History of the Byzantine Era and Significance Today

Like John of Damascus, Theodore the Studite was an important literary figure and one of the principal people involved with the writing of the Canons. Theodore the Studite lived from 759-826 CE, and served as the abbot of the monastery of Studius in Constantinople from 798 CE until his death. Like John, Theodore was a defender of icons and believed that Iconoclasm was heresy. Theodore’s arguments against Iconoclasm can be found in his three formal tracts and in his letter that opposed Iconoclasm based on the human side of Christ’s nature, and on Theodore’s belief that symbolism was necessary in religious worship. Though Theodore did admit that God could not, and should not be depicted in art, he still believed that the denial of the legitimacy of Icons of Christ meant the denial of the Incarnation. He argued that it was false to hold the belief, as the Iconoclasts did, that the symbol was the same as the essence it symbolized. Had this been true, he believed that the defenders of images would have agreed that the legitimate icon of Christ was the sacred elements of prayer an…