Byzantine Icon Veneration and Theology: The Defense of Holy Images

The theology of icon veneration was developed in response to the Iconoclast position, which held that the use of icons in Christian worship was a form of idolatry, condemned in the Old Testament and incompatible with the Christian doctrine of the divine nature. The Iconodule position, articulated by the defenders of icons, held that the use of icons was a legitimate expression of the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation, and that the veneration of icons was a legitimate form of Christian devotion, distinct from the worship of God alone. The defense of icons was one of the most important theological achievements of the early Byzantine period, and it has been one of the most enduring elements of the Orthodox Christian tradition.

The Background

The Old Testament Prohibition

The Iconoclast controversy began with the argument that the use of icons in Christian worship was a form of idolatry, condemned in the Old Testament prohibition: “You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth” (Exodus 20:4). The Iconoclasts argued that this prohibition was absolute, and that the Christian use of icons was a violation of the commandment of God.

The Iconoclasts had a strong argument. The Old Testament prohibition of images was clear, and it had been a central element of the Jewish tradition that the early Christians had inherited. The early Christians had been accused of atheism by the pagans, partly because they refused to worship the images of the gods, and the early Christian apologists had argued that the Christian rejection of images was a sign of their commitment to the worship of the true God.

The Iconoclasts, however, did not take into account the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation, the doctrine that the eternal Son of God had become truly human in the person of Jesus Christ. The Christian doctrine of the Incarnation, which had been defined by the ecumenical councils, transformed the relationship between the divine and the human, and it made possible a new understanding of the use of images in Christian worship.

The Christian Response

The Doctrine of the Incarnation

The Iconodule response to the Iconoclast position was based on the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation. The defenders of icons argued that the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation had transformed the Old Testament prohibition of images. The prohibition, they argued, was given to the people of Israel at a time when the divine nature was invisible and unrepresentable, and when the use of images would have been a violation of the divine transcendence.

The Christian doctrine of the Incarnation, however, had changed the situation. If God had truly become man in the person of Jesus Christ, then God could legitimately be represented in human form. The use of icons of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and the saints was thus a legitimate expression of the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation, and it was not a violation of the Old Testament prohibition.

The Iconodule argument was articulated most famously by John of Damascus, the great Palestinian monk who wrote three Apologetic Treatises against those who attack the divine images. John argued that the use of icons was a necessary consequence of the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation, and that the Iconoclast position, by refusing to represent Christ in human form, was in fact denying the reality of the Incarnation. John also argued that the Old Testament prohibition of images was given in a specific historical context, and that it did not apply to the Christian use of images in the new dispensation of the Incarnation.

The Distinction Between Veneration and Worship

The Iconodule response also drew a careful distinction between veneration and worship. The Iconodule theologians argued that the Christian use of icons involved veneration, a lower form of honor, rather than worship, which was reserved for God alone. The veneration of icons was a legitimate expression of Christian devotion, and it was based on the Christian understanding of the relationship between the image and the prototype.

The distinction between veneration and worship was a central element of the Iconodule position, and it has been preserved in the Orthodox Christian tradition to the present day. The Orthodox Christian venerates icons, kissing them, burning incense before them, and carrying them in procession, but the Orthodox Christian worships God alone. The distinction is not merely a verbal one, but a fundamental element of the Orthodox Christian understanding of the relationship between the human and the divine.

The Iconodule theologians also developed the concept of “relative veneration,” the veneration given to the icon because of the prototype it represents. The icon is not venerated in itself, but as an image of the prototype. The veneration given to the icon passes to the prototype, and the prototype is the ultimate object of veneration. The concept of relative veneration was a central element of the Iconodule position, and it has been preserved in the Orthodox Christian tradition.

The Key Theologians

John of Damascus

The most important of the Iconodule theologians was John of Damascus, the great Palestinian monk who lived in the Mar Saba monastery near Jerusalem. John wrote three Apologetic Treatises against those who attack the divine images, in which he defended the use of icons in Christian worship and articulated the principles of the Orthodox Christian theology of images. The treatises were widely circulated in the Byzantine world, and they became the foundation of the Iconodule position.

John’s argument was based on the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation, and he argued that the use of icons was a necessary consequence of the doctrine. He also argued that the veneration of icons was a legitimate form of Christian devotion, and he drew a careful distinction between veneration and worship. John’s theology of icons was adopted by the Second Council of Nicaea in 787, and it has been the basis of the Orthodox Christian theology of images ever since.

John was also an important figure in the development of Byzantine Christian theology more generally. He was the author of the Fount of Knowledge, a compendium of Orthodox Christian theology, and the Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, the first great systematic theology of the Orthodox Christian church. John’s works have been the foundation of Orthodox Christian theology, and they have been the basis of the development of Orthodox Christian doctrine in the centuries since his death.

Theodore the Studite

Theodore the Studite, the abbot of the Studios monastery in Constantinople, was another important Iconodule theologian. Theodore wrote a series of letters and treatises defending the use of icons, and he was the leader of the monastic resistance to the Iconoclast emperors. Theodore’s theology of icons was similar to that of John of Damascus, but he placed greater emphasis on the role of the monastic tradition in the defense of icons, and he developed a more elaborate theory of the relationship between the icon and the prototype.

Theodore was a major figure in the Byzantine monastic tradition, and he was one of the most important defenders of icons during the second wave of Iconoclasm in the early ninth century. Theodore led the resistance of the Studios monastery to the Iconoclast policy of Emperor Leo V the Armenian, and he was exiled and imprisoned for his refusal to accept the Iconoclast position. Theodore’s letters and treatises, especially his Antirrhetics, are major works of Byzantine theology, and they have been the basis of the development of the Orthodox Christian theology of icons.

The Council of Nicaea

The Second Ecumenical Council on Images

The Iconodule position was formalized by the Second Council of Nicaea in 787, the seventh ecumenical council of the Christian church. The council was convoked by Empress Irene, the regent for her son Constantine VI, and it was attended by some 350 bishops from the Byzantine Empire and the patriarchates of the East. The council considered the question of the use of icons in Christian worship, and it issued a decree affirming the legitimacy of the use of icons and condemning the Iconoclast position.

The decree of the Second Council of Nicaea was based on the theology developed by John of Damascus and Theodore the Studite, and it drew a careful distinction between veneration and worship. The council declared that the veneration of icons was a legitimate form of Christian devotion, and that the veneration given to the icon passed to the prototype it represented. The council also declared that the Iconoclast position was a form of heresy, and it anathematized the principal Iconoclast theologians, including Constantine V, the Iconoclast emperor of the eighth century.

The decree of the Second Council of Nicaea was a major event in the history of the Christian church, and it has been the basis of the Orthodox Christian theology of icons ever since. The decree was temporarily reversed by the second wave of Iconoclasm in the early ninth century, but it was reaffirmed by the Council of Constantinople in 843, the so-called Triumph of Orthodoxy, which has been celebrated annually in the Orthodox Church as a major feast day.

The Triumph of Orthodoxy

The Final Restoration of Icons

The final restoration of icons came in 843, when Empress Theodora, the regent for her son Michael III, ended the second wave of Iconoclasm and restored the veneration of icons. The restoration was celebrated by a special service in the Hagia Sophia on the first Sunday of Lent, and the service has been the basis of the annual celebration of the Triumph of Orthodoxy ever since.

The Triumph of Orthodoxy is one of the great feasts of the Orthodox liturgical year, and it commemorates the final victory of the Iconodule position over the Iconoclast position. The feast is celebrated with the chanting of the Synodikon of Orthodoxy, a document that condemns all heresies, including Iconoclasm, and blesses the defenders of the true faith. The Synodikon is read in the Orthodox churches on the first Sunday of Lent, and it is a powerful expression of the Orthodox Christian commitment to the doctrine of icons.

The Triumph of Orthodoxy marked the end of the Iconoclast controversy, and it established the veneration of icons as a permanent element of the Orthodox Christian tradition. The doctrine of the veneration of icons, as articulated by the Second Council of Nicaea and the Council of Constantinople, has been the basis of the Orthodox Christian theology of images ever since, and it has been one of the most distinctive features of the Orthodox Christian tradition.

The Continuing Tradition

The Modern Orthodox Theology of Icons

The Orthodox Christian theology of icons, developed in the wake of the Iconoclast controversy, has been one of the most important elements of the Orthodox Christian tradition. The theology has been preserved in the Orthodox churches, and it has been the basis of the development of the Orthodox Christian iconographic tradition. The theology has also been the subject of intense scholarly study, and it has been the inspiration for the modern iconographic tradition of the Orthodox churches.

The Orthodox Christian theology of icons has also been the subject of ecumenical dialogue with the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches. The Roman Catholic Church has accepted the Orthodox Christian theology of icons, although it uses the Latin term “icon” and emphasizes the role of images in Catholic devotion. The Protestant churches have generally been more critical of the use of icons, and they have often rejected the Orthodox Christian theology of images. The ecumenical dialogue has, however, led to a greater understanding of the Orthodox Christian position, and it has been the basis of the development of more nuanced Protestant understandings of the role of images in Christian worship.

Conclusion

The theology of Byzantine icon veneration, developed in the wake of the Iconoclast controversy, is one of the most sophisticated and most influential expressions of Orthodox Christian theology. The defense of the use of icons in Christian worship, articulated by John of Damascus, Theodore the Studite, and the Second Council of Nicaea, became the foundation of the Orthodox Christian understanding of the relationship between the image and the prototype. The theology has been one of the most distinctive features of the Orthodox Christian tradition, and it has been the basis of the development of the Orthodox Christian iconographic tradition. The study of the theology of icon veneration is, in this sense, the study of one of the most important and most enduring elements of the Orthodox Christian heritage, and it is essential for understanding the Orthodox Christian tradition as a whole.

Byzantine Iconography — the broader context
Byzantine Iconoclasm — the controversy
The Icon of the Virgin Hodegetria — the most venerated icon
The Iconostasis: Evolution and Meaning — the screen of icons
Saints in Byzantine Tradition — the saints depicted in the icons
Byzantine Monasticism — the defenders of the icons
Byzantine Emperors — the rulers involved in the controversy