THE ISSUE OF THE WRITTEN AND ICONIC SIGNIFIER

IN THE THEOLOGY OF THEODOR ABŪ QURRAH

Oliviu-Petru BOTOI

Abstract: Theodore Abū Qurrah was among the first Orthodox

theologians preoccupied by the problem of the icons. He was an

apprentice of Saint John Damascene and the first Orthodox theologian

who wrote in Arabic. Living in the space of the Near and Middle East,

born in Edessa, ordained as bishop in Harran and with the experience of

travelling from Armenia to Egypt, Qurrah had to protect the cult of the

holy icons in front of a small Christian community (Chalcedonian and

non-Chalcedonian) and against a huge attack from the Muslim

theologians. Although his Treatise on the Veneration of the Holy Icons

follows and reproduces the argumentation of Saint John Damascene, there

are remarked some original ideas, too. One of the five sets of arguments

specific to his Treatise refers to the relation between the written

representation of the theology (Torah, Gospels, Koran) and its iconic

representation (the Christian icons). In the same time, the author develops

the problem of the signifiers in the Islamic and Judaic cults for the

cognition of the signified. We appreciate as relevant to nuance some

comparative aspects between Christianity and Islamism, even this

theological aspect of the iconology was discussed in dedicated writings.

The icon as Gospel was much discussed, but our intention is to discuss

the Gospel as icon.

Keywords: icons, words, Scripture, Islam, dogmatic-moral values

Introduction

Theodore Abū Qurrah, bishop of Harran and the first Arabian

Orthodox theologian was among the Fathers of the Church and the

PhD Candidate, “1 Decembrie 1918” University in Alba Iulia (Faculty of Orthodox

Theology); Cultural counselor at The Orthodox Archdiocese of Alba Iulia.

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Theologian writers (John Damascene, Theodore Studites, Nicephorus

patriarch the Constantinople) who defended the cult of the holy icons

during the iconoclast crisis in the period between the 8th and the 9th

centuries. His writings are not too much known in the Christian European

and American space, and his Treatise on the Veneration of the Holy Icons

was translated at the end of the last decade. Although the iconology of

Abū Qurrah is mostly tributary to the iconology of Saint John

Damascene1, important original elements appear in his work, due to the

fact that knew very well the Islam and Mosaic religion, where the most

numerous iconomach arguments came from2.

We are presenting in our research the arguments of Theodore Abū

Qurrah, which use the scriptural and iconic variety of the signifier to

illustrate the unique signified. Very eloquent is the comparison between

the Orthodox icon and the text of the Koran. The accusation of idolatrous

veneration of the icon is returned to those venerating the text of the Koran

in its graphic materiality, not just in a literary manner. Thus, we may

speak of a bibliolatry, where God is reduced to the level of some concepts

defined through material signs. The observation on this particular aspect

of the iconology and of the Bibliology may be useful also in the

contemporary approach of the legitimacy of the worship-understanding

act of the Gospel.

1. Theodore Abū Qurrah – the bio-bibliographical profile of a

“Christian mutakallim”3

Related to the life of Abū Qurrah, there are some aspects that

generate incertitude referring to periods from his life and elements

1 Ignace DICK, “Un continuateur arab de Saint Jean Damascène: Théodore Abuqurra,

évêque Melkite de Harran”, in Proche Orient Chrétien, no. 12/1962, p. 209-223. 2 Aristeides PAPADAKIS, “Byzantine Studies, Iconoclasm, and the Rise of Islam”, in The

Wheel, no. 7/2016, p. 31-32; Alain BESANÇON, The Forbidden Image. An intellectual

history of iconoclasm, transl. by Jane Marie Todd, Chicago, University Press, 2009

(chapter two). 3 The expression belongs to Sidney H. Griffith, Catholic priest and professor to the

Catholic University of America; he researched close the bio-bibliography of Abū

Qurrah. See Sidney H. GRIFFITH, “Theodore Abū Qurrah's Arabic Tract on the

Christian Practice of Venerating Images”, in Journal of the American Oriental Society,

no. 1/1985, p. 53.

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important for establishing exactly the paternity of his theology. The

specialists agree upon the place of his birth, which was Edessa, where he

founded the theology later developed4. An important argument for the

justification of his birth place is in Chapter 23 from his Treatise on the

Veneration of the Holy Icons, where we find the following affirmation:

“we will mention here the icon of Christ our God, incarnate from the

Virgin Mary, because in our city, Edessa «the Blest», it is honoured with

prostration”. Next to this personal note, we also have the confession of

Michael the Syrian, who writes that “a Chalcedonian from Edessa, called

Theodoricus… who was for a short period bishop in Harran, was brought

by the patriarch Theodoretus”5.

If related to the place of birth, the majority of the researchers agree

on Edessa, related to the year of the birth, there are several opinions. Part

of the researchers proposes several years during the first half of the 8th

century, while others opt for the first years during the second half of the

8th century. The first opinion is based on the relation of master –

apprentice between John the Damascene and Theodore, a relation that is

visible in the theological ideas of the Arabic theologian6. Those

considering the year of birth of Abū Qurrah as 750 or later are using the

information from Michael the Syrian7. No matter the year of his birth,

4 Edessa is an important city for Christians, especially for their relation with the icons,

based on the tradition of the icon painted by a non-human hand, sent to the king Abgar

by Jesus Christ Himself. See Leonid USPENSKY, Teologia icoanei în Biserica Ortodoxă

(The theology of icon in the Orthodox Church), introd. study and transl. by Teodor

Baconsky, București, Anastasia, 1994, p. 28. 5 *** Chronique de Michel le Syrien, patriarch Jacobite d’Antioche (1166-1199), edit.

and transl. in French by J.B. Chabot, tom. III, Paris Ernest Leroux X, 1905, p. 32. 6 The title of one of his treatises against the Sarazins (Muslims) is referring directly to the

relation with Saint John, see PG 94, 1596B (Treatise 18); *** Un traité des oeuvres

arabes de Theodore Abou-Kurra eveque de Haran, publ. and transl. in French by P.

Constantin Bacha, Tripoli-Rome-Paris, Ernest Leroux-Paul Geuthner X, 1905, p. 4;

Joseph NASRALLAH, Rachid HADDAD, Histoire du mouvement littéraire dans l’Église

melchite du Ve au XXe siècle, tom. I, Louvain, Peeters, 1988, p. 107sqq.; Joshua BLAU,

“A Melkite Arabic Literary lingua franca from the Second Halfof the First

Millennium”, in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, no. 1/1994, p.

14-16. 7 Teodoro ABU QURRAH, La libertà, Torino, Zamorani X, 2002, p. 24; *** A treatise on

the veneration of the holy icons written in arabic by Theodore Abū Qurrah, bishop of

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there is one sure thing: Theodore was strongly influenced by the

theological vision of Saint John Damascene and, in spite of an

unfavourable political and religious context, remained faithful to the

patristic Orthodoxy, which gave direction to his entire work, including

the iconology.

Related to his solid theological education, most specialists agree

that its base was built in the native locality, in a first phase8. His name is

a suggestion for the appurtenance to a family with strong Christian

traditions9, with the possibility to offer a good religious education. The

perfection of his theological understanding is connected to the staying in

the Monastery Saint Sabbas10, although some specialists oppose

vehemently to this hypothesis11. The concept and the form of Theodore’s

theological works make us believe he had a connection with this

important monastery of the Oriental Orthodoxy of those times.

There are no records about the length of the period in the

Monastery Saint Sabbas. There are several opinions of the specialists, the

majority considering that he retired there after losing the position of

bishop in Harran due to the patriarch Theodoret12. The reasons for his

suspension are most probably his Chalcedonian (Maximian) ideas related

to the support of the cult of the holy icons, because Theodoret was a

convinced iconoclast13. For this critical period of the Orthodox theology,

the Monastery Saint Sabbas was a place where the Orthodox iconology

and the Chalcedonian Christology were fiercely defended.

Harrān (C.755-C.830 A.D.), transl. into English, with introduction and notes by Sidney

H. Griffith, Leuven, Peeters X, 1997, p. 11-12. 8 See note 4. The city of Edessa was important for the development of the Orthodox

theology and its attempts to delimitate itself from the numerous Christian and Pagan

heresies. J.-B. Segal, Edessa: The Blessed City, London, Gorgias Press, 2005. 9 Theodore Abu Qurra [أبي قرة] in Moustafa CHOUÉMI, Charles PELLAT, Dictionnaire

arabe-français-anglais, Paris, Maisonneuve et Larose, 1964. 10 Sidney H. GRIFFTH, “Reflections on the Biography of Theodore Abū Qurrah”, in Parole

de l’Orient, no. 18/1993, p. 143-170; Robert SCHICK, “Christian Life in Palestine

during the Early Islamic Period”, in The Biblical Archaeologist, no. 4/1988, p. 238-

239. 11 John C. LAMOREAUX, “The Biography of the Theodore Abū Qurrah Revisited”, in

Dumbarton Oaks Papers, no. 56/2002, p. 25-40. 12 Sidney H. GRIFFTH, “Reflections on the Biography…”, p. 167. 13 John C. LAMOREAUX, “The Biography of…”, p. 153.

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Related to his position as bishop in Harran, the majority of the

researchers consider that he was suspended in 785. Returning to this

position around the year 800, after the death of Theodoret, Theodorus

pastored until the end of his life, around the year 82914. In his continuous

fight for the strengthening of the Orthodox theology, Abū Qurrah

travelled to Alexandria, where there were powerful Coptic communities,

and even to Armenia, called by the prince Ashot Msaker to restore the

Dyophysitism. In spite of his almost successful efforts, still, in an

unfavourable social and religious context, the Armenian communities

inclined more to the non-Chalcedonian Christology.

The work of Theodore Abū Qurrah is complex and heterogeneous,

approaching themes from doctrine, morality, the theology of religion and

many others. Patrologiae Graeca (J.-P. Migne) presents 43 treatises in

Greek, also translated in Latin, belonging to Abū Qurrah. Most of them

are written with an apologetic and polemic aim, defending the Orthodoxy

in front of the heresies and of the non-Christian religions, especially the

Islam, a religion he knew very well. There are also numerous variants of

his works and even some texts different from the Greek editions. They

were available for research only starting from the end of the 19th century,

after their translation from Arabic.

The complexity of his work transforms Theodore into a Christian

mutakallim, mentioned by numerous Muslim theologians of his times and

after that, too15. His name was mentioned in the prestige schools from the

Islamic world16, as the most disputed Christian theologian of Arabic

language. Using the anti-Islam polemic of Abū Qurrah, the Islam

theologians built a dogmatic apologetic against the Christianity.

2. Iconic and written signifier in iconology of Abū Qurrah

Beyond the presentation of an authentic Christian tradition

related to the honouring of the holy icons, in connection with the son of

14 *** A treatise on the veneration…, p. 9-11. 15 Bayard DODGE, The Fihrist of al-Nadīm: a Tenth Century Survey of Muslim Culture,

New York, 1970, p. 46, 394 apud Sidney H. GRIFFITH, “Theodore Abū Qurrah's Arabic

Tract…”, p. 55. 16 Sidney H. GRIFFITH, The Church in the shadow of the Mosque. Christians and Muslims

in the world of islam, Princeton-Oxford, Princeton Uiversity Press, 2008, p. 129sqq.

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God as main argument for the icon and based on biblical and patristic

texts, the complex understanding of the iconology requires the

presentation of the real effect produced by the icon to a noetic and cardial

level of the faith. The human knowledge is tributary to the senses, which

help the man to receive information, later decoded and whose content

may change the man. The Fathers use frequently the statement that the

man is a rational/speaking being because he was created in the image of

God. In their effort to localise the face of God inside the human, the

manuals of dogmatism show us that its residence is in the rational part of

the human being17. Still, it would be more correct to understand that the

man is rational/speaker because it was built after the Face of Christ, Who

is the Rationality/ the hypostatic Word of the Father18.

Saint Athanasius the Great in The Incarnation of the Word of

God19 speaks clearly about the existence of a speaking reasoning in the

act of creation: “He made them after His Image, giving them His power

of the Word/Reasoning for them to stay happy, keeping this power inside

like a shadow and staying rational”20. Thus, the man has an Christological

constitution21 through the given of the creation and a Christological

destiny22 through the aim of the creation, becoming on the whole a theo-

logical creature. The man can know God until a certain point and can

know the others. “The image of God is most of all in the capacity of the

man to maintain a living relation or communion with God”23. This

17 See P. N. TREMBELAS, Dogmatike tes Orthodoxou Katholikes Ekklesias, I, Atena, 1959,

p. 487-494 apud Panayotis NELLAS, Omul-animal îndumnezeit. Perspective pentru o

antropologie ortodoxă (The man-deificated animal. Perspectives for an orthodox

anthropology), introd. study and transl. by deac. Ioan I. ICĂ jr., Sibiu, Deisis, 2009, p.

62. 18 Panayotis NELLAS, Omul-animal îndumnezeit…, p. 62. 19 Saint Athanasius the Great, “Tratat despre întruparea Cuvântului şi despre arătarea Lui

nouă prin lege” (Treatise on the Incarnation of the Word of God), in PSB, vol. XV,

transl. from Greek, introd. and notes by Fr. Dumitru Stăniloae, Bucureşti, IBMBOR,

1987, p. 103-110. 20 ST. ATHANASIUS THE GREAT, “Tratat despre întruparea Cuvântului…”, p. 104. 21 Panayotis NELLAS, Omul-animal îndumnezeit…, p. 62-64. 22 Ibidem, p. 64-70. 23 Calinic BENGER, Teognosia – sinteza dogmatică şi duhovnicească a părintelui Dumitru

Stăniloae (Theognosis – dogmatic and spiritual synthesis of father Dumitru Stăniloae),

transl. by Hieromonk Nectarie (Dărăban), Sibiu, Deisis, 2014, p. 98.

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knowledge for the maintenance of the communication is due to a

conceptual intelligence24 (epinoia) given by God to the man through the

act of the creation.

The human knowledge depends on this intelligence; the man has

no other path for spiritual growth. The conceptual intelligence is

concretised in language, which is not the same thing with speaking, but

meaning any type of communicating contents, including the

communication through icons. The language as form of expression

manifests to all the levels of the social and spiritual life and to all the

stages of the growth, “covering everything”25. An object or a concept

cannot even be imagined if it does not communicate its essence.

For a human, the language is not just a simple appendix of his

condition, because it has a biological role and a social one: “a reality of

the same level with the food and the air: it’s nutritional and vital”26. The

logical intelligence is represented not only by the capacity of using the

language in several contexts, but it is also a preservation of life and

becoming27. The rationality of the creature, used for opening to the

rational and spiritual knowledge, is tributary to ample mental and

psychological processes appealing most of all to seeing and then to

hearing28. The functionality of the verbal-iconic language is contained by

the theory of the linguistic sign29, which proposes for analysis two

specific concepts: the signifier and the signified.

The idea of divinity as signified may be articulated in various

forms accessible to the human understanding, through various signifiers.

24 Grégoire de Nysse, “Contre Eunome” I, 147-691, in Sources Chrétienes, no. 524, Paris,

Les Éditions du Cerf, 2010, p. 31. 25 Walter BENJAMIN, “Despre limbaj în genere şi despre limbajul omului” (On language

as such and on the language of man), in IDEA. artă+societate, no. 30-31/2008 (see at

http://idea.ro/revista/?q=ro/node/40&articol=569 ). 26 Andrei PLEŞU, Limba păsărilor (The birds tongue), Bucureşti, Humanitas, 2009, p. 10. 27 Andrei OIŞTEANU, “Lingua adamica: reconstituiri, dispute, teorii” (Lingua adamica:

reenactments, disputes, theories), in O filozofie a intervalului. In honorem Andrei

Pleşu, Bucureşti, Humanitas, 2009, note 8. 28 For a presentention in extensor on the mechanism of the images and of the verbal-

iconical relations, see Dumitru VANCA, Icoană și Cateheză (Icon and Catechesis), Alba

Iulia, Reîntregirea, 2005, p. 21-34. 29 Ferdinand de SAUSSURE, Curs de lingvistică generală (Course in general linguistics),

Iaşi, Polirom, 1998, p. 36.

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Our attention concentrates on the written signifier, present in the sacred

texts and on the iconic signifier, visible in the orthodox icons. The

problem of this relation is mentioned by Saint John Damascene in

Apologetic Treatise against those decrying the Holy Images, when

speaking about the multiple forms in which the Signifier may be

expressed: “first though the word in the books, because the letter sown

the word; e.g. God wrote the Law on the tables and commanded to be

written the life of the people who love God; secondly through the help of

the senses…”30.

Theodore Abū Qurrah develops on this idea his theological

discourse on the veneration of the icons, supporting with perseverance the

argument of the corporality as divine attribute31, manifested in the written

or the iconic display of the divine, which help the human mind to pass

from sensitive to intelligible in knowing God32. In Chapter XV33 of his

Treatise, Theodore writes about the Tables of the Law as image of the

incarnation of the Word of God:

“Because the matter is as we have said, that God’s speech figured on

the tablets was but an icon for the incarnation of Christ, the eternal Word

of God, the prophets accordingly used to how down in prostration in its

presence; the Levites used to make prostration in front of it; the cloud of

the Lord’s honour used to frequent it. For this reason David said «Arise,

O Lord, to your rest, you and the ark of your holiness» (Ps. 132, 8) […]

Therefore, it is like what we said about the words that were inscribed on

the two tablets; they are an icon for the incarnation for the eternal Word

of God. Is not writing only on icon for audible speech? So, this is an icon

for the primordial, talking Word, as the said at the outset.”34

30 ST. JOHN DAMASCUS, Cele trei tratate contra iconoclaștilor (Apologia Against Those

Who Decry Holy Images), Romanian transl., introd. and notes by Dumitru Fecioru,

București, IBMBOR, 2016, p. 186. 31 For an original and complex presentation of the Incarnation of God in the vision of Abū

Qurrah, see Theodore Abū Qurrah, English transl. by John C. Lamoreaux, Provo,

Brigham Young University Press, 2005, p. 1-27. 32 Sidney H. GRIFFITH, “Theodore Abū Qurrah's Arabic Tract…”, p. 56. 33 “The tablets of the Law were shown the greatest honor, because of the Lord’s

handwriting that was set down on them; they were an icon for the incarnation of the

Word God” (A treatise on the veneration…, p. 69-72). 34 A treatise on the veneration…, p. 70.

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The author also gives examples of inanimate objects that symbolise

spiritual things. Through analogy, he opens a polemic with the other two

religions of the books (Judaism and Islam) in whose tradition appear

precepts from the Old Testament related to devotion. Throughout his

Treatise, Abū Qurrah appeals constantly to the text of the Old Testament

and of the Koran, proving the veneration for the materiality of the book

from the believers of the two religions35. The argumentation is also based

on aspects from the Tradition of the Church36 and on the Holy Fathers37.

To support through arguments the connection between the two

signifiers, the written image – the word and the painted image – the icon,

and the prototype they represent (signified), Abū Qurrah appeals to three

prophets from the Old Testament – Isaiah, Ezekiel and Jeremiah:

“Testimony from the prophets that icons are equivalent to writing, and

that it is what one does with icons and names that makes the contact with

that to which the names or icons belong”38. Related to the prophet

Jeremiah, the author highlight the chapter 49, verses 14-17, where the text

refers to the icon of the walls of Jerusalem in the hands of God.

“Evidently, just as the names of the sons of Israel engraved on the

stones used to remind the Lord to have compassion on them, so too the

icon of Sion that the Lord drew on his hands reminded him of Sion – to

have compassion on her, and to bring her inhabitants back to her. He used

to look at Sion, but only in her icon. Therefore, truly we say that the

Christians, when they make prostration to the icon of the saints, they are

but making prostration to the saints themselves. Likewise, if someone

shows either contempt or honour to the names of the prophets written on

35 Chapter 4: “We marvel at the outsiders; they believe in the scriptures of the Old

[Testament], while they find fault with the mysteries of the Christians, due to the

disapproval of the bodily-minded. With the same, disapproval, the bodily-minded

person disapproves of most of what is in their scriptures too, but they have no doubts

about them”; Chapter 5: “Things are said about God in the Old [Testament] that are

more repugnant to minds devoid of faith than are those things said about Christ,

because the which of people of the Old [Testament] maintain that he cannot possibly

be God. A similar reproach is due to those other than the Jews who lay claim to faith”. 36 A treatise on the veneration…, p. 41-43. 37 Ibidem, p. 43-48. 38 Ibidem, p. 65.

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the piece of paper, they are but showing contempt or honour to the

prophets themselves”39.

Theodore’s discourse refers to a fragment from Ezekiel (4:1-3) and

to another fragment from Jeremiah (51, 59-64). Ezekiel paints an icon of

Jerusalem, establishing a connection with the prototype: “As for writing,

it is equivalent to the icon in this respect. What one does with it is what

makes the contact with that which it indicates, just as what one does with

the icon make the contact with that of which it is the icon”40. The sacred

text not only describes theology, it indwells it in rational concepts, as

required by the understanding of the profound meaning of an icon41.

The same connection between the written signifier and the iconic

one is expressed in the biblical text from Jeremiah (51, 59-64): “Just as

what was this piece of writing made the contact with Babylon, and the

like of it was done to her; so also what the prophet Ezekiel did with her

icon made the contact with Jerusalem”42.

For Theodore Abū Qurrah, the illustration of the relation between

the verbal-iconic signifiers is very efficient due to the religious context

he experienced. The Jews and the Muslims manifest an attitude of

worshiping the book43. Moreover, the Muslim theology created an

Christological surrogate from the Koran, worshiping its words as being

dictated of Allah himself, representing his language, which Adam learned

from Him44.

The Orthodox iconology must retain the approach developed by

Theodore Abū Qurrah, which may be very efficient in the contemporary

dialogue between iconodules and iconomachs. Understanding the

mystery of the icon is, until our times, a conflictual point not just between

39 Ibidem, p. 65. 40 Ibidem, p. 66. 41 Lazăr PUHALO, Icoana ca Scriptură (The Icon as Scripture), Romanian transl. and

preface by Marian Rădulescu, Oradea, Theosis, 2009, p. 5. 42 A treatise on the veneration…, p. 67. 43 Joseph CHELHOD, Les structures du sacré chez les arabes, Paris, Maisonneuve et

Larose, 1986, p. 131. 44 Oliviu-Petru BOTOI, “The Capacities of Language and Speech in the Scriptural

Verbalization of the Transcendental”, in Altarul Reîntregirii, no. 3/2014, p. 106. To

designate the Muslims, Abū Qurrah uses the expression “Those pretending to receive

the book directly from God”.

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Christians and Muslims or Jews, but also among Christians, due to the

fact that the Protestants and the Neo-Protestants do not venerate he icons,

considering them objects of idolatry. On these aspects, there are opinions

that see an Islamist influence in Protestantism45 rather than the cultivation

of the Christian iconoclasm until the 16th century.

Conclusions

Through his activity and writings, Theodore Abū Qurrah is

considered a great defender and promotor of the Chalcedonian Orthodoxy

and an efficient polemist in the dialogue with the Christian heresies and

the non-Christian religions. He is preoccupied by one of the most

stringent problem of the Orthodoxy in the 8th and 9th centuries, the

iconoclasm. The arguments of the theologian from Edessa, presented in

comparison with the arguments of the Muslims and of the Jews, have a

strong original nuance, exploiting the diversity of the signifiers that

express graphically and through image the presence and the idea of

divinity.

The theological and philosophical argumentation of the bishop of

Harran achieves a deep understanding of the alliance between word and

image. The Word of God and the icon of His pure face express the vitality

of the Church in time and space. Through the totality of the signifiers that

project the idea of the signified inside the mind and the soul, the human

can know God with all the senses opening to deepen the mystery of the

Embodied Word.

References

1. *** A treatise on the veneration of the holy icons written in arabic by

Theodore Abū Qurrah, bishop of Harrān (C.755-C.830 A.D.), transl. into

English, with introduction and notes by Sidney H. Griffith, Leuven,

Peeters Publishing, 1997.

2. *** Chronique de Michel le Syrien, patriarch jacobite d’Antioche (1166-

1199), edit. and transl. in French by J.-B. Chabot, tom. III, Paris Ernest

Leroux Publishing, 1905.

45 Roland E. MILLER, Muslims and the Gospel. A reflection on Christian sharing

Minneapolis, University Press, 2005, p. 208.

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3. *** Un traité des oeuvres arabes de Theodore Abou-Kurra eveque de

Haran, publ. and transl. in French by P. Constantin Bacha, Tripoli-

Rome-Paris, Ernest Leroux-Paul Geuthner Publishing, 1905.

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