Didn't Elvira prohibit church pictures?
This is genuine evidence of an early restrictive rule; its scope and rationale should not be rewritten to make it disappear.
Key points
- Canon 36 of Elvira says pictures should not be in churches and that what is worshipped should not be depicted on walls.
- The transmitted Latin canon does restrict church pictures. It should be displayed and read in its own wording.
- A local disciplinary canon is not automatically the universal judgment of all Christians, and its precise purpose and the collection's history require care.
- An Orthodox response can acknowledge early disagreement while defending the later ecumenical reception. It need not invent a certainty that Elvira merely protected pictures from persecutors.
- Locality limits the canon's universal authority, but does not erase its value as evidence that some early Christians resisted images.