Michael @iconsofgod

An Eastern Orthodox Christian and Icon of God seeking to set the record straight on Christian Iconography. For clarity, I am not Michael Garten. substack.com/@iconsofgod Joined February 2026

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Michael @iconsofgod

a week ago

@Michael__Garten Michael, thank you for the kind words and endorsement!

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Michael @iconsofgod

a week ago

@rheinsteinrex Wow, what a find. Thank you for showing me this!

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"Apart from the few texts adduced by the iconoclasts… there is virtually no evidence of any Christian reaction against veneration of icons, which tells against any idea that such veneration was a sudden innovation in the sixth century (or even the fourth)." -Fr. Andrew Louth

Answering Orthodoxy @ortho_no

2 weeks ago

Ortho rules around icons and the theology of "essence/energies" are 8th century inventions at the earliest. Consider Eastern Orthodox Byzantinist, Fr. Andrew Louth, who taught Patristics at Oxford and Durham: “It would seem obvious to a historian that neither the eighth-century

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Michael @iconsofgod

a week ago

@rheinsteinrex This is cool! Where can I find this source?

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Michael @iconsofgod

a week ago

Augustine: "You [Paul] are reigning with the one you stoned [Stephen], reigning with Christ. There you can both see each other, can both now hear my sermon; both of you please pray for us." amazon.com/Sermons-306-34…

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Michael @iconsofgod

a week ago

Reminds me of this: youtube.com/shorts/FJmlYVO… and this: youtube.com/watch?v=2-EouZ… Can we please stop monetizing weapons you've named after a bishop that you would otherwise consider a saint-worshipping idolater, and go back to apologetics and scholarship?

Wes Huff @WesleyLHuff

2 weeks ago

Our Roman Spatha sword titled “the Augustine,” in the Apologia blade series that I partnered with @dawson_knives to create, just launched. To find out more or to purchase your own, go to dawsonknives.com/products/augus….

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Michael @iconsofgod

2 weeks ago

@ortho_no I understand that you support the veneration of icons. I've been responding to your claim that icon veneration was a late phenomenon (you assert 9th century development and cited Louth to suggest 8th century EO scholarly view).

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Michael @iconsofgod

2 weeks ago

@ortho_no I agree that Louth said nothing against the veneration of icons. But you did. Elsewhere, you've explicitly tied proskynesis before icons to the 9th century.

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Michael @iconsofgod

2 weeks ago

Source: Andrew Louth, Greek East and Latin West: The Church, AD 681-1071 (Crestwood, N.Y.: St. Vladimirs Seminary Press, 2007), 55-56, Kindle Edition

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Michael @iconsofgod

3 weeks ago

@HwsEleutheroi Basil also upheld and theologized the widespread, ubiquitous veneration of the Imperial image in the 4th century. iconsofgod.substack.com/p/the-imperial…

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Michael @iconsofgod

3 weeks ago

@Alex_Ortodoxie @gavinortlund Alex, I have a Substack series on Gavin's art historiography that you may want to read. It turns out that Gavin's icon polemics has some serious citation flaws. If you want to know more: iconsofgod.substack.com/p/the-disaster…

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Michael @iconsofgod

3 weeks ago

For a discussion of this quote and a broader highlight of recent trends in secular scholarship on early Christian art, see my Substack Article "The Myth of Early Christian Aniconism" at this URL: iconsofgod.substack.com/p/the-myth-of-…

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Michael @iconsofgod

3 weeks ago

Here's a quick meme to give to Protestants whenever they attempt to assert that the Pre-Nicene church was "Aniconic". Jas Elsner is a Professor of Late Antique Art at the University of Oxford and has been active in his respective field for decades.

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Michael @iconsofgod

4 weeks ago

@Exposit_TheWord Pastor Farag, I noticed that your translation choice on Canon 36 of the Synod of Elvira is different between your AGTV video and your book. Could you expand on why you made this translation change?

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Michael @iconsofgod

a month ago

@Michael__Garten I'll see your gold glass medallion, and raise you a gold glass medallion with an inscription invoking the protection of St. Peter (late 4th century).

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Michael @iconsofgod

3 months ago

@JayDyer @JayDyer, if you like the above article, I think you will enjoy the whole series I published recently titled, "The Disaster of Reformed Historiography of Art". iconsofgod.substack.com/p/the-disaster…

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Michael @iconsofgod

3 months ago

@JayDyer @JayDyer, for an examination of Dr. Carpenter's scholarship, see my recent Substack Article where I point out how he published an opinion contrary to the entire scholarly record that the 3rd century Dura-Europos baptistry was a bathroom. iconsofgod.substack.com/p/the-bathroom…

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Michael @iconsofgod

3 months ago

@CloserToSource @JayDyer For a thorough analysis of Dr. Carpenter's scholarship on Elvira's Canon 36, see my recent Substack article. iconsofgod.substack.com/p/the-ambiguit…