Editing Leo III the Isaurian (section)

====Analysis of Leo's iconoclasm====
Scholars offer various explanations for the ban on venerating icons {{circa|730}}. On the basis of Patriarch Germanus' letters read at the 787 [[Second Council of Nicaea]], which state that the bishops Constantine of [[Nakoleia]] and Thomas of [[Claudiopolis (Cilicia)|Claudiopolis]] had forbidden the veneration of icons even before 730, some scholars argue that the alleged [[aniconism]] of the eastern part of the Empire, Leo's place of origin, motivated his policies. The phrase "I am emperor and priest" attributed to Leo by later iconodule polemicists represents the characteristically Isaurian imperial ascendancy over the church, which was rejected in the mid-9th century after Patriarch [[Methodios I of Constantinople]] purged the clergy of iconoclasts, asserting the autonomy of the church against the iconoclast emperor, [[Theophilos (emperor)|Theophilos]] ({{reign|829|842}}).<ref>{{cite book |last=Auzépy |first=Marie-France |date=2008 |editor-last=Shepard |editor-first=Jonathan |title=The Cambridge history of the Byzantine Empire (c. 500–1492) |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=279 |chapter=State of emergency (700–850) |isbn=978-0-521-83231-1}}</ref> Others have discussed the mutual influence of Muslim and Byzantine iconoclasm, noting that [[Caliph]] [[Yazid II]] had issued an iconoclastic edict, also targeting his Christian subjects, already in 721.<ref>A. A. Vasiliev (1956), ''The Iconoclastic Edict of the Caliph Yazid II, A. D. 721'', pp. [https://archive.org/details/Vasiliev1956YazidEdict721  25-26]</ref>

According to historian Marie-France Auzépy, these explanations are insufficient. She appeals to an explanation by Byzantine chroniclers, that a terrifying volcanic eruption at [[Thira]] in 726 was interpreted by Leo as a manifestation of God's wrath. In the [[Bible]], God allows his people to fall to [[Babylonian captivity]] because of their [[idolatry]]. Thus, Auzépy says, the banning of the veneration of images was fundamentally a rejection of idolatry in order to ensure the survival of the Christian people of the Empire, a decision which was apparently vindicated by the abatement of the Arab and Bulgar threat during Leo's reign.<ref>{{cite book |last=Auzépy |first=Marie-France |date=2008 |editor-last=Shepard |editor-first=Jonathan |title=The Cambridge history of the Byzantine Empire (c. 500–1492) |publisher=Cambridge University Press |pages=280–282 |chapter=State of emergency (700–850) |isbn=978-0-521-83231-1}}</ref>

Some scholars, such as Leslie Brubaker and John Haldon, doubt whether there was any active imperial involvement in iconoclasm at all, proposing instead that Leo made a qualified critique of the use of images in public spaces, likely leading to the adoption of a somewhat iconoclastic attitude among the clergy in the late 730s or early 740s.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Brubaker |first1=Leslie |title=Byzantium in the iconoclast era, c. 680–850 |last2=Haldon |first2=John |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2011 |pages=155}}</ref> The notion that there was mass imperial persecution and destruction of images is dismissed as a later "iconophile myth".<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Brubaker |first1=Leslie |title=Byzantium in the iconoclast era, c. 680–850 |last2=Haldon |first2=John |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2011 |page=152}}</ref> Brubaker and Haldon support this hypothesis by pointing to the absence of any reports of iconoclasm in several contemporary accounts, including those of [[Willibald]], who travelled to Nicaea from 727 to 729, Germanus and even [[John of Damascus]]. The [[Venerable Bede]] does refer to a critique of images in Constantinople, and Germanus and John of Damascus say that the clergy was divided on the issue of iconoclasm, however there was no evidence of widespread support for the iconoclastic policies or of systematic removal of images under Leo.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Brubaker |first1=Leslie |title=Byzantium in the iconoclast era, c. 680–850 |last2=Haldon |first2=John |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2011 |pages=152–153}}</ref> Brubaker and Haldon attribute a more moderate iconoclasm to Leo, "It is quite possible that Leo did attempt to restrict the public display of certain types of image and to remove them from certain places in churches (near the [[altar]] and in the [[apse]], for example) to avoid their receiving the honour due to God alone", confirming this conclusion with the writings of Germanus and John of Damascus which appear to describe a kind of initial or moderate stage of iconoclasm.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Brubaker |first1=Leslie |title=Byzantium in the iconoclast era, c. 680–850 |last2=Haldon |first2=John |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2011 |page=153}}</ref>