Shortly before it convened, the
iconophile Patriarch
Nikephoros I was deposed by Emperor
Leo V the Armenian (813-820) in favour of the iconoclast
Theodotos I (patriarch from 815-821). Theodotos presided over the council, which reinstated iconoclasm, repudiating the
Second Council of Nicaea and reaffirming the decisions of the
Council of Hieria of 754. Although the meeting had been convened at the behest of the iconoclast Emperor, much of the Iconoclast effort was driven by other clerics, including the later patriarchs Antony I and John VII. In the aftermath of this synod Theodotos is represented as torturing by starvation more than one
iconodule abbot in an attempt to force them into agreement with his ecclesiastical policy. == References ==