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The question of images had an important place in the Council called and presided over by Charlemagne at Frankfurt - see glossary (794). * Both civil and ecclesiastical - see glossary rulers were present, so that it legislated - see glossary on all matters. The Pope sent his representatives. The decisions of the Second Council of Nicaea, which had established the service and adoration of the images, were set aside, though they had been confirmed by the Pope and accepted in the East. In their zeal for images, those who favoured their use went so far as to call their opponents, not only iconoclasts, but also Mohammedans.
Nevertheless it was laid down in Frankfurt that all worship of images was to be rejected; there was to be no adoration, worship, reverence, veneration of them; no kneeling, burning of lights or offering of incense before them, nor any kissing of lifeless images, even though representing the Virgin and the Child; but images might be allowed in churches as ornaments and as memorials of pious men and pious deeds. Also the teaching that God can only be worshipped in the three languages.Latin - see glossary , Greek, and Hebrew - see glossary , was controverted - see glossary , and it was affirmed that "there is no tongue in which prayer may not be offered."
The representatives of the Pope were not then in a position to protest. The general feeling of the Franks, in their wars against, and missions to, the heathenSaxons - see glossary , was not favourable to idolatry.
Louis, the third son of Charlemagne, who was at that time King of Aquitaine, succeeded his father as Emperor (813). He was an admirer of a Spaniard named Claudius, a diligent student of the Scriptures, who had become renowned for his Commentaries on the Bible. As soon as he became Emperor, Louis appointed Claudius Bishop ofTurin - see glossary . The new bishop, with his knowledge and love of Scripture, took immediate advantage of the favourable circumstances created by the Council of Frankfurt, going even beyond its decrees in removing from the churches of Turin all images, which he called idols, not excepting the crosses. So many approved that no effective resistance could be made in Turin.
{* "Latin Christianity" Dean Milman Vol.III.}
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