The Iconoclastic Controversy: How It Started and Its Aftereffects (with Timeline of Key Events)

The Iconoclastic Controversy: How It Started and Its Aftereffects (with Timeline of Key Events)

The Iconoclastic Controversy (726–843 AD) was a long conflict in the Byzantine (Eastern) Church about whether religious images (icons) should be allowed in worship. Some leaders said icons were wrong and should be destroyed (iconoclasts = “image-breakers”). Others said icons were helpful and proper (iconodules = “image-venerators”). The fight caused persecution, special church meetings (councils), and big changes in church art and teaching.

Timeline of Key Events

• 717–741 AD: Emperor Leo III rules and begins the controversy. He believes icons cause God’s anger (e.g., earthquakes and losses to Muslims).
• 726 AD: Leo III starts destroying icons. He removes a famous large icon of Christ above the palace gate (Chalke icon), causing riots.
• 741–775 AD: Emperor Constantine V (Leo’s son) rules and strongly supports iconoclasm. He attacks monks as the main icon supporters.
• 754 AD: Constantine V calls the Council of Hieria (meeting of 338 bishops). It says icons are wrong, orders their destruction, and claims to be the Seventh Ecumenical Council (but it is later rejected).
• 754–775 AD: Severe persecution of icon supporters, especially monks. Many are beaten, exiled, or killed. Monasteries are closed and turned into army barracks. Icons are smashed or painted over.
• 780–797 AD: Empress Irene (ruling for her son) supports icons.
• 787 AD: Irene calls the Second Council of Nicaea. It cancels Hieria’s decisions, calls it a “robber synod” (illegal council), and restores icons as proper for honour (veneration). This is accepted as the true Seventh Ecumenical Council.
• 815–843 AD: Iconoclasm returns briefly under later emperors.
• 843 AD: Final end of iconoclasm (the “Triumph of Orthodoxy”). Icons are fully restored, and the church bans 3D statues to avoid idol-like art.

How It Started (Under Leo III and Constantine V)

• Emperor Leo III (717–741 AD) started the controversy around 726 AD.
• He thought icons were idolatry (worshipping created things instead of God) and caused disasters like earthquakes and defeats by Muslims.
• Leo ordered the removal of icons from churches and public places.
• Constantine V (741–775 AD) was even stricter. He saw monks as the biggest supporters of icons and wanted to break their power.
• In 754 AD, Constantine V called the Council of Hieria.
• The council said icons were wrong and ordered their destruction. It claimed to be the Seventh Ecumenical Council, but it lacked bishops from major church centres and was emperor-controlled.

Why the Council of Hieria Was Rejected (Seen as a “Robber Synod” or Fake Council)

• No bishops from Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, or Jerusalem attended.
• The Constantinople bishop's seat was empty until the end.
• The emperor fully controlled it (Caesaropapism = emperor ruling the church).
• The Second Council of Nicaea (787 AD) later called it illegal and heretical.

Main Arguments Against Icons (Iconoclast View)

• Idolatry: Icons break the Second Commandment (“no graven images”). Bowing or kissing them looks like pagan worship.
• Christological dilemma (about Christ’s nature): Painting Christ either tries to show his divine side (impossible, as God is infinite) — leading to Monophysitism (mixing natures too much). Or shows only his human side — separating humanity from divinity, leading to Nestorianism (two persons).
• Only true image: The Eucharist (bread and wine) is the real image of Christ.
• Other reasons: Some wanted to answer Jewish/Muslim criticisms or take money from monasteries.

Persecution, Especially Against Monks

• Monks strongly defended and made icons.
• Constantine V attacked them: closed monasteries, took their land for the army, and forced monks to marry or humiliate themselves in public.
• Famous case: Saint Stephen the Younger refused to give up icons and was killed by a mob.
• Many monks fled, hiding icons, and went to safe places like Italy or Muslim lands.
• John of Damascus (safe in a Muslim area) wrote key defences of icons.

Theological Arguments For Icons (Iconodule View)

• Incarnation: God became man in Jesus with a real body — so pictures of Christ are allowed.
• Veneration, not worship:
  • Latreia = worship (only for God).
  • Proskunesis = honour (for icons, the cross, and saints). Honour passes to the real person.
• Matter is good: God used matter for salvation (Christ’s body, cross, baptism). Icons bring grace.
• Teaching tool: Icons help the illiterate learn Bible stories.
• Old Testament: God allowed images like cherubim on the Ark.

How It Ended: The Second Council of Nicaea (787 AD)

• Empress Irene called it.
• It had bishops from East and West, including Rome.
• It cancelled Hieria, restored icons, and said they should be honoured but not worshipped.

Aftereffects and Lasting Changes

• Eastern churches stopped using 3D statues and used only flat icons with strict rules.
• Monks kept strong influence.
• Clear difference between worship (only for God) and veneration (for holy things).
• Showed risks when emperors control church teaching.
• Old icons survived in places like St Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai.

Endnotes

1. Everett Ferguson, Church History, Volume One: From Christ to Pre-Reformation, pp. 300–302.
2. Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of Christianity, p. 296.
3. Tim Dowley, A Lion Handbook: The History of Christianity, p. 255.
4. Nick R. Needham, 2,000 Years of Christ’s Power Vol. 2: The Middle Ages, pp. 38–43.
5. Nicaea 325: The Legacy of the Undivided Church, pp. 193, 195, 200.
6. The Coptic Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 1275.