“Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”” ‭‭John‬ ‭3‬:‭5‬-‭21‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Which part of the doctrine of iconography necessitates that there are no false synods that promulgate heresy? This objection is far besides the point. The Orthodox Church venerates St Mark of Ephesus who gained renown for being one of a few that stood against the Council of Florence and a false union with the pope. The Church is governed by synod because Christ empowered the apostles who themselves governed by synod (read Acts) and empowered successor bishops (a successional connection that protestant sects are totally alienated from). Many synods have ultimately defended and explicated the Faith because it fulfills Christ’s promise that the gates of hell would not prevail against His Church. But contrasted to synods, the heresy of sola scriptura has manifested vastly more, and more egregious, heresies than even faithless and errant synods have produced. The interpretation and application of scripture by the private discretion of the “christian” led to the defense of abortion, sodomy, adultery, women “clergy”, and ever multiplying sects that call themselves churches. Iconography itself disproves this for it depicts that Christ has one Body. He was not incarnated thousands of times into thousands of bodies. Thus there cannot be thousands of of confessions that call themselves His Body. We venerate the image of our Lord and are joined to His Body in Holy Communion.