Against Lutherans

The Lord said to Moses: Do not make any likeness to yourself (Ex. 20:4), but did not say: Do not create any likeness, but every kind that the Greeks make, depicting the likenesses and faces of wise men, adulterers and murderers, animals and birds and creeping things, calling these likenesses gods and worshiping them. If the venerable likeness is for the honor and glory of God, then you are not sinning. If you do not believe this, then we will give you as proof the word of God spoken to Moses. Having told him first: “Thou shalt not make every likeness,” God then commanded the same Moses to create many likenesses (Ex. ch. 12 and 26). First, the church, that is, the tabernacle of the covenant of the Lord, and then inside the church God commanded that everything be arranged in the likeness and image of heavenly objects. And since there were cherubim in heaven, he commanded Moses to make cherubim out of gold, and to bring to himself two hewn tablets, on which he inscribed ten words with his holy finger, and a golden container containing manna, and commanded Aaron’s rod to be placed in the ark; then, on the walls and on the curtains, he ordered to embroider with cherubim, blue and scarlet. See and listen wisely: the tabernacle was made of gold and silver, of scarlet and scarlet and other things, and the tablets were hewn out of stone; so we also make similar images, which to honor and worship is a good and godly thing, but we should not idolize them and say to the image: you are our god; but to venerate it as an image of the likeness of carnal viewing (incarnation), or as an image of a servant of God and a saint, for example, Elijah, or an image of the Most Pure Mother of God. If, thinking madly, you say that the honorable and holy things that the Lord commanded Moses to create, such as: the tabernacle, cherubim, arks, tablets, stash, containing manna, and so on, should be revered, but nothing should be worshiped except God alone, then we will answer against this: if these objects should not be worshiped, then how did the great one himself worship them? prophet and lawgiver Moses, Godfather David, king and prophet, then Jonah, Daniel and Ezra? They all worshiped man-made things. The book of Exodus says: as Moses entered the tabernacle, immediately the pillar of cloud descended, and the Lord appeared in the tabernacle in the pillar of cloud (Exodus 33:8–10). The people, seeing the pillar of cloud, each worshiped at the door of his tent. They worshiped the pillar of cloud and the tabernacle because God, who is essentially invisible, for the sake of our weakness, was covered by the pillar of cloud and in this light appeared in the tabernacle. So, the pillar of cloud served for them as a robe (in which the Lord was clothed); instead of a heavenly settlement, He had a tabernacle, which is now called the church. Couldn't God talk to people without the tabernacle? But by this He wished from the very beginning to show the honor and glory of the Church of God. Again in Exodus, Scripture testifies that when Moses finished all the work of building the tabernacle of testimony, and brought the ark of God into the church of testimony and closed it with a curtain, then a cloud covered the church and the church was filled with the glory of the Lord, and the Lord called Moses out of the church of testimony. When the church was created, there was no sign; when the ark was brought in, then the glory of the Lord filled the church, and the Lord began to speak from the church (Ex. 40:33–38). And the Lord said to Solomon: You have sanctified this church, which you have created, and put My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there all the days (1 Kings 9:3). If the Lord God Himself says that His name and eyes and heart are in the church forever, then it is clear that the Lord God Himself abides in the church. Let us understand and carefully consider that where the church is to the glory of the Lord God Almighty, there is the coming of God, and where the coming of God is, who will not worship that place? And if the church should bow down, then how not to worship the image of our Lord Jesus Christ and His saints and other divine objects, for the sake of which the church itself becomes holy? Oh, crazy ones! Why do you compare God's sacred objects with idols? Understand what we will tell you, namely, that you yourself are like idols and, having eyes, do not see the truth, and while good people bow to the written image of God, which carefully appeared in the human body, you do not see piety in this, but turn it into laughter. Truly, your laughter turns into crying, for, having ears, you do not hear the truth and good teaching of the Divine Scripture, due to the hardening of your hearts. We, instead of the tabernacle, have a church created for the glory of God, and instead of tablets we have the Holy Scripture of new grace, instead of embroidered cherubim we have the image of Christ and His saints, instead of a stash of manna we have holy bread and wine, transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ, instead of the rod of Aaron we have the rod of Christ, that is, the Life-giving and Most Pure Cross, and so on. And when we look at the written image of Christ’s likeness, we are filled with spiritual joy, seeing Him, the Master, depicted in the fleshly form in which He deigned to live with people, and from this we are filled with the fear of God and remember the miracles that He performed while living on earth. If we see images of the holy apostles and teachers, then their wise teaching is renewed in our hearts. We also honor the holy angels, calling on them to help, since they are our guardians and protectors from the evil one, guides to God and givers of strength, which is why we glorify them with songs and singing. We praise the true prophets as those who prophesied correctly about Christ. We sing and glorify the apostles of Christ, as those who preached to us the Sun of Truth - Christ, the eternal God. We bless the holy hierarchs who were zealots of the apostles and expounded the right faith, driving away heresies. We magnify the holy martyrs as having created an imperishable purchase, who purchased heaven with their blood and did not reject Christ. We marvel at the venerable fathers who exhausted themselves with labor, fasting and tears, became dead during their lives, and after death turned out to be alive. Heretics say that God commanded: do not create for yourself silver gods and gold gods. To this we answer: God said this to the Jews, who in the desert poured out calfs for themselves and said: behold your gods, to Israel, and subsequently gave divine honor to Beelphegor, under Ahab - to Baal, that is, Krona, under Manasseh - Diy, under Jeroboam - to the golden youths, under Nebuchadnezzar - to the golden image. And the prophet says about them: He devoured his sons to the demon (Ps. 106:37, etc.); leaving the true God, they created idols in honor of nasty people and dumb animals and called them gods. We do not make idols, nor calves, nor young women, but we serve the living God and His saints, for none of those who love the king dishonors his banners. If icons, as you philosophize, are similar to idols, then the tabernacle that Moses created and the church built by Solomon, in your opinion, are similar to idol churches, and the sacrifices that were made in them for the glory of God are similar to the Hellenic sacrifices that they made to idols, and the ark, in which were the tablets of the covenant, etc., is no different from your chest, in which you keep your household things, and Aaron's rod, which has vegetated, does not differ from your staff, on which you lean, and the golden candlestick, which had seven lamps, does not differ from your candlestick, which you burn in your house. If all these objects, as we said, are identical to each other, then holy icons are like idols. How, under Noah, God could have saved him even without the ark, for all things are possible with God, but he arranged his salvation through a soulless and man-made thing. Likewise, God could have saved the Jews even without the copper serpent from the bite of snakes, but He deigned, according to His ineffable destinies, to deliver them from death through the copper serpent; So now the Lord and our God, through visible holy icons and other divine objects, invisibly arranges salvation for us. For He Himself commanded this and depicted His image on the shroud, which was subsequently taken to Constantinople. Then the holy apostles commanded the Evangelist Luke to paint His most pure image on the icon and worshiped His divine humanity depicted on it. Evangelist Luke also wrote the image of His Most Pure Mother, Who is truly the Mother of God. If you, foolish in your mind, doubt how miracles can be performed through inanimate and man-made objects, then know that everything is possible with God. How, when Moses performed miracles, it was not to him, but to his rod that God imparted the power to perform miracles; God also gave His grace to Elijah’s mantle, and with it Elisha performed terrible signs that he could not perform on his own. The Jews revered the prophetic and patriarchal tombs and brought the bones of Joseph from Egypt. Let us listen to Paul, who speaks about the various gifts of spiritual grace, as it is said in the Holy Scriptures: As I created for the churches of Galatia, so do you also (1 Cor. 16:1). But you, haughty in heart, commit iniquity, and your hands weave iniquity; not understanding the truth, you have gone astray from the womb, and you speak lies. You rushed into the sea of ​​this world, trying to heal the souls of others, but you yourself, being possessed by an illness, do not understand this and demand respect for yourself above others. Guided by the reasoning of your carnal mind, you become fat, but you are deprived of spiritual health, as if you have not kept the commandments of the Lord. A sick eye cannot look at the rays of the sun, and a foolish person cannot speak correctly from the Holy Scripture, for instead of the truth he sees only shadows, due to his depravity. Just as with the loss of health illness takes its place, so when the soul loses the parent of virtues - holy faith, the enemy enters the heart and blinds the eyes of the soul. Just as a deaf asp, when he hears the one who is possessing (spells), puts one ear on the ground and covers the other with his tail, so as not to hear the voice of the one pronouncing the charm, so these foolish ones, because of their disobedience and laziness, and most importantly, because of envy, do not listen to admonition, and then, because of insane shame, they adhere to their evil and destructive teaching. O fools, the property of Satan, the grandchildren of sin, the food of delusion, the darkness of wickedness, the heirs of Gehenna, the wicked oarsmen of the lawbreaker and quick teachers of each other in wickedness! You celebrate wickedly, you reason unpiously, and, instead of glorifying the name of God, you have become the reason that it is blasphemed. Is this your light before men? This is not light, but darkness. Truly, these people are buoyant and unwise. Blind them with their malice; Seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear; their heart is vain and does not allow them to understand the mysteries of God. Your cunnings are not small, but they are weak, although they seem great, fat, with a ruddy and healthy face, for they have no heart, their eyes are sick, their legs cannot walk, their hands are deprived of health, their tongue is quick to scold, ready to swallow, but their lips close, and then they themselves indulge in sleep. The scripture says: If anyone opposes the will of God and the teaching of his holy apostles and the words of our Orthodox Scripture, do not receive him into your house, and do not say to rejoice in him: for if you say to rejoice in him, it is revealed by his evil deeds (2 John 1:10-11).