[kosta50]

There is quotations from the Church Fathers who are disdainful of icons and statues, because they see it as a return to paganism

Which Fathers? In the 8th century? This is what the Patriarch, the Bishop of Constantinople, Germanos I, wrote following Emperor Leo III's inconoclastic edict of 730 AD had to say:

...The banning of images would only prove that the Church had been in error for a long time and so play into the hands of Jews and Muslims" (The Oxford History of Byzantium: Iconoclasm, Patricia Karlin-Hayter, Oxford University Press, 2002)

From this, it seems that he was under the impression that no one in the history of the Church up to the 8th century questioned holy images.

Pope Gregory III sided with his brother in Christ in Constantinople and condemned Leo III's superstitious folly, feeling the wrath of the Emperor as a result.

The whole thing started with a Byzantine Emperor, in the 8th century, who interpreted the Scriputre for himself, and not because some Fathers wrote against icons.

[Agrarian]

"Which Fathers?"

You beat me to it. I'd like to see some specifics on this one. I'm not saying that it isn't true, just that I've never heard this, and that I'd also like to know which Fathers, and a general direction regarding where to read more of what they had to say against icons.