III. In 754 the Iconoclast Emperor Constantine V called in the imperial city a council of 338 bishops. Through cowardice and servility they approved the heretical attitude of the emperor and his father Leo III, also the arguments of the Iconoclast party and their measures against the defenders of the sacred images. They anathematized St. Germanus of Constantinople and St. John Damascene, and denounced the orthodox as idolaters, etc.; at the same time they resented the spoliation of the churches under pretext of destroying images (see ICONOCLASM).
The Catholic Encyclopedia
Council of Constantinople (A.D. 754)
1 section
Charles G. Herbermann and others (editors)
Transcribed from a dated scan; artifacts may remain. Edition notes
Trans. None. Written in English by the contributors whose signatures close each article., The Catholic Encyclopedia, An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church, in fifteen volumes, 1907-1908. Public domain.