st. john of damascus (676-749 - Cristo Raul

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60 ST. JOHN OF DAMASCUS.
reflect upon the emperor s conduct, by throwing on the
ground a coin bearing his image and stamping upon
it. For this he was imprisoned afresh ;
but his act
was applauded so warmly, that Constantine was
driven to exclaim,
I, or is this monk, emperor
of the world ? The words, just as in the parallel
case from our own history, were caught up by eager
courtiers. The prison in which Stephanus was
confined was burst open, he himself was dragged
through the streets by a rope tied to his heels till he
was dead, and his body thrown into a receptacle for
suicides and criminals. 1 Such proofs of indomitable
resolution in his opponents may have convinced
Copronymus that his hands would need strengthen
ing by the support of church councils. Accordingly,
in 754, he convened an assembly of bishops from his
own dominions to the shores of the Bosphorus. The
pope disregarded the summons, and would not
attend ;
the patriarch of Constantinople (Anastasius)
was dead ;
the other three patriarchates were under
Mahometan sway. Still, an imposing array of three
hundred and thirty-eight bishops was collected, and
by their pliant decisions the iconoclastic principles
were confirmed. The chief defenders of imageworship
were anathematised by name; the old
patriarch Germanus, George, metropolitan of Cyprus,
and, above all, John of Damascus, being conspicuous
objects of displeasure. Anathema to Mansour,"
ran the sentence, "cursed favourer of the Saracens,
traitorous worshipper of images, wronger of Jesus
Robertson, ii., p. 105.