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demons, but this one God against demons. Greeks sacrificed to demons, but Israel also offered to God both blood and the smell of burnt offerings; the church also offers to God an unbloody sacrifice. Greeks dedicated images to demons, but Israel also deified images; for they said: “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” But we dedicate images to the true incarnate God and to the servants and friends of God who drive away hordes of demons. But if you say that the blessed Epiphanius clearly forbade our images, know that the text is spurious, of someone else who used the name of the divine Epiphanius, as many such things are wont to happen. For the father does not fight with his fellow fathers; for all have become partakers of one Holy Spirit; and his church is a witness, being adorned with images, until the savage and fierce Leo roared and threw Christ's flock into confusion, attempting to make the people of God drink a muddy subversion. 1,26 Accept, therefore, the swarm of scriptural and patristic usages, that, even if Scripture says: "The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men's hands," yet it does not forbid worshiping inanimate things or the works of hands, but the images of demons. That the prophets worshiped angels and men and kings and the impious, and a staff, has been said; and David also says: “And worship at His footstool.” But Isaiah, on behalf of God, says: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.” And it is clear to everyone, surely, that heaven and earth are created things. And Moses and Aaron, with all the people, worshiped man-made things. For Paul, the golden cicada of the church, says in the Epistle to the Hebrews: “But Christ, having come as a high priest of the good things to come, through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation,” and again, “for Christ did not enter into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself.” Therefore the former holy things, both the tabernacle and all the things in it, were man-made; and that they were worshiped, no one will deny. 2,19 If I worship and venerate the cross and the lance and the reed and the sponge, by which the deicidal Jews insulted and killed my Lord, as causes of salvation, shall I not worship the images made by the faithful for a good purpose for the glory and remembrance of Christ’s sufferings? If I worship an image of the cross made of any material, shall I not worship the image of Him who was crucified and showed the cross to be salvific? That I do not worship the matter is clear; for when the form of the cross has been destroyed, if it happens to have been made of wood, I consign the wood to the fire, and likewise with images. That the invention of images and their veneration is not new, but an ancient tradition of the church, accept the swarm of scriptural and patristic usages. The Lord in the holy Gospel according to Matthew says these things, blessing his own disciples and with them all who walk by their rule and follow in their footsteps: “But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly I say to you, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” Therefore we also long to see, as it is possible to see; “for we see as in a mirror and in a riddle” and in the image, and we are blessed. God Himself first made an image and showed images; for He made man in the image of God. And Abraham and Moses and Isaiah and all the prophets saw images of God and not the very substance of God. The bush was an image of the Theotokos, and as Moses was about to approach it, God said: “Take off the sandal from your feet; for the ground on which you are standing is holy ground.”

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δαίμονας, αὕτη δὲ θεὸν κατὰ δαιμόνων. Ἔθυον δαίμοσιν Ἕλληνες, ἀλλὰ καὶ θεῷ ὁ Ἰσραὴλ καὶ αἵματα καὶ κνίσσας προσέφερον· θύει καὶ ἡ ἐκκλησία θεῷ θυσίαν ἀναίμακτον. ∆αίμοσι τὰς εἰκόνας ἀνετίθουν Ἕλληνες, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ Ἰσραὴλ ἐθεοποίησε τὰς εἰκόνας· ἔλεγον γάρ· «Οὗτοι οἱ θεοί σου, Ἰσραήλ, οἱ ἀναγαγόντες σε ἐκ τῆς Αἰγύπτου.» Ἡμεῖς δὲ ἀληθεῖ θεῷ σαρκωθέντι καὶ θεοῦ δούλοις καὶ φίλοις δαιμόνων ἀπελαύνουσι στίφη εἰκόνας ἀνατιθέαμεν. Εἰ δὲ λέγεις τὸν μακάριον Ἐπιφάνιον τρανῶς τὰς παρ' ἡμῖν ἀπαγορεῦσαι εἰκόνας, γνῶθι, ὡς ἐπίπλαστος ὁ λόγος ἄλλου τινὸς τῷ τοῦ θείου Ἐπιφανίου χρησαμένου ὀνόματι, οἷα πολλὰ συμβαίνει γίνεσθαι. Οὐ γὰρ τοῖς συμπατράσιν ὁ πατὴρ μάχεται· ἑνὸς γὰρ ἁγίου πνεύματος μέτοχοι πάντες γεγόνασι· καὶ μάρτυς ἡ αὐτοῦ ἐκκλησία εἰ κόσι καλλωπιζομένη, ἕως οὗ ὁ ἄγριος καὶ ἀνήμερος Λέων ἔβρυξεν καὶ τὴν Χριστοῦ διετάραξε ποίμνην ποτίσαι τὸν λαὸν τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπιχειρήσας ἀνατροπὴν θολεράν. 1,26 ∆έχου τοίνυν τῶν γραφικῶν καὶ πατρικῶν χρήσεων τὸν ἑσμόν, ὅτι, εἰ καὶ λέγει ἡ γραφή· «Τὰ εἴδωλα τῶν ἐθνῶν ἀργύριον καὶ χρυσίον, ἔργα χειρῶν ἀνθρώπων», ἀλλ' οὖν οὐ τὸ μὴ προσκυνεῖν ἀψύχοις ἢ ἔργοις χειρῶν κωλύει, ἀλλὰ ταῖς δαιμόνων εἰκόσιν. Ὅτι μὲν οὖν ἀγγέλοις καὶ ἀνθρώποις καὶ βασιλεῦσι καὶ ἀσεβέσι προσεκύνησαν οἱ προφῆται καὶ ῥάβδῳ, εἴρηται· λέγει δὲ καὶ ∆αυίδ· «Καὶ προσκυνεῖτε τῷ ὑποποδίῳ τῶν ποδῶν αὐτοῦ.» Ἡσαΐας δὲ ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ θεοῦ· «Ὁ οὐρανός μοι θρόνος», φησίν, «ἡ δὲ γῆ ὑποπόδιον τῶν ποδῶν μου.» Οὐρανὸς δὲ καὶ γῆ παντί που δῆλον, ὅτι κτίσματα. Καὶ Μωσῆς δὲ καὶ Ἀαρὼν σὺν παντὶ τῷ λαῷ χειροποιήτοις προσεκύνησαν. Φησὶ γοῦν Παῦλος ὁ χρυσοῦς τέττιξ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἐν τῇ πρὸς Ἑβραίους ἐπιστολῇ· «Χριστὸς δὲ παραγενόμενος ἀρχιερεὺς τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν διὰ τῆς μείζονος καὶ τελειοτέρας σκηνῆς οὐ χειροποιήτου, τουτέστιν οὐ ταύτης τῆς κτίσεως», καὶ πάλιν «οὐ γὰρ εἰς χειροποίητα εἰσῆλθεν ἅγια ὁ Χριστός, ἀντίτυπα τῶν ἀληθινῶν, ἀλλ' εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν.» Ὥστε τὰ πρότερα ἅγια, ἥ τε σκηνὴ καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ, χειροποίητα ἦν· καὶ ὅτι προσεκυνεῖτο, οὐδεὶς ἀντερεῖ. 2,19 Εἰ σταυρὸν καὶ λόγχην καὶ κάλαμον καὶ σπόγγον, δι' ὧν οἱ θεοκτόνοι Ἰουδαῖοι τὸν κύριόν μου ἐνύβρισαν καὶ ἀπέκτειναν, ὡς αἴτια σωτηρίας προσκυνῶ καὶ σέβω, τὰς ἐπὶ δόξῃ καὶ μνήμῃ τῶν τοῦ Χριστοῦ παθημάτων ἀγαθῷ σκοπῷ ὑπὸ τῶν πιστῶν κατασκευαζομένας εἰκόνας οὐ προσκυνήσω; Εἰ σταυροῦ εἰκόνα ἐξ οἱασοῦν ὕλης κατασκευασθεῖσαν προσκυνῶ, τοῦ σταυρωθέντος καὶ τὸν σταυρὸν σωτήριον δείξαντος τὴν εἰκόνα οὐ προσκυνήσω; Ὅτι δὲ οὐ τῇ ὕλῃ προσκυνῶ, δῆλον· καταλυθέντος γὰρ τοῦ ἐκτυπώματος τοῦ σταυροῦ, εἰ τύχοι, ἐκ ξύλου κατεσκευασμένου, πυρὶ τὸ ξύλον παραδίδωμι, ὁμοίως καὶ τῶν εἰκόνων. Ὅτι δὲ οὐ νέον τὸ τῶν εἰκόνων ἐφεύρημα καὶ ἡ τούτων προσκύνησις, ἀλλ' ἀρχαία τῆς ἐκκλησίας παράδοσις, δέχου τῶν γραφικῶν καὶ πατρικῶν χρήσεων τὸν ἑσμόν. Ὁ κύριος ἐν τῷ κατὰ Ματθαῖον ἱερῷ εὐαγγελίῳ τάδε φησὶ τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ μαθητὰς μακαρίζων καὶ σὺν αὐτοῖς πάντας τοὺς τῷ κανόνι αὐτῶν στοιχοῦντας καὶ τοῖς ἴχνεσιν αὐτῶν ἐπακολουθοῦντας· «Ὑμῶν δὲ μακάριοι οἱ ὀφθαλμοί, ὅτι βλέπουσι, καὶ τὰ ὦτα ὑμῶν, ὅτι ἀκούουσιν. Ἀμὴν γὰρ λέγω ὑμῖν, ὅτι πολλοὶ προφῆται καὶ δίκαιοι ἐπεθύμησαν ἰδεῖν, ἃ βλέπετε, καὶ οὐκ εἶδον, καὶ ἀκοῦσαι, ἃ ἀκούετε, καὶ οὐκ ἤκουσαν.» Ἐπιποθοῦμεν οὖν καὶ ἡμεῖς ἰδεῖν, ὡς ἰδεῖν δυνατόν· «βλέπομεν γὰρ ὡς ἐν ἐσόπτρῳ καὶ ἐν αἰνίγματι» καὶ ἐν τῇ εἰκόνι καὶ μακαριζόμεθα. Αὐτὸς ὁ θεὸς πρῶτος ἐποίησεν εἰκόνα καὶ ἔδειξεν εἰκόνας· τὸν μὲν γὰρ ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα θεοῦ ἐποίησε. Καὶ Ἀβραὰμ δὲ καὶ Μωσῆς καὶ Ἡσαΐας καὶ πάντες οἱ προφῆται εἰκόνας εἶδον θεοῦ καὶ οὐκ αὐτὴν τὴν οὐσίαν τοῦ θεοῦ. Ἡ βάτος εἰκὼν ἦν τῆς θεομήτορος, καὶ μέλλοντι τῷ Μωσῇ ταύτῃ προσιέναι εἶπεν ὁ θεός· «Ὑπόλυσαι τὸ ὑπόδημα τῶν ποδῶν σου· ἡ γὰρ γῆ, ἐν ᾗ ἕστηκας, γῆ ἁγία ἐστίν.»