The book is devoted to the analysis of the reasons for the different understanding of the essence and purpose of cult images in the Christian tradition. The understanding of the essence of the image is analyzed in the context of general ideas about church symbols and in the light of the doctrine of the Church in Orthodoxy and Catholicism. The peculiarities of the attitude to images are derived from the understanding of the nature of the church symbol associated in each of the denominations with the understanding of the essence and purpose of the Church itself.