[Greapyjeory]

Dear Clement Alexander,
Forgive my answering your post which was addressed to Fr John but it brings up a topic dear to my heart as a monastic.
I believe that you have confused two different issues: images in prayer and images which are icons.
When you refer to prayer it is the universal guidance of the holy monastic fathers that we not allow images or imagination to play a role. It is not Evagrius who first taught this; rather he simply learnt it from the other monks of the Egyptian desert whom he lived with. This is a proper Orthodox teaching.
Images which are icons however are a different matter; obviously they are proper within the Church. This is precisely because they do not represent someone's imagination but are likenesses of a divine or holy reality.
Mel Gibson's movie is an attempt to create an image of the Passion of Christ; hopefully Mr Gibson had good motives. But it is not an icon. The icon issues forth from the Church guided by fasting, prayer and specific canons; we cannot easily say the same for a movie. Images in a movie are much more sensual and often distort our understanding of the 'prototype',in this case Christ. An image is true within the Church to the extent that the one who produced it is pure in heart & mind- can we really say this of Mr Gibson some of whose movies are morally ambiguous or even foul?
Please don't misunderstand me-I don't believe all movies, books, etc are evil. On the contrary especially if we live in the world these things can be quite morally helpful. But my point is that we should never mistake these things as being equal to images of the Church- and also we should strive to be guided by the Church in discerning their worth.
In Christ- Fr R