No. Icons belong in clean spaces where you can pray, not in bathrooms.
This isn’t about God being offended by plumbing. It’s about what icons are for. Icons are windows to heaven, means of encountering Christ and the saints. We venerate them. We pray before them. We light candles in front of them. You don’t do any of that in the bathroom, so icons don’t belong there.
The Orthodox tradition has always treated icons with reverence because of what they represent. When you kiss an icon of Christ, you’re venerating Christ himself. When you stand before an icon of the Theotokos, you’re asking her prayers. These aren’t decorations. They’re not religious art meant to make a space feel spiritual. They’re part of how we pray.
Bathrooms are for bodily functions. That’s not a judgment. It’s just a fact. We need bathrooms. But we also need to maintain a distinction between the sacred and the ordinary, between what we use for prayer and what we use for everything else. Putting an icon in a bathroom blurs that line in a way that doesn’t help anyone pray better.
Where Icons Actually Belong
Orthodox families traditionally keep an icon corner. This is a dedicated spot in the home, ideally on an east-facing wall, where you place icons of Christ and the Theotokos along with a cross. Christ goes on the right, the Theotokos on the left. You might add your patron saint, St. Michael if you’re part of this parish, maybe St. Nicholas or St. Seraphim. You keep a candle or oil lamp there. It’s where the family prays together.
If you can’t do an eastern wall, don’t worry about it. Pick a clean, quiet spot where you can actually stand and pray. A bedroom corner works. A living room wall works. The key is that it’s a place set apart for prayer, not a place where you’re brushing your teeth or taking a shower.
I’ve known people who worried about having icons in bedrooms because that’s where married couples, well, are married couples. That’s fine. Bedrooms are clean spaces used for rest. They’re appropriate for icons. The Church doesn’t treat marital intimacy as unclean. But bathrooms are different. There’s a reason we don’t eat in bathrooms, and there’s a reason we don’t put icons there either.
What If Space Is Really Tight?
Some folks in Beaumont live in small apartments or rent places where there’s not much wall space. I get it. Start with what you can do. One icon of Christ on a bedroom dresser is better than a dozen icons scattered everywhere including the bathroom. Quality over quantity. Reverence over coverage.
If you’re really unsure about your specific situation, talk to Fr. Michael. He’s not going to judge you for asking. He’d rather you ask than guess wrong. Every priest I know has fielded questions about icon placement from inquirers and catechumens. It’s normal.
The principle is simple: icons go where you pray, in spaces you keep clean and treat with respect. Not in bathrooms, not in garages, not propped on the kitchen counter where they’ll get splashed with spaghetti sauce. You wouldn’t treat a photo of your grandmother that way. You certainly don’t treat an icon of Christ that way.
This might feel overly strict if you’re coming from a Protestant background where Christian art is just art. But icons aren’t art in that sense. They’re sacramental. They participate in what they represent. The Seventh Ecumenical Council settled this back in 787. We venerate icons because we venerate the persons they depict. And veneration requires appropriate context.
So no, don’t put icons in your bathroom. Put them where you’ll stand before them, cross yourself, and pray. That’s what they’re for.
