Icons are part of the Church's preaching and part of the Church's prayer. The true iconographer prepares for the work of handcrafting icon art with prayer, fasting and study. The Church must be able to own and venerate the image the iconographer produces. The icon must be truth. The production of icons is a mode of prayer; they come from prayer to be used in prayer and worship. Icons have an important role in the decoration of church buildings, in the church's worship and in personal devotion. They play several roles: Icons teach: they represent sacred persons, sacred events, they show us the reality of the Divine Kingdom. They teach history, doctrine, morality and theology. They remind us what we are and what we should be. They show us the importance of matter and of material things. They show us the transfiguration of matter under the power of the Holy Spirit. Icons challenge: we see the saints, transfigured by God's grace and by their own free response to Him.
