Above all, iconoclastic churchmen worried about losing control over the sacred.
Unlike relics, images could be reproduced infinitely and without clerical authorization.
Their cultivation at monasteries threatened to encroach on clerical authority. Banning
icons had multiple purposes.
Ultimately, however, iconoclasm was an utter failure, though the ban on icons
lasted until 787 and was revived, in modified form, between 815 and 843. Not only
did the iconoclastic movement come to an end, but during the eighth century the
position of those who supported icons—represented by men such as John of
Damascus (c.675–749)—elaborated ever more ardent arguments on behalf of holy
images:
Of old [before the coming of Christ], God the incorporeal and
uncircumscribed was never depicted. Now, however, when God is seen
clothed in flesh and conversing with men [in the form of Jesus], I make
an image of the God whom I see. I do not worship matter, I worship the
God of matter, who became matter for my sake, and deigned to inhabit
matter, who worked out my salvation through matter. I will not cease
from honoring that matter which works my salvation.^4
The idea that icons held the “real presence” of the divine—a notion that began
around 680—marked a watershed between the early Christian and the medieval
Byzantine states.
Iconophiles (literally “icon lovers”) not only won the battle but also wrote the
history. They vilified Constantine V and the other iconoclastic emperors, calling them
“impious” and “unholy,” and accusing them and their allies of destroying books and
white-washing or obliterating images.^5 Modern historians can verify only some of
these charges. One example remains from Hagia Sophia. A room used by the
patriarch—located just off the southwest corner of the gallery—was originally
covered with mosaics, including medallions with images of saints. During the
iconoclastic period, the images were cut out and replaced by crosses. (See Plate 2.2.)
Elsewhere, new churches were decorated with crosses from the start, while artists of
the iconoclastic period were commissioned to depict (depending on the use of the
building) ornaments, trees, birds, hunting, horse races, and other non-sacred motifs.
The iconoclasts thought that they thereby ensured God’s favor—that, once again, the
Byzantines were God’s “Chosen People.”
