07 — Nicaea II (787)
The Seventh Ecumenical Council, convened by the Empress Irene at Nicaea in 787, restored and defined the veneration of the holy icons against the iconoclasts, distinguishing the relative honor (proskynēsis) paid to images from the worship (latreia) due to God alone. It grounded the icon in the Incarnation and refuted the false “Seventh Council” of Hieria (754).
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox
Iconoclasm was the last of the great imperial heresies, and the defeat of it at Nicaea II is celebrated by the Orthodox Church as the “Triumph of Orthodoxy” — a summation of all the councils, since the possibility of the icon rests on the reality of the Incarnation the earlier councils defined. This section treats the iconoclast crisis and the council of Hieria that gave it theological form, then Nicaea II’s defense of the icons, the theology of St. John of Damascus and (in the second iconoclasm) St. Theodore the Studite, and the divergent Frankish reception.
Navigation
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| the-iconoclast-controversy.md | Imperial iconoclasm under Leo III and Constantine V; the iconoclast Council of Hieria (754) and its arguments. |
| the-defense-of-the-icons.md | The Definition of 787; latreia vs proskynēsis; the Incarnational argument of John of Damascus; the second iconoclasm and Theodore the Studite; the Frankish/Libri Carolini reception. |
See Also
- St. John of Damascus and St. Theodore the Studite — the defenders of the icons
- Orthodoxy: Icons and Iconoclasm — the theology of the icon
- Ecumenicity and Reception — Hieria 754 as a rejected “council”