Eastern Orthodox Theology ..............................................................

Lecture 14

The Eastern Middle Ages can also be called the Byzantine theology

or the Byzantine Empire. It’s the theology that grew up around

Constantinople and the Byzantine Empire throughout all the way up

to the 15th century. This became the basis of the Eastern Orthodox

traditions, Greek Orthodoxy, Russian Orthodoxy, and so on.

B

y the 8th century, venerating icons was a long-established custom
in the Eastern (Byzantine) church, but needed to be defended
against powerful criticisms. The seventh ecumenical council, the
Second Council of Nicaea in 787, defended the use of icons in Christian
devotion. The Ten Commandments forbid the making of graven images
for use in worship. Muslims were powerfully present on the border of the
empire, contending that veneration of icons amounted to idolatry. In the 8th
century, a movement of iconoclasm (i.e., hostility to icons) won the favor of
the Byzantine emperor, who convened a council that condemned the use of
icons. The terms in which the iconoclastic council condemned icons made
Christology a central issue.

The Second Council of Nicaea responded by denying that venerating
icons was worshiping them. Icons are not objects of worship (latreia, as
in idol-latry) but veneration (dulia). Hence the pro-icon theologians were
called iconodules. The veneration given to icons passes on to the person
they picture.

Venerating icons has become central to Eastern Orthodox piety and theology.
“The Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy” celebrates the restoration
of icons. The Roman Catholic church accepts the teaching of the seventh
ecumenical council but does not build as much of its devotional theology
around icons. Most Protestant groups do not accept the authority of this
council or the piety it represents, which requires not only the veneration of
icons but devotion to the saints.