There have already been lots of discussions of iconoclasm, the strict enforcement of the second commandment which prohibits idolatry. The dispute centers on whether two- and three-dimensional representations are assisting worship by focusing the mind or they are being worshiped in lieu of God. You probably recall that a few Byzantine emperors took a hard line on this, exiling some very devout Christians for their attachment to the use of icons. I suppose the devotion showed by these iconodules makes a pretty good argument that they were worshiping rather than just imagining -- after all, the icons themselves were worth suffering prison, torture, exile, and even death. Nonetheless, I fall on the iconodule side of things -- at worst, those who worshiped were just misguided.
Methodius was one of those willing to suffer for his icons. Emperor Leo the Armenian threw him in a cave with two thieves. Not much food, not much air, not much space, no plumbing, no breaks. During the seven years he was in there, one of the thieves died, but the authorities left the body rotting away with the two remaining prisoners. There wasn't much left of Methodius when he was released by Leo's successor, Theophilus.
It didn't take long before Methodius was hassling the new guy about icons, too. "If an image is so worthless in your sight, why do you condemn the images of Christ but not the veneration given to representations of yourself?" Good point. No back in the box (cave, hole, whatever). Only flog him first, and break his jaw.
Friends busted the Method Man out of prison on his first night. Theophilus was dead soon after, and not long after that, Methodius was appointed patriarch of Constantinople, a gig he held for five years before dying.
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