Section 05: The Second Iconoclasm

The crisis that made Theodore a Confessor. When the emperor Leo V the Armenian revived iconoclasm and a synod in Hagia Sophia (815) repudiated the Seventh Ecumenical Council, Theodore became the visible leader of the iconodule resistance — most famously when, on Palm Sunday 815, he had his monks carry the icons in open procession around the Stoudios so they could be seen over the walls. This section sets out the renewed persecution and the shape of the resistance Theodore organized, before the next section turns to the theology that armed it.

Contents

File Topic
The Renewed Persecution of 815 Leo V’s revival of iconoclasm from 814; the deposition of Patriarch Nikephoros (815); the synod of 815 in Hagia Sophia overturning Nicaea II; the Palm Sunday procession of icons at Stoudios; Theodore’s open defiance of the emperor
The Resistance Theodore as the organizer of the iconodule party — the monastic core of the resistance; the refusal of the “economy” of silence; the network of confessors held together from exile; the contrast with the more cautious iconodules; the cost in monks scattered, imprisoned, and killed

How to Use

  • Start with The Renewed Persecution of 815 for the events: the emperor, the synod, the procession, and the open break.
  • Read The Resistance for the strategy and the network — how Theodore turned a scattered, persecuted party into a disciplined confession.

Cross-References