This Week in Christian History: A Pope's Death, a German Peace Agreement, and a Medieval Council

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, September 24, 2017

Second Council of Nicaea Begins – Sept. 24, 787

A worshipper touches an icon of the Virgin Mary in the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, November 30, 2008. The church was built over the grotto where Christians believe the Virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus. | (Photo: Reuters/Yannis Behrakis)

This week marks the beginning of the Seventh Ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church, also called the Second Council of Nicaea.

Held more than 450 years after the first Council of Nicaea, the prevailing issue that the Council dealt with was the controversy over Iconoclasm, which argued that the use of icons in worship was idolatrous.

"With the exception of these monks and the Roman legates, all the members of the Council were subjects of the Byzantine Empire. Their number, bishops as well as representatives of bishops, varies in the ancient historians between 330 and 367," noted the Catholic Encyclopedia.

After several sessions, the last of which was held in the Byzantine capital of Constantinople, the Council concluded that using images for worship did not mean that one was worshipping said images, including icons.

"If anyone does not accept representation in art of evangelical scenes, let him be anathema," the Council declared. "If anyone does not salute such representations as standing for the Lord and His saints, let him be anathema."