Continuity And Changes In The Roman Empire Essay

After the collapse of Rome in 476, many changes were taking place in the world, affecting both politics and religion. The Roman Empire was under assault from both pagan and Muslim powers. A young emperor, Justinian took over the Byzantine throne, and was steadfast to rebuild Constantinople in all its glory and power. Infrastructure such as bridges, roads, and aqueducts were constructed. In additions, churches, monuments and monasteries figured prominently in these rebuilding efforts; religion and faith being an important element of a cohesive and unified society.

With construction of grand cathedrals, churches and monasteries comes the opportunity for grand art. In keeping with earlier traditions of the Roman Church, paintings, sculptures, frescoes, and reliquaries figured heavily as ornamentation. These “material expressions” of faith were important to Justinian and many other powerful leaders in the Church. An

early example of icons is a set of paintings on wooden panels from the Saint Catherine monastery entitled Theotokos and Child. The painting depicts Mary holding Jesus along with military saints and angels. Paintings such as these under Justinian’s direction, adorned the churches and monasteries that were rebuilt at this time.

In 717, Leo III became emperor during the second Muslim siege of Constantinople.

Soon, he began to question, and ultimately oppose these “material expressions” that Justinian had so cherished. The Muslim faith barred all such icons or “material expressions” from their mosques and practices. Perhaps, Leo believed that the success of the Muslim armies was due to God’s displeasure with such practices in the Roman Church. Ultimately, Leo and many others believed that God’s prohibition in the Ten Commandments – “Thou shalt not make any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them” (Exodus 20:”4-5) – applied literally to all such material expressions. Thus began a great movement against the use of these material expressions in religion known as iconoclasm, or the practice of destroying religious images. The word originates from the Greek eikon (“icon” or “image”) and klao (to “break” or

“destroy”).

There were those in the Church, known as iconophiles, who defended the use of these material expressions as vigorously. They felt, as did the poet Agathias, that the images could direct one’s mind to higher contemplation and serve as a “vessel” for prayer to God and the saints, and even offer God’s protection to the viewer.

These contrasting views represented a major schism in the church. The use of the physical image of Jesus as an element of religious imagery seems to have been particularly offensive to the iconclasts. The iconophiles defended the images of Jesus as being simply a depiction of the human elements of Jesus that were visible to man; and not a depiction of “God” or the divine element of Jesus. These images, they felt promoted prayer and were consistent with the teachings of the church.
The iconclasts viewed depictions of Jesus as blasphemous, for by separating the divine and human Jesus into two forms, they attempted to create a fourth element of the Godhead (The Trinity of God the father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit). Further, since there is no way to separate the divine and human elements of Jesus, any such depiction of Jesus physical nature, incarnate-or “in the flesh”, was also a depiction of his divinity, which is forbidden by the Ten Commandments. Images of the Saints and Mary, the mother of Jesus, were likewise considered heretical by the iconclasts. It was feared that any such use of images would eventually erode into a condition in which the images themselves were worshipped, and not the divine they represented. This would be in essence, Christianity devolving into Paganism, and the work of Satan.

In an effort to bolster support for this position, Emperor Constantine V orchestrated the Seventh Synod of 754. It was attended primarily by elements of the Eastern Church and those subject to the rule of its Emperor. Being an emperor has its advantages in determining the outcome of such gatherings and edicts supporting the iconclastsic positions were published, essentially forbidding the use of any imagery in the practice of Christianity. The only element of symbolism allowed was the bread and wine of the sacrament, these being allowed as they are deemed to be made divine by descent of the Holy Spirit via the mediation of the priest who sanctifies them. Any other form of material expression was deemed to be the misguidance of Satan.

Ultimately, the iconoclasts faded from prominence and power. The use of imagery and the value of it, both in monetary and political sense, were too firmly entrenched in the Western Church, as well as significant numbers of the clergy in the Eastern Church, many of whom fled or were persecuted and even martyred for their opposition to iconoclasm.