Leo III the Isaurian
In 726, Emperor Leo III the Isaurian published an edict forbidding the use of images in the Church. His soldiers consequently removed images from churches throughout the Byzantine Empire. Germanos, the patriarch of Constantinople, protested the edict. He wrote a letter appealing to Pope Gregory II in Rome in 729. Emperor Leo deposed Germanos as patriarch soon afterwards. Pope Gregory opposed Leo and urged him to retract the edict, which Leo refused to do.