Three words in defense of icon veneration

Essay “Three words in defense of icon veneration” εἰκόνας; Contra imaginum calumniatores orationes) consists of 3 treatises that were written by St. John of Damascus in response to the first decrees of the Byzantine emperor Leo III the Isaurian, which marked the beginning of the iconoclastic period (the first phase of which began in 726), and before the official ban on icon veneration in 730. During the compilation of this monumental work, St. John was in the territory of the Arab Caliphate. The author builds his central argument on the dogma of the Incarnation of God the Word. He proves that if the invisible God, out of His boundless love for man, became incarnate, that is, took upon Himself genuine human flesh, then He can and should be depicted. Denial of the possibility of depicting Christ, the Mother of God and the saints, according to the thought of St. John of Damascus, is actually a denial of the reality of the Incarnation - a hidden form of docetism or monophysitism. The author explains the concepts of “image” and “veneration”. Talking about the “image”, he gives its definition, indicates the purpose of its existence and identifies 6 of its types: natural image; The divine plan in accordance with which all things were created; man as the image of God; visible signs of invisible things; Old Testament prototypes of New Testament events and reminders of the past. Turning to the concept of “veneration” (“worship”, προσκύνησις), St. John identifies its special type - veneration with worship (κατὰ λατρείαν), - befitting God alone and different from various ways of venerating created beings and things, and points out the need to strictly distinguish between these 2 types of veneration. He insists that the honor given to the image goes back to the Prototype, and not to the very matter of the icon. The author also emphasizes the goodness of matter, rejecting Gnostic and Manichaean ideas about its evil. Matter, created by God and sanctified by the Incarnation of Christ, becomes capable of being a bearer of grace and a means of salvation. Icons serve as a reminder of the saints, a means of enlightening the illiterate and an incentive to virtue, being a visible evidence of the invisible world and a bridge between the earthly and the heavenly. St. John emphasizes that the rejection of icon veneration and the removal of images from churches returns the Church to the cult norms characteristic of the Old Testament. Relying on the Holy Scriptures (including refuting the incorrect interpretation of the Old Testament prohibitions on idols) and patristic tradition, the author defends icon veneration as an integral part of Orthodox doctrine and liturgical practice. Particular attention in the essay is paid to the apology of the cult of saints, as well as the theological understanding of imperial power. The argument presented in this work was fully accepted at the VII Ecumenical Council (787). This publication presents a translation by A.A. Bronzov with significant changes (extensive comments were omitted and replaced with new ones, three author’s collections of quotations by St. John of Damascus were shortened and combined into one). The original translations by A.A. are considered more accurate. Bronzova and V.V. Chetyrkin. * Title of the work in Greek: εἰκόνας. * Title of the essay in Latin: Contra imaginum calumniatores orationes. Translation by A.A. Bronzova with changes (ed. 2008) In this popular publication, the translation by A.A. Bronzov (1893) was significantly changed, his extensive comments were omitted and replaced by new ones that do not pretend to be scientific. Three author's collections of quotes from St. John of Damascus were abridged and combined into a single appendix placed after all three words. Therefore, the original translation by A.A. should be considered more accurate. Bronzova and another translation – V.V. Chetyrkina. First word * Second word * Third word Application. Testimonies of the ancient and glorious Holy Fathers about icons I. We, who are aware of our shortcomings, should, of course, always remain silent and confess our sins to God; but since everything is beautiful in its time, and the Church, which God created “on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone” (Eph. 2:20) to His Son, I see, is struck as if by a storm of the sea, rises too high by successive waves, is thrown into disarray and shaken due to the most unbearable breath of evil winds, the divinely woven robe of Christ, which The “sons” of the wicked persistently tried to tear it apart, His body, which is the Word of God, is torn into various parts, also the tightly preserved Tradition of the Church from time immemorial 2 - then I did not consider it wise to remain silent and put bonds on the tongue, fearing the threatening definition that was pronounced, saying: “If anyone moves, My soul does not take pleasure in him” (Heb. 10:38). And: If you see a “sword coming” and do not warn (Ezek.33:6) your brother, “I will require his blood at your hand” (Ezek.33:8). Therefore, struck by unbearable fear, I decided to speak without putting the greatness of kings above the truth. For David, I heard, said: “I will speak of Your testimonies before kings and will not be ashamed” (Ps. 119:46), on the contrary, this was more strongly encouraged to speak. But the king’s word has great power to win over his subjects; therefore, of the people who lived from the very beginning, who knew that the earthly king is subject to a higher power and that laws dominate over kings, few neglected the royal orders. II. So, first of all, having established, as it were, a certain keel or basis for reflection - the preservation of church legislation, through which salvation usually occurs, 4 I removed the barrier from the word and released it, like a well-bridled horse, from the fence. For in fact I considered it terrible, even more than terrible, that the Church, shining with such great advantages and from time immemorial adorned with the traditions of the most pious men, should return again to the weak and poor (Gal. 4:9), where there is no fear, and as if not knowing the true God, was afraid of falling into idolatry, and even to a very small extent was deprived of perfection, as if in the middle of a very beautiful face there was some constant remaining a trace that spoils all the beauty with its inappropriate addition. After all, the small, when it leads to the great, is not small, since it is only an additional feature; so that the Tradition of the Church, which has received force since ancient times, would be shaken - no small thing, because our former “mentors” were condemned, looking at the way of life of which we should have imitated [their] faith. III. So (and my speech to you 5), I earnestly ask, first of all, the Almighty Lord, for Whom everything is naked and open, knowing that my humble intention in this case is without any admixture of anything bad and that the goal is pure, to give me the word when my mouth is opened, and to take with His own hands the reins of my mind and draw it to Himself, so that in front of [His] face it will move quickly along the straight road, not deviating from what appears to be right, or to what he knows to be left. Then I ask all the people of God, the “holy people,” the royal priesthood (Deut. 7:6; 1 Pet. 2:9), together with the wonderful shepherd of the verbal flock of Christ, who in himself expresses the highest priesthood of Christ, to accept my word with favor, not paying attention to the most insignificant degree of my dignity or not looking for art in my words, since in this I, poor one, am not fully experienced, but to weigh the power of my thoughts. For the kingdom of heaven is not in words, “but in the power of God” (1 Cor. 2:5). For the goal is not to conquer, but to extend a hand to the attacked truth, just as good will extends the hand of strength. Therefore, having called upon the hypostatic Truth 6 as an assistant, I will begin the beginning of my word from here. IV. I know the One who truly said: “The Lord your God is one Lord” (Deut. 6:4); and: “You will have no other gods” (Ex. 20:3); and: “You shall not make for yourself any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above” ( Ex. 20:4 ); and: “Let all who serve idols be put to shame” (Ps. 97:7); and: “The gods who did not create heaven and earth will disappear... from under the heavens” (Jer. 10:11); and [other] similar to this, that “God, who at times and in divers manners spoke of old to the fathers by the prophets, in these last days has spoken to us by the only begotten Son... Him, through whom also he made the ages” (Heb. 1:1-2). I know the One who said: “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only... God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent” (John 17:3). I believe in one God, one Beginning of everything, beginningless, uncreated, not subject to destruction and immortal, eternal and constant, incomprehensible, incorporeal, invisible, without image; into one “essential essence”, into a Divinity – “pre-divine”, in three Persons: the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and I serve Him alone, and I render ministerial worship to Him alone. I worship one God, one Divinity, but I also serve the Trinity of Persons: God the Father, and God the Son incarnate, and God the Holy Spirit, one God. I do not worship the creature instead of the Creator, but I worship the Creator, who like me became created and, without degrading His dignity and without experiencing any division, descended “into creation” in order to glorify my “nature” and make me a participant in the divine “nature” 7. Together with the King and God, I also worship the “purple” of the body, 8 not as a garment and not as a fourth Person - no! - but as having become a participant in the same Divinity and, without experiencing a change, becoming that which is and sanctified [her]. For it was not the nature of the flesh that became the Divinity, but just as the Word, remaining what It was, without experiencing change, became flesh, so the flesh became the Word, without losing what it is; it is better to say: being one with the Word by hypostasis. Therefore, I boldly portray the invisible God not as invisible, but as having become visible for our sake through participation in both flesh and blood. I do not depict the invisible Deity, but through the image I express the flesh of God, which was visible. For if it is impossible to depict the soul, how much more so is God, who gave immateriality to the soul! V. But, they say, God said through the lawgiver Moses: “Fear the Lord your God, and serve Him only” (Deut. 6:13); and: “You shall not make for yourself any graven image or any likeness of anything in heaven above or on earth below” (Ex. 20:4). Brothers! Those who do not know the scriptures that “the letter kills, but the spirit gives life” (2 Cor. 3:6), who do not look for the spirit hidden under the letter, are truly mistaken. To them I could rightly say: He who taught you this, let him also teach you what should be done. Understand how the legislator interprets this, saying something like this in Deuteronomy: “And the Lord spoke to you... from the midst of the fire; You heard the voice of His words, but you did not see the image, but only the voice” (Deut. 4:12). And a little later: “Keep it firmly in your souls that you did not see any image in the day when the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire” (Deut. 4:15); “lest you become corrupt and make for yourselves graven images, images of any idol representing a man or a woman, images of any livestock that are on the earth, images of any winged bird” (Deut. 4:16-17) and the following. And after a short interval: “And lest you look up to heaven and see the sun, the moon, and the stars and all the host of heaven, and be deceived and worship them and serve them” (Deut. 4:19). VI. Do you see that there is only one goal, so that we do not serve the creature “instead of the Creator” and, except for the Creator alone, do not render service worship to [anyone]? Therefore, everywhere God connects “service” with “worship.” For again he says: “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol or any image of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth below, or that is in the water under the earth; You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I am the Lord your God” (Exodus 20:3–5). And again: “And destroy their altars, and break in pieces their pillars, and burn their groves with fire, and break in pieces the images of their gods... This is not what you must do” (Deut. 12:3–4) to another God. And a little later: “Do not make for yourselves cast gods” (Exodus 34:17). VII. Do you see that for the sake of [avoiding] idolatry, Moses forbids the writing of images and that it is impossible for the innumerable, indescribable, and invisible God to be depicted? For “his image,” he says, “you do not see,” according to which Paul, standing in the middle of the Areopagus, also speaks. “We, therefore, being the race of God, should not think that the Godhead is like gold, or silver, or stone, which received an image from the art and imagination of men” (Acts 17:29). VIII. The Jews, of course, were prescribed this because of their inclination towards idolatry. We (if we say with the Theologian 9), who have been given, having avoided superstitious wandering, having known the truth, be in communion with God and serve God alone, abound in the perfection of God’s knowledge and, after childhood, reach the age of a “perfect husband”, we are no longer “under a mentor”, since we have received from God the ability to distinguish and know what can be depicted and what cannot be expressed through images. For “his image,” says [Scripture], “you do not see.” O wisdom of the legislator! How will the invisible be depicted? How will the incomparable be compared? How will that which has no quantity and magnitude and is unlimited be inscribed? How will something without form be endowed with qualities? How will the incorporeal be painted? So, what is mysteriously shown [in these places]? It is clear that when you see the incorporeal one made human for your sake, then make an image of His human form. When the invisible one, having put on flesh, becomes visible, then depict the likeness of Him who appeared. When He, who, by virtue of the excellence of His nature, was deprived of body, and form, and quantity, and quality, and magnitude, Who, “being in the form of God” (Phil. 2:6), “took on the form of a servant” (Phil. 2:7), “thereby became limited” in quantitative and qualitative respects and was clothed in a bodily image, then inscribe on the boards and expose for contemplation the One Who Desired appear. Outline His ineffable condescension, the birth of the Virgin, baptism in the Jordan, the transfiguration on Tabor, the suffering that freed us from the “passions,” death, miracles - signs of His divine nature, performed by divine power through the activity of the flesh, the saving cross, burial, resurrection, ascension into heaven; Draw everything with words and paints. Don't be afraid, don't be afraid! I know the difference of worship. Abraham once bowed to the sons of Hamor when he bought a double cave “to acquire the tomb” - wicked men and suffering from the disease of ignorance of God. Jacob bowed to his brother Esau and Pharaoh, his Egyptian husband, and also “to the top of the staff.” Although he bowed, he did not serve. Joshua the son of Nun and Daniel bowed down to the Angel of God, but did not serve. For one consists of service worship, and the other consists of worship given for the sake of honor to people distinguished by some merit. IX. But since we are talking about “image” and “worship,” let us carefully discuss what this [image and worship] consists of? So, the image is a similarity with the distinctive properties of the prototype, at the same time having some difference in relation to it. For the image is not in everything similar to the prototype. However, the Son is a living, natural and in everything similar image of the invisible God, bearing in Himself the entire Father, having identity with Him in everything, differing only in origin [from Him as] the cause. For the Father is the natural cause; and what comes from the Other as the Cause is the Son. For the Father is not from the Son, but the Son is from the Father. For from Him, although not after Him, the Son has existence, which is also the Father who begat Him. X. In God there are also images and examples of those things that have to come from Him, that is, His advice is eternal and always remains unchanged. For the Divinity is unchangeable in everything and with Him “there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17). Saint Dionysius 11, who is knowledgeable in divine affairs and, with the help of God, examined what concerns God, calls these images and patterns predestination. For at His council, everything that was predetermined by them and had to happen inviolably in the future was determined with precision before its existence, just as if someone wants to build a house, he first draws and depicts its shape in his mind. XI. Then, in turn, images are visible things, bodily expressing those objects that are invisible and devoid of form, so that they are at least vaguely comprehended by the mind. For the divine Scripture also clothes God and Angels with images, and the reason is indicated by the same divine man. After all, that images are naturally offered to that which is devoid of images, and forms to that which has no forms, as a reason one could only point out an analogy that is appropriate in relation to us: that we are not able to rise to the contemplation of spiritual objects without [any] mediation, and in order to rise upward, we need that which is related [to us] and akin. Therefore, if the divine Word, providing for our ability to perceive, from everywhere delivered to us that which is capable of “raising upward”, clothing with some images both objects simple and those without images, then why not depict that which, by its own nature, has an image and which, although we passionately desire, but which, due to its absence, apparently cannot be? For through the medium of feeling a certain idea is formed in the anterior cavity of the brain and thus sent to the faculty of judgment is stored in the treasury of memory. Indeed, Gregory the Theologian says that “the mind, trying hard to go beyond the limits of the body, turns out to be powerless everywhere.” But “His invisible things, His eternal power and Godhead, have been visible from the creation of the world through the consideration of creation” (Rom. 1:20). For in creatures we notice images that covertly show us divine reflections, so when we talk about the Holy Trinity, the highest of all beginnings, we depict to ourselves through the sun and light and ray, or a gushing spring and flowing moisture and flow, or mind and words and the breath that is in us, or the trunk of a rose and a flower and incense. XII. In turn, the image of the future is called one that, under the cover of a riddle, shades the future, as the ark of the Covenant and the rod and stamna denoted the Holy Virgin and Mother of God 12, as the serpent - the One who through the cross destroyed the power of biting the culprit of all evil - the serpent, like the sea and water and cloud - the spirit of baptism. XIII. For its part, an image of the past is called such when it remembers some miracle, or honor, or shame, or virtue, or vice, for the benefit of those who later consider [it], so that we [thus] avoid vices and strive for virtues. This [image] is twofold: both through the word inscribed in the books, just as God inscribed the law on stone tablets and commanded that the lives of God-loving men be written down, and through sensory contemplation, just as He commanded that, in remembrance, the stamna and the rod should be placed in the ark of the Covenant 13 (Num. 17:8). So now we record images of the past and virtues. Therefore, either remove every image and establish a law against the One who ordered them to exist, or accept each one in accordance with the concept and character that is characteristic of each [of them]. So, having spoken about “kinds of image,” let’s also talk about “worship.” XIV. Worship is a sign of humility and reverence. We know the various genera of this one too. The first worship is service, rendered by us to God, Who alone by His nature is worthy of worship. Then, for the sake of God, Who by His nature is worthy of worship, we render [the latter] to His friends and servants, just as Joshua the son of Nun and Daniel worshiped the Angel; or - to the “places” of God, just as David says: “Let us worship His footstool” (Ps. 132:7), and the objects dedicated to Him, just as all Israel worshiped the Tabernacle of the Covenant and, standing around the Temple of Jerusalem and looking at it from everywhere, [the Jews] worship even now; or to the leaders appointed by Him, just as Jacob was to Esau, as the eldest brother, according to the will of God, and to Pharaoh, the ruler appointed by God; also to Joseph his brothers. I also know that worship is given for the sake of mutual respect, just as Abraham did to the “sons of Hamor.” Therefore, either eliminate all worship, or allow all kinds that have the proper meaning and character. XV. Answer me this question: Is God one God? Yes, you say, as it seems to me, one Legislator. So why does He make contrary laws? After all, the Cherubim are not outside the number of created beings. Therefore, why does He command that the images of Cherubim prepared by human hands should overshadow the purification? Or is it clear that it is impossible to make an image of God as indescribable and incomparable, or of anyone as God, so as not to render service and worship to the creature as God? The image of the Cherubim as limited and servilely standing near the divine throne He commands that it servilely overshadow the purgatory. For it was fitting that the image of the divine sacraments should be overshadowed by the image of the heavenly servants of God. And what do you say about the ark of the Covenant, the pillar, the purification house? Aren't they prepared by hand? Are they not the work of human hands? Are they not, as you say, made of despicable substances? What about the whole tabernacle? Wasn't she an image? Isn't it a shadow and a model? Therefore, the divine Apostle, speaking about the priests under the law, says: “Who serve the image and shadow of the heavenly things, as it was said to Moses when he began to make the tabernacle: look, it is said, do everything according to the image shown to you on the mountain” (Heb. 8:5). But the law was not an image, but [as it were] a front wall to cover the image. For the same Apostle says: “The Law is a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of things” (Heb. 10:1). So, if the law prohibits images, and there is [as it were] a front wall to cover the image, then what do we say? If the tabernacle is a shadow and an image of an image, then why does the law not command the painting of images? But it’s not like that, no. But it is better “there is a time for every thing.” XVI. The incorporeal and formless God was once not depicted in any way. Now that God has appeared in the flesh and “lived with man,” I depict the visible side of God. I do not worship matter, but I worship the Creator of matter, who became matter for my sake, who deigned to dwell in matter and through the medium of matter “made” my salvation, and I will not cease to honor the substance through which my salvation was “made.” I don’t honor him as God – no! - for how is God that which came into being out of nothing? Although, due to the union in one Person of Divinity and humanity, the body of God is God, since it, without changing, became what it is and sanctified [it], but it [still] remained what it was by nature: flesh, animated by a “verbal” and rational soul, which received a beginning, not uncreated. I honor and revere the rest of the substance, through which my salvation was “accomplished,” as full of divine power and grace. Or is the “tree of the cross”, thrice happy and “blessed”, not a substance? Or is it not a substance worthy of reverence and a holy mountain? “Place of the Edge” 14 (Matthew 27:33)? Or is it not the gracious and life-giving rock 15, the holy tomb, the source of our resurrection? Or is it not the substance of ink and the all-holy book of the Gospels? Or is it not a life-giving meal 16 that provides us with the bread of life? Or is it not the substance, both gold and silver, from which crosses and patenes, as well as chalices, are prepared? 17 Or is not the substance, above all this, the body and blood of our Lord? Either eliminate the veneration and worship of all this, or, obeying Church Tradition, allow the worship of icons, sanctified by the name of God and the friends of God, and for this reason overshadowed by the grace of the Divine Spirit. Do not blame the substance, for it is not worthy of contempt. There is nothing worthy of contempt that comes from God. This [that is, contempt for substance] is the opinion of the Manichaeans 18. But the only thing worthy of contempt is that it did not have a cause from God, but that it is our invention due to the willful deviation and direction of the will from what is in accordance with nature to what is opposite to it - that is, sin. If you despise and prohibit images because of the law, as being made from substance, then look at what the Scripture says: “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Behold, I have appointed Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, from the tribe of Judah. And I filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, understanding, knowledge and all skill, to work in gold, silver and brass, to cut stones for setting and to cut wood for every work. And behold, I have given him Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, as an assistant, and I will put wisdom in the heart of every wise man, that they may do all that I have commanded you” (Ex. 31:1-6). And again: “And Moses said to all the congregation of the children of Israel, This is what the Lord commanded: Make an offering of yourselves to the Lord; let each one bring an offering to the Lord according to his diligence: gold, silver, copper, blue, purple, and scarlet wool, fine linen, and goats' hair, red rams' skins, and blue skins, and shittim wood, and oil for the lamp, and spices for the anointing oil and for the incense, the onyx stone, and the set stones for the ephod 19 and confidant. And let every one of you who is wise in heart come and do everything that the Lord has commanded: the tabernacle” (Ex. 35:4-11) and the following. This is a truly precious substance, although you consider it worthy of contempt. For what is more insignificant than “goat hair” or paints? Isn’t it paint – “scarlet”, and “crimson”, and “blue” 20? Here, truly, are the works of human hands, and the image of the Cherubim. So why, in the name of the law, do you forbid what the law commands you to do? If for the sake of the law you prohibit images, then it is time for you to both keep the Sabbath and be circumcised. But know that if you keep the law, “Christ will profit you nothing... those who justify themselves by the law... have fallen from grace” (Gal. 5:2-4). Ancient Israel did not see God, “but with unveiled face we behold the glory of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18). XVII. And everywhere we place a sensually expressed image of Him, sanctifying [through this] the first [of our feelings]; for the first of the senses is sight; just as we sanctify our ears with words; after all, an image is a reminder: and what a book is for those who remember reading and writing, an image is the same for those who are illiterate; and what is a word to the ear, is an image to the sight; with the help of the mind we enter into union with it. For this reason, God commanded that the ark of the Covenant be made of rotten trees, that it be “gilded” inside and out, and that tablets, a rod, and a “golden container” containing manna be inserted as a reminder of what happened and as a foreshadowing of the future (Ex. 25:10–16). And who will not say that these [were] images and loud heralds? And these objects were not located on the sides of the tabernacle, but in front of the whole people, looking at which they rendered worship and service to God, who acted through them. It is clear that they were not served as they were, but, through them, brought to the recollection of miracles, they worshiped the Author of miracles - God. For the images were placed as reminders, not as gods, but as leading to reminders of divine activity. XVIII. God also commanded that twelve stones be taken from the Jordan; He also adds a reason, for he says: when your son asks you: “What are these stones”? - proclaim how, by divine command, the water of the Jordan dried up and the ark of the Lord and all the people “passed over” (Joshua 4:1–7). So, how can we not depict the saving “passions” and miracles of Christ God on icons, so that when my son asks me: what is this? - I said that God the Word became man and through Him not only Israel crossed the Jordan, but all nature returned to ancient bliss. Through Him, nature returned from the lowest parts of the earth, above all beginnings, and sat down on the very throne of the Father. XIX. But, they say, make an image of Christ and be satisfied, or His Mother - the Mother of God 21. Oh the absurdity! You have clearly admitted that you are the enemy of the saints. For if you make an image of Christ, but the saints in no way, then it is clear that you do not prohibit the image, but the honoring of the saints. For you make images of Christ, as if adorned with glory, but you reject images of the saints, as if they were dishonored, and call the truth a lie, for: “But now says the Lord: Let it not be so, for I will glorify those who glorify Me” (1 Samuel 2:30). And the divine Apostle: “Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Jesus Christ” (Gal.4:7). And: “If... we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified with Him” (Rom. 8:17). You launched a war not against icons, but against saints. For John the Theologian and confidant says: “Let us be like Him” (1 John 3:2). Just as he who unites with fire becomes fire, not by nature, but by virtue of union, combustion and participation, so, I say, is the flesh of the incarnate Son of God. For she, as a result of hypostatic participation in the divine nature, without changing, became deified, sanctified not by the action of God, like each of the prophets, but by the presence of the One who Sanctified everything. And that the saints are also gods, [Scripture] says: “God stood in the company of gods” (Ps. 82:1), and - that God stands among the gods, distributing [to each] according to their merits, as the divine Gregory says, interpreting [this passage]. For the saints were filled with the Holy Spirit during their lifetime, and even after their death the grace of the Holy Spirit inexhaustibly abides both in their souls and in the bodies lying in the tombs, and in their features, and in their holy images, not because of their essence, but as a result of grace and [divine] action. XX. And what church in honor of Himself God promised to David to create through his own son and to prepare a place of rest, creating this temple, Solomon made Cherubim, as the Book of Kings says, and overlaid the Cherubim with gold, also all the walls around, “he made carved images of cherubim and palm trees and blossoming flowers, inside and outside” (1 Kings 6:29) (and did not say: on the sides, but all around), also oxen and lions and pomegranates. Isn’t it much more valuable to decorate all the walls of the house of the Lord with the “faces” of saints and images than with dumb ones and trees? Where is the law that commands: “You shall not make... any likeness” (Ex. 20:4)? But Solomon, having received an outpouring of wisdom, depicted the sky and made Cherubim and the likeness of lions and oxen. The law prohibits this. And if, when we depict Christ, we also make images of saints, then isn’t this, therefore, in any case a more pious matter, because they are also filled with the Holy Spirit? For just as then both the people and the church were cleansed with blood, also with the ashes of the heifer, so now - with the blood of Christ, who was tortured under Pontius Pilate and showed Himself to be the Firstborn of the martyrs, and also with the blood of the saints, on whom the Church is built. And then [the church of God was decorated] with both figures and images of the dumb, [now with images of saints] who made themselves animated and intelligent churches - the dwelling of God. XXI. So, we depict (with paints) Christ the King of the Lord, without depriving Him of the “army”. For the “army” of the Lord are the saints. Let the earthly king deprive himself of his own army, and then let him deprive himself of his King and Lord. Let him take off his scarlet robe and then let him deprive those who have distinguished themselves [in the struggle] against the tyrant and those who have curbed their passions of the honor due to them. For if they are “heirs of God” and “joint heirs with Christ,” then they will also be participants in His divine glory and kingdom (Rom. 8:17). The friends of Christ, having participated in Christ’s sufferings, how can they not also be called partakers of His glory on earth? “I do not call you servants” (John 15:15), says God, “you are my friends” (John 15:14). So, when honor is given to them by the Church, will we take it away from them? O impudent hand! O recklessly bold mind, arguing with God and resisting His commands! You do not worship an image, and do not worship the Son of God, Who is the living image of the invisible God and the unchanging image. I worship the image of Christ as God incarnate; the image of the Lady of all - the Mother of God as the Mother of the Son of God; images of saints as friends of God, who resisted sin to the point of blood and by shedding it for Christ imitated Him, who had previously shed His own blood for them; and I set before me the depicted deeds and sufferings of those who walked in His footsteps in life, since through them I am sanctified and inflamed by the competition of imitation. For the divine Basil says 22 - the honor given to the image goes to the prototype. If you erect churches in honor of the saints of God, then also erect their trophies. Once upon a time they did not erect a church in honor of the name of [any of] people, they did not honor the death of the righteous with a festival, but they mourned. Anyone who touched the dead, even Moses himself [who died], was considered unclean. Now the memory of the saints is celebrated. The corpse of Jacob was mourned, and the death of Stephen was celebrated nationwide. Therefore, either eliminate the nationwide celebration of the memory of saints, which is carried out contrary to the ancient law, or agree to the images that exist, as you say, contrary to the law. But it is impossible not to celebrate the memory of the saints. For the host of the holy Apostles and God-bearing Fathers commands that this should happen. For since God the Word became flesh, becoming like us in everything except sin, unmergingly united with our nature and, without changing, deifying the flesh through the mutual unmerging union of His deity and His flesh, we are truly sanctified. And since the Son of God and God, not being divinely subject to suffering, suffered, taking on flesh, and paid our debt, “pouring out” a ransom for us 23 (Heb. 9:12), worthy of both attention and wonder, we truly became free, for the blood of the Son is sufficient to implore the Father, and is worthy of reverence. And since He descended into hell, He proclaimed liberation to the bound souls from the ages, as if to the captives, as if to the blind, recovery of sight, and, having bound the “strong” 24 , due to the superiority of His power, He rose again, bestowing incorruptibility on the flesh He took from us, we truly became incorruptible. And since we were born of water and spirit 25, we truly became “children of sons” and heirs of God. This is why Paul calls the faithful saints. Therefore, we do not mourn the deaths of saints, but we celebrate. Therefore we are not [under the law, but] “under grace,” justified by faith, “knowing” the true God alone. “The law was not made for the righteous” (1 Tim. 1:9) 26. We are not under the “elements” of the law, enslaved like children, but, having achieved a “perfect man,” we eat solid food that does not lead to idolatry. The law is beautiful, like a lamp shining in a dark place, but until the day “lights up.” Now the “morning star” (2 Peter 1:19) has shone in our hearts, the living water of the knowledge of God has covered the seas of the nations, and we all have come to know the Lord. “The old things have passed away, everything is new” (2 Cor. 5:17). Indeed, the divine Apostle Paul says to Peter, the highest head of the Apostles: “If you, being a Jew, live like a pagan, and not like a Jew, then why do you force the pagans to live like a Jew?” (Gal.2:14). And he writes to the Galatians: “I testify to every man who is circumcised, that he must fulfill the whole law” (Gal. 5:3). XXII. Of course, never “knowing God,” they served “not by nature existing gods.” Now, having known God, better yet: known by God, how will we return again “to the weak and evil elements” (Gal. 4:9)? Man “saw God face to face, and his soul was preserved” (Gen. 32:30). I contemplate the likeness of God, as Jacob did, 27 although in a different way. For he, with the immaterial eyes of the mind, saw the immaterial [image] that revealed the future, but I saw that which ignites the memory of Him who appeared in the flesh. The shadow from the Apostles, scarves and towels warded off illnesses and drove out demons. And how can the shadow and image of the saints not be glorified? Either remove the worship of every substance, or do not innovate and do not transfer to another place the eternal boundaries that your fathers laid down. XXIII. They conveyed church law not only through writing, but also through some unwritten traditions. Indeed, the divine Basil, in the twenty-seventh chapter of thirty written to Amphilochius 28 about the Holy Spirit, literally says this: “Of the dogmas and teachings preserved in the Church, we have some from written instruction, while others have been received by us secretly - communicated to us from apostolic tradition; which both have the same force in relation to piety. And no one will contradict this, even if he at least knows a little about church decrees; for if we dared to abandon unwritten customs, as if they were of little importance, we might imperceptibly injure the Gospel in the most dangerous place” 29 . These are the words of the great Vasily. For how do we know about the holy “crane place”? About the grave of life? Isn’t it [like] the children received from their father, without a record? For it is written that the Lord was crucified on the cross in the “crane place” and buried “in the tomb that he hewed” (Matthew 27:60) Joseph 30 “in the rock.” And that this is what we now worship, we know from unwritten tradition, and very much like this. How do [we know] triple immersion? 31 Where is the prayer [with the face turned] to the east? Where does the teaching of the sacraments come from? Therefore, the divine Apostle Paul says: “Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold to the traditions which you were taught either by word or by our letter” (2 Thess. 2:15). Since many such great things were handed over to the Church without recording and preserved to this day, why are you speaking slander about icons? XXIV. The passages of Scripture that you cite, however, do not teach that we should disdain the worship of the images we have, but those that the Greeks idolize. Ours, which is pious, should not be destroyed because of an absurd custom. Sorcerers and wizards cast spells, and the Church conjures the catechumens. But they call upon demons, while this one calls on God against demons. The Hellenes dedicate images to demons and call them gods, but we - to the true God - incarnate, and to the servants of God, and to friends who drive away the armies of demons. XXV. If you say that the divine and admirable Epiphanius 32 definitely prohibited them [images], then [know that], firstly, this book may be incorrectly inscribed [with his name] and is forged: being the work of one, it bears the name of another, which many are accustomed to do. Secondly, we know that Blessed Athanasius 33, having forbidden putting the remains of saints in coffins, it was better: by ordering them to be hidden underground, he wanted to destroy the absurd custom of the Egyptians, who did not hide their dead underground, but laid them on beds and beds. Perhaps the great Epiphanius (of course, if we agree that this book belongs to him) prescribed that we should not make images, wanting to correct something of the same kind. For that his intention was not to disparage those [images], the Church of the same divine Epiphanius, until our time all around decorated with images, serves as a witness. Thirdly, what rarely happens is not a law for the Church, and one swallow does not make spring, as it seems to Gregory the Theologian and as is in reality. And one opinion is not able to refute the traditions of the entire Church, stretching from [one] ends of the earth to [other] ends. XXVI. So, [in this sense] accept many passages from Scripture and the Fathers, because although Scripture says that “the idols of the pagans are silver and gold, the work of human hands” (Ps. 135:15), it, of course, prohibits the worship not of soulless works of hands, but of images of demons. XXVII. That indeed the prophets worshiped Angels, and men, and kings, even the wicked, and also the rod, it is said. David also says: “And worship His footstool” (Ps. 98:5). Isaiah, on behalf of God, says: “Heaven is My throne,... earth is My footstool” (Is. 66:1). And I think it is clear to everyone that heaven and earth are creations. And Moses, as well as Aaron and all the people, bowed down to the “made with hands.” At least, Paul, the “golden grasshopper” of the Church, in his letter to the Jews said: “But Christ, the High Priest of good things to come, came with a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is, not of this dispensation” (Heb. 9:11). And again: “For Christ entered not into the sanctuary made with hands, which is built in the image of the true, but into heaven itself” (Heb. 9:24). And thus, the former holy thing - both the tabernacle and everything in it - was “made with hands.” And that [this] was worshiped, no one will contradict. I. My gentlemen, show mercy to the one who asks, and from me, the most indecent and least servant of the Church of God, accept the word that is completely true. For, God is my witness, I began to speak not for the sake of glory or to show myself to be significant, but out of zeal for the truth. For I have only this [that is, jealousy] as hope for salvation, and I hope and desire to meet the Lord Christ with it, offering it to Him as propitiation for those shameful sins that I have committed. For one, having received five talents from his master, brought also the other five that he had acquired; and he who received two brought two [others] equal in number; the one who received one, buried it and brought it back barren, was called an unfit slave and condemned to “utter darkness.” Fearing that I too might experience this, I submit to the command of the Lord and to you, prudent merchants, I offer the talent of speech given to me by Him, so that my Lord, when He comes, will find it increased several times and producing fruit - spiritual profit - and, having found [me] a faithful slave, He will lead me into His sweetest joy desired by me. But give me an ear of attention and, spreading the tables of your hearts, accept my word and truly inherit the power of what is spoken. I composed this second word about icons because some of the children of the Church advised me to do this, since the first was not entirely understandable for many. So, for me, [in this case] who has fulfilled the duty of obedience, show mercy in this too. II. Beloved, the envious one and the culprit of all evil - the serpent - I mean the devil - has a custom in many ways to fight with man, created in the image and likeness of God, and to cause his death through opposite tricks. For immediately at the beginning he instilled in him the hope and desire to become God and through them brought him down to the death of the dumb. However, he was seduced many times by shameful and unreasonable pleasures. And how great is the difference between the divine state [which he promised to man] and unreasonable lust? And this led to godlessness, as the Godfather David says: “The fool said in his heart: “There is no God”” (Ps. 13:1); then to polytheism; and then he urged not to worship even the One who by nature is God; otherwise he [convinced us to worship] demons; and he also taught us to worship the sky, the earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, and the rest of creation, even animals and reptiles. For it is equally bad not to give due honor to those worthy of respect, and to give indecent and excessive glory to those unworthy of honor. Again, he taught some that evil is coeternal with God 34 . Some were seduced into confessing that God, who is good by nature, is the Author of evil 35 . And he misled some so that they foolishly said that in the Divinity there is one nature and one Person, while he deceived others so that they unlawfully worshiped three natures and three Persons; and he inspired some to glorify the one nature and one Person of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is one of the Holy Trinity; to some, two natures and two Faces of Him 36. III. Truth, following the middle path, rejects all these absurdities and teaches us to confess one God, one nature in three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; evil, she says, is not an essence, but something accidental, some thought, and word, and action contrary to the law of God; it has its existence in what is thought, and said, and done, and with the cessation of [this] it also disappears 37 . It also proclaims that Christ is one of the Holy Trinity, that He consists of two natures and that He is one Person. IV. But the demon, the enemy of the truth and hostile to the salvation of people, who many times deceived not only the pagans, but also the sons of Israel, to make images of corruptible people, birds, animals, and reptiles and worship them as gods, is now trying to throw the Church of Christ living in the world into confusion, through lawless lips and a crafty tongue, mixing vice with the divine words and trying to cover up its disgusting and gloomy image and to turn away the hearts of those who are not strengthened from the true custom handed down by the Fathers. For some rebelled, saying that it should not be for the sake of contemplation, and glory, and amazement, and competition, to depict and exhibit [publicly] the saving miracles of Christ and the exploits of the saints against the devil. And who, possessing divine knowledge and spiritual insight, does not notice that [this] is the suggestion of the devil? For he does not want his defeat and shame to be made public, nor does he want the glory of God and His saints to be written down. V. For if we were to make an image of the invisible God, we would indeed be in error, because it is impossible for the incorporeal, and invisible, and indescribable, and without form, to be depicted. And again: if we made images of people, and considered them gods, and served them as gods, we would indeed be acting wickedly. But we don't do any of this. For after God, by His ineffable goodness, became incarnate, “appeared on Earth and spoke among people” (Bar. 3:38), and took on the nature, and size, and image, and color of flesh, we, making His image, do not sin. For we greatly desire to see His image; because, as the divine Apostle says, “now we see through a glass darkly” (1 Cor. 13:12). The image is a mirror and fortune-telling, commensurate with the size of our body. For the mind, even after many strains, is not able to leave the limits of the body. VI. Oh, away from you, envious devil, you envy us that we see the image of our Lord and through him are sanctified, that we also see His saving sufferings, and marvel at His condescension, and contemplate His miracles, and glorify the power of His Divinity. You envy the saints because of the honor given to them by God. You don’t want us to see their glory outlined and become imitators of their courage and faith. We do not obey you, envious and misanthropic demon. Hear, peoples, tribes, languages, men, women and children, old men and young men and infants, holy Christian people! If anyone preaches to you contrary to what the Universal Church received from the holy Apostles, Fathers, councils and preserved to this day, do not listen to him and do not accept the advice of the serpent, as Eve accepted and reaped death. And if an Angel or a king preaches the gospel to you contrary to what you have accepted, close your ears. For I, expecting correction, am afraid to say, as the divine Apostle said: “Let him be anathema!” VII. But those who do not examine the meaning of Scripture say that God said through Moses the lawgiver: “You shall not make for yourself an graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth below” (Ex. 20:4). And through the prophet David: “Let all those who serve idols, who boast in idols, be ashamed” (Ps. 96:7), and much more of the same. For what they presented both from the divine Scripture and from the Holy Fathers should be properly understood. So what should we say to this? What else if not what the Lord said to the Jews: “Search the scriptures” (John 5:39)? For the study of the Scriptures is a wonderful thing. But here, direct your mind wisely! It is impossible to deceive God, beloved. For one is God, one is the Lawgiver of the Old and New Testaments, “God, who at times and in various ways spoke of old to the fathers in the prophets” (Heb. 1:1) and in recent times in His Only Begotten Son. Guide your mind with care! This word is not mine; The Holy Spirit announced through St. Apostle Paul: “He who spoke of old to the fathers in the prophets at many times and in various ways” (Heb. 1:1). Notice that God spoke “many times and in various ways.” For as a knowledgeable doctor, he does not and does not always give the same type of [medicine], but he gives each medicine in accordance with the property [of the case], paying attention to the country, and the disease, and the time, and the age: for a child - one thing, for an adult, in accordance with age, another; something for the sick person, and another for the person recovering, and not the same for each of the patients, but in accordance with the property [of his body] and the disease; and another - in summer, and another - in winter, and autumn, and spring, and in each place - according to the property of the place; so the wonderful Physician of souls, who were still in childhood, and who were exhausted from the disease of idolatry, and who considered idols to be gods, and who worshiped them as gods, and who rejected the worship of God, and who gave glory to His creatures, forbade them to do this. For it is impossible to make an image of God - incorporeal, and invisible, and immaterial, and having neither appearance nor outline, and incomprehensible. For how will something that is inaccessible to sight be depicted? “No one has ever seen God; The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has revealed” (John 1:18). And: no one “can see Me and live” (Ex. 33:20), God said. VIII. And that idols were worshiped as gods - listen to what the Scripture says in the “Exodus” of the children of Israel, when Moses went up to Mount Sinai and remained [there] for a long time, sitting with God, and received the law, when the ungrateful people rebelled against Aaron, the servant of God, saying: “Make us a god who will go before us, for with this man, with Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what it was done" (Exodus 32:1); then, when they took off the jewelry from their women and cast metal [calfs], they ate and drank, and got drunk both with wine and with error, and began to play, saying in madness: “This is your god, O Israel” (Ex. 32:4). Do you see that they had idols for gods, which were the dwellings of demons? And that “they served the creature instead of the Creator,” just as the divine Apostle says: “And they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man, and birds, and four-footed creatures, and reptiles, and served the creature instead of the Creator” (Rom. 1:23-25). For this reason, God forbade making any “likeness,” as Moses says in Deuteronomy: “And the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire; You heard the voice of His words, but you did not see the image, but only the voice” (Deut. 4:12). And after a few words: “Keep firmly in your souls that you did not see any image in the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire” (Deut. 4:15), never, “lest you become corrupt and make for yourselves graven images, images of any idol representing a man or a woman, images of any livestock that are on the earth, images of any winged bird” (Deut. 4:16-17). And after a short interval: “And lest, when you look up to heaven and see the sun, the moon, and the stars, and all the beauty of heaven, you are deceived and worship them and serve them” (Deut. 4:19). Note that one goal is so that creatures do not serve “instead of the Creator” and do not render service worship to [anyone] except the Creator alone. Therefore service is everywhere connected with worship [in Scripture]. And after a few words: “Thou shalt have no other gods” (Deut. 5:7) besides Me; “You shall not make for yourself any graven image or image” (Ex. 20:4). And again: “Do not make for yourselves cast gods” (Exodus 34:17). You see that because of [the avoidance of] idolatry, [the Scripture] forbids the drawing of an image and that it is impossible for God - incorporeal, and invisible, and indescribable - to be depicted. For “his image,” says [Scripture], “you do not see”; as Paul also says, standing in the middle of the Areopagus: “We, being the race of God, should not think that the Godhead is like gold, or silver, or stone, which received an image from the art and imagination of man” (Acts 17:29). IX. And what is this - so, listen: “Thou shalt not make for yourself,” says [Scripture], “an idol or any likeness” (Ex. 20:4). When God commanded this, “he made the tabernacle,” it says, “and made the curtain of blue, purple, and scarlet wool, and of fine woven linen, and with cunning work he made cherubim on it... And he made two cherubim of gold, with hammered work he made them at both ends of the cover” (Ex. 36:35, 37:7). You say: “You shall not make for yourself an idol,” nor “any likeness,” and you [do] build a curtain—“with skillful work you made cherubim on it”? And - two Cherubim made of pure gold? But listen to what God’s servant Moses answers you. O blind and foolish ones, understand the power of what is said, “and hold it firmly in your souls.” I said: “You did not see any image in the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire” (Deut. 4:15), never, “lest you become corrupt and make for yourselves graven images, images of any idol” (Deut. 4:16). I did not say: Do not make images of the Cherubim as slaves who stand before the purification, but: “Do not make for yourselves cast gods” (Ex. 34:17), and: “Do not create any likeness” as God, and do not serve “the creature instead of the Creator.” So, I did not make the likeness of God, and, of course, I did not make the likeness of anyone else like God, and I did not serve “the creature instead of the Creator.” X. Have you noticed how the purpose of Scripture is revealed to those who examine it intelligently? For we must know, beloved, that in every deed we look for truth and lies, and the purpose of the one who commits it, whether it is beautiful or bad. For although the Gospel depicts God, and Angel, and man, and heaven, and earth, and water, and fire, and air, and the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and light, and darkness, and Satan, and the demon, and snakes, and scorpions, and death, and hell, and virtues, and vices, and everything both beautiful and bad; but, however, since everything that is said about them is true and the goal is the glory of God and the saints glorified by Him, as well as our salvation and the overthrow and shame of the devil and his demons, then we worship, and hug, and kiss, and greet with our eyes, and lips, and hearts; in the same way [we give honor] to the entire Old and New Testament and to the words of the holy and excellent Fathers. The shameful, disgusting, and unclean writings of the damned: the Manichaeans, the Hellenes, and other heresies, as containing what is false and vain, and as invented for the glory of the devil and his demons and for their joy, we reject with contempt and throw away from us, even if it contains the name of God. Thus, in the matter of images, one must look for both the truth and the purpose of those who arrange them. And if it is true and right, and if images are made for the glory of God and His saints, and for the competition of virtue, and the avoidance of vice, and the salvation of souls, then one must accept them with joy and honor them as images, and imitations, and likenesses, and books for the illiterate, and worship, and kiss, and greet with eyes, and lips, and heart, as the likeness of God incarnate, or His Mother, or the saints, accomplices of the suffering and glory of Christ, and victors, and destroyers of the devil, and demons, and their delusions. XI. If anyone dares to make an image of the Divine - immaterial, incorporeal, invisible, and without shape or color, then we reject it as false. And if anyone [dare to make an image] for the glory, and worship, and honor of the devil or demons, then we show contempt and destroy with fire; and if anyone deifies the image of people, or birds, or reptiles, or any other creature, we anathematize him. For just as the Holy Fathers overthrew the sanctuaries and churches of demons and in their places erected churches in honor of the names of the saints and these we venerate, so they destroyed the images of demons and in their place erected images of Christ, and the Mother of God, and the saints. And during the Old Testament, of course, no churches were erected in honor of the name of the people of Israel, the memory of a person was not celebrated. For the nature of people was still under a curse and death was a sentence [that is, punishment], which is why it was mourned; and the body of the deceased was considered unclean, and so did those who touched it. Now, since the Divinity, as some life-giving and saving medicine, has united with our nature, our nature has been glorified and turned into incorruptible. Therefore, the death of saints is celebrated, and churches are erected for them, and images are drawn. So, let every person know that whoever tries to destroy an image that arose as a result of divine love and jealousy for the glory and remembrance of Christ, or His Mother - the Holy Mother of God, or any of the saints and for the shame of the devil and the defeat of him and his demons, and does not worship, and does not honor, and does not greet him as a precious image and as God - is the enemy of Christ, and the Holy Mother of God, and the saints and the avenger of the devil and his demons, by deed revealing his sadness because God and His saints are honored and glorified, while the devil is put to shame. For the image is [a kind of] triumph, and publication, and an inscription on a pillar in remembrance of the victory of those who acted undaunted and distinguished themselves, and of the shame of the defeated and deposed demons. XII. It is not the job of kings to give laws to the Church. What does the divine Apostle say? “And God appointed others in the Church, firstly, apostles, secondly, prophets, thirdly, shepherds and teachers” (1 Cor. 12:28), for the organization of the Church. He did not say: kings. And again: “Obey your teachers and be submissive, for they watch over your souls vigilantly, as those who must give an account” (Heb. 13:17). And again: “Remember.” your teachers, who preached the word to you” (Heb. 13:7) [God], “and, considering the end of their lives, imitate their faith” (Heb. 13:7). It was not the kings who “preached” the word to us, but the Apostles, and the prophets, and the shepherds, and the teachers. shed blood" (1 Chronicles 28:3). "Give therefore to everyone their due," the Apostle Paul exclaimed, "to whom is due, due; to whom is fear, to whom is honor." Saul tore Samuel's clothes and suffered what? God tore his kingdom apart and gave it to the very meek David. Jezebel pursued Elijah, and swine and all the dogs licked her blood, and harlots washed themselves in it. Herod killed John and, eaten by worms, died. And now blessed Herman 38, shining in life and word, was slandered and became an exile, as well as very many other bishops and Fathers, whose names we do not know. Isn't this a robber thing? The Lord, when the scribes and Pharisees approached Him with tempting intentions in order to entice Him with a word, and asked Him: “Is it permissible for us to give taxes to Caesar, or not?” - He answered them: “Show Me the denarius,” and when they showed it, he said: “Whose image is on it?” When they said, “Caesar’s,” he said, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Luke 20:22–25). We are submissive to you, king, in matters relating to life [that is, in the affairs of “this age”]: taxes, duties, receiving [your] donations, in that in which the management of our affairs has been entrusted to you; in the church structure we have shepherds who “preached” the “word” to us and prepared the church law. We do not remove from our place “the boundary line that our fathers set” (Prov. 22:28), but we hold on to the traditions as we received them. For if we begin, even in a small way, to overthrow the building of the Church, then little by little it will all be destroyed. XIII. Do you blaspheme the substance and call [it] despicable? The Manichaeans also [do] this; but divine Scripture declares it beautiful. For it says: “And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good” (Gen. 1:31). So, I admit that matter is the creation of God and that it is beautiful; But you, if you call it bad, or admit that it is not from God, or make God the Author of evil. So, look what the divine Scripture says about the substance that you call despised: “And Moses said to the whole congregation of the children of Israel: This is what the Lord commanded: Make an offering from yourselves to the Lord: let everyone bring an offering to the Lord according to his diligence, gold, silver, copper, blue, purple, and scarlet wool, and fine linen, and goats’ hair, red skins of rams, and blue skins, and shittim wood, and oil for the lamp, and spices for the anointing oil and for the incense, the onyx stone, and the set stones for the ephod and the breastplate. And let every one of you who is wise in heart come and do everything that the Lord has commanded: the tabernacle” (Ex. 35:4-11), etc. XIV. Here, truly, the substance that you consider despicable is also honored. For what is more insignificant than “goat hair” and paints? Or not paints: “chervlenitsa”, and “crimson”, and “blue”? Here, truly, are the works of human hands, and the image of Cherubim; also this whole tabernacle was an image. For “see,” God says to Moses, “let you create” everything “according to the image shown to you on the mountain.” And yet all Israel, [standing] around [her], worshiped [before her]. And besides, Cherubim, weren’t they before the eyes of the people? And the ark of the Covenant, and the lamps, and the table, and the golden frame, and the staff, what did the people look at and worship? I do not worship matter, but I worship the Creator of matter, who became matter for my sake, and who made His dwelling in matter, and through matter, brought about my salvation. For: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). And it is clear to everyone that flesh is a substance and a creation. So, I honor the substance through which my salvation was accomplished, and I reverence [it] and worship [it]. But I honor him not as God, but as filled with divine action and grace. Is not the substance the tree of the cross, thrice happy and blessed? Isn’t the substance a mountain, a revered and holy place? Isn’t substance the life-giving rock, the holy tomb, the source of our resurrection? Isn’t the substance the ink, the skins [on which the books of] the Gospels are written? Isn’t substance a life-giving meal that provides us with the bread of life? Isn’t the substance both gold and silver, from which crosses, and holy patenes, and chalices are made? Is not the substance, preferable to all this, the body and blood of my Lord? Either eliminate the veneration and worship of all this, or allow, according to church tradition, the worship of icons, sanctified by the name of God and the friends of God 39, and for this reason, overshadowed by the grace of the Holy Spirit. If you forbid images because of the law, then it is time for you to keep the sabbath and to be circumcised, for this the law steadfastly commands, and to keep the whole law and not celebrate the Passover of the Lord outside Jerusalem. But learn that if you keep the law, “Christ will profit you nothing” (Gal. 5:2). It’s time for you to lead your brother’s wife to marriage, and to restore your brother’s seed (See Deut. 25:5–10), and not to sing the song of the Lord in a foreign land (Ps. 137:4). But no! “You who justify yourselves by the law have fallen from grace” (Gal. 5:4). XV. We depict (with paints) Christ the King and Lord, without depriving Him of His army. For the army of the Lord are holy. Let the earthly king deprive himself of his own army, and then let him deprive himself of his King and Lord. Let him take off his scarlet robe and diadem, and then let him deprive those who have distinguished themselves [in the struggle] against the tyrant and those who have curbed their passions of the veneration due to them. For if they are heirs to God and joint heirs with Christ and will also be participants in His divine glory and Kingdom, then how will those who are friends of Christ not be participants in His earthly glory? “I no longer call you servants” (John 15:15), says God, “you are My friends” (John 15:14). So, when honor is given to them by the Church, will we take it away from them? O daring hand! O foolishly bold mind that rebels against God and resists His commands! If you do not worship an image, do not worship the Son of God, who is the living image of the invisible God and the unchanging image. The temple that Solomon created was consecrated with the blood of the dumb, lions, and oxen, and palm trees, and pomegranates. Now the Church is sanctified by the blood of Christ and His saints and is decorated with the image of Christ and His saints. Either eliminate the worship of every image, or do not introduce what is new, and “do not remove the old landmarks that your fathers set” (Prov. 22:28). I am not talking about those that were established before Christ our God came in the flesh, but about those that were established after His coming. For regarding the decrees (law) that were in the Old Testament, God says with reproach: “And he allowed them evil institutions” (Ezek. 20:25) because of their hardness of heart; so that after the priesthood was changed, there was of necessity a change in the law. XVI. “They who from the very beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word” (Luke 1:2) conveyed the church institution not only through books, but also through some unwritten traditions. For how do we know about the holy place of Kranie? Where - about the tomb of life? Was it not [like] a child from his father that he was accepted without registration? It is written that the Lord was crucified on the cross in the cranial place and buried “in the tomb that Joseph hewed in the rock” (Matthew 27:60). And that this is what we now worship, we know from an unwritten tradition, and very much like this. From where - about baptism for the third time, that is, through three immersions? From where - about the worship of the cross? Is it not from an unwritten tradition? Therefore, the divine The Apostle Paul says: “Therefore, brethren, stand by the traditions which you were taught either by word or by our epistle” (2 Thess. 2:15). Since much has been handed down to the Church without writing and has been preserved to this day, why do you speak slander about the images? The Manichaeans wrote the Gospel of Thomas; write the Gospel of Leo 40. I do not approve of a king who, according to the custom of tyrants, kidnaps the priesthood. It was not the kings who received the power to bind and loose. I know King Valens 41, who called himself a Christian and [however] persecuted the Orthodox faith; I know Zeno 42, and Heraclius 43, and Constantine 44, who was in Sicily, and Bardaniscus, who [was also called] Philippicus 45. I cannot be convinced that the Church was organized by royal regulations; on the contrary, [it must be governed] according to the traditions of the Fathers, both written and unwritten. For just as the Gospel was proclaimed throughout the world without scriptures, so without scriptures it was transmitted throughout the world that Christ, God incarnate, and the saints should be depicted, as well as that we should all worship the cross and pray, standing [facing] towards the east. XVII. And the passages from the scriptures that you cite do not express a curse on the worship of those icons that are allowed by us, but [only] on the worship of the Hellenes, who idolized images. Therefore, because of the absurd custom of the Hellenes, the piously arose custom of the Church should not be destroyed. Both sorcerers and wizards cast spells, and the Church conjures catechumens; however, they conjure, calling demons to themselves, while this one conjures God against the demons. The Hellenes made sacrifices to demons; but Israel also offered a sacrifice to God: a bloodless sacrifice. The Hellenes dedicated images to demons; but Israel also idolized images. For they said: “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 32:4). We dedicate the images to the true God - incarnate, and to the servants of God, and to friends who drive away the armies of demons. XVIII. If you say that blessed Epiphanius 46 openly prohibited the images used among us, then find out that this book is forged, since someone else used the name of the divine Epiphanius, which [in general] often happens. For this Father does not contend with his fellow fathers, since they have all become partakers of the one Holy Spirit. And the witness of this is the Church, which was decorated with icons until some rebelled against it and confused the flock of Christ by attempting to give the people of God a dirty, destructive drink to drink. XIX. If I worship and honor, as the causes of salvation, the cross, and the spear, and the cane, and the sponge, with the help of which the deicide-Jews outraged and killed my Lord, then why will I not worship the icons, which for a good purpose are prepared by the faithful for the glory and remembrance of Christ’s suffering? If I worship the image of the cross, made of any substance, then why will I not worship the image of the Crucified One, Who showed the saving power of the cross? O inhumanity! And it’s clear that I don’t worship substance; for when the image of a cross, which, if it happened, was made of wood, is destroyed, then I commit the wood to fire, as well as the substance of the icons 47 . XX. And that the invention of icons and the worship of them is not a recent thing, but an ancient tradition of the Church, take many places from Scripture and the Fathers. In the Holy Gospel of Matthew, the Lord, pleasing His disciples and with them all those who live according to their example and follow in their footsteps, says the following: “Blessed are your eyes that they see, and your ears that they hear, for truly I say to you, that many prophets and righteous people wanted to see what you see, and did not see, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear” (Matthew 13:16-17). Therefore, we also strongly desire to see to what extent it is possible to see. “Now we see as if through a glass darkly” (1 Cor. 13:12), and in the icon we consider ourselves blessed. God the First Himself made the image, and He showed the images. For He created the first man in the image of God. And Abraham, and Moses, and Isaiah, and all the prophets saw the images of God, but not the very essence of God. The bush was the image of the Mother of God, and to Moses, who intended to approach her, God said: “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground” (Ex. 3:5). So, if the land on which the image of the Mother of God appeared to Moses is holy land, then how many times larger is this image? For he is not only a saint, but, I dare say, even one of the saints. To the Pharisees who asked why Moses allowed you to divorce your wives (Matthew 19:7), the Lord answered: “Because of your hardness of heart, Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but at first it was not so” (Matthew 19:8). And I tell you that Moses, because of the hardness of heart of the children of Israel, knowing that they were easily carried away by idolatry, commanded them not to make images. Now this is not the case: for we stand firmly on the rock of faith, enriched by the light of the knowledge of God. XXI. Listen to what the Lord says: “Fools and blind!.. whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything that is on it; and he who swears by the church swears by it and by Him who dwells in it; and he who swears by heaven swears by the Throne of God and Him who sits on it” (Matthew 23:19–22). And he who swears by an icon also swears by those who are depicted on it. XXII. So that the tabernacle, and the veil, and the ark of the Covenant, and the table, and everything that was in the tabernacle, were likenesses, and images, and the work of human hands, which all Israel worshiped; and also that the sculptured Cherubim were built at the command of God - [this] has been sufficiently proven [by us above]. For God says to Moses: “See and do” everything “in the image shown to you on the mountain.” Listen to the Apostle Paul, who testifies that Israel worshiped “made with hands” and “images”, as God commanded it. “If He had remained, he says, on earth, then he would not have been a priest, because here there are priests who, according to the law, bring gifts that serve the image and shadow of the heavenly, as Moses was told when he began to complete the tabernacle: look, it is said, do everything according to the image shown to you on the mountain. But this High Priest received a more excellent service, inasmuch as He was the best intercessor of the covenant, which was established on the best promises. For if the first covenant had been without deficiency, there would have been no need to look for a place for another. But the prophet, rebuking them, says: Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah... which I made with their fathers at the time when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt” (Heb. 8:4-9). And after a short interval: “The new one showed the dilapidation of the first; and the decaying and aging is close to destruction. For the first tabernacle was built, in which was the lamp, and the table, and the offering of bread, and which is called the Holy Place. Behind the second veil was a tabernacle called the Holy of Holies, which had a golden censer and an ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, where there was a golden vessel with manna, Aaron’s rod that blossomed and the tablets of the covenant, and above it the cherubim of glory overshadowing the atonement” [altar] (Heb. 8:13, 9:2-5). And again: “For Christ entered not into the sanctuary made with hands, which is built in the image of the true, but into heaven itself” (Heb. 9:24). And after another interval: “The law has a shadow of things to come, and not the very image of things” (Heb. 10:1). XXIII. Notice that both the law and everything consistent with it, and all the ministry that takes place among us, are holy things made by hands, leading us to the immaterial God through the medium of matter. Both the law and everything consistent with the law were a certain shade of the future image, that is, the service that takes place among us; and the service that takes place in us is an image of future blessings; the very things are the highest Jerusalem, immaterial and not made by hands, just as the same divine Apostle says: “For here we have no permanent city, but we are seeking the one to come” (Heb. 13:14), which is the heavenly Jerusalem, of which God is the artist and creator. For everything, both in accordance with the law and in accordance with our ministry, happened for the sake of that [that is, the heavenly Jerusalem]. To God Himself be glory forever. Amen. I. The evil one and the culprit of all evil - the serpent - I mean the devil - has a custom in many ways to fight with man, created in the image and likeness of God, and to cause his death through opposite tricks. For immediately at the beginning he instilled in him the hope and desire to become God and through them brought [him] down to the death of the dumb. However, he was seduced many times by both shameful and unreasonable pleasures. And how great is the contrast between the divine state [which he promised to man] and unreasonable lust? This led to godlessness, as the Godfather David says: “The fool said in his heart: “There is no God”” (Ps. 52:2); then - to polytheism; and then he urged not to worship even the One who by nature is God; otherwise he [convinced us to worship] demons; and he also taught us to worship the sky, the earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, and the rest of creation, even animals and reptiles. For it is equally bad not to give due honor to those worthy of respect, and to give indecent glory to those unworthy of honor. Truth, following the middle path, rejects all these absurdities and teaches us to confess one God, one nature in three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; evil, she says, is not an essence, but something accidental, some thought, and word, and action contrary to the law of God; it has its existence in what is thought, and said, and done, and with the cessation of [this] it also disappears. It also proclaims that Christ is one of the Holy Trinity, that He consists of two natures and that He is one Person. But the enemy of the truth and hostile to the salvation of people, who once many times deceived not only the pagans, but also the sons of Israel, to make images of demons, and ungodly people, and birds, and beasts, and reptiles and to worship them as gods, is now trying to bring the Church of Christ living in the world into confusion: through lawless lips and a crafty tongue, mixing vice with divine words and trying to cover up its disgusting and dark image and turn away the hearts of those who are not strengthened from the true custom handed down by the Fathers. II. For some rebelled, saying that it should not be for the sake of contemplation, and glory, and amazement, and competition, to depict and exhibit [publicly] the saving miracles and sufferings of Christ and the exploits of the saints against the devil. And who, possessing divine knowledge and spiritual insight, does not notice that [this] is the suggestion of the devil? For he does not want his defeat and shame to be made public, and he also does not want the glory of God and His saints to be inscribed. For if we were to make an image of the invisible God, we would really be sinning, because it is impossible for something incorporeal, and without form, and invisible, and indescribable, to be depicted. And again: if what we did were considered gods and served as gods, then we would really be acting wickedly. But we don't do any of this. For, after God, by His ineffable goodness, became incarnate and “appeared on earth in the flesh, and spoke among men” (Bar. 3:38), and took on [our] nature, and size, and image, and color of flesh, we, by making His image, do not sin. For we greatly desire to see His image; because, as the divine Apostle says, “now we see through a glass darkly” (1 Cor. 13:12). The image is “glass dark” and “fortune telling”, commensurate with the size of our body. For, says the divine Gregory, the mind, even after many strains, is not able to leave the limits of the body. III. Oh, away from you, envious devil! You envy us that we see the image of our Lord and through it we are sanctified, that we also see His saving sufferings, and marvel at His condescension, and contemplate His miracles, and recognize and glorify the power of His Divinity. You envy the saints because of the honor given to them by God. You don’t want us to see their glory outlined and become imitators of their courage and faith. We do not obey you, envious and misanthropic demon. Hear, peoples, tribes, nations, men, women, children, elders, youths and babies, holy Christian people! If anyone preaches to you contrary to what the Universal Church received from the holy Apostles, Fathers, and Councils and has preserved to this day, do not listen to him! Do not accept the advice of the serpent, as Eve accepted and reaped death. And if an Angel or a king preaches the gospel to you contrary to what you have accepted, close your ears! For while I await correction, I am still afraid to say, as the divine Apostle said: “Let him be anathema!” IV. But those who do not examine the meaning of Scripture say that God said through Moses the lawgiver: “You shall not make for yourself an graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth below” (Ex. 20:4). And through the prophet David: “Let all those who serve idols, who boast in idols, be ashamed” (Ps. 96:7), and much more of the same. For whatever they bring from the Divine Scripture and from the Holy Fathers must be understood properly. So what should we say to this? What else if not what is said by the Lord? “Search the scriptures” (John 5:39). For the study of the Scriptures is a wonderful thing. But here, direct your mind wisely! It is impossible to deceive God, beloved. For one is God, one is the Lawgiver of the Old and New Testaments, “who spoke in many ways and in various ways of old to the fathers in the prophets” (Heb. 1:1) and in recent times in His Only Begotten Son. Therefore, direct your mind carefully! This word is not mine; The Holy Spirit declared through the holy Apostle Paul: “God, who at times and in various ways spoke of old to the fathers by the prophets” (Heb. 1:1). Notice that God spoke “many times and in various ways.” For as a knowledgeable physician, he does not and does not always give the same type of [medicine], but he gives necessary and useful medicine to everyone, paying attention to the country, and to the disease, and to the time, that is, to the state of the matter, and the [physical] condition, and to the age: and for a child - one thing, for an adult, in accordance with age, another; something for the sick person, and another for the person recovering, and not the same for each of the patients, but in accordance with the property [of his body] and the disease; and another - in summer, and another - in winter, and autumn, and spring, and in each place - according to the property of the place; so the wonderful Physician of souls, who were still in childhood, and who were exhausted from the disease of idolatry, and who considered idols to be gods, and who worshiped them as gods, and who rejected the worship of God, and who gave glory to His creatures, forbade making images. For it is impossible to make an image of God - incorporeal, and invisible, and immaterial, and having neither appearance nor outline, and incomprehensible. For how will something that is inaccessible to sight be depicted? “No one has ever seen God; The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has revealed” (John 1:18). And: no one, seeing my face, will live, said God (Exodus 33:20). V. And that idols were worshiped as gods, listen to what the Scripture [says] in the “Exodus” of the children of Israel, when Moses went up to Mount Sinai and remained [there] for a long time, sitting with God, and received the law, when the ungrateful people rose up against Aaron, the servant of God, saying: “Make us a god who will go before us, for with this man, with Moses, who brought us up from the land of Egypt, there is no we know what has happened” (Exodus 32:1); then, when they took off the ornaments from their women and cast them out of metal [the calf], they ate and drank, and got drunk both with wine and with error, and began to play, saying in madness: “This is your god, O Israel” (Ex. 32:8). Do you see that they had idols for gods? For they did not make an image of Zeus or this or that, but, as it happened, they gave gold to prepare the idol, whichever one was successful, and the image of an animal with a bull's head 48 came out. So, they had these kind of objects cast from metal as gods and, like gods, they worshiped what was the dwelling of demons. And that they served “creatures instead of the Creator,” says the divine Apostle: “And they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man, and birds, and four-footed creatures, and reptiles... and they served creatures instead of the Creator” (Rom. 1:23, 25). For this reason, God forbade making any likeness. VI. I know the One who truly said: “The Lord our God is one Lord” (Deut. 6:4); and: “Fear the Lord your God, and serve Him alone” (Deut. 6:13); and: “Thou shalt have no other gods” (Ex. 20:3); and: “You shall not make for yourself any graven image or any likeness of anything in heaven above or on earth” (Ex. 20:4); and: “Let all who serve idols be put to shame” (Ps. 97:7); and: “The gods who did not create heaven and earth will disappear” (Jer. 10:11); and that in this way “God, who at times and in various ways spoke of old to the fathers through the prophets” (Heb. 1:1), “in the last days... spoke to us in the Son... through whom also he made the worlds” (Heb. 1:2). I know the One who said: “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only living and true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3). And I believe in one God, one Beginning of everything, beginningless, uncreated, not subject to destruction and immortal, eternal and constant, incomprehensible, incorporeal, invisible, indescribable, without image; into one essential essence, into the Divinity - pre-divine, in three Persons: the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and I serve Him alone, and I render ministerial worship to Him alone. I worship one God, one Divinity, but I also serve the Trinity of Persons: God the Father, and God the Son incarnate, and God the Holy Spirit, not three Gods, but one; not divided Hypostases, but united; I offer not three worships, but one; Not to each of the Hypostases separately, but to the three Hypostases together, as to one God, I render one worship. I do not worship the creature instead of the Creator, but I worship the Creator, who like me became created and, without humiliating His dignity and without experiencing any division, descended into creation in order to glorify my nature and make me a participant in the divine nature. Together with the King and God, I worship the scarlet of the body, not as a garment and not as a fourth person - no! - but as having become a participant in the same Divinity and, without experiencing any change, united with the One who Sanctified her. For it was not the nature of the flesh that became the Divinity, but just as the Word, remaining what It was before, without experiencing change, became flesh, so the flesh was assumed by the Word, without losing what it is, or better to say: being united with the Word in hypostasis. Therefore, I boldly portray the invisible God, who for our sake became a Participant of both flesh and blood. I do not depict the invisible Deity, but through the image I express the flesh of God, which was visible. For if it is impossible to depict the soul, how much more so is God, who gave immateriality to the soul? VII. But, they say, God said through the legislators Moses: “Fear the Lord your God, and serve Him alone” (Deut. 6:13); and: “You shall not make for yourself any graven image or any likeness of anything in heaven above or on earth below” (Ex. 20:4). Brothers! Those who do not know that “the letter kills, but the spirit gives life” (2 Cor. 3:6), who do not look for the spirit hidden under the letter, are truly mistaken. To them I could rightfully say: He who taught you this, let him also teach you what follows [from this]. Understand how the legislator interprets this, saying something like this in Deuteronomy: “And the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire; You heard the voice of His words, but you did not see the image, but only the voice” (Deut. 4:12). And a little later: “Keep firmly in your souls that you did not see any image in the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, lest you become corrupt and make for yourselves graven images, the image of any idol representing a man or a woman, the image of any livestock that is on the earth, the image of any winged bird” (Deut. 4:15-17). And after a short interval: “And lest you look up to heaven and see the sun, the moon, and the stars and all the host of heaven, and be deceived and worship them and serve them” (Deut. 4:19). Do you see that there is only one goal, so that we do not serve the creature instead of the Creator and, except for the Creator alone, do not render service worship to [anyone]? Therefore, everywhere he combines service with worship. For again he says: “You will have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is on earth below,” and: “You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I am the Lord your God” (Ex. 20:3–5). And again: “And destroy their altars, and break in pieces their pillars, and burn their groves with fire, and break in pieces the images of their gods... This is not what you must do” (Deut. 12:3–4) to another God. And a little later: “And do not make for yourselves cast gods” (Exodus 34:17). Do you see that for the sake of [avoiding] idolatry, he prohibits the painting of images, since it is impossible to depict the innumerable, indescribable, and invisible God? For His image, he says, they did not see, accordingly, Paul, standing in the middle of the Areopagus, also says: “Therefore, we, being the race of God, should not think that the Godhead is like gold, or silver, or stone, which received an image from the art and imagination of man” (Acts 17:29). VIII. The Jews, of course, were prescribed this because of their inclination towards idolatry. We (if we speak with the Theologian), to whom it has been given, having avoided superstitious wandering, having known the truth, to be in pure [and holy] communion with God and to serve God alone, to abound in the perfection of the knowledge of God and, having passed childhood, to reach the age of “a perfect man... - to be no more babes” (Eph. 4:13-14), have received from God the ability to discern and know what can be depicted and what cannot be expressed through an image. For “the law was our guide to Christ, that we might be justified by faith... and while we were children, we were enslaved to the material elements of the world” (Gal.3:24; Gal.4:3). For His image, says [Scripture], they did not see. O wisdom of the legislator! How will the invisible be depicted? How will the incomparable be compared? How will that which has no quantity and magnitude, and is unlimited, and has no form, be inscribed? How will the incorporeal be painted? How will the indescribable be given shape? So, what is mysteriously shown [in these places]? It is clear that now you cannot depict the invisible God, but when you see the incorporeal God made human for your sake, then make an image of His human appearance. When the invisible one, having put on flesh, becomes visible, then depict the likeness of Him who appeared. When the One who, due to the superiority of His nature, was deprived of quantity, quality, and magnitude, Who, “being in the form of God... took the form of a servant” (Phil. 2:6-7), through this became limited in quantitative and qualitative respects and was clothed in a bodily image, then inscribe on the boards and expose for contemplation the One who wished to appear. Outline His ineffable condescension, the birth of the Virgin, baptism in the Jordan, the transfiguration on Tabor, the suffering that freed us from passions, miracles - signs of His Divine nature, performed through the medium of the flesh, the saving burial of the Deliverer, the ascension into heaven; Draw everything: in words, with paints, in books, and on boards. IX. “You shall not make for yourself,” says [Scripture], “an idol, nor any likeness” (Ex. 20:4). When God commanded this, “make,” he says, “a curtain for the entrance of the tabernacle of blue, purple, and scarlet wool and fine twined linen... and with skillful work made cherubim on it” (Ex. 36:35). What are you doing, O Moses? You say: “You shall not make for yourself an idol,” nor “any likeness,” and you [but] you build a curtain - “cherubim with skillful work” - and two Cherubim of pure gold? But listen - what does God’s servant Moses answer you: O blind and foolish ones, understand the power of what is said, “I said that you did not see any image in the day when the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire” (Deut. 4:15), “so that you would never be corrupted.” and you did not make for yourself any graven image or image of any idol” (Deut. 4:16). I did not say: “Thou shalt not make images of the Cherubim as the servants who stand before me to purify,” but: “Thou shalt not make for thee selves molten gods,” and “Thou shalt not make for thee any image” as gods, and thou shalt not serve “a creature instead of the Creator” (Ex. 34:17, Ex. 20:4, Rom.1:25). So, I have not made the likeness of God, nor the likeness of anyone else as God, nor the likeness of man, for the nature of the human race is enslaved to sin. I did not serve the creature instead of the Creator. But I made the likeness of every creature, [that is,] the tabernacle, according to the image shown to me on the mountain, and the Cherubim overshadowing the purification, as standing before God. Have you noticed how the purpose of Scripture is revealed to those who study it intelligently? For we must know, beloved, that in every deed we look for truth and lies, and the purpose of the one who commits it, whether it is beautiful or bad. For although the Gospel depicts God, and Angel, and man, and earth, and water, and fire, and air, and the sun, and the moon, and light, and darkness, and Satan, and demons, and snakes, and scorpions, and life, and death, and hell, and virtues, and vices, and everything - both beautiful and bad; but, however, since everything that is said about them is true and the goal is the glory of God, and our salvation, and the glory of the saints praised by Him, on the one hand, and on the other, the shame of the devil and his demons, then we worship, and hug, and kiss, and greet with our eyes, and lips, and hearts. Equally [we give honor] to the entire Old and New Testament, and to the words of the holy and excellent Fathers. The shameful, disgusting, and unclean writing of the damned Manichaeans, containing the same names and invented for the glory of the devil and his demons and for the destruction of the soul, we reject with contempt and throw away from ourselves. Thus, in the matter of images, one must look for both the truth and the purpose of those who arrange them. And if it is true and right, and if [the images] are made for the glory of God and His saints, and for the competition of virtue, and the avoidance of vice, and the salvation of souls, then one should receive [them] with joy and honor them as images and imitations, and likenesses, and books for the illiterate, and worship, and kiss, and greet with eyes, and lips, and heart, as the likeness of God incarnate, or His Mother, or saints, participants in His suffering and the glory of Christ, and victors, and destroyers of the devil, and demons, and their delusions. If anyone dares to make an image of the Divine - immaterial and incorporeal, then we reject it as false. And if anyone [dare to make an image] for glory, and honor, and worship of the devil or demons, then we show contempt and destroy with fire. And if anyone deifies the image of people, or livestock, or birds, or reptiles, or any other creature, we anathematize him. For just as the Holy Fathers overthrew the sanctuaries and churches of demons and in their places erected churches in honor of the name of God and the saints, and these we honor, so they destroyed the images of demons and in their place erected images of Christ, and His Mother, and the saints; we honor these also. And during the Old Testament, of course, no churches were erected in honor of the name of the people of Israel, the memory of [the person] was not celebrated. For the nature of men was still under a curse; and death was a sentence [that is, punishment], which is why it was mourned; and anyone who touched the body of the deceased was considered unclean. Now, since the Divinity, as some life-giving and saving medicine, has been inextricably united with our nature, our nature has been glorified and turned into incorruptible. Therefore, churches to them [that is, saints] are erected, and images are drawn. X. So, let every person know that whoever tries to destroy an image that arose as a result of divine love and zeal for the glory and remembrance of Christ, or His Mother - the Holy Mother of God, or any of the saints, also for the shame of the devil and the defeat of him and his demons, and does not worship, and does not honor, and does not greet him as a precious image and as God - this person is the enemy of Christ, and the Holy Mother of God, and the saints, an avenger for the devil and his demons, revealing his sadness in action because God and His saints are honored and glorified, while the devil is put to shame. For the image is [a kind of] triumph, and publication, and an inscription on a pillar in memory of the victory of those who acted undaunted and distinguished themselves, and of the shame of the defeated and deposed. I have often seen that those who loved [someone] deeply looked at the clothes of their loved one and both with their eyes and lips greeted this clothing, as if it were the person they loved. One should, according to the Holy Apostle Paul, give everyone their due: “to him is honor, honor;.. and to the king, because he prevails, and to the prince, because he was sent from him” (Rom. 13:7, 1 Pet. 2:13–14); to each according to his dignity. XI. Where did you find in the Old Testament or in the Gospel the name of the Trinity, or the word: consubstantial, or a clear description of the one nature of the Divine, or word for word expressions: three Hypostases, or one Hypostasis of Christ, or literally two natures? But, however, since the Holy Fathers, on the basis of equivalent [those] expressions found in Scripture, determined [all] this, then we accept and anathematize those who do not accept. I, on the basis of the Old Testament, want to prove to you that God commanded to make images. First, He commanded [to build] the tabernacle itself and everything in it. Also in the Gospels, the Lord Himself asked Him with tempting intentions about “whether it is permissible to give tribute to Caesar or not,” and said: “Show Me the coin”; and “they brought Him a denarius.” And He asked them: “Whose image is this?” They said: “Caesarean.” And He said: “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:17–21). Since the denarius has the image of Caesar, then it is Caesar’s, and [therefore] give to Caesar, and also repay to Christ with the image of Christ, because it is Christ’s. XII. The Lord, pleasing His disciples, said: “Many kings, and prophets, and righteous people desired to see what you see, but did not see or hear what you hear, and did not hear” (Matthew 13:17). And so the Apostles saw Christ in a bodily way, and His sufferings, and miracles, and heard His words. We strongly desire to see, and hear, and be glorified. They saw face to face, since He was physically present; we, because He is not physically present, as if through books, we listen to His words and sanctify our ears and through them our soul, and we consider ourselves blessed, and we worship, reading the books through which we hear His words. So through the medium of icon painting we contemplate the image of His physical appearance, and His miracles, and His sufferings, and we are sanctified, and are completely satisfied, and rejoice, and consider ourselves happy; we reverence, honor, and worship His bodily image. And contemplating His bodily appearance, we imagine, as far as possible, the glory of His Divinity. For, since we consist of two parts, composed of soul and body, 49 and our soul is not naked, but is covered [by the body] as if with a veil, it is impossible for us to come to the spiritual apart from the physical. Consequently, just as through sensory words [which] we hear with bodily ears, we also understand the spiritual, so through bodily contemplation we come to spiritual contemplation. Therefore, Christ took on body and soul, just as man also has body and soul. Therefore, baptism consists of two parts: water and spirit, as well as the holy meal [that is, communion of the body and blood of Christ], and prayer, and psalmody; everything is twofold: bodily and spiritually also - lamps and incense (incense). XIII. But the devil, leaving everything, rushed against only the icons; and his hatred of icons is so great that in the “Meadow” of Saint Sophronius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, it is even written like this: “Abba Theodore Eliot said that a certain ascetic imprisoned himself on the Mount of Olives. The demon of fornication was at great enmity with him. So, one day, when he was pressing hard on him, the elder began to grieve and say to the demon: How long will you not give in to me? Finally get away from me! You grew old with me. The demon appears to him in a visible image, saying: Swear to me that you will not tell anyone what I intend to tell you, and from now on I will not fight with you. And the elder swore to him: I swear by the One who dwells in the highest, I will not tell anyone what you tell me. Then the demon says to him: Do not worship this icon, and from now on I will not fight with you. This icon had the image of our Lady Holy Mary the Mother of God, carrying our Lord Jesus Christ.” Notice who those who prohibit worshiping icons imitate and whose tools are they? For the demon of fornication preferred that veneration should not be given to the icon of the Lady, rather than for the elder to fall into the uncleanness of fornication, since he knew that that sin was greater than fornication. XIV. But since we are talking about the image [or icon] and worship, we will try to properly define the broad concept of them, and, firstly, we will try to say about “what is an image?” Secondly: “Why were icons introduced?” Third: “how many types of images?” Fourth: “what can be depicted and what cannot?” Fifth: “who first made the image?” XV. Then [let's say] about worship. Secondly: “How many ways of worship are there?” Thirdly: “How many objects and persons do we find in Scripture that were worshiped?” Fourthly, that “all worship is for the sake of God, Who is worthy of worship by His Nature.” Fifthly, about “that the honor given to the icon goes to the prototype.” Firstly, what is an icon? XVI. An icon [or image], without a doubt, is a likeness, a sample, and a print of something, showing what is depicted. But, in any case, the image is not in all respects similar to the prototype [that is, the person or object depicted], for the other is the image and the other is what is depicted, and, in any case, a difference is noticeable between them, since this is not the other and the other is not that. I want to present some example: the image of a person, although it expresses the shape of his body, does not contain his spiritual powers, for it does not live, does not think, does not make a sound, does not feel, does not move its members; and the son, being the natural image of the father, [however] has something different in comparison with him, for he is a son, and not a father. Secondly, why does the image exist? XVII. Every image makes hidden things clear and shows them. I want to present some example: since man, because his soul is clothed with a body, as limited by place and time, does not have inviolable knowledge of either the invisible, or what will come after him, or what is separated by place and located at a distant distance, then to show knowledge the path and explanation, and to reveal the hidden, an image was invented; in general - for benefit, and goodness, and salvation, so that, with the help of objects made known and solemnly revealed [through icons], we recognize what is hidden, and love the beautiful and compete with it, but turn away from the opposite, that is, evil, and hate it. Third, how many types of images are there? XVIII. The types of icons are [the following]: the first image is, of course, natural. For with regard to any thing, it is first of all necessary that it be in accordance with the condition and order of its nature, 50 and [only] then it is necessary for that which is accomplished by art and imitation. For example, first of all it is necessary that a person exist in accordance with the condition and order of his nature, whom art would then express and depict through imitation. Therefore, the first is a natural and in everything similar image of the invisible God - the Son of the Father, revealing the Father in Himself. For “no one has seen God at any time” (John 1:18). And again: “It is not that anyone has seen the Father” (John 6:46). And that the Son is the image of the Father, says the Apostle: “Who is the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15). And to the Jews: “This is the radiance of glory and the image of His hypostasis” (Heb. 1:3). And that He shows the Father in Himself, [about this] the Lord says: “I have been with you so long, and you do not know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9) - [speaks precisely] after Philip said in the Gospel of John: “show us the Father, and it is enough for us” ( John 14:8). The Son is the natural image of the Father, completely equal, in every respect similar to the Father, except that he is not unbegotten and not the Father. For the Father is the unbegotten Parent; The Son is begotten and not the Father; and the Holy Spirit is the image of the Son. “No one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 12:3). And so through the Holy Spirit we come to know Christ, the Son of God and God, and in the Son we contemplate the Father. For the word by nature is a messenger of the mind; the spirit is the discoverer of the word. A similar and completely equal image of the Son is the Holy Spirit, differing [with Him] in only one respect: in that He proceeds. For the Son, although begotten, does not come forth. And every father’s natural image is a son. And this is the first type of image: natural. XIX. The second type of image: the idea found in God of what is to come from Him, that is, His eternal advice, which always remains unchanged. For the Divinity is His counsel, unchangeable and without beginning, as a result of which what He has decreed occurs at the time predetermined by Him, as He has predetermined. For images and examples of what is to come from Him are the representation of each of these objects; and Saint Dionysius calls them predestination. For in His council, that which was predetermined by Him, and that which was to happen inviolably in the future, was endowed with signs and images before its existence. XX. The third type of image is that which comes from God through imitation, that is, man. For he who is created cannot be of the same nature with the Uncreated, but [is an image] through imitation [and likeness]. For just as the Father, who is Mind, and the Son, who is Word, and the Holy Spirit are one God, so mind, and word, and spirit are one man. The similarity is also manifested in the fact that a person is gifted with free will and has the ability to control. For God says: “Let us make man in our image and likeness”; and immediately added: “And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air.” And again: “And have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and subdue the earth” (Gen. 1:26, 28), and have dominion over it. XXI. The fourth type of depiction is that when Scripture creates images, and views, and outlines of invisible and incorporeal objects, depicted bodily for a weak [at least] understanding of both God and Angels, due to the fact that we are not able to contemplate incorporeal objects without colors [or figures] corresponding to us, as Dionysius the Areopagite, who is very knowledgeable in the divine field, says. After all, that images are naturally offered to that which is devoid of images, and forms to that which has no forms, as a reason one could indicate only one relevant analogy in relation to us: that we are not able to rise to the contemplation of spiritual objects without [any] mediation, and in order to rise, we need that which is related [to us] and akin. Therefore, if the divine Word, providing for our ability to perceive, delivering to us from everywhere that which is capable of elevating [the mind], clothes with certain images both objects simple and those without images, then why not depict that which by its own nature has images and which, although we desire passionately, but which, due to its absence, apparently cannot be? Indeed, Gregory the Theologian says that “the mind, trying hard to go beyond the limits of the body, turns out to be powerless everywhere.” But “the invisible things of God, His eternal power and Godhead, have been visible from the creation of the world through the consideration of creation” (Rom. 1:20). In creatures we notice images that covertly show us divine reflections, so that when we talk about the Holy Trinity, the highest of all principles, we depict it to ourselves through the sun and light and ray; or – a gushing source and flowing moisture and flow; or - the mind and the word and the breath that is in us; or - a rose trunk and a flower and incense. XXII. The fifth type of image is the one that pre-depicts and outlines the future, like the bush and the dew that fell on the fleece - the Virgin and Mother of God, and also the rod and stamna. And like the serpent - the One who through the cross destroyed [the power of] the bite of the culprit of all evils of the serpent; and like the sea the water of baptism, and the cloud its spirit. XXIII. The sixth type of image is an image established for the remembrance of the past: either a miracle, or virtue, for glory and honor, and [so to speak] an inscription on a pillar [of the names] of those who declared themselves by the nobility of actions and shone with virtue; or - vice, for the triumph over the most vicious people and their shame, for the benefit of those who subsequently consider [this], so that we [thus] avoid vices and participate in virtues. This same image is twofold: as through a word inscribed in books, for writing expresses a word through an image, just as God inscribed the law on the tablets and commanded that the lives of God-loving men be written down; so also through sensory contemplation, just as He commanded that, in eternal remembrance, the stave and staff should be placed in the ark of the Covenant; and just as He commanded that the names of the tribes should be carved on the stones of the amice 51, and also that twelve stones should be taken from the Jordan, which would represent the priests (oh the mystery, how truly great it is for the faithful!), raising the ark of the Covenant, and the impoverishment of water [in the Jordan]. Thus, even now, with great love, we draw images of formerly virtuous men for our competition, and remembrance, and surprise. Therefore, either abolish every image and make a law contrary to Him who commanded it to be, or accept every image in accordance with the meaning and character appropriate to each. Fourth: what is depicted and what cannot be? and how is each individual object depicted? XXIV. Bodies, as having forms, and bodily outline, and color, of course, are naturally expressed through images. The angel, the soul, and the demon, although physicality and size are alien to them, are nevertheless depicted and outlined in accordance with their nature. For, being spiritual, they are believed to dwell and act in a spiritual manner in spiritual places. And so, although they are depicted bodily, just as Moses depicted the Cherubim and just as they appeared to worthy people, they are nevertheless [depicted] in such a way that the bodily image shows some kind of incorporeal spectacle and comprehended only by the mind. Divine nature alone is indescribable, and completely devoid of form, and has no form, and is incomprehensible. Although divine Scripture clothes God with forms that seem to be corporeal, so that figures can also be visible, the forms themselves are incorporeal. For the prophets and those to whom they revealed themselves—after all, they were not visible to everyone—contemplated them not with bodily eyes, but with spiritual ones. It's easy to say - we can make images of all the figures we see; but we imagine them mentally, depending on how they appeared. For although we sometimes imagine figures [of things] through reflection, we also come to this understanding of them on the basis of what we have seen; this also happens in each individual sense: based on what we smelled, or tasted, or touched, through reflection we come to the idea of ​​this too. XXV. So we know that it is impossible to see with the eyes the nature of both God, the soul, and the demon, but that they are contemplated through some adaptation, when divine providence clothes with images and forms that which is incorporeal, and without images, and has no corporeal figure, for the purpose of guiding us and for [giving us at least] a superficial and partial knowledge of them, so that we are not completely ignorant of God and incorporeal creatures. For God, of course, is by nature completely incorporeal. An angel, a soul, and a demon, in comparison with God, Who [however] alone is above comparison, are bodies. Compared with material bodies, they are incorporeal. And so God, not wanting us to be completely ignorant of what is incorporeal, clothed it with forms, and figures, and images, in relation to our nature; figures, [I say], bodily, contemplated with the help of the immaterial sight of the mind. And to this we give forms, and we depict it; for [otherwise] how could the Cherubim be represented and depicted? But [after all] in Scripture the forms and images of God are also mentioned 52. Fifth, who made the image first? XXVI. God Himself was the first to give birth to the Only Begotten Son and His Word, His living image, natural, in everything similar to the image of His eternity; and created man “in His own image” and likeness. And Adam saw God and heard the sound of His feet, “walking in paradise in the cool of the day” (Gen. 3:8), and hid in paradise. And Jacob saw, “wrestling” with God. It is clear that God appeared to him as a man, and Moses saw, as it were, “behind” the man; Isaiah also saw, as it were, a man “sitting on a throne.” Daniel also saw the likeness of a man and “as it were the Son of man,” who came “to the Ancient of Days” (Dan. 7:13). And no one saw the nature of God, but [only] the image and likeness of Him who intended to appear in the future. For the Son and invisible Word of God intended to truly become man in order to unite with our nature and be visible on earth. And so everyone, seeing the image and likeness of the future, bowed down, just as the Apostle Paul says in his letter to the Hebrews: “All these died in the faith, not receiving the promises, but only saw them from afar and rejoiced” (Heb. 11:13). So, shall I not begin to make images of Him Who appeared for my sake with a carnal nature? And shall I not worship and honor Him through the honor and adoration that I give to His image? Abraham saw, [but] not the nature of God - for “no one has ever seen God” (John 1:18) - but the image of God, and, falling, he worshiped. Joshua the son of Nun saw, [but] not the nature of the Angel, but the image; for the nature of an Angel is not beheld by bodily eyes; and, having fallen, bowed. Daniel did the same. An angel is not God, but a creation and a servant of God and a helper; [why] he worshiped him not as God, but as God’s helper and servant. Am I really not going to make images of Christ’s friends? And shall I not worship, not as gods, but as images of the friends of God? For neither Jesus nor Daniel worshiped the angels who appeared - as if they were gods; and I do not worship the image - as God, but through the image of Christ, and the Holy Mother of God, and the saints, I give worship and honor to God, for whose sake I honor and respect His friends. God did not enter into unity with the nature of the Angels, but united with the nature of people. God did not become an Angel, but God became by nature and truly a man: “For He does not receive Angels, but He receives the seed of Abraham” (Heb. 2:16). It was not the nature of the Angels that became the Son of God by hypostasis, but the nature of man became the Son of God by hypostasis. The angels became participants and became partakers not of the divine nature, but of action and grace; Among people, those become participants and become sharers of the divine nature, who accept the holy body of Christ and drink His blood. For [both] are united with the Divine by hypostasis; and the two natures in the body of Christ we receive are inextricably united in hypostasis; and we are participants in two natures: in the body - in a bodily way, in the Divinity - in a spiritual way, but better in both - in both senses. It is not by hypostasis that we are one and the same [as the Savior], for first we exist hypostatically and then [only] we enter [with Him] into unity; but by connection with the body and blood. And how are there not more angels than people who maintain unity in purity through keeping the commandments? Our nature is less than lower in comparison with the Angels: [precisely] because it is mortal and because it has the heaviness of the body; but, by the favor of God and union [with Him], it became more glorious than the Angels. For the angels stand before him with fear and trembling, who is seated in Christ on the throne of glory, and they will stand in fear at the judgment. The angels are not named in Scripture as seated together [with Him] and as partakers of the divine glory. For “all” they “are ministering spirits, sent out to minister for those who are to inherit salvation” (Heb. 1:14). And it is not said that they will reign together [with Him] and will be glorified together and that they will sit at the Father’s table. Holy people are “children of God, sons of the kingdom, and heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.” Therefore I honor the saints and glorify the servants, and friends, and joint heirs of Christ; slaves [of course] by nature and friends by choice, also children and heirs by divine grace, as the Lord says to His Father. So, having spoken about the image, we want to talk about worship, and firstly, about what is worship? About worship. What is worship? XXVII. So, worship is a sign of submission, that is, humility and modesty; There are very many kinds of worship. How many types of worship are there? XXVIII. The first kind of worship is service worship, which we render to God, Who alone by His nature is worthy of worship. In turn, this kind of [worship manifests itself] in various ways. First, in the form of servile worship [or obedience]. For all creatures worship Him as slaves - a Master; for [Scripture] says: “For all things serve Thee” (Ps. 119:91); and some worship voluntarily, others against their will; some, those who are pious, worship, of course, because they know [God], while others, although they know [God], however, worship reluctantly, against their will, like demons; others, not knowing Him who is God by nature, unwillingly worship Him Whom they do not know. XXIX. The second kind is that which we show out of surprise and intense love; In this way we worship God because of His natural glory. For He alone is glorified [and glorified], not having glory from anyone, but being Himself the Author of all glory and all good, as incomprehensible light, incomparable sweetness, inexplicable beauty, an abyss of goodness, unsearchable wisdom, infinitely powerful power, as the only One who in Himself is worthy to meet with surprise, and worship, and glorification, and love. XXX. The third kind is the one when we give thanks for the blessings that have been done to us. For for everything that is, we must give thanks to God and show eternal worship, both because everything has its being from Him, and because “all things depend on Him” (Col. 1:17), and that He gives to everyone, even without their asking, in abundance from His gifts; and that he “wants all men to be saved” and to be partakers of His goodness; and that He is long-suffering towards us who sin, and “He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45); and that for our sake the Son of God became such as we are, and made us “partakers of the Divine nature through likeness to him,” as St. John the Theologian in his conciliar message. XXXI. The fourth kind is the one that we use in case of shortages [in goods] and in the hope [of receiving] benefits, according to which, knowing that without Him we cannot do anything or have any good, we worship, each asking from Him what - as he feels - he is lacking and what he strongly desires, in order to get rid of disasters and achieve blessings. XXXII. The fifth generation is the one when we repent and confess [our sins]. For when we sin, we worship and fall before God, asking, like prudent servants [and it is proper], for forgiveness of mistakes. And this kind is threefold: someone grieves out of love, or out of fear that he will not receive God’s blessings, or out of fear of punishment. And the first kind occurs as a result of good thinking, and a person’s strong love for God, and filial disposition towards Him; the second is a sign of the mercenary’s mindset; the third is slave. How many objects do we find in Scripture that are given worship, and in how many ways do we give worship to creatures? XXXIII. Firstly, [worship is given] to those on whom God rested, Who alone is holy and rests in the saints, such as: in the Holy Mother of God and all holy people. These are those who, as far as possible, have become like God, both as a result of their own will and God's presence and assistance - those who are truly called even gods, not by nature, but by grace, just as iron heated in fire is called fire not by nature, but by position and participation in the fire. For [Scripture] says: “Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy” (Lev. 19:2). This primarily depends on will. Then everyone who preferentially chooses what is good is helped by God in achieving the good. Then [God says]: “And I will walk among you” (Lev. 26:12); and [we also read in Scripture]: “You are the church of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in you” (1 Cor. 3:16). Then: He gave [Jesus Christ] “to them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease” (Matthew 10:1). And: “The works that I do, he [a believer in Jesus Christ] will do also, and greater works than these will he do” (John 14:12). Then the Lord God says: “I will glorify those who glorify Me” (1 Samuel 2:30). And: “If we suffer with him, we will also be glorified with him” (Rom. 8:17). And: “God became in the assembly of gods; He pronounced judgment among the gods” (Ps. 82:1). Therefore, just as they are truly gods 53 not by nature, but as partakers of Him who is God by nature, so they are worthy of worship not by nature, but as having within themselves Him who by nature is worthy of worship; just as iron heated in fire is not by nature inaccessible to touch and hot, but as a participant in that which is hot by nature. So, they serve as objects of worship as glorified by God, as having become, with the assistance of God, terrible for enemies and benefactors for those who come [to them] with faith, not as gods and benefactors by nature, but as servants and servants of God and as those who, as a result of their love for Him, received a happy destiny: boldness [or free access to God]. So, we worship them, since [in this case] we please the king himself, who sees that his beloved servant serves as an object of worship not as a king, but as an obedient servant and a benevolent friend. And those who come with faith receive according to their requests - it makes no difference whether the servant himself asks for it from the king, or the king receives honor and respect from the one who seeks [something] from his servant; for he asked in his name; so those who approached [Jesus] received healing through the Apostles. Thus, the shadow, and the headbands, and the headdresses of the Apostles exuded healing. Those who rebelliously and treacherously desire to be worshiped as gods are unworthy of worship and deserve eternal fire. And those who do not worship the servants of God with an arrogant and proud spirit are condemned as arrogant and arrogant, as acting wickedly in relation to God. And the witnesses are the children who contemptuously reviled Elisha and became food for bears 54 . XXXIV. The second kind [of worship] is that when we worship the creations through which and in which God accomplished our salvation, partly before the coming of the Lord, partly after the economy He accomplished in the flesh; as, [for example]: Mount Sinai, also Nazareth, the manger and den in Bethlehem, Holy Calvary, the wood of the cross, nails, sponge, reed, sacred and saving spear, robe, tunic, veils, shrouds, the holy tomb - the source of our resurrection, the stone of the tomb, holy Mount Zion, on the other hand, Mt. the font of olives, the font of sheep, and the blessed garden of Gethsemane, to this and the like I give veneration and worship, and to every holy church of God, and to every [place] where the name of God is pronounced. I do not worship them because of their nature, but because they are the receptacles of divine activity, and because through them and in them God has deigned to work out our salvation. For I pay veneration and worship to Angels, to people, and to every substance that is involved in divine activity and has served my salvation. I do not worship the Jews; for they are not involved in divine activity and the Lord of glory - my God - was crucified on the cross not with the goal of bringing me salvation, but rather, agitated by envy and hatred of God and the Benefactor. "God! “I have loved the habitation of Your house,” says David, “and the place of the dwelling of Your glory” (Ps. 25:8). And: “Let us bow down at His footstool” (Ps. 131:7). And: “Worship on His holy mountain” (Ps. 98:9). The animated holy mountain of God is the Holy Mother of God; the mountains of God gifted with reason are the Apostles. “The mountains leaped like rams, and the hills like lambs” (Ps. 113:4). XXXV. The third kind is that when we worship that which is dedicated to God; I mean the Holy Gospels and other books. For “it is written for our instruction, which have come to the last ages” (1 Cor. 10:11). [I also mean] paten, chalices, censers, lamps and meals. For it is clear that all these objects are worthy of veneration. Indeed, see how God overthrew the kingdom of Belshazzar when he ordered that a crowd of [guests] drink wine from the sacred vessels 55. XXXVI. The fourth kind is that when the objects of worship are the images that appeared to the prophets; for they alone beheld God in a figurative vision; also - images of the future, like Aaron’s rod, figuratively expressing the sacrament of the Virgin, and the stanna, and the meal. And Jacob also bowed down on the top of [his] rod, since it was the image of the Savior. Images of the past exist for remembrance: and the tabernacle itself was the image of the whole world, for [God] says to Moses: “Look at the image shown to you on the mountain.” Also [reminiscent of the past] were the golden Cherubim, a work cast from metal, and the Cherubim, which were on the veil of skillful work. So we also worship the precious image of the cross, and the likeness of the bodily image of my God and She who carnally gave birth to Him, and the images of all His [servants]. XXXVII. The fifth generation is the one when, both humbling ourselves before each other and fulfilling the law of love, we give worship - one to another, as those who own the lot of God and came into being in the image of God. XXXVIII. The sixth kind is [worship of] those in government positions and those in authority. For [Scripture] says: “give to everyone their due: to whom... honor, honor” (Rom. 13:7), just as Jacob bowed to Esau, as his elder brother, and to Pharaoh, God’s chosen leader. XXXIX. The seventh generation is the one when slaves [worship] masters and [worship is given to] benefactors and those whom petitioners might need, like Abraham did to the sons of Hamor when he bought a double cave. XL. And simply say: worship is a sign of fear, and strong love, and honor, and submission, and humility; but no one should be worshiped as God, except Him alone, who is God by nature; everyone should repay the debt for the Lord's sake. XLI. You see how great a strength and what divine power is given to those who approach the icons of the saints with faith and a clear conscience! Therefore, brothers, let us stand on the rock of faith and on the Tradition of the Church, without removing from our place the limit that our Holy Fathers laid, without giving room to those who want to introduce something new and destroy the building of the holy catholic and apostolic Church of God. For if freedom is given to everyone who wants it, then little by little the entire body of the Church will be destroyed. No, brothers, no, Christ-loving children of the Church, do not dishonor our mother! Don't take off her jewelry! Accept her, who negotiates [with you] through me! Understand what God says about her: “You are all beautiful, my beloved, and there is no spot on you” (Song. 4:7). Let us worship and serve only the Creator and Creator, as God, Who by nature is worthy of worship! Let us also worship the Holy Mother of God, not as God, but as the Mother of God according to the flesh! Let us also worship the saints, as God’s chosen friends and those who have boldness towards Him! For if people often worship transitory, wicked, and sinful kings and the leaders they choose, as well as their images, according to the divine saying of the Apostle: Obey “the rulers and those who rule”; and: “Give everyone their due: to whom... fear, fear; to whom is honor, honor" (Rom. 13:7); and: “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” (Matthew 22:21), as the Lord says, “and to God the things that are God’s”; then how much more should we worship the King of kings, as the One who alone by nature reigns unlimitedly, and His servants and friends, who reigned over their passions and were appointed rulers of the whole earth: for “I have appointed,” says David, “princes throughout the whole earth”; who received power against demons and diseases and who, together with Christ, reigned in the incorruptible and indestructible kingdom, whose shadow alone drove away diseases and demons? So, let us not think that the image is more powerless and less valuable than the shadow! After all, it truly sets off the prototype. Brothers! A Christian is judged by the degree of his faith. Therefore, he who comes with faith will receive abundant benefit; “he who doubts” is “like a wave of the sea, tossed and tossed by the wind” (James 1:6), he will receive nothing. For all the saints pleased God through faith. So, let us accept the Tradition of the Church with a right heart and without much thought! For “God created man upright, but people indulge in many thoughts” (Eccl. 7:29). Let us not approve of the study of a new faith, since [in this case] the tradition of the Holy Fathers is criticized! For the divine Apostle says: “Again I say, if anyone preaches to you anything other than what you have received, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:9). So, we worship icons, worshiping not the substance, but through them those who are depicted on them. For, as the divine Basil says, “the honor given to the icon passes on to the prototype.” XLII. May you, the most sacred flock of Christ, the people named after Christ, the holy language, the body of the Church, may Christ fill you with the joy of His resurrection and may He honor those who follow in the footsteps of the holy shepherds and teachers of the Church so that, moving forward, they will achieve His glory in the lordships of the saints! May it be that we, by His grace, achieve it, eternally glorifying Him together with the beginningless Father, to Whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. After we have spoken about the difference between idols and icons and presented the definition of icons, it is time [for us], in accordance with the promise we have given, to add passages from the [patristic] writings. I. Saint Dionysius the Areopagite, from the Epistle to Titus ...So, we must, instead of the people's opinion about them [sacred symbols], decently penetrate inside [the very essence] of sacred signs and not humiliate them - which originate from divine forms and are reflections of them, as well as visible images of secret and supernatural spectacles... Interpretation: Notice how he said that images of what is worthy of respect should not be degraded. II. His same, from the book on divine names ... We have also been taught this: while now, in accordance with our ability to understand [divine] sayings and hierarchical traditions, Humanity, through sacred veils, through what is perceived by the senses, hides what is comprehended only by the mind and through what exists, hides that which surpasses [every] essence, and that which is devoid of form and image, clothes with forms and images, and that simplicity that is supernatural and has no form, as it fills with diversity divisible signs, and depicts... Interpretation: If it is characteristic of Humanity 56 to clothe in forms and images, in a manner consistent with us, the devoid of image and appearance, and the simple, and without form, then why not depict for us, in a manner appropriate to us, that which has become visible [to us] through the medium of forms and figures - both for memory and for the movement towards competition arising from memory? III. Saint Dionysius, Bishop of Athens, from the Epistle to the Apostle and Theologian John ...Things accessible to vision are truly visible images of what is invisible... IV. Him, from a book about the church hierarchy ...But, of course, the higher beings and ranks of us, the sacred remembrance of which I have already made, are incorporeal, and the hierarchy that takes place in relation to them is both spiritual and supermundane. The hierarchy that takes place in relation to us, we see, abounds, in proportion to our own ability of understanding, in a variety of sensory signs by which we are hierarchically elevated to a uniform union with God in a measure appropriate to us both to God and to divine virtue. The first [that is, our highest ranks and essences], as minds, understand as far as they are allowed, but we, through sensory images, as far as possible, are raised to divine contemplations 57... Interpretation: Therefore, if, in proportion to our ability of understanding, we are raised to divine and immaterial contemplation through sensory images, and divine providence lovingly clothes with images and forms that which is devoid of forms and images, so that we are led [by them] as if by a hand, then why is it indecent to depict, in proportion to our own ability of understanding, the One who is philanthropic for us appeared in appearance, image, and nature as a man? A long-held story has reached us that Abgar - I mean the King of Edessa - inflamed by what he heard about the Lord with divine love, sent envoys asking [the Lord] to visit him. If He refused to do this, then Avgar ordered the painter to copy His image. Having learned this, He who knows everything and can do everything, took a piece of canvas and, bringing His face closer [to it], at that time imprinted His own image, which has been preserved to this day 58 - one of the oldest icons. However, it is not among the surviving icons of the pre-iconoclastic period. V. St. Basil, from that word on [the day of] the blessed martyr Barlaam 59, the beginning of which: First, of course, is the death of the saints; and near the end of the same word: ...Rise now with me, glorious painters of excellent ascetic deeds, and make the diminished image of the leader great with the help of your art. Illuminate the winner, very vaguely drawn by me, with the colors of your wisdom. Let me retreat - defeated by you in the matter of drawing the exploits of a martyr! Yes, I rejoice, yielding today to such a victory won by your strength! May I see more carefully the struggle between the hand and the fire that you draw! May I see a fighter more clearly drawn in your picture! May the demons cry [already] even now, amazed by the exploits of the martyr you depicted! May the burning and conquering hand be shown to them again! Let us also inscribe on the board the Master of Labor in competitions—Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. VI. His, and the words on [the day of] the holy forty martyrs ...For both prose writers and painters often tell about brave military deeds: some - decorating with words, others - drawing on boards; both of them aroused many to a courageous course of action. For what the word shows through hearing, silent painting shows through imitation... VII. His, from the thirty chapters [written] to Amphilochius about the Holy Spirit; answer 18th ...Because the image of a king is also called a king, [although these are] not two kings. For power is not divided, and glory is not divided. For just as the leadership and power that rules us is one, so the doxology coming from our side is one, and not many, because the honor given to the image passes on to the prototype. And so, what the image is here imitatively, this there by nature is the Son, and just as in what is done artistically the likeness consists in the form itself, so in the divine and uncomplicated nature the unity consists in the community of the Divinity... Interpretation: If the image of a king is a king, then the image of Christ is Christ, and likewise the image of a saint is a saint. And power is not cut, and glory is not divided, but the glory created by the image becomes the property of the one who is depicted. Demons tremble at the saints and flee from their shadows; the image is a shadow, and I make it as an exorcist of demons. If you say that one should unite with God only mentally, then eliminate everything corporeal: lamps, fragrant incense, the very prayer pronounced with the voice, the most divine sacraments performed through the medium of substance: bread, wine, anointing oil, the sign of the cross. For all this is a substance, [like] the cross, the sponge that took place during the crucifixion, also the cane and the spear that pierced the life-giving rib. Either eliminate the veneration of all this, which is impossible, or do not completely reject the honor that belongs to the images. Divine grace is imparted to objects consisting of matter, since they bear the names of those who are depicted [on them]. Just as the snail that gives purple is in itself something insignificant, so is silk and clothing made from both; and if the king is clothed in it, then the honor inherent in the clothed one is given to the garment; Likewise, objects consisting of matter are in themselves unworthy of worship, and if the person depicted [on them] is filled with grace, then, according to the measure of faith, they also become participants in grace [that is, they pour it out]. The Apostles saw the Lord with their bodily eyes, and others saw the Apostles, and others saw the martyrs. I also strongly desire to see these both in soul and body and to have a medicine that protects from evil, since I was created with a dual nature; and, seeing what is visible, I worship not as God, but as an image worthy of veneration of what is precious. You, of course, may be tall, insubstantial, and above the body, and, like an incorporeal one, you show contempt for everything visible; but I, since I am a man and clothed with a body, strongly desire to be physically in company with what is holy and to see it. O high one, show mercy to my base thoughts so that you [yourself] can maintain your height! The Lord praises my love for Him and also glorifies His friends. For the Lord rejoices when a servant devoted to Him is glorified, [as] Basil the Great said, glorifying the forty martyrs. But look what he says in the same way, praising the glorious Gordius. VIII. St. Basil, from the word for the [day] of the martyr Gordius ...At the mere recollection of those excellent deeds that were performed by the righteous, peoples rejoice with spiritual joy and, listening, are encouraged to compete and imitate those virtues. For the history of those men who lived well provides those who are being saved, as it were, some light on the path of life. And again: And so, whenever we narrate the lives of those who shone with piety, we first glorify the Lord through His servants, and [then] we praise the righteous, testifying to what we know, [finally] we arouse joy in the nations by hearing about beautiful things... Interpretation: See how the remembrance of the saints shows the glory of God, sings a song of praise to the saints and brings joy and salvation to the nations. So why are you eliminating it? And that recollection occurs through words and images, says the same divine Basil. IX. The same saint, on [the day of] the martyr Gordius ...For just as fire naturally follows light, and myrrh follows fragrance, so good deeds necessarily follow benefits. However, this is no small matter: to carefully find the truth of what was [done] then. For some faint memory has reached us, preserving the valiant deeds of this man during the competitions, and it almost seems that our situation is similar to what happens to painters; because just as those, after copying images from images 60, most often, as is natural, remain behind the prototypes, so we, removed from the very contemplation of affairs, are threatened with a not insignificant danger of diminishing the truth... X. At the end of the same word: ...For, just as we are always surprised when we see the sun, so the memory of that husband is always fresh for us... Interpretation: It is clear that [it is fresh for us because] we constantly contemplate [that husband] both through speech and images. XI. And in a word on [the day of] the highly revered forty martyrs, he says this: ...He who loves martyrs, how could he be fed up with the memory of them? Because the honor given to those slaves who are excellent proves love for the common Master. And again: Sincerely please the one who tasted martyrdom, so that you, by your own will, become a martyr and appear awarded the same praises that they did, even if you were not persecuted, burned, or scourged... Interpretation: So, why do you keep me from honoring the saints and do not want me to be saved? And that, in his opinion, the image drawn with paints is akin to the one written in words, listen to what he says after a short interval. ...So here we go! By bringing them into the middle with our memories, as if in a painting, showing everyone the exploits of these men, we will bring common benefit to those present... Interpretation: Do you see that the matter of image and word is one [and the same]? For, he says, as if in a picture, we’ll show it in words] The immediately next part of the word again [contains this]: ...For both prose writers and painters often talk about courageous military deeds: some - decorating with words, others - drawing on boards; both of them aroused many to a courageous course of action. For what the word of a story offers to the ear, this silent painting shows [to the eyes] through imitation... Interpretation: What is clearer than this to prove that images for the illiterate serve as books and silent messengers of the honor that belongs to the saints, teaching those who look and sanctifying their sight with a silent voice. Books are not enough for me, I have no leisure for reading, I enter the general clinic of souls - the Church, strangled by thoughts, as if by thorny plants. The color of painting attracts me to contemplation and, like a meadow, delighting the eye, imperceptibly pours the glory of God into the soul. I contemplate the patience of the martyr, the reward of crowns and, as if by fire, I am inflamed with the desire to compete with him, falling, I worship God through the martyr and receive salvation. Have you not heard that the same God-bearing Father 61 in his speech at the beginning of the psalms says: The Holy Spirit, knowing that leading the human race in the matter of virtue is difficult and that he is careless, added a melody to the psalmody? What are you saying? I will not paint both in words and colors the martyrdom of the martyrs? And I will not embrace with my eyes that which both the Angels and all creation are surprised at, and which, as the lamp of the Church himself said, is a subject of torment for the devil and terrible for demons? He says something similar at the end of the word, glorifying the forty martyrs: O holy host! O holy assembly! O indestructible close formation! O universal guardians of the human race, glorious partners in care, helpers in prayer, the most powerful elders, stars of the universe, flowers of the Churches, flowers, I say, both spiritual and sensual! It was not the earth that hid you, but the sky that took you to itself. The gates of heaven are open to you. A worthy spectacle for the army of Angels, worthy for patriarchs, prophets, and the righteous! Interpretation: How can I not want to see what the Angels want to see? In agreement with these words, his brother and like-minded Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, speaks. XIII. Saint Gregory, Bishop of Nyssa, from the addition [to the six days of St. Basil], that is, [from the book] about the creation of man. Chapter 4 ... Just as people who prepare images of rulers, in accordance with human custom, imprint the features of their external appearance, and clothe them in purple, in order to at the same time designate their royal dignity, and just as [a work of this kind] is called both an image and a king, so human nature, because it was prepared for command over other objects, was created like some kind of animate image, participating with his Prototype both in dignity and name... XIV. Him, from chapter 5 of the same book ...Divine beauty is not manifested in any external form and not in the charm of the external image, determined by any elegance of colors, but is seen in indescribable bliss in accordance with virtue. However, painters almost transfer human forms into paintings with the help of certain colors, applying appropriate and decent colors to the copy so that the beauty of the prototype is accurately transferred to the likeness... Interpretation: Note that divine beauty does not shine with any outward appearance, due to any grace of colors, and therefore is not depicted. The human image is transferred to paintings through paints. If the Son of God appeared in the appearance of a man, “but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and becoming in appearance like a man” (Phil. 2:7), then how can one not portray Him? And if, according to custom, the image of the king is called the king and the honor given to the image goes to the Prototype, as the divine Basil says, then why will not the image be an object of veneration and admiration? Not as God, but as the image of God - incarnate. XV. Leontius, bishop of the city of Naples on the island of Cyprus, from a word against the Jews about worshiping the cross of Christ and images of saints, and themselves - mutually; also about the remains of saints …If you, a Jew, again reproach me, saying that I worship the wood of the cross as God, then why don’t you blame Jacob, who bowed to the top of the staff? But it is quite clear that he bowed, not honoring the tree, but through the tree he bowed to Joseph, just as we glorify Christ through the cross, and not the tree... Interpretation: So, if we worship the sign of the cross by making an image of the cross from any substance, then why should we not worship the image of the Crucified One? XVI. And again from the book of the same Leonty …Just as Abraham bowed down to the wicked people who sold him the grave, and bent his knee to the ground, but he did not worship them as gods; and again, Jacob blessed the wicked and idolater - Pharaoh, but blessed him not as God; and again, having fallen, he worshiped Esau, but he did not worship as God; and again, how does God command you to worship? Both the earth and the mountains? For he says: “Exalt the Lord our God, and worship His footstool: holy is it” (Ps. 98:5), that is, the earth. For “heaven,” He says, “is my throne, and the earth is my footstool” (Is. 66:1). How did Moses worship Jethro, who was an idolater, and Daniel - Nebuchadnezzar? Why do you accuse me of honoring those who honored God and worshiped Him? Isn’t it fitting, tell me, to worship the saints and not to stone, as [then are you doing? Isn’t it appropriate to worship, and not saw them up and not throw your benefactors into a ditch filled with dirt? If you loved God, then in any case you should have honored His servants. And if the bones of the righteous are unclean, then why were the bones of Jacob and Joseph transferred from Egypt with all honor? How did a dead man touch the bones of Elisha and immediately rise again? If God works miracles through bones, then it is quite obvious that He can do it through images, stones, and much more, as happened with Elisha, who gave his own rod to his youth and told him to go and use the rod to resurrect the son of the Shunammite woman. And Moses punished Pharaoh with the rod, and divided the sea, and sweetened the water, and tore the rock, and brought out the water. And Solomon says: blessed is the tree, through it comes salvation. Elisha threw a piece of wood into the Jordan and brought iron up to the top [of the water]. We also [read about] the tree of life and the plant Savek, that is, the plant of mercy. And Moses lifted up the serpent on the tree and gave life to the people. By means of the wood [of Aaron's rod] that had grown in the tabernacle, he established [Aaron's] priesthood. But perhaps you, a Jew, will tell me that God commanded Moses that everything that is in the tabernacle of testimony should be [there]. And I tell you that Solomon made many different objects in the church, various decorations and statues, which God did not command him to make, and the tabernacle of testimony did not possess these objects, nor did the church shown by God to Ezekiel; and Solomon, meanwhile, was not accused. For he arranged such images for the glory of God, just like us. And you had many different images and signs to remember God before you lost them due to your foolishness; that is, the rod of Moses, the tablets inscribed by God, the burning bush, the dry rock that flowed water, the Ark of the Covenant, which contained manna, the altar, a receptacle for divine fire, a tablet with the name of God [carved on it], an ephod shown by God, into which were inserted two onyx stones with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel carved on them, six each on each shoulder (Ex. 28:17–21), the tabernacle overshadowed by God. If you, for your part, overshadowed all this night and day, saying: Glory to You, Who alone is God Almighty, Who through all this worked miracles in Israel; if you, falling down, worshiped God through all those legal institutions that you once had, then you see that worship of God is rendered through images... XVII. And after a short interval [the same Leonty says]: …For if one who truly loves a friend or a king, and especially his benefactor, even if he sees his son, or a rod, or a throne, or a crown, or a house, or a slave, embraces and kisses and [thus] honors the king’s benefactor, then much more [should he honor] God in the same way. Oh, if only, I say again, you would make images of Moses and the prophets and worship the Lord God with them daily! So, when you see the sons of Christians worshiping the cross, then know that they are worshiping the crucified Christ, and not a tree. For if they revered the nature of the tree, then, in any case, they would have to worship both groves and trees in every possible way, just as you, Israel, once worshiped them, “saying to wood... and stone: you are my God... and you gave birth to me” (Jer. 2:27). We don’t say that to the cross, and we don’t say that to images of saints. For they are not our gods, but books opened so that we remember God and give honor to Him, books that are in the churches in front of everyone and serve as objects of worship. For he who honors a martyr honors God, to whom the martyr testified [with his blood]. He who worships the Apostle of Christ worships the One who sent him. And he who falls to the image of the Mother of Christ obviously gives honor to Her Son. For there is no God but one, who in the Trinity is known and worshiped... Interpretation: Is this the faithful interpreter of the words of Blessed Epiphanius, who adorned the island of Cyprus [also] with his speeches, or those who express the feelings of their hearts? Listen also to Bishop Severian of Gavala, what he says. XVIII. Saint Gregory of Nyssa, from the Word spoken at Constantinople, concerning the divinity of the Son and the Holy Spirit and concerning Abraham; from Word 44, the beginning of which: Which is partly experienced by those who love to contemplate them [being] in front of beautifully flowering meadows... And after a short interval: ...After this, the father first grabs his son [tied] with both hands. I have often seen a picture of this sad affair and have not passed by this spectacle without tears, since art clearly brings this story before my eyes. Isaac lies at the very altar with his knee bent and his hands turned [that is, tied] back. And he [that is, the father], stepping from behind on the bend of his leg at the knee and drawing his son’s hair to himself with his left hand, bends down to the face looking piteously at him and, armed with a knife in his right hand, rushes to the slaughter. And the tip of the knife already touches the body, and then he hears a voice from God, rejecting this act 62... XIX. St. John Chrysostom, from the commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews ...before there was some image of what appeared later: Melchizedek [that is, pre-depicted] Christ, just as if someone called the shadow of a picture painted with paints, the unclear image of it by the painter that preceded it. For this is why the law is called shadow, but grace is called truth, and works is what is meant to be; so that the law and Melchizedek are the shadow that precedes the picture depicted with colors; grace and truth are a picture painted with colors; and deeds are what will happen in the next century; so that the Old Testament is an image of an image, and the New is an image of works... XX. From the biography of John Chrysostom, [where] it is literally written like this: ...Blessed John greatly loved the epistles of the wisest Paul. And after a short interval: He also had an image of the same Apostle on the icon [in the place] where, due to the weakness of his body, he rested for a short time. For he was by nature disposed to stay awake a lot. And when he read his messages, then, without taking his eyes off, he looked at the image, and looked at it with such attention, as if the Apostle were alive - glorifying him and imagining him, he directed all his thoughts to him, and through contemplation [of the image] he talked with him. And after another interval: ...When Proclus stopped speaking, then, looking closely at the image of this Apostle and seeing a figure similar to the one he had seen before, he said, bowing his body, saluting John and pointing to the image with his finger: Forgive me, father! the one whom I saw speaking to you is similar to this, and even, as I think, this is he. XXI. From the words of Chrysostom that One is the Lawgiver of the Old and New Testaments; and about the priest's clothes ...I also loved that painting, when figures are made from molten wax, full of piety. For I saw on the icon an Angel driving away crowds of barbarians. I saw the conquered tribes of the barbarians and David, who truly said: Lord, in your city you will abase their image... XXII. Him, from the interpretation of the parable of the seed …Whenever you insult the royal robe, do you not also insult the one wearing it? Don’t you know that every time you insult the image of the king, you insult the dignity of the prototype? Don’t you know that every time someone removes an image from a wooden or [or] copper statue, he is judged as having dared not against a soulless substance, but as having acted arrogantly against the king? In general, a substance bearing the image of a king, the insult given to it is elevated to the king... XXIII. The same John Chrysostom, from the word for [the day] of the Bishop of Antioch and martyr Meletius and about the zeal of those gathered, the beginning of which: Looking around all the parts of this sacred flock... And after a short interval [it says]: ...And [the] very thing that was done was an instruction in piety; for constantly forced to remember that name and keep that saint in their soul, their name was a means of driving out every unreasonable passion and thought. And this [custom] became so intensified that in all places: on the street, in the square, and in the fields on all sides [everything] sounded with this name. It was not just the name alone that you felt such great love, but also the image of the body itself. Therefore, what you did in connection with the name, you also did in connection with its image. For many have inscribed that image in the recesses of rings that are intended for stone, and on cups, and on bowls, and on the walls of dwellings, and everywhere, so that one can not only hear about that holy name, but also everywhere see the image of his body and have some double consolation in his absence. XXIV. His, about the betrayal of Judas and on [the day of] Easter, also about the taught teaching of the sacraments and forbearance ...For just as painters draw lines around the board itself, and draw shadows, and add true colors [here], so did Christ... XXV. Saint Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, from a letter to all Italy ...On the third night, when my body was already exhausted due to fasting, they appeared to me, who was not sleeping, but was in a state of admiration [of the mind], with a certain face that looked like the Apostle - Blessed Paul, as [precisely] his image is clearly expressed in icon painting... XXVI. Maximus, philosopher and confessor, from those acts that took place between himself and Bishop Thedosius ...And then everyone repented with joy and tears and offered up prayers, and each of them kissed the holy Gospels, and the honorable cross, and the image of our God and Savior - Jesus Christ, and our Lady who gave birth to Him, the Most Holy Theotokos, and laid [on them] their own hands to confirm what was said... XXVII. His Holiness and Beatitude Archbishop of Theopolis [that is, Antioch] and Patriarch Anastasius, on Saturday; and to Simeon, Bishop of Vostra ...For, just as, in the absence of the king, his image is worshiped instead, and then, when he is already present, although it is useless, leaving the prototype, to worship the image, but, however, it should not be humiliated because [only] he is no longer worshiped, due to the presence of the one for whom he is worshiped [in this case] ... And after a short interval: For, as one who insults the image of the king suffers punishment, as if he had really shown disdain for [to] the king, although the image is nothing more than wood and paints mixed and combined with wax, in the same way, the one who despises the image of any such [thing] transfers his insult to the very thing of which it is an image... XXVIII. In the life of Saint Eupraxia ...by the one who was in charge of the flock, an image of the Lord was shown to her... XXIX. In the Life of Saint Mary of Egypt ...she prayed before the icon of the Lady and asked for her guarantee and that in this way she gained access to the church... XXX. From the [book] of our Holy Father Sophronius, Archbishop of Jerusalem, [called] Lug …Abba Theodore Eliot said that a certain glorious ascetic was a prisoner on the Mount of Olives. The demon of fornication waged war on him. So, one day, when he was pressing hard on him, the elder began to grieve and said to the demon: How long will you not give in to me? Finally get away from me! You grew old with me. The demon appears to him in a visible image, saying: Swear to me that you will not tell anyone what I intend to tell you, and from now on I will not fight with you. And the elder swore to him: I swear by the One who dwells in the highest, I will not tell anyone what you tell me. Then the demon says to him: Do not bow to this icon, and from now on I will not fight with you. This icon had the image of our Lady Holy Mary the Mother of God, carrying our Lord Jesus Christ. The prisoner says to the demon: Let me think about this. So, the next day he notifies Abba Theodore Eliot, who was then living in the Faron monastery, and [when] this one came, he tells everything that happened to him. This elder says to the prisoner: Abba, you really turned out to be a victim of mockery, since you swore an oath to the demon. However, you did well by telling [me about this]. It is better for you not to leave [a single] indecent house in this city that you would not enter, than for you to renounce the worship of our Lord and God Jesus Christ together with His own Mother. And having thus strengthened him and instilled strength in him with many speeches, he returned to his own place. The demon actually appears to the prisoner again and says to him: What is this, oh bad old man? Didn't you swear to me that you wouldn't tell anyone? And why did you tell everything to the person who came to you? I tell you, oh worthless old man: you are about to be condemned on the day of judgment as a perjurer. The prisoner answered him, saying: What I swore - I swore; and by what I swore falsely, I know; I'm not listening to you... Interpretation: Do you see what he said about the worship of the image as the worship of the depicted? And how great is the evil of not worshiping an image? And how did the demon choose it [non-worship] over fornication? And so, when from the most ancient times many priests and kings were given to Christians, shining in wisdom, and in worship of God, and in word, and in life, and very many councils of saints and divinely inspired Fathers were [convened], then why did no one undertake to do this? We will not tolerate learning a new faith! “For out of Zion shall come the law,” said the Holy Spirit prophetically, “and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem” (Is. 2:3). We will not tolerate that at other times we think differently, and that we change under the influence of circumstances, and that faith becomes a subject of laughter and jokes for outsiders! We will not tolerate submission to the royal order, which is trying to destroy the custom that originated from the Fathers! For it is not typical for pious kings to destroy church decrees. These are not fatherly matters. For deeds done through violence, and not persuasion, are robberies. The witness is the council convened for the second time in Ephesus, which still retains the name it received as a robber 63, since it suffered violence at the hands of the king when blessed Flavian was killed. This [that is, any decrees on such subjects] is the work of councils, not kings 64. As the Lord said: “For where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). Christ did not give the power to bind and loose to kings, but to the Apostles, and their successors, and shepherds, and teachers. “Even if... an angel...,” says the Apostle Paul, “had preached to you a gospel other than what we have preached” (Gal. 1:8). Sparingly, since we are waiting for their appeal, we will remain silent about what follows next. If so, then the Lord forbids it! – we will see irrevocable corruption, then we will add what remains [that is, the words: anathema be it]. But we wish this didn't happen. If someone, entering a house in which a painter painted the story of Moses and Pharaoh, then, perhaps, asks about those who passed through the sea, as on land: who are they? What do you say to the question? Are they not the children of Israel? Who is he who strikes the sea with a rod? Isn't it Moses? Thus, if someone depicts Christ crucified and is asked: who is this? - then he will say: Christ is God, incarnate for our sake. Yes, Lord, we worship everything that is Yours, and with flaming love we embrace Your Divinity, power, goodness, mercy towards us, condescension, incarnation; and just as we are afraid to touch red-hot iron, not because of the nature of the iron, but because of the fire that has entered into union with it, so I worship Your flesh, not for the sake of the nature of the flesh, but for the sake of the Divinity that has entered into hypostatic union with it. We worship Your suffering. Who has seen death that would be worshiped? Who has seen suffering that would be honored? However, we do worship the fleshly death of my God and saving suffering. We worship Your image. We worship everything that is Yours: servants, friends and, above all, the Mother of God. We also ask the people of God, the language is holy, to hold fast to church traditions. For even to a small extent, the taking away of what has been handed down [by antiquity], like stones from a building, very soon overthrows the entire building. May we remain strong, steadfast, unshakable, established on the strong rock that is Christ! To Him belongs glory, and honor, and worship, together with the Father and the Spirit, now and always, throughout the endless ages of ages. Amen. XXXI. Severian [Bishop] of Gavala, from a word spoken on the feast of the renewal of the honorable and life-giving cross ...So, how did the image of the one who was cursed bring salvation to a people dejected by misfortune? In fact, wouldn’t it be more reliable to say: if one of you is bitten, let him look to heaven, up to God, and be saved, or to the tabernacle of God? But, not paying attention to this, he arranged only an image of the cross. So, why did Moses do this, who said to the people: You shall not make for yourself any carved or sculpted image, nor any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is on earth below? But why am I [talking] about this to an ungrateful people? Tell me, O most faithful servant of God, are you doing what you forbid? What you destroy, you arrange? Speaker: Do not make a carved image, having destroyed a calf fused from metal, are you making a serpent out of copper? And you do this not secretly, but openly, and [so that] everyone can know? But this, he says, I have prescribed by law in order to eradicate the substances of wickedness and turn the people away from all apostasy and idolatry. Now I cast a serpent from metal for the benefit [for others] - for the pre-representation of the truth. And, just as I built the tabernacle and everything in it, and the Cherubim - the likeness of the invisible - spread over the holy, as an image and shadow of the future; So I raised the serpent to the people for their salvation, so that through experience in this kind of [signs] I would first accustom them to the image of the sign of the cross and [to accept] the Savior and Redeemer hanging on it. And that this word is very true, beloved, listen to the Lord, who confirms this word and says: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (John 3:14)… Interpretation: Understand that he ordered by law not to make any likeness for the sake of turning away, he said, the people from idolatry - a people easily carried away and prone to this; and that the ascended serpent was an image of the Lord's suffering. And that [the veneration of] icons is not a new invention, but ancient and was known to the holy and excellent Fathers and [for them] - usually, in the life of Blessed Basil, compiled by his disciple Helladius and his successor at the episcopal see, it is written that Saint Basil stood before the icon of our Lady - an icon on which the image of the glorious martyr Mercury was painted. He stood before her, asking for the death of the most godless tyrant who had apostatized from the faith - Julian 65. From the side of this icon, he was privy to such a revelation: it was he who saw that this martyr disappeared from sight for a short time, and after a little time he was holding a bloody spear. XXXII. Saint Methodius, Bishop of Patara, on the resurrection; Word 2 ...So, for example, the images of kings that are here, although they are not made of very precious substances: both gold and silver, are nevertheless honored by everyone. For, while people honor images made of a much more precious substance, they do not completely despise those made of a much less valuable material, but they honor everything equally, even if they are made of plaster or copper. And the one who blasphemed against one [of them] is not forgiven, as if he blasphemed against clay, and is not judged as if he expressed contempt for gold, but is judged as one who acted wickedly towards the king and sovereign himself. We [usually] create images made of gold, representing the principles and powers of the Angels of God, in His honor and glory... XXXIII. From the God-loving history of Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus, regarding the life of Saint Simeon the Stylite ...Because there is no need to talk about Italy. For they say that in the greatest Rome this man became so famous that on all the thresholds of the workshops [the Romans] erected small images in his honor, providing themselves with some protection and security from here... XXXIV. Saint Basil, from the commentary on Isaiah ...After he [the devil] saw man [created] in the image and likeness of God, then, not being able to turn against God, he poured out his anger on God’s image, as if some person, angry, threw stones at the image of [the king], since he could not - at the king himself, striking the tree that has the image... Interpretation: So, everyone who venerates an icon obviously honors the Archetype. XXXV. His same, from the same interpretation ...For the one who brazenly treated the royal image is accused as if he had insulted the king himself; [in the same way] the one who insults a person who came into being in the image [of God] is obviously guilty of sin. XXXVI. Saint Athanasius, from one hundred chapters written to the prefect Antiochus in [the form of] questions and answers. Chapter 38 ...Answer. We believers do not worship icons as gods, as the Hellenes do - let it not be! - but showing only the quality and desire of our love for the depiction of a face on an icon. Therefore, often, after the image is destroyed, we finally burn the icon, like a tree that is useless after that. So, just as Jacob, intending to die, bowed to the top of Joseph’s rod, not honoring the rod, but the one who held it; so we, believers, do not kiss icons in any other way, as we often kiss our children and parents, but in order to show the strong love of our soul. For [we venerate the icons] in exactly the same way as the Jew worshiped the tablets of the law and the two Cherubim - gold and carved, honoring not the nature of stone and gold, but the Lord, who commanded [to do] this... XXXVII. St. Chrysostom, on the third psalm, regarding David and Absalom ...Tsars erect victory statues in honor of victorious generals; and for the victorious charioteers and fighters the chiefs [also] erect some columns and, by means of an inscription, like a wreath, make the substance a herald of victory; others, for their part, write praises of the winners in books and letters, wanting to show their ability in the matter of praise is more powerful than the [bravery] of those whom they praise. And historians, and painters, and sculptors, and peoples, and rulers, and cities, and countries are surprised at the winners. But no one painted images of someone running away [from the battlefield] and refusing to fight... XXXVIII. Saint Cyril of Alexandria, from a greeting to Tsar Theodosius ...Icons are like prototypes; for they should be like this and not others... XXXIX. Him, from Treasures ...For icons always retain their resemblance to prototypes... XL. His, from the book, which says that in everything written by Moses, an indication is given of the sacrament of Christ. About Abraham and Melchizedek, chapter 6 ...I need to draw images for myself, similar to prototypes... XLI. Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, from the second discourse on the Son ...For the nature of an image is that it should be a likeness of the prototype to which it is considered to belong... XLII. Chrysostom, from the third discourse on the Epistle to the Colossians ...The image of an invisible thing is itself also invisible, since [otherwise] it would not be an image. For the image, insofar as it is an image, even in our opinion, must be similar in everything, as if an imprint of similarity... XLIII. His same, from the interpretation of the Epistle to the Hebrews; Chapter 17 ... Just as in images the image of a person contains the figure [of the latter], and not the power. Thus, truth [that is, the prototype] and figure have a connection with each other; for the figure is like... XLIV. Eusebius Pamphilus, from the fifth book of the Gospel proof, about the words: God appeared to Abraham at the oak of Mamre ...Therefore, this place is still revered by neighboring peoples to this day, as if divine, in order to honor those who appeared there to Abraham; and this terebinth can be seen continuing even to this day; and those received hospitably by Abraham [are depicted] in the picture reclining: two - [one] on each of the two sides, and in the middle - a more powerful one, superior in rank. Shown to us in the middle is the Lord, our Savior Himself, Whom even those who do not know Him reverence, He Himself, Who from that time on threw the seeds of piety among people, taking upon Himself both human appearance and form, revealed Himself, as He is, to the pious Forefather Abraham and also conveyed to him the knowledge of His Father... XLV. From the chronicle of John of Antioch, who is also named Malala, about the bleeding woman and the monument she erected in honor of Christ the Savior ...After that time, John the Baptist became known among people; and the governor Herod, who killed him in the royal residence of the Trachonitis country, in the city of Sebastia, on the eighth day before the Kalends of June, during the consulate of Flaccus and Rufinus. Therefore, King Herod, the son of Philip, returned from Judea sad; and one rich woman, who lived in the same city - Paneas, named Vernika, came to him, wanting, because she had been healed by Jesus, to erect a monument to Him; and, not daring to do this without the royal command, she submitted a petition to King Herod, praying [that he would allow her] to erect a golden monument in her city in honor of Christ the Savior. This petition was as follows: “To the Emperor Herod, governor of the region, legislator of both Jews and Greeks, king of Trachonitida, a prayer and humble request from Vernika, the most respected resident of the city of Paneada. Justice and philanthropy and other virtues surround your supreme power like a crown. Therefore, knowing this, I write to you with excellent hopes that I will receive everything.” What is the basis of this preface, the further part of this [petition] speech will reveal to you. “From childhood, obsessed with the disease of bleeding from the canals, having wasted my property and wealth on doctors, I did not find healing; Having heard about the healings of Christ, who caused surprise, that He raises the dead, again calling them to life, and drives out demons from mortal people, and with His word heals all those who were exhausted by illness, and I hastened to Him as to God. And paying attention to the crowd surrounding Him, fearing that He, [with contempt] turning away from the uncleanness caused by the disease, would not be angry with me and that a stronger blow of the disease would not approach me, I myself came to the conclusion that if I get the opportunity to touch the hem of His garment, then I will be healed. And having touched Him, after my source of blood stopped, I immediately became healthy. He, as if he knew in advance the intentions of my heart, exclaimed very strongly: “Who touched Me?.. I felt the power that came from Me” (Luke 8:45-46). So, I, turning pale and groaning, believing that I was returning the disease to myself - a more merciless one, falling before him, filled the earth with tears and told about my insolence. He, being a good one, having mercy on me, confirmed my healing, saying: “Be of good cheer, daughter! your faith has saved you” (Luke 8:48). So you, Sovereign, grant the asking woman her prayer, which has a price.” King Herod, having learned about this from the request, was amazed at the miracle and, frightened by the mystery of the healing, said: O woman! The healing that happened to you is worthy of a very great monument. Therefore, when you go, erect in His honor whatever monument you wish, glorifying the Healer. And Vernika herself, who had previously been bleeding, immediately in the middle of her own city - Paneada, erected in honor of God and the Lord a copper monument made of melted copper, mixed with gold and silver; which monument, shortly before this, was moved from the place where it stood, [that is,] in the middle of the city, to a holy place, to a house of prayer, to this day stands firmly in the city of Paneada. A recorded memory of this was found in the city of Paneas, among a certain Bassus, who became a Christian from the Jews; here was [described] the life of all those who reigned in the land of Judea... XLVI. From the seventh book of the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius Pamphilus, about the bleeding Paneadic woman ...After we have remembered this city, I do not consider it decent to ignore a story that is worthy of passing on to the memory of posterity. For the bleeding woman, who, as we learned from the Holy Gospels, found deliverance from her illness from our Savior, rushed, they said, from here; they showed her house in the city; the amazing trophies as a sign of the good deed shown to her by the Savior remain intact [to this day]: just in front of the gates of her house, on a high stone, stands a copper image of a woman with a bent knee and outstretched hands, looking like a begging woman. Opposite him is another - from the same substance: a standing figure of a husband, decently dressed in a cloak and extending his hand there [that is, towards the woman]. At the feet of the figure on this monument grew a certain foreign kind of herb, so that, rising to the edge of the copper cloak, it became a cure for all diseases. This same statue was said to have the image of Jesus. It stood firmly even to our time, so that those who came (as foreigners) and lived in the city could see with their eyes. And there is nothing surprising in the fact that the ancient pagan people, blessed by our Savior, did this when we saw that images of both the Apostles themselves - Peter and Paul, and the Savior Himself were being made with paints, for the ancients, as naturally, without any bewilderment, due to the pagan habit that existed among them, were in the habit of giving honor [to their saviors] in this way. XLVII. His same, from the ninth book of the same History, about King Constantine …When he very well felt the help he received from God 66, he immediately commanded that the victorious sign of [Christ’s] saving passion be attached to the hand of his own image. Also, finally, he ordered that [the statue] of him, holding in his right hand the saving sign of the cross, should be placed in that place in Rome that was most visited by the people, and this very inscription should be placed on it in words in the Roman language: “Through this saving sign, a true proof of courage, I made your city free, saved from the yoke of a tyrant; Moreover, having freed both the Senate and the Roman people, I returned them to their original splendor and radiance.” XLVIII. From the first book of Socrates' Ecclesiastical History; chapter 18; about the same king ...After this, King Constantine, becoming very careful about matters relating to Christianity, rejected pagan religious rites and put an end to gladiator fights. He put his own images for safekeeping in the churches... XLIX. Stephen of Vostria, against the Jews; Chapter 4 ...To remember the saints, we made their images, such as Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses, and Elijah, and Zechariah, and the rest of the prophets and holy martyrs who were killed for the sake of God - so that everyone who sees their images would remember them and glorify Him who glorified them... ...Concerning icons, we are calm, because every deed done in the name of God is beautiful and holy. As for idols and graven images, get away [from them]! For they themselves are worthless and monstrous, and those who make them; because one is an image of the holy prophet and the other is a statue and a wooden image of Kronos and Aphrodite, [and the sun and moon]. And since man came into existence in the image of God, he serves as an object of worship; the serpent, since he is the image of the devil, is evil spirits and vile. If you reject from yourself what is made with hands, then tell me, Jew, what is there on earth that is not made with hands [from among the objects] to which worship is given? Was not the ark of God the work of God? The altar, and the atonement, and the Cherubim, and the golden stash that had the manna, and the table, and the inner tabernacle, and everything that God called the “Holy of Holies”? Were not the Cherubim, images of Angels, made by hand? What are you saying? If you call them idols, what name do you give to Moses who worshiped them and also to Israel? Worship is a sign of honor, the way in which we, sinners, worship God [when] we glorify Him with divine service and worthy reverence and awe, as before our Creator and Leader; We [worship] the angels and servants of God for the purpose of honoring God, as creations of God and subordinate to God. Since an icon is the name and likeness of the one who is painted on it, therefore, with the help of both written signs and images, we always remember the sufferings of the Lord and the holy prophets, which are recorded in the Law and the Gospels... LI. Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, from the Word spoken against the criminal Julian 67 …The images hitherto exhibited in public places bear signs of his wound from a blow inflicted because of this [atrocity]… LII. Chrysostom, from the interpretation of [the book of] righteous Job “In all this Job did not sin and did not say anything foolish about God” (Job 1:22). Just like on icons, every time we paint someone’s story, we inscribe: so-and-so dedicated; so here too, having drawn the image of his soul, the one who wrote this book, making a note at the bottom, as if on the rim [of the picture], says: “In all this Job did not sin...” LIII. From the Life of Saint Constantine; from book 4 ...And how much his spirit was strengthened by the power of God-inspired faith, anyone could understand from the following, taking into account the fact that he himself ordered his image to be drawn on gold coins so that this one seemed to look upward, being stretched out to God, like a person praying. Thus, his images spread throughout the Roman land; in some cities, in the very royal palaces, in the images located at the top of the vestibules, he was depicted standing upright, looking up at the sky, with outstretched arms, with the appearance of one praying. In this way, therefore, he himself depicted himself in the paintings praying... Liv. From the third book of the same [work] ...In this way, therefore, the king’s mother died, worthy of the greatest honor both for the sake of her God-loving deeds, and because of the supernatural and amazing plant that grew from her, which is right to please, in addition to everything [else], and for piety in relation to the one who gave birth to him: he made her God-fearing to such an extent, while before she was not [such], that it seemed that she was made by him as a disciple universal Savior from the very beginning. And to such an extent he honored her with royal dignity that among all nations and among the military regiments themselves she was proclaimed Queen Augusta, and her image was also stamped on gold coins... LV. From the fourth book of the same work, chapter 69 ... Those who lived in the royal city along with the Senate itself and the Roman people, as soon as they learned about the death of the king, then, drawn by the terrible news that exceeded any misfortune, they began to cry uncontrollably. The baths were locked, as were the markets, and national spectacles and everything that was customary for people having fun because of the idleness of life were prohibited. Those who had previously spent their time in pleasures [now] walked with downcast eyes and all together glorified that blessed one, beloved by God, truly worthy of royal power. And they spoke about this not only with shouts, but, getting down to business, they honored him and the deceased, exactly as if he were alive, by dedicating images to him: they depicted the view of the sky in a painted picture, and on top of the vault of heaven, with the help of painting, they presented him resting in an ethereal abode... LVI. From chapter 73 of the same [work] ...So, in a similar way, through the hereditary succession of sons, that blessed one became numerous instead of one, so that, thanks to the construction of images, among all nations he was revered along with his children... LVII. Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus, and Polychronius, from the commentary on the book of Ezekiel ...And how the Romans, drawing images of kings, surround [them] with bodyguards and also depict subordinate tribes, in a similar way [is done] here [that is, in the interpreted place of the book of the prophet], since the king in a vision depicts God, as if carried on a throne, [and the vision] indicates the image of all the things that are on earth, and it tells about what serves to decorate that Image in such a way that it teaches about the dominion of God over all things... LVIII. His [that is, Polychrony] “...And you, son of man, take yourself a brick, and lay it before you, and inscribe on it the city of Jerusalem; and lay a siege against it, and make a fortification against it, and build a rampart around it, and pitch a camp against it, and place battering machines all around against it...” (Ezek. 4:1-2) Interpretation: If you consider it terrible to speak against the people and predict the destruction of the city, and the destruction of the church, and the misfortunes that are going to happen from this, then announce it in a different way, so that you can enlighten them and show your philanthropy. And taking, says [the Lord], a brick, inscribe a city on it. Let the name of the city be inscribed, so that it will be known that this is Jerusalem. Having depicted the city, surround the view depicted in the picture with a rampart, where many troops are located. Let the troops march in accordance with military order. For the word regiments signifies this, that is, the military legions approaching in orderly order, which are not only equipped with weapons, but also carry with them siege weapons with which these walls will be overthrown. For this means [the expression]: arrange battering machines. In a manner worthy of great surprise, he shows that many [troops] are only standing near the city; shows in order to shudder (the people) with fear of misfortunes and deviate them from the illegal way of life. LIX. From the testimony of Saint Eustathius 68, who is also [called] Placidos ...When one day, as usual, he went to the mountains to hunt with his army and all his retinue, a herd of deer appeared in front of him, grazing. And, as usual, dividing his army into parties, he began to pursue them. When the whole army was busy catching deer, the largest of the entire herd and the most beautiful, separated from the herd, rushed through the forest into denser forest areas and impassable spaces. Placidas, seeing him and having a passionate desire to seize him, left everyone and began to pursue him with a few warriors. And when his comrades became exhausted, he alone did not tire of the persecution. And after, due to the providential activity of God, his horse did not become weak, and he himself did not retreat in fear of the inconvenience of the place, he, having pursued for a long time, found himself at a far distance from his army. The deer ran, and he, occupying the top of the rock, when there was no one with him, stopped, looking around in all directions and thinking about how he could take possession of the deer. But the all-wise and merciful God, who came up with all kinds of ways to save people, on His part caught him while hunting; not like Cornelius through Peter, but like Paul the persecutor through His appearance. For when Placidas stood for a long time and, on the one hand, looked intently at the deer, and on the other, was amazed at its size and perplexed about its capture, the Lord showed something wonderful of this kind that was not implausible and did not exceed the height of His power; but, just as in the time of Valaam, putting the gift of speech into a donkey, exposed his intention 69, so here he showed it [something similar]: the image of the holy cross on the horns of a deer, shining stronger than the brilliance of the sun, and among the horns - the image of the God-bearing Body, which He deigned to accept for the sake of our salvation. And, putting a human voice into the deer, he began to call Placis to himself, saying: O Placis, why are you pursuing Me? So for your sake I appeared and appeared to you in this animal. I am Jesus Christ, whom you worship without knowing Him. For the deeds of your charity that you perform in relation to those in need stand before Me, and I came to reveal Myself to you through this deer, and, on My part, to catch you and detain you in the nets of My love for mankind. For it is unfair for a person whom I love for his good deeds to serve unclean demons and idols - dead and dumb. For for this purpose I came to earth in this form, in which you now see, wanting to save the human race... LX. Saint Leontius, [bishop] of the city of Naples on the island of Cyprus, from the 5th book against the Jews ...We finally want, we want to readily, to organize the defense and marking of images worthy of veneration, so that the mouths of the lawless, who speak unrighteousness, will be stopped. For this tradition is in accordance with the law, and it is not ours. In fact, listen to God Himself telling Moses to create images of two Cherubim - carved and cast from metal, which overshadowed the purification (altar). And again: God showed Ezekiel the church, which had, says [Scripture], carved faces of lions, and [images of] palm trees, and people, and Cherubim, from the very floor even to the ceiling of the church. This word is truly scary! God, who commanded Israel not to build an idol, nor an image, nor the likeness of anything that is in heaven or that is on earth, Himself commands Moses to build a church full of images and carved images of lions, and palm trees, and people! And Solomon, taking the likeness of the law, built a church full of copper carvings, [representing] oxen, and palm trees, and people, and, meanwhile, was not condemned by God. Therefore, if you want to condemn me because of the icons, then first condemn God, who commanded me to do this, so that we have a memory of Him... LXI. Him, from the 5th book ...Again they ridicule us because of the honorable cross and both the arranging of images, which have God as their prototype, and the worship of them, calling us idolaters and worshipers of wooden gods, [ridiculed] by people who do not believe in God at all. If, as you, an atheist, say, I worship the wooden God, then, of course, I also worship many. And if I honor many gods, then, of course, I should, when taking an oath, say: I swear by the gods, just as you, seeing one calf, said this to your gods, Israel (Ex. 32:4); but you were not honored to ever hear this from the lips of Christians; and the adulterous and unfaithful synagogue always has the habit of describing the most chaste Church of Christ as a harlot... ...For images of saints, and icons, and images on our part are not worshiped as gods. For if we worshiped the wood of the icon as God, then, of course, we would have to worship the remaining pieces of the trees and would not burn the icon in the fire, as often happens after the image is erased. And, in turn, as long as the pieces of trees that make up the cross are tied together, I worship this image for the sake of Christ crucified on it, and after they are separated from each other, I throw them and burn them. And just as he who received the king’s command, sealed with a seal, and kissed this seal did not honor clay, not a sheet of papyrus paper or lead, but gave respect and worship to the king, so we, the sons of Christians, when we worship the image of the cross, we worship not the nature of the tree, but, looking at [a kind of] seal and signet ring and the image of Christ Himself, [that is, the cross], through it we greet and we worship the One who was crucified on it... ...And for this reason I depict and paint Christ and the passion of Christ, in churches, and houses, and in squares, and on icons, and on shrouds, and in inner rooms, and on clothes, and in every place, so that, constantly looking at this, I would remember and not forget, just as you have always forgotten the Lord your God. And just as you, when you worship the book of the law, worship not the nature of skins and ink, but the words of God found in it, so I worship the image of Christ, not the nature of wood and paints - let it not be! - but, worshiping the soulless image of Christ, through him, it seems to me, I remember Christ Himself and worship Him. And how Jacob, taking from Joseph’s brothers, after they sold him, a bloody, multi-colored robe, with tears kissed this robe in every possible way and put it before his eyes, sobbing not for the robe, but believing that through it he was kissing Joseph and holding him tightly in his arms; so we, sons of Christians, kissing with our lips the image of Christ, or the Apostle, or the martyr, with our soul, as we think, we greet that Christ Himself or His martyr... For, as I have said many times, in every greeting and in every worship [usually] the purpose of [both] is examined. And if you accuse me, saying that I worship the tree of Christ, then why don’t you accuse Jacob, who bowed on top of Joseph’s rod? (Gen.47:31) But it is absolutely clear that he did not worship the tree, but through the tree he worshiped Joseph, just as we worship Christ through the cross. After all, Abraham also bowed to the wicked men who sold him the grave and bowed his knee to the ground, but he did not worship them as gods. And again, Jacob blessed Pharaoh, who was wicked and an idolater, and Esau seven times, but not as God. Look how many greetings and how many worships I showed you, both painted in pictures and natural ones that did not attract condemnation! And after you see that I worship the image of Christ, or His Most Pure Mother, or a saint, then you immediately begin to be indignant and slander, and hastily run away, and call me an idolater and are not ashamed; you tremble and blush with shame, seeing that I daily destroy the churches of idols throughout the entire universe and erect churches in honor of the martyrs. If I worshiped idols, then why [in this case] do I honor the martyrs who destroyed the idols? And if, as you say, I revere trees, then why [in that case] do I revere the saints who burned the wooden statues of demons? If I also honor stones, then how [in this case] do I glorify the Apostles who crushed the stone idols? If I venerate images of false gods, then how [in this case] do I glorify, and praise, and celebrate holidays in honor of those youths who accomplished the feat in Babylon and did not worship the golden idol image? But truly great is the bitterness of the lawless, great is the blindness! O Jew, great is your shamelessness and wickedness! In fairness, the truth suffers offense from you! “Arise, O God, judge your judgment!” (Ps. 73:22) Pronounce judgment and judge us with an unrighteous people, but wicked and alien and constantly annoying You... ...So, if I, as I have said many times, worshiped wood and stone as God, then [in that case] I would also say to wood and stone: “You begat me” (Jer. 2:27). And if I worship images of saints, or better yet saints, and I also worship and honor the exploits of holy martyrs, then how do you, O foolish one, call these idols? After all, idols are the likenesses of false gods, adulterers and murderers, and those who sacrifice children, and those who are effeminate people - and not prophets and not apostles. And in order to partially present me with a brief and true example regarding Christian and Hellenic similarities - listen! The Chaldeans had all kinds of musical instruments in Babylon, with which they worshiped images of demons. And the children of Israel also had instruments brought from Jerusalem, which they hung on the willow trees; 70 instruments on the willow trees." Already for the translators of the Torah into Greek (translation of seventy interpreters), the musical terms above the psalms were incomprehensible.… Interpretation: Both were instruments, harps, harps, and flutes, which the children of Israel hung on the willow trees. But some came into existence for the glory of God, and others, similar to [those], for the worship of demons. In general, think in this way about Hellenic and Christian icons and images, [that is] that those were created for the glory of the devil and the remembrance of him, and these - for the glory of Christ, and the Apostles, and the martyrs, and His saints. ...So, whenever you see that a Christian worships the cross, understand that he worships for the sake of Christ crucified [on it], and not the nature of the tree, since [otherwise] we would worship all the trees of the field, and just as Israel worshiped groves and trees, saying: “You are my... God, and you begat me” (Jer. 2:27). We do not [do this], but in churches and houses We have monuments and pictures of the sufferings of the Lord and those who labored for His sake, doing everything for the sake of our Lord Himself. And again: what scripture commanded Moses to worship his father-in-law, Jethro, who was an idolater? And Jacob - [that he worshiped] the sons of Hamor? Daniel [to bow down] to Nebuchadnezzar, who was wicked? And if they did this for the sake of earthly and fleeting life, then why do you blame me for worshiping the holy monuments of saints, expressed through painting and storytelling, as well as suffering and deeds, because of which I daily receive benefits and expect eternal and permanent life? LXVI. From Theodoret's Ecclesiastical History; from volume 4 ... Around the time of this consulate, on the 25th day of the month of December, a miracle happened - strange, and immeasurable, and amazing the ears of all people. For someone named Olympius, who usually skipped next to a pacer belonging to Euthymius, the leader of the Aryan heresy, when he was in the bathhouse of the Helenian Palace, in a warm bath room, and saw some of the bathers who extolled the dogma of the Consubstantial One, he said in these exact words: Indeed, what [is] the Trinity? What wall is it on? And, taking his childbearing parts, he said: Behold, I have a trinity; so that those who were there [present], indignant, intended to kill him, but were restrained by a certain Magnus, a presbyter [located] in the walled place [of the church] of the Holy Apostles, a man worthy of wonder and reverence for God, who told them that [this] cannot remain completely hidden from the eye of the all-seeing Truth, which carefully records [everything]. And when, out of respect for this husband, they stopped worrying, Olympius retired [from this room to another] and, as usual, having washed himself in warm baths, went to a pool of cold water, which received water from a spring that came out in the middle of the sacred altar of the holy house of the first martyr Stephen - a house that in ancient times was built by Aurelian, famous for the virtues characteristic of rulers. Therefore, I think, this water received divine attention. Having gone down into the pool, he very quickly came up, crying: have mercy on me, have mercy! - and scratching his body, separating it from the bones. However, those who were near him, grabbed him and wrapped him in a sheet, put him, struggling with death, in his place and began to ask: what kind of incident could this be? And Olympius said: I saw a man dressed in a white dress, who entered my pond, and doused me with three buckets of hot water, and said to me: do not blaspheme! Those who were with him, out of necessity, took him on a stretcher and carried him to another bathhouse, located at the Arian church. When they wanted to remove the sheet from him, they at the same time tore his entire body to pieces, and, thus killed, he gave up his spirit. This became known throughout almost the entire empire. Some said about the victim that he had once transferred from the religion that glorified the consubstantial [Trinity] to the Aryan heresy with his second baptism. And after what happened reached the royal ears - and [the king] was Anastasius - then [the latter] commanded that this wonderful event be depicted in paint on the icon and that [it] be installed on top of the pool. A certain John, a deacon and caretaker of the above-mentioned holy house of Stephen, the first of the martyrs, a husband who, no less than anyone else, at any time showed zeal in defense of the dogma of consubstantiality [of the Son with the Father], made an inscription on the icon, but not simply; for he inscribed the names of those who washed there and saw [the miracle], also where everyone lived, and, moreover, the names of those who served at the waters. This icon, which to this day stands firmly at the entrance to the fourth portico of the many times named house of prayer, testifies [to that miracle]. And since that miracle was followed by another miracle, it is indecent not to pay attention to it, because it had a similar content. This is precisely what I will not refuse to talk about, although it is too recent in time. It was those who belonged to the Aryan party, seeing that the triumph [of the supporters of the dogma of the consubstantiality of the Father and the Son] was increasing, urgently begged the one who was entrusted with the care of the Helenian palace, as the one in charge of the administration and the bathhouse, to remove the image and hide it. Having found a cunningly invented excuse for himself: dampness caused by the waters, he took away the icon, as if damaged, and, they say, hid it under the pretext of correcting it. The king made repeated trips at a certain time to each separate royal area; having arrived there, he looked for the icon; and thus she was again established on the wall. Immediately some divine judgmental anger, attacking Eutychian - for this was the name of the prefect of buildings - caused his right eye to blur; having brought the rest of his members into a very pitiful concussion, he arranged it so that he came to the holy house of prayer, where, they believed, part of the consecrated remains of the wondrous men Pantoleta and Marinus rested. This place was called “concord”, due to the fact that there, under the great king Theodosius, one hundred and fifty-five bishops, having gathered, accepted the doctrine of the consubstantial divine Trinity as something common and [very] recognized; They also proclaimed that the Lord took human flesh from the Virgin, [and thus] turned out to be the culprits of this name [place]. When he, staying [here] for about seven days, did not bring himself any benefit, but even his “twins of the heart” turned out to be eaten away [by illness], then in the middle of one of the nights, that assistant deacon, who by lot had to stay [there] all night, saw in a dream that some kind of king appeared and, pointing his hand at the sick man, said: why did you receive this one? Who brought him here? This is the one who closely united with those who blasphemed against Me. This is the one who hid the image of a miraculous event. The cleric, getting up, revealed what he saw [in the dream], saying that among the impossible things is that this husband should be healed of his illness. On the same night, Eutychian, as if brought into a sleepy state by his pains, saw a certain young eunuch, dressed in shining clothes, saying to him: what is the matter with you? When [this one] said: I am dying, consumed [by illness] and not receiving healing, then I heard him say: no one can help you. For the King is very angry against you. This one began to beg and said: who should I bother with requests or what should I do? He said: if you want to be freed [from the disease], then immediately go to the bathhouse of the Elenian palace and rest near the image of the burnt Arian. Immediately waking up, he began to call the name of one of the servants. They were afraid, because for the past three days he had been overcome by muteness. And he began to tell them and persuaded them to take him away in accordance with what was ordered [to him in the dream]. Having reached that place and being laid near the icon, he gave up his breath. For the man who appeared, speaking about the separation of the soul from the body as a recovery [from an illness], spoke the truth... LXVII. Saint Anastasius, [from] Holy Mount Sinai ...At a distance of four miles from Damascus there is an area called Karsatas. In this area there is a church of St. Theodore. The Saracens entered and settled in this church, filling it with all kinds of dirt and uncleanness, as a result of mixing with women, and children, and dumb animals. So, when one day they were sitting and talking in a very large number, one of them threw an arrow at the icon of Saint Theodore and wounded his right shoulder, [from which] blood immediately came out and flowed down to the lower part of the icon, while everyone looked at the sign that had happened, and at the arrow pierced into the saint’s shoulder, and at the blood flowing down. And yet those who saw this miraculous sign that happened did not come to their senses. The one who threw the arrow did not repent. Neither of them was embarrassed. They did not leave the church. They did not stop desecrating it. And yet they suffered the greatest punishment. For since there were twenty-four families of them [that is, the Saracens], who settled in the church, they all died a cruel death within a few days, while in the same area on these same days, with the exception of them who lived in the church, none of these [that is, the infidels, more] died. Indeed, this icon pierced by an arrow still exists today, bearing both the wound caused by the arrow and a trace of blood. Many of the witnesses [to this] and who were [present] at the time when this wonderful thing happened are still alive. And I, because I saw the icon of him [St. Theodore] and thought about [what happened], wrote about what I saw... LXVIII. From the biography of Saint Simeon the Wonderworker; the story of Arcadius, Archbishop of Cyprus; miracle one hundred and thirty second …It happened in those days that a certain man, a merchant of the city of Antioch, as a result of the influence of an evil demon, was overcome by terrible despondency and was so troubled for a long time that he was suffocated by that which blocked his breath. This one, having come to the saint, and through his prayers received healing, and becoming as if he had not suffered any misfortune, and returning to his home, out of a feeling of gratitude, erected a statue in his honor in a public and conspicuous place in the city, on top of the doors of his merchant’s shop. Some of the infidels, seeing her, decorated with such honor with torches and veils, and filled with jealousy, completely confused dissolute people like them, so that a crowd gathered and rebelled shouting: let the one who did this lose his life, and let the statue be overthrown! It happened, according to the economy of God, that this husband was not then [present] in his house; because they zealously tried to kill him, some shouting one thing, others another. For their depravity before God was very strong and great and their envy was immeasurable, under the influence of which they gathered in this place, thinking that they had found an opportunity to rebel against the saint and dishonor him for the fact that he often exposed the treachery and error of those of them who imitated the Hellenes in everything. Therefore, since they could not restrain their rage so great, they ordered one of the soldiers to climb up the steps of the stairs and overthrow the image. He, having risen up and stretched out his hands only to do what was ordered, immediately broke away, falling down to the ground, and there was great excitement in the crowd. And, excited, they ordered the other to go up; [but] he too, stretching out his hands to pull off the icon, fell to the ground in the same way. And when this happened, everyone, frightened, began to protect themselves with the sign of the cross. And those infidels, becoming even more furious, ordered the third to rise for this purpose, and when he stretched out his hands in order to overthrow the image, he, in the same way, fell to the ground with a noise. Then great fear fell on all the faithful who stood around. And, horrified by the bitterness and insolence of the infidels and those wicked men, they, prayerfully venerating the icon, withdrew... LXIX. St. John Chrysostom, from a speech on the words: Understand that you are passing through networks ...Therefore, let us not grieve, beloved, and let us not lose heart because of this present calamity, but let us begin to marvel at the art of God’s wisdom! In fact, through what the devil hoped to overthrow our city, through this God raised it up and recreated it. For the devil, in order to destroy the very foundation of the city, inspired some lawless people, and they insulted the statue of the kings... ...And after this deed committed with impudence happened and some unclean and lawless people, despising the laws, overthrew the statues, they also threatened everyone with a danger that exceeded the [strengths] of each [of us] separately. And since the king is irritated, now we fear for our very lives; the loss of property in the future no longer causes grief, but instead it causes something else. I hear everyone saying: let the king take the property, we will willingly leave the squares and homes, let only someone promise to save us [at least] our naked body. Therefore, as then, before the fear of death approached us, the loss of property caused grief; [so now], after these illegal acts had been boldly committed, he entered and removed the sadness that came from that loss... ...Even if someone was not engaged in robbery, but found himself in the cave of robbers, don’t you know that he is subject to the same punishment as they? And why am I talking about what concerns robbers? All of you, without a doubt, know and remember [that] when some vile people and deceivers among us overthrew the statues, [not only they], but also those who were generally present at what happened, were quickly captured and brought along with the first to the judgment seat, and were subjected to all kinds of punishment... LXXII. Theodoret, Bishop of Cyprus, from the God-loving history, about the Macedonian Asianite ... And when at another time the city was thrown into a frenzy by a very crafty demon, as if in fact [it] was haunted by illness, then they [that is, the citizens], under the influence of rage, acted insanely regarding the royal statues. LXXIII. From the Church History of Theodore - Reader of Constantinople, about a certain heretic Palladius ...The Bishop of Antioch Palladius, acting to please the king, began to abhor those who followed the holy definitions that were in Chalcedon 71, and overthrew the icons of the Holy Fathers... LXXIV. From the biography of Saint Constantine; from the third book, chapter 4 ...So, some things were done in the desired way; the cases of malice arising from envy, terribly disturbing the churches located in Alexandria, both caused strife between the Thebans and Egyptians, and other considerable disasters, since “those” themselves rebelled in every city: since bishops rebelled against bishops and peoples against nations and as soon as there were no clashes, as soon as they did not kill each other 72; so one can understand that they undertook wicked deeds and insanely insulted the royal images due to a frenzy of mind... LXXV. From the Church History [Theodore the Reader] about those who thought alike with Dioscorus 73 ...For he reached such a degree of insolence that he destroyed even the names of the blessed shepherds who were there from the sacred diptychs and destroyed their images, tyrannically burning them... LXXVI. From the same History, about the heretic who accepted the throne of Constantinople after Macedonius ...This wicked man, going to meetings and ordering to carefully examine the sacred houses, every time he found Macedonius painted on an icon somewhere, then, without destroying it, he did not perform any service to God... LXXVII. From the same History, about Julian and Timothy ... Some of those who rejoiced at the unrest proclaim that this Julian showed the same way of thinking with Bishop Timothy because of the above-mentioned Macedonius; They also proclaim the reason why he showed the same way of thinking. With the help of their servants, very quickly putting [Macedonia] before them, while the civil rulers were also present in the bishop's house, they began to force him to anathematize the decisions of the council that had taken place in Chalcedon. The elder, praying in front of the painted images of the deceased [Christian] priests in Constantinople - archbishops Flavian and Anatolius 74, with the help of which the council of Chalcedon acquired power, exclaimed: if you do not want to accept the decisions of the said holy council, then anathematize the images of the bishops and destroy their sacred diptychs... LXXVIII. Chrysostom, from the word about Saint Flavian of Antioch ...And the crowd showed itself to be exactly what it is; for, following a reckless impulse, like a leader, she rushed against the royal images and monuments and, overthrowing them, dragged across the square. For rage made her thoughts frantic and anger covered her prudent thoughts with blindness... LXXIX. From the same speech containing the words of Patriarch Flavian to the great King Theodosius ...We have sinned, O king! We do not hide sin, against which even creation speaks. We do not deny the fury with which we were infuriated against your images; it would be better [to say]: against ourselves; but, like the condemned, we expect mercy... LXXX. And again from the same word, from the speech of Saint Flavnan ...Do not destroy so many images because of one copper image; Do not destroy so many divine images because of one image made of copper, an image that can easily be cast from metal... LXXXI. Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, from poems ...Either don’t teach, or teach with your lifestyle. Do not attract with one hand [that is, words], but with the other [that is, deeds], do not push away from yourself. By doing what you must, you will need speech less. The painter teaches mainly through the forms he depicts... Interpretation: If, he says, you do not teach by your way of life, then do not teach with your word, so that those whom you attract with your word you do not drive away due to the fact that you do not lead an honest lifestyle. For if you do what you should do, then this proper activity will be the word of teaching, just as a painter mostly teaches through images. ...I will not pass by Polemon in silence. For even among those who are much talked about, he is amazing. This one was not previously among the abstinent and was a very vile servant of pleasure. And after, either on his own or on the advice of some wise, of course, person - I am not able to say who [exactly] - he was filled with love for beauty, he immediately appeared so above his passions that I will in some way present one of his miracles. Some intemperate young man invited a harlot; when she, they say, came close to the entrance to the house, [where] Polemon [depicted] on the icon towered over her, then, seeing this icon - for it was revered - she immediately left, overcome by the spectacle, ashamed of what was painted, as if he were alive... LXXXIII. Chrysostom, from [the conversation on] the letter to Timothy; from the 8th [its] chapter “...But be an example to the faithful” (1 Tim. 4:12), presenting yourself in everything as an example of excellent deeds, that is, by the example of your life, show yourself as an image publicly displayed [to imitate him]. LXXXIV. From the Homily Word to the Holy 6th Council ...Again Nestorius, and again Celestine and Cyril. For one divided and separated Christ, while others, cooperating with the Lord, overthrew the one who divided 75. Here is Ephesus; and the pictures of what was done there, through the unwritten word, silently speak of the deeds... LXXXV. The most ancient Clement 76 - to Alexander; from the 7th book of Stromat ...So, he not only praises what is beautiful, but he himself tries with all his might to be beautiful, from a good and faithful slave, with the assistance of love, changing into a friend, because of the perfection of properties that he honestly acquired through true teaching and repeated exercise. So, [he did everything] in order to reach the pinnacle of knowledge, showing diligence in his way of thinking and acting and being modest, being meek in appearance, having everything that serves as the advantages of a true Gnostic, looking at the beautiful images, [that is,] at many patriarchs who excelled in virtue before him, very many prophets, thinking about the immeasurable number of Angels who [revolve] with us, and about The Lord, Who is above all, Who taught and helped [us] so that it became possible to receive the life characteristic of those leaders... LXXXVI. Saint Theodore, Bishop of Pentapolis …Again [there was] a certain man, from the noble persons of that country, named Dion, who decorated the church of the holy martyr with many offerings and covered his altar with silver. And one of his servants, having stolen a lot of money from his [house], disappeared. Dion did not run behind him in order to pursue him, but, going to the image of the martyr, molded a wax model of his icon and, with faith in the holy martyr, strengthened it at the gate [which led] from his house. And immediately the young servant, as if pursued by someone, returned back and came to his master, having absolutely everything that he had stolen. Therefore, after this became known to everyone, the inhabitants of that country to this day continue to commit [the same against] secretly leaving [slaves] ... LXXXVII. Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, from the 3rd book against the Arians …But the Son, being in the proper sense a Branch of the Father’s essence, naturally says that what belongs to the Father also belongs to Him (John 16:15; John 17:10). Therefore, in accordance [with the truth] and consistently with the saying: “I and the Father are one,” He added: “Yes, understand... how the Father is in Me and I in Him.” In turn, He announced this: he who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 10:30, 38, 14:9) And these three sayings contain the same meaning. For in this way he who knows that the Father and the Son are one knows that He is in the Father and the Father in the Son. For the Divinity of the Son is the Divinity of the Father, and it is in the Son. And he who understands this knows that he who saw the Son saw the Father. For in the Son the Divinity of the Father is contemplated. Anyone can understand this very clearly from the example regarding the image of the king. For in the image of the king there is his appearance and form; and the king has the appearance that is in the image. The likeness of the king on the icon is similar in everything [to him], so that the one who sees the image sees the king on it, and, in turn, the one who sees the king recognizes that this is the one who is in the image. Due to the fact that the likeness does not differ [from the prototype], if anyone wants to see the king after [having seen] the image, the image could say to him: I and the king are in some way one. For I am in him and he is in me; and what you see in me, you see in him, and what you saw in him, you see in me; for he who worships an image worships the king in its person. For the image contains the form of that and its appearance... LXXXVIII. Him, to the prefect Antiochus ...What do those who abhor [holy icons] say about this and forbid the veneration of the images of holy men that we depict for the sake of remembrance [of the latter]? . LXXXIX. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, to King Gratian, about the economy of God the Word regarding His taking on human flesh ...God before the flesh and God in the flesh... But, they say, we must beware that, by giving Christ two guiding principles or two wisdom, we do not appear to be dividing Christ. So, when we worship both His Divinity and His flesh, should we really be afraid of not dividing Christ? Or when in Him we worship both the Image of God and the cross, do we really separate Him? It won't happen! XC. Cyril, Patriarch of Jerusalem, from the Twelfth Announcement …So, if you are looking for the reason for the coming of Christ, then turn to the first book of the Scriptures. Within six days God created the world, but the world [was created] for the sake of man. For the sun, shining with its rays, is, of course, very bright, but it, we say, happened for the sake of man. And all living beings came into being to serve us. Herbs and trees are for our enjoyment. All creations are created beautiful, but not one of them is the image of God, but only man. The sun was created by command alone, but man was created by divine hands. For “Let us make man in our image and likeness” (Gen. 1:26). A wooden image of the earthly king is revered; how much more [should we honor] the image of God endowed with reason?... XCI. Saint Basil, to Saint Flavian, about the Samaritan woman ... Our Lord, teaching otherwise, [that is,] that worship [performed] as a result of native custom in a [known] place is false, says: we must worship “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24), obviously calling Himself the truth. Just as in the Son, as in the Image of God the Father, we speak and worship the Father, so in the Spirit, as showing in Himself the Divinity of the Lord... XCII. Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, regarding Baptism ...If after baptism a persecutor of the light attacks you - and he will attack, for he attacked both the Word and my God, the Light hidden by what is visible - then you have something to overcome. Don't be afraid of competition! Bring the Spirit before you! Put the water in front of you! And after a few words: Relying on the seal, say: I am the image of God. I am not, like you, denied the highest glory because of arrogance. I have put on Christ. Through baptism I changed myself into Christ. Bow to me! XCIII. Saint John Chrysostom, regarding the Maccabees ...You can find that images of royal features shine not only through gold and silver and very precious substances, but that on copper you can see the same carved figure. And the difference of substances does not offend the dignity of the image, and the fact that it is made from a substance of greater value does not weaken the value of another, made from a worse substance, but the royal appearance equally exalts all images, and [itself] in no way humiliated by the substance, makes the substance that takes [its image] more precious... XCIV. Him, against the godless Julian, from the first word ...What is the new Nebuchadnezzar? For this one, in relation to us, did not show himself at all more philanthropic than that ancient one, whose coals still torment us, although we escaped the flames. Do not the torture of the body and the gifts in honor of the saints, which are in churches for worship on the part of the faithful, indicate the torture of the body? XCV. Him, about the washbasin ...For just as when royal figures and images are sent and brought into the city, the rulers and peoples come out to meet them with reverence and fear, not honoring a plaque, not an image made of wax, but the image of the king, so the creature... XCVI. Severian, [Bishop] of Gaval, about the cross; from the fourth Word ...Moses struck the stone, both once and twice (Num. 20:11). Why once and twice? If he takes into account the power of God, then what need is there for a second blow? If he strikes without regard to the power of God, then neither the second, nor the tenth, nor the hundredth blow will be able to give the sterile nature a fruitful nature. So, if [it was] simply the work of God and did not contain the sacrament of the cross, then it was enough to strike once, a wave was enough, a word was enough. But this happens in order to outline the image of the cross. Moses struck, says [Scripture], both once and twice, not in the same way, but drawing the image of the cross, so that inanimate nature would feel reverence for the sign of the cross. For if, in the absence of the king, the image takes the place of the king, and in his honor the rulers pay homage and festivals are celebrated, and the leaders come out to meet, and the people worship, looking not at the board, but at the image of the king, contemplated not in his nature, but revealing himself in the image, then even more the image of the immortal King can tear not only the rock, but also the sky and the entire universe... XCVII. From the chronicle of Deacon Isidore …Theophilus 77, who expressed reproach to John Chrysostom before Queen Eudoxia for sharing the thoughts of Origen’s heresy, sinned. Augusta was hostile to the aforementioned John regarding the widow's vineyard; and, because of this sin, Theophilus could not die until the image of Chrysostom was brought; and, having bowed to him, he betrayed his spirit... XCVIII. Jerome, Presbyter of Jerusalem ...Since your Scripture nowhere commands us to worship the cross, why then do you worship it? Tell us, Jews and Greeks, and all the peoples who ask you: - O foolish and shameless ones of heart! Perhaps this is why God allowed every nation that reveres Him to worship anything on earth that is the work of man, so that after this he [that is, every people] would not be able to blame Christians for worshiping the cross and icons. Therefore, just as the Jew worshiped the ark of the Covenant, and the two Cherubim - cast of metal and gold, and the two tablets that Moses carved from stone, while God nowhere gave the command to worship or kiss this, so we, Christians, kiss the cross not as God, but - showing the sincere disposition of our souls towards the Crucified One. XCIX. Great Simeon from Mount Faumast, about icons ...Perhaps one of the infidels, being grumpy, will begin to argue, saying that we, who worship icons in churches, should be counted among those who pray to, as it were, soulless idols. Yes, of course, it will not happen that we do this! For what Christians do is assessed by faith, and our God, who is true, contributes to our strength. After all, we do not remain with the colors [only], but by remembering the image that served as the original [for the icon], with the help of a picture that is visible, contemplating the One who is invisible, we glorify Him, as if He were present [among us in a visible way]. We believe not as one who is not God, but as one who is truly God; and saints, not as those who are not saints, but as those who are [such] and live with God; also to the spirits themselves, since they are holy and by the power of God they help worthy people as those in need of their [help];... C. Anastasius, Archbishop of Antioch, to Bishop Simeon of Vostra about the Sabbath ...For just as, in the absence of the king, worship is given to his image, and when he is present, after that it is unnecessary, leaving the prototype, to worship the image. However, he should not be humiliated because [only] he is no longer worshiped because of the presence of the one for whose sake [in the above case] he is worshiped. Something similar, I think, happened to the shadow of the law, that is, the letter; because the Apostle calls him a shadow. For while grace preserved the time of truth, the saints predicted images, contemplating the truth as if in a mirror. And after the truth came, they stopped thinking that it was wonderful to live according to the images and continue to follow them. For when the deeds themselves are present, then the image of the deed after that is superfluous. However, even under such circumstances, they did not humiliate or despise, but they honored the image and considered those who attempted to humiliate them to be wicked and worthy of death from cruel torture... CI. Him, from the 3rd word ...As if someone, out of the honor that befits a king, worships the image of the king, although it is something [other] than wax and paints... CII. Holy V Ecumenical Council, 12th anathematism …If anyone defends the wicked Theodore of Mopsuetus 78, who said that one is God the Word and another is Christ, Who was burdened with spiritual passions and carnal desires and little by little moved away from the worst and, thanks to the success of the matter, became so much better, also due to His way of life became so impeccable that, being a simple man, was baptized in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and through baptism received the grace of the Holy Spirit, and was honored with adoption and, like a royal image, was worshiped as representing God the Word - [such] let him be anathema! III. Theodore, Constantinople historiographer, from Church history, about Gennady, Archbishop of Constantinople ...I will tell you something else about him that should terrify you. A certain painter, who [previously] painted an image of the Lord Christ, had both hands withered. And they said that he, on the instructions of one Hellene, drew this image, decorating it with the name of the Savior, and the hair on the head on both sides was divided so that it could not cover the eye (for with this appearance the sons of the Hellenes paint Zeus), so that those who looked would think that they were paying their worship [not to Zeus, but] to the Savior... Civ. Abba Maximus, and Bishop Theodosius, and the archons sent by the king ...Saint Maximus said: and after it has been decided that this should happen, then, oh, if only the fulfillment of what was decided would come, and when you command, I follow you. And after that, everyone got up from their places, and with tears, having fallen, they repented, and offered up prayers, and each of them kissed the holy Gospels, and the honorable cross, and the image of our Savior Jesus Christ and the Holy Mother of God who gave birth to Him, placing their hands [on all this] to confirm what was said... CV. Saint Sophronius, from [the story of] the miracles of the holy martyrs Cyrus and John; about the subdeacon Theodore, who suffered from gout ...Finally, we would like to say briefly about strengthening the body. After these few days, [when] he slept, he again saw the martyrs appearing and ordering them to accompany them. He followed them with great readiness. For he knew that following the saints was not useless. So, having arrived at the church of the Hellenes, terrible in appearance and very brilliant, with its height touching the very heavens, and going inside it, we contemplated a very large and amazing image, in the middle having the Lord Christ painted with paints, on the left side - the Lady Theotokos and on the right - John the Baptist, who jumped into the womb (of the mother) [and thereby] opened it, since although he spoke while inside, he was not audible. We also contemplated some of the glorious host of Apostles and Prophets and from the assembly of martyrs, among whom were Cyrus and John - martyrs who, standing before the icon, begged the Lord, kneeling, and striking their heads on the ground, and asking for the healing of the young man. The words of the request were as follows: Humane-loving Lord, do you want us to give healing to this one too? They, having bowed to the ground many times and poured out words of prayer, when the Lord Christ did not bow down [to their request], stopped interceding, says [the young man], and came to me, who was standing not very far from the icon, with downcast eyes and sadness. And, coming close, they said: Do you see how the Lord does not want to give you healing? But don't be at all discouraged! For He will certainly be merciful to you, as to everyone else. And, after a short - half an hour - period of time, they got up and returned back, and began to persistently ask. And again, he says, they returned without success, with downcast eyes and sad, as before, because the Lord Christ did not want to [fulfill their requests]. And when they came again, they told me about it. The third time they came, they said: Dare! For now we will certainly receive mercy. But you too, just as you see us pleading, come with us and beg the Lord. And when they came to the icon for the third time, they began to use the same methods and words. And when for a long time they persistently asked and, lying prostrate, cried out only one thing: command, Lord! - then Christ, as a compassionate one, having mercy, said from the icon: show him [mercy] you too. And, rising from the ground, the martyrs, first of all, of course, began to thank Christ our God, as having heard their fervent prayer... CVI. Saint Anastasius from the Holy Mount Sinai, on the “new” Sunday and about the Apostle Thomas …Those who saw Christ in the flesh thought of Him as a Prophet. We, who have not seen [Him, however] immediately, from our earliest childhood, children and youth, confess Him as God, as having power, and Almighty, and Creator of ages, the Radiance of the Father. For, as if we were looking at that Christ Himself who spoke, so it is with faith that we listen to His Gospel. And, accepting the pure pearls of His body, we believe that we are wearing that Christ Himself. And every time we see His divine features depicted, we think that He is looking at us as if from heaven, we worship Him, we fall before Him. Great is now faith in Christ! CVII. From the biography of Abba Daniel, about the stonemason Eulogia ...Then he left with sadness and, throwing himself in front of the icon of the Mother of God, said with a sob: Lord, release me from the promise that I gave to this man! CVIII. From the life of Mary of Egypt ...So, crying, I see over the place where I stood, placed an image of the Holy Mother of God and I say to her: Virgin, Lady Theotokos, who gave birth to God the Word in the flesh, I, of course, know, I know that it is indecent and unreasonable for me, so unclean, so completely morally corrupt, to contemplate Your icon of the Ever-Virgin, but it is fair that Your purity should despise me and abhorred. However, since God, born by You, therefore became man in order to call sinners to repentance, then help me, who alone does not have any protection. They commanded that the entrance be opened for me as well; do not deprive me [of the right] to see that tree on which God the Word, born of You, who gave His blood for me, was nailed in flesh as a means of redemption. Commanded, O Lady, that the door to the divine worship of the cross be opened to me too. And to the God born of You, I make You a reliable Guarantor that in the future I will not corrupt this flesh through any shameful confusion. But when I see the tree of the cross of Your Son, I will immediately begin to declare it to the world and to everyone in the world, and I will immediately leave, wherever You Yourself command, as the Surety, and wherever You lead us. Having said this and in the fervor of my faith, having drawn almost complete confidence, relying on the mercy of the Mother of God, I moved from the place where I was standing in fervent prayer, and went back and intervened [in the crowd] of those entering. And there was no longer anyone who would drive me away or who would push me away, and no one prevented me from coming close to the door through which they entered the house. Therefore, I was overcome by awe and amazement, and I was completely worried and trembling. Therefore, throwing myself on the ground and bowing to that holy soil, I ran, going out and trying to come to the Guarantee. So, I found myself at the place on which the handwriting concerning my promise was inscribed, and bowing my knee before the Ever-Virgin and the Mother of God, I uttered these words; You, of course, loving goodness, Lady, showed your love for me. You did not feel disgust at the prayer of an unworthy woman. I saw glory, which we, as completely given over to sensuality, do not see deservedly. Glory to God, who through You accepts the repentance of sinful people; and so on... CIX. From the life of Saint Eupraxia ...The deaconess 79 says to the girl: go, my lady, to your house, because you cannot stay here. For no one can remain here unless he is united to Christ. The girl says to her: where is Christ? The deaconess showed her the image of the Lord; and, turning, the girl says to the deaconess: truly, I too am united with Christ and will no longer leave with my mistress. And again, getting up and taking her daughter, Eupraxia brought her closer to the image of the Lord, and, stretching out her hands to the sky, she loudly cried out with tears: Lord Jesus Christ, may You take care of the girl, because she loved You greatly and devoted herself to You... CX. The Holy 6th Council, which was under Justinian, about the Holy 5th Council ...On some paintings representing sacred images, the Lamb is imprinted, pointed by the finger of the Forerunner. He is taken as an image of grace, foretelling to us through the law the true Lamb, Christ our God. Therefore, kissing those ancient images and shadows handed down to the Church as omens and foreshadowings of truth, we [however] prefer grace and truth, cordially accepting this as the fulfillment of the law. So, in order that in pictures we may present to the eyes of all that which is perfect, we decree that the Lamb who took away the sins of the world, Christ our God, from now on be depicted in icons not in the form of the ancient Lamb, but in accordance with human appearance; We then decree that through the humiliation of God the Word we may discern His height and be guided to remember His way of life in the flesh, and His suffering, and saving death, and the redemption that came from here for the world... “We, who are aware...” is a rhetorical form that became widespread in many genres of medieval literature.” Tradition and Scripture are two authoritative law-making sources of church life. Their relationship can be represented through the metaphor of dynamic equilibrium. In fact, Tradition in apostolic times and in our time has different semantic content, but it is obvious that those who reject Tradition in favor of Scripture reject not only an integral layer of religious experience, but also the Gospels of Luke, Matthew, and Mark. Here John of Damascus addresses Emperor Leo III the Isaurian, one of the initiators of the iconoclastic unrest. The appeal, in the spirit of tradition, appeals to the Holy Scriptures. Surrounded by lush rhetoric, the ways of salvation are spoken of with such unambiguity that it can be argued: the question of the way of salvation in the early period of the church was not as polemically pointed as it will be in modern times. “...And my speech to you...” - St. John of Damascus addresses the community of Constantinople Christians and their leader, Patriarch Herman. That is, the divine hypostasis of the Son - Jesus Christ. Here the creed of John of Damascus differs somewhat from the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, primarily by sharpening the provisions on the Image-Prototype relationship, central to the apology of icons. “...The purple of the body...” is a rhetorical device, presenting a part instead of the whole. The scarlet cloak, a bright red cape symbolizing imperial power, is placed in the place of the flesh of Christ, thereby emphasizing that, by putting on flesh, the Word does not become something defective, but just as the scarlet cape on the royal shoulders becomes a symbol of the royal power, so the flesh, putting on the Word, becomes a partaker of divine power. St. John of Damascus refers here to Gregory of Nazianzus (Theologian) - the great Father of the Church, friend of St. Basil the Great's youth and life. “After all, from Him, although...” - The given formula was developed and approved in the polemic against Arius at the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea. Arius himself argued that the Son came from non-existents, and before His birth there existed only God and that absolute nothingness from which the world was created. There was a moment when the Son did not exist, therefore, God created Him from non-existence. Saint Dionysius the Areopagite... - under this name, a number of works were presented at the council in Constantinople in 532, including: “On Divine Names”, “On Mystical Theology”, “On the Heavenly Hierarchy”, etc. The identification of the author of these works with Dionysius from Acts 17 is questioned, and in critical publications he is called Pseudo-Dionysius. In general, the works are in line with the Platonic tradition. Christian exegesis took the entire Old Testament as a preparation for the New. From this perspective, all the numerous prophecies of the Old Testament were perceived as indications of the birth of Christ the Messiah. The widely spread method of allegorical interpretation took shape in the Alexandrian exegetical school. Thus, the ark and the jug are an allegory of the Virgin (in terms of secrecy and the ability to absorb into oneself). The blossoming rod of Aaron is an allegory of the Mother of God (as the revelation of what was hidden for a time, for a tree is recognized by its fruits). The placement of a vessel with manna (stamna, Greek - vessel, jug) in the ark of the Covenant was done at the command of the Lord, in memory of the miraculous feeding of the people during the transition through the desert (Exodus 16:31-36). Miraculously, the blossoming rod of Aaron was placed as a sign for the disobedient, so that their grumbling against the Lord would cease. The place of the front is Golgotha, the place of the forehead. The Life-Giving Rock is the rock in which, according to Middle Eastern custom, the body of Jesus was buried. The life-giving meal is the Eucharist, a joint meal among the first Christian communities, which existed as a home worship service. The paten and chalice are a dish and cup used in liturgy. Manichaeans are a Gnostic sect with a Zoroastrian substrate that incorporated elements of Christianity. The sect has become widespread in the regions of the Near, Middle and Far East (China), and in Africa. The teaching of the Manichaeans is dualistic: matter is the kingdom of darkness, striving to absorb the kingdom of light. Ephod (Ephod) – the outer garment of the high priest; consisted of two pieces of material woven from gold, fine linen and wool of blue, purple, and scarlet colors, on the shoulders these pieces of material were connected by gold amices. Chervlenitsa, crimson and blue are paints (scarlet, crimson and blue) extracted from shellfish. Among the iconoclasts there were “moderates” who did not oppose the icons of Christ and the Virgin Mary. The Divine Basil - Father of the Church, was born presumably in 330, died in 379. He is credited with creating the theological ground for introducing the distinction between the concepts of essence and hypostasis, nature and person. The ransom of the blood of Christ is contrasted with the Old Testament sacrifices of the blood of goats and calves. That is, by binding the devil - the king of the lower world (Matthew 12:29). That is, through the sacrament of baptism. See also: Rom.6:14; Gal.4:8. This refers to Jacob's dream, in which he wrestled with the Angel of God, asking for a blessing (Gen. 32:22–32). Amphilochius is a contemporary and friend of St. Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian, bishop of Iconium, died probably in 395. That is, to harm the church as a place where the unity of Tradition (ethnic characteristics - the experience of generations) and Scripture (the new state of deification of all humanity) is realized. Joseph is a rich man from Arimathea who buried the body of Christ in his tomb. Joseph, according to Old Testament ideas, thereby violated the law commanding not to defile oneself by touching the dead (Matthew 27:57–61). The ritual of immersing the baptized person in water three times. This ritual does not exist in all churches and is performed differently, reflecting ethnic characteristics. Epiphanius, a Cypriot elder and wonderworker, died at a very old age in 403. Athanasius is the holy Archbishop of Alexandria, a firm and ardent defender of Orthodoxy against the Arian heresy. Died 373 This point of view was held by many Gnostic sects, including the Manichaeans. A similar view was held by those Gnostics who recognized God as the creator of matter and denied free choice for man. Here John of Damascus names those heretical deviations that arose in the process of Christological disputes. This means that evil is associated with the free choice of man. Blessed Herman - Patriarch of Constantinople from 713 to 730. He suffered with the beginning of the persecution of icon worshipers under Emperor Leo III the Isaurian (see introductory article). Friends of God - that is, the ascetics of the Church: the apostles, holy martyrs, Fathers and teachers of the Church. This refers to the currently known apocryphal Gospel of the Apostle Thomas, which tells about the childhood years of Jesus. The authorship of this Gospel does not belong to the Manichaeans, but it was extremely popular among them. King Valens - Valentian's co-ruler in the east of the empire in 364–378. Known for his active intervention in church affairs. Zeno - Byzantine emperor 475–491. In church politics, he sought unity between moderate Monophysites and Orthodox Christians, which was generally recognized by the Council of Chalcedon. Heraclius - Byzantine emperor 604–641. Asian origin, from Cappadocia (central Asia Minor). In the ecclesiastical field, he was an active promoter of the policy of uniting with the Monophysites of Armenia and pacifying church disputes. Constantine is the grandson of Emperor Heraclius. He attempted to move the capital from Constantinople to Rome. Constantine committed fratricide and, haunted by dark visions, fled to Sicily, where he died at the hands of the conspirators. Philippicus Vardaniscus, emperor 711–713, contributed to the temporary and ephemeral triumph of the Monothelites after the VI Ecumenical Council. St. Epiphanius of Cyprus is a shepherd in Palestine, among the Egyptians, and in Cyprus. In 367 he took control of the Salamis Church. His writings do not contain direct statements of an iconoclastic nature. Contrary to this tradition, the Russian church maintained the tradition of burying old icons within the church. Here Damascene seems to be disingenuous when he says that, trying to create a visible god for themselves, the people began to make it at random. In fact, the veneration of the bull idol was widespread in the Middle East from Babylonia to Egypt. In Egypt itself, the Jews could see the worship of the black bull Apis in Memphis or the white bull Mnevis in Heliopolis. In accordance with the ancient tradition, the two-component nature of man is recognized (soul and body instead of the three-component structure of the Gnostics: body, soul, spirit). Developing this position in the medieval spirit, John of Damascus says that a thing is two-part: it has the real, which corresponds to the body, and there is the symbolic, which corresponds to the soul. In line with the Platonic tradition of St. John of Damascus separated the essence of a thing from its existence. A thing exists properly only when it agrees not only with its essence, but also with the order in the hierarchy of essences. The amices fastened the ephod, the outer garment of the high priest, onto their shoulders (see “First Word The so-called anthropomorphism, when God is spoken of as having arms, legs, feet, the ability to see, hear, speak, and desire. The question of how such signs relate to the Beginningless, Infinite, Omnipresent and Almighty arose acutely in Judaism and Islam, and the way it was answered became the basis for the division of theological schools. The holy ascetics of the Church are called gods here, as participants in the grace of the Lord God. This refers to the prophet Elisha, a companion of the prophet Elijah during the reign of Jehoram (2 Kings 2:23–24). The prophet Daniel predicted the fall of the Babylonian kingdom by deciphering the sacred inscription. The cause of death was God's punishment for the desecration of the sacred vessels taken by Belshazzar from the Jerusalem Temple (Dan.5:2-23). We are talking about the love of God the Father, according to which He brings the Son into the world. Here, the idea common to the entire Middle Ages is reproduced of the earthly hierarchy as a mirror reflection of the heavenly one, where God is opposed by the devil. Each rank of the hierarchy is in the service of a senior rank. Priests are on the border between the earthly and heavenly hierarchy and serve the angels. Then the heavenly hierarchy begins, consisting of three ranks: the third rank - angels, archangels, principles; second rank - power, strength, domination; the first rank is seraphim, cherubim, thrones. The same principle of hierarchical subordination applies between them. Thus, the goal of any hierarchy is invariably connected with God-likeness. A tradition pointing to Christ himself as the founder of icon veneration. Famous iconography of the Savior Not Made by Hands. Martyr Barlaam is a famous elder from Antioch. Died in Caesarea in Cappadocia around 306. The earthly world is an image of the supermundane. In the earthly world we encounter only copies of the prototype. This refers to Basil the Great. The plot of the Old Testament offering of Abraham, which later did not become widespread. The Council of Ephesus in 449 was convened with the support of the emperor after the local council of 448 in Constantinople. The council resolved the issue of two natures in Christ: divine and human. Dioscorus, one of the leaders of the Monophysite party, was appointed as the main chairman. At the council, the Monophysite Eutyches was acquitted, and force was used against those who disagreed. Patriarch Flavian of Constantinople did not agree with such a resolution, for which he was sent into exile, where he died a year later, and according to some sources, the patriarch was beaten and died from his wounds in the same year. This last point of view is held by John of Damascus. John of Damascus speaks of the need for the church to have autonomy in solving its problems. The ideal of distinguishing church power from secular power in the East not only was not realized, but was not even systematically set out, just as Augustine realized it in the West in his work “On the City of God.” Julian, nicknamed the Apostate, was the emperor of the Eastern and Roman empires from 360 to 363. He was elevated to the imperial throne by the Gallic legions. He attempted a pagan revival, uniting secular and religious (paganism) power in one person. Absolutely believing in the superiority of ancient philosophy and religion over Christianity, he believed that Christianity could be overcome in the course of an open dispute with it. The tyranny attributed to him by Christian writers is clearly exaggerated. In 312, Constantine set out on a campaign against the usurper Maxentius. For the first time in this battle, the monogram of Christ “HR” was on the shields of Constantine’s soldiers. Constantine won the battle. Before the victory, a cross appeared in a dream to Constantine, as if drawn in the sky, which was regarded as a sign of God's intercession. Gregory of Nazianzus acted as a stern denouncer of Julian. See First Word. Eustathius Placidas - great martyr in Rome under Emperor Hadrian (c. 118). The donkey of the prophet Balaam spoke with a human voice, denouncing the prophet’s unrighteous intentions towards Israel (Num. 22:28–30). Music was of great importance in ancient society; it was in it that the unique originality of the soul of the people was expressed. It accompanied human life and national worship services. David himself accompanied his praises to God by playing the psalter. During the period of the Babylonian captivity, musical culture declines, which is why the psalmist says (Ps. 136:2): “they hanged: At the IV Ecumenical Council in Chalcedon, the Monophysite heresy was anathematized. It tells about the events that preceded the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea in 325. They were caused by the spread of the Arian heresy throughout the East Dioscorus is an Alexandrian bishop who assumed the see in 444. At the Council of Chalcedon he became a follower of Eutyches. Flavian and Anatoly - Bishops of Constantinople. Flavian (446–449) actively opposed the Monophysites at the robber council of 449 and was beaten during one of the meetings. Anatoly (449–458) was an active participant in the Council of Chalcedon in 451. Nestorius argued for the presence of two hypostases - human (body) and divine (soul) - in Christ. Cyril of Alexandria and Celestine spoke out against him at the Council of Rome. Clement of Alexandria is one of the first teachers of the church in Alexandria. His main work, Stromata, is an example of how theology begins to speak in philosophical language. He probably died in 217. Theophilos, Archbishop of Alexandria, having designs on the See of Constantinople and having learned about the appointment of John Chrysostom to it, tried in the face of the Constantinople authorities to present John Chrysostom in an unsightly light (as an Origenist heretic). Theodore of Mopsuestia (Mopsuestia) - Bishop of Mopsuestia from 392. Together with Chrysostom, he received education from Diodorus and Carterius. In interpretation he strictly followed the letter of Scripture. The inaccuracy of Theodore's theological language on the question of the relationship between the two natures in Christ led his followers to Nestorian judgments. In the ancient church, the positions of deaconesses were introduced to perform the rite of baptism for women. You might be interested in: