Coin of Constantine V
1. Constantine continued the successful military policy of his father and he was able to take the offensive in Asia Minor.
21. CONSTANTINE V AND THE FIRST RESTORATION OF IKONS
Under Leo III's son and successor the Isaurian Dynasty reached the height of its power and inconoclast policy hardened into outright persecution of the iconophiles (iconodoules). After Constantine's death, however, the military fortunes of the dynasty waned and support for iconoclasm declined, resulting in the first restoration of ikons in 797. Overall, the period was one of generally growing Byzantine military strength against the Arab and the Slavs.
A. Constantine V Copronymous (741-75)
Coin of Constantine V
1. Constantine continued the successful military policy of his father and he was able to take the offensive in Asia Minor.
a. The Arabs were weakened by their own political problems which led to the collapse of the Umyyad dynasty and its replacement by the Abbasid dynasty in 750.
b. The capital was moved from Damascus (in Syria) to Baghdad (in Iraq) and the Abbasids were generally less concerned with their western frontier than had the Umayyads.
2. Just as the Arab threat began to abate, there was new danger from Bulgaria.
a. The Bulgars were a Turkic people who conquered the local Slavs and settled on the empire's northern border in the 7th century.
b. Constantine pursued an aggressive policy against the Bulgars and he dealt them a crushing blow at the Battle of Anchialos in 763.
3. At the same time, Constantine V almost completely ignored the situation in the West and this led to a considerable change in Italy.
a. Since 726 the papacy had disagreed with Byzantine policy on iconoclasm and it now saw little difference between the schismatic Greeks and the heretical Germans.
b. Previously the papacy had looked to the Byzantine emperor as a military protector, but iconoclasm and the disinterest of the Isaurian emperors led to the collapse of this bond.
c. In 751 Revenna fell to the Lombards and the Exarchate of Ravenna ceased to exist.
d. Pope Stephen II sought another military protector and found one in the person of the Frankish ruler Pepin.
4. Constantine V was the most ferocious of the iconoclasm emperors.
a. He apparently believed strongly in iconoclasm doctrine and he composed theological tracts himself.
b. Iconoclast theology developed considerably and Christological arguments came to play a dominant role in the controversy.
c. The Council of Nicaea in 754 proclaimed iconoclast theology as orthodox, despite the opposition of such figures as the former patriarch Germanos, John of Damascus, and Stephen of Mt. Auxentius.
d. Constantine instituted a persecution of iconophiles and he struck especially at the monasteries, which were the centers of ikon veneration.
e. In his own zeal, Constantine went beyond the teachings of the Council of Hiera and condemned the cult of the saints.
f. In Byzantine historiographic tradition Constantine is known as Copronymous.
B. Leo IV the Khazar (775-80) and the Period of Transition
1. Leo IV was the son of Constantine V and his Khazar wife, hence he is often called "the Khazar."
2. He was himself an iconoclast, but the violent persecutions of his father ceased, in part under the influence of his wife Irene, who was an iconophile.
3. Under the Isaurian dynasty the principle of undivided hereditary rule continued to develop, and Leo IV crowned his young son Constantine VI as emperor, even though he had brothers of his own to whom he could entrust the throne.
C. Irene (780-802) and the First Restoration of Ikons
1. Irene controlled the regency for her young son and ruled as co-emperor with him after the premature death of Leo IV.
2. Irene appointed Tarasius, her former secretary and a layman who was favorable to ikons, as patriarch in 784.
3. She called a council to restore ikons in Constantinople in 786, but this was disrupted by Iconoclast soldiers and the council was moved to Nicaea and met in 787.
a. The council condemned the teachings of the council of 754, but allowed those implicated in iconoclasm to be reinstated.
b. The "monastic party" (not really a party, but individuals who took a rigorist stand) opposed this leniency and the seeds were sown for future disagreement within orthodoxy.
D. Disagreements between Irene and Constantine VI
1. As Constantine VI grew up he wanted to take a larger share in ruling the empire, but his mother hesitated to relinquish power.
2. Either because of his own religious feelings or, more likely, because he found support there, Constantine began to associate with iconoclasts who wished to undo the work of Irene.
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