Byzantine Studies, Iconoclasm, and the Rise of Islam

THE CHURCH ACROSS TIME Byzantine Studies, Iconoclasm, and the Rise of Islam

Aristeides Papadakis

While the history of the iconoclastic in the Rotunda of Galerius were also controversy has long occupied cen- left undisturbed. Religious figurative ter stage in the currently flourishing art certainly did not vanish during the discipline of Byzantine Studies—and iconoclast period, and evidence for has recently attracted the attention persecution and for the cessation of of some of the original and most sea- image manufacture is circumstantial soned scholars in the field—an au- as well. There is, for instance, almost thoritative survey of iconoclasm does no proof of martyrdom under Leo III, not yet exist. Still, our knowledge of and the production of images, which this reassessed landscape is much im- the ban would also have proscribed, proved, and consensus on key aspects did not cease outright. is often possible. If the state’s iconoclastic campaign— Earlier studies on the damage caused both in the capital and beyond—was by the movement were often con- rarely well-organized, then icono- flicted in their findings. Given its clasm in practice would seem for the emotionally divisive character, the de- most part to have been intermittent, if struction to both churches and public not fitfully thrown together. Revision- places was generally thought to have ist scholarship has offered evidence been extensive. But a closer examina- that both the persecution and the re- tion of the available documentation sulting damage were exaggerated, reveals that this was not always the suggesting that pro-image apologists case. Archaeological evidence from were in part to blame for the severity Constantinople, for example, is rela- of historical reporting. Since members tively modest. Apart from the patri- of the iconodule faction were the au- arch’s private rooms off the gallery thors of much of the surviving histor- of the Hagia Sophia, where figural ical record, it is likely that they could mosaics were finally removed in 769, have been tempted to magnify their little was destroyed. In Thessaloniki, enemies’ vandalism and ability to by contrast, the apse of Hosios Da- persecute. The fact that the “editors” vid, with its well-known beardless of these texts have been roundly crit- Christ (sixth century), was preserved icized for their attempt to rewrite his- by being carefully concealed, indicat- tory is not surprising. Still, we should ing that people were clearly aware of also admit that iconoclast sympathiz- the government’s agenda but were ers were inclined to do the same. The willing to circumvent its ban if they hostility characterizing both sides was could. Crucially, some figures in the intense and real, and setting it aside city’s Cathedral of St. Demetrios and would be a mistake.

30 The intellectual identification of figural art with idolatry was a critical component of the iconoclast controversy, a fact that is generally well- known. Even so, modern research demonstrates that the historical and theological narratives essential to both supporters and detractors of image veneration were neither isolated from other contemporary events nor a sufficient cause of the controversy. Of greater importance was the parlous geopolitical situation of the Byzantine Empire. In plain English, the greatest issue of the day was neither iconoclasm nor theology but the very survival of the Byzantine polity.

The backdrop to this Byzantine crisis was the sudden rise of Islam. Thanks to swift Muslim conquests, the empire managed to lose half of its territory by the 650s. The contraction of frontiers, population, and tax revenue, together with overall violent demographic changes, soon proved irreversible; even the Byzantine capital became an object of frequent blockade. These attacks continued well into the eighth was an uncommonly traumatic chal- An illuminated Psal- century, pointedly underlining the lenge, leaving the empire practically ter depicts the icono- danger facing the empire. Arab armies destroyed to the point of extinction clasts, with their pots of whitewash, as the also launched annual incursions into before beginning a stabilization and equivalent of the sol- Anatolia, and even challenged Byzan- recovery in the ninth century. diers who tormented tine power at sea. Equally unsettling and crucified Christ. were contemporary Slavic migra- Given these facts, reducing the im- Chludov Psalter tions and settlements in the Balkans. portance of iconoclastic theology to a (c. 850–75), Moscow, Hist. Mus. MS. D.29 Furthermore, the empire was forced minimum is not surprising. Overall, folio 67r. to contend with major natural disas- the age was a historical watershed, ters, including an astonishing volca- whereas the image-breaking quarrel nic eruption on the island of Thera in was only a peripheral turning point. 726. Byzantium’s network of cities, According to this view, the decree which had provided the empire with against images issued by the state in its extraordinary economic power and 730 should be placed primarily within resiliency, also began to suffer slow, the broader historical context of the erratic modifications, and many of Arab victories. The emperors were its ancient urban centers were grad- doubtless convinced that the popu- ually transformed into villages and lar devotion to images was to blame fortresses. For the Byzantine world, for the empire’s military defeats and the instability triggered by the swift natural disasters. God was effectively ascension of the rival Arab realm punishing Christians by favoring the

The Wheel 7 | Fall 2016 31 The Emperor Leo (seated) debates iconoclasm with his clergy, while icon- oclasts whitewash an image of Christ: meanwhile, two bishops venerate a sacred image. The- odore Psalter, British Library, B.M. Add. 19.352.

enemy’s armies. The issue for the em- A brief look at some of the older sec- pire was never truly a theological con- ondary literature, with its broader em- cern; the imperial ban proscribing im- phasis (for example, scholarship from ages had more to do with the empire’s George Ostrogorsky) provides a good survival strategy and the grave politi- demonstration supporting Pelikan’s cal situation of the time. Some histori- admonition. ans have even argued that iconoclasm began to recede just as the Arab dan- To begin with, the use of the visual ger began to wane. With the decrease arts in the Church and the admissi- of the strategic threat posed by expan- bility of graphically portraying God sive Islamic conquests, the state ban had been a subject of debate long be- against images was no longer politi- fore iconoclasm became established cally necessary. In brief, the stage was state policy. Iconoclasm was not an set for the restoration of the holy im- unknown theological question: “Thou ages that took place on the first Sun- shall not make graven images” is, day of Lent in 843. In this formulation, after all, one of the Decalogue com- the classic position—that iconoclasm mandments. Questions about graph- was a commanding issue of the day, ically depicting the divine had roots divorced from issues of statecraft—no deep within Christianity since before longer seems compelling. the rise of Islam. As the discussion of this issue at the Council in Trullo in Yet it might be better to recognize that 692 pointedly alerts us, concerns over this subject has both strictly theological whether it was appropriate to depict and historical importance. For starters, Christ in any particular way were the scholarly conviction that a religious clearly still on the table. Crucially, in frame of reference was foisted on the the end, the council approved of the entire iconoclastic period should be figurative portrait of Christ in prefer- qualified. How exactly religious ques- ence to symbolic representation, a po- tions supposedly dimmed the lights sition codified in Canon 82. on the entire Byzantine historical landscape, as it is increasingly cheerfully Significantly, this decision was not claimed, is rarely explained. Jaroslav solely an ecclesial matter. The em- Pelikan’s suggestion that historians peror Justinian II also approved it, and also need to be theologically responsi- shortly after the council adjourned, ble has never been more to the point. he decided to depart from the state’s

32 prevailing numismatic tradition by is- Given Islam’s hesitant approach to suing the first image of Christ on Byz- portraiture, did Islamic theology or antine coinage. The obverse, or front faith have significant relevance to the side, of gold coins was henceforth to Council in Trullo or the later ques- be used for Christ’s image, while the tion of iconoclasm itself? The claim imperial portrait was consigned to that it did has not vanished entirely the reverse, or back side. As a clear from the secondary literature. Yet on departure from established practice, purely historical grounds, the prem- the change was a genuine iconog- ise is largely speculation. The synodal raphic innovation. Its effective sub- debate of the 690s preceded the influ- stitution of Christ’s portrait in place ence of the new religion on the Byz- of the imperial image was nothing antine Church, as the issue was not short of revolutionary. But so was its a new one. The conciliar resolution implication: namely, that the source was endorsed within Orthodoxy’s of the emperor’s authority was Christ own backyard; the young monotheis- himself. Quite possibly, the imperial tic faith and culture of Islam was not ruling was also meant to provoke. The directly involved. Christian opposi- depiction of the divine on the gold tion to images, quite simply, was not nomisma would have been theologi- in its origin a reaction to Islam. The cally unacceptable to Muslims, and it same could be argued (rightly) about presumably would have been noticed. the political anti-image strategy later adopted by the emperors, even if Less revolutionary, perhaps, but no they were often derided as “Saracen- less important was the subsequent minded” by contemporaries. implicit approval of Canon 82 by Pa- triarch Germanos I. His decision to Finally, the contemporaneous theolog- embrace this decree—in opposition to ical defenses of images should not be the Byzantine state’s polemic against minimized with the usual faint praise. images at the time—pointedly shifted While the detractors of images were the emphasis to the historic Christ. plentiful during the long iconoclastic Germanos’ stance, it is widely agreed, age, as theologians, few were really meant that future debate on this ques- gifted. On the other hand, iconodules tion would focus on the enduring real- such as Theodore of Studios, John of ity of Christ’s humanity. This Christo- Damascus, and Patriarchs Germanos logical approach, crucially, also linked and Nikephoros mounted sophisti- up with controversies that had loomed cated apologies for images that were large in the early history of the Church, rich in their depth and detail. At its and which were above all Christologi- most fundamental level, their main cally driven. As the patriarch aptly put contention was that if the Word of it, Christ must be portrayed in his “vis- God assumed human nature and en- ible theophany,” which is to say in his tered history as a historic, visible hu- human form, and not by symbols. The man being, then he was by definition fact that some of these developments able to receive an artistic depiction. took place before the broad outbreak The theological function of the icon of iconoclasm is important; it dem- is to be a permanent witness to and onstrates that iconoclasm was never affirmation of the reality of the mys- solely an eighth-century phenome- tery of the Incarnation of the Word of non. If anything, the issue formally God. Christian iconography is a possi- approved in 692 was an anticipation of bility because it is founded on God’s the later, more impassioned quarrel. manifestation in the flesh—on God’s

The Wheel 7 | Fall 2016 33 self-disclosure. In Vladimir Lossky’s Arab conquest of the Middle East apt formulation, it is the Incarnational was that it kept Byzantine Christian- mystery that justifies Christ’s visible ity on the defensive for centuries. By representation in paint. In Byzantine the end of the Middle Ages, he in- Christianity, art became inseparable sisted, “Islam obliged Christians to from christology. live in a tiny enclosed world, which necessarily focused on the liturgical During a visit to Russia, Henri Matisse cult, and made them feel that it was once mentioned that Orthodox icons normal. The Byzantine instinct for were “really great art,” and were for conservatism, which is both the main him even closer and more dear than force and the principal weakness of Fra Angelico. “It is from them,” he Eastern Christianity, became the last perceptively emphasized, “that we refuge which could ensure its survival ought to learn how to understand in the face of Islam.” By any account, art.” Orthodox theologians would an important communal objective of surely agree, though they might also Islam in its early years was to promote insist that a holy image is more than God’s purpose by conquest, an inflex- a work of art or a mere teaching aid. ibly provocative stand that naturally Its deepest meaning—that which de- brought it into incessant conflict with fines it—lies elsewhere. Ultimately it the Byzantine polity. But Orthodoxy’s is all about the primacy of the Incar- confrontation with its Islamic rival nation and Chalcedonian orthodoxy, was simultaneously theological and on which it is firmly based. The theo- military. At the core of Islamic theol- logical component of the question of ogy was the claim that it was the lat- images should not be minimized, and est, highest, and purest revelation of he skeptical approach with which it God. To say that this constituted a has at times been scrutinized is unjus- rejection of basic elements of Chris- tified. As any impartial assessment of tian faith, including image veneration the evidence demonstrates, the final and Trinitarian theology, would be liquidation of iconoclasm was primar- redundant. According to Muslim the- ily a theological victory rather than ology, God was not only invisible but a political one. The theological battle was also completely unitary, having was won by the Church and its mon- no partners whatsoever. If we are to asteries, not by the state. place this survey in its true perspec- tive, although Islam and Orthodoxy— The above provides a suitable sum- universalistic world religions both— mary note on which to give the final first met on the battlefield, distinct © 2016 The Wheel. theological postulates were crucial May be distributed for word to John Meyendorff. He once noncommercial use. suggested that the most important to the organization and definition of www.wheeljournal.com of the historical consequences of the both societies.

Dr. Aristeides Papadakis is professor of history (emeritus) at the University of Maryland. He is the author, with John Meyendorff, of Crisis in Byzantium: The Filioque Controversy in the Patriarchate of Gregory II of Cyprus and The Christian East and the Rise of the Pa- pacy, which has been translated into French, Greek, and Russian. He was also a contributor and consultant to The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium and is a frequent participant in international confer- ences addressing the history, theology, and current state of the Orthodox Church.