Plural of eikon; religious images or icons, particularly in Eastern Orthodox Christianity.
From Greek 'eikon' meaning 'image' or 'likeness,' historically referring to religious representations that became central to Eastern Orthodox worship and theology.
In the 8th-9th centuries, a massive controversy called the Iconoclastic Controversy erupted over whether having pictures of saints was religious or idolatry—eikons were literally worth fighting wars over!
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