This article analyses the theology of the veneration of holy icons in the Orthodox Christian tradition, examining the contributions of Saints John of Damascus, Nicetas of Constantinople and Theodore the Studite regarding the relationship between the icon and its prototype, and the distinction between worship (latreia) and veneration (proskinisis kata timin). Icons are presented not as decorative or didactic objects, but as liturgical and sacramental means of communion with the prototype they represent, grounded Christologically in the reality of the Incarnation and validated by the Seventh Ecumenical Council of Nicaea (787).