Religious image

A religious image is a work of visual art that is representational and has a religious purpose, subject or connection. All major historical religions have made some use of religious images, although their use is strictly controlled and often controversial in many religions, especially Abrahamic ones. General terms associated with religious images include cult image, a term for images, especially in sculpture which are or have been claimed to be the object of religious worship in their own right, and icon strictly a term for Eastern Orthodox religious images, but often used more widely, in and outside the area of religion.

Images flourished within the Christian world, but by the 6th century, certain factions arose within the Eastern Church to challenge the use of icons, and in 726-30 they won Imperial support. The Iconoclasts actively destroyed icons in most public places, replacing them with the only religious depiction allowed, the cross. The Iconodules (those who favored the veneration of images), on the other hand, argued that icons had always been used by Christians and should continue to be allowed. They further argued that not only should the use of icons be permitted, it was necessary to the Christian faith as a testimony of the dogma of the Incarnation of Christ. Saint John Damascene argued:

"Of old God the incorporial and uncircumscribed was not depicted at all. But now that God has appeared in the flesh and lived among men, I make an image of the God who can be seen. I do not worship matter, but I worship the Creator of matter, who for my sake became material and deigned to dwell in matter, who through matter effected my salvation."

Finally, after much debate at the Second Council of Nicaea, held in 787, the Iconodules, supported by the Empress, upheld the use of icons as an integral part of Christian tradition, and the Western Church, which had been almost totally unaffected by the dispute, confirmed this. According to the definition of the council, icons of Jesus are not intended to depict his divinity, but only the Incarnate Word. Saints are depicted because they reflect the grace of God, as depicted by their halos.

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