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of the ages. 3,11 Where did you find in the Old [Testament] or in the Gospel the name of the Trinity or homoousion or one nature of the Godhead clearly, or three hypostases verbatim, or one hypostasis of Christ, or two natures verbatim? But nevertheless, since the holy fathers defined these things from the equivalent words found in Scripture, we accept them and we anathematize those who do not accept them. But I present to you in the Old [Testament] that God commanded to make images, first the tabernacle itself and all the things in it. And in the Gospels the Lord himself, to those who asked him temptingly if it is lawful to give tribute to Caesar, said: Bring me a coin. And they showed him a denarius. And he asked them: Whose image does it have? And they said: Caesar's. And he said: "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's." Since it has Caesar's image, it is Caesar's, and render it to Caesar. And the image of Christ, render to Christ; for it is Christ's. The Lord, blessing his disciples, said: "Many kings and prophets desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear." The apostles, therefore, saw Christ bodily and his sufferings and his miracles and heard his words; we too desire to see and to hear and to be blessed. They saw face to face, since he was bodily present; but we, since he is not bodily present, just as through books we hear his words and sanctify our hearing and through it our soul and are blessed and venerate, honoring the books through which we hear his words, so also through the painting of images we behold the representation of his bodily form and of his miracles and his sufferings and are sanctified and fully assured and rejoice and are blessed and revere and honor and venerate his bodily form. And in beholding his bodily form we conceive as far as possible also the glory of his Godhead; for since we are twofold, fashioned from soul and body, and our soul is not naked, but is covered as if by a veil, it is impossible for us to arrive at intelligible things except through bodily things. Just as, therefore, through perceptible words we hear with bodily ears and understand spiritual things, so also through bodily vision we arrive at spiritual vision. For this reason Christ took on a body and a soul, since man has a body and a soul; for this reason baptism is also twofold, of water and Spirit, and communion and prayer and psalmody, all are twofold, bodily and spiritual, and lights and incense. But leaving all these things aside, the devil has rushed against only the images; and so great is his envy against the images, that it is also written thus in the Spiritual Meadow of Saint Sophronius the patriarch of Jerusalem: "Abba Theodore of Aelia used to say that there was a certain ascetic, a recluse on the Mount of Olives; and the demon of fornication waged a great war against him. On one occasion, therefore, as it was pressing him fiercely, the old man began to lament and say to the demon: 'How long will you not give up on me? Depart from me at last, you have grown old with me.' The demon appears to him visibly, saying: 'Swear to me that you will tell no one what I am about to tell you, and I will no longer war against you.' And the old man swore to him, that 'by him who dwells in the highest, I will not tell anyone what you tell me.' Then the demon says to him: 'Do not venerate this icon, and I will no longer war against you.' Now the icon had a depiction of our Lady, the holy Mary the Theotokos, holding our Lord Jesus Christ. See whom they imitate, those who forbid the veneration of images, and whose instruments they are; for the

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τῶν αἰώνων. 3,11 Ποῦ εὗρες ἐν τῇ παλαιᾷ ἢ ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ ὄνομα τριάδος ἢ ὁμοούσιον ἢ μίαν φύσιν θεότητος τρανῶς ἢ τρεῖς ὑποστάσεις αὐτολεξεὶ ἢ μίαν ὑπόστασιν τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἢ δύο φύσεις αὐτολεξεί; Ἀλλ' ὅμως, ἐπειδὴ ἐκ τῶν ἰσοδυναμουσῶν λέξεων τῶν ἐν τῇ γραφῇ κειμένων ὥρισαν ταῦτα οἱ ἅγιοι πατέρες, δεχόμεθα καὶ τοὺς μὴ δεχομένους ἀναθεματίζομεν. Ἐγὼ δὲ παριστῶ σοι ἐν τῇ παλαιᾷ, ὅτι προσέταξεν ὁ θεὸς ποιεῖν εἰκόνας, πρῶτον μὲν αὐτὴν τὴν σκηνὴν καὶ πάντα τὰ ὄντα ἐν αὐτῇ. Καὶ ἐν τοῖς εὐαγγελίοις αὐτὸς ὁ κύριος τοῖς πειραστικῶς ἐρωτήσασιν, εἰ ἔξεστι καίσαρι δοῦναι κῆνσον, εἶπεν· Ἀγάγετέ μοι νόμισμα. Καὶ ὑπέδειξαν αὐτῷ δηνάριον. Καὶ ἠρώτησεν αὐτούς· Τίνος εἰκόνα ἔχει; Οἱ δὲ εἶπον· Καίσαρος. Καὶ εἶπεν· «Ἀπόδοτε τὰ καίσαρος καίσαρι, καὶ τὰ τοῦ θεοῦ τῷ θεῷ.» Ἐπειδὴ εἰκόνα καίσαρος ἔχει, καίσαρός ἐστι, καὶ ἀπόδοτε καίσαρι. Καὶ τὴν εἰκόνα Χριστοῦ, ἀπόδοτε Χριστῷ· Χριστοῦ γάρ ἐστιν. Ὁ κύριος μακαρίζων τοὺς μαθητὰς εἶπε· «Πολλοὶ βασιλεῖς καὶ προφῆται ἐπεθύμησαν ἰδεῖν, ἃ βλέπετε, καὶ οὐκ εἶδον, καὶ ἀκοῦσαι, ἃ ἀκούετε, καὶ οὐκ ἤκουσαν. Ὑμῶν δὲ μακάριοί εἰσιν οἱ ὀφθαλμοί, ὅτι βλέπουσιν, καὶ τὰ ὦτα, ὅτι ἀκούουσιν.» Εἶδον οὖν οἱ ἀπόστολοι σωματικῶς τὸν Χριστὸν καὶ τὰ πάθη καὶ τὰ θαύματα αὐτοῦ καὶ ἤκουσαν τῶν λόγων αὐτοῦ· ἐπιθυμοῦμεν καὶ ἡμεῖς ἰδεῖν καὶ ἀκοῦσαι καὶ μακαρισθῆναι. Εἶδον ἐκεῖνοι πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον, ἐπειδὴ παρῆν σωματικῶς· ἡμεῖς δέ, ἐπειδὴ σωματικῶς οὐ πάρεστιν, ὥσπερ διὰ βίβλων ἀκούομεν τῶν λόγων αὐτοῦ καὶ ἁγιαζόμεθα τὴν ἀκοὴν καὶ δι' αὐτῆς τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ μακαριζόμεθα καὶ προσκυνοῦμεν τιμῶντες τὰς βίβλους, δι' ὧν ἀκούομεν τῶν λόγων αὐτοῦ, οὕτως καὶ διὰ γραφῆς εἰκόνων θεωροῦμεν τὸ ἐκτύπωμα τοῦ σωματικοῦ χαρακτῆρος αὐτοῦ καὶ τῶν θαυμάτων καὶ τῶν παθημάτων αὐτοῦ καὶ ἁγιαζόμεθα καὶ πληροφορούμεθα καὶ χαίρομεν καὶ μακαριζόμεθα καὶ σέβομεν καὶ τιμῶμεν καὶ προσκυνοῦμεν τὸν χαρακτῆρα αὐτοῦ τὸν σωματικόν. Θεωροῦντες δὲ τὸν σωματικὸν χαρακτῆρα αὐτοῦ ἐννοοῦμεν ὡς δυνατὸν καὶ τὴν δόξαν τῆς θεότητος αὐτοῦ· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ διπλοῖ ἐσμεν, ἐκ ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος κατεσκευασμένοι, καὶ οὐ γυμνὴ ἡμῶν ἐστιν ἡ ψυχή, ἀλλ' ὡς ὑπὸ παραπετάσματι καλύπτεται, ἀδύνατον ἡμᾶς ἐκτὸς τῶν σωματικῶν ἐλθεῖν ἐπὶ τὰ νοητά. Ὥσπερ οὖν διὰ λόγων αἰσθητῶν ἀκούομεν ὠσὶ σωματικοῖς καὶ νοοῦμεν τὰ πνευματικά, οὕτω καὶ διὰ σωματικῆς θεωρίας ἐρχόμεθα ἐπὶ τὴν πνευματικὴν θεωρίαν. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο σῶμα καὶ ψυχὴν ἀνέλαβεν ὁ Χριστός, ἐπειδὴ σῶμα καὶ ψυχὴν ἔχει ὁ ἄνθρωπος· διὰ τοῦτο καὶ τὸ βάπτισμα διπλοῦν, ἐξ ὕδατος καὶ πνεύματος, καὶ ἡ κοινωνία καὶ ἡ προσευχὴ καὶ ἡ ψαλμῳδία, πάντα διπλᾶ, σωματικὰ καὶ πνευματικά, καὶ φῶτα καὶ θυμιάματα. Ἀλλὰ πάντα ἐάσας κατὰ μόνων τῶν εἰκόνων ὥρμησεν ὁ διάβολος· καὶ τοσοῦτος αὐτῷ φθόνος ἐστὶ κατὰ τῶν εἰκόνων, ὡς καὶ ἐν τῷ Λειμωναρίῳ τοῦ ἁγίου Σωφρονίου τοῦ πατριάρχου Ἱεροσολύμων γέγραπται οὕτως· «Ἔλεγεν ὁ ἀββᾶς Θεόδωρος ὁ Αἰλιώτης, ὅτι ἦν τις ἔγκλειστος εἰς τὸ ὄρος τῶν ἐλαιῶν ἀγωνιστής· πανὺ δὲ αὐτῷ ἐπολέμει ὁ δαίμων τῆς πορνείας. Ἐν μιᾷ οὖν, ὡς ἐπέκειτο αὐτῷ σφοδρῶς, ἤρξατο ὁ γέρων ἀποδύρεσθαι καὶ λέγειν τῷ δαίμονι· «Ἕως πότε οὐκ ἐνδίδως μοι; Ἀπόστα λοιπὸν ἀπ' ἐμοῦ, συνεγήρασάς μοι·» Φαίνεται αὐτῷ ὁ δαίμων ὀφθαλμοφανῶς λέγων· «Ὄμοσόν μοι, ὅτι οὐδενὶ λέγεις, ὃ μέλλω λέγειν σοι, καὶ οὐκέτι σοι πολεμῶ.» Καὶ ὤμοσεν αὐτῷ ὁ γέρων, ὅτι «μὰ τὸν κατοικοῦντα ἐν τοῖς ὑψίστοις, οὐκ εἴπω τινί, ἅπερ εἴπῃς μοι.» Τότε λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ δαίμων· «Μὴ προσκυνήσῃς ταύτῃ τῇ εἰκόνι, καὶ οὐκέτι σοι πολεμήσω.» Εἶχε δὲ ἡ εἰκὼν ἐκτύπωμα τὴν δέσποιναν ἡμῶν τὴν ἁγίαν Μαρίαν τὴν θεοτόκον βαστάζουσαν τὸν κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν. Ἴδε, τίνα μιμοῦνται οἱ προσκυνεῖσθαι τὰς εἰκόνας κωλύοντες καὶ τίνος εἰσὶν ὄργανα· ὁ γὰρ