Iconoclasm and iconoduly between east and west (8th-9th centuries)

Authors

  • Alfonso Hernández Rodríguez CONICET

Abstract

The following paper deals with the reception in the Carolingian west of the Byzantine Iconoclast Crisis. It considers the way both Christianities dealed with the problem that images presented to religious practices and the political consequences of iconic worship. The paper also states that during the VIII and IX centuries the iconoclast crisis allowed the emergence of a self conscious Latin Christian tradition. Consequentlyit was the moment that showed the beginning of two differing ways of Christian piety and the alienation of one towards the other. Western Christianity focused its religion practice in church building and the idea of Sacrality in the Eucharistic Rite. The oriental church, moreovers, centered its practices and theology on icon worship.    

Keywords:

Iconoclasm, icon worship, images, Byzantium, Carolingian, Early Middle Ages