Why did iconoclast oppose the use of icons?

Answer 1

A:

It has been argued that the veneration of saints not only detracted from the sole worship of God but, in the popular imagination, could actually foster a kind of polytheism. A strong reaction against the use of images of Jesus, Maryand the saints erupted in the Byzantine world. Icons were destroyed in many places and users of icons were punished and even exececuted.

Supporters of the use of icons in piety (the "iconodules" or "image venerators") were forced to make some careful distinctions in order to resist the logic of the iconoclasts. At the most elementary level, they made a distinction between an idol (Greek: eidolon) and an image (Greek: eikon). They said one was worshipped in the pagan world, while theirs was only venerated as a vehicle to go beyond the image to the reality behind it.

In order to settle the controversy an ecumenical council was convened in 787 at Nicaea. This Second Council of Nicaea was the last one held by the undivided churches of the East and West.

Objections were also raised in the late medieval church about the easy slide from veneration into superstition, the spurious multiplication of relics and trafficking in them, and the degeneration of healing into forms of popular magic.

Although perhaps not an iconoclast, and in his early years not antagonistic to the veneration of saints, Martin Luther saw that this had turned into the worship of semi-divinities who were addressed exclusively for some need, with no reference to Christ. He also objected to the cult of relics to raise money. John Calvin and Ulrich Zwingli viewed images, relics, shrines, and the devotion attached to them as superstition at best and idolatory at worst.

Answer 2

A:

It has been argued that the veneration of saints not only detracted from the sole worship of God but, in the popular imagination, could actually foster a kind of polytheism. A strong reaction against the use of images of Jesus, Maryand the saints erupted in the Byzantine world. Icons were destroyed in many places and users of icons were punished and even exececuted.

Supporters of the use of icons in piety (the "iconodules" or "image venerators") were forced to make some careful distinctions in order to resist the logic of the iconoclasts. At the most elementary level, they made a distinction between an idol (Greek: eidolon) and an image (Greek: eikon). They said one was worshipped in the pagan world, while theirs was only venerated as a vehicle to go beyond the image to the reality behind it.

In order to settle the controversy an ecumenical council was convened in 787 at Nicaea. This Second Council of Nicaea was the last one held by the undivided churches of the East and West.

Objections were also raised in the late medieval church about the easy slide from veneration into superstition, the spurious multiplication of relics and trafficking in them, and the degeneration of healing into forms of popular magic.

Although perhaps not an iconoclast, and in his early years not antagonistic to the veneration of saints, Martin Luther saw that this had turned into the worship of semi-divinities who were addressed exclusively for some need, with no reference to Christ. He also objected to the cult of relics to raise money. John Calvin and Ulrich Zwingli viewed images, relics, shrines, and the devotion attached to them as superstition at best and idolatory at worst.