A.D. 795-6. a holding conference with heretics," and, after a time, asked leave to introduce his friends, who had accompanied him to the palace, and, during his conference with the emperor, had been waiting without the gates. Of these the most prominent was Theodore, a priest, and abbot of a monastery in the capital, which had been founded by Studius, a noble Roman, and was better known by a name derived from his than by that of its patron, St. John the Baptist.b Theodore was a nephew of the abbot Plato, who had excommunicated Constantine VI. on account of his second marriage, and had vehemently opposed Tarasius for his compliance with the emperor's will in that affair. Theodore himself had taken part with his uncle; he had endured exile and other severities in punishment of his contumacy, and had incurred fresh penalties under the reign of Nicephorus, when some questions connected with Constantine's marriage were revived.d Under his care, the Studite community had increased the number of its members from about twelve to nearly a thousand; the strictness of its discipline had acquired for it an eminence above all other Greek monasteries; and the abbot's character and sufferings had won for him an influence which made him important even in the eyes of the sovereign. Theodore took up the cause of images with all his characteristic zeal. There were, indeed, among its partisans some extravagances so violent that he felt himself obliged to reject and censure them; but he himself went so far as to eulogise a high official for employing an image as sponsor for a child. He held that images were not for the unlearned only, but were necessary for the most advanced Christian; that a A.D. 808. See Baron. 814. 9; Neand. v. 268-9. b For Theodore the Studite, see Schröckh, xxiii. 105. His remains, with a Life by his disciple Michael, form the yth volume of Sirmond's 'Opera Varia,' Venet. 1728, and are more fully given in the Patrol. Gr. vol. xcix. Vita Theod. c. 20. See pp. 158-9. G. Hamartolus says that Theodote, the second wife of Constantine, was related to Theodore (cclvii. 14). There is a curious letter by Theodore, written towards the end of his life, in which he explains why Constantine might be stigmatised as a Herod, on account of his marriage, and yet might be commemorated as an orthodox emperor. Ep. ii. 218. d Vita, 22, 43-5; Theod. Laudatio Platonis, 31, 35; Ep. i. 21, 28; Narratio de Schismate Studitarum (Patrol. Gr. xcix.); Cedren. 477-8; Baron. 795-6, 808-9; Walch, x. 659. e Vita, 14, 28, seqq. f Thus, one of his letters (i. 15) is addressed to a stylite who had painted angels crucified, and the Saviour and angels as in old age. He finds it necessary to lay down repeatedly that the worship to be paid to images is not properly latreutic, but relative (oxETIKŃ), and that any other is idolatrous (Epp. ii. 85, 151, 161, 167, 212); and he ends his first dialogue (Antirrheticus, i. p. 83) by declaring, "If any one, carrying to excess the reverence of Christ's image, say that he does not approach it, and would get no benefit from it, unless he were first cleansed from all sin, he is without reason (λoyos-a variation from the preceding denunciations, of which each ends-" he is a heretic "). Ep. i. 17. reverence for them was necessary in order to a right faith in the Incarnation. If images were suppressed, he said, "our preaching is vain, and your faith is also vain."i On being admitted into the emperor's presence, Theodore entered on the subject of images with great vehemence. He reproached Leo for innovating in matters of religion, and reminded him of the fate which had befallen emperors who had been enemies of the faith. The Old Testament prohibitions of images, he said, are abolished by the Incarnation: if the law of Moses were to be regarded, how is it we worship the cross, which the law speaks of as accursed?-and he urged the other usual topics of his party. The emperor told him that his insolence was notorious, but that, if he wished for the glory of martyrdom, he would be disappointed. Theodore rejoined that the imperial power was limited to external matters; that, according to St. Paul, God had "set in the church first apostles, then prophets, and afterwards teachers," but that nothing was said of emperors; that the emperor was bound to obey in matters of religion, and not to usurp the office of others." "Do you exclude me from the church?" asked Leo. "It is not I," the monk replied, "but the Apostle; nay rather, it is you who by your deeds have excluded yourself." The emperor desired that Antony of Sylæum might be released from the excommunication which Nicephorus had pronounced against him; but this was refused, and at length Leo in anger dismissed the patriarch and his party. On leaving the palace Theodore was enthusiastically kissed by his companions, and was greeted with demonstrations of the warmest admiration on account of the stand which he had made." Leo now desired the friends of images to give up their meetings, to remain quietly at home, and to refrain from discussing the subjects which were in question; and he required them to bind themselves by a written promise of obedience. Some complied; but, before Nicephorus had signified his intentions, Theodore sent forth a violent circular addressed to all the monks of the empire,P censuring the patriarch for his neglect to take more decided measures against the emperor, and threatening with eternal punishment all who should desert the cause of images. He kept up a lively agitation by means of letters, visits, and conversations, and vehemently asserted the cause of images, in verse as well as in prose. The chief of his productions are three tracts which bear the title of "Antirrhetics"-the first two in the form of dialogue between an orthodox man and a heretic; the third, consisting of the iconoclastic objections with a triumphant answer to each of them. The emperor's opposition to images was not extreme. He did not wish to destroy them, or even to remove such as might be retained without superstition; nor did he desire to disturb the convictions of those who were attached to them, if they would consent to extend a like toleration to others." But the vehemence of Theodore and his party, who regarded the worship of images as an inseparable consequence of a right faith in the Incarnation, provoked Leo to measures of great severity. The soldiery, without waiting for a legal warrant (yet perhaps incited by the emperor, as his enemies asserted), broke out into tumult, and Dec. 814. rushed to the brazen gate, where the image of "the Surety," so famous in an earlier stage of the controversy, had been reinstated by Irene. They uttered much abusive language, and pelted the figure with dirt and stones; whereupon the emperor removed it, under the pretence of rescuing it from such indignities, and issued a commission for taking down images in general, wherever it could be done with safety. Images were broken, burnt, or bedaubed with clay and filth." Many refractory bishops, abbots, and others, were ejected and banished; among the sufferers was the chronicler Theophanes, who died in the island of Samothrace. At Christmas 814, the emperor went in state to St. Sophia's, having previously satisfied Nicephorus that no disorder was to be apprehended by drawing a picture from his bosom and kissing it. He advanced to the altar, and kissed the altar-cloth, which was embroidered with a representation of the Nativity." But when, in the course of the service, a denunciation of idolatry was read from Isaiah," one of the clergy stept forth, and, addressing the emperor, told him that God, by the prophet's words, commanded him to proceed firmly in his measures for the suppression of image-worship. • See p. 90. t Auct. Incert. 438; Schlosser, 412. u Vita Theod. 77. Walch, x. 694; Neand. v. 270-5; had done it out of custom, and refrained Finlay, ii, 139. on finding that his act was misconstrued. x. 675. 2 C. xl. 18, seqq. See the various accounts in Walch, x. 665. Cedrenus (490) places the scene in the patriarchate of Theodotus; some say that Theodotus was himself the speaker (as Const. Porph. i. 20); others name John the Grammarian. Walch, x. 618, 628. * Cedren. 489; Baron. 816. 1-4; Schlosser, 411. y Auct. Incert. 439; Schlosser, 412-3. He omitted this when he next attended the cathedral. Walch supposes that he b April, 816. Nicephorus fell seriously ill, and it was hoped that his death would spare the emperor the necessity of proceeding against him. But he recovered, and, as all attempts to treat with him were fruitless, he was deprived, and was shut up in a monastery, where he lived fourteen years longer. John the Grammarian was proposed as his successor, but was rejected as wanting in birth and in age; and the patriarchate was bestowed on Theodotus Cassiteras, a layman connected with the family of the Isaurian emperors, and the supposed prompter of the monk by whose prophecies Leo had been induced to attempt the suppression of image-worship. Theodotus, who is described by his opponents as "a man without reason, more dumb than the fishes, and ignorant of everything but impiety," gave great offence to the monastic party by his free and secular habits of life. He assembled a synod, which confirmed the judgments of the iconoclastic council of 754, and annulled those of the second Nicene council. The most eminent abbots had been summoned to take part in the assembly; but Theodore in their name sent a refusal in his usual vehement strain, condemning all who should attend, and declaring that he would not share in or regard any measures which might be taken without the consent of the lawful patriarch Nicephorus. In defiance of the imperial order against the public exhibition of images, he caused his monks on Palm Sunday to carry in solemn procession all those which belonged to the monastery, and to chant a hymn which began with the words, "We adore thine undefiled image."i m The emperor, greatly provoked by this daring contumacy, sent Theodore into banishment, where he remained for seven years.k He was removed from one place to another; he was often cruelly scourged, even to the danger of his life; his wounds were undressed, nor, when he fell seriously ill, could he obtain any attendance or relief; he suffered from want of food; he was imprisoned for three years in a loathsome subterranean dungeon, and was often threatened with death." But his resolution rose with the severity of his treatment. He declared that he would bear whatever might be inflicted on him, but that nothing should reduce him to silence." He found means of writing and of circulating letters which sus tained the determination of his party; he denounced the emperor as a Pharaoh and a Nebuchadnezzar, an enemy of the Saviour and of His virgin mother; and the increased punishment which he drew on himself by each offence served only to stimulate him to greater violence. He wrote to the bishop of Rome, to the three eastern patriarchs, and to the heads of some important monasteries, representing the oppressions of the church in the most moving terms, and earnestly praying for sympathy.1 A.D. 817. Paschal, who had just been raised to the papacy, refused to admit the imperial envoys into Rome, sent legates to intercede with Leo for the friends of images, and, in token of the interest which he took in them, built a monastery for Greek refugees, to whom he assigned the new church of St. Praxedis for the performance of service in their own language. The clergy of the party sought ordination in Italy; the laity, instigated by Theodore's teaching, refused religious offices at the hands of the iconoclastic clergy. Leo was more and more exasperated. The worshippers of images were scourged, banished, mutilated, blinded, or put to death; it was ordered that all pictures should be whitewashed, or taken down and burnt; spies were employed to discover all who possessed either images or books in defence of them, all who should venture to shelter a fugitive or to relieve a prisoner of the party. All hymns in honour of images were expunged from the liturgy, and care was taken to instil an abhorrence of images into children by means of their school-books.t Michael "the Stammerer," a general to whom Leo had been indebted for his throne, at length became discontented, and was convicted, by his own confession, of treasonable designs, on the eve of Christmas, 820. He was condemned to death, and Leo would have ordered the execution of the sentence to take place immediately, but for the intercession of his empress, who entreated him to defer it until after the festival. The emperor agreed, but, with a melancholy foreboding, told her that her pious scruples would cost her and her children dear." Michael was confined in the palace, and Leo, anxious to assure himself, went in the middle of the night to look whether the prisoner were safe. He found P Epp. passim; Schlosser, 418-423. 9 Epp. ii. 12-17. * Anastas. 215; Baron. 818. 14-17; Schlosser, 421-3. S Epp. ii. 215, p. 583; Neand. v. 276. Sym. Mag. de Leone, 6; Vita Niceph. 79; Schlosser, 423; Schröckh, xxiii. 364; Neand. v. 278-9. u Const. Porph. i. 21. It is said that Leo was about to throw him into the furnace used for heating the baths of the palace (Sym. Mag. de Leone, 7; Cedrenus, 492)" a tale," says Mr. Finlay, "fitter for the legends of the saints than for the history of the empire." ii. 148. |