images of Christ, of the Virgin Mother of God, and of the other saints, are to be had and retained
particularly in temples, and that due honor and veneration are to be given them; not that any divinity,
or virtue, is believed to be in them, on account of which they are to be worshiped; or that anything
is to be asked of them; or that trust is to be reposed in images, as was of old done by the Gentiles,
who placed their hope in idols; but because the honor which is shown them is referred to the
prototypes which those images represent; in such wise that by the images which we kiss, and before
which we uncover the head, and prostrate ourselves, we adore Christ, and we venerate the saints,
whose similitude they bear: as, by the decrees of Councils, and especially of the second Synod of
Nicaea, has been defined against the opponents of images." The Profession of the Tridentine Faith
teaches the same in art. IX. (See Schaff, Creeds, II. p. 201, 209).
The modern standards of the Eastern Church reiterate the decision of the seventh (Ecumenical
Council. The Synod of Jerusalem, or the Confession of Dositheus, includes pictures of Christ, the
mother of God, the saints and the holy angels who appeared to some of the patriarchs and prophets,
also the symbolic representation of the Holy Spirit under the form of a dove, among the objects of
worship (proskunou'men kai; timw'men kai; ajspazovmeqa). See Schaff, l.c. II. 436. The Longer
Russian Catechism, in the exposition of the second commandment (Schaff, II. 527), thus speaks
of this subject:
"What is an icon ( )?
"The word is Greek, and means an image or representation. In the Orthodox Church this
name designates sacred representations of our Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnate, his immaculate
Mother, and his saints.
"Is the use of holy icons agreeable to the second commandment?
It would then, and then only, be otherwise, if any one were to make gods of them; but it is
not in the least contrary to this commandment to honor icons as sacred representations, and to use
them for the religious remembrance of God’s works and of his saints; for when thus used icons are
books, writen(sic) with the forms of persons and things instead of letters. (See Greg. Magn. lib. ix.
Ep. 9, ad Seren. Epis.).
"What disposition of mind should we have when we reverence icons?
"While we look on them with our eyes, we should mentally look to God and to the saints,
who are represented on them."
§ 101. The Iconoclastic War, and the Synod of 754.
The history of the image-controversy embraces three periods: 1) The war upon images and the
abolition of image-worship by the Council of Constantinople, a.d. 726–754. 2) The reaction in
favor of image-worship, and its solemn sanction by the second Council of Nicaea, a.d. 754–787.
3) The renewed conflict of the two parties and the final triumph of image-worship, a.d. 842.
Image-worship had spread with the worship of saints, and become a general habit among
the people in the Eastern church to such an extent that the Christian apologists had great difficulty
to maintain their ground against the charge of idolatry constantly raised against them, not only by
the Jews, but also by the followers of Islam, who could point to their rapid successes in support of
their abhorrence of every species of idolatry. Churches and church-books, palaces and private
houses, dresses and articles of furniture were adorned with religious pictures. They took among