Te teology of the icon in the West during Byzantine iconoclasm (7th - 9th centuries) and in subsequent years

Te iconoclast controversy in Byzantium in the 8th and 9th centuries had an equally significant role in the West. Te discussion about the veneration of images not only shaped Eastern theology of the icon, but also led to a more clear exposition of the Western view of the place and role of icons in the life of the Church. In this article, the author considers the reaction of two Western theological schools (the Roman and the Frankish) to Byzantine iconoclasm. Te rationalization of the icon in the Roman and Frankish schools is considered and the reasons for their different approaches to the views of the Byzantine iconodules are described. Te author also provides an overview of the subsequent development of the role of icons in West. Te author concludes that the result of the Roman school of theology was the development of the Roman Catholic view of the icon as a didactic and decorative image. Te views of Frankish theologians led to the decline in the role of icons in liturgical life; this theology would subsequently become the source of the iconoclastic arguments of the Reformers.