Editing Second Council of Nicaea (section)

== Background ==
{{Further information|Byzantine iconoclasm}}
The veneration of icons had been banned by Byzantine Emperor [[Constantine V]] and supported by his [[Council of Hieria]] (754 AD), which had described itself as the seventh ecumenical council.<ref>Council of Hieria, Canon 19, "If anyone does not accept this our Holy and Ecumenical Seventh Synod, let him be anathema from the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, and from the seven holy Ecumenical Synods!" http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/icono-cncl754.asp</ref> The Council of Hieria was overturned by the Second Council of Nicaea only 33 years later, and has also been rejected by Catholic and Orthodox churches, since none of the [[Pentarchy|five major patriarchs]] were represented.  The emperor's vigorous enforcement of the ban included persecution of those who venerated icons and of monks in general. There were also political overtones to the persecution—images of emperors were still allowed by Constantine, which some opponents saw as an attempt to give wider authority to imperial power than to the saints and bishops.{{sfn|Treadgold|1997|p=388}} Constantine's [[Iconoclasm (Byzantine)|iconoclastic]] tendencies were shared by Constantine's son, [[Leo IV the Khazar|Leo IV]].  After the latter's early death, his widow, [[Irene of Athens]], as regent for her son, began its restoration for personal inclination and political considerations.

On Christmas Day 784, the head of the imperial chancellery, [[Tarasios of Constantinople|Tarasios]], was appointed successor to the iconoclast [[Patriarch of Constantinople]], [[Paul IV of Constantinople|Paul IV]], by Irene. Together they were attempting to solemnize the iconodule reversal of imperial policy with an ecumenical council. [[Pope Adrian I]] was invited to participate, and gladly accepted, sending two [[Papal legate|legates]].{{sfn|Auzépy|2008|pp=287–288}}

In 786, the council met in the [[Church of the Holy Apostles]] in [[Constantinople]]. However, soldiers in collusion with iconoclast bishops entered the church, and broke up the assembly.{{sfn|Ostrogorsky|1969|p=178}} As a result, Irene resorted to a stratagem. Under the pretext of responding to an alleged Arab attack in [[Asia Minor]], the iconoclastic bodyguard was sent away from the capital—then disarmed and disbanded. Tarasios dealt with the episcopal opposition by allowing notoriously iconoclast bishops to retain their positions so long as they made a public admission of error, and also by disguising two eastern monks as envoys of the patriarchs of [[Patriarchate of Antioch|Antioch]] and [[Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem|Jerusalem]], to justify the council's claim to ecumenical status.{{sfn|Auzépy|2008|p=288}}

The Council was again assembled, this time in the symbolic location of Nicaea, the site of the first ecumenical council. The council assembled on 24 September 787 at the [[Hagia Sophia, İznik|Hagia Sophia]]. It numbered about 350 members; 308 [[bishop]]s or their representatives signed. Tarasios presided,<ref>Gibbon, p. 1693.</ref> and seven sessions were held in Nicaea.{{sfn|Ostrogorsky|1969|p=178}}

[[Image:Seventh ecumenical council (Icon).jpg|thumb|250px|An [[icon]] of the Seventh Ecumenical Council (17th century, [[Novodevichy Convent]], [[Moscow]]).]]