page_title: Second Council of Nicaea
section_title: Proceedings
hierarchical_section_title: Second Council of Nicaea / Proceedings
caption_attribution_description: English: Remains of the Ayasofya in Iznik, as seen from the southwest.
context_page_description: The Second Council of Nicaea is recognized as the last of the first seven ecumenical councils by the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. In addition, it is also recognized as such by the Old Catholics and others. Protestant opinions on it are varied.
  It met in AD 787 in Nicaea to restore the use and veneration of icons, which had been suppressed by imperial edict inside the Byzantine Empire during the reign of Leo III. His son, Constantine V, had held the Council of Hieria to make the suppression official.
context_section_description: First Session  (September 24, 787) – There was debate over whether bishops who had accepted iconoclasm when under iconoclast rule could remain in office.
  Second Session (September 26, 787) – Letters from Pope Hadrian I were read out in Greek translation, approving the veneration of images, but severely critical of Byzantine infringement of papal rights. Ignoring the latter, the bishops answered: "We follow, we receive, we admit".
  Third Session (September 28, 787) — The supposed representatives of the oriental patriarchates presented their credentials. From these it is clear that their patriarchs had not in fact appointed them.
  Fourth Session (October 1, 787) — Proof of the lawfulness of the veneration of icons was drawn from Exodus 25:19 sqq.; Numbers 7:89; Hebrews 9:5 sqq.; Ezekiel 41:18, and Genesis 31:34, but especially from a series of passages of the Church Fathers; and from hagiography.
  Fifth Session (October 4, 787) – A further florilegium was read out, "proving" that iconoclasm originated from pagans, Jews, Muslims, and heretics.
  Sixth Session (October 6, 787) – The definition of the pseudo-Seventh council (754) and a long refutation of the same (probably by Tarasius) were read.
  Seventh Session (October 13, 787) – The council issued a declaration of faith concerning the veneration of holy images.
  It was determined that
  As the sacred and life-giving cross is everywhere set up as a symbol, so also should the images of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, the holy angels, as well as those of the saints and other pious and holy men be embodied in the manufacture of sacred vessels, tapestries, vestments, etc., and exhibited on the walls of churches, in the homes, and in all conspicuous places, by the roadside and everywhere, to be revered by all who might see them. For the more they are contemplated, the more they move to fervent memory of their prototypes. Therefore, it is proper to accord to them a fervent and reverent veneration, not, however, the veritable adoration which, according to our faith, belongs to the Divine Being alone – for the honor accorded to the image passes over to its prototype, and whoever venerate the image venerate in it the reality of what is there represented.
  
  This definition of the proper religious veneration of images centers on the distinction between timētikē proskynēsis, meaning "respect and veneration" (though note that 'proskynesis' was also used of the worship of God), and "alēthinē latreia", meaning "true adoration." The former is permitted to images as to the person they depict, while the latter, "latreia", is reserved for God -- the three persons of the Trinity, including Christ's human nature.
  The so-called "Eighth Session" (October 23, 787) held in Constantinople at the Magnaura Palace supposedly in the presence of the emperors Constantine IV and Irene. Erich Lamberz has proved that this "session" is a late ninth-century forgery (see Price, The Acts of the Second Council of Nicaea, 655-6).
  The distinction between the adoration offered to God and that accorded to the images was justified at the council not by asserting that images do not enjoy a status equal to the person represented (since "veneration proceeds through the image to the one represented") but by asserting that only God can be worshipped and that it is impossible to represent him in images. The status of images of Christ was left unclear (see Price, The Acts of the Second Council of Nicaea, 47-49). The twenty-two canons drawn up in Constantinople also served ecclesiastical reform. Careful maintenance of the ordinances of the earlier councils, knowledge of the scriptures on the part of the clergy, and care for Christian conduct are required, and the desire for a renewal of ecclesiastical life is awakened.
  The council also decreed that every altar should contain a relic, which remains the case in modern Catholic and Orthodox regulations (Canon VII), and made a number of decrees on clerical discipline, especially for monks when mixing with women.
caption: Hagia Sophia of Nicaea, where the Council took place; Iznik, Turkey.
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