Don't worry, you are not being "horribly blasphemous" in the slightest :) It really is a different way of looking at things than the "iconoclast" Protestant mindset. The importance of holy things, of icons, of the altar, of the church itself, this is something you grow into, rather than be intellectually convinced. And it also has to do with the Orthodox rejection of the idea that the material world is "less" important than the spiritual world, or the very prevelent idea that bodily/physical is evil or sinful. Christ's incarnation sanctified the physical and material, so we hold certain material objects that are "windows" to heaven in very high regard.
It took me awhile, and I didn't even realize when the transition occured when I finally knew that some things, places, people really were holy. All that to say, I didn't care one bit about what a churches altar or interior looked like two or three years ago, but now those things were fascinating. Now it's more like I would make a point to visit other churches only for the fact that they have a particularily beautiful icon of so-and-so, and especially if they have relics of someone I'm particularily drawn to.
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Date: 2006-02-08 06:27 pm (UTC)It took me awhile, and I didn't even realize when the transition occured when I finally knew that some things, places, people really were holy. All that to say, I didn't care one bit about what a churches altar or interior looked like two or three years ago, but now those things were fascinating. Now it's more like I would make a point to visit other churches only for the fact that they have a particularily beautiful icon of so-and-so, and especially if they have relics of someone I'm particularily drawn to.