Leo III Launches the Iconoclast Movement

Name: Leo III Launches the Iconoclast Movement
Start: 726
End: 730

Type Event Region Byzantine Time 726–730

Around 726 CE, Byzantine Emperor Leo III issued an edict banning the public veneration of icons and began removing the statue of Christ before the Gr…

Timeline

726Constantinople · Byzantine EmpireIn the name of opposing idolatry and purifying the faith, Leo III ordered the removal of public icons in the capital and began extending the ban to churches throughout the empire's provinces.
726–730Constantinople · Byzantine EmpireThe removal of icons sparked riots in the capital, protests by clergy and laity, and condemnation in letters from Pope Gregory II, worsening relations between the empire's west and Rome.
730–787Byzantine Empire · Byzantine EmpireThe empire enforced iconoclasm through decrees and administrative measures; icons in monasteries were systematically removed, and those who upheld icon veneration faced persecution and exile.

Sources

Byzantine Iconoclasm — Leslie Brubaker https://www.britannica.com/event/Iconoclastic-Controversy
A History of the Byzantine State and Society — Warren Treadgold (1997)