IMAGE WORSHIP

IMAGE WORSHIP in the Christian Church is reverence, as distinct from the supreme adoration of the Deity, paid to the crucifix and to pictures, images, or statues of saints and martyrs, and understood really as offered through these to the personages whom they represent. The practice, unknown in apostolic or sub-apostolic times, was prevalent in the 4th century, provoked by its excesses a severe reaction in the 8th century, but carefully defined by the second Council of Nice (787), has continued since both in the Greek and Roman communion; there is still controversy as to its propriety in the Anglican Church; the Lutherans still use the crucifix freely, but other Protestant Churches have entirely repudiated the practice.