Religious figural images on Byzantine lead seals as a reflection of visual piety during the Iconoclastic controversy *

The Defense of Holy Images by John of Damascus stands as the archetypal exposition of the Christian theology of images. Written at the outbreak of the Iconoclastic Controversy, it has been mostly valued for its theological content and given scholarly short shrift as a narrowly focused polemic. The work is more than that. It presents a complex and profound explication of the nature of images and the phenomenon of representation, and is an important part of the “history of looking”in western culture. A long chain of visual conceptions connects classical Greek and Roman writers, such as Homer and Quintilian, to John: the living image, the interrelation of word and image, and image and memory, themes elaborated particularly in the Second Sophistic period of the early Common Era. For John to deploy this heritage so skillfully to the thorny problem of the place of images in Christianity, at the outbreak of a violent conflict that lasted a further 100 years after his writing, manifests an intellect and creativity that has not been sufficiently appreciated. The Defense of Holy Images, understood in this context, is another innovative synthesis of Christianity and classical culture produced by late antique Christian writers.

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Considerations on the Cause of Iconoclastic Controversy in the 8th-century Byzantine Era from the ‘Image Ideology’ Perspective

韓國敎會史學會誌 ◽

10.22254/kchs.2017.47.09 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 47 ◽

pp. 321-353

Author(s):

JungHeum Park ◽

Keyword(s):

Byzantine Era ◽

Iconoclastic Controversy

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The Iconoclastic Controversy

10.1093/oso/9780199281336.003.0009 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Brian E. Daley, SJ

Keyword(s):

Fifth Century ◽

Mosaic Image ◽

John Of Damascus ◽

Iconoclastic Controversy

Earlier Eastern Christian authors saw the veneration of images as idolatrous. Yet from the late fifth century, representations of Christ and the saints grew increasingly popular. Official hostility also grew. In 726, Emperor Leo III ordered a mosaic image of Christ to be removed from the palace in Constantinople. Controversy continued through the middle of the following century. Key figures were Emperor Constantine V, a critic of image-veneration, and Patriarch Nicephorus, whose writings in its defense provided—along with the council at Nicaea in 787—the main theological arguments linking this practice with the orthodox understanding of the person of Christ. Other important defenders were Patriarch Germanus of Constantinople, the monk John of Damascus, and the monastic leader Theodore of Stoudios. The conflict was finally resolved on March 11, 843, by the gesture of a procession with icons. The veneration of images was now accepted as standard Church practice.

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The Second Commandment And "True Worship" In The Iconoclastic Controversy

Congress Volume Ljubljana 2007 ◽

10.1163/ej.9789004179776.i-640.123 ◽

2010 ◽

pp. 541-554

Keyword(s):

Second Commandment ◽

Iconoclastic Controversy

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The transfiguration at Shivta. Retracing early Byzantine iconography

Zograf ◽

10.2298/zog1741001m ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 1-18 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Emma Maayan-Fanar

Keyword(s):

New Testament ◽

Negev Desert ◽

Missing Link ◽

Early Christian ◽

The New Testament ◽

Christian Iconography ◽

Iconoclastic Controversy ◽

Early Byzantine

The Transfiguration constitutes one of the most important events in the New Testament. Yet, only few pre-iconoclastic examples of the Transfiguration scene have survived: S. Apollinaire in Classe, Ravenna, St. Catherine Monastery, Sinai and Porec in Istria, each has its unique iconography. Therefore, scholars have concluded that the Transfiguration scene became widespread only after the iconoclastic controversy. We aim to show, that Transfiguration scene in Shivta, an early Byzantine settlement in the Negev desert, allows a glimpse into the early Christian iconography of the well-known scene, providing a missing link to its development in the post-iconoclastic period.

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