FEBRUARY 25, 2018

EPISTLE: Hebrews 11:24-26, 32-12:2 (#329-ctr) GOSPEL: St. John 1:43 - 51 (#5)TONE: 5

St. Innocent Orthodox ChurchZ 50th Anniversary:1967-2017 Z Moscow Patriarchal Parishes Z23300 W. Chicago _ Redford, MI 48239 _ 313-538-1142 _ Fax: 313-538-8126Church Website: www.stinnocentchurch.com _ E-Mail: starfatherroman38@gmail.com

St. Innocent Monastic Community: 9452 Hazelton, Redford, MI 48239 _ 313-535-9080PASTOR: Mitered Archpriest Fr. ROMAN STAR _ Cell: 313-319-0590

Dean, Central States Deanery, Patriarchal ParishesASSISTANT PRIESTS: Fr. DANEIL SHIRAK _ 313-295-3073

Fr. JOSHUA GENIG _ 630-936-6386DEACON: Dn. Michael Comerford, Attached

ATTACHED: Sister IoannaCHOIR DIRECTOR: Elizabeth Star Hatfield

READERS: Robert Latsko, George Hanoian, William Davis, Henry Hancock

FOR THE REPOSE OF: Estelle & Joseph Star; Anna & John Witkowski; Michael Sr. & Margaret Rusko; Mary, Andrew, Daniel, Michael& Lottie Yakuber; Ross & Margaret Falsetti; Helen, John & Carole Andrayko; Peter & Theresa Harvilla; Betty Martell; Frances, Todd , John& Theresa Smoly; Peter Glover; Irene Adams; Ethel Elizabeth & Wayne Joshua deVyver, David Horka; Michael Rusko; Anna Lichagina,Yelena & Zinaïda Korniyevskaya; Joseph Nossal; Michelle Tucker; Todd Comerford, John Manier, Jr.MEMORY ETERNAL!

FOR THE HEALTH OF: Archimandrite Seraphim; Priest Daneil, Mat. Debra & Corrina Shirak; Priest Joshua, Mat. Abigail, Emma, Clare,Rose & Anna Genig; Deacon Michael, Mat. Mary Ellen & Julius Comerford; Matushka Mary Donahue; Reader Robert Latsko, Reader George& Betty Hanoian, William Basil Davis, Rose Nossal, Mary Glover, Nancy Cupp, Vasiliki Stamoulis, Gerald Martell, Azbehat, Carl deVyver,Jo Anne Nicholas, Joan Rusko, Daria, Joseph Nossal, Ed Manier, Pat Harbut, Iskias Naizghi, Fr. Dimitrie Vincent, Elaine Rogizan ALSO FOR: Levi Troyer, who is recovering from severe hand injury and surgeries (Becky Jurczyszyn’s 20-year-old son)

� MAY GOD GRANT THEM MANY YEARS! �

SCHEDULE FOR THE COMING WEEK(No meat, fish, dairy or alcohol until Pascha)

TODAY: Sun 2/25 6pm COCC LENTEN VESPERS #1: at St. John Greek Church, 11455 16 Mile Rd, Sterling Hts; w/ Fr. Michael Oleksa

Wednesday 2/28 6:30pm PRESANCTIFIED LITURGY & pot-luck supper #2

Saturday 3/3 10am SOUL-SATURDAY MEMORIAL DIVINE LITURGY FOR THE DEPARTED #2

4pm GREAT VESPERS & CONFESSIONS

Sunday 3/4 2nd Sunday of Great Lent — St. Gregory Palamas Sunday

9am HOURS, AKATHIST &/or CANON

9:30am GENERAL EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE & ABSOLUTIONS

10am DIVINE LITURGY OF ST. BASIL; followed by Coffee Hour

6pm COCC Lenten Vespers #2, at Ss. Peter &Paul (Romanian), 750 Beech Daly, Drbn Hts (betw/Ford & Cherry Hill)

PROSPHORA FOR TODAY IS OFFERED BY: Matushka Rose Marie & Fr. RomanIn Memory Eternal of: Joseph & Estelle Star; Paul & Alexandra; Basil & Ellen; John & Anna; Samuel & Mary; Thomas & Rose; Olga, Joseph, Marsha,Richard, Tom, Julia, George, Olga, Joseph, Ellen, and all departed family members & parishioners of St. Innocent; and For the Health of: Fr. Roman (B-day, 2/4), Mat. Rose Marie (B-day, 2/23), Elizabeth (B-day, 2/23), Larry, Caitlin, Zachary, Thomas (B-day, 3/12), Barbara,Harry, Gregory, Tamiko; all family members & parishioners of St. Innocent.

Z 1st

Sunday of Great Lent Z TRIUMPH OF ORTHODOXY Z

_ 9:15am — HOURS & AKATHIST &/OR CANON; CONFESSIONS __ 10am — DIVINE LITURGY OF ST. BASIL THE GREAT & Procession with Icons _

COMMEMORATED TODAY: Sunday of Orthodoxy. St. Tarasius, Archbishop of Constantinople (806).

Z CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! Z HE IS NOW AND EVER SHALL BE! Z

CANDLES FOR LAST SUNDAY, 18 FEBRUARYYEARLY CHURCH VIGIL LAMPS:Royal Doors Lamp: In Memory of Husband, Joseph; Son, Kenneth; parents, Michael & Margaret Rusko, & John & Martha Nossal, by Rose NossalAltar Candelabra: In Memory of my Parents, John & Anna Witkowski & Fr. Roman’s Parents, Joseph & Estelle Star, by Matushka Rose MarieAltar Candles (2): In Memory of Irene Adams, by Goddaughter, Rose Ann EverhardtIconostasis Lamps: In Memory of departed family & friends; & Health of family & friends, by Fr. Protodeacon Daniel & Mat. Irene SudolCandles on the Solea: In Memory of Peter & Theresa Harvilla, Norman & Monica Holst, & Ricky Ellis, by Jason & Debra Truskowski

Table of Oblation Lamp: In Memory of Parents, Helen & John Andrayko, Sr. & sister, Carole Andrayko, by John Andrayko, Jr.Reliquary-Icon Lamps: Sts. Innocent, Tikhon & Herman: Health of Joseph/Sue; Robert/Diane; Pat/John; Joseph B., Jared, Jay; Rachelle/Aaron, Gabriel; Tricia, Lindsey; & In Memory of sisters, Anna, Margaret, Theresa & Irene; & brothers, John, Edwin & Michael by Rose NossalReliquary-Icon Lamps: Sts. Elizabeth & Raphael: Health of the Genig and the Just Families, by Fr. Joshua & Matushka Abigail GenigReliquary-Icon Lamps: St. Seraphim & St. Alexis: In Memory of Ross & Margaret Falsetti, by daughters, Rose Ann Everhardt & Margie Martell Reliquary-Icon Lamps: St. Nestor & St. Gerontius: In Memory of Rusko Family: Grandparents, Anna, Alexandra, Mike, Margaret, John, Mary, George, Pauline, Pete, Irene, Andrew, Anna, Grandparents Nickolas & Anna Schulik, by Rose NossalReliquary-Icon Lamps: St. Hilarion & Sts. Alexandra & Martha: In Memory of Parents, Ethel Elizabeth & Wayne Joshua; Robert David H; //

IN MEMORY OF (MEMORY ETERNAL!) //& Health of brother, Carl, by Sister IoannaJoseph & Estelle Star, by son Father Roman and familyPaul & Alexandra Yupco, Basil & Ellen Starinshak, by grandson, Father Roman and familyJohn & Anna Witkowski, by daughter, Matushka Rose Marie and familySamuel & Mary Kupec, by granddaughter, Matushka Rose Marie and family Parents, Helen & John Andrayko, and sister, Carole Andrayko, by John Andrayko + + + My husband, Michael Rusko, by Joan Rusko My husband, Joe; my sisters, Margaret & Ross Falsetti, Anna & Mike Elaschat, Theresa & Pete Harvilla, Irene, & brothers, Michael, John & Edwin Rusko; niece, Rose Mary & Dean Hough; Joe’s brothers, Raymond & Walter Nossal, & sisters, Theresa, Florence & Helen Nossal, by Rose Nossal ++ + Pete & Theresa Harvilla, by Mary Ann Harvilla & Kay Truskowski + + + Jaimie Truskowski, by daughter Kay T. Parents, Ethel Elizabeth & Wayne Joshua; David H; Nina I; Marion P; Fr. Photius; Archm. Roman; Mo. Benedicta, Molly, Olive, by Sr. Ioanna Matushka Barbara Kyucynda (newly departed), by Fr. Roman, Mat. Rose Marie & family My parents, Michael & Lottie Yakuber; grandparents Yakuber & Gromacki, Uncle Chet & Aunt Irene; & cousin, Donald, by Nancy Cupp Paulette Harvilla, by Mary Ann Harvilla + + + Michael Bann, by Bob Larkin

FOR THE HEALTH OF: (MANY YEARS!)Elizabeth & Lawrence, Caitlin & Zachary, by parents & grandparents, Father Roman & Matushka Rose Marie Gregory & Tamiko Star, by parents, Father Roman & Matushka Rose MarieChildren, Grandchildren & Great-grandchildren; Monk Fr. Sdn. Tikhon (Dade); by Rose NossalFather Roman & Matushka & family; Sister Ioanna; John Andrayko; Nancy; Mary G; Jo Anne N; Grandson Joey (in the Navy Reserves) & all people in the Armed Forces; & all St. Innocent Church parishioners, by Rose Nossal + + + Family & Friends, by Mary Ann Harvilla & KayBrother, Greg & Donna; nephew, Gregory & Liz &unborn-baby; & nephew, Alex, by Mary Ann & Kay + + + Ed Manier, by Mary Ann H. & KayArchimandrites Nafanail, Gregory & Seraphim; Fr. Roman & Mat. Rose Marie (B-day, 2/23); Fr. Lawrence B & fam; Fr. Laurence L & fam; Fr. Daneil & fam; Fr. Dcn. Michael & fam; Mat. Mary D; Carl; Monk Fr. Tikhon; Sdn Andrew; Rdr Robert; Robert M; David Samuel/Sky & Avi; JoAnne/Nick; Athanasius; John A; Ed/Tiffany; Kim/Mark & fam; Frances/Ken; Deborah H; Rose; Vasiliki; Levi; Elaine, by Sr. Ioanna Rose Nossal, by John Andrayko + + + John Andrayko (May God watch over him), by Rose Nossal + + + Elena Kuligina, by Marianna Wess Jason, Marianna, Amilia, Liliana, Andrew, by Wess Family + + + Galina, Oleg, & Sophia Chernukhin, by Marianna Wess + + + Alice & Autumn & unborn-baby, by grandmother, Frances Roy + + + John (Jasiu), Anastasia (Ana) & Eric, by mother, Fran Roy + + + Terry Kozak, by Fran Elizabeth Hatfield (B-day, 2/23), by Mother & Father + + + My children & grandchildren: Karen, Kim, Keith, David, Steven, Lucas, Corey, Cali Sarah & children & Westfalls (sp?) & Weson; Matushka (B-day), Liz (B-day), Father; Rose Nossal, by Nancy Cupp

ANNOUNCEMENTS

(1) TODAY IS THE LAST DAY TO PLACE YOUR ORDERS FOR PIEROGI. ALSO, VOLUNTEERS TO HELP MAKE PIEROGIGREATLY NEEDED — NEXT SATURDAY, MARCH 3rd. We need as many orders as possible for our delicious large pierogi, eithersauerkraut or potato and cheese, at $7 per dozen ($6.50 was a mistake). Sign up in kitchen or by phone. Also needed are pierogi workers— pleasevolunteer—men, women & kids of all ages. Great family activity. No experience needed—come & learn how if you haven’t made them before.Come when available & help for as long as possible, next Saturday, March 3rd, from around 9am until finished. Contact MaryAnn Harvilla

(2) DUE DATE EXTENDED FOR OUR LITTLE CAESAR’S PIZZA KITS FUND-RAISER. Therefore, if you didn’t have a chance to placeyour order for Pizza Kits yet, you now can still participate in this important fund-raiser for our parish. Please buy at least one kit. In addition tothe pizza kits, there are also crazy bread sticks and cookie kits. Most kits cost $21, with a few at $18 and a few at $24 (we get $6 per kit); mostpizza kits make 3 pizzas. The deadline for orders & payments is now Sunday, March 18th, and the frozen kits will be delivered to church on thefollowing Saturday, March 24th. If you don’t want to eat them yourself, please consider buying a family pizza kit to be donated to a local needyfamily, recommended by the local elementary school principal. See Kim Hancock and her children, Claire & Eva, who are handling the project.

(3) VERY IMPORTANT! WE NEED A DONOR FOR MARCH PROSFORA. $25 for the month. Please contact Sister Ioanna immediately.Also please sign up or confirm monthly donors for the rest of this year in person or by e-mail. MARCH: available; APRIL: available; MAY:Vasiliki; JUNE: John A; JULY: Mat. Rose Marie; AUG: Sr. Ioanna; SEPT: available; OCT: John A; NOV: Sr. Ioanna; DEC: Nicholas Fam.

(4) URGENT NEED FOR NON-PERISHABLE FOOD: Please continue to bring canned goods and other non-perishable food for our St.Innocent Food Pantry. We need to have a food pantry, as we have had at various times in the past, to help those having tough times who call orcome for help, and who are not eligible to receive help from Redford Interfaith Relief.

TRIUMPH OF ORTHODOXY SUNDAY

By Fr. Thaddaeus HardenbrookSource: www.slavopravie.ru

Glory to God, Lent is underway! For many of us, the challenges of CleanWeek [the first week of the Great Fast] have been very practical: targetingdistractions and cares that compete with Lent, prioritizing attendance atservices, cleaning out the refrigerator and refreshing our fasting-foodshopping lists while squeezing in a few power naps to balance Lent’s naturaldraw on our energy. Clean Week is a sprint wherein we break free from thecongestion of daily life and then set a bit slower yet calculated pace—onethat can be maintained until the final push of Holy Week.

For many of us, also, the lenten demons got an early start this year. Illness,car trouble, family crisis, or some good old-fashioned irritation. Our spiritualtradition is clear that whenever a Christian sets a spiritual goal, embracespersonal asceticism, or just sits down to make a spiritual plan, the temptationto irritability confronts us almost immediately—perhaps because we’re thateasily wearied, perhaps because we so quickly feel proud of ourselves.

Along with the essential trio of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving, our Lenten effort, as average people, might besummed up in the words of Elder Thaddeus of Vitovnica,

“Our life depends on the kind of thoughts we nurture. If our thoughts are peaceful, calm, meek, and kind,then that is what our life is like. If our attention is turned to the circumstances in which we live, we aredrawn into a whirlpool of thoughts and can have neither peace nor tranquility.”

After the exercise of Clean Week, the wisdom of the Church grants us a rest in the joyof Triumph of Orthodoxy Sunday. In the eighth century, a persecution arose against theholy icons and those who venerated them. Churches were desecrated, and the faithfulwere tortured and martyred. In the year 842, the empress Theodora put an end to thepersecution and established the first Sunday of Great Lent as a day of thanksgiving toGod for the restoration of the veneration of icons. Our joy arises both from triumph overheresy and from the realization that we have been granted the gift of membership inOrthodoxy.

In the words of Fr. Alexander Schmemann,

“Today, we proclaim and we glorify first of all our unity in Orthodoxy. Thisis the triumph of Orthodoxy in the present age. This is a most wonderfulevent: that all of us, with all our differences, with all our limitations, with allour weaknesses, can come together and say we belong to that Orthodox faith,that we are one in Christ and in Orthodoxy. We are living very far from thetraditional centers of Orthodoxy. We call ourselves Eastern Orthodox, and yetwe are here in the West. And yet, don’t we have the feeling that something ofa miracle has happened, that God has established us here. That He has sentus as apostles of Orthodoxy, so that this faith, which historically was limitedto the East, now is becoming a faith which is truly and completely universal.”

May the joyful cleansing and spiritual reality of Lent be a blessing on usall this year, as it is every year. Disregarding every apparent challenge, practical or spiritual, may we enter intothe prescribed lifestyle of Lent to the best of our ability, in community and counsel, without comparing ordespairing, and may our hearts (most importantly!) be inclined towards God, in all places and with all people, thatevery aspect of our life be sanctified in a manner that propels us into the light of the Resurrection.

WHAT IS ORTHODOXY SUNDAY?

Every year, the first Sunday of the Great Lenten Fast is called "Orthodoxy Sunday."In 2018, it is observed on February 25th. It is dedicated to the Restoration of Icons onthe first Sunday of the Great Lent/Fast in the year 843. It is always celebrated as the"Triumph of Orthodoxy," a triumph over those who sought to defeat and underminethe Orthodox Faith of the Apostles and the Church Fathers by prohibiting the use andveneration of icons. Thousands of devout Orthodox Christians were martyred fortheir Faith during the approximately 125 years that the Holy Orthodox Churchendured the imposition of iconoclasm.

In the United States, because of the presence ofvarious different ethnic expressions of the one

Orthodox Faith, it has become traditional in many cities on OrthodoxySunday, especially in large metropolitan areas, for Orthodox Christians of allethnic traditions and jurisdictions to come together and witness to, andproclaim the unity of the Faith of the Apostles, the Faith that has beenmaintained in the Orthodox Church for 2,000 years.

How can we understand the meaning of thisday, this Triumph or Feast of Orthodoxy? Howcan the victory over iconoclasm be a triumph of Orthodoxy itself? The triumph oficons is a triumph of Orthodoxy: without icons, there is no Orthodox Christianity.Icons affirm the basic principle of the preaching of the Gospels — interpreted inthe decisions of the Seven Ecumenical Councils — namely, that God became manin Jesus the Christ, in order to reconcile the world to Himself. It is preciselybecause God took on a material form in Jesus, that we can make images of Jesusand of His true servants, the saints. These images oricons furthermore affirm that the material worldparticipates in salvation — that is, in the process ofthe transfiguration and resurrection of humanity andof all the cosmos. The material world is good,

because God created it and incarnated in it, and He continues to manifest Himselfto us in material form — especially in the Holy Mysteries (Sacraments), in icons,in the Gospels and in the cross. We do not worship these things, for worship is

given only to God. Neither is it their material substancewhich we venerate when we kiss them; rather, ourveneration is passed on to the prototype. We can expressour love for Jesus by kissing His icon or cross, but it isChrist — not paint and wood — whom we venerate bymeans of His icon or cross.

KONTAKION FOR ORTHODOXY SUNDAYNo one could describe the Word of the Father;

but when He took flesh from you, O Theotokos, He accepted to be described, and restored the fallen image to its former state by uniting it to divine Beauty.

We confess and proclaim our salvation in word and images.

By Sister Ioanna, St. Innocent of Alaska Monastic Community, Redford, MI

Source: http://stinnocentchurch.com/whyorthodoxysunday.html

BRIGHT SADNESS

by Father Andrew Morbey

The American poet and Orthodox convert, Scott Cairns, writes in a chapter of GodFor Us: Rediscovering the Meaning of Lent and Easter:

.... at first, I was surely among the crew that Father Alexander Schmemannacknowledges when he writes (in his amazing and very helpful book, Great Lent), “Formany, if not for the majority of Orthodox Christians, Lent consists of a number offormal, predominantly negative, rules and prescriptions…. Such is the degree of ouralienation from the real spirit of the Church that it is almost impossible for us tounderstand that there is ‘something else’ in Lent — something without which all theseprescriptions lose much of their meaning.”

Father Schmemann goes on to explain that this “something else” is another dispositionaltogether. He characterizes it as an “atmosphere,” a “climate,” and “a state of mind,soul, and spirit.” In my own experience — which, as I say, required some years ofpractice before I so much as noticed — Lent can become an incentive and a powerful means by which we can enter thekingdom of God, even as we abide here on earth.

This disposition is the harmolype — the bright-sadness — of which the fathers and the mothers speak. Even in the drynessof our desert journey, we are offered a sustaining taste of the sweet, the living waters. Even amid the gloom, we apprehenda glimmer of the light.

This bright sadness permeates much of the wonderful poetry of the Lenten Triodion. These hymns fill our liturgicalservices with a sadness that is at once bitter, as we consider the wretched state we find ourselves in, and yet leavened withjoy, the bright promise of God’s presence and forgiveness. Bright sadness is connected with tender-heartedness, that is,compassion, a compassionate heart, from out of which a loving gaze embraces the suffering of others. What begins assomething inward, and deeply personal — being touched by the poetry and melodies of bright sadness — is meant to bea source or well-spring of empathy, of mercy and forgiveness, of loving acts.

Father John Breck wrote in a meditation many years ago:

Bright sadness may be the most powerful and important experience we can know. It brings to our mind and heart, in themost direct and personal way, the ultimate purpose of our life and the object or end of our most passionate desire. It remindsus of who we are, as beloved children of God, created in His image and invited to glorify and enjoy Him forever.

That conflicted emotion of bright sadness is a blessed gift, bestowed by the God who loves us with a “love without limit.” Itcomes to us through our ascetic struggle during the Lenten season, as it does through the solemn beauty of the Church’sliturgical services. But it can come to us as well when we observe it in the people around us: people with whom and for whomwe pray, people who in many cases pray for us without our being aware of it. We find that bright sadness in communion withthem, in hearing their stories, in sharing their hopes, fears and longings. We find it through being attentive to the beauty andtruth of their life and their unique presence.

The elder Paisios once said that for love to blossom in the heart, we must pray with pain of heart. In explaining this he notedthat when we hurt some part of our body — our hand, for example — all our attention and energy focuses on where we hurt.So too it is a hurting and broken heart that focuses our spiritual attention. When asked what can we do if, in fact, we are notsuffering and our heart is not hurting, the elder replied: “We should make the other’s pain our own! We must love the other,must hurt for him, so that we can pray for him. We must come out little by little from our own self and begin to love, to hurtfor other people as well, for our family first then for the large family of Adam, of God.”

May our attention to the bright sadness of Lent bring us to the joy of the Resurrection! On Monday of the first week of theFast, at Matins we sing:

Let us joyfully begin the all-hallowed season of abstinence; and let us shine with the bright radiance of the holycommandments of Christ our God, with the brightness of love and the splendor of prayer, with the purity of holiness and thestrength of good courage. So, clothed in raiment of light, let us hasten to the Holy Resurrection on the third day, that shinesupon the world with the glory of eternal life.

Father Andrew Morbey is Dean of Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Minneapolis, MN. Source: oca website

WHY ICONS ARE NECESSARY

By Sister Ioanna, M.Th., M.A., Ph.D.

St. Innocent Monastic Community, Redford, Michigan

Sometimes people think that there is no substantive difference between the "religiousart" of non-Orthodox Christianity and Orthodox icons — they are both "nice", but notessential to the Faith. Nothing could be further from the truth from the Orthodoxperspective. For Orthodoxy, icons are in a totally different category from non-Orthodox"religious art." Indeed, this latter "religious art" is not essential to Roman Catholicismor Protestantism. But that does not mean that the same is true for Orthodox Christianity.

On the contrary, the sacred images of the OrthodoxChurch, called "icons," are absolutely necessary toOrthodoxy. Why is this so? The answer is really quitesimple, yet at the same time, as with all Truth, is very

profound. Icons are essential to the Orthodox Faith, because:

(1) they affirm the Incarnation of Christ;

(2) they affirm the goodness of the material world that God created;

(3) and they affirm that the physical world has the potential for being transfigured andresurrected, as it participates in the restoration of humanity to the beauty of the DivineImage and Likeness.

"Why icons?" and "What are Icons?" are two very similar questions. Sometimes it is difficult to succinctly define "What areicons?" But let us try.

Ë Icons are silent sermons expressed in colors, rather than in words.

Ë Icons put us into the Divine Presence and the Divine Presence into us.

Ë Icons are glimpses of what is ultimately meaningful and possible in life.

Ë Icons are two-way windows into the Kingdom of God, already visible here and now.

Ë Icons make visible the invisible, and thus, are vehicles of divine revelation.

Ë Icons are instruments of grace, by which persons can encounter God, Christ and the Saints.

Ë Icons make present the great events of salvation-history, and the great heroes of the Church—the Saints.

Ë Icons enable us to stand in two worlds—the heavenly and the earthly.

Ë Icons enable us to become participants in the vision of the reconciliation of the cosmos to God.

Ë Icons enable us to become aware of:

• who and what we are;

• why we are here on earth;

• and how we are to live our lives.

Learning to read the language of authentic Orthodox icons, so that all these qualities of iconscan be discerned, is a most rewarding endeavor. But it isn't really all about a cognitive effort.Rather, learning the language of icons, in essence, involves expressing in words what isencountered and experienced by the heart, or, to put it differently, it involves projecting intothe mind what the heart already knows. One might say that the process of learning thelanguage of icons is an act of "uniting the heart and the mind;" it is a process of both"bringing the mind into the heart," together with the reverse procedure of "bringing the heartinto the mind." But, we wish to emphasize, that the Orthodox faithful do not USE icons(despite what some contemporary Westerners try to popularize); we ENCOUNTER icons;we EXPERIENCE icons. This encounter is experienced by the HEART, not the MIND. TheWestern mentality is that nothing is of value if it cannot be USED. The Orthodox mentality

emphasizes that value is based on what a thing (or a person) IS, not, how it can be USED.

See article on church website: https://stinnocentchurch.com/whyicons.html