Over the last fifteen years Richard Price has done much to make the acts of major ecclesiastical councils from the fifth through eighth centuries accessible by producing reliable, well-annotated translations in the Translated Texts for Historians series. The present two-volume work follows translations of the acts of the Council of Chalcedon in 451 (vol. xlv; with Michael Gaddis), the Council of Constantinople in 553 (vol. li) and the Lateran Synod of 649 (vol. lxi). Readers of previous volumes will be pleased to find here the same helpful introductory materials and smooth translation style. The volume additionally benefits from Price's close collaboration with Erich Lamberz, who between 2008 and 2016 published a critical edition of the acts of this council in the second series of the Acta conciliorum oecumenicorum (vols iii/1–3). The acts of the Second Council of Nicaea had already been translated into English in 1849 by John Mendham, but Mendham based his translation on J.-D. Mansi's eighteenth-century edition. The publication of a new English translation so shortly after the appearance of the critical edition is thus very welcome. Price has helpfully included the page numbers of both Mansi's and Lamberz's editions for quick cross-referencing.

The work is divided into three major sections: the introduction, the translation and the end matter. The introduction discusses the veneration of images, the history of the iconoclastic controversy in the eighth and ninth centuries, the text of the acts, the course and content of the council and the reception of the council and the iconoclastic controversy in Byzantium and the West. The translation follows, consisting of documents before the council, the seven sessions of the council, letters from and after the council, the canons and various works related to the acts. The seven sessions primarily discuss the following topics: (1) the beginning of the council and the reinstatement of bishops; (2) letters from Pope Hadrian; (3) the reinstatement of bishops and documents from Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem; (4) a florilegium, four letters and a confession of faith; (5) another florilegium, an account of iconoclasm, a resolution to venerate an icon and a decision to burn iconoclast writings; (6) the Refutation of Patriarch Tarasios, the Definition of the iconoclastic Council of Hiereia in 754 and a statement of repentance; (7) the Definition of the current council. Three appendices round out the translation. These include two texts relevant to and potentially read at the council as well as an analysis of the attendance lists. The end matter includes a provincial map of the Byzantine Church in the eighth century, a prosopographical index, an index of sources and a brief index to the commentary.

The broad area of subjects covered by the acts and the introduction prohibits a full review of the contents. Here a few examples will suffice to emphasise the richness of the volume. First, the introduction contains a concise summary of Lamberz's conclusions regarding the editing and circulation of the acts in the eighth and ninth centuries (pp. 19–22). These arguments form a necessary background for anyone who wishes to interpret the contents of the acts. Second, the acts themselves contain a treasure-trove of documents and excerpts from texts which are not otherwise attested. Indices of documents and quotations of texts make the texts preserved within the acts easy to locate (pp. 733–6). Third, recent research has demonstrated the inauthenticity and implausibility of several accounts of the conciliar proceedings. Chief among these is the eighth session of the council that surfaces in most of the Greek manuscripts of the acts but must be deemed fictitious. This session was likely authored in the latter half of the ninth century to feature the role of the emperor in matters of Church and State (pp. 655–61).

Price undertook this translation amidst a resurgence of research on the iconoclastic period, and this volume should be evaluated with this in mind. Price regularly refers to Lamberz in the footnotes and the introductions to individual works so that his influence is manifest. But the opening pages also refer to the recent study of this time period by Leslie Brubaker and John Haldon: Byzantium in the iconoclastic age (Cambridge 2011). This monumental volume followed years of engagement with this period of Byzantine history, as exemplified in Brubaker and Haldon's earlier publication of source material for the Iconoclastic Controversy: Byzantium in the iconoclast era (c. 680–850): the sources: an annotated survey (Aldershot 2001). In their work, they challenge the iconophile account of this period and call into question the widespread destruction of icons, prohibitions on their use, as well as claims about the early veneration of icons preserved in iconophile sources. Price engages with Brubaker and Haldon's argument on occasion, but he often comes to different conclusions. For example, he prefaces his discussion of the authenticity of the texts by stating that it ‘will inevitably reflect my view of the absence of substantial forgery or interpolation in the Acts and therefore of an earlier development of image veneration than Brubaker and Haldon allow’ (p. 4). Price's account, as a result, will seem rather traditional to those familiar with Brubaker and Haldon's work. The introduction would have been an appropriate place for more direct engagement with their theses.

On the whole, scholars of the early Middle Ages, Byzantium and early Christianity should welcome the appearance of this volume. The translation has benefitted immensely from Price's previous work on the ecumenical councils and his thorough engagement with Lamberz's new edition and conclusions about the acts. Price offers his own reading of the acts, and readers will want to place this in conversation with Brubaker and Haldon's account of this moment in Byzantine history. With the acts of this council newly edited and ably translated, scholars will be able to mine and unravel these acts for Byzantine history for generations to come.