Byzantine Iconoclasm (787 / 843)
726/730–787; 815–843
attested. Attested. The scale of image destruction and persecution is debated (Brubaker and Haldon 2011 argue the iconophile sources exaggerate it).
Emperors Leo III and Constantine V moved against religious images, seeing their veneration as idolatry. The motives are debated: military disasters, Islamic and Jewish critiques, and imperial authority. Monks and the patriarchs of the eastern sees under Muslim rule (John of Damascus) defended icons as a consequence of the incarnation.
Sides
Iconoclasts
Leaders: Leo III, Constantine V, Leo V, Theophilos, John the Grammarian
Images of Christ cannot depict his divinity without heresy. The Eucharist and the cross are the true images.
Iconophiles
Leaders: John of Damascus, Germanus I, Tarasius, Theodore the Studite, Irene, Theodora, Methodios
Images honour their prototypes. The incarnation makes Christ depictable.
Councils and places
- Council of Hieria (754) 8th
- Second Council of Nicaea (787) 8th
- Triumph of Orthodoxy (Constantinople, 843) 9th
Outcome
Nicaea II (787) restored icons. After the second iconoclasm, the 843 'Triumph of Orthodoxy' ended the controversy for good.
What happened to the losers
Iconoclast writings were destroyed, and their arguments survive mostly in iconophile refutations. Iconoclast clergy were deposed. Leaders' remains were desecrated, and Constantine V's was reportedly exhumed under Michael III.