Idolatry consists in immobilizing oneself before an idol because one sees it as opaque, because one is incapable of discerning in it the hidden invitation that it offers to go beyond it. Hence, the opposite of idolatry would not consist in breaking idols, in practicing a fierce iconoclasm aimed against every inner or external Image; it would rather consist in rendering the idol transparent to the light invested in it. In short, it means transmuting the idol into an icon.
Henry Corbin, “Theophanies and Mirrors: Idols or Icons?” trans. Jane Pratt and A. K. Donohue, Spring 1983:2.
A dogma--like the trinity; an image--like the cross, a text--like the Bible; a ritual--like the mass--can be either and idol or an icon. If the former it is a prison for the soul; if the latter, it is a doorway into a bigger, richer world.