The History and Development of Iconography
From EJ Hill & Friends
THE HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF ICONOGRAPHY
by EJ Hill (1977-)
Contents |
The Roman Emperor Constantine I (272-337 AD)
During 313 A.D., when the Roman Emperor Constantine declared Christianity to be the official religion of the Empire, pagans by governmental edict, and not regeneration, found themselves to be 'Christian'. Ignorant of God and Gospel, they flooded the Church, idols under the arm, in the mind, and in the heart. Others, however, opposed pictures and statues as representing Christ. The controversy raged for several centuries.
Pope Gregory the Great I (604 AD)
The Layman's Book Argument Introduced ...
Pope Gregory the Great I (604 A.D.) presented a seemingly innocent and compellingly plausible argument in their favor. He wrote to Bishop Serenus of Marseilles, who had destroyed the images in his diocese,
"What books are to those who can read, that is a picture to the ignorant who look at it; in a picture even the unlearned may see what example they should follow; in a picture they who know no letters may yet read. Hence, for barbarians especially a picture takes the place of a book." [8]
If the illiterate could not read, I thought, they can certainly "hear" and "faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God", (Rom. 10v17), because "it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe". (1 Cor. 1v21)
Pope Gregory III (731-741 AD)
In eight-century Byzantium, the use of images in worship had been condemned by Emperor Leo III (who reigned 717-741), who in turn was condemned by Pope Gregory III (who reigned 731-741).
The Second Council of Nicea (777 AD)
Twenty-three years later, however, the Second Council of Nicea reversed that teaching, by establishing a distinction between worship (latria – due to God alone) and veneration (dulia – offered to saints and images)
Before the Protestant Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church taught its members to seek spiritual benefit from so-called "relics of dead saints" and to treat these relics with divine honor.
John Calvin's "Inventory of Relics" and Hobart Seymour's "Pilgrimage to Rome" catalog some of the ludicrous swindles which were perpetrated by the church of Rome.
From Dr. Peter Hammond's "The Greatest Century of Reformation"
"This included pieces of wood 'of the true cross' enough to load a large ship, thorns professing to be part of the Saviour's crown of thorns, enough to make a huge faggot, at least 14 nails said to have been used at the Crucifixion, four spearheads each purporting to be the one which pierced our Lord's side, at least three seamless coats of Christ, for which the soldiers cast lots, Saint James' hand, bones of Mary Magdalene, toenails from Saint Edmund, some bread purported to have been used by Christ at the Last Supper, a girdle of the Virgin Mary and milk from the Virgin Mary!" [9]
In rationalizing her setting aside of the Second Commandment, the Modern Roman Catholic Church states,
"... the honor rendered to an image passes to its prototype, and whoever venerates an image venerates the person portrayed in it... By becoming incarnate, the Son of God introduced a new economy of images,..." [10]
Thomas More
The Laymen's Book Argument Continued ...
Opponents published their own counterarguments; Thomas More, for example, attempted to refute Ryckes' Image of Love (1525) in his Dialogue Concerning Tyndale (1529). The main arguments of men like Thomas More was that images were "laymen's books" enabling the illiterate peasantry to acquire knowledge of the Christian faith and grow spiritually. Images of Christ and the saints, the argument went, were not objects of worship, but didactic aids.
Scripture References
2 Cor. 6v16
Bibliography
1 Ep. Ix, 105, in P.L., LXXVII, 1027; 15 March 2004. http://landru.i-link-2.net/shnyves/Catholic_Tradition_art.html
2 Dr. Peter Hammond; The Greatest Century of Reformation (Cape Town, South Africa: The Reformation Society®: Christian Liberty Books, Post Box 358, Howard Place, 7450); ISBN 0-9585100-1-6; pp.7, 10, 13, 16, 79.
3 Catechism of the Catholic Church (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 1994); #2131-2132.
