Germanus I
Patriarch who refused to sign the emperor Leo III’s measure against images, saying that the faith could not be changed without an ecumenical council, and resigned in January 730.
Theophanes says that Germanus had been patriarch for fourteen years and five months when, on 7 January 730, the emperor Leo III called him before a council of state and pressed him to subscribe against the icons. He refused, laid down his episcopal stole and retired to his family’s house at Platanion; his assistant Anastasius took his place (Theophanes, Chronicle AM 6221 (pp. 407–409)). The Roman Liber Pontificalis records the same change and says that Pope Gregory II would not recognise Anastasius (Liber Pontificalis Gregory II (ed. Duchesne, vol. 1, p. 409)).
John of Damascus, writing soon afterwards, speaks of him as punished and in exile (John of Damascus, On the Divine Images 2 (p. 70)). The council of 754 anathematized him as a “worshipper of wood” (Council of Hieria (754), acclamations). See the Iconoclast Controversy Begins.
In the timeline
- AD 726–730, estimated dateThe Iconoclast Controversy Begins
The emperor Leo III moves against religious images, and the patriarch Germanus resigns rather than consent. John of Damascus writes in their defence from outside the empire. In 754 a council under Leo’s son condemns images as contrary to the doctrine of Christ.