The protestant concern about the role of religious imagery was in many cases outright hostile. martin luther spoke about destroying images. this destruction of religious imagery also occurred during the byzantine period. what defines this act?

Iconoclasm.

Explanation:

The practice of Iconoclasm was deeply rooted in the medieval ages. First instances came from the Byzantine empire where the reign of Leo third and Leo fifth witnessed wide-scale destruction of painting, idols, and monument which were sacred to religious practice in Christianity. A major iconoclast event took place in the time of Martin Luther where a section of the Radical reformation movement took the task of destruction of religious institutions. The main reason for this could be found in the ten commandments whose interpretation restricts the painting and construction of religious icons.