The Iconoclasm Controversy Timeline

The Iconoclasm Controversy 12

700 – 726 The background -- icons in Byzantine life By the 8th century, icons -- painted images of Christ, the Virgin and the saints -- are central to Byzantine religious life. They are venerated in churches, displayed in homes, carried into battle and credited with miraculous powers. The most famous, the icon of Christ above the Chalke Gate of the imperial palace, is the first thing visitors to Constantinople see. Critics -- including some bishops and monks -- argue that venerating images approaches idolatry; defenders argue that the image honours the person depicted, not the material object. The controversy has simmered for decades before Leo III acts.
726 – 787 John of Damascus -- the theological defence of icons John of Damascus (c.675-749), a Christian monk living under Arab rule in Damascus (outside Byzantine jurisdiction and therefore safe from imperial prosecution), writes the most important theological defence of icon veneration: the Three Treatises Against Those Who Attack the Divine Images. He distinguishes between the worship (latreia) due to God alone and the veneration (proskynesis) given to images -- arguing that venerating an icon honours the person depicted, not the material object, just as kissing a letter from a loved one honours the person, not the paper. His theology is adopted by the Seventh Ecumenical Council (787).
726 – 730 Leo III bans icons -- the Chalke Christ removed Emperor Leo III orders the removal of the icon of Christ above the Chalke Gate in 726. The soldiers sent to carry out the order are attacked and killed by a crowd of women (or monks, according to different sources). Leo responds with further measures: in 730 he issues an imperial edict banning the veneration of all religious images and orders their removal from churches throughout the empire. His rationale: icon veneration is idolatry that has caused God to withdraw his protection, as demonstrated by the Arab conquests, the plague, and the volcanic eruption that recently destroyed the island of Thera.
726 – 750 Pope Gregory III condemns iconoclasm Pope Gregory III holds a synod in Rome (731) that condemns iconoclasm and excommunicates anyone who destroys, dishonours or removes holy images. Leo III responds by confiscating the papal estates in southern Italy and Sicily (which had belonged to the papacy since Constantine) and transferring the dioceses of Illyricum, Calabria and Sicily from papal to patriarchal jurisdiction. The iconoclasm controversy deepens the estrangement between Rome and Constantinople that will end in the Great Schism of 1054. It also accelerates papal alignment with the Franks: Gregory III appeals to Charles Martel for protection against the Lombards.
726 – 843 The Iconoclasm Controversy (726–843) The Iconoclasm controversy (726-843) is the longest and most divisive internal crisis in Byzantine history -- 117 years of theological civil war over whether religious images (icons) should be venerated or destroyed. The controversy is not merely theological but deeply political: it reflects tensions between the emperor and the Church, between Constantinople and the provinces, between the Byzantine East and the Latin West, and between different social classes with different religious practices. It produces the greatest political thinkers and the most passionate defenders of religious art in Byzantine history -- and permanently shapes the relationship between Orthodoxy and image-making.
741 – 775 Constantine V -- the most aggressive iconoclast Constantine V (741-775) is the most thoroughgoing iconoclast emperor -- he not only bans icons but persecutes their defenders with a ferocity his father Leo III never showed. He convenes the Council of Hieria (754) -- 338 bishops, no patriarch -- which condemns icon veneration as heretical. He confiscates monastery lands, forces monks and nuns to marry, tortures and executes prominent icon defenders, and reportedly uses human skulls as drinking vessels. His military brilliance (nine successful campaigns against Bulgaria) makes him popular with the army. Icon-venerating monks call him 'Copronymus' (dung-named) -- reportedly defecating in his baptismal font as an infant.
787 Seventh Ecumenical Council -- icons restored The Seventh Ecumenical Council, convened at Nicaea in September 787 by Empress Irene (regent for her son Constantine VI), definitively restores the veneration of icons. 350 bishops attend. The council adopts John of Damascus's theological distinction between veneration (proskynesis) and worship (latreia): icons may be venerated but only God may be worshipped. The formula is accepted by all five patriarchates -- Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem. Charlemagne's theologians reject it due to a mistranslation of the Greek proskynesis as adoratio (worship) -- causing decades of unnecessary controversy with the Frankish church.
797 – 802 Empress Irene -- blinding her son for power Empress Irene, who convened the Seventh Council as regent, deposes and blinds her own son Constantine VI in 797 to rule as sole emperor. Her ascent to sole power -- unprecedented for a woman -- triggers Charlemagne's coronation as Emperor of the Romans (800), exploiting the argument that a woman cannot legitimately hold the imperial office. Irene reigns for five years before being overthrown in a palace coup (802) and exiled to Lesbos, where she dies in 803. Her willingness to blind her own son for power is widely condemned even by sources sympathetic to her religious policies.
815 – 820 Second Iconoclasm -- Leo V revives the controversy Leo V (813-820) revives iconoclasm in 815, believing that the icon-venerating emperors since Constantine V have suffered military defeats (the Bulgars sack Adrianople in 813) while the iconoclast emperors won wars. He convenes a council that restores the decisions of the Council of Hieria (754) and begins a second wave of persecution of icon venerators. Leo V is assassinated on Christmas morning 820 in the Hagia Sophia itself -- stabbed at the altar by supporters of Michael II while he sings the Christmas liturgy. The Second Iconoclasm continues under Michael II and Theophilos.
820 – 842 Theophilos -- the last iconoclast emperor Theophilos (829-842) is the last iconoclast emperor and one of the most personally admirable -- known for his justice, his love of learning and the arts, and his tragic personal integrity. He persecutes the painter-monks of the Stoudios monastery, tattooing verses of mockery on the foreheads of the brothers Theodore and Theophanes who refuse to stop venerating icons. He builds the magnificent Bryas Palace and the Triconch, filling his court with automata (mechanical golden birds that sang, golden lions that roared, a golden throne that rose to the ceiling). He dies leaving his wife Theodora to end the controversy he could not resolve.
843 Legacy of iconoclasm -- the theology of images The Iconoclasm controversy leaves a permanent mark on Byzantine and Orthodox theology and art. The theological framework developed to defend icons -- distinguishing veneration from worship, relating the image to the archetype, defending the incarnation as the basis for all Christian image-making -- shapes the entire subsequent tradition of Byzantine art. The conviction that a sacred image participates in the holiness of the person it depicts, that looking at an icon is a form of prayer, that the icon-painter is a theologian -- these ideas make Byzantine art the most theologically serious visual tradition in Western history. The western church's different resolution of the controversy produces a different relationship between image and theology.
843 Triumph of Orthodoxy -- the permanent restoration On 11 March 843 -- the first Sunday of Lent -- Empress Theodora (regent for her son Michael III) convenes a synod that permanently restores the veneration of icons. The Patriarch who had enforced iconoclasm is deposed and replaced. Icons are restored to the Hagia Sophia and churches throughout the empire. A procession carries icons through the streets of Constantinople. This Sunday -- the Triumph of Orthodoxy (Kyriaki tis Orthodoxias) -- is celebrated annually in all Orthodox churches worldwide to this day as the final victory of icon veneration and the completion of the doctrinal definition of Orthodoxy.