Page:The Greek and Eastern churches.djvu/227



war of the Byzantine emperors against image worship falls into two periods, being broken by an interval of a generation during which the practice was revived and encouraged by the government. The first period, consisting of the reigns of Leo the Isaurian and his son Constantine Copronicus, lasted for nearly half a century (from Leo's first decree in 726 to the death of Constantine in 775). This was followed by thirty-eight years of peace to the image worshippers, when the custom so dear to the hearts of the monks and the populace flourished again under the favour of the court as well as with the unvarying approval of the Church. Then another strong emperor, Leo the Armenian, returned to the example of his namesake from Isauria and renewed the attack on the pictures, and his policy was continued by his two successors; but this second iconoclastic campaign only lasted for twenty-nine years ( 813-842), during most of which it was carried on very mildly; and in the end image worship was effectually restored. It has since continued for more than a thousand years down to our own time, and it is now one of the chief characteristics of the Greek Church. In other words, the premature reformation, twice attempted, and