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and to venerate with eyes and lips and heart, as an image of God incarnate, or of his mother, or of the saints who are partakers of the sufferings and glory of Christ, and conquerors and destroyers of the devil and the demons and their error, but if anyone should dare to make an image of the immaterial and incorporeal and invisible and unfigured and uncolored divinity, we reject it as false; and if anyone for the glory and worship and honor of the devil or the demons, we spit upon it and consume it with fire. And if anyone deifies an image of men or birds or reptiles or any other creature, we anathematize him. For just as the holy fathers tore down the shrines and temples of the demons and in their places raised up temples in the name of saints, and we revere these, so also they tore down the images of the demons and in their place raised up images of Christ and the Theotokos and the saints. And in the old covenant, Israel neither raised up temples in the name of men, nor was the memorial of a man celebrated—for the nature of men was still under a curse, and death was condemnation, for which reason it was mourned, and the body of the deceased was considered unclean, as was he who touched it—, but now, since the divinity has been mingled with our nature like some life-giving and saving medicine, our nature has been glorified and has been transformed into incorruptibility. Therefore, the death of the saints is celebrated, and temples are raised to them, and images are depicted. Let every man therefore know, that he who attempts to destroy the image made out of divine longing and zeal for the glory and remembrance of Christ or of his mother the holy Theotokos or of any of the saints, and for the shaming of the devil and his defeat and that of his demons, and who does not venerate and honor and greet it as a precious image and not as God, is an enemy of Christ and of the holy Theotokos and of the saints, and an avenger of the devil and his demons, showing by his deed his grief that God and his saints are honored and glorified, while the devil is put to shame; for the image is a triumph and a manifestation and a monument in memory of the victory of those who have fought valiantly and excelled, and of the shame of those who have been defeated and cast down. 3,9a Have you seen how the purpose of scripture has been revealed to those who search with understanding? For it is necessary to know, beloved, that in every matter the truth is sought and the falsehood and the purpose of the one acting, whether it is good or evil. For in the Gospel, God and angel and man and earth and water and fire and air and sun and moon and stars and light and darkness and Satan and demons and serpents and scorpions and life and death and Hades and virtues and vices and all things both good and evil are written. But nevertheless, since the things said about them are true and the purpose is for the glory of God and our salvation, and the glory of the saints glorified by him, but the shame of the devil and his demons, we venerate and embrace and kiss and greet with eyes and lips and heart, likewise also all the Old and New Testament and the words of the holy and chosen fathers, but the shameful and abominable and unclean writing of the accursed Manichaeans, containing the same names and devised for the glory of the devil and his demons and the destruction of souls, we spit upon and reject. Thus also in the matter of images one must investigate both the truth and the purpose of those who make them, and if they are true and right and for the glory of God and his saints, and for zeal for virtue and avoidance of vice and the salvation of souls, to accept and honor them as images and representations and likenesses and books for the illiterate and a reminder and

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καὶ ὀφθαλμοῖς καὶ χείλεσι καὶ καρδίᾳ ἀσπάζεσθαι ὡς σεσαρκωμένου θεοῦ ὁμοίωμα ἢ τῆς τούτου μητρὸς ἢ τῶν ἁγίων τῶν κοινωνῶν τῶν παθημάτων καὶ τῆς δόξης τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ νικητῶν καὶ καθαιρετῶν τοῦ διαβόλου καὶ τῶν δαιμόνων καὶ τῆς πλάνης αὐτῶν, εἰ δὲ θεότητος τῆς ἀύλου καὶ ἀσωμάτου καὶ ἀοράτου καὶ ἀσχηματίστου καὶ ἀχρωματίστου εἰκόνα τις τολμήσει ποιῆσαι, ὡς ψευδῆ ἀποβαλλόμεθα· καὶ ἐάν τις ἐπὶ δόξῃ καὶ προσκυνήσει καὶ τιμῇ τοῦ διαβόλου ἢ τῶν δαιμόνων, καταπτύομεν καὶ πυρὶ ἀναλίσκομεν. Καὶ ἐάν τις ἀνθρώπων ἢ πετεινῶν ἢ ἑρπετῶν ἢ ἄλλης κτίσεως θεοποιήσῃ εἰκόνα, ἀναθεματίζομεν τοῦτον. Ὥσπερ γὰρ τὰ ἱερὰ καὶ τοὺς ναοὺς τῶν δαιμόνων καθεῖλον οἱ ἅγιοι πατέρες καὶ ἐν τοῖς αὐτῶν τόποις ναοὺς ἐπ' ὀνόματι ἁγίων ἤγειραν, καὶ τούτους σέβομεν, οὕτως καὶ τὰς εἰκόνας τῶν δαιμόνων καθεῖλον καὶ ἀντ' ἐκείνων ἤγειραν εἰκόνας Χριστοῦ καὶ τῆς θεοτόκου καὶ τῶν ἁγίων. Καὶ ἐπὶ μὲν τῆς παλαιᾶς οὔτε ναοὺς ἐπ' ὀνόματι ἀνθρώπων ἤγειρεν ὁ Ἰσραὴλ οὔτε μνημόσυνον ἀνθρώπου ἑωρτάζετο-ἔτι γὰρ ὑπὸ κατάραν ἦν ἡ τῶν ἀνθρώπων φύσις καὶ ὁ θάνατος κατάκρισις ἦν, διὸ καὶ ἐπενθεῖτο, καὶ τὸ σῶμα τοῦ τεθνηκότος ἀκάθαρτον ἐλογίζετο καὶ ὁ ἁπτόμενος αὐτοῦ -, νῦν δέ, ἀφ' οὗ ἡ θεότης τῇ ἡμετέρᾳ φύσει συνεκράθη οἷόν τι ζωοποιὸν καὶ σωτήριον φάρμακον, ἐδοξάσθη ἡ φύσις ἡμῶν καὶ πρὸς ἀφθαρσίαν μετεστοιχειώθη. ∆ιὸ καὶ ὁ τῶν ἁγίων θάνατος ἑορτάζεται καὶ ναοὶ αὐτοῖς ἐγείρονται καὶ εἰκόνες ἀναγράφονται. Γινωσκέτω οὖν πᾶς ἄνθρωπος, ὡς ὁ τὴν εἰκόνα τὴν πρὸς δόξαν καὶ ὑπόμνησιν τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἢ τῆς τούτου μητρὸς τῆς ἁγίας θεοτόκου ἤ τινος τῶν ἁγίων καὶ πρὸς αἰσχύνην τοῦ διαβόλου καὶ τῆς ἥττης αὐτοῦ καὶ τῶν δαιμόνων αὐτοῦ ἐκ θείου πόθου καὶ ζήλου γενομένην καταλύειν ἐπιχειρῶν καὶ μὴ προσκυνῶν καὶ τιμῶν καὶ ἀσπαζόμενος ὡς εἰκόνα τιμίαν καὶ οὐχ ὡς θεὸν ἐχθρός ἐστι τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ τῆς ἁγίας θεοτόκου καὶ τῶν ἁγίων καὶ ἐκδικητὴς τοῦ διαβόλου καὶ τῶν δαιμόνων αὐτοῦ, ἔργῳ ἐπιδεικνύμενος τὴν λύπην, ὅτι ὁ θεὸς καὶ οἱ ἅγιοι αὐτοῦ τιμῶνται καὶ δοξάζονται, ὁ δὲ διάβολος καταισχύνεται· ἡ γὰρ εἰκὼν θρίαμβός ἐστι καὶ φανέρωσις καὶ στηλογραφία εἰς μνήμην τῆς νίκης τῶν ἀριστευσάντων καὶ διαπρεψάντων καὶ τῆς αἰσχύνης τῶν ἡττηθέντων καὶ καταβληθέντων. 3,9α Εἶδες, πῶς ἀνεφάνη ὁ σκοπὸς τῆς γραφῆς τοῖς συνετῶς ἐρευνῶσι· δεῖ γὰρ γινώσκειν, ἀγαπητοί, ὅτι ἐν παντὶ πράγματι ἡ ἀλήθεια ζητεῖται καὶ τὸ ψεῦδος καὶ ὁ σκοπὸς τοῦ ποιοῦντος, εἰ καλός ἐστιν ἢ κακός. Ἐν μὲν γὰρ τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ καὶ θεὸς καὶ ἄγγελος καὶ ἄνθρωπος καὶ γῆ καὶ ὕδωρ καὶ πῦρ καὶ ἀὴρ καὶ ἥλιος καὶ σελήνη καὶ ἄστρα καὶ φῶς καὶ σκότος καὶ σατανᾶς καὶ δαίμονες καὶ ὄφεις καὶ σκορπίοι καὶ ζωὴ καὶ θάνατος καὶ ᾅδης καὶ ἀρεταὶ καὶ κακίαι καὶ πάντα καλά τε καὶ κακά εἰσιν γεγραμμένα. Ἀλλ' ὅμως ἐπειδὴ τὰ περὶ αὐτῶν λεγόμενα ἀληθῆ εἰσι καὶ ὁ σκοπὸς πρὸς δόξαν θεοῦ ἐστι καὶ σωτηρίαν ἡμῶν καὶ δόξα μὲν τῶν ὑπ' αὐτοῦ δοξαζομένων ἁγίων, αἰσχύνη δὲ τοῦ διαβόλου καὶ τῶν δαιμόνων αὐτοῦ, προσκυνοῦμεν καὶ περιπτυσσόμεθα καὶ καταφιλοῦμεν καὶ ὀφθαλμοῖς καὶ χείλεσι καὶ καρδίᾳ ἀσπαζόμεθα, ὁμοίως καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν παλαιὰν καὶ καινὴν διαθήκην τούς τε λόγους τῶν ἁγίων καὶ ἐκκρίτων πατέρων, τὴν δὲ αἰσχρὰν καὶ μυσαρὰν καὶ ἀκάθαρτον γραφὴν τῶν καταράτων Μανιχαίων τὰ αὐτὰ ὀνόματα περιέχουσαν καὶ πρὸς δόξαν τοῦ διαβόλου καὶ τῶν δαιμόνων αὐτοῦ καὶ ἀπώλειαν ψυχῶν ἐφευρεθεῖσαν ἀποπτύομεν καὶ ἀποβαλλόμεθα. Οὕτως καὶ ἐν τῷ πράγματι τῶν εἰκόνων χρὴ ἐρευνᾶν τήν τε ἀλήθειαν καὶ τὸν σκοπὸν τῶν ποιούντων καί, εἰ μὲν ἀληθὴς καὶ ὀρθὸς καὶ πρὸς δόξαν θεοῦ καὶ τῶν ἁγίων αὐτοῦ καὶ πρὸς ζῆλον ἀρετῆς καὶ ἀποφυγὴν κακίας καὶ σωτηρίαν ψυχῶν γίνονται, ἀποδέχεσθαι καὶ τιμᾶν ὡς εἰκόνας καὶ μιμήματα καὶ ὁμοιώματα καὶ βίβλους τῶν ἀγραμμάτων καὶ ὑπόμνησιν καὶ