POST FALLS - The inviting scent of incense was thick in the air and candles burned near the entrance of the church.

Parishoners made the sign of the cross, bowed, touched the floor and lightly kissed or brushed their faces against the icon on the podium in the center of the room. They held their own icons close as they prayed in heavenly, sing-song voices.

The priests and deacons were robed in purple and gold as they said prayers, some in Greek, Arabic and Russian, and everyone proceeded outside.

"It's mystical," said Father Basil Caldaroni of St. John's Orthodox Church. "This is today, this is occurring today, Christ is born today, Christ is risen today."

Nearly 100 people attended the annual Triumph of Orthodoxy protest procession of icons Sunday evening at St. John's Orthodoxy Church in Post Falls. The event is held on the first Sunday of Lent to commemorate when the use of icons was restored to Orthodox Christian faith in the 800s after the Roman Empire had forbidden the church from having the icons for 100 years. Caldaroni explained the history of the tradition.

"The emperor had decreed that icons were not to be shown publically or they would be destroyed," he said. "Saint Theodore of the Studion Monastery was the abbott of the monastery and he put up a protest to this edict. He had his monks go in procession holding the icons high so they could be seen above the walls of the monastary. It was a civil disobedience act. And they ended up winning."

He explained how iconoclasts reject icons and how iconophiles/iconodules consider icons to be a part of the tradition of the faith.

"The monks were the ones who were the advocates of the use of icons because they were defending the incarnation, God's become human therefore God can be portrayed," he said.

Those who attended the procession slowly walked around the church and stopped at each corner of the pathway to respond to the prayers of the priests and deacons. Jennifer Dancy of Post Falls carried an icon of her patron saint, St.Charitina of Amisus, who was martyred on Dancy's birthday.

"Reading about her, I felt a sisterhood," Dancy said. "I felt a connection to her, even though she lived 1,700 years ago."

The icons can be representations of saints as well as Christ and Mary and are usually made of wood and painted. Caldaroni said the protest procession tradition is still relevant today because it allows people to continue to express themselves through art.

"Historically speaking, because the church stood up for the use of art, it did not disappear," Caldaroni said. "Now we have all these problems in Muslim areas and you don't have any representation and you have the troubles that we have now. The whole tradition of Western art is rooted in the Byzantine icon. It all came out of that in later centuries - to protect that, to protect the freedom of expression in the form of art."

Dancy, who serves as the spokesperson for St. John's, said the procession is a living tradition that allows believers to truly experience their faith.

"We venerate icons to show respect," she said. "In our faith we believe in life after death. Well, what does that mean? We pray to our loved ones, to the saints to intercede with Christ on our behalf."

Orthodox churches from North Idaho and Spokane participated in the event, but the Triumph of Orthodoxy protest procession is an international occurrence.

"In this time zone, all orthodox churches on Sunday are having a liturgy. It's the same prayer, and we're praying for our church community, for the local community, for the world, at the same time," Dancy said. "It's just the most amazing thing to realize all the prayers that are occurring in that moment at the same time, for the world."

Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect a change in the languages spoken Sunday during the Triumph of Orthodoxy event at St. John's Orthodox Church.