Some information about the iconomachy
- Solidus with empress Irene
Iconomachy means literary ‘war on icons’. It has to do with another term iconoclasm, the smashing or breaking of images. This last term designates the movement that forbade the making or venerating of images, whether of God or saints. Byzantine Iconoclasm occurred in the seventh and eight centuries. In this section the first Iconoclasm of the seventh century is addressed.
The first Byzantine Iconoclasm was initiated by emperor Leo III in 726 or 730, and reversed by the empress-regent Irene in 787. The reason for forbidding ‘veneration of icons’’ was the eruption of the volcanic island of Thera in 726. According to the medieval way-of-thinking there was a direct correlation between unusual events and obedience and disobedience to God. The eruption was a final warning of God after a century of Muslim sucesses and other disasters. Proponents and opponents of iconoclasm were found in the whole society, but in the army there were a lot of proponents of iconoclasm, and monks were anti-iconoclastic.
The end of the first Byzantine iconoclasm started with the discovery of a coffin by the Long Walls of Thrace, on which prophetically was engraved ‘Christ will be born of the Virgin Mary and I believe in Him. O sun, you will see me again in the reign of Constantine and Irene’. This was - of course - a form of propaganda of the opponents of iconoclasm. The resignation of the patriarch Paul in 784, who had remorse for having served the cause of iconoclasm, but who was unwilling to take any steps in restoring icon-worship, offered new opportunities to put an end to iconoclasm.
Two important things happened in this respect. Tarasias was appointed patriarch of Constantinople. His appointment was a clear message of a change of ecclesiastical policy. Secondly a Council was held in 787 in Nicea under the guidance of Irene. The result was that iconoclasm was unequivocally condemned as a heresy and the document in this respect was signed by all delegates. This signed document was presented to Irene and Constantine at the final session of this council in Constantinople. Irene signed the document first! Constantine and Irene were acclaimed as the New Constantine and the New Helena, referring to Constantine the Great and his mother the empress Helena from the fourth century.
You want to know more about iconoclasm and Irene? Have a look at Garland's Byzantine empresses, woman and power in Byzantium ad 527-1204