The Council of Blachernae was convened in late 1094 by the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos and held in Constantinople at Blachernae Palace in order to resolve the case of Leo of Chalcedon.
Alexios I was in a desperate situation upon ascending the throne in 1081. With the Byzantine-Norman Wars draining what little money remained in the imperial treasury, and Robert Guiscard marching across the Balkans, Alexios was forced to assemble a synod of Greek ecclesiastics who authorised him to employ the wealth gathered as offerings in the churches for public service. This act was violently opposed by many of the clergy, with Leo, Bishop of Chalcedon being among the most prominent.
Leo declared that the government had committed sacrilege in melting down sacred objects which were entitled to the adoration of Christians. Leo's opposition forced the emperor to back down temporarily in 1082. The resumption of confiscations soon after and the lack of resistance by Patriarch Nicholas III and the other leading bishops led Leo to break communion with the patriarchate in 1084. Alexios took advantage of his claims that seemed to attribute more than orthodox importance to these objects. In 1086 another synod was convened and Leo's opinions were condemned as heretical. The synod indicted and deposed him before being banished to Sozopolis where the locals regarded him as a saint.
Finally in 1094, a local church council was convened to settle the dispute once and for all. The technical discussions centered on the Second Council of Nicaea held in 787, and its ruling that "worship" was due to God only, and the "relative veneration" that could be given to images. This notion of "veneration" was perceived to be ultimately directed to the "prototypes", or the holy person the image was supposed to depict, not the materials out of which the images were fashioned. Leo, however, insisted that a secular use of the material was identical to blasphemous disrespect for the image and, ultimately, the prototype. His technical argument was that the Logos had assumed a human "form" as depicted materially on the icon. Therefore, this 'form' was integrated in the divine person.
The Council repudiated this view, and Leo ultimately accepted the council's view that since "worship" was not addressed to the material image, the urgent requirements of the empire could be met at the cost of giving up the treasures of the church.
An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, the Roman Catholic, and certain Eastern Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most common subjects include Christ, Mary, saints and angels. Although especially associated with portrait-style images concentrating on one or two main figures, the term also covers most religious images in a variety of artistic media produced by Eastern Christianity, including narrative scenes, usually from the Bible or the lives of saints.
The Second Council of Nicaea is recognized as the last of the first seven ecumenical councils by the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. In addition, it is also recognized as such by the Old Catholics and others. Protestant opinions on it are varied.
The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople is one of the fourteen to sixteen autocephalous churches that together compose the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is headed by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, currently Bartholomew I, Archbishop of Constantinople.
Iconodulism designates the religious service to icons. The term comes from Neoclassical Greek εἰκονόδουλος (eikonodoulos), meaning "one who is serves images (icons)". It is also referred to as iconophilism designating a positive attitude towards the religious use of icons. In the history of Christianity, iconodulism was manifested as a moderate position, between two extremes: Iconoclasm and iconolatry.
Nicholas III Grammatikos or Grammaticus was an Eastern Orthodox patriarch of Constantinople (1084–1111).
Isaac Komnenos or Comnenus was a notable Byzantine aristocrat and military commander in the 1070s. Isaac played a major role in the rise to the throne of his younger brother, the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, and remained a leading figure in his brother's administration until his death.
Byzantine Iconoclasm refers to two periods in the history of the Byzantine Empire when the use of religious images or icons was opposed by religious and imperial authorities within the Orthodox Church and the temporal imperial hierarchy. The First Iconoclasm, as it is sometimes called, existed between about 726 and 787. The Second Iconoclasm was between 814 and 842. According to the traditional view, Byzantine Iconoclasm was started by a ban on religious images by Emperor Leo III and continued under his successors. It was accompanied by widespread destruction of images and persecution of supporters of the veneration of images. The pope remained firmly in support of the use of images throughout the period, and the whole episode widened the growing divergence between the Byzantine and Carolingian traditions in what was still a unified church, as well as facilitating the reduction or removal of Byzantine political control over parts of Italy.
In the history of Christianity, the first seven ecumenical councils include the following: the First Council of Nicaea in 325, the First Council of Constantinople in 381, the Council of Ephesus in 431, the Council of Chalcedon in 451, the Second Council of Constantinople in 553, the Third Council of Constantinople from 680–681 and finally, the Second Council of Nicaea in 787.
Saint Mary of Blachernae is an Eastern Orthodox church in Istanbul. The little edifice, built in 1867, got the same dedication as the shrine erected in this place in the fifth century which, until its destruction in 1434, was one of the most important sanctuaries of Greek Orthodoxy.
The Fourth Council of Constantinople was the eighth ecumenical council of the Catholic Church held in Constantinople from October 5, 869, to February 28, 870. It was poorly attended, the first session by only 12 bishops and even the final one by only 103. In contrast the pro-Photian council of 879-80 was attended by 383 bishops. The Council met in ten sessions from October 869 to February 870 and issued 27 canons.
Eustratius of Nicaea was Metropolitan bishop of Nicaea in the early 12th century. He wrote commentaries on Aristotle's second book of the Analytica Posteriora and the Ethica Nicomachea.
The Lateran Council of 649 was a synod held in the Basilica of St. John Lateran to condemn Monothelitism, a Christology espoused by many Eastern Christians. The Council did not achieve ecumenical status in either East or West, but represented the first attempt of a pope to convene an ecumenical council independent of the Roman emperor.
Leo of Chalcedon was an 11th-century Eastern Orthodox bishop of Chalcedon who opposed the appropriation of church treasures by Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos between 1081 and 1091.
Adrianos Komnenos was a Byzantine aristocrat and general, and a younger brother of the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos.
Constantine Choirosphaktes was a Byzantine diplomat and official active during the reigns of Nikephoros III Botaneiates and Alexios I Komnenos.
Constantine Euphorbenos Katakalon was a Byzantine noble and one of the most prominent generals of the reign of Alexios I Komnenos.
The Metropolis of Chalcedon is an ecclesiastical territory (diocese) of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Christianity spread in Chalcedon during the 2nd century AD. The city was initially the see of a bishopric before being promoted to a metropolis at 451 AD, at the time of the Fourth Ecumenical Council. It is one of the four remaining active Greek Orthodox Church metropolises of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Turkey today and the only one surviving in Asia Minor (Anatolia).
John Taronites was a Byzantine aristocrat who served as provincial governor in the Balkans under his uncle, Emperor Alexios I Komnenos.
Bardas Hikanatos was a senior Byzantine official under Alexios I Komnenos
In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the endemic synod or endemousa synodos was the permanent standing synod of bishops of the Patriarchate of Constantinople that met frequently but irregularly to deal with issues of discipline and dogma. It was convoked and presided over by the patriarch.
