yoke of the State. (2) Theodore thought he detected an attack on the doctrine of the incarnation. Here the discussion enters the region of theological controversy. The Iconoclasts were suspected of monophysitism. They had come from the home of the Monophysites in Asia Minor—the instigator of the first attack from Isauria, the leader of the second from Armenia. Then the controversy was diverted from its original question. It was no longer merely supposed to be the contention of the Iconoclasts that the worship of images was idolatry; they were charged with denying that any true picture of Christ could be made, because as God He had no longer a circumscribed bodily form. The contention of the image worshippers, on the other hand, was that this line of argument destroyed the permanence of the incarnation. The humanity of Christ is lost if He is not such that He can be represented in a picture. (3) The dreadful charge of Manichæism—so often revived in heresy controversies—was raised against the Iconoclasts. Their aversion to a representation of the bodily appearence of Christ was taken by the image worshippers as a sign of their reprobation of matter as evil in itself. So was their objection to kissing the pictures.
We must admit that there was some ground for Theodore's contentions. The iconoclastic emperors may have had a good cause; but they spoilt it by their tyranny. They did not go the way to effect a genuine reformation of religion. Then there was a real danger lest the incarnation itself should be lost in theories about it. A picture of Christ was a wholesome antidote to the abstractions of metaphysical theology in relation to the Second Person of the Trinity. Possibly, too, some truly religious influence was exercised by the contemplation of the pictures. They were thought to have a sacramental efficacy. Whatever may be said of the mysticism or materialism of this view, we must acknowledge that the aim of devout defenders of the popular worship was high and pure. They maintained that the picture of Christ brought Him near to those who
