But in addition to this internecine war with the Roman West, both state and material, the iconoclastic madness laid a solid foundation for centuries for the war of the Church, for the discord, struggle and disintegration of the Churches, Roman and Greek. Subconsciously, the dividing role of the national principle in the church was also manifested here. Until now, the ancient "Magna Graecia", i.e. the south of Italy (Puglia, Calabria, Sicily), where the Greeks lived and spoke their own Greek language at that time, as well as almost the entire Balkan Peninsula (Achaia, Epirus, Thessaly, Illyria, Macedonia, Dacia, Maesia, Dardania), according to the old imperial division, were considered provinces of the Western Roman Empire and therefore ecclesiastically belonged to the Roman Patriarchate. In them, however, church life according to the liturgical language, rites and customs flowed not along the Latin, but along the Greek channel. The Latin canon and the Latin rite were only just beginning to absorb the Greek rite in the far west, in the south of Italy. The farther to the East (in Achaia, Macedonia), the more insignificant was the influence of the Roman rite. But with the Greek language and the Greek liturgical rite, the Greeks of these regions considered themselves ecclesiastically loyal children of the Roman patriarch, the pope. Now this is supposed to end. Emperor Leo, in anger at the popes without a council, by his own authority redistributes the boundaries of the Patriarchates of Rome and Constantinople. He took by force the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the popes over this vast territory with hundreds of dioceses and bishops and subordinated it to the ecclesiastical, patriarchal authority of the Archbishop of Constantinople. The Patriarchs of Constantinople and all the Byzantines could not help but be carried away by the benefits of this national "victory" of theirs. And the Roman Church (the Pope) could not but treat this as uncanonical violence, the robbery of the "heritage – patrimony" of the Apostle Peter. It was this discord over power under Patriarch Photius (ninth century) that led to the sad division of the churches.

And the Roman popes, by this act of the Emperor Leo, as it were, threw themselves out of the boundaries of the finally renounced empire, broke away from its spirit and interests, and were pushed into the arms of the new Western "barbarians." The iconoclastic frenzy deepened the division between East and West.

Emperor Leo died on June 18, 741, after a glorious reign from a secular point of view and the strengthening of the power of his empire. And the church on the Sunday of Orthodoxy anathematized Leo in the following way: "To the first most evil iconoclast, and even more so to the Christ-fighter, to the evil beast, deceived by the two dogs of the Jews, to the demonic servant, to the God-hating warrior of the Church, to the torturer, and not to the king, to Leo the Isaurian and his false patriarch Anastasius, the persecutor of Christ's flock, and not to the shepherd, and to their mysteries — anathema!"

Constantine V (741-775)

The successor of all the policy of Leo was his son Constantine, who brought iconoclasm to the horrors of cruel persecution. A personality that is equally opposingly evaluated by secular Byzantines and ecclesiastical ones. Church historians attached to Constantine the nickname Copronymus (Κοπρωνυμος, Γnoetezny, i.e. in Church Slavonic namesake for pus, dung, feces), the chronicler Theophanes reports that he was so named because he was soiled in the very font of baptism. But it is more correct that the Orthodox called it so on other grounds. He was a maniacal lover of horses, tinkered with them, smeared himself with manure and assured his relatives and relatives that it was both pleasant and healthy. It was usually called Καβαλλινος - "Λoshadiny" - "Konstantin the Horseman", the church people only strengthened this nickname - "Dung".

Some historians praise Constantine to the skies for his victories and the rise in the economic well-being of the empire. But no one can deny his barbaric cruelty and sadism in religious persecution and his personal depravity. He was a homosexual, who ended his days in the worst putrid disease. Constantine's were attended (for the sake of the element of blasphemy) by his drinking companion from among the monks who had thrown themselves off, someone with the nickname της χαρας παπας — "the ancient father." Constantine's religious cynicism reached the point that it seemed that he was an enemy not of Orthodoxy, but of any religion. The chronicler relates: "The tsar reached such madness and maniacism that he ordered not to publicly call any of the saints of God a saint; spit on the relics they find, do not demand their intercession, for they can do nothing. In addition to this, the all-filthy impious man commanded: let no one call upon the intercession of Mary, for she can do nothing, and forbade her to be called the Mother of God. Holding a purse full of gold in his hand, and showing it to everyone, the king asked: What is the purse worth? They answered: it is expensive. Shaking out the gold, he asked again: what is it worth now? They answered: nothing. So Mary, said the emperor, not vouchsafed, the accursed one, even the name of the Mother of God, as long as she had Christ in her, was worthy of honor. And as soon as she gave birth to Christ, she is no different from other women. Have mercy on us from such blasphemy, O Lord!"

At the very beginning of his reign, Constantine had to endure a test that showed that his policy was an unreliable basis for power. His son-in-law, married to his sister Anna, the Armenian Artavazd, commander-in-chief in the territory of Armenia against the Arabs, took advantage of Constantine's departure to the eastern front. Relying on the icon-worshippers, Artabasdus decided to come to Constantinople and seize power. He succeeded. He announced the death of Constantine. In that case, he would be the legitimate successor. Artavazd announced the veneration of icons. The cowardly Patriarch Anastasius recognized Artabasdus, recognized the icons, and publicly declared that Constantine was a heretic who "shamelessly denied even the Divinity of Jesus Christ." For a whole year (742-743) the dual power lasted. Finally, Constantine came with troops to Constantinople, overthrew Artabasdus and blinded him along with his son. The treacherous Patriarch Anastasius was subjected to ridicule, but remained on the cathedra for his new repentance and readiness to serve iconoclasm.

This catastrophe was a warning to Constantine not to rush into torturing the religious conscience of his subjects. And in fact, for 11 whole years, no new changes were heard on the issue of icons. But after a respite and secret preparation, Constantine decided to move the matter forward by giving iconoclasm the authority of canonical conciliar consecration. When everything was prepared, Constantine ordered silentia, i.e. conferences of the clergy and laity initiated into the conspiracy, to be held in all the cities, and only after that the entire hierarchy was openly convened at a council in the capital. This is the famous iconoclastic cathedral of 754 (some researchers indicate 753).

Iconoclastic Cathedral of 754

How persistently the Emperor Constantine was focused on convening this council is shown by the fact that he literally abandoned Italy, which the Lombards were conquering inch by inch. Rome was threatened with occupation. Pope Stephen II begged Constantine to fulfill his promise and send troops and skilled generals to Italy to stop the advance of King Astolfos. But Constantine refused, completely occupied with his iconoclastic madness. Then the pope was forced to turn to the king of the Franks Pepin, ask for his help and crown him with a royal crown. And so it happened later. The Frankish kings took Italy from the Lombards and presented it to the pope. Thus was born the temporal power of the Pope. The heretical madness of the Byzantine kings drove the Roman Church away from itself.

The cathedral was assigned the palace of Ieria on the other side of the Bosphorus, between Chrysopolis and Chalcedon. It was conceived as ecumenical. But neither Rome, nor Alexandria, nor Antioch, nor Jerusalem were represented there. A total of 338 bishops (!) gathered. Patriarch Anastasius had died before that. The chairman of the council was Theodosius of Ephesus, the illegitimate son of the emperor Tiberius III Apsimar (698-705). The pillars of the cathedral were: Metropolitan Basil Trikokaus of Pisidia and Metropolitan Sisinius Pastilla of Perga of Pamphylia. The hearings lasted from February 10 to August 8. On August 8, the council moved to the Blachernae Church in Constantinople. The emperor chose the monk Constantine, Bishop of Sylleia from the Perga Metropolia, as his successor to Anastasius, and he himself elevated him to the patriarchal throne.

On August 27, both the oros of the cathedral and the anathema to the defenders of the icons: Germanus of Constantinople, St. John of Damascus and George of Cyprus were proclaimed at the hippodrome.