Byzantine Iconoclastic Controversy and the Simulacra of Baudrillard

Baudrillard cites the Byzantine iconoclastic controversy as an example when describing the simulation and the implosion of meaning: The iconophiles broke the taboo of divine representation and identified the image with God. At the same time, the iconoclasts tried to keep the essence of faith. It is necessary to look at the iconoclastic emperors who were obsessed with the worship of the cross. The iconography of Byzantine uses the modest language of metaphor instead of simile in divine representation. The public who tried to depend on Palladia was in the anxiety of war; the desire for a peaceful world was the background of the emergence of the image cult in Byzantine. His analysis presents how human personality and desires are manipulated and fluctuate in a consumerist society. He warns that the truth disappears due to the disconnection between the signifier the signified. He despaired of the leap of desire from the point of view of rationality. As a result, he hinted at daily exercises to purify and illuminate ‘desire’ and soft touches of theology to uplift it toward the natural image.