When we speak in such terms about God’s presence and grace within the icon, there is an obvious need to guard against superstitious exaggeration; and in practice the Christian East has often failed to do this with sufficient vigilance. The Seventh Ecumenical Council, however, was most careful to draw a sharply marked distinction between latreia or worship in the strict sense, which may rightly be ascribed to God the Trinity alone, and veneration or schetike time, ‘relative’ or ‘relational honour,’