Power is something that everyone craves and desires to have for their own benefit or to help others. The leaders among people hold a great deal of that power, and are forced to compete with each other or make compromises if they want more power. Around the time between 700 A.D and 900 A.D, the church was an influential source of power that was constantly gaining it. The emperors of the Byzantine Empire were also an influential power who still wanted more power. The pressing strength of the church was looming over them, and the emperors felt that a way they could gain more power would be to take over the church and control it. This lead up to the first and second Byzantine Iconoclasm. An iconoclasm literally means image-breaking. This iconoclasm was the emperors banning and destroying all of the images, icons, statues, or any other form of representation other than the Holy Eucharist in the church and anyone who defended those images. Although there were two iconoclasms, they played out almost exactly the same, with the emperors and the Popes taking the same actions and it being resolved by an empress ending the conflicts by restoring the images. One of the main differences in it was that the second time around was the end of it. The emperors of the Byzantine Empire attempted to gain power through subjugating and controlling the church by using the iconoclasms.
The most powerful entity of the Iconoclast movement was the highest in the Byzantine Empire’s government, the emperor. A threat to the overall strength of his empire was the catholic church. The church was more for power at the time and made people provide them to make themselves the main power. A strong point of the church were the pictures and artwork made by people to pr...
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...antine Empire saw the potential of the church and the threat to their power it posed, so the way that they could remove the threat and bolster their own power would be to take over the church through the Iconoclasms.
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The aristocracy of the period also led a very violent lifestyle: this crusade or ‘Holy War’ justified the use of violence as a means of abolishing the threat from Islam on the Christian World. Thirdly, the papacy was very keen on consolidating its political influence in Italy, France and Germany. The papacy wanted to keep the Christian parts of the world as large as possible and they also wanted to make sure that these areas would be completely Christian. Urban wished to expand the Church’s sphere of influence to those previously Christian parts of Europe and Northern Africa which had been overrun by the Islamic world..
Although the actual year is disputed, the first Byzantine iconoclasm is believed to have started with Emperor Leo III around 723-725. (pg. 53) There are many different written sources that discuss what actually happened during this time, however not all coincide with each other completely. Nicephorous of Constantinople recalls the events in his “Short History” during the late 780’s making it one of the closest sources to the actual events. (pg. 53) He states that Leo heard volcanic eruptions on the islands of Thera and Therasia and he took these eruptions as a merciless sign from God and ultimately began planning the removal of icons. (pg. 53) In another source, “The Chronicle”, Theophane also mentions that Emperor Leo hears the volcanic eruptions on the islands, and states that he understood the Godly symbol as reassuring that what he was already doing was the right thing. Theophane states that before this eruption, Leo had met with a Jewish wizard who had promised him a reign of forty years if he removed the holy icons from churches. (pg. 53) This source however was written around 815, so it is uncertain how accurate Theophanes reports are. Theophane also stated that there was much opposition to Leo’s views from people...
Karl Marx once said “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce” (8). His words ring true with regards to the two periods of Iconoclasm that happened during the Byzantine era. The exact target of all of these destructive acts may be different (icons, Buddhas, and a Christian Monastery), however, what these events do have in common is one similar outcome: the loss of beautiful historical religious artistry that can never really be replaced.
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The Reformation was a decisive period in the history not only for the Catholic Church, but also for the entire world. The causes of this tumultuous point in history did not burst on the scene all at once, but slowly gained momentum like a boil that slowly festers through time before it finally bursts open. The Reformation of the Church was inevitable because of the abuses which the Church was suffering during this period. At the time of the Reformation, a segment of the Church had drifted away from its mission to bring Christ and salvation to the world. Throughout the Middle Ages, the Church had gradually become weaker because of abusive leadership, philosophical heresy, and a renewal of a form of the Pelagian heresy.
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From the third to the fourth century, the Roman Empire witnessed a widespread attempt to stop the spread of Christianity. Initially, leaders of the church were predominately targeted, but later anyone admitting to Christianity became a target. The persecutions hit a climax during Diocletian’s reign. These persecutions actually helped the spread of Christianity by glorifying Christians and beginning a tradition of martyrdom that shaped the Church, and the strength that Christians displayed shows that the persecutions could not have possible stopped the spread of Christianity.
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