PhilokaliaKnowledge Map

Councils and Their Canons

Seventh Ecumenical Council: Nicaea II (787)

Seventh Ecumenical Council: Nicaea II (787), by anonymous, between 1375 and 1425
Triumph orthodoxy anonymous, between 1375 and 1425 Public domain

Vindicated the veneration of holy icons against Iconoclasm. Distinguished between 'latreia' (worship, due to God alone) and 'proskynesis' (veneration, given to icons, saints, and relics). Icons are 'windows to heaven': the honor paid to the image passes to the prototype. Empress Irene convened it.

Sources

  • Acta of the Seventh Ecumenical Council the Acts, NPNF
  • St. John of Damascus, Three Treatises on the Divine Images
  • St. Theodore the Studite, On the Holy Icons

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