ABSTRACT
The Seventh Ecumenical Council dealt with the use of images in the life and worship of the Church. Among the factors involved in the controversy that led up to and influenced the Council were the politics of the empire, the influence and the wealth of the monks, the pressure of the Moslem and Jewish polemic against idolatry, and the superstition of much popular religion. Theologically, the image controversy was a continuation of the Christological debates of the earlier councils. Each side argued its case, at least in part, on Christological premises. The Seventh Ecumenical Council, which nullified the Council of 754, was accepted by the Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Roman Catholic Church. It is not accepted by Protestants. In the eighth century it was opposed by the Carolingian Church and by the Synod of Frankfort, 794, though the issue was confused by faulty translation.
