A fact from Gero Cross appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 12 July 2008, and was viewed approximately 3,938 times (disclaimer) (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:
Did you know... that the Gero Cross(pictured) of about 970 AD is one of the earliest known depictions of the dead Christ on the cross?
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Article says it "has always been displayed" in the Cologne Cathedral. Since the cathedral was heavily damaged by British area bombing in World War II, one must assume the cross had been removed to protected storage during that time. ??? Sca (talk) 20:47, 2 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]
"in Byzantine art such images had been forbidden by the Second Council of Nicaea in 787, and probably had been extremely rare before that."
This sentence is confusing for several reasons. One is, I'm not aware of any place where the Second Council of Nicaea in its canons or in its sessions or its decree forbids free-standing monumental art. Second, that council is remembered for "promoting" religious art rather than forbidding it. Third, Session VI condemns "the God-forsaken heretics" because they "brought charges against the holy and spotless Church of the Christians for the setting up of the holy images." Is it likely that the council would condemn others for prohibiting religious imagery, and then go on to prohibit religious imagery itself? Fourth, the Council decreed: "the figure of the precious and life-giving Cross, [and] also the venerable and holy images, as well in painting and mosaic as of other fit materials, should be set forth in the holy churches of God, and on the sacred vessels and on the vestments and on hangings and in pictures both in houses and by the wayside." This seems to commend, not condemn, the kind of free-standing monumental art that this article says the Council condemned. Can anyone explain the discrepancy or else correct the sentence?
Why then are there no similar images in Orthodoxy? But it seems the 787 Council did not rule on statues per se, though there were some hostile comments during the proceedings. Perhaps because they wanted the Western Church on board. See this. But the main point about Orthodox hostility to monumental sculpture remains. Article amended. Johnbod (talk) 01:22, 27 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]
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