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of the lack of water. So now also we paint with longing the images of virtuous men who have lived, for our zeal and memory and emulation. Therefore, either abolish every image and legislate against the one who commanded these things to be made, or accept each one according to the reason and manner appropriate to it. A fourth chapter: what is depicted and what is not depicted, and how each is depicted. Bodies, since they have shapes and a physical outline and color, are fittingly depicted. But an angel and a soul and a demon, although not in a bodily and thick way, but according to their own nature, are both formed and outlined—for being intelligible, they are believed to be present and to act intelligibly in intelligible places—they are depicted, therefore, in a bodily way, as Moses depicted the cherubim and as they were seen by the worthy, but the bodily image indicates a certain incorporeal and intelligible vision. But the divine nature alone is uncircumscribable and completely formless and shapeless and incomprehensible, even if the divine scripture attributes types to God that seem to be bodily, so that shapes might be seen, but they themselves are incorporeal; for they were seen not with bodily eyes, but with intellectual ones by the prophets and those to whom they were revealed, for they were not seen by all. To speak in simple terms, we are able to make images of all the shapes which we have seen; and we understand these things, just as they were seen. For even if at times we comprehend shapes from words, yet it is from what we have seen that we also come to the comprehension of these things. So too with each sense: from what we have smelled or tasted or touched, through words we come to the comprehension of these things. We know, therefore, that it is not possible to see the nature of God, or of an angel, or of a soul, or of a demon, but these are seen in some transformation, with divine providence attributing types and shapes to things that are incorporeal and without type and do not have bodily form, so that we may be guided and have a rough and partial knowledge of them, in order that we might not be in complete ignorance of God and the incorporeal creations. For God is by nature and completely incorporeal; but an angel and a soul and a demon, when compared to God, who alone is incomparable, are bodies, but in relation to material bodies they are incorporeal. God, therefore, not wishing us to be completely ignorant of incorporeal things, has invested them with types and shapes and images according to the analogy of our nature, bodily shapes seen in the immaterial vision of the mind, and these we form and depict, since in some way the cherubim were formed and depicted. But scripture also has shapes and images of God. Who first made an image? God himself first begot his only-begotten Son and Word, his living, natural image, the exact character of his eternity, and he made man in his own image and after his likeness. And Adam saw God and heard the sound of his feet walking in the evening and hid in paradise, and Jacob saw and wrestled with God—and it is clear that God appeared to him as a man—, and Moses saw as it were the back parts of a man, and Isaiah saw him as a man sitting on a throne, and Daniel saw the likeness of a man and as a son of man coming to the Ancient of Days. And no one saw the nature of God, but the type and the image of what was to be; for the Son and Word of God, the invisible one, was to become man in truth, that he might be united to our nature and be seen on earth. Therefore, all those who saw the type and the image of the one to come venerated it, as Paul the apostle says in the epistle to the Hebrews: "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them from afar and greeted them." Shall I not, therefore, make an image of him who was seen for my sake in the nature of flesh and

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τῆς τοῦ ὕδατος ἐκλείψεως. Οὕτω καὶ νῦν τὰς εἰκόνας τῶν γεγονότων ἐναρέτων ἀνδρῶν πρὸς ζῆλον καὶ μνήμην καὶ ζῆλον ἡμῶν πόθῳ ἀναγράφομεν. Ἢ τοίνυν πᾶσαν εἰκόνα ἄνελε καὶ ἀντινομοθέτει τῷ ταῦτα προστάξαντι γίνεσθαι ἢ ἑκάστην δέχου κατὰ τὸν ἑκάστῃ πρέποντα λόγον καὶ τρόπον. Τέταρτον κεφάλαιον, τί τὸ εἰκονιζόμενον καὶ τί τὸ μὴ εἰκονιζόμενον καὶ πῶς ἕκαστον εἰκονίζεται. Τὰ μὲν σώματα ὡς καὶ σχήματα καὶ περιγραφὴν σωματικὴν ἔχοντα καὶ χρῶμα εἰκότως εἰκονίζονται. Ἄγγελος δὲ καὶ ψυχὴ καὶ δαίμων, εἰ καὶ μὴ σωματικῶς καὶ παχέως, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὴν ἑαυτῶν φύσιν καὶ σχηματίζονται καὶ περιγράφονται-νοητοὶ γὰρ ὄντες ἐν νοητοῖς τόποις νοητῶς παρεῖναι καὶ ἐνεργεῖν πιστεύονται-, εἰκονίζονται μὲν οὖν σωματικῶς, ὡς εἰκόνισε Μωσῆς τὰ χερουβὶμ καὶ ὡς ὡράθησαν τοῖς ἀξίοις, ἀλλ' ἀσώματον καὶ νοητήν τινα θεωρίαν δηλούσης τῆς σωματικῆς εἰκόνος. Ἡ δὲ θεία φύσις ἀπερίγραπτός ἐστι μόνη καὶ παντελῶς ἀνείδεος καὶ ἀσχημάτιστος καὶ ἀκατάληπτος, εἰ καὶ ἡ θεία γραφὴ τύπους θεῷ περιτίθησι τὸ μὲν δοκεῖν σωματικούς, ὥστε σχήματα ὁρᾶσθαι, καὶ αὐτοὺς δὲ ἀσωμάτους· οὐ γὰρ σωματικοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς, ἀλλὰ νοεροῖς ἑωρῶντο τοῖς προφήταις καὶ οἷς ἀπεκαλύπτοντο, οὐ γὰρ πᾶσιν ἑωρῶντο. Ἁπλῷ δὲ λόγῳ εἰπεῖν, δυνάμεθα ποιεῖν εἰκόνας πάντων τῶν σχημάτων, ὧν εἴδομεν· νοοῦμεν δὲ ταῦτα, καθὼς ὡράθη. Εἰ γὰρ καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν λόγων ἔσθ' ὅτε κατανοοῦμεν σχήματα, ἀλλ' ἐξ ὧν εἴδομεν, καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν τούτων ἐρχόμεθα κατανόησιν. Οὕτω καὶ ἐφ' ἑκάστης αἰσθήσεως, ἐξ ὧν ὠσφράνθημεν ἢ ἐγευσάμεθα ἢ ἡψάμεθα, διὰ λόγων ἐπὶ τὴν τούτων ἐρχόμεθα κατανόησιν. Οἴδαμεν οὖν, ὅτι οὔτε θεοῦ οὔτε ἀγγέλου οὔτε ψυχῆς οὔτε δαίμονος δυνατὸν θεαθῆναι φύσιν, ἀλλ' ἐν μετασχηματισμῷ τινι θεωροῦνται ταῦτα τῆς θείας προνοίας τύπους καὶ σχήματα περιτιθείσης τοῖς ἀσωμάτοις καὶ ἀτυπώτοις καὶ μὴ ἔχουσι σχηματισμὸν σωματικῶς πρὸς τὸ χειραγωγηθῆναι ἡμᾶς καὶ πρὸς παχυμερῆ καὶ μερικὴν αὐτῶν γνῶσιν, ἵνα μὴ ἐν παντελεῖ ἀγνοίᾳ ὦμεν θεοῦ καὶ τῶν ἀσωμάτων κτισμάτων. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ θεὸς φύσει καὶ παντελῶς ἀσώματος· ἄγγελος δὲ καὶ ψυχὴ καὶ δαίμων πρὸς μὲν θεὸν συγκρινόμενοι τὸν μόνον ἀσύγκριτον σώματά εἰσι, πρὸς δὲ τὰ ὑλικὰ σώματα ἀσώματοι. Μὴ θέλων οὖν ὁ θεὸς παντελῶς ἀγνοεῖν ἡμᾶς τὰ ἀσώματα περιέθηκεν αὐτοῖς τύπους καὶ σχήματα καὶ εἰκόνας κατὰ τὴν ἀναλογίαν τῆς φύσεως ἡμῶν σχήματα σωματικὰ ἐν ἀύλῳ ὁράσει νοὸς ὁρώμενα, καὶ ταῦτα σχηματίζομεν καὶ εἰκονίζομεν, ἐπεί πως ἐσχηματίσθη καὶ εἰκονίσθη τὰ χερουβίμ. Ἀλλὰ καὶ θεοῦ σχήματα καὶ εἰκόνας ἡ γραφὴ ἔχει. Τίς πρῶτος ἐποίησεν εἰκόνα; Αὐτὸς ὁ θεὸς πρῶτος ἐγέννησε τὸν μονογενῆ υἱὸν καὶ λόγον αὐτοῦ, εἰκόνα αὐτοῦ ζῶσαν, φυσικήν, ἀπαράλλακτον χαρακτῆρα τῆς αὐτοῦ ἀιδιότητος, ἐποίησέ τε τὸν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα αὑτοῦ καὶ καθ' ὁμοίωσιν. Καὶ Ἀδὰμ εἶδε θεὸν καὶ ἤκουσε τῆς φωνῆς τῶν ποδῶν αὐτοῦ περιπατοῦντος τὸ δειλινὸν καὶ ἐκρύβη ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ, καὶ Ἰακὼβ εἶδε καὶ ἐπάλαισε μετὰ τοῦ θεοῦ-δῆλον δέ, ὅτι ὡς ἄνθρωπος ἐφάνη αὐτῷ ὁ θεός-, καὶ Μωσῆς ὡς ὀπίσθια ἀνθρώπου εἶδε, καὶ Ἡσαΐας ὡς ἄνθρωπον εἶδε καθήμενον ἐπὶ θρόνου, καὶ ∆ανιὴλ ὁμοίωμα ἀνθρώπου εἶδε καὶ ὡς υἱὸν ἀνθρώπου ἐλθόντα ἐπὶ τὸν παλαιὸν τῶν ἡμερῶν. Καὶ οὐ φύσιν θεοῦ εἶδέ τις, ἀλλὰ τὸν τύπον καὶ τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ μέλλοντος ἔσεσθαι· ἔμελλε γὰρ ὁ υἱὸς καὶ λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ ὁ ἀόρατος ἄνθρωπος γίνεσθαι ἐν ἀληθείᾳ, ἵν' ἑνωθῇ τῇ φύσει ἡμῶν καὶ ὁραθῇ ἐπὶ γῆς. Προσεκύνησαν οὖν πάντες οἱ ἰδόντες τὸν τύπον καὶ τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ μέλλοντος, καθὼς Παῦλός φησιν ὁ ἀπόστολος ἐν τῇ πρὸς Ἑβραίους ἐπιστολῇ· «Κατὰ πίστιν ἀπέθανον οὗτοι πάντες μὴ κομισάμενοι τὰς εὐαγγελίας, ἀλλὰ πόρρωθεν αὐτὰς ἰδόντες καὶ ἀσπασάμενοι.» Ἐγὼ οὖν οὐ μὴ ποιήσω εἰκόνα τοῦ δι' ἐμὲ ὀφθέντος σαρκὸς φύσει καὶ