Second Council of Nicaea, Part 2

The first part of the Second Council of Nicaea—in which I discuss the agenda of the first three sessions—is here.

The fourth session was to get to the heart of the debate, with Biblical support for icons. Exodus 25:19 discussed the making of the Ark of the Covenant, decorated with cherubs. Genesis 31:34 was about Laban searching for the important stolen idols taken from his house. Some Church Fathers wrote about images positively.

During the fifth session, a selection of writings was shared to prove that iconoclasm originated from pagans, Jews, and Muslims, and therefore was antithetical to Christianity.

The sixth session had to be held to reverse the decisions of a prior council. Constantine V had been against icons, and held the Council of Hieria (Hieria was a suburb of Constantinople) to eliminate icons for good. Held from February to March 754, 338 bishops gathered to decide that it was impossible to portray God the Father, and that a portrayal of Jesus would only show the image of the man and could not also show that he was divine; it was therefore inadequate, erroneous, and disrespectful. If icons were to be restored, then the Council of Hieria needed to be repudiated.

Finally, the seventh session (13 October 787) created their official stance:

As the sacred and life-giving cross is everywhere set up as a symbol, so also should the images of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, the holy angels, as well as those of the saints and other pious and holy men be embodied in the manufacture of sacred vessels, tapestries, vestments, etc., and exhibited on the walls of churches, in the homes, and in all conspicuous places, by the roadside and everywhere, to be revered by all who might see them. For the more they are contemplated, the more they move to fervent memory of their prototypes. Therefore, it is proper to accord to them a fervent and reverent veneration, not, however, the veritable adoration which, according to our faith, belongs to the Divine Being alone—for the honor accorded to the image passes over to its prototype, and whoever venerate the image venerate in it the reality of what is there represented.

These images should be venerated for what they represent, but not adored in and of themselves.

The proceeds were written up by Patriarch Tarasios to be carried by the papal legates back to Pope Adrian I. The document acknowledged the unity between the pope and the Byzantine emperor regarding icons. Unfortunately, the document left someone out, someone significant to Western Europe. It could have become a problem for the pope. I'll explain that next time.