Evolution of Icons in the Byzantine Church

Art has always been a vehicle for people to express their ideas, their beliefs, their values and themselves.  Throughout time it has been used to serve a myriad of varying objectives ranging from decoration to education to pure expression of ideas.  The Byzantine Churchtook full advantage of art, icons in particular, to serve its own needs, adapting and reforming over the course of time as the church evolved.  The artwork and architecture of the Byzantine Church reflect the transformations the church doctrine underwent over the centuries.

During the formative centuries of the Byzantine Church, great church thinkers and leaders felt a pressing need to formulate the theology of their faith in a way that would explain the underlying fundamentals of their belief system.  They faced many problems elucidating the basic principles of Christianity, such as the nature of the trinity as a monotheistic doctrine and the exposition of Christ’s two natures.  In response to this quest, many scholars put forth explanations for review by the Ecumenical Councils.  When the explanations presented did not meet with the approval of the councils, they decried it as a heresy; a great challenge to Orthodoxy.  To ensure the triumph of Orthodoxy, the art created in this tumultuous period was devised in ways that would support the decisions of the councils, and re-emphasize to the faithful exactly what to believe.