THE NEW SCIIAFF-HERZOG
which were caused by factors not yet clearly known, but it is certain, at all events, that the spiritual atmosphere produced by the development of Mohammedanism increased the opposition to images. In a church which believed that the mystery of the redemption was present in the image, every movement for reform naturally assailed iconolatry.
This is plain both from the religious opposition
of the Paulicians and from the political antagonism
of Leo the Isaurian, so that a mutual
3. Icono- influence is not improbable. Leo's clasm prohibition forms a part of his reformunder Leo atory efforts to give new vitality to the his empire, which he felt authorized to
Isaurian undertake in his double capacity of and Later, king and priest. In 726 he seems to have begun at once with the removal of images (Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, iii. 378), while the council of state and the new patriarch were in harmony with the second edict, which was issued in 730. Leo was opposed, however, by John of Damascus in three orations and by the popes Gregory II., who harshly reproved him, and Gregory III., who condemned the enemies of the images, even at the cost of forfeiting valuable ecclesiastical provinces. Still more reckless in his measures against the image-worshipers was Leo's son, Constantine V The Council of Constantinople (754), which was intended to be ecumenical, denounced image-worship as heresy and idolatry. The monks still resisted, but had to feel the severity of the imperial wrath. Ecclesiastical goods were confiscated, and relics were thrown into the sea. In 766 Constantine undertook to impose an oath against the worship of images on all his subjects, and even had the matter brought before a synod at Gentilly, near Paris. But the Lateran synod of 769 anathematized the synod of 754, and after the death of Leo IV., the regency of his widow, Irene, caused an entire change. Tarasius, an advocate of images, was made patriarch in 784, and after the abortive attempt to hold an ecumenical council at Constantinople two years later, the synod at Nicsa was held in 787, and ascribed to the images a " respectful reverence," but reserved " true worship " for God alone. The Caroline Books (q.v.), however, explicitly denied all religious value of the images, and the same decision was reached by the synod convoked by Charlemagne at Frankfort in 794 (see Frankfort, Synod of, 794). In the East, Leo V., the Armenian, emphatically reaffirmed the prohibition of images, and Theodore the Studite, the advocate of images and ecclesiastical liberty, was again exiled. Michael the Stammerer opposed the public worship of images, at least after 823, and a synod held at Paris in 825 again expressed a view in harmony with the Caroline Books. During the reign of Theophilus the persecution of images and of monasticism reappeared as in the days of Constantine V., but the early death of the emperor changed the condition.
During the reign of his widow, Theodora, the worship was restored, probably Mar. 11, 843 (cf. de Boer, Byzardinische Zeitschrift, iv. 445 sqq.). The basal doctrines of the advocates of iconolatry were developed especially by John of Damascus, the
patriarch Nicephorus, and Theodore the Studite.
They draw their arguments both from the Bible and
tradition, and from the nature and the
4. Growth attested miracles of the images. Over of Cult against the prohibition of images in the
after 850. Old Testament attention was called to the difference between " reverence of worship " and " reverence of respect," and the progress of the plan of salvation, as well as the more perfect knowledge of God on the part of the Christian, was pointed out. Since and because the divine Logos has become manifest in the phenomenal world, he may also be represented pictorially. Hence the significance of the image is not restricted to him who can not read, but it is the real bearer of the prototype, differing from it only as to substance. Every virtue of the prototype belongs relatively to the copy, so that which happens to the one has reference to the other (MPG, xcix. 425 D, 1184 A). A rejection of images is a denial of the incarnation of God (1188 D), and Theodore even declares that " Christ is not Christ unless he be graven " (1225 D). By the image the eyes of the spirit are to be raised to the spiritual essence of God. This latter distinction between prototype and copy was, however, lost in lower types of Christianity. It was thought that idolatry might be avoided in merely making a copy and confining it mainly to painting.
The ordinary Russian is in the habit of designating the icon as his God, and those " not made with hands " enjoy great veneration.
5. Modern To the image of the " mother of God Ecclesias- at Kasan " is ascribed Russia's deliv-
tical Usage, erance in 1812; the same trust in icons showed itself in the Japanese- Russian war of 1905 ; while the Iberian icon of the Virgin is the most celebrated healer of Moscow, and Russia is richer in wonder-working images than Italy and Spain. In general iconolatry has never been so prominent in the West as in the East, yet even Thomas Aquinas has declared that an image of Christ claims the same veneration as Christ himself (Summa III., qu. 25, art. 3-4). The Council of Trent in its twenty-fifth session expressed itself with caution and justified the worship of the image from its relation to the prototype. In religious practise, however, the line here drawn is not observed. N. Bonwetsch.
Bibliography: I. For sources: J. Selden, De diis Syria, with A. Beyer's additions, Amsterdam, 1672, Eng. transl., The Fabulous Gods denounced in the Bible, Philadelphia, 1880; Schrader, KAT. For discussions: M. de Vogue", Melanges d'archeologie orientale, Paris, 1868; W. Baudissin, Jahve et Moloch, Leipsic, 1874; idem, Studien zur semitischen Religionsgeschichte, Leipsic, 1878; E. Nestle, Die israelitischen Eigennamen in ihrer religionsgeschichtlichen Bedeutung, Leipsic, 1876; P. Scholz, Gotzendienst und Zauberwesen bei den alien Hebraern und den benachbarten Vblkern, Regensburg, 1877; F. Baethgen, Beitrage zur semitischen Religionsgeschichte. Der Gott Israels und die Gotter der Heiden, Berlin, 1889; Nowack, Archaologu, vol. ii.; Smith, Rel. of Sem.; F. Weber, Judische Theologxe, index " Gotzendienst," Leipsic, 1897; A. von Gall, Altisraelilische Kultusstiitten, Giessen, 1898; R. Smend, Alttestamentliche Religionsgeschichte, Freiburg, 1899; DB, ii. 445- 449; EB, ii. 2152 sqq.; JE, xii. 568-569. For studies of ethnic idolatry, E. B. Tylor, Early History of Mankind, chap, vi., London, 1878; idem. Primitive Culture, London, 1903 (authoritative); J. G. Frazer, Golden Bough, 3 vols.,