PhilokaliaKnowledge Map

Iconography & Sacred Art

Iconoclasm

Iconoclasm, by anonimous, middle of the 9th Century
Chludov sobor anonimous, middle of the 9th Century Public domain

Two periods of icon destruction in Byzantium (726-787 and 814-843) when emperors banned icons as idolatry. Defenders of icons (iconodules) suffered persecution. The Seventh Ecumenical Council (787) vindicated icons. The final restoration of icons on the First Sunday of Lent, 843, the 'Triumph of Orthodoxy', is celebrated annually.

Sources

  • Seventh Ecumenical Council Acts (Nicaea II, 787 AD) the Acts, NPNF
  • St. Theodore the Studite, On the Holy Icons
  • St. John of Damascus, Three Treatises on the Divine Images

Connections

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