What was the Byzantine iconoclasm?
THE iconoclasmByzantine was a political-religious phenomenon that occurred in the Byzantine Empire, also known as eastern roman empire, between the 8th and 9th centuries. The term iconoclasm is composed of two roots in the Greek language: “eikone” (icon), which means image, and "klastein", which means to break, to break. Therefore, the iconoclast is the one who destroys images. But what kind of image was destroyed in the period in question of the Byzantine Empire? Images that represented the main personalities of the christianity, starting with Christ himself, followed by the Virgin Mary, apostles, saints, martyrs and angels. And why such religious images started to be destroyed? That's what we'll answer in the next topic.
The problem of iconolatry
From the sixth century, when Christianity was already the official religion of the EmpireByzantine, there was a serious outbreak of iconolatry (image worship) in the domains of the empire. This outbreak stemmed from a popular mix of remnants of ancient rites dedicated to pagan idols, Greco-Roman, with the veneration of images that represented the main characters of Christianity. Christian orthodoxy of the early centuries (and this is still followed by both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches) admitted the veneration of sacred images because they represent the Christ, the Virgin, etc., and do not properly incarnate the person their. In this way, the veneration was authorized, the
idolatry (this, yes, considered a sin), or iconolatry, it was that was prohibited.However, in the sixth century, icons themselves became sources of magical power, just as in ancient paganism. As the historian Daniel-Rops narrates:
The devotion to images took such an increase that it leaves us surprised. Was an oath taken? It was about an icon. Communion? The holy species must first touch an icon. Was a child baptized? The ceremony took place in front of an icon, sumptuously dressed and adorned with jewels, who sometimes even played the role of best man. Real aberrations were produced: there were patients who, in order to cure themselves, ingested scraps of paint from an icon. Generally speaking, the plebs distinguished less and less between the icon before which they burned incense and lit candles, and the saint that this image represented. "Many seemed to believe that, to honor baptism, it was enough to enter the church and repeatedly kiss the cross and the images." [1]
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Leo III and Constantine V: institutionalization of iconoclasm
The patriarchs and bishops of the East tried for a long time to reverse iconolatry through liturgical pedagogy and explanations of what the images actually represented. However, in the eighth century, he ascended the Byzantine throne Leo III, the isauric, who ruled from 717 to 741. This emperor was influenced by heresies such as the monophysitism, which consisted in the reluctance to the human nature of Christ and his representation in images, as well as some elements of the Judaismtraditional It's from Islam, who were also averse to religious imagery representation.
Convinced of the harmful character of the veneration of images, Leo III he began to defend the institutionalization of iconoclasm from the year 726 onwards. The most violent period in which the prohibition of veneration of images was in force occurred during the reign of the son of Leo III, Constantine V. According to Daniel-Rops:
After being supported by a counciliconoclastic, reunited in Hieria in 754, Constantine V launched a real persecution. The sculptures were torn out, the mosaics covered with lime, the frescoes scraped, and the books of the supporters of the images burned. Arrests, removals from office and deportations multiplied. A second conspiracy set the despot on fire, and he began to strike blows left and right. [2]
End of iconoclasm
The established iconoclastic fury had a brief respite of three years (787 to 789), at the time the empress reigned Irene, from Athens. The veneration of images was only effectively restored in the Byzantine Empire with the rise of the regent empressTheodora (wife of Theophilus and mother of Michael III, of whom she was regent from 842 to 855, after her husband's death), in the year 843, with the so-called Triumph of Orthodoxy.
GRADES
[1] DANIEL-ROPS. The Church of the Barbarian Times. Trans. Emérico da Gama. Quadrant: São Paulo. 1991. P. 360
[2] Idem. p.362-63
By Me. Cláudio Fernandes
