Image Worship Research Articles

St. Gregory Palamas

Six centuries ago, in 1368, a man who had been dead only nine years was canonised by the orthodox church and raised to the dignity of Athanasius, the Cappadocian Fathers, and of Cyril as a defender of orthodoxy. The sexcentenary of his death, 1959, saw the publication of three volumes—the first being one of the ‘Mâitres Spirituels’ series, the second an introduction to the study of St. Gregory, and the third and most important a critical edition of St. Gregory's major work: Treatise in defence of the Holy Solitaries. All three were the work of Jean Meyendorf who can rightly claim to have been the first scholar to have offered a full-dress sympathetic study to the west of a neglected and much misunderstood theologian. Unfortunately Meyendorf's work is spoilt by his inability to understand the reformed tradition. Nevertheless he has countered or at least challenged a settled assumption of western theology that the great christological debates saw the end of any lively thinking and dogmatic development in the Eastern Church. Harnack in his History of Dogma Vol. IV was only repeating what was already a long received opinion when he said that from the codification of dogma by John of Damascus those dogmas ‘had become a sacred inheritance from the classic antiquity of the Church but they had as it were fallen to the ground. The worship of images, mysticism and scholasticism ruled the Church’ (p. 352).But even Harnack gives at least a passing nod to St. Gregory when he admits that ‘no doubt another rather important dispute agitated the Church in the fourteenth century–the Hesychastic controversy–but’, he adds, ‘dogma, and to some extent the Church, remained ultimately unaffected’ (p.353).

The Greek and Latin Versions of II Nicaea and the Synodica of Hadrian I (JE 2448): A Diplomatic Study

Hadrian I'ssynodicaof 785 (JE 2448), addressed to the Byzantine Emperors Irene and her son Constantine VI, which encouraged the rulers in their planned restoration of image-worship, is one of the most important official Latin documents of the eighth century. In the East it became in 787 the basis of the discussions at the Seventh Ecumenical Council (II Nicaea), which restored the worship of images in Byzantium. In the West, the Franks and Charlemagne based their rejection of image worship and of II Nicaea on certain sections of thesynodicawhich were critically discussed in the FrankishCapitulare adversus synodumof c. 788/9, as well as in Hadrian I's refutation of this lost capitulary, whose text is extensively cited in the chapter headings of the so-calledHadrianum(JE 2483) of c. 791. Greek and Latintestimoniainvoked in JE 2448 in favor of image worship are rebuked in Charlemagne'sLibri Carolini, the official Frankish protest against II Nicaea. Finally, numerous merous fragments of thesynodica's text, especially from itscatenaof patristictestimonia, were inserted into theLibellus synodalisof the Paris Synod of 825.

The Patriarch Nicephorus of Constantinople. Ecclesiastical Policy and Image Worship in the Byzantine Empire. By Paul J. Alexander. Pp. xii + 287, with 1 plate. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1958. 50s.

The Patriarch Nicephorus of Constantinople. Ecclesiastical Policy and Image Worship in the Byzantine Empire. By Paul J. Alexander. Pp. xii + 287, with 1 plate. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1958. 50<i>s</i>.

The Patriarch Nicephorus of Constantinople: ecclesiastical Policy and Image Worship in the Byzantine Empire. By Paul J. Alexander. Pp. xiv + 287 + 1 plate. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1958. 50s.

The Patriarch Nicephorus of Constantinople: ecclesiastical Policy and Image Worship in the Byzantine Empire. By Paul J. Alexander. Pp. xiv + 287 + 1 plate. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1958. 50s. - Volume 10 Issue 2

The Patriarch Nicephorus of Constantinople. Ecclesiastical Policy and Image Worship in the Byzantine Empire. By Paul J. Alexander. Oxford, at the Clarendon Press, 1958. xiii, 287 pp. $8.00.

The Patriarch Nicephorus of Constantinople. Ecclesiastical Policy and Image Worship in the Byzantine Empire. By Paul J. Alexander. Oxford, at the Clarendon Press, 1958. xiii, 287 pp. $8.00. - Volume 28 Issue 2

The Patriarch Nicephorus of Constantinople: Ecclesiastical Policy and Image Worship in the Byzantine Empire. Paul J. Alexander

<i>The Patriarch Nicephorus of Constantinople: Ecclesiastical Policy and Image Worship in the Byzantine Empire</i>. Paul J. Alexander

The Patriarch Nicephorus of Constantinople: Ecclesiastical Policy and Image Worship in the Byzantine Empire

The Patriarch Nicephorus of Constantinople: Ecclesiastical Policy and Image Worship in the Byzantine Empire

Hypatius of Ephesus: A Note on Image Worship in the Sixth Century

In a recent article Professor Norman H. Baynes discussed the evidence for opposition to religious art prior to the outbreak of the Iconoclastic Controversy. In the course of his illuminating article, he called attention to an important fragment of patristic literature which was first published in recent years and which but for Professor Baynes might have remained unnoticed. It is an excerpt taken from the Miscellaneous Enquiries (Συμμικτὰ Zητήματα) by Hypatius of Ephesus, who was archbishop of this most important see from 531 to about 538 and in addition one of Justinian's most trusted theological advisers. Professor Baynes used the text to illustrate the fact that prior to the Iconoclastic Controversy “any general cult of the icons in such extreme forms as later appears in the apologies of the iconodules would seem dangerous and a wrongful use of a practice which was tolerated only in the interest of the weaker members of the church.” (p. 95). The text, however, is also important from other points of view. Since it is difficult Greek and since the trend of Hypatius' thought, though entirely logical, may not be clear at first sight, it is advisable to submit here a translation of the document, accompanied by explanatory notes. The writer gratefully acknowledges that he owes much to Diekamp and Baynes for an understanding of the document.

On Image Worship

On Image Worship

On Image Worship and Miracles

On Image Worship and Miracles

Image Worship and Miracles

Image Worship and Miracles