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If therefore the ground, on which the image of the Theotokos appeared to Moses, is holy ground, how much more the image itself? For not only holy, but, I dare to say, even holy of holies. The Lord answered the Pharisees who asked, “Why then did Moses command to give a bill of divorce and to put away his wife?”: “Because Moses, on account of the hardness of your hearts, permitted you to put away your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.” And I say to you, that Moses, because of the hardness of heart of the sons of Israel, knowing their proneness to idolatry, forbade them to make images. But now it is not so; for we stand firmly on the rock of faith, having been enriched with the light of the knowledge of God. Hear what the Lord says: “You fools and blind ones, he who swears by the temple, swears by it and by him who dwells in it, and he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.” And he who swears by the image swears by the image and by the one imaged by it. That therefore the tabernacle and the veil and the ark and the table and all things in the tabernacle were images and types and works of human hands, which were venerated by all Israel, and also the sculpted cherubim made by God's command, has been sufficiently demonstrated. For God says to Moses: “See that you make all things according to the pattern shown to you on the mountain.” Hear also the apostle Paul testifying that Israel venerated handmade things and images, God having commanded this: “'For if he were,” he says, “on earth, he would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law; who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, "See that you make all things according to the pattern shown to you on the mountain." But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, He says: "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt."” and after a little, “In that He says, 'A new covenant,' He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. Then indeed, the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary. For a tabernacle was prepared: the first part, in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread; which is called the Holy Place. And behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All, which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant; and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat.'” and again, “For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself.” and after other things, “for the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things.” See that both the law and all things according to it, and all our worship, are handmade holy things which through matter bring us to the immaterial God, and the law and all things according to the law were a kind of shadow-sketch of the future image, that is, of our worship, while our worship is an image of the good things to come, but the things themselves are the Jerusalem above, immaterial and not made with hands, as the same divine apostle says: “For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come,” which is the Jerusalem above, “whose builder and maker is God.” For all things, both those according to the law and those according to our worship, came to be for its sake. To him be glory for ever

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Εἰ οὖν ἡ γῆ, ἐν ᾗ εἰκὼν τῆς θεοτόκου ὤφθη τῷ Μωσῇ, γῆ ἁγία ἐστί, πόσῳ μᾶλλον αὐτὴ ἡ εἰκών; Οὐ μόνον γὰρ ἁγία, ἀλλά, τολμῶ λέγειν, καὶ ἁγίων ἁγία. Ὁ κύριος ἐρωτήσασι τοῖς Φαρισαίοις· «Τί οὖν Μωσῆς ἐνετείλατο δοῦναι βιβλίον ἀποστασίου καὶ ἀπολῦσαι τὴν γυναῖκα;» ἀπεκρίνατο· «Ὅτι Μωσῆς πρὸς τὴν σκληροκαρδίαν ὑμῶν ἐπέτρεψεν ὑμῖν ἀπολῦσαι τὰς γυναῖκας ὑμῶν, ἀπ' ἀρχῆς δὲ οὐ γέγονεν οὕτως.» Κἀγὼ λέγω ὑμῖν, ὅτι Μωσῆς πρὸς τὴν σκληροκαρδίαν τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ εἰδὼς αὐτῶν τὸ πρὸς εἰδωλολατρείαν εὐόλισθον ἐπέτρεψεν αὐτοῖς μὴ ποιεῖν εἰκόνας. Νυνὶ δὲ οὐχ οὕτως ἐστίν· ἑστήκαμεν γὰρ βεβαίως ἐν τῇ πέτρᾳ τῆς πίστεως τὸ φῶς τῆς θεογνωσίας πλουτήσαντες. Ἀκούσατε, τί φησιν ὁ κύριος· «Μωροὶ καὶ τυφλοί, ὁ ὀμόσας ἐν τῷ ναῷ ὀμνύει ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ ἐν τῷ κατοικήσαντι ἐν αὐτῷ, καὶ ὁ ὀμόσας ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ὀμνύει ἐν τῷ θρόνῳ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ ἐν τῷ καθημένῳ ἐπάνω αὐτοῦ.» Καὶ ὁ ὀμνύων ἐν τῇ εἰκόνι ὀμνύει ἐν τῇ εἰκόνι καὶ ἐν τῷ εἰκονιζομένῳ ὑπ' αὐτῆς. Ὅτι μὲν οὖν ἡ σκηνὴ καὶ τὸ καταπέτασμα καὶ ἡ κιβωτὸς καὶ ἡ τράπεζα καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐν τῇ σκηνῇ εἰκόνες ἦσαν καὶ τύποι καὶ ἔργα χειρῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἅτινα προσεκυνεῖτο ὑπὸ παντὸς Ἰσραήλ, ἔτι δὲ καὶ τὰ χερουβὶμ τὰ γλυπτὰ θεοῦ προστάγματι κατεσκευασμένα, ἱκανῶς ἀποδέδεικται. Φησὶ γὰρ ὁ θεὸς τῷ Μωσῇ· «Ὅρα, ποιήσεις πάντα κατὰ τὸν τύπον τὸν δειχθέντα σοι ἐν τῷ ὄρει.» Ἄκουε καὶ τοῦ ἀποστόλου Παύλου μαρτυροῦντος, ὅτι χειροποίητα καὶ εἰκόνας προσεκύνει Ἰσραὴλ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦτο προστάξαντος· «Εἰ μὲν γὰρ ἦν», φησίν, «ἐπὶ γῆς, οὐδ' ἂν ἦν ἱερεὺς ὄντων ἱερέων τῶν προσφερόντων κατὰ τὸν νόμον τὰ δῶρα· οἵτινες ὑποδείγματι καὶ σκιᾷ λατρεύουσι τῶν ἐπουρανίων, καθὼς κεχρημάτισται Μωσῆς μέλλων ἐπιτελεῖν τὴν σκηνήν. Ὅρα γάρ, φησί, ποιήσεις πάντα κατὰ τὸν τύπον τὸν δειχθέντα σοι ἐν τῷ ὄρει· νυνὶ δὲ διαφορωτέρας τετύχηκε λειτουργίας, ὅσῳ κρείττονός ἐστι διαθήκης μεσίτης, ἥτις ἐπὶ κρείττοσιν ἐπαγγελίαις νενομοθέτηται. Εἰ γὰρ ἡ πρώτη ἐκείνη ἦν ἄμεμπτος, οὐκ ἂν δευτέρας ἐζητεῖτο τόπος· μεμφόμενος γὰρ αὐτοῖς λέγει· Ἰδοὺ ἡμέραι ἔρχονται, λέγει κύριος, καὶ συντελέσω ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκον Ἰσραὴλ καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκον Ἰούδα διαθήκην καινήν· οὐ κατὰ τὴν διαθήκην, ἣν διεθέμην τοῖς πατράσιν αὐτῶν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ἐπιλαβομένου μου τῆς χειρὸς αὐτῶν ἐξαγαγεῖν αὐτοὺς ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου.» καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα «ἐν τῷ λέγειν «καινὴν» πεπαλαίωκε τὴν πρώτην· τὸ δὲ παλαιούμενον καὶ γηράσκον ἐγγὺς ἀφανισμοῦ. Εἶχε μὲν οὖν ἡ πρώτη σκηνὴ δικαιώματα λατρείας τό τε ἅγιον κοσμικόν· σκηνὴ γὰρ κατεσκευάσθη ἡ πρώτη, ἐν ᾗ ἥ τε λυχνία καὶ ἡ τράπεζα καὶ ἡ πρόθεσις τῶν ἄρτων, ἥτις λέγεται Ἅγια· μετὰ δὲ τὸ δεύτερον καταπέτασμα σκηνὴ ἡ λεγομένη Ἅγια ἁγίων, χρυσοῦν ἔχουσα θυμιατήριον καὶ τὴν κιβωτὸν τῆς διαθήκης περικεκαλυμμένην πάντοθεν χρυσίῳ, ἐν ᾗ στάμνος χρυσῆ ἔχουσα τὸ μάννα καὶ ἡ ῥάβδος Ἀαρὼν ἡ βλαστήσασα καὶ αἱ πλάκες τῆς διαθήκης· ὑπεράνω δὲ αὐτῆς χερουβὶμ δόξης κατασκιάζοντα τὸ ἱλαστήριον.» καὶ πάλιν «οὐ γὰρ εἰς χειροποίητα ἅγια εἰσῆλθεν ὁ Χριστός, ἀντίτυπα τῶν ἀληθινῶν, ἀλλ' εἰς αὐτὸν τὸν οὐρανόν.» καὶ μεθ' ἕτερα «σκιὰν γὰρ ἔχων ὁ νόμος τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν, οὐκ αὐτὴν τὴν εἰκόνα τῶν πραγμάτων.» Ὅρα, ὅτι καὶ ὁ νόμος καὶ πάντα τὰ κατ' αὐτὸν πᾶσά τε ἡ καθ' ἡμᾶς λατρεία χειροποίητά εἰσιν ἅγια δι' ὕλης προσάγοντα ἡμᾶς τῷ ἀύλῳ θεῷ, καὶ ὁ μὲν νόμος καὶ πάντα τὰ κατὰ τὸν νόμον σκιαγραφία τις ἦν τῆς μελλούσης εἰκόνος, τουτέστι τῆς καθ' ἡμᾶς λατρείας, ἡ δὲ καθ' ἡμᾶς λατρεία εἰκὼν τῶν μελλόντων ἀγαθῶν, αὐτὰ δὲ τὰ πράγματα ἡ ἄνω Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἡ ἄυλος καὶ ἀχειροποίητος, καθώς φησιν ὁ αὐτὸς θεῖος ἀπόστολος· «Οὐ γὰρ ἔχομεν ὧδε μένουσαν πόλιν, ἀλλὰ τὴν μέλλουσαν ἐπιζητοῦμεν», ἥτις ἐστὶν ἡ ἄνω Ἱερουσαλήμ, «ἧς τεχνίτης καὶ δημιουργὸς ὁ θεός.» Πάντα γὰρ τά τε κατὰ τὸν νόμον καὶ τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν λατρείαν ἐκείνης χάριν ἐγένοντο. Αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας