The Definition

Second Council of Nicaea

The Seventh Ecumenical Council assembled at Nicaea in A.D. 787, in the reign of the Empress Irene, to restore the veneration of the holy icons after the iconoclast controversy. The council defined that images of Christ, of the Theotokos, and of the saints are to be set up and honoured — the honour paid to the image passing to its prototype — and distinguished this relative veneration from the worship due to God alone.

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33

The holy and Ecumenical synod, which by the grace of God and most pious command of the God-beloved and orthodox Emperors, Constantine and Leo, now assembled in the imperial residence city, in the temple of the holy and inviolate Mother of God and Virgin Mary, surnamed in Blachernæ, have decreed as follows.