The Second Council of Nicea on Catholic Images

Second Council of Nicea, 787, Definition of Faith: “For it is to the extent that they are constantly seen through depiction in images that those who behold them [the images] are spurred to remember and yearn for their prototypes. They are to be accorded greeting and the veneration of honor, not indeed the true worship corresponding to our faith, which pertains to the divine nature alone, but in the same way as this is accorded to the figure of the honorable and life-giving cross, to the holy gospels, and to other sacred offerings. In their honor an offering of incensation and lights is to be made, in accordance with the pious custom of the men of old. For the honor paid to the image passes over to the prototype, and whoever venerates the image venerates in it the hypostasis of the one who is represented.”