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common guardians of the human race, good sharers of cares, helpers in prayers, most powerful intercessors, stars of the world, flowers of the churches (and I say, both spiritual and perceptible). The earth did not hide you, but heaven received you. The gates of paradise were opened for you, a worthy sight for the host of angels, worthy for patriarchs, prophets, and the righteous. (Scholion) How should I not long to see what angels long to see? And in harmony with these things, his brother and like-minded Gregory, the bishop of Nyssa, also says. Of Saint Gregory, bishop of Nyssa, from the supplementary work, that is, On the Making of Man, fourth chapter: Just as in human custom, those who make images of rulers both mold the character of the form and with the donning of the purple robe also depict the royal dignity, and by custom it is called both image and king, so too human nature, since it was made to rule over the rest, was set up as a kind of living image, sharing with the archetype in both dignity and name. From the same, from the fifth chapter of the same treatise: But the divine beauty is not adorned with a certain shape and grace of form by means of some pleasing color, but is contemplated in ineffable blessedness according to virtue. Just as, therefore, painters transfer human forms to panels by means of certain colors, applying the proper and fitting paints to the copy, so that the archetypal beauty might be transferred with exactness to the likeness <...> (Scholion) See how "the divine beauty is not adorned with a certain shape by means of some pleasing color" and for this reason it is not depicted, but the human form is transferred to panels by means of colors. If, therefore, the Son of God came in the form of a man, taking the form of a servant, and being made in the likeness of men, and being found in appearance as a man, how shall He not be depicted? And if by custom "the image of the king is called king" and "the honor of the image passes to the prototype," as the divine Basil says, how shall the image not be honored and venerated, not as God, but as an image of the incarnate God? From Saint Gregory of Nyssa, from an oration delivered in Constantinople concerning the divinity of the Son and the Spirit, and on Abraham, Oration 44, the beginning of which is: Just as those who love to gaze upon the flowering meadows experience something, and after a little: Then the father first binds the son with bonds. I have often seen a painting of this passion and I did not pass by the sight without tears, as the art vividly brought the story before my eyes. Isaac is set forth beside the altar itself, kneeling on his knee, and having his hands bound behind him; and [Abraham], stepping with his foot on the bend of his knee, and with his left hand having bent back the hair of the boy toward himself, bends over the face looking up at him pitifully, and, having armed his right hand with the sword, directs it toward the slaughter. And the edge of the sword already touches the body, and then a voice comes to him from God, forbidding the deed. From Saint John Chrysostom, from the commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews: And somehow the first is an image of the second, Melchizedek of Christ, just as one might call the painter's preliminary sketch a shadow of the painting in colors; for on this account the Law is called a shadow, but grace is truth, and the things to come are the reality. So that the Law and Melchizedek are a pre-sketch of the painting in colors, but grace and truth are the painting in colors, and the realities of the age to come, so that the old is a type of a type, and the new is a type of the realities. From Leontius of Neapolis in Cyprus, from the oration against the Jews, concerning the veneration of the cross of Christ and the images of the saints and one another and concerning

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κοινοὶ φύλακες τοῦ γένους τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἀγαθοὶ κοινωνοὶ φροντίδων, δεήσεων συνεργοί, πρεσβευταὶ δυνατώτατοι, ἀστέρες τῆς οἰκουμένης, ἄνθη τῶν ἐκκλησιῶν (ἐγὼ δέ φημι, νοητά τε καὶ αἰσθητά). Ὑμᾶς οὐχ ἡ γῆ κατέκρυψεν, ἀλλ' οὐρανὸς ὑπεδέξατο. Ἠνοίγησαν ὑμῖν παραδείσου πύλαι, ἄξιον θέαμα τῇ στρατιᾷ τῶν ἀγγέλων, ἄξιον πατριάρχαις, προφήταις, δικαίοις. (Σχόλιον) Πῶς οὐ μὴ ποθήσω ἰδεῖν, ὃ ἰδεῖν ποθοῦσιν ἄγγελοι; Συνῳδὰ δὲ τούτοις καὶ ὁ τούτου ἀδελφὸς καὶ ὁμογνώμων Γρηγόριος, ὁ τῆς Νυσαέων ἐπίσκοπος, φησίν. Τοῦ ἁγίου Γρηγορίου, ἐπισκόπου Νύσης, ἐκ τοῦ ἀναπληρωματικοῦ, τουτέστι τοῦ περὶ κατασκευῆς ἀνθρώπου, κεφαλαίου τετάρτου· Ὥσπερ κατὰ τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην συνήθειαν οἱ τὰς εἰκόνας τῶν κρατούντων κατασκευάζοντες τόν τε χαρακτῆρα τῆς μορφῆς ἀναμάσσονται καὶ τῇ περιβολῇ τῆς πορφυρίδος τὴν βασιλικὴν ἀξίαν συμπαραγράφουσι καὶ λέγεται κατὰ τὴν συνήθειαν καὶ εἰκὼν καὶ βασιλεύς, οὕτω καὶ ἡ ἀνθρωπίνη φύσις, ἐπειδὴ πρὸς ἀρχὴν τῶν ἄλλων κατεσκευάζετο, οἷόν τις ἔμψυχος εἰκὼν ἀνεστάθη κοινωνοῦσα τῷ ἀρχετύπῳ καὶ τῆς ἀξίας καὶ τοῦ ὀνόματος. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ πέμπτου κεφαλαίου τῆς αὐτῆς πραγματείας· Τὸ δὲ θεῖον κάλλος οὐ σχήματί τινι καὶ μορφῆς εὐμοιρίᾳ διά τινος εὐχροίας ἐναγλαΐζεται, ἀλλ' ἐν ἀφράστῳ μακαριότητι κατ' ἀρετὴν θεωρεῖται. Ὥσπερ τοίνυν τὰς ἀνθρωπίνας μορφὰς διὰ χρωμάτων τινῶν ἐπὶ τοὺς πίνακας οἱ γραφεῖς μεταφέρουσι τὰς οἰκείας τε καὶ καταλλήλους βαφὰς ἐπαλείφοντες τῷ μιμήματι, ὡς ἂν δι' ἀκριβείας τὸ ἀρχέτυπον κάλλος μετενεχθείη πρὸς τὸ ὁμοίωμα <...> (Σχόλιον) Ὅρα, ὡς «τὸ μὲν θεῖον κάλλος οὐ σχήματί τινι διά τινος εὐχροίας ἐναγλαΐζεται» καὶ διὰ τοῦτο οὐκ εἰκονίζεται, ἡ δὲ ἀνθρωπίνη μορφὴ διὰ χρωμάτων ἐπὶ τοὺς πίνακας μεταφέρεται. Εἰ τοίνυν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ἐν ἀνθρώπου μορφῇ γέγονε μορφὴν δούλου λαβὼν καὶ ἐν ὁμοιώματι ἀνθρώπων γενόμενος καὶ σχήματι εὑρεθεὶς ὡς ἄνθρωπος, πῶς οὐκ εἰκονισθήσεται; Καὶ εἰ κατὰ συνήθειαν «λέγεται ἡ τοῦ βασιλέως εἰκὼν βασιλεὺς» καὶ «ἡ τῆς εἰκόνος τιμὴ ἐπὶ τὸ πρωτότυπον ἀναβαίνει», ὥς φησιν ὁ θεῖος Βασίλειος, πῶς ἡ εἰκὼν οὐ τιμηθήσεται καὶ προσκυνηθήσεται οὐχ ὡς θεός, ἀλλ' ὡς θεοῦ σεσαρκωμένου εἰκών; Τοῦ ἁγίου Γρηγορίου τοῦ Νύσης ἀπὸ λόγου ῥηθέντος ἐν Κωνσταντινουπόλει περὶ θεότητος υἱοῦ καὶ πνεύματος καὶ εἰς τὸν Ἀβραάμ, λόγου μδʹ, οὗ ἡ ἀρχή· Οἷόν τι πάσχουσι πρὸς τοὺς εὐανθεῖς τῶν λειμώνων οἱ τούτων φιλοθεάμονες, καὶ μετὰ βραχέα· Ἐντεῦθεν δεσμοῖς πρότερον διαλαμβάνει ὁ πατὴρ τὸν παῖδα. Εἶδον πολλάκις ἐπὶ γραφῆς εἰκόνα τοῦ πάθους καὶ οὐκ ἀδακρυτὶ τὴν θέαν παρῆλθον ἐναργῶς τῆς τέχνης ὑπ' ὄψιν ἀγούσης τὴν ἱστορίαν. Πρόκειται ὁ Ἰσαὰκ παρ' αὐτῷ τῷ θυσιαστηρίῳ ὀκλάσας ἐπὶ τὸ γόνυ καὶ περιηγμένας ἔχων εἰς τοὐπίσω τὰς χεῖρας, ὁ δὲ ἐπιβεβηκὼς κατόπιν τῷ ποδὶ τῆς ἀγκύλης καὶ τῇ ἀριστερᾷ χειρὶ τὴν κόμην τοῦ παιδὸς πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἀνακλάσας ἐπικύπτει τῷ προσώπῳ ἐλεεινῶς πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀναβλέποντι καὶ τὴν δεξιὰν καθωπλισμένος τῷ ξίφει πρὸς τὴν σφαγὴν κατευθύνει. Καὶ ἅπτεται ἤδη τοῦ σώματος ἡ τοῦ ξίφους ἀκμή, καὶ τότε αὐτῷ γίνεται θεόθεν φωνὴ τὸ ἔργον κωλύουσα. Τοῦ ἁγίου Ἰωάννου τοῦ Χρυσοστόμου ἐκ τῆς ἑρμηνείας τῆς πρὸς Ἑβραίους ἐπιστολῆς· Καί πως εἰκὼν τοῦ δευτέρου τὸ πρῶτον, ὁ Μελχισεδὲκ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὥσπερ ἄν τις εἴποι σκιὰν τῆς γραφῆς τῆς ἐν χρώμασι τὸ πρὸ ταύτης σκίασμα τοῦ γραφέως· διὰ τοῦτο γὰρ ὁ νόμος καλεῖται σκιά, ἡ δὲ χάρις ἀλήθεια, πράγματα δὲ τὰ μέλλοντα. Ὥστε ὁ μὲν νόμος καὶ ὁ Μελχισεδὲκ προσκίασμα τῆς ἐν χρώμασι γραφῆς, ἡ δὲ χάρις καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια ἡ ἐν χρώμασι γραφή, τὰ δὲ πράγματα τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος, ὡς εἶναι τὴν παλαιὰν τύπου τύπον καὶ τὴν νέαν τῶν πραγμάτων τύπον. Λεοντίου Νεαπόλεως τῆς Κύπρου ἐκ τοῦ κατὰ Ἰουδαίων λόγου περὶ τοῦ προσκυνεῖν τῷ σταυρῷ τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ ταῖς εἰκόσι τῶν ἁγίων καὶ ἀλλήλοις καὶ περὶ