Two eminent bishops took the lead in the advocacy of a more spiritual and evangelical type
of religion. In this they differed from the rationalistic and destructive iconoclasts of the East. They
were influenced by the writings of Paul and Augustin, those inspirers of all evangelical movements
in church history; with this difference, however, that Paul stands high above parties and schools,
and that Augustin, with all his anti-Pelagian principles, was a strong advocate of the Catholic theory
of the church and church-order.
Agobard (in Lyonese dialect Agobaud or Aguebaud), a native of Spain, but of Gallic parents,
and archbishop of Lyons (816–841), figures prominently in the political and ecclesiastical history
of France during the reign of Louis the Pious. He is known to us already as an opponent of the
ordeal, the judicial duel and other heathen customs.^561 His character presents singular contrasts. He
was a rigid ecclesiastic and sacerdotalist, and thoroughly orthodox in dogma (except that he denied
the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures); but, on the other hand, a sworn enemy of all superstition,
and advocate of liberal views in matters of worship.^562 He took part in the rebellion of Lothaire
against his father Louis in 833, which deprived him of his bishopric and left a serious stain on his
character, but he was afterwards reconciled to Louis and recovered the bishopric. He opposed
Adoptionism as a milder form of the Nestorian heresy. He attacked the Jews, who flocked to Lyons
in large numbers, and charges them with insolent conduct towards the Christians. In this he shared
the intolerance of his age. But, on the other hand, he wrote a book against image-worship.^563 He
goes back to the root of the difficulty, the worship of saints. He can find no authority for such
worship. The saints themselves decline it. It is a cunning device of Satan to smuggle heathen
idolatry, into the church under pretext of showing honor to saints. He thus draws men away from
a spiritual to a sensual worship. God alone should be adored; to him alone must we present the
sacrifice of a broken and contrite heart. Angels and holy men who are crowned with victory, and
help us by their intercessions, may be loved and honored, but not worshiped. "Cursed be the man
that trusteth in man" (Jer. 17:5). We may look with pleasure on their pictures, but it is better to be
satisfied with the simple symbol of the cross (as if this were not liable to the same abuse). Agobart
approves the canon of Elvira, which forbade images altogether. He says in conclusion: "Since no
man is essentially God, save Jesus our Saviour, so we, as the Scripture commands, shall bow our
knees to his name alone, lest by giving this honor to another we may be estranged from God, and
left to follow the doctrines and traditions of men according to the inclinations of our hearts."^564
Agobard was not disturbed in his position, and even honored as a saint in Lyons after his
death, though his saintship is disputed.^565 His works were lost, until Papirius Masson discovered a
MS. copy and rescued it from a bookbinder’s hands in Lyons (1605).
(^561) See § 79.
(^562) Reuter (I. 24) calls him "the clearest head of the ninth century," and "the systematizer of the Aufklärung" (i.e. of
Rationalism in the middle age).
(^563) De Imaginibus Sanctorum, in Migne, vol. 104, fol. 199-228.
(^564) Cap. 35 (in Migne, fol. 227): "Flectamus genu in nomine solius Jesu, quod est super omne nomen; ne si alteri hunc
honorem tribuimus, alieni judicemur a Deo, et dimittamur secundum cordis nostri ire in adinventionibus nostris." Gieseler
directs attention to the verbal agreement between Agobart and Claudius in several sentences.
(^565) See ActaSS. Jun. II. 748, and the Elogia de S. Agobardo in Migne, fol. 13-16. The Bollandists honor him with a place
in their work, because Masson, the first editor, allows him the title saint, and because he is commonly called St. Aguebatud in
the church of Lyons, and is included in the local martyrologies. A rite of nine lessons is assigned to him in the Breviarium
Lugdunense.