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Second Council of Nicaea
The Second Council of Nicaea is recognized as the last of the first seven ecumenical councils by the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. In addition, it is also recognized as such by Old Catholics and others. Protestant opinions on it are varied.
The Council assembled in 787 AD in Nicaea (site of the First Council of Nicaea; present-day İznik, Bursa, in Turkey), to restore the use and veneration of icons (or holy images), which had been suppressed by imperial edict inside the Byzantine Empire during the reign of Leo III (717–741). His son, Constantine V (741–775), had held the Council of Hieria to make the suppression official.
The Council determined that the honorary veneration (timētikē proskynēsis) of icons was permitted, and that the true adoration (alēthinē latreia) was reserved for God alone. It further stated that the honor paid to the icon eventually passes over to the individual that it represents, thus, veneration of an icon could not be idolatrous as the iconoclasts believed. The iconodule position was not justified by Christological arguments (as in the Council of Hieria), rather, the antiquity of iconodulia and the Incarnation of Christ, which was said to make acceptable the depiction of Christ, were emphasized.
The veneration of icons had been banned by Byzantine Emperor Constantine V and supported by his Council of Hieria (754 AD), which had described itself as the seventh ecumenical council. The Council of Hieria was overturned by the Second Council of Nicaea only 33 years later, and has also been rejected by Catholic and Orthodox churches, since none of the five major patriarchs were represented. The emperor's vigorous enforcement of the ban included persecution of those who venerated icons and of monks in general. There were also political overtones to the persecution—images of emperors were still allowed by Constantine, which some opponents saw as an attempt to give wider authority to imperial power than to the saints and bishops. Constantine's iconoclastic tendencies were shared by Constantine's son, Leo IV. After the latter's early death, his widow, Irene of Athens, as regent for her son, began its restoration for personal inclination and political considerations.
On Christmas Day 784, the head of the imperial chancellery, Tarasios, was appointed successor to the iconoclast Patriarch of Constantinople, Paul IV, by Irene. Together they were attempting to solemnize the iconodule reversal of imperial policy with an ecumenical council. Pope Adrian I was invited to participate, and gladly accepted, sending two legates.
In 786, the council met in the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople. However, soldiers in collusion with iconoclast bishops entered the church, and broke up the assembly. As a result, Irene resorted to a stratagem. Under the pretext of responding to an alleged Arab attack in Asia Minor, the iconoclastic bodyguard was sent away from the capital—then disarmed and disbanded. Tarasios dealt with the episcopal opposition by allowing notoriously iconoclast bishops to retain their positions so long as they made a public admission of error, and also by disguising two eastern monks as envoys of the patriarchs of Antioch and Jerusalem, to justify the council's claim to ecumenical status.
The Council was again assembled, this time in the symbolic location of Nicaea, the site of the first ecumenical council. The council opened on 24 September 787 at the Hagia Sophia. It numbered about 350 members; 308 bishops or their representatives signed. Tarasios presided, and seven sessions were held in Nicaea.
It was determined that:
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Second Council of Nicaea
The Second Council of Nicaea is recognized as the last of the first seven ecumenical councils by the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. In addition, it is also recognized as such by Old Catholics and others. Protestant opinions on it are varied.
The Council assembled in 787 AD in Nicaea (site of the First Council of Nicaea; present-day İznik, Bursa, in Turkey), to restore the use and veneration of icons (or holy images), which had been suppressed by imperial edict inside the Byzantine Empire during the reign of Leo III (717–741). His son, Constantine V (741–775), had held the Council of Hieria to make the suppression official.
The Council determined that the honorary veneration (timētikē proskynēsis) of icons was permitted, and that the true adoration (alēthinē latreia) was reserved for God alone. It further stated that the honor paid to the icon eventually passes over to the individual that it represents, thus, veneration of an icon could not be idolatrous as the iconoclasts believed. The iconodule position was not justified by Christological arguments (as in the Council of Hieria), rather, the antiquity of iconodulia and the Incarnation of Christ, which was said to make acceptable the depiction of Christ, were emphasized.
The veneration of icons had been banned by Byzantine Emperor Constantine V and supported by his Council of Hieria (754 AD), which had described itself as the seventh ecumenical council. The Council of Hieria was overturned by the Second Council of Nicaea only 33 years later, and has also been rejected by Catholic and Orthodox churches, since none of the five major patriarchs were represented. The emperor's vigorous enforcement of the ban included persecution of those who venerated icons and of monks in general. There were also political overtones to the persecution—images of emperors were still allowed by Constantine, which some opponents saw as an attempt to give wider authority to imperial power than to the saints and bishops. Constantine's iconoclastic tendencies were shared by Constantine's son, Leo IV. After the latter's early death, his widow, Irene of Athens, as regent for her son, began its restoration for personal inclination and political considerations.
On Christmas Day 784, the head of the imperial chancellery, Tarasios, was appointed successor to the iconoclast Patriarch of Constantinople, Paul IV, by Irene. Together they were attempting to solemnize the iconodule reversal of imperial policy with an ecumenical council. Pope Adrian I was invited to participate, and gladly accepted, sending two legates.
In 786, the council met in the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople. However, soldiers in collusion with iconoclast bishops entered the church, and broke up the assembly. As a result, Irene resorted to a stratagem. Under the pretext of responding to an alleged Arab attack in Asia Minor, the iconoclastic bodyguard was sent away from the capital—then disarmed and disbanded. Tarasios dealt with the episcopal opposition by allowing notoriously iconoclast bishops to retain their positions so long as they made a public admission of error, and also by disguising two eastern monks as envoys of the patriarchs of Antioch and Jerusalem, to justify the council's claim to ecumenical status.
The Council was again assembled, this time in the symbolic location of Nicaea, the site of the first ecumenical council. The council opened on 24 September 787 at the Hagia Sophia. It numbered about 350 members; 308 bishops or their representatives signed. Tarasios presided, and seven sessions were held in Nicaea.
It was determined that: