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Questions & Answers

Carved Images

Faith Q&A › Metropolitan Youssef › Prayer, Fasting and Worship › Carved Images

The question

How far can we apply the Second Commandment (no graven images)? In other words, can we purchase statues of non religious things for our homes, or is this commandment forbidding all 3 dimensional statues?

The answer

The commandment of God was to forbid the making of carved images with the intention to bow down and worship them. "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them" (Ex 20:4-5). This commandant does not mean to forbid completely the make of any statue. We read in the same Holy Book of Exodus that after God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, He gave him specific instructions on how to build the Tabernacle and the Ark of Covenant. We find that God commands Moses to make two cherubim of gold to be put on the mercy seat. "And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends of the mercy seat" (Ex 25:18).

It is not a sin to have a statue or carved image as long as it is just for decoration not for worship.

Answered by His Eminence Metropolitan Youssef (opens in a new tab)

Questions answered by His Eminence Metropolitan Youssef (opens in a new tab) of the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. Question 821 on the Diocese’s Q&A site. Questions and answers © Coptic Orthodox Diocese of the Southern United States. All rights reserved.