Free Essay On What Would Have Made An Icon Like This Controversial In Eighth And Ninth Century Byzantium?

Use of religious icons (images) in the Byzantine Empire in the period of 8th and 9th centuries brought a dispute known as iconoclastic controversy. Several reasons were tabled by iconoclasts to back their reasons to object to icon worship. The picture provided is of Mary the virgin and supposed Baby Jesus plus angels and saints. This is the type of icon whose use was prohibited by the early church and, therefore, is sure to have gotten opposition in the period of the church. Some of the reasons being the possibility of idolatry and prohibition against images in the Bible, ten commands. On the contrary, those defending icon worship based their support on symbolic nature of the images as well as the dignity of the created matter.
One of the reasons that the icon could have brought controversy is by blasphemy. The early church saw symbols of this kind be mocking the Holy Trinity and, therefore, deserved not to exist. The early Church was against the use of portraits of Christ and the saints, and they tried by all means to stop the usage of such like icons as they considered it blasphemy. Despite the opposition of the use of the images, they were still used as symbols in many places.
The other reason that this icon could have been of controversy is the appearance of the walking rods that the saints had. These rods have a cross on them while we see that the baby (Christ) is still a small kid. The cross implies that Christ had been crucified while we still see him as a child hence controversial. The angels in the background have the controversial appearance as they seem to be wearing hats which are never a symbol of holiness. These aspects of the image could have brought controversy in the early church era.