Icons may be venerated
Doctrine · On images and the saints · from 787
Images of Christ, the Mother of God and the saints are to be set up and given honourable reverence, the honour paid to the image passing to its prototype.
The horos of Nicaea II, and the sentence that carries it is Basil's: the honour paid to the image passes to what it depicts. It is why the argument is about Christology and not about art.
Held it
- 730 — Germanus I of Constantinople (Defends). Resists the emperor order and resigns the see rather than subscribe. The Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire · Hussey, part 1, on the iconoclast controversy
- 730 — John of Damascus (Defends). Argues that the Incarnation makes the invisible depictable, so that to forbid the image is to doubt the flesh. New Advent (Fathers and Catholic Encyclopedia) · John of Damascus, On the Divine Images, oration 1
- 787 — The Second Council of Nicaea (Defines). Decrees that the venerable images are to be set up and given honourable reverence. The Seven Ecumenical Councils (NPNF series 2 vol. 14) · Nicaea II (787), the Decree on the Holy Images
- 787 — The Decree on the Holy Images (Formulates). The text of the decree. The Seven Ecumenical Councils (NPNF series 2 vol. 14) · Nicaea II (787), the Decree on the Holy Images
- 787 — The Eastern Orthodox Church (Holds). Receives Nicaea II as the seventh ecumenical council and keeps the Sunday of Orthodoxy for its vindication. The Rudder (Pedalion) · the Rudder, on the 7th Ecumenical Council
- 815 — Theodore the Studite (Defends). Leads the resistance of the second iconoclasm from Stoudios. The Orthodox Church in the Byzantine Empire · Hussey, part 1, on the iconoclast controversy
In the disputes
- Iconoclasm Whether Christ may be depicted, argued from Chalcedon by both sides: Hieria held that the two natures cannot be painted, since one cannot be circumscribed and the other cannot be shown alone; Nicaea II answered on the same ground and reached the opposite conclusion.
First stated in this form after The Seven Ecumenical Councils (NPNF series 2 vol. 14) · Nicaea II (787), the Decree on the Holy Images.