The Byzantine Iconoclasm lasted over a century and turned on a distinction that's easy to state and hard to live out: veneration versus worship.

The Distinction Worship (latria) is owed to God alone. Veneration (dulia) is the honor given to an image on account of what — or who — it represents. Kissing an icon of a saint, in this framework, no more constitutes worship of paint and wood than kissing a photograph of a loved one constitutes worship of paper.

How It Was Settled The Second Council of Nicaea in 787 AD affirmed this distinction formally, restoring the use of icons after decades of destruction. The theological argument rested heavily on the Incarnation: because God took on a visible, physical form in Christ, depicting that form was not a violation of the prohibition on graven images but a natural consequence of God becoming visible.

Why It Still Matters The Chalcedon-era Christological arguments and Nicaea II's argument about icons are more connected than they first appear — both are ultimately arguments about what it means for God to become fully human.