of his advisers, Beser, was a converted Mohammedan, who had held numerous interviews with Islam leaders. As a zealous supporter of the Catholic Church, Leo no doubt sincerely desired to restore the primitive simplicity of Christian worship. As monarch and priest, he believed himself called upon by God to root out idolatry. He was undoubtedly a noble puritan in his purposes and motives and called himself a second Josiah.
In 726, he issued the first edict against images, authorising their destruction[278:1] and the next year the exarch promulgated it in Ravenna and the West. This was opposed by the patriarch, Germanus, and most of the clergy; hence, it was enforced only in a few places where the bishops supported the Emperor. The following incident will illustrate the popular indignation. Imperial officers were sent to destroy a fine image of Jesus above the bronze gate of Constantinople, which the people regarded with unusual reverence. A ladder was put up and a soldier mounted it to take the figure down. A crowd of women watching the act begged that the image might be given to them. Instead, the soldier struck the figure in the face with a hatchet. The women were enraged, pulled down the ladder, and killed the soldier. The Emperor sent troops to quell the tumult and to carry off the image, and in its place he had a cross set up with these words on it: "The Emperor could not suffer a dumb and lifeless figure of earthly materials, smeared over with paint, to stand as a representative of Christ. He has, therefore, erected here the sign of the cross."[278:2]
Pope Gregory II., upon receipt of the edict, called
a synod at Rome to consider it (726). The synod condemned the Iconoclastic heresy and confirmed the use of images.[279:1] In 727, the Pope wrote his first letter to the Emperor.[279:2] It was arrogant and dogmatic, without tact or persuasiveness. It was full of the most ludicrous historical blunders, and gave some fantastic interpretations of the Bible. In it, the Pope justified the use of images, threatened the Emperor with the power of the West, and told him that his portrait, once honoured throughout Italy, had been destroyed everywhere. In the second letter, the Pope plainly told the Emperor: "Doctrines are not the business of the Emperor, but of the bishops." He declared furthermore that the whole world was cursing the Emperor. "The very children mock thee! Go into a school and say 'I am an enemy of images'; the scholars will hurl their tablets at your head."[279:3] John of Damascus aimed two brilliant and powerful orations at the Emperor in which is found perhaps the best defence of image worship. He declared that the pictures were the "books of the unlearned."[279:4] The professors of the University at Constantinople declared their opposition to the edict.[279:5] The inhabitants of Greece used the edict as an occasion for rebellion to secure fiscal and administrative reforms, and even went so far as to proclaim a rival Emperor.
Leo met all this opposition firmly. The Patriarch Germanus was deposed (730) while Anastasius was put
in his place, and the various outbreaks were at once subdued with a strong hand. An effort was made to either capture or kill the Pope. The University of Constantinople was closed and the professors arrested; the Greek rebels were defeated and their leaders beheaded; and an effort was made to stop the popular John of Damascus. Leo then promulgated his second edict in 730 for the complete abolition of image worship. Anastasius, the puppet patriarch, at once countersigned the edict, and thus gave it ecclesiastical sanction. In the East it was generally enforced. All images were removed from the churches and burned; the painted walls were whitewashed over; only the cross and the crucifix were left; but still the Iconolatræ were far from being subdued. Meanwhile opposition in the West grew stronger. Gregory III., the last Pontiff to be confirmed in his election by the Eastern Emperor, called a council and excommunicated all Iconoclasts.[280:1] In revenge, Leo sent a fleet against the Pope, which was wrecked, and also extended the rule of the Patriarch of Constantinople over papal territory in Greece and southern Italy. This action led the Pope to begin negotiations with Charles Martel,[280:2] and that opened a new chapter in the rise of the mediæval Church and in the world's history.
In 741, Leo was succeeded by his son, Constantine V., only twenty-two years of age, a ruler and general of ability, but of low tastes and vile habits. He became a zealous persecutor of image worship, an idol of the Iconoclasts, and won the victory for their party. His policy was to continue his father's work. Consequently in 754, he called a universal council in
Constantinople. Although it was the largest assembly ever held up to that time, 338 bishops being present, yet neither the Pope, nor the patriarchs of Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem sent representatives. Hence, it was not recognised as œcumenical. The use of images and pictures was condemned as idolatry, and even the crucifix was put under the ban. "The godless art of painting" was proscribed, and the leaders of the image worshippers, Germanus, John of Damascus, and George of Cyprus, were anathematised.[281:1] Backed up by these measures, the Emperor resolved to root out the evil for ever. All images were ordered destroyed; all pictures were taken out of the Church books; all paintings on the church walls were removed; churches were decorated with trees, fruits, and the chase; transgressors were cruelly punished; and the citizens of Constantinople had to take an oath never again to worship an image.[281:2]
The contest was renewed under Empress Irene (780-802), a young, beautiful, ambitious, wicked Grecian, who favoured image worship. First, she proclaimed toleration to both parties; then denied it to the Iconoclasts. The highest civil dignities were given to the clergy and monks; and the Patriarch of Constantinople became her prime minister. At their suggestion, no doubt, she called the Council of Nicæa in 787 to undo the work of the Council of Constantinople (754). There were present 375 bishops, and Pope Hadrian sent two representatives, but the three eastern patriarchs were unable to send proxies, so two eastern monks were appointed to sit and vote for all the
patriarchs.[282:1] The decrees of the Council of Constantinople were nullified because heretical, and the Iconoclasts anathematised. Then image worship was defined and authorised.[282:2] Many Iconoclastic bishops were induced to renounce their heresy, and were freed from the ban. Finally, an image was brought into the council and fervently and reverently kissed by all present, after which the council adjourned.