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THE FIGHT OVER THE ICONS

a. The conditions that led to the fight over the icons.

The first two emperors of the dynasty of Isaurus were the first that along with higher clergymen started the movement against the icons. This movement shocked the Byzantine society for more than a century (726-843). We can not consider that one or two emperors with peculiar religious ideas caused this fight. The ideological basis of this movement was the beliefs of the inhabitants in the eastern provinces. They didn’t believe that the divine nature could be depicted. Their main argument was that Christianity is a basically spirituous religion and thus the divine can not be represented by human forms. In addition the exaggeration over the worship of icons and the relics, that had become pure superstition especially in the European provinces, caused many reactions.
The measures that the central authorities took to face this problem were justified by the critical problems that the empire was facing during this period: the Arabic ships were all over the Byzantine seas and they looted all the areas near the sea causing tremendous problems to commerce. They Arabic fleet even try to conquer Constantinople. At the same time the Byzantine provinces in the Balkans were flooded by the Slavs and suffered under the invasions of a new neighbor, the Bulgarians.
Under the circumstances it was obvious that the safety of the empire was totally depended on the agricultural population of Asia Minor that served in the army and didn’t believe in the representation of the divine. The policy against the icons was the only one that could reconcile the central government with these populations.

b. The beginning.

The occasion for the beginning of this fight was a destructive earthquake in Thera (726). This earthquake was interpreted as a demonstration of the holy wrath because the worship of the icons constituted paganism within the Church. On 726 Leon the
Third begun his first attack against the icons. In his order the army took off the icon of Christ that was on the Gate of the palace. The crowd reacted and there were fights in the streets of the capital. The reaction spread over the Greek territories and the fleet in these areas moved against the emperor but was defeated.
The first official order against the icons was published on the year 730. It suggested destruction of the icons and severe penalties for the ones violating the order. The persecutions took the form of tortures, exile, and confiscation of properties.
The Church of Rome opposed this policy. The Pope, disappointed turned towards the Francs and thus the relations of the Empire with the West were not good.

c. The peak

The fight against the icons reached its peak during the kingdom of Constantine the Fifth when it turned into a merciless campaign against the monasteries. This campaign was legalized with the synod of Iereia that condemned the worship of the icons. On the year 787 however, when Constantine the Sixth was emperor the Seventh Ecumenical Synod condemned the fight against the icons.

d. The end

The emperors Leon the Fifth and Theofilus reanimated the battle against the icons but without the fanaticism of the first period. Finally on March 843 a synod that was called by the emperor’s mother decided to restore the icons. That decision showed the definite failure of the state to control the church.