The veneration of Mary was allowed by church councils from early on, but it was not very long before there were attempts to ban religious images as objects of veneration. Thus, there was an acknowledgment of excess as well as a clinging to this type of piety.
Eucumenical Church Councils
The initial Council of Jerusalem in 50 or 51 AD was attended by the apostles. After this there were four councils of the church attended by the five church patriarchs of Jerusalem (Jewish Church of Judea), Antioch (Syriac Church), Alexandria (Coptic Church of Egypt), Constantinople (Greek Church) and Rome (Latin Church). The councils were as follows:
- Council of Nicaea 325 AD – established the Nicene Creed
- Council of Constantinople 381 AD – on the divinity of the Holy Spirit
- Council of Ephesus 431 AD – rejection of Nestorianism regarding the human nature of Christ and proclaimed Mary as the Mother of God
- Council of Chalcedon 451 AD – defined the two natures of Christ human and divine, and planted the equality of bishops of Constantinople and Rome. The bishop of Rome and his papal delegates rejected this last proposition.
These four councils of the 4th and 5th century are recognized by Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant Christians. They all took place in what is now Turkey but at the time was called Asia Minor.
The Council of Ephesus took place at the Church of the Councils built on the site of a Roman building called ‘Hall of the Muses’. This church was dedicated to the Theotokos, Mary Mother of God.
The Council of Ephesus gave rise to the approval of liturgies, prayers and processions to honour Mary. An excessive piety based on religious images such as icons and statues of Mary and the saints grew up over the next 300 years. Christianity started to resemble the Cult of Artemis to a far greater extent than to the early Jewish Church of the first 40 years in Jerusalem. It was the Byzantine emperors, the successors to Constantine the Great who attempted to rectify this situation.
The Byzantine Emperor Leo III issued a decree in 726 against the worship of icons whether religious images of Christ or of the saints.
Emperor Constantine V summoned the Council of Hieria in 754 AD. It took place in the palace of Hieria at Chalcedon, Constantinople. This council condemned the veneration of icons and images in liturgy as heretical. However, the five patriarchs who led the church were not present: the episcopal sees of Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem didn’t go as they were by then under Islamic dominion; Constantinople was vacant; and Rome was not invited. It was dubbed the ‘Headless council’.
The ‘Headless Council’ decisions to ban the veneration of icons was overturned by the Lateran Council of 769 in Rome. The upholding of piety through religious images was made official with the Second Council of Nicaea in 787. This council took place in Hagia Sophia Church, Iznik. This church is now the Orhan Mosque. With this council the veneration of holy images was entirely reinstated both in the Eastern and Western churches. It was also agreed that every alter should contain a relic – usually the physical remains of a saint.
The Second Council of Nicaea was the 7th eucumenical council and it was the last recognized council of the Eastern Orthodox and the Western Catholic Church.
By the Fourth Council of Constantinople in 869 Pope Leo III had gained a new title given to him by Charles the Great or Charlemagne King of the Franks, Lombards and Emperor of the Romans. He had also got the keys to the tomb of St. Peter on Vatican Hill in Rome (not only the symbolic keys, but the actual keys).
When Pope Nicholas I of Rome went to the eucumenical council, he refused to recognize the patriarch Photios I of Constantinople. They had a disagreement on the Holy Spirit and the creed. This was the last time that Orthodox and Catholic Churches met for a council meeting. This is where the schism took place between East and West.
Subsequent councils of the High Middle Ages in Rome included Latin Catholics only. They dealt with the election of the Pope, problems with anti-popes and the celibacy of priests was imposed as priests’ marriages were declared non-existent in 1139 AD.
The Catholic Church of the West was a Norman Church fitting in with this new power structure.
The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century finally brutally swept away the veneration of statues of saints and religious images, along with reliquaries, incense dispensors, alter candles and all the prayers, processions and pilgrimages that went with these devotions.
The Council of Trent (Trento, Italy) in 1545-1565 was the council of the Counter-Reformation. It defined Catholic belief and condemned Protestant beliefs as heresies. This set the battle lines between Protestants and Catholics which are still felt today.
The Protestant Reformation which began in 1517 with Martin Luther and the 95 theses nailed to a church door totally banned all religious images whether statues, icons, frescoes or paintings. Only the symbol of the cross was maintained but with no figure on it.
Merry and True 
I’ve just caught up with your last few blogs Clare and find them really informative and helpful 👍 However, just one point relating to your 6th October blog – Catholics locally say that this month is the month of Mary (as Southern Hemisphere) and are meeting in groups to say the rosary 📿
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You could be right.
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