Vasilief, A History of the Byzantine Empire

The Iconoclastic epoch (717-867)

The restoration of Orthodoxy. The separation of churches in the ninth century 

Page 4

Opinions vary regarding the religious views of Leo's successor, Michael II. While some historians consider him neutral and indifferent, and a man who followed the path of tolerance and proclaimed the great principles of freedom of conscience, others call him a convinced iconoclast, though not a fanatic, determined to support Leos iconoclastic reforms because they harmonized with his personal convictions, refusing at the same time to continue the further persecution of image-worship. A recent investigator believed that Michael's political program consisted of an attempt to pacify all religious disputes even though this involved an enforced silence on debatable questions and a tolerant attitude toward each of the dissenting elements.

However, in spite of his iconoclastic tendencies, Michael did not initiate another period of persecution of image-worshipers, although when Methodius, who later became the patriarch of Constantinople, delivered the papal letter to the Emperor and called upon him to restore icon worship, he was subjected to a cruel scourging and was imprisoned in a tomb. In comparing the time of Leo V with the reign of Michael II contemporaries used such phrases as the fire has gone out, but it is still smoking, like a crawling snake the tail of heresy has not yet been killed and is still wriggling, the winter is over, but real spring has not yet arrived, etc. The death of the famous defender of images and church freedom, Theodore of Studion, took place in the time of Michael II. Theophilus, the successor of Michael II and the last iconoclastic emperor, was a man well versed in theological matters, distinguished by his fervent adoration of the Virgin and the saints, and the author of several church songs. Historical opinions of Theophilus are extremely contradictory, ranging all the way from the most damnatory to the most eulogistic statements. With regard to iconoclasm, the reign of Theophilus was the harshest time of the second period of the movement. The Emperor's main adviser and leader in iconoclastic matters was John the Grammarian, later patriarch of Constantinople, the most enlightened man of that period, who was accused, as was frequently the case with learned men in the Middle Ages, of practicing sorcery and magic. The monks, many of whom were icon-painters, were subject to severe punishments. For example, the palms of the monk Lazarus, an image-painter, were burned with red-hot iron; for their zealous defense of images the two brothers Theophanes and Theodore were flogged and branded on their foreheads with certain insulting Greek verses composed by Theophilus himself for the purpose, and hence they were surnamed the marked (graptoi).

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