纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 067正信凯旋圣像（5）（在线收听）

But what exactly is the Triumph of Orthodoxy, as shown in our painting at the British Museum? To find out, we've got to go back about seven hundred years. Given the centrality of icons in Orthodox worship, and the fervour with which they're described, it comes as a shock to discover that for a hundred and fifty years they were not only forbidden in Orthodox churches, but actively sought out and smashed. Around the year 700, the Byzantine Empire nearly succumbed to the armies of a new faith, Islam. In striking distinction to Christianity, Islam forbad the use of religious images, yet it was clearly an alarmingly successful faith. Had Christianity taken a wrong turn? Was it breaking the Second Commandment - the one that forbids the making of graven images? Was the state Church on the wrong road, was that why the military campaigns were going so badly? Suddenly, the use of images in church seemed to raise a huge and fundamental political question. Here's Diarmaid MacCulloch again:

"Can you picture God, or can't you? The huge dispute in the Byzantine Empire is one of those classic instances where that simple question is debated and becomes an issue which is actually very political, it splits the Empire down the middle. What happened in the Byzantine Empire was that it met an extraordinary trauma, which was Islam. Came from nowhere and smashed the Empire into smithereens, and naturally the Byzantines wondered, 'What's this all about? Why is God favouring these Muslims who have come from nowhere?' The one big thing that struck them about Islam was that there were no pictures of God, and that this might be the answer. That if you turn Christianity away from having pictures of God, then the Byzantine Empire might get God's favour back, and that seems to be one of the big motives in attacking images, icons, within the Byzantine Empire."

这幅正信凯旋圣像到底有什么含义呢？想了解它，还要再往前追溯七百年。在了解了东正教中圣像的核心地位以及绘制过程中的热枕之后，下面的信息也许会让?你震惊：曾有一百五十年的时间，东正教教会禁止敬拜任何圣像，信众还积极地寻找并销毁已有的画像。那是在公元七百年左右，拜占庭帝国几乎被一种全新信仰一伊斯兰教—一的军队摧毁了。与基督教截然不同的是，伊斯兰教禁止敬拜宗教画。在当时的背景下，伊斯兰教显然所向披靡。基督教是否走错了方向？是破坏了十诫中的第二诫“严禁雕刻偶像”的缘故吗？国家教会是否踏入了歧途？是否因此导致了如此惨烈的战争？一夜之间，圣像的使用在教会中引发了广泛而根本性的讨论。对此，戴尔梅德马克库罗奇认为：

你能描绘出神的模样吗？拜占庭帝国曾经就此展开激烈的争论，这实则是一个把简单的问题演化成政治话题的典型例子，使整个帝国分为势力相当的两大阵营。

强大的拜占庭帝国遭受了重创，几乎要被横空出世的伊斯兰势力碾碎。拜占庭人自然会产生疑问：“这是为什么？为什么神会庇佑那些不知来自何处的穆斯林？”让他们大受冲击的是，穆斯林没有任何圣像画，也许这就是答案。因而他们认为，如果抛弃基督教之前绘制圣像的传统，也许拜占庭帝国就能再次赢得上帝的卷顾。这可能就是当时拜占庭人在境内攻击画像和圣像的一大动机。