ABSTRACT
In considering the question of the relationship between Orthodoxy and art, Church Councils form an important starting point. Iconoclasm and the Union of the Churches form two points where it is possible to see doctrine and art coming close. The work of Hans Belting on the Man of Sorrows, and Henry Maguire, in particular, has shown how homilies might influence church decoration in the so-called Middle Byzantine period, but finding any direct influence of issues such as the Filioque dispute on art is less obvious. Just as gynaecologically, woman was merely the vessel for man's seed so, artistically, the painter was merely the vessel for the word of God. Man, in turn, was a creative artist after God, and 'shows the image of the creator (i.e. God) through the dignity of his works, imitating his master with his own actions as with colours' as Basil of Seleucia said.
