In the eighth and ninth centuries a deep schism emerged in the Eastern and Byzantine Churches over the use of holy pictures and images.
Pagans and Muslims and their affect on Iconography
Because the use of icons had been utilized in Pagan circles before Christianity, the issue of bringing the same custom into the Catholic Church became a big one.
Another issue came out of the fact that the Muslim empire had grown and were now issuing forth their opinions on the second commandment of Moses: “You shall not make a carved image for yourself no he likeness of anything in the heavens above, or on the earth below or in the waters of the earth.You shall not ow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord God, am a jealous God.”
Icons were worshiped the most by the Greek Christians, but in 726 the ruler of the Byzantine Empire Leo II issued one of many edicts against the practice. But he faced much opposition including Pope Gregory II.
The View of the Iconoclasts
The Iconoclasts felt the veneration of icons was a sin against the second command and that to make any pictures or images of Christ were vain attempts to limit the true nature of Christ.
But in 843 A.D., after many years of warring with words over the issue back and forth, Empress Theodora restored icon worship.
The issue has remained steady in Catholic Churches since that time with some brief changes made since Vatican II – but was brought up again during the Protestant Reformation in that most Protestant Sects rejected the use of such religious artwork.
Heresy According to the Early Church Fathers
The Early Church Fathers could say all that they wished about this particular heresy, but it was a question which would rear its head over and over throughout the centuries in different eras of the worship of the faithful.
“Now all these heretics are of much later date than are the bishops to whom the apostles committed the churches...It follows, then, as a matter of course, that these aforementioned heretics — since they are blind to the truth and deviate from the way — will walk in diverse roads.
"Therefore, the footsteps of their doctrines are scattered here and there without agreement or connection. In contrast, the path of those belonging to the church circumscribes the whole world, as possessing the sure tradition of the apostles,” according to (Irenaeus) A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs: A Reference Guide to More than 700 Topics Discussed by the Early Church Fathers.
Other heresies of interest included the Hussites and Jovinianism.
Sources:
- Encyclopedia of Heresies and Heretics, by Charles S. Clifton.
- A Catholic Dictionary, by William E. Addis and Thomas Arnold, M.A.
- Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, by Dr. Ludwig Ott.
- A Short History of Christian Doctrine: From the First Century to the Present, by Bernhard Lohse.
- The Church in Crisis: A History of the General Councils, 325 - 1870, by Philip Hughes.
- A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs: A Reference Guide to More than 700 Topics Discussed by the Early Church Fathers, Edited by David W. Bercot.
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