What occurred at the Second Council of Nicea?

Answer

The First Council of Nicaea (or Nicea) was convened in AD 325 and issued statements on the Trinity and the divinity of Christ. The Second Council of Nicaea (AD 787) was called to definitively settle the issue of the use of images in worship. The use and eventual worship of images had become a contentious matter in the church. Many individuals who worshipped or venerated images argued that it was not the images themselves but the figures they represented—such as Mary, the angels, various saints, and so on—that were being venerated.

For approximately 300 years, certain church leaders had been striving to halt the veneration of images, while others were supportive of it. The Roman Emperors Leo III and his son Constantine V had attempted to suppress the practice, but they faced opposition from church leaders who endorsed it. The Second Council of Nicaea was convened to resolve the dispute.

Those who objected to the use of images did so on the basis that it contravened the Second Commandment: “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God” (Exodus 20:4-5;ESV). Conversely, those who advocated for the use of images in worship argued that the practice was akin to the worship of the Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament. By making this argument, the proponents assumed that the Angel of the Lord was not a theophany—an actual manifestation of God—but merely a messenger representing God who accepted worship on His behalf.

Ultimately, the Second Council of Nicaea concluded that the use of images was acceptable as long as the reverence shown to the images and the individuals they represented differed from the worship of God. The council drew a fine distinction between the worship.Of images and the worship of God, assigning each type of worship a term of its own: proskynesis (“bowing before and venerating”) was the worship of images, and latria was the adoration and worship reserved for God alone.

By doing so, the Second Council of Nicea established a category of lesser worship not found in Scripture. Even if the Angel of the Lord is not a manifestation of God Himself but rather a messenger who receives worship on behalf of God, that is quite distinct from people creating images and then worshipping them or, through them, worshipping other created beings such as saints and angels. Today, the Catholic Church teaches three levels of honor or worship: dulia, hyperdulia, and latria.

The Protestant Reformers completely rejected such extrabiblical distinctions in worship and thus opposed the ruling of the Second Council of Nicea. Churches of the Reformation abolished the use of any images in the worship of God and also prohibited prayers and any form of worship directed to Mary, saints, or angels—whether with or without images.