Question

What stresses did the Byzantine Empire endure in the seventh and eighth centuries, and how was iconoclasm a response to those pressures?

Answer 1

• The period from the mid-600's to the mid-800s was a very difficult period for the Byzantine Empire. Sometimes it is called the "Byzantine dark age".
• The rapid expansion of Islam led to its loss of Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and North Africa.
• It was reduced in territory to little more than western Asia Minor, Greece and the coastal regions of the Balkan peninsula.
• In the 700s a movement, known as iconoclasm swept through the empire's political and religious structures.
• Several Byzantine emperors and religious leaders tried to enforce a ban on icons while trying to reestablish the empire's central authority at Constantinople.
• In 726 the Emperor Leo III took a public stand against icons. The ban was based on a fear that people were worshiping icons as idols in themselves. The fear was that it would lead to idolatry.
• Under Leo's successor, Constantine V, there was a persecution of icon worshippers.
• However in 787 at the ecumenical council at Nicaea Iconoclasm was condemned and the use of images was reestablished.
• In 814 the Iconoclasts regained power and the use of icons was again forbidden. In 843 the use of icons was again permitted. By the late 800s the Byzantine Empire was able to reestablish itself as a significant economic and political power in the Balkans and in the eastern Mediterranean regions.
• In Byzantine theology, the contemplation of icons allowed the viewer direct communication with the sacred figures represented, and through icons an individual’s prayers were addressed directly to the petitioned saint or holy figure. Miraculous healings and good fortune were among the requests.