Introduction
Although we associate icons with Eastern Christianity, many churches in Britain prior to the Reformation, and especially in the Anglo-Saxon era before the Conquest of 1066, were wall-to-wall, floor-to-roof, a patchwork of frescoes of saints, Biblical scenes, flowers and animals. Indeed, it was in the East that doubts about sacred art first arose.
WHEN St Augustine preached
Christianity to King Ethelbert of Kent in 597, he carried a silver
cross and a painted icon of Christ. A century later, icons were
putting a human face to the spoken word up in Bede’s Northumbria, from
church walls to the pages of the Lindisfarne Gospels.*
But in 730, Roman Emperor Leo III was faring badly against the
Muslim caliph in Syria, and some among his counsellors put the blame
on icons. Did not God always abandon the Kings of Israel when they
made images and bowed down to them? Even as Bede sang unmolested
before the icons in Ceolwulf’s Northumbria, in Leo’s Constantinople
soldiers were raiding churches and private homes, tearing down icons
and scrubbing away frescoes, punishing resistance with the sword.*
It was John of Damascus, a monk of the St Sabbas monastery near
Jerusalem, who led the fightback.* John’s mastery of music, science
and Scripture rivalled even Bede’s, and as Jerusalem was in Muslim
hands, Leo could not touch him.
Précis
In the 8th century, the Roman Empire based in Constantinople
suddenly banned sacred art in churches, in stark contrast to Britain, where it
was flourishing following the Gregorian mission of 597. Emperor Leo’s chief
critic was St John of Damascus, who (like the British) lived outside the
Empire, and was able to campaign without fear of reprisals.
(57 / 60 words)
In the 8th century, the Roman Empire based in Constantinople
suddenly banned sacred art in churches, in stark contrast to Britain, where it
was flourishing following the Gregorian mission of 597. Emperor Leo’s chief
critic was St John of Damascus, who (like the British) lived outside the
Empire, and was able to campaign without fear of reprisals.
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