Iconodulism
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Iconodulism(alsoiconodulyoriconodulia) designates the religious service toicons(kissing and honourable veneration, incense, and candlelight). The term comes fromNeoclassical Greekεἰκονόδουλος (eikonodoulos) (fromGreek:εἰκόνα–icon(image)+Greek:δοῦλος–servant), meaning "one who serves images (icons)". It is also referred to asiconophilism(alsoiconophilyoriconophiliafromGreek:εἰκόνα–icon(image)+Greek:φιλέω–love) designating a positive attitude towards the religious use of icons. In the history ofChristianity,iconodulism (or iconophilism) was manifested as a moderate position, between two extremes:iconoclasm(radical opposition to the use of icons) andiconolatry(idolatricveritable (full) adorationof icons).[1][2]
History
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In contrast to moderate or respectfuladoration,various forms oflatriaof icons (iconolatry) were also starting to appear,[when?]mainly in popular worship. Sinceveritable (full) adorationwas reserved for God alone, such an attitude towards icons as objects was seen as a form ofidolatry.In reaction to that, the idolatrous misuse of icons was criticized and by the beginning of the 8th century some radical forms of criticism (iconoclasm) were also starting to emerge, arguing not only against adoration of icons, but also against any form of adoration and use of icons in religious life.[1]
Theiconoclastic controversyemerged in theByzantine Empireand lasted through the 8th and the 9th centuries. The most famousiconodules(proponents of the veneration of icons) during that time were saintsJohn of DamascusandTheodore the Studite.The controversy was instigated by the Byzantine EmperorLeo IIIin 726,[3]when he ordered the removal of the image of Christ above theChalke Gateof the imperial palace in Constantinople.[4]A wider prohibition of icons followed in 730. St.John of Damascusargued successfully that to prohibit the use of icons was tantamount to denying theincarnation,the presence of the Word of God in the material world. Icons reminded the church of the physicality of God as manifested inJesus Christ.
Kissing and respected worship (Greek:«ἀσπασμόν καί τιμητικήν προσκύνησιν»;Latin:«osculum et honorariam adorationem»), incense and candles[5][6][7]for icons was established by theSecond Council of Nicaea(SeventhEcumenical Council) in 787. The Council decided that icons should not be destroyed, as was advocated and practiced by theiconoclasts,nor veritable (full) worshiped or adored[8](Greek:«ἀληθινήν λατρείαν»;Latin:«veram latriam»), as was practiced byiconolatrists,but they needed to be kissed and they needed respectful worship as symbolic representations of God, angels or saints.[9]Such a position was approved byPope Adrian I,but due to mis-translations of conciliar acts from Greek into Latin, a controversy arose in theFrankish kingdom,resulting in the creation ofLibri Carolini.[10]The last outburst of iconoclasm in the Byzantine Empire was overcome at theCouncil of Constantinople (843),which reaffirmed the adoration of icons in an event celebrated as theFeast of Orthodoxy.[11]
TheCouncil of Trent(XIX Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church) in 1563 confirmed iconodulism. But this council, unlike the Council of Nicaea, used a different expression in relation to icons: "honour and veneration" (Latin:honorem et venerationem). Its decree reads: "we kiss, and before which we uncover the head, and prostrate ourselves, we adore Christ; and we venerate the saints, whose similitude they bear" (Latin:«ita ut per imagines, quas osculamur, et coram quibus caput aperimus, et procumbimus, Christum adoremus, et Sanctos quorum illae similitudinem gerunt, veneremur»).[12][13]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^abOstrogorsky 1956.
- ^Mendham 1850,p. LIX.
- ^Ostrogorsky 1956,p. 143.
- ^Lowden, John.(1997)Early Christian and Byzantine Art.London:Phaidon Press,p. 155.ISBN0714831689
- ^Sacrorum conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio. Tomus 13 col. 378
- ^"The Nicene Council nullified the decrees of the iconoclasticSynod of Constantinople,and solemnly sanctioned a limited worship (proskynesis) of images. "–Philip Schaff.«History of the christian church» / Volume III / FOURTH PERIOD: THE CHURCH AMONG THE BARBARIANS. From Gregory I. To Gregory VII. A. D. 590–1049 (1073). / CHAPTER X. WORSHIP AND CEREMONIES. / § 102. The Restoration of Image-Worship by the Seventh Oecumenical Council, 787.
- ^Mendham 1850,p. 440.
- ^"true worship of faith", –The Seven ecumenical councils of the undivided church: their canons and dogmatic decrees, together with the canons of all the local synods which have received ecumenical acceptance/ by Percival, Henry R, / 1900 / p. 550
- ^Ostrogorsky 1956,p. 158.
- ^Ostrogorsky 1956,pp. 163–165.
- ^Ostrogorsky 1956,p. 189.
- ^Sacrosanctum Concilium Tridentinum / p. 579
- ^The Council of Trent. The Twenty-Fifth Session. On the invocation, veneration, and relics of saints and of sacred images./ The canons and decrees of the sacred and oecumenical Council of Trent, / Ed. and trans. J. Waterworth (London: Dolman, 1848), 232–289.
Sources
[edit]- Meyendorff, John(1989).Imperial unity and Christian divisions: The Church 450–680 A.D.The Church in history. Vol. 2. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press.ISBN9780881410563.
- Ostrogorsky, George(1956).History of the Byzantine State.Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
- Barnard, Leslie William (1974).The Graeco-Roman and oriental background of the iconoclastic controversy.Vol. 5. Brill.ISBN90-04-03944-9.
- Mendham, John(1850).The Seventh General Council, the Second of Nicaea, Held A.D. 787, in which the Worship of Images was Established: With Copious Notes from the "Caroline Books", Compiled by Order of Charlemagne for Its Confutation.London: W.E. Painter.
