Irene of Athens
Empress from Athens who reigned with her son Constantine VI from 780, chose Tarasius as patriarch and called the council of 787 that restored the veneration of images. In 797 her son was blinded, by her will according to Theophanes, and she ruled alone.
Theophanes records that Irene came from Athens in November 769 to be married to the emperor Leo IV (Theophanes, Chronicle AM 6261 (p. 444)), and that on 8 September 780 she and her son Constantine, a widow and an orphan child as he puts it, took up the rule of the empire (Theophanes, Chronicle AM 6273 (p. 454)). She put forward Tarasius as patriarch, asked Pope Hadrian I for legates, removed from the capital the regiments that broke up the first meeting, and saw the Second Council of Nicaea Restores Icons through; she and her son signed its definition in the palace (Theophanes, Chronicle AM 6277–6280 (pp. 458–463)).
In August 797 her son was blinded, by her will and that of her advisers according to Theophanes, and she reigned alone (Theophanes, Chronicle AM 6289 (p. 472)). It was during her sole reign that Charlemagne was crowned emperor at Rome, and Theophanes says that envoys from Charles and Pope Leo came to propose a marriage between them that would unite East and West (Theophanes, Chronicle AM 6293–6294 (p. 475)). Theophanes, a defender of images, repeatedly calls her “most pious”.
In the timeline
- AD 787, firm dateThe Second Council of Nicaea Restores Icons
A council called by the empress Irene and led by the patriarch Tarasius, with legates of Pope Hadrian I, overturns the iconoclast council of 754. It decrees that images are to be set up and honoured, and that worship in the full sense belongs to God alone.