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by our letters.” Therefore, with many and so great things having been delivered to the church unwritten and having been preserved until now, why do you split hairs concerning the icons? However, the usages which you bring forward, do not abominate the veneration of our icons, but of the Greeks who deify them. Therefore, one must not do away with our pious practice on account of the absurd usage of the Greeks. Both enchanters and sorcerers exorcise, the church also exorcises the catechumens, but the former do so by invoking demons, while the latter invokes God against demons; Greeks dedicate the images to demons and call them gods, but we to the true God who was incarnate and to the servants and friends of God who drive out hordes of demons. But if you say that the divine and admirable Epiphanius expressly forbade them, first, the text is perhaps an interpolation and spurious, being the work of one man, but having the name of another, which many are accustomed to do. Second, we know that the blessed Athanasius forbade placing the relics of the saints in chests, but rather ordered them to be covered under the earth, wishing to abolish the absurd custom of the Egyptians, who did not hide their own dead under the earth, but placed them on couches and pallets. Perhaps the great Epiphanius, wishing to correct something of this kind, legislated that it was not necessary to make icons, if indeed we grant that the text is his, since his purpose certainly was not to reject them, the church of the same divine Epiphanius, adorned with icons down to our time, is a witness. Third, the exception is not the law for the church, “not even one swallow makes a spring,” as seems right to Gregory the Theologian and to the truth; nor is a single text able to overturn the tradition of the whole church from the ends of the earth to its very ends. 2,16 Not only in writings did the eyewitnesses and ministers of the word hand down the ecclesiastical ordinance, but also in certain unwritten traditions. For from where do we know of the holy place of the skull? From where the tomb of life? Did we not receive it unwritten, son from father? That the Lord was crucified in the place of the skull is written, and that he was buried in a tomb, which Joseph hewed in the rock; but that these are the things now venerated, we know from unwritten tradition, and many other things similar to these. From where the threefold baptism, that is, by three immersions? From where praying towards the east? From where the veneration of the cross? Is it not from unwritten tradition? Wherefore also the divine apostle Paul says: “So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter.” Therefore, with many things having been delivered to the church unwritten and having been preserved until now, why do you split hairs concerning the icons? Manichaeans wrote the gospel according to Thomas; you too write the gospel according to Leo. I do not accept a king who tyrannically seizes the priesthood. Kings did not receive the authority to bind and to loose. I know of king Valens, who was called a Christian and persecuted the orthodox faith, and Zeno and Anastasius, Heraclius and Constantine in Sicily and Bardaniskes, also called Philippicus. I am not persuaded that the church should be ordered by imperial canons, but by patristic traditions, both written and unwritten. For just as the gospel was preached in writing throughout the whole world, so throughout the whole world was it delivered unwritten to depict Christ the incarnate God and the saints, just as also to venerate the cross and to pray standing towards the east. However, the usages which you bring forward, do not abominate the veneration of our icons, but of the Greeks who deify them. Therefore, one must not do away with the pious practice of the church on account of the absurd usage of the Greeks. Both enchanters and sorcerers exorcise, the church exorcises the catechumens, but the former do so by invoking

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δι' ἐπιστολῶν ἡμῶν.» Πολλῶν τοιγαροῦν καὶ τοσούτων ἀγράφως τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ παραδεδομένων καὶ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν πεφυλαγμένων, τί περὶ τὰς εἰκόνας σμικρολογεῖς; Ἃς μέντοι χρήσεις παράγεις, οὐ τῶν παρ' ἡμῖν εἰκόνων βδελύσσονται τὴν προσκύνησιν, ἀλλὰ τῶν ταύτας θεοποιούντων Ἑλλήνων. Οὐ δεῖ τοίνυν διὰ τὴν τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἄτοπον χρῆσιν καὶ τὴν ἡμετέραν εὐσεβῶς γινομένην ἀναιρεῖν. Ἐφορκίζουσιν ἐπαοιδοί τε καὶ γόητες, ἐφορκίζει καὶ τοὺς κατηχουμένους ἡ ἐκκλησία, ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνοι μὲν ἐπικαλούμενοι δαίμονας, αὕτη δὲ θεὸν κατὰ δαιμόνων· δαίμοσι τὰς εἰκόνας ἀνατιθέασιν Ἕλληνες καὶ θεοὺς ταύτας προσαγορεύουσιν, ἡμεῖς δὲ ἀληθεῖ θεῷ σαρκωθέντι καὶ θεοῦ δούλοις καὶ φίλοις δαιμόνων ἀπελαύνουσι στίφη. Εἰ δὲ φὴς τὸν θεῖον καὶ θαυμαστὸν Ἐπιφάνιον διαρρήδην ταύτας ἀπαγορεῦσαι, πρῶτον μὲν τυχὸν παρεγγεγραμμένος καὶ ἐπίπλαστος ὁ λόγος, ἄλλου μὲν ὢν πόνος, ἑτέρου δὲ τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν ἔχων, ὃ πολλοῖς εἴθισται δρᾶν. ∆εύτερον, ἴσμεν τὸν μακάριον Ἀθανάσιον ἀπηγορευκότα τὸ ἐν λάρναξι τιθέναι τὰ τῶν ἁγίων λείψανα, μᾶλλον δὲ προστάττοντα ὑπὸ γῆν ταῦτα καλύπτειν, τὸ ἄτοπον ἔθος τῶν Αἰγυπτίων καταργῆσαι βουλόμενον, οἳ τοὺς ἑαυτῶν νεκροὺς οὐχ ὑπὸ γῆν ἔκρυπτον, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ κλινῶν καὶ σκιμπόδων ἐτίθουν. Τάχα τοιοῦτόν τι καὶ ὁ μέγας Ἐπιφάνιος ἐπιδιορθώσασθαι θέλων, τὸ μὴ χρῆναι ποιεῖν εἰκόνας ἐνομοθέτησεν, εἴ γε καὶ αὐτοῦ δῶμεν εἶναι τὸν λόγον, ἐπεί, ὅτι γε τούτου σκοπὸς ταύτας οὐκ ἀπωθεῖτο, μάρτυς ἡ τοῦ αὐτοῦ θείου Ἐπιφανίου ἐκκλησία εἰκόσι μέχρις ἡμῶν περικεκοσμημένη. Τρίτον, οὐ τὸ σπάνιον νόμος τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ «οὐδὲ μία χελιδὼν ἔαρ ποιεῖ», ὡς καὶ τῷ θεολόγῳ Γρηγορίῳ καὶ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ δοκεῖ· οὐδὲ λόγος εἷς δυνατὸς ὅλης ἐκκλησίας τῆς ἀπὸ γῆς περάτων μέχρι τῶν αὐτῆς περάτων ἀνατρέψαι παράδοσιν. 2,16 Οὐ μόνον δὲ γράμμασι τὸν ἐκκλησιαστικὸν θεσμὸν παρέδωκαν οἱ αὐτόπται καὶ ὑπηρέται τοῦ λόγου, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀγράφοις τισὶ παραδόσεσι. Πόθεν γὰρ οἴδαμεν τὸν κρανίου τόπον τὸν ἅγιον; Πόθεν τὸ μνῆμα τῆς ζωῆς; Οὐ παῖς παρὰ πατρὸς ἀγράφως παραλαβόντες; Τὸ μὲν ἐν τόπῳ κρανίου σταυρωθῆναι τὸν κύρι ον γέγραπται καὶ ταφῆναι ἐν μνημείῳ, ὃ ἐλατόμησεν Ἰωσὴφ ἐν τῇ πέτρᾳ· ὅτι δὲ ταῦτά ἐστι τὰ νῦν προσκυνούμενα, ἐξ ἀγράφου παραδόσεως οἴδαμεν καὶ πλεῖστα τούτοις παρόμοια. Πόθεν τὸ τρίτον βαπτίζειν, τουτέστι διὰ τριῶν καταδύσεων; Πόθεν τὸ κατ' ἀνατολὰς εὔχεσθαι; Πόθεν τὸ προσκυνεῖν σταυρόν; Οὐκ ἐκ τῆς ἀγράφου παραδόσεως; ∆ιὸ καὶ ὁ θεῖος ἀπόστολος Παῦλός φησιν· «Ἄρα οὖν, ἀδελφοί, στήκετε καὶ κρατεῖτε τὰς παραδόσεις, ἃς ἐδιδάχθητε εἴτε διὰ λόγου, εἴτε δι' ἐπιστολῆς ἡμῶν.» Πολλῶν τοιγαροῦν ἀγράφως τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ παραδεδομένων καὶ μέχρι τοῦ νῦν πεφυλαγμένων, τί περὶ τὰς εἰκόνας σμικρολογεῖτε; Μανιχαῖοι συνέγραψαν τὸ κατὰ Θωμᾶν εὐαγγέλιον· γράψατε καὶ ὑμεῖς τὸ κατὰ Λέοντα εὐαγγέλιον. Οὐ δέχομαι βασιλέα τυραννικῶς τὴν ἱερωσύνην ἁρπάζοντα. Οὐ βασιλεῖς ἔλαβον ἐξουσίαν δεσμεῖν καὶ λύειν. Οἶδα Οὐάλεντα βασιλέα χριστιανὸν ὀνομαζόμενον καὶ τὴν ὀρθόδοξον πίστιν διώξαντα, Ζήνωνά τε καὶ Ἀναστάσιον, Ἡράκλειον καὶ Κωνσταντῖνον τὸν ἐν Σικελίᾳ καὶ Βαρδανίσκην τὸν καὶ Φιλιππικόν. Οὐ πείθομαι βασιλικοῖς κανόσι διατάττεσθαι τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, ἀλλὰ πατρικαῖς παραδόσεσιν ἐγγράφοις τε καὶ ἀγράφοις. Ὥσπερ γὰρ ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ κόσμῳ ἐγγράφως ἐκηρύχθη τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, οὕτως ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ κόσμῳ ἀγράφως παρεδόθη τὸ εἰκονίζειν Χριστὸν τὸν σεσαρκωμένον θεὸν καὶ τοὺς ἁγίους, ὥσπερ καὶ προσκυνεῖν τὸν σταυρὸν καὶ κατ' ἀνατολὰς ἑστῶτας προσεύχεσθαι. Ἃς μέντοι προσάγεις χρήσεις, οὐ τῶν παρ' ἡμῖν εἰκόνων βδελύσσονται τὴν προσκύνησιν, ἀλλὰ τῶν ταύτας θεοποιούντων Ἑλλήνων. Οὐ δεῖ τοίνυν διὰ τὴν τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἄτοπον χρῆσιν καὶ τὴν τῆς ἐκκλησίας εὐσεβῶς γινομένην ἀναιρεῖν. Ἐφορκίζουσιν ἐπαοιδοί τε καὶ γόητες, ἐφορκίζει τοὺς κατηχουμένους ἡ ἐκκλησία, ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνοι μὲν ἐπικαλούμενοι