Eastern Southeast Europe (724–735 CE): Iconoclasm and Religious Controversy

Settlement and Migration Patterns

Continued Stability and Cultural Cohesion

From 724 to 735 CE, demographic stability continued within Eastern Southeast Europe, particularly among the well-established Slavic and Bulgar populations. Cultural integration remained strong, supporting regional identity despite broader religious and political upheavals.

Political and Military Developments

Arab Threat Management

The Byzantine Empire remained vigilant against intermittent Arab threats but enjoyed a brief respite following previous successful defenses. Military fortifications continued to be maintained, securing vital regions against external incursions.

Economic and Technological Developments

Economic Stability Through Defensive Strategies

Economic conditions remained stable, supported by continued strategic investment in defense infrastructure. Fortifications and defensive preparations around major urban centers safeguarded vital trade routes and agricultural productivity.

Cultural and Artistic Developments

Religious and Cultural Conflict: Iconoclasm

The defining issue of this era was the Iconoclast controversy, initiated by Emperor Leo III, who publicly condemned the veneration of religious images beginning in 726. Leo's order to destroy the image of Christ at Constantinople's Chalke palace symbolized the policy's aggressive implementation.

Artistic Resistance and Theological Defense

Popular revolts erupted throughout the Byzantine territories, including the Cyclades, Naples, Venice, and Rome, illustrating widespread opposition to iconoclasm. Prominent theologians, notably John Damascene, articulated detailed defenses of religious imagery, firmly establishing theological arguments in support of icons.

Social and Religious Developments

Institutional Division: East vs. West

Emperor Leo III formally declared Iconoclasm as imperial policy in 730, mandating the removal and destruction of sacred images in churches. His stance faced vehement opposition from monastic communities and the broader ecclesiastical establishment, intensifying the rift between imperial authority and religious practice.

Opposition from the Papacy

Pope Gregory II notably rejected Leo III's iconoclastic directives, particularly in regions of Italy under Byzantine influence, underscoring the growing ecclesiastical divide between Eastern Orthodoxy and Western Christianity. This controversy contributed significantly to long-term doctrinal and institutional divergences between East and West.

Impact of Cultural and Military Context

Iconoclasm’s support was particularly pronounced among military and administrative groups from the Empire’s eastern provinces, many influenced by cultural confrontations and threats from Islam. Conversely, Balkan military contingents, generally less supportive of iconoclasm, played a role in influencing imperial attitudes over the era.

Long-Term Consequences and Historical Significance

The era from 724 to 735 CE was deeply marked by the Iconoclast controversy, reshaping Byzantine society, theology, and politics. The religious conflicts that emerged during this period established critical ideological and ecclesiastical distinctions, profoundly influencing the historical development of Eastern Orthodoxy and its complex relationship with Western Christianity.

A revolt against iconoclasm by the people of the Exarchate of Ravenna results in Emperor Leo's dispatch of a fleet from Constantinople to capture the city.

The imperial fleet, partly wrecked in a storm along the way, is repulsed by a force of Italians, raised by Pope Gregory II in defense of image worship.

After a severe struggle, the Greeks are routed; thousands are killed in flight to their ships.

The waters of the Po River are so infected with blood, it is said, that for six years the inhabitants of Ravenna will not eat fish from the river.

The Exarchate becomes effectively detached from the Empire.

Leo’s initial move against the cult of images has been followed by other measures instituted over the past four years to suppress the veneration of images.

In reaction to the new policy, many theologians of the Eastern Roman Empire, including John Damascene, have developed an elaborate theory and defense of holy images and their place in worship.

John, basing his argument on the doctrine of the incarnation of Christ and on Neoplatonic philosophical ideas, maintains that the holy icon through divine grace partakes of the spiritual essence of the figure it portrays, and, as the product of the emanation of its holiness, embodies the essential point of direct contact between the human and divine realms.

Proclaiming Iconoclasm the official policy of the empire in 730, Leo orders the removal and destruction of sacred pictures in churches.

When Patriarch Germanus of Constantinople refuses his demand for approval of these policies, Leo removes him and appoints a patriarch of his own choice, Anastasius, who willingly sides with the Emperor on the question of icons.

Where necessary, Leo employs harsh penalties, such as beatings and imprisonment, against recalcitrant ecclesiastics.

His policies meet particularly strong opposition from monastic circles.

Pope Gregory II also strongly rejects his efforts to impose Iconoclasm upon areas of Italy under imperial control.

Gregory, supported by the Romans and the Lombards, fights iconoclasm until his death in February 731.

His successor, Gregory III, elected by acclamation during his predecessor’s funeral procession and consecrated a month later, organizes a synod in Rome (attended by the Archbishop of Ravenna), which declares iconoclasm punishable by excommunication.

When the exarch donates six columns of onyx to the shrine of St. Peter in thanks for the pope's assistance in his release from the Lombards, the pope defiantly has the material crafted into icons.

A comparatively peaceful period follows, during which Gregory encourages the Christianizing of the German tribes and in 732 appoints Boniface, organizer of the Frankish church, as metropolitan of Germany.

Leo III responds to the defiance of Gregory II in 732/33 by confiscating all papal patrimonies in south Italy and Sicily, together constituting most papal income at this time.

He further removes the bishoprics of Thessalonica, Corinth, Syracuse, Reggio, Nicopolis, Athens, and Patras from papal jurisdiction, instead subjecting them to the Patriarch of Constantinople.

This is, in effect, an act of triage: although it strengthens the imperial grip on the southern empire, it all but guarantees the eventual destruction of the Exarchate of Ravenna.

The break between the papacy and the Empire is nearly complete.

Boniface journeys once more to Rome, where he is appointed papal legate to Germany in 738.

Pope Gregory III appeals in vain to Charles Martel for help against the expansionist policies of Liutprand, King of the Lombards.

Leo's actions have severely strained relations with the papacy, causing the pope to turn increasingly to the Frankish kings as alternative protectors of the Holy See in Rome and weakening the imperial position in the Italian peninsula.

Leo retaliates against Gregory by halting financial contributions to the papacy from southern Italy.

The successive popes Gregory II and Gregory III have turned away from Constantinople because of increased imperial taxation, the emperor's policy of iconoclasm, and Constantinople's failure to protect Rome adequately.

Liutprand seizes four cities of the Duchy of Rome in 739.

Pope Gregory appeals to Charles Martel, the Frankish ruler of Gaul, but Charles, who had been Liutprand's ally against the Saracens in Provence, refuses aid.

Other harsh taxation and administrative measures add to Leo's unpopularity in Sicily and …

…southern Italy.

Although Leo is an able commander, he neglects to maintain strong naval forces in the western Mediterranean and thus further weakens Roman power there.