Yuliyan Velikov - Ninth-Century Voices in Defence of the Holy Cross and Icons in response to Claudius of Turin’s Iconoclasm

Libri Carolini, as an expression of a very high theology in the West in the early ninth century, mainly through Teodulf of Orléans, puts forward the “Carolingian orthodox” view on the Holy Icons and Cross that denounces both the iconoclastic position and the decisions of the Nicaea Council II (787). Hence, regardless of the doctrine of the Church about Icon veneration and drawing upon the decisions of the Frankfurt Council (794), some authors held a different view on icons by refuting their veneration (Hrabanus Maurus, Agobard of Lyons, Hincmar of Reims, among others), and even opposing the worship of the Holy Cross (Claudius of Turin). This short communication focuses on the issue of the Christian Image in the ninth century in the West and examines the arguments that the celebrated Irish recluse and scholar Dungal and archbishop Jonas of Orléans developed in response to the radical iconoclastic ideas of  Claudius of Turin against the Holy Cross and Icons.