Changes

Iconography did not develop further during the time of the Roman persecutions A.D. 64–313, but Christians did attempt to express in symbols what they wished to convey. In the catacombs Christ is portrayed as the Good Shepherd and in the guise of various personalities from pagan mythology.

Iconography did not develop further during the time of the Roman persecutions A.D. 64–313, but Christians did attempt to express in symbols what they wished to convey. In the catacombs Christ is portrayed as the Good Shepherd and in the guise of various personalities from pagan mythology.

===Second to Third centuries===

===Second to Third centuries===

Origen (184-254) responded to the charge of "atheism" by admitting that Christians did not use idolatrous images in worship, following the Second Commandment.<ref>Origin, Contra Celsus, Book VII, Chapter 64; according to John B. Carpenter, "Icons and the Eastern Orthodox Claim to Continuity with the Early Church," ''Journal of the International Society of Christian Apologetics'', Vol. 6, No. 1, 2013, p. 112.</ref>  

Origen (184-254) responded to the charge of "atheism" by admitting that Christians did not use idolatrous images in worship, following the Second Commandment.<ref>Origin, Contra Celsus, Book VII, Chapter 64; according to John B. Carpenter, "Icons and the Eastern Orthodox Claim to Continuity with the Early Church," ''Journal of the International Society of Christian Apologetics'', Vol. 6, No. 1, 2013, p. 112.</ref>  

===Fourth century===

 

 

====Fourth century====

Then, when Constantine became emperor, after the [[Edict of Milan]] Christians were free to express themselves. As Christianity quickly transformed the Roman Empire and replaced paganism, iconography flourished with full force. But there were abuses.

Then, when Constantine became emperor, after the [[Edict of Milan]] Christians were free to express themselves. As Christianity quickly transformed the Roman Empire and replaced paganism, iconography flourished with full force. But there were abuses.

John Chrysostom '''Homilies 21 on the Statues''' paragraph 10 [A.D. 347-407] admonishes those who were disconsolate over the destruction of holy images by the [[Iconoclasm|iconoclasts]]: "Were your Statues thrown down? You have it in your power again to set up others yet more splendid."<ref name=Fathers/>

John Chrysostom '''Homilies 21 on the Statues''' paragraph 10 [A.D. 347-407] admonishes those who were disconsolate over the destruction of holy images by the [[Iconoclasm|iconoclasts]]: "Were your Statues thrown down? You have it in your power again to set up others yet more splendid."<ref name=Fathers/>

===Fifth century===

====Fifth century====

'''[[Council of Ephesus]] Extracts from session 1''' (A.D. 431) "Theodosius, the humble Christian, to the holy and Ecumenical Synod: I confess and I agree to (''suntiqemai'') and I receive and I salute and I venerate in the first place the spotless image of our Lord Jesus Christ, our true God, and the holy image of her who bore him without seed, the holy Mother of God, and her help and protection and intercessions each day and night as a sinner to my aid I call for, since she has confidence with Christ our God, as he was born of her. Likewise also I receive and venerate the images of the holy and most laudable Apostles, prophets, and martyrs and the fathers and cultivators of the desert. Not indeed as gods (God forbid!) do I ask all these with my whole heart to pray for me to God, that he may grant me through their intercessions to find mercy at his hands at the day of judgment, for in this I am but showing forth more clearly the affection and love of my soul which I have borne them from the first. Likewise also I venerate and honor and salute the reliques of the Saints as of those who fought for Christ and who have received grace from him for the healing of diseases and the curing of sicknesses and the casting out of devils, as the Christian Church has received from the holy Apostles and Fathers even down to us to-day."<ref name=Fathers/>

'''[[Council of Ephesus]] Extracts from session 1''' (A.D. 431) "Theodosius, the humble Christian, to the holy and Ecumenical Synod: I confess and I agree to (''suntiqemai'') and I receive and I salute and I venerate in the first place the spotless image of our Lord Jesus Christ, our true God, and the holy image of her who bore him without seed, the holy Mother of God, and her help and protection and intercessions each day and night as a sinner to my aid I call for, since she has confidence with Christ our God, as he was born of her. Likewise also I receive and venerate the images of the holy and most laudable Apostles, prophets, and martyrs and the fathers and cultivators of the desert. Not indeed as gods (God forbid!) do I ask all these with my whole heart to pray for me to God, that he may grant me through their intercessions to find mercy at his hands at the day of judgment, for in this I am but showing forth more clearly the affection and love of my soul which I have borne them from the first. Likewise also I venerate and honor and salute the reliques of the Saints as of those who fought for Christ and who have received grace from him for the healing of diseases and the curing of sicknesses and the casting out of devils, as the Christian Church has received from the holy Apostles and Fathers even down to us to-day."<ref name=Fathers/>

===Sixth century===

====Sixth century====

'''[[Gregory I|Gregory the Great]] Letters Book 4 letter 30''' (A.D. 540-604) testifies to the reverent dread in respect given even the silver over the body of the apostle Peter: "The Serenity of your Piety, conspicuous for religious zeal and love of holiness, has charged me with your commands to send to you the head of Saint Paul, or some other part of his body, for the church which is being built in honor of the same Saint Paul in the palace. And, being desirous of receiving commands from you, by exhibiting the most ready obedience to which I might the more provoke your favor towards me, I am all the more distressed that I neither can nor dare do what you enjoin. For the bodies of the apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul glitter with so great miracles and terrors in their churches that one cannot even go to pray there without great fear. In short, when my predecessor, of blessed memory, was desirous of changing the silver which was over the most sacred body of the blessed apostle Peter, though at a distance of almost fifteen feet from the same body, a sign of no small dreadfulness appeared to him."<ref name=Fathers/>

'''[[Gregory I|Gregory the Great]] Letters Book 4 letter 30''' (A.D. 540-604) testifies to the reverent dread in respect given even the silver over the body of the apostle Peter: "The Serenity of your Piety, conspicuous for religious zeal and love of holiness, has charged me with your commands to send to you the head of Saint Paul, or some other part of his body, for the church which is being built in honor of the same Saint Paul in the palace. And, being desirous of receiving commands from you, by exhibiting the most ready obedience to which I might the more provoke your favor towards me, I am all the more distressed that I neither can nor dare do what you enjoin. For the bodies of the apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul glitter with so great miracles and terrors in their churches that one cannot even go to pray there without great fear. In short, when my predecessor, of blessed memory, was desirous of changing the silver which was over the most sacred body of the blessed apostle Peter, though at a distance of almost fifteen feet from the same body, a sign of no small dreadfulness appeared to him."<ref name=Fathers/>

'''Gregory the Great Letters Book 11 letter 13''' (A.D. 540-604) explains that images are permitted by him but that adoration paid to them is improper: "If for this instruction for which images were anciently made you wish to have them in the church, I permit them by all means both to be made and to be had. And explain to them that it was not the sight itself of the story which the picture was hanging to attest that displeased thee, but the adoration which had been improperly paid to the pictures.<ref name=Fathers/>

'''Gregory the Great Letters Book 11 letter 13''' (A.D. 540-604) explains that images are permitted by him but that adoration paid to them is improper: "If for this instruction for which images were anciently made you wish to have them in the church, I permit them by all means both to be made and to be had. And explain to them that it was not the sight itself of the story which the picture was hanging to attest that displeased thee, but the adoration which had been improperly paid to the pictures.<ref name=Fathers/>

===Seventh century===

====Seventh century====

John of Damascus '''Apologia Against those who Decry Holy Images''' (A.D. 676-749)—From the Life of the Abbot Daniel, on Eulogius the Quarryman: "Then he went away dejected, and threw himself before an image of Our Lady, and crying out, he said: "Lord, enable me to pay what I promised this man."<ref name=Fathers/><br>—"St Basil says, ‘Honouring the image leads to the prototype.’ If you raise churches to the saints of God, raise also their trophies."<ref name=Fathers/><br>—"A tradition has come down to us that Angaros, King of Edessa, was drawn vehemently to divine love by hearing of our Lord,and that he sent envoys to ask for His likeness. If this were refused, they were ordered to have a likeness painted. Then He, who is all-knowing and all-powerful, is said to have taken a strip of cloth, and pressing it to His face, to have left His likeness upon the cloth, which it retains to this day."<ref name=Letters/> ([[Shroud of Turin]]?)<ref name=Fathers/><br>—"If you say to this that blessed Epiphanius clearly rejected our use of images, you must know that the work in question is spurious and written by some one else in the name of Epiphanius, as often happens. A father does not fight his own children. All have become participators in the one Spirit. The Church is a witness of this in adorning images, until some men rose up against her and disturbed the peace of Christ's fold, putting poisoned food before the people of God."<ref name=Fathers/><br>—"Listen to what I am going to say as a proof that images are no new invention. It is an ancient practice well known to the best and foremost of the fathers. Elladios, the disciple of blessed Basil and his successor, says in his ''Life of Basil'' that the holy man was standing by the image of Our Lady, on which was painted also the likeness of Mercurius, the renowned martyr. He was standing by it asking for the removal of the impious apostate [[Julian]], and he received this revelation from the statue. He saw the martyr vanish for a time, and then reappear, holding a bloody spear."<ref name=Fathers/>

John of Damascus '''Apologia Against those who Decry Holy Images''' (A.D. 676-749)—From the Life of the Abbot Daniel, on Eulogius the Quarryman: "Then he went away dejected, and threw himself before an image of Our Lady, and crying out, he said: "Lord, enable me to pay what I promised this man."<ref name=Fathers/><br>—"St Basil says, ‘Honouring the image leads to the prototype.’ If you raise churches to the saints of God, raise also their trophies."<ref name=Fathers/><br>—"A tradition has come down to us that Angaros, King of Edessa, was drawn vehemently to divine love by hearing of our Lord,and that he sent envoys to ask for His likeness. If this were refused, they were ordered to have a likeness painted. Then He, who is all-knowing and all-powerful, is said to have taken a strip of cloth, and pressing it to His face, to have left His likeness upon the cloth, which it retains to this day."<ref name=Letters/> ([[Shroud of Turin]]?)<ref name=Fathers/><br>—"If you say to this that blessed Epiphanius clearly rejected our use of images, you must know that the work in question is spurious and written by some one else in the name of Epiphanius, as often happens. A father does not fight his own children. All have become participators in the one Spirit. The Church is a witness of this in adorning images, until some men rose up against her and disturbed the peace of Christ's fold, putting poisoned food before the people of God."<ref name=Fathers/><br>—"Listen to what I am going to say as a proof that images are no new invention. It is an ancient practice well known to the best and foremost of the fathers. Elladios, the disciple of blessed Basil and his successor, says in his ''Life of Basil'' that the holy man was standing by the image of Our Lady, on which was painted also the likeness of Mercurius, the renowned martyr. He was standing by it asking for the removal of the impious apostate [[Julian]], and he received this revelation from the statue. He saw the martyr vanish for a time, and then reappear, holding a bloody spear."<ref name=Fathers/>

'''''Avenging of the Savior''''' (A.D. 700)<ref>[http://www.pseudepigrapha.com/apocrypha_nt/avsav.htm Avenging of the Savior (pseudepigrapha.com)–text]</ref> gives testimony to the martyrdom of Veronica, the woman who, according to tradition, was healed of the hemorrhage she had suffered for 12 years, and to the iconic image she kept: "It is the woman called Veronica who has the portrait of the Lord in her house. And immediately he ordered her to be brought before his power. And he said to her: Hast thou the portrait of the Lord in thy house? But she said, No. Then Velosianus ordered her to be put to the torture, until she should give up the portrait of the Lord. And she was forced to say: I have it in clean linen, my lord, and I daily adore it. Velosianus said: Show it to me. Then she showed the portrait of the Lord." (Veronica was the woman who suffered for 12 years with the issue of blood)<ref name=Fathers/><ref name=Letters/>

'''''Avenging of the Savior''''' (A.D. 700)<ref>[http://www.pseudepigrapha.com/apocrypha_nt/avsav.htm Avenging of the Savior (pseudepigrapha.com)–text]</ref> gives testimony to the martyrdom of Veronica, the woman who, according to tradition, was healed of the hemorrhage she had suffered for 12 years, and to the iconic image she kept: "It is the woman called Veronica who has the portrait of the Lord in her house. And immediately he ordered her to be brought before his power. And he said to her: Hast thou the portrait of the Lord in thy house? But she said, No. Then Velosianus ordered her to be put to the torture, until she should give up the portrait of the Lord. And she was forced to say: I have it in clean linen, my lord, and I daily adore it. Velosianus said: Show it to me. Then she showed the portrait of the Lord." (Veronica was the woman who suffered for 12 years with the issue of blood)<ref name=Fathers/><ref name=Letters/>

===Eighth century===

====Eighth century====

In A.D. 726 or 730, Byzantine Emperor Leo III the Isaurian banned all images of Christ that showed him in human form. The Iconoclasts argued that any image depicting God in human form either omits His divine nature or confuses it with His human nature.

In A.D. 726 or 730, Byzantine Emperor Leo III the Isaurian banned all images of Christ that showed him in human form. The Iconoclasts argued that any image depicting God in human form either omits His divine nature or confuses it with His human nature.

The Seventh Ecumenical Council (787) thus defended image veneration, believing that to venerate an image is to venerate not its substance but the shared likeness. An icon of Christ affirms the reality of the human and the divine.

The Seventh Ecumenical Council (787) thus defended image veneration, believing that to venerate an image is to venerate not its substance but the shared likeness. An icon of Christ affirms the reality of the human and the divine.

===Ninth century===

===Ninth century through Seventeenth century===

 

====Ninth century====

In the year 843 icons and their veneration were restored on the first Sunday in [[Lent]]. This Sunday is referred to as the '''[["Sunday of Orthodoxy"]]'''.<ref>[http://www.goarch.org Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America]</ref>

In the year 843 icons and their veneration were restored on the first Sunday in [[Lent]]. This Sunday is referred to as the '''[["Sunday of Orthodoxy"]]'''.<ref>[http://www.goarch.org Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America]</ref>

===Sixteenth century===

====Sixteenth century====

During the English Reformation of [[Henry VIII|King Henry VIII]] and the adoption of Protestantism by his son [[Edward VI]], Catholic churches, shrines, monasteries, and convents were plundered for their gold and silver and jewels which were stripped off of Bible covers, altars and images. An attempt in the 16th century by [[Mary I]] <ref>Mary I (18 February 1516–17 November 1558), was Queen of England and Queen of Ireland from 19 July 1553 until her death in 1558.</ref> to restore Catholicism failed because of her treatment of the English Protestants as sacrilegious blasphemers, executing 300 of them including the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]]. Her sister [[Elizabeth I]] struck back against Catholicism by restoring Protestantism in the [[Church of England]], and persecuting all Catholics within her realm and seeking to eliminate from the churches all forms of identifiable Catholic iconography.

During the English Reformation of [[Henry VIII|King Henry VIII]] and the adoption of Protestantism by his son [[Edward VI]], Catholic churches, shrines, monasteries, and convents were plundered for their gold and silver and jewels which were stripped off of Bible covers, altars and images. An attempt in the 16th century by [[Mary I]] <ref>Mary I (18 February 1516–17 November 1558), was Queen of England and Queen of Ireland from 19 July 1553 until her death in 1558.</ref> to restore Catholicism failed because of her treatment of the English Protestants as sacrilegious blasphemers, executing 300 of them including the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]]. Her sister [[Elizabeth I]] struck back against Catholicism by restoring Protestantism in the [[Church of England]], and persecuting all Catholics within her realm and seeking to eliminate from the churches all forms of identifiable Catholic iconography.

===Seventeenth century===

====Seventeenth century====

Following the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]], [[Protestant]] and [[Puritan]] reformers in the 17th and 18th centuries (the 1600s and 1700s) also engaged in iconoclasm, believing religious imagery to be idolatrous and sinful, and a sure and certain evidence of [[apostasy]].

Following the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]], [[Protestant]] and [[Puritan]] reformers in the 17th and 18th centuries (the 1600s and 1700s) also engaged in iconoclasm, believing religious imagery to be idolatrous and sinful, and a sure and certain evidence of [[apostasy]].