a man-slaying fruit of a seed bitterly kept and sprouted in our generation, I know not whence this terrible condemnation was allotted to the Romans. who was brought into this light by judgments that He who endures them knows, and is nourished and grows up with wicked and destructive habits and deeds. 12. For from an Assyrian lioness and an Armenian leopard a monstrous, composite, and strange form of a tiger 770 grew from a bastard and counterfeit stock, more hideous than Armenian or Assyrian, and though Leo by name, he possessed the rapacity of a lion for his own security, but in no way did he admit its noble spirit, but a chameleon, just as in his appearance, so also in the multiformity of his soul, because of the treacherous and cunning nature of his lineage, from which he boasted of the hidden and unspeakable quality of his perversity and deceit. For he contrived to conceal the dark and fickle inner part of his mind, which was prone to do harm. And somehow it was contrived and practiced by him that his heart should never agree with his lips, so that he would meditate one thing in his mind, but utter another with his mouth. But indeed his life ran aground to such a degree of godlessness and wickedness that his demonic mind and wickedness, though very hard to detect and incomprehensible, became manifest to all. When, therefore, by the permission of God, he took hold of the imperial rule, or rather, tyranny, he poured out all his wrath and deceit against the blameless faith, and he vied in all things with the impious Copronymus before him, and likewise he entrusted his entire life to certain defiled and all-wicked men, licentious and notorious for the shamefulness of their lives and corrupted in soul and body, sorcerers and 771 magicians and deceivers of the people, who had practiced every form of evil and had once and for all denied the Christian worship of God. 13 And indeed he welcomed these men into his house and embraced them, and he submitted to their vain and soul-destroying teachings and initiations, and like a slave of sin he is utterly enslaved, and the wretched man, having been baited by the hook of deceit and lawlessness, is terribly ensnared. For they set before him three promises: the denial of our precise and orthodox faith, the destruction of the divine icons, the persecution of the pious; “and thus,” he says, “you will drive to the height of prosperity, so as to live out the present life for a very long and extended time, if anyone else ever has.” 14. Deceived, then, by these and such destructive deceits, the vain-minded and bestial man, and just as he was hideous and difficult to approach and rather shameful in appearance—for even if his name was leonine, his appearance was apish—he became more base in his manner, more arrogant in his character, more beastly in his mind, untamable in his impulse, unrestrained and irresistible and more irrational and severe and more tyrannical. 15 For the wretched and miserable man, stirred up by the false prophecy and plot of those sinners, so quickly intensifies the war. And first 772 he moves his God-fighting tongue against our sacred dogmas, then he also emulates in this the most impious Copronymus Conon; and having gathered together, like him, a wicked and fraudulent assembly, or rather a Jewish sanhedrin, of which the most accursed man became both a member and president, the abomination of desolation is seen again in the temple of the Lord, and a mouth is opened speaking great things against the glory of the Lord and boasting and vaunting against the divine economy. And so the second Caiaphas, with that Christ-fighting band, after babbling many vain things against the truth, tears down every sacred icon of the church out of hatred for Christ and His servants, since Christ was burdensome to him both when seen in an icon and when brought to memory, as were His friends and servants. 16 Wherefore, also acting foolishly, he babbled that every depiction in an icon was to be rejected by divine scripture and utterly unrecognized. What then might one say to these things? That the words of God's wisdom are unsearchable,

σπόρου κατὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν γενεὰν πικρῶς τηρηθεὶς καὶ παραβλαστήσας ἀνδροφόνος καρπός, οὐκ οἶδ' ὅθεν Ῥωμαίων τοῦτο κατακριθὲν τὸ δεινὸν ἐκεκλήρωτο. ὃς εἰς τόδε τὸ φῶς οἷς οἶδεν ὁ ἀνασχόμενος κρίμασι προαχθεὶς πονηροῖς καὶ ὀλεθρίοις ἐντρέφεται καὶ συναύξεται ἤθεσί τε καὶ πράξεσιν. 12. Ἐκ τῆς Ἀσσυρίων γοῦν λεαίνης καὶ τῆς Ἀρμενίαςπαρδάλεως ἑτεροθαλὲς σύνθετόν τε καὶ ἀλλόκοτον τίγριδος εἶδος 770 ἐκ νόθου καὶ κιβδήλου ἐξέφυ γονῆς, Ἀρμένιον ἢ Ἀσσύριον εἰδεχθεστέρας, καὶ Λέων μὲν τὴν προσηγορίαν, λέοντος δὲ τὸ μὲν ἁρπακτικὸν εἰς τὸ ἀσφαλὲς κεκτημένος, τὸ δὲ ἐλευθέριον οὐδαμῶς προσιέμενος, χαμαιλέων δέ, ὥσπερ οὖν τὸ εἶδος, οὕτως καὶ τῆς ψυχῆς τὸ πολύμορφον, διὰ τὸ τοῦ γένους ὕπουλόν τε καὶ ὕφαλον, ἐξ ὧν ἐμεγαλαύχει τῆς δυστροπίας καὶ τοῦ δόλου τὸ κεκρυμμένον καὶ ἀνεξαγόρευτον. καὶ γὰρ ἐμηχανᾶτο λανθάνειν τὸ ἐνδομυχοῦν τῆς γνώμης σκοτεινὸν καὶ παλίμβολον καὶ πρὸς τὸ βλάπτειν ἐπιρ ρεπές. καί πως ἦν ἐκπεπονημένον αὐτῷ καὶ ἐπιτετηδευμένον μή ποτε συμφωνήσειν καρδίαν τοῖς χείλεσιν, ὡς ἕτερα μὲν μελετᾶν κατὰ νοῦν, ἄλλα δὲ προφέρειν ἐν τῷ στόματι. ἀλλ' ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον γὰρ ἀφιλοθεΐας καὶ πονηρίας ἐξώκειλεν ὁ βίος αὐτοῦ ὥστε καὶ δυσφωρότατον καὶ δυσκατάληπτον αὐτοῦ τὴν δαιμονιώδη γνώμην καὶ πονηρίαν τοῖς πᾶσι γενέσθαι κατάδηλον. ἐπεὶ οὖν τῆς βασι λείου ἀρχῆς, μᾶλλον δὲ τυραννίδος θεοῦ συγχωρήσει λαβόμενος κατὰ τῆς ἀμωμήτου πίστεως ὅλον ἐκχέει τὸν θυμὸν καὶ τὸν δόλον, καὶ ἁμιλλᾶται κατὰ πάντα τὸν πρὸ αὐτοῦ δυσσεβῆ Κοπρώνυμον, καὶ ὡσαύτως μιαροῖς τισὶ καὶ παμπονήροις ἀνθρώποις τὸ πᾶν τῆς ζωῆς καταπιστεύει, ἀσελγέσι τε καὶ ἐπὶ βίου αἰσχρότητι βεβοημέ νοις καὶ κατεφθαρμένοις τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ τὸ σῶμα, γόησι καὶ φαρ 771 μακοῖς καὶ λαοπλάνοις, καὶ πᾶν εἶδος κακίας ἀσκήσασι καὶ ἁπαξ απλῶς τὴν Χριστιανῶν ἠρνημένοις θεοσέβειαν. 13 καὶ δὴ τούτους ἀσπασίως εἰσοικίζεται καὶ περιπτύσσεται, καὶ ὑποκύπτει ταῖς ματαίοις αὐτῶν καὶ ψυχοφθόροις διδαχαῖς καὶ μυήσεσιν, καὶ οἷα τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἀνδράποδον ἐξανδραποδίζεται, καὶ τῷ ἀγκίστρῳ τῆς ἀπάτης καὶ παρανομίας δελεασθεὶς ὁ παράπεστος δεινῶς περι πείρεται. τρία γὰρ αὐτῷ προύθηκαν τὰ ὑπεσχημένα, τῆς ἀκρι βοῦς πίστεως ἡμῶν καὶ ὀρθοδόξου τὴν ἄρνησιν, τῶν θείων εἰκό νων τὴν καθαίρεσιν, τῶν εὐσεβούντων τὴν δίωξιν· "καὶ οὕτως εἰς ἄκρον εὐημερίας ἐλάσεις" φησίν, "ὡς καὶ ἐπὶ πλεῖστον καὶ μήκι στον χρόνον τὴν παροῦσαν ζωήν, εἰ καί τις ἄλλος, διανύσαι." 14. Ταύταις οὖν καὶ ταῖς τοιαύταις ὀλεθρίοις φενακισθεὶς ἀπάταις ὁ ματαιόφρων καὶ κτηνώδης, καὶ καθάπερ ἦν εἰδεχθὴς καὶ δυσέντευκτος καὶ τῇ ἰδέᾳ αἰσχρότερος εἰ γὰρ καὶ λεόντειον τοὔνομα, πιθήκειον τὸ βλεπόμενον, γίνεται φαυλότερος τὸν τρό πον, σοβαρώτερος τὸ ἦθος, θηριωδέστερος τὴν γνώμην, ἀτίθασ σος τὴν ὁρμήν, ἀκάθεκτος καὶ ἀνυπόστατος καὶ ἀλογιστότερός τε καὶ ἐμβριθέστερος καὶ τυραννικώτερος. 15 ἀναπτερωθεὶς γὰρ ὁ δείλαιος καὶ ταλαίπωρος τῇ ψευδομαντείᾳ καὶ ἐπιβουλῇ τῶν ἀλι τηρίων ἐκείνων, οὕτως ἐπανατείνεται ταχὺ τὸν πόλεμον. καὶ πρῶ 772 τον μὲν κινεῖ κατὰ τῶν ἱερῶν δογμάτων ἡμῶν τὴν θεομάχον αὐ τοῦ γλῶσσαν, ἔπειτα δὲ ζηλοῖ κἀνταῦθα τὸν δυσσεβέστατον Κο πρώνυμον Κόνωνα· καὶ συναθροίσας ὁμοίως ἐκείνῳ πονηρόν τε καὶ ἀγυρτῶδες συνακτήριον, μᾶλλον δὲ Ἰουδαϊκὸν συνέδριον, ᾧ καὶ σύνεδρος καὶ πρόεδρος ὁ ἐξάγιστος γενόμενος, ὁρᾶται πάλιν ἐν ναῷ κυρίου τὸ βδέλυγμα τῆς ἐρημώσεως, καὶ ἀνοίγεται στόμα λαλοῦν μεγάλα κατὰ τῆς δόξης κυρίου καὶ κατὰ τῆς θείας οἰκονο μίας μεγαλορρημονοῦν καὶ ἀλαζονευόμενον. καὶ οὕτως ὁ δεύτερος Καϊάφας μετὰ τῆς χριστομάχου σπείρας ἐκείνης πολλὰ καὶ μάταια κατὰ τῆς ἀληθείας κενολογήσας καθαιρεῖ πᾶσαν ἱερὰν τῆς ἐκκλη σίας ἀναστήλωσιν μίσει τῷ εἰς Χριστὸν καὶ τοὺς αὐτοῦ θεράπον τας, ἐπειδὴ βαρὺς ἦν αὐτῷ Χριστὸς καὶ ἐν εἰκόνι βλεπόμενος καὶ ἐπὶ μνήμης φερόμενος, καὶ οἱ τούτου φίλοι τε καὶ δοῦλοι. 16 διὸ δὴ καὶ ἀνοηταίνων κατεφλυάρει πᾶσαν εἰκονικὴν ἀναστήλωσιν ἀπόβλητον εἶναι τῇ θείᾳ γραφῇ καὶ λίαν ἀγνώριστον. τί οὖν πρὸς ταῦτα φήσειέν τις; ὅτι σοφίας θεοῦ ἀδιεξέταστοι λόγοι,