Vatican official says in East copies of original icons are venerated

Published: 2004-08-25

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Just because the icon Pope John Paul II sent to the Russian Orthodox Church is an 18th-century copy does not mean it is a fake. "In the West, people think of a 'real' original and then of copies, as if being a copy means being false, like a copy of a Rembrandt painting," said Jesuit Father Jozef Maj, an official at the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. "In the East, every icon is authentic if it is painted according to specific rules," he said. "The very fact that it is painted in this way ties it to the archetype, who, in this case, is the mother of God." From the moment the first icon of the Mother of God of Kazan was discovered in 1579, "various venerated and miraculous copies existed," said Father Maj, who was a member of the Vatican-Russian committee that examined the icon in 2003 and was a member of the Vatican delegation returning the icon to Russia in late August. The commission's conclusions, published by the Vatican, said, "The appraisal confirmed that it is an authentic icon, attributable to a period no later than the first half of the 18th century."

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