An iconoclast (image-breaker) is someone opposed to idol worship and who destroys the images and idols used in worship. At first images of martyrs and bishops were placed in the churches merely to keep their memory fresh, but latterly (in the 6th century) they began to be worshipped, lights being burned before them and incense offered in their honour.
The eastern emperor Leo III. issued an edict in 726 orderiny the people to abstain from the worship of such images, and soon after he decreed their destruction. This caused great commotion, and there arose two parties in the church, the image-worshippers and the Iconoclasts or image-breakers, who each in turn persecuted the other. In 754 a council at Constantinople condemned image-worship; in 787 the second council of Nice (Nicasa) asserted and defined the doctrine. The controversy lasted over a century, coming to an end when, under the EmpressTheodora, a council held at Constantinople in 842 declared in favour of the worship of images among the Greeks, a decision which was confirmed by a second council, held 869-870, in the same place. In the Western Empire also images were at first retained only to preserve the memory of pious men, but the decision of the pope, which allowed the worship of images, finally prevailed in the Western Church. Research Iconoclast
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Abbreviations
Research Iconoclast
