Relation of Image to its Prototype in Byzantine Iconophile Theology
Relation of Image to its Prototype in Byzantine Iconophile Theology

Summary/Abstract: This study explores the notion of the image as defined by Byzantine iconophile writers of the eight and ninth centuries, John of Damascus (675-749), Theodore the Studite (759-826) and Patriarch Nikephoros I of Constantinople (758-828). It was these three theologians who were mainly responsible for elaborating the iconophile apology of religious images during the two phases of Byzantine iconoclasm (from 726 to 787 and, from 813 to 843). Within the larger context of theological concerns, the iconophiles use the image-prototype vocabulary and the relationship between them as a part of great apologetical defense of icons as agents of knowledge and channels of power and grace. Elaborating and defining the nature of icon by its relation to the prototype, Theodore the Studite and Patriarch Nikephoros of Constantinople introduce and apply the terminology of Aristotelian logic as well as ideas of Plato and Neo- Platonist regarding image cult. At the same time, the iconophiles justify image representation on the basis of Christian theology, drawing extensively from scriptural and patristic evidence.

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