The Problematic of the Written Signifier and the Iconic Signifier in the

Iconology of Theodor Abu Qurrah

Abstract: The Orthodox apologetics during the 8th and 9th century, against those
rejecting the cult of the holy icons, Christian iconomachs or Muslims, Jewish or
other religions, was dominated by the iconology of Saint John of Damascus,
Saint Theodor the Studite and Saint Nicephorus the Confessor. Theodor Abu
Qurrah was among the first Orthodox theologians preoccupied by the problem
of the icons. He was an apprentice of Saint John of Damascus and the first
Orthodox theologian who wrote in Arabian. Living in the space of the Near and
Middle East, born in Edessa, ordained as bishop in Harran and with the
experience of travelling from Armenia to Egypt, Qurrah had to protect the cult
of the holy icons in front of a small Christian community (Chalcedonian and
non-Chalcedonian) and against a huge attack from the Muslim theologians.
Although his Treatise on the Veneration of the Holy Icons, follows and
reproduces the argumentation of Saint John of Damascus, there are remarked
some original ideas, too. One of the five sets of arguments specific to his
Treatise refers to the relation between the written representation of the theology
(Torah, Gospels, Koran) and its iconic representation (the Christian icons). In
the same time, the author develops the problem of the signifiers in the Islamic
and Judaic cults for the cognition of the signified. We appreciate as relevant to
us to nuance some comparative aspects between Christianity and Islamism, even
this theological aspect of the iconology was discussed in dedicated writings. The
icon as Gospel was much discussed, but our intention is to discuss the Gospel as
icon. We find as opportune this approach in the contemporary context when the
two Abrahamic religions, especially the Islam, which may easily be accused of
Bible veneration, due to an extrapolation of their ichonomaniac arguments of
their appreciation of the Quran. Moreover, we launch the question if there is any
connection between the Islamic iconoclastic and Bible venerating attitude and
the Protestant one.