The seventh ecumenical council restores the icons and defines the distinction the church still uses: veneration (proskynesis) for images, true worship (latreia) for God alone.
Tagged: Councils Catholic Christian Eastern Orthodox
The Event
- Date
- 787 (exact)
- Also called
- Nicaea II
- Era
- Patristic; Standard ecumenical periodization
- Location
- Nicaea; today İznik, Turkey
- Traditions
- Christianity
- Streams
- Catholic, Eastern Orthodox
- Key figures
- Irene, Tarasios, John of Damascus (influence)
- Key texts
- Definition on the Holy Images
Connections
- Third Council of Constantinople; followed
Doctrines in Play
Primary Sources
- Definition on the Holy Images (787)
- John of Damascus, On the Divine Images
Secondary Sources
- Pelikan, The Christian Tradition, vols. 1–5 (Chicago, 1971–1989)
- MacCulloch, A History of Christianity (Allen Lane, 2009)
Provenance: HIST-0021; confidence 0.95; accessed 2026-10-26.
Related on This Site
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- Council of Jerusalem History Event
- First Council of Constantinople History Event
- First Council of Nicaea History Event
- Second Council of Constantinople History Event
- Third Council of Constantinople History Event