodoxy, so righteness or wrongness aside, it's just foreign to our custom.

Anastasios