Iconoclasm and the Triumph of Orthodoxy
Byzantine emperors ban and destroy holy images; after more than a century of struggle the icons are restored in 843, a victory Orthodox Christians still celebrate every year.
- The Orthodox Church — Timothy Ware, Penguin (1993)
- Imago Dei: The Byzantine Apologia for Icons — Jaroslav Pelikan, Princeton University Press (1990)
- Byzantium in the Iconoclast Era, c. 680–850: A History — Leslie Brubaker and John Haldon, Cambridge University Press (2011)
- Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire — Judith Herrin, Allen Lane (2007)
By the eighth century, painted images of Christ, Mary and the saints filled Byzantine churches and homes. After crushing defeats by the Arab armies, some Byzantines asked whether God was punishing the empire for idolatry. Around 730, according to the traditional account, Emperor Leo III began to act against icons, and his son Constantine V pressed the policy hard, with a council in 754 condemning images. Monks, the icons’ fiercest defenders, were persecuted.
- Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire — Judith Herrin, Allen Lane (2007)
- Byzantium in the Iconoclast Era, c. 680–850: A History — Leslie Brubaker and John Haldon, Cambridge University Press (2011)
The defenders’ case was set out by John of Damascus, a monk writing under Muslim rule: the God who cannot be seen became visible in Christ, so to paint Christ is to confess that he was truly human. The Seventh Ecumenical Council, at Nicaea in 787, agreed, distinguishing the veneration given to icons from the worship due to God alone.
- Imago Dei: The Byzantine Apologia for Icons — Jaroslav Pelikan, Princeton University Press (1990)
- The Orthodox Church — Timothy Ware, Penguin (1993)
Iconoclasm returned in 815, and only in 843 did the regent Empress Theodora restore the icons for good. The feast that marks it, the Triumph of Orthodoxy, gave the church a lasting sense that true faith is something you can see, kiss and pray before.
- The Orthodox Church — Timothy Ware, Penguin (1993)
- Byzantium: The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire — Judith Herrin, Allen Lane (2007)
- Byzantium in the Iconoclast Era, c. 680–850: A History — Leslie Brubaker and John Haldon, Cambridge University Press (2011)
Because God truly became a man in Christ, he can be depicted. Honour given to an icon passes to the person it shows; worship belongs to God alone. Rejecting icons in effect denies the Incarnation.
- The Orthodox Church — Timothy Ware, Penguin (1993)
- Imago Dei: The Byzantine Apologia for Icons — Jaroslav Pelikan, Princeton University Press (1990)
The old picture of fanatical iconoclast emperors is largely the victors' version. Recent historians such as Brubaker and Haldon argue the evidence for early iconoclasm is thin, and that the dispute was bound up with military defeat, imperial authority and anxiety about God's favour.
- Byzantium in the Iconoclast Era, c. 680–850: A History — Leslie Brubaker and John Haldon, Cambridge University Press (2011)
Why it matters today
On the first Sunday of Lent, the "Sunday of Orthodoxy", parishes around the world carry icons in procession to celebrate the restoration of 843. Icons in every church and home, kissed, lit with lamps and carried in processions, are the most visible mark of Orthodox life, and the theology defended in this struggle is why.