CCWV.LIFE Support This Site
Illustration for iconoclasm Greek

iconoclasm

Glossary · Koine Greek

εἰκονοκλασμός

Image-breaking.

Tagged: Catholic Christian Eastern Orthodox

Technical Meaning

The destruction of religious images, and the movements that demand it. The Byzantine controversy of the eighth and ninth centuries, closed by the Second Council of Nicaea in 787 and the final restoration of the icons in 843, is its defining case; the Reformation brought its second great wave, from Karlstadt and Zwingli's Zurich to the Beeldenstorm that swept the Low Countries in 1566. Iconoclasts argue from the Second Commandment and the fear of idolatry; their opponents answer from the Incarnation.

More Greek Terms

Illustration for aniconism Glossary Term aniconism Without images. An icon of Dionysius the Areopagite, the long-bearded bishop holding a scroll of his writings. Glossary Term apophatic By denial or negation. A round miniature of the creation of Eve, with God the Father blessing the new-made woman amid the animals of Eden. Glossary Term cataphatic By affirmation. An icon of the fathers of Nicaea holding the text of the creed, headed by the emperor Constantine. Glossary Term homoousios Of the same essence or substance. A fresco of Gregory of Nazianzus in bishop's vestments, holding the Gospel book and a pastoral staff. Glossary Term hypostasis That which stands under; a subsistence. Illustration for icon Glossary Term icon Image; likeness. A Byzantine mosaic of Christ washing the feet of his disciples at the monastery of Hosios Loukas. Glossary Term kenosis An emptying. A medieval miniature of the Tree of Jesse, with Christ's ancestors arranged in the branches of a great tree rising from Jesse. Glossary Term oikonomia Household management; the stewardship of a house. A Byzantine manuscript page of Aristotle's Metaphysics in Greek uncial, with later Latin notes in the margin. Glossary Term ousia Being; essence; substance. Andrei Rublev's icon of the Holy Trinity, the three angels seated in a circle around the table with the chalice. Glossary Term perichoresis A going around together; mutual indwelling. A page of a medieval commentary on Peter Lombard's Sentences, its dense Latin scholastic text filling two columns. Glossary Term theologia Speech about God; discourse concerning divine things. Theophanes the Greek's icon of the Transfiguration, Christ in white at the summit between Moses and Elijah, the disciples below. Glossary Term theosis Deification; being made god.

Related Across the Site

An icon of the fathers of Nicaea holding the text of the creed, headed by the emperor Constantine. Glossary Term homoousios Of the same essence or substance. A fresco of Gregory of Nazianzus in bishop's vestments, holding the Gospel book and a pastoral staff. Glossary Term hypostasis That which stands under; a subsistence. A Byzantine mosaic of Christ washing the feet of his disciples at the monastery of Hosios Loukas. Glossary Term kenosis An emptying. A Byzantine manuscript page of Aristotle's Metaphysics in Greek uncial, with later Latin notes in the margin. Glossary Term ousia Being; essence; substance. A page of a medieval commentary on Peter Lombard's Sentences, its dense Latin scholastic text filling two columns. Glossary Term theologia Speech about God; discourse concerning divine things. The Trinity at the summit of Albrecht Dürer's Landauer Altarpiece, the Father enthroned behind the crucified Son with the dove above, adored by the whole church below. Glossary Term trinitas Trinity; a triad. A text in Biblical Hebrew Language Biblical Hebrew The original language of the Hebrew Bible, preserved in the square script with Tiberian vocalization, and still the language of Jewish prayer. A text in Koine Greek Language Koine Greek The common Greek of the Hellenistic world: original language of the New Testament and of the Septuagint, and foundational for Greek Christianity.

Religious Art & Images

Illustration for Iconoclasm: The Theology of Breaking Images Art Theme Iconoclasm: The Theology of Breaking Images Image destruction recurs across traditions; Byzantine, Reformed, Islamic, Sikh, and secular-revolutionary; and it is never mere vandalism. It is a theology acted out. Pieter Saenredam's painting of the whitewashed, image-free interior of the Cunerakerk at Rhenen, bare walls and a plain pulpit under Gothic vaults. Art Entry The Beeldenstorm and Reformed Iconoclasm In the summer of 1566 a wave of image-breaking swept the churches of the Low Countries, and the Reformed territories of Europe methodically emptied their churches: the most sustained Christian iconoclasm since Byzantium.

The whole glossary