Iconoclasts (i. e. breakers of images), the name given to a sect who, in the 8th century, opposed to the presence of images in churches and the worship paid to them, set about the demolition of them as savouring of idolatry, and even in 730 obtained a papal decree or condemnation of the practice; the enthusiasm died out in the next century, but the effect of it was felt in a controversy, which led to the separation of the Church of the East from that of the West.