Images of saints and their relics : debates on representation and worship in the ninth century between Constantinople, Rome, and the Carolingians

From studying the Libri Carolini, the dossier related to the Paris Assembly of 825, plus the writings of Agobard of Lyon, Claudius of Turin, Dungal of Pavia, Jonas of Orléans, Einhard, and Walafrid Strabo, this paper examines the discussion of the veneration of saints, their images, and relics in the Carolingian treatises on image worship. Since the late-eighth century, the Carolingian theologians took a stance on image worship that can be considered to be intermediate between the positions of the Greek iconomachs and of the Roman church: they accepted the existence and didactic function of images, but they rejected both their veneration and destruction. Along this continuum they showed many nuances between iconophobia and iconophilia, as well as different attitudes toward the veneration of saints and relics. Analyzed together, the Byzantine and Western sources allow us both to understand the originality of the Carolingian views and to detect significant affinities with the positions of other centers of the debate on the veneration of saints and images.