and the fool will speak foolish things. For being exceedingly ignorant and nonsensical, he did not know at all those Cherubim wrought of gold, which the hierophant Moses, at God's command, had constructed and which the old and lawful tabernacle bore above the ark, which indeed were glorified not only among the Jews, but also the herald of grace 773 clearly calls Cherubim of glory, that is, the glorified ones. And furthermore, also whatever the wisdom of Solomon constructed and was seen by the divine Ezekiel, and if any such thing is recorded and honored in the sacred books, which the wretched and profane one did not shudder to place in the category of idols, choosing rather to reject than to accept the divinely inspired scriptures; from which, then, he would rightly be considered more unbelieving and more ignorant than the Jews, along with those of like mind with him. For they thought and proclaimed things truly worthy of their own abomination, unbelief, and irrationality. 17 For they also openly fight against Christ here, who, taking a bright cloth and impressing upon it his most-luminous and most-beautiful divine form, sent it to Abgar, the ruler of the Edessenes, who had asked in faith. From that time until today, by apostolic tradition and instruction, for the sake of knowledge and memory of what Christ did and suffered for us, just as indeed is also recorded in the holy tablets of the gospels, we reverently depict and venerate, even if the Christ-fighters burst with rage. 18 And indeed, in addition to these things, a tradition and a persuasive account has come down even to us, that the divine evangelist Luke painted an icon of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in addition also his all-pure mo 774 ther, and that the city of the Romans preserves these sacred images. And what need is there to speak of the rest of the things in Jerusalem, as some who were there have related, that they solemnly handle and venerate a great many sacred paintings accurately set up from of old, which have been faithfully and piously preserved until now? Likewise again it is written that Peter and Paul, the chief of the apostles, preaching the mighty works of God in Rome, and the miracles which Christ had performed, first depicted the divine transfiguration and handed it down to the Romans, just as he also appeared to Moses and Elijah in the midst of the holy prophets; which indeed is preserved even until now. 19. How then will the disobedient and ignorant look upon the miracle, sung of and seen to the present day in the church of the Theotokos, in the city called Lydda? which church the apostles built while she was still living in this life. For many have seen that sacred image not made by hands, which is piously venerated and honored, impressed on bright and transparent panels, and having penetrated through the entire depth; which indeed some of the hostile Greeks and Jews, having hastened to scrape it off, 775 were frustrated, failing in their absurd attempt. For the more they scraped the image, the more brightly it shone forth. For the form stood no less in its shape, preserving its appearance and clothing and the other aspects of the sight unerased and unharmed. For it is related that the holy apostles, by a promise of the all-holy Theotokos, raised a church in her name; and when she, at their request, entered to see the church and stood by one of the columns, her image was found on the column; which, as has been said, the Greeks and Jews, though they tried much, were not able to scrape off. 20. That the making and tradition of these things is most ancient, is witnessed, among others, by the divine statue which the woman with the issue of blood erected to Christ the healer beside her house, a most clear monument and an indelible herald of the miracle that happened to her, publicizing to later generations the wonder that was wondrously worked for her; about which also the great teacher among the iconographers, Eusebius, in his Ecclesiastical History, having mentioned the miracles performed by the sacred and divinely-grown herb that grew there, and how it was a remedy against all evils, adds, saying that also the images of the apostles 776 Peter and Paul, and of Christ himself in colored paintings

καὶ ὁ μωρὸς μωρὰ λαλήσει. ἀμαθὴς γὰρ σφόδρα καὶ ληρώδης ὑπάρ χων οὐκ ᾔδει πάντως τὰ χρυσότευκτα ἐκεῖνα Χερουβίμ, ἅπερ ὁ ἱεροφάντης Μωϋσῆς θεοῦ προστεταχότος ἐτεκτήνατο καὶ ἡ παλαιὰ καὶ ἔννομος σκηνὴ καθύπερθεν τῆς κιβωτοῦ ἔφερεν, ἃ δὴ οὐ παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις μόνον δεδόξαστο, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς χάριτος ὁ κῆρυξ Χε 773 ρουβὶμ δόξης ἀποκαλεῖ σαφῶς ἤτοι τὰ δεδοξασμένα. ἔτι γε μὴν καὶ ὅσα ἡ Σολομῶντος κατεσκεύασε σοφία καὶ τῷ θεσπεσίῳ Ἰεζε κιὴλ ὦπται, καὶ εἴ τι τοιοῦτον κατὰ τὰς ἱερὰς βίβλους ἱστόρηται καὶ τετίμηται, ἅπερ οὐ πέφρικεν ὁ ἄθλιος καὶ βέβηλος ἐν εἰδώλων μοίρᾳ θεῖναι, ὡς ἀθετεῖν μᾶλλον ἢ προσίεσθαι τὰς θεοπνεύστους γραφὰς προελόμενος· ἐξ ὧν λοιπὸν καὶ Ἰουδαίων ἀπιστότερος καὶ ἀγνωμονέστερος εἰκότως νομισθείη σὺν τοῖς ὁμόφροσιν αὐτοῦ. ἄξια γὰρ ὡς ἀληθῶς τῆς ἑαυτῶν βδελυρίας ἀπιστίας τε καὶ ἀλο γίας φρονήσαντες καὶ ἐκφωνήσαντες. 17 καὶ γὰρ τῷ Χριστῷ κἀνταῦθα προφανῶς ἀπομάχονται, ὃς λαβὼν ὀθόνην λαμπρὰν καὶ τὸ ὑπέρλαμπρον καὶ ὑπέρκαλον ἐναπομαξάμενος θεῖον εἶδος ἐκπέμπει πιστῶς αἰτήσαντι τῷ τῶν Ἐδεσηνῶν ἡγεμόνι Αὐγάρῳ. ἐξ ἐκείνου δὲ μέχρι καὶ τήμερον ἀποστολικῇ παραδόσει καὶ εἰση γήσει, γνώσεώς τε καὶ μνήμης ἕνεκεν ὧν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἔδρασέ τε καὶ πέπονθε Χριστός, καθὰ δὴ καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἱεραῖς τῶν εὐαγγελίων δέλτοις ἀνιστόρηται, σεβασμίως ἐκτυποῦμεν καὶ προσκυνοῦμεν, κἂν οἱ χριστομάχοι διαρρήγνυνται. 18 καὶ μέντοι πρὸς τούτοις παράδοσις καὶ λόγος ἐχόμενος πειθοῦς καὶ μέχρις ἡμῶν κάτεισι, τὸν θεῖον εὐαγγελιστὴν Λουκᾶν ἐν εἰκόνι διαγράψαι τὸν κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν, πρὸς δὲ καὶ τὴν πανάχραντον αὐτοῦ μη 774 τέρα, καὶ τὰς ἱεροτυπίας ταύτας διαφυλάσσειν τὴν Ῥωμαίων πό λιν. τί δὲ δεῖ λέγειν περὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ὧν ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις, ὡς ἱστόρησάν τινες οἱ αὐτόθι γενόμενοι, ὡς πλεῖστα μέχρι τῆς δεῦρο πιστῶς καὶ εὐλαβῶς ἱερογραφίας ἐκ παλαιοῦ δι' ἀκριβείας ἀνεστη λωμένας σεμνῶς περιέποντες προσκυνοῦσιν; ὡσαύτως δὲ πάλιν ἀναγέγραπται ὅτι Πέτρος καὶ Παῦλος οἱ κορυφαῖοι τῶν ἀποστόλων τὰ μεγαλεῖα τοῦ θεοῦ κηρύττοντες ἐν τῇ Ῥώμῃ, καὶ ἃ πεποίηκεν ὁ Χριστὸς θαύματα, πρῶτον τὴν θείαν μεταμόρφωσιν ἐξεικονί σαντες Ῥωμαίοις παραδεδώκασι, καθὼς καὶ ὤφθη Μωυσῇ καὶ Ἠλίᾳ ἐν μέσῳ τοῖς ἁγίοις προφήταις· ἃ δὴ καὶ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν σώζεται. 19. Πῶς οὖν ἀντιβλέψουσιν οἱ ἀπειθεῖς καὶ ἀγνώμονες πρὸς τὸ μέχρι τοῦ παρόντος ᾀδόμενον καὶ ὁρώμενον ἐν τῷ ναῷ τῆς θεομήτορος θαῦμα, τὸ ἐν τῇ πόλει τῇ καλουμένῃ Λύδδῃ; ὅνπερ ναὸν ἔτι περιούσης κατὰ τὸν τῇδε βίον οἱ ἀπόστολοι ἐδομήσαντο. πολλοὶ γὰρ τεθέανται προσκυνούμενον εὐλαβῶς καὶ τιμώμενον τὸ ἀχειρότευκτον ἐκεῖνο καὶ σεβάσμιον ἀπεικόνισμα, πλαξὶ τετυπω μένον λαμπραῖς καὶ διαυγέσι, καὶ διὰ βάθους κεχωρηκὸς ὅλου· ὃ δὴ καί τινες τῶν δυσμενῶν Ἑλλήνων τε καὶ Ἰουδαίων ἀποξέσαι 775 σπουδάσαντες ἐματαιώθησαν ἀποτυχόντες τῆς ἀτόπου αὐτῶν ἐγ χειρήσεως. ὅσῳ γὰρ αὐτοὶ τὸ ἐκτύπωμα ἔξεον, πλειοτέρως ἐξέ λαμπον. οὐδὲν γὰρ ἧττον ἐπὶ σχήματος ἕστηκεν ἡ μορφή, εἶδός τε καὶ στολὴν καὶ τἆλλα τῆς θέας ἀνεξάλειπτα καὶ ἀλώβητα δια σώζουσα. ἱστορεῖται γὰρ ὅτι οἱ ἅγιοι ἀπόστολοι ὑποσχέσει τῆς πανάγνου θεοτόκου ναὸν ἐπ' ὀνόματι αὐτῆς ἀνήγειραν· καὶ αὐτῆς εἰς θέαν τοῦ ναοῦ τῇ αἰτήσει αὐτῶν εἰσελθούσης καὶ εἰς ἕνα τῶν κιόνων σταθείσης εὑρεθῆναι ἐν τῷ κίονι τὸ ἐκτύπωμα αὐτῆς· ὃ καὶ πολλὰ βιασάμενοι, ὡς εἴρηται, Ἕλληνες καὶ Ἰουδαῖοι οὐκ ἴσχυσαν ἀποξέσαι. 20. Ὅτι δὲ ἀρχαιοτάτη τούτων ἡ ποίησις καὶ παράδοσις, μάρτυς μὲν καὶ πρὸς τοῖς ἄλλοις ὁ θεῖος ἀνδριὰς ὃν ἔστησεν ἡ αἱμόρρους γυνὴ τῷ θεραπευτῇ Χριστῷ παρὰ τῷ ἑαυτῆς οἴκῳ, στήλην ἐναργεστάτην καὶ ἀπαράγραπτον κήρυκα τοῦ εἰς αὐτὴν γεγονότος θαύματος, ταῖς μετέπειτα γενεαῖς τὸ κατ' αὐτὴν θαυ ματουργηθὲν παράδοξον δημοσιεύουσα· περὶ οὗ καὶ ὁ μέγας παρὰ τοῖς εἰκονοτύποις διδάσκαλος Εὐσέβιος ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησιαστικῇ ἱστο ρίᾳ μνημονεύσας τὰ τελούμενα θαύματα παρὰ τῆς ἐκεῖθεν φυο μένης ἱερᾶς καὶ θεοβλάστου πόας, καὶ ὡς ἦν ἅπασιν ἀλεξίκακον ἐπικούρημα, ἐπάγει φάσκων ὅτι καὶ τῶν ἀποστόλων τὰς εἰκόνας 776 Πέτρου καὶ Παύλου καὶ αὐτοῦ δὲ Χριστοῦ διὰ χρωμάτων ἐν γρα φαῖς