8

the baptism in the Jordan, the transfiguration on Tabor, the passions that are the cause of impassibility, the miracles, the symbols of his divine nature and energy, accomplished through the energy of the flesh, the savior's saving burial, the resurrection, the ascension into heaven. Write all these things both in word and in colors, in books and on panels. 1,9 But since the discourse is concerning the icon and veneration, come let us clarify the teaching concerning these things. An icon, then, is a likeness characterizing the prototype, while also having some difference from it; for the icon is not made like the archetype in all respects. Therefore, the Son is a living, natural, and unchangeable icon of the invisible God, bearing the whole Father in himself, having identity with him in all things, differing only in being caused. For the Father is the natural cause, and the Son is the caused; for the Father is not from the Son, but the Son is from the Father. For from Him, even if not after Him, He has His being, which is the Father who begot Him. And there are also in God images and paradigms of the things that will be brought into being by him, that is, his pre-eternal and ever-unchanging counsel. For the divine is unchangeable in all things, and in him there is no variation or shadow of turning. These images and paradigms Saint Dionysius, the great one who with God considered the things of God, calls predestinations. For in his counsel were characterized and imaged all the things predestined by him and that would come to be without fail before their creation, just as, if someone wished to build a house, he first forms and images the design in his mind. Then again, there are images of things invisible and formless, which are given bodily form for a dim understanding. For indeed the divine scripture invests God and angels with forms, and teaching the reason, the same divine man says that for the types of the untyped and shapes of the shapeless to be fittingly set forth, one might say that the cause is not only our own analogy, which is unable to rise immediately to spiritual contemplations and is in need of its own and connatural means of ascent. If, therefore, the divine Word, providing for our analogy, everywhere supplies us with the means of ascent and invests simple and formless things with certain types, how would it not depict things that are formed with shapes according to their own nature and are longed for, but cannot be seen because they are not present? For through sense perception a certain impression is formed in the front ventricle of the brain and is thus transmitted to the faculty of judgment and treasured up in the memory. For the God-inspired Gregory also says that the mind, though striving greatly, is completely unable to escape from bodily things; but also "the invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made." For we see images in created things, showing us dimly the divine manifestations; as when we say the holy, super-essential Trinity is imaged by the sun and light and ray; or by a gushing spring and the water sourced from it and its flow; or by our mind and word and spirit; or by a rose plant and its flower and its fragrance. Again, an image is spoken of as enigmatically foreshadowing future things, as the ark prefigured the holy virgin and Theotokos, and the rod and the pot of manna, and as the serpent prefigured the one who abolished the bite of the arch-evil serpent through the cross, and the sea, the water and the cloud prefigured the Spirit of baptism. Again, an image is spoken of as being of past events, either in memory of some miracle or for honor or for shame, or of virtue or of vice, for the future benefit of those who behold them, so that we might flee evil things and emulate virtues. And this is twofold: both through the word written in books, as God engraved the law on the tablets and commanded the lives of God-loving men to be written down, and through sensible sight, as he commanded the pot of manna and the rod to be placed in the ark for

8

τὴν ἐν Ἰορδάνῃ βάπτισιν, τὴν ἐν Θαβὼρ μεταμόρφωσιν, τὰ πάθη τὰ τῆς ἀπαθείας πρόξενα, τὰ θαύματα, τὰ τῆς θείας αὐτοῦ φύσεως καὶ ἐνεργείας σύμβολα δι' ἐνεργείας σαρκὸς ἀποτελούμενα, τοῦ σωτῆρος τὴν σωτήριον ταφήν, τὴν ἀνάστασιν, τὴν εἰς οὐρανοὺς ἄνοδον. Πάντα γράφε καὶ λόγῳ καὶ χρώμασιν ἔν τε βίβλοις καὶ πίναξιν. 1,9 Ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ περὶ εἰκόνος ὁ λόγος καὶ προσκυνήσεως, φέρε τὸν περὶ τούτων λόγον διευκρινήσωμεν. Εἰκὼν μὲν οὖν ἐστιν ὁμοίωμα χαρακτηρίζον τὸ πρωτότυπον μετὰ τοῦ καί τινα διαφορὰν ἔχειν πρὸς αὐτό· οὐ γὰρ κατὰ πάντα ἡ εἰκὼν ὁμοιοῦται πρὸς τὸ ἀρχέτυπον. Εἰκὼν τοίνυν ζῶσα, φυσικὴ καὶ ἀπαράλλακτος τοῦ ἀοράτου θεοῦ ὁ υἱὸς ὅλον ἐν ἑαυτῷ φέρων τὸν πατέρα, κατὰ πάντα ἔχων τὴν πρὸς αὐτὸν ταυτότητα, μόνῳ δὲ διαφέρων τῷ αἰτιατῷ. Αἴτιον μὲν γὰρ φυσικὸν ὁ πατήρ, αἰτιατὸν δὲ ὁ υἱός· οὐ γὰρ πατὴρ ἐξ υἱοῦ, ἀλλὰ υἱὸς ἐκ πατρός. Ἐξ αὐτοῦ γάρ, εἰ καὶ μὴ μετ' αὐτὸν ἔχει τὸ εἶναι, ὅπερ ἐστὶν ὁ γεννήσας πατήρ. Εἰσὶ δὲ καὶ ἐν τῷ θεῷ εἰκόνες καὶ παραδείγματα τῶν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ἐσομένων, τουτέστιν ἡ βουλὴ αὐτοῦ ἡ προαιώνιος καὶ ἀεὶ ὡσαύτως ἔχουσα. Ἄτρεπτον γὰρ τὸ θεῖον κατὰ πάντα, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν αὐτῷ μεταβολὴ ἢ τροπῆς ἀποσκίασμα. Ταύτας τὰς εἰκόνας καὶ τὰ παραδείγματα προορισμούς φησιν ὁ ἅγιος ∆ιονύσιος ὁ πολὺς τὰ θεῖα καὶ μετὰ θεοῦ τὰ περὶ θεοῦ διασκεψάμενος. Ἐν γὰρ τῇ βουλῇ αὐτοῦ ἐχαρακτηρίζετο καὶ εἰκονίζετο πάντα τὰ ὑπ' αὐτοῦ προωρισμένα καὶ ἀπαραβάτως ἐσόμενα πρὶν γενέσεως αὐτῶν, ὥσπερ, εἴ τις βούλοιτο οἰκοδομῆσαι οἶκον, ἀνατυποῖ καὶ εἰκονίζει πρῶτον τὸ σχῆμα κατὰ διάνοιαν. Εἶτα πάλιν εἰκόνες εἰσὶ τῶν ἀοράτων καὶ ἀτυπώτων, σωματικῶς τυπουμένων πρὸς ἀμυδρὰν κατανόησιν. Καὶ γὰρ ἡ θεία γραφὴ τύπους θεῷ καὶ ἀγγέλοις περιτίθησι καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν διδάσκων ὁ αὐτὸς θεῖος ἀνήρ φησιν, ὅτι μὲν γὰρ εἰκότως προ βέβληνται τῶν ἀτυπώτων οἱ τύποι καὶ τὰ σχήματα τῶν ἀσχηματίστων, οὐ μόνην αἰτίαν φαίη τις εἶναι τὴν καθ' ἡμᾶς ἀναλογίαν ἀδυνατοῦσαν ἀμέσως ἐπὶ τὰς νοητὰς ἀνατείνεσθαι θεωρίας καὶ δεομένην οἰκείων καὶ συμφυῶν ἀναγωγῶν. Εἰ τοίνυν τῆς ἡμῶν προνοῶν ἀναλογίας ὁ θεῖος λόγος πάντοθεν τὸ ἀνατατικὸν ἡμῖν ποριζόμενος καὶ τοῖς ἁπλοῖς καὶ ἀτυπώτοις τύπους τινὰς περιτίθησι, πῶς μὴ εἰκονίσει τὰ σχήμασι μεμορφωμένα κατὰ τὴν οἰκείαν φύσιν καὶ ποθούμενα μέν, διὰ δὲ τὸ μὴ παρεῖναι ὁρᾶσθαι μὴ δυνάμενα; ∆ιὰ γὰρ τῆς αἰσθήσεως φαντασία τις συνίσταται ἐν τῇ ἐμπροσθίῳ κοιλίᾳ τοῦ ἐγκεφάλου καὶ οὕτω τῷ κριτικῷ παραπέμπεται καὶ τῇ μνήμῃ ἐνθησαυρίζεται. Φησὶ γοῦν καὶ ὁ θεορρήμων Γρηγόριος, ὅτι πολλὰ κάμνων ὁ νοῦς ἐκβῆναι τὰ σωματικὰ πάντη ἀδυνατεῖ· ἀλλὰ καὶ «τὰ ἀόρατα τοῦ θεοῦ ἀπὸ κτίσεως κόσμου τοῖς ποιήμασι νοούμενα καθορᾶται.» Ὁρῶμεν γὰρ εἰκόνας ἐν τοῖς κτίσμασι μηνυούσας ἡμῖν ἀμυδρῶς τὰς θείας ἐμφάσεις· ὡς ὅτε λέγομεν τὴν ἁγίαν τριάδα, τὴν ὑπεράρχιον, εἰκονίζεσθαι δι' ἡλίου καὶ φωτὸς καὶ ἀκτῖνος· ἢ πηγῆς ἀναβλυζούσης καὶ πηγαζομένου νάματος καὶ προχοῆς· ἢ νοῦ καὶ λόγου καὶ πνεύματος τοῦ καθ' ἡμᾶς· ἢ ῥόδου φυτοῦ καὶ ἄνθους καὶ εὐωδίας. Πάλιν εἰκὼν λέγεται τῶν ἐσομένων αἰνιγματωδῶς σκιαγραφοῦσα τὰ μέλλοντα, ὡς ἡ κιβωτὸς τὴν ἁγίαν παρθένον καὶ θεοτόκον καὶ ἡ ῥάβδος καὶ ἡ στάμνος, καὶ ὡς ὁ ὄφις τὸν τὸ δῆγμα διὰ σταυροῦ καταργήσαντα τοῦ ἀρχεκάκου ὄφεως, ἥ τε θάλασσα, τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ ἡ νεφέλη τὸ τοῦ βαπτίσματος πνεῦμα. Πάλιν εἰκὼν λέγεται τῶν γεγονότων ἢ κατά τινος θαύματος μνήμην ἢ τιμῆς ἢ αἰσχύνης ἢ ἀρετῆς ἢ κακίας πρὸς τὴν εἰς ὕστερον τῶν θεωμένων ὠφέλειαν, ὡς ἂν τὰ μὲν κακὰ φεύγωμεν, τὰς δὲ ἀρετὰς ζηλώσωμεν. ∆ιπλῆ δὲ αὕτη διά τε λόγου ταῖς βίβλοις ἐγγραφομένου, ὡς ὁ θεὸς τὸν νόμον ταῖς πλαξὶν ἐνεκόλαψε καὶ τοὺς τῶν θεοφιλῶν ἀνδρῶν βίους ἀναγράπτους γενέσθαι προσέταξε, καὶ διὰ θεωρίας αἰσθητῆς, ὡς τὴν στάμνον καὶ τὴν ῥάβδον ἐν τῇ κιβωτῷ τεθῆναι προσέταξεν εἰς