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and he embraces and honors through these things the benefactor, the king and especially God. -For I wish, I say again, that you too had made Mosaic and prophetic images and every day venerated in them the Lord their God. Therefore, when you see Christian children venerating the cross, know that they offer their veneration to the crucified Christ and not to the wood. Since if they were reverencing the nature of the wood, they would certainly also have had to venerate the trees and the groves, just as you, Israel, once venerated these, saying to the tree and to the stone, "you are my god, and you have begotten me." But we do not say this to the cross nor to the images of the saints; for they are not our gods, but open books for the remembrance of God and His honor, openly placed and venerated in the churches. For he who honors the martyr honors God, to whom the martyr testified; he who venerates the apostle of Christ venerates the one who sent him; and it is clear that he who falls before the mother of Christ offers the honor to her son. For there is no god but the one known and worshiped in trinity and unity. (Scholion) This one is a faithful interpreter of the words of the blessed Epiphanius, who adorned the island of the Cypriots with his words, or those who speak from the heart. But also hear Severian, bishop of Gabala, what he says. From Severian, bishop of Gabala, from the sermon on the dedication of the cross: How did the image of the accursed one bring life to our forefathers? And after a little: How then did the image of the accursed one bring salvation to the people tempest-tossed in misfortune? Was it not more credible to say: If any of you is bitten, he shall look up to heaven towards God and will be saved, or to the tent of God? But having overlooked these things, he set up only the image of the cross. Why then did Moses do these things, he who said to the people: "You shall not make for yourself a graven image, nor a molten one, nor any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the waters under the earth"? But why do I utter these things to the ungrateful? Tell me, O most faithful servant of God: what you forbid, you do? what you tear down, you build? You who say: "You shall not make a graven image," you who shattered the molten calf, do you forge a serpent of bronze? And this not in secret, but openly and known to all? But those things, he says, I legislated in order to cut off the materials of impiety and to lead the people away from all apostasy and idolatry; but now I forge the serpent usefully as a prefiguration of the truth. And just as I pitched the tent and all the things in it and spread out the cherubim, a likeness of the invisible things, into the holy places as a type and shadow of the things to come, so also I set up the serpent for the salvation of the people, so that through the experience of these things they might be prepared beforehand for the image of the sign of the cross and the savior and redeemer on it. And that the saying is most true, beloved, hear the Lord confirming it and saying: "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may not perish but have eternal life." (Scholion) Understand that he said he legislated not to make any likeness in order to lead the people away from idolatry, being prone and ready for it, and that the serpent that was lifted up was an image of the passion of the Lord. But that the practice of icons is not a new invention, but ancient and known and customary to the holy and chosen fathers, hear: It is written in the life of the blessed Basil by Helladius, his disciple and successor in his hierarchy, that the holy one stood by the icon of the Lady, on which the image of Mercurius the renowned martyr was also depicted; and he stood by asking for the destruction of Julian the most atheistic and apostate tyrant. From which icon he was initiated into this revelation; for he saw on the one hand

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καὶ ἀσπάζεται καὶ τιμᾷ διὰ τούτων τὸν εὐεργέτην, βασιλέα καὶ μάλιστα τὸν θεόν. -Εἴθε γάρ, πάλιν λέγω, ἐποίησας καὶ σὺ εἰκόνας Μωσαϊκὰς καὶ προφητικὰς καὶ καθ' ἡμέραν ἐν αὐταῖς προσεκύνεις τῷ δεσπότῃ αὐτῶν θεῷ. Ὅταν τοίνυν ἴδῃς χριστιανῶν παῖδας προσκυνοῦντας τῷ σταυρῷ, γνῶθι, ὅτι τῷ σταυρωθέντι Χριστῷ τὴν προσκύνησιν προσάγουσι καὶ οὐ τῷ ξύλῳ. Ἐπεὶ εἰ τὴν φύσιν τοῦ ξύλου ἔσεβον, πάντως ἂν καὶ τὰ δένδρα καὶ τὰ ἄλση προσκυνεῖν εἶχον, ὥσπερ σὺ ὁ Ἰσραὴλ προσεκύνησας τούτοις ποτέ, λέγων τῷ δένδρῳ καὶ τῷ λίθῳ, ὅτι «σύ μου εἶ θεός, καὶ σύ με ἐγέννησας». Ἡμεῖς δὲ οὐχ οὕτως λέγομεν τῷ σταυρῷ οὐδὲ ταῖς μορφαῖς τῶν ἁγίων· οὐ γὰρ θεοὶ ἡμῶν εἰσιν, ἀλλὰ βίβλοι ἀνεῳγμέναι πρὸς ἀνάμνησιν θεοῦ καὶ τιμὴν αὐτοῦ ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις προφανῶς κείμεναι καὶ προσκυνούμεναι. Ὁ γὰρ τιμῶν τὸν μάρτυρα τὸν θεὸν τιμᾷ, ᾧ ὁ μάρτυς ἐμαρτύρησεν· ὁ προσκυνῶν τῷ ἀποστόλῳ τοῦ Χριστοῦ τῷ ἀποστείλαντι αὐτὸν προσκυνεῖ· καὶ ὁ προσπίπτων τῇ μητρὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ πρόδηλον, ὅτι τῷ υἱῷ αὐτῆς τὴν τιμὴν προσφέρει. Οὐδεὶς γὰρ θεός, εἰ μὴ εἷς ὁ ἐν τριάδι καὶ μονάδι γνωριζόμενός τε καὶ λατρευόμενος. (Σχόλιον) Οὗτος πιστὸς ἐξηγητὴς τῶν τοῦ μακαρίου Ἐπιφανίου λόγων ὁ τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ λόγοις τὴν Κυπρίων κατακοσμήσας νῆσον ἢ οἱ ἀπὸ καρδίας λαλοῦντες. Ἄκουε δὲ καὶ Σευηριανοῦ ἐπισκόπου Γαβάλων, οἷά φησιν. Σευηριανοῦ, ἐπισκόπου Γαβάλων, ἀπὸ λόγου τοῦ εἰς τὰ ἐγκαίνια τοῦ σταυροῦ· Πῶς ἡ εἰκὼν τοῦ ἐπικαταράτου ζωὴν ἤνεγκε τοῖς ἡμετέροις προγόνοις; Καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα· Πῶς οὖν ἡ εἰκὼν τοῦ ἐπικαταράτου ἤνεγκε τῷ λαῷ ἐν συμφορᾷ χειμαζομένῳ σωτηρίαν; Ἆρα οὐκ ἦν ἀξιοπιστότερον εἰπεῖν· Ἐάν τις ὑμῶν δηχθῇ, βλέψει εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἄνω πρὸς τὸν θεὸν καὶ σωθήσεται ἢ εἰς τὴν σκηνὴν τοῦ θεοῦ; Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα παριδὼν μόνον τοῦ σταυροῦ τὴν εἰκόνα ἔπηξεν. ∆ιὰ τί οὖν ταῦτα ἐποίει Μωσῆς ὁ εἰπὼν τῷ λαῷ· «Οὐ ποιήσεις σεαυτῷ γλυπτὸν οὐδὲ χωνευτὸν οὐδὲ πᾶν ὁμοίωμα, ὅσα ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἄνω καὶ ὅσα ἐν τῇ γῇ κάτω καὶ ὅσα ἐν τοῖς ὕδασιν ὑποκάτω τῆς γῆς;» Ἀλλὰ τί ταῦτα πρὸς τὸν ἀγνώμονα φθέγγομαι; Εἰπέ, ὦ πιστότατε θεοῦ θεράπον· ὃ ἀπαγορεύεις, ποιεῖς; ὃ ἀνατρέπεις, κατασκευάζεις; Ὁ λέγων· «Οὐ ποιήσεις γλυπτόν», ὁ τὸν χωνευθέντα βοῦν κατελάσας, σὺ ὄφιν χαλκουργεῖς; Καὶ τοῦτο οὐ λάθρᾳ, ἀλλὰ ἀναφανδὸν καὶ πᾶσι γνωστόν; Ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνα, φησίν, ἐνομοθέτησα, ἵνα ἐκκόψω τὰς ὕλας τῆς ἀσεβείας καὶ τὸν λαὸν ἀπαγάγω πάσης ἀποστασίας καὶ εἰδωλολατρείας· νυνὶ δὲ χωνεύω τὸν ὄφιν χρησίμως εἰς προτύπωσιν τῆς ἀληθείας. Καὶ καθάπερ σκηνὴν ἔπηξα καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ πάντα καὶ χερουβὶμ ὁμοίωμα τῶν ἀοράτων διεπέτασα εἰς τὰ ἅγια ὡς τύπον καὶ σκιὰν τῶν μελλόντων, οὕτω καὶ ὄφιν ἐστήλωσα εἰς σωτηρίαν τῷ λαῷ, ἵνα διὰ τῆς πείρας τούτων προγυμνασθῶσι τοῦ σημείου τοῦ σταυροῦ τὴν εἰκόνα καὶ τὸν ἐν αὐτῷ σωτῆρα καὶ λυτρωτήν. Καὶ ὅτι ἀψευδέστατος ὁ λόγος, ἀγαπητέ, ἄκουε τοῦ κυρίου τοῦτον βεβαιοῦντος καὶ λέγοντος· «Καὶ καθὼς Μωσῆς ὕψωσε τὸν ὄφιν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, οὕτως δεῖ ὑψωθῆναι τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων ἐν αὐτῷ μὴ ἀπόληται, ἀλλ' ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον.» (Σχόλιον) Σύνες, ὡς διὰ τὸ ἀπαγαγεῖν ἔφη τὸν λαὸν τῆς εἰδωλολατρείας εὐόλισθον καὶ ἕτοιμον ὄντα πρὸς τοῦτο μὴ ποιεῖν πᾶν ὁμοίωμα ἐνομοθέτησε, καὶ ὅτι εἰκὼν ἦν τοῦ πάθους τοῦ κυρίου ὁ ὑψωθεὶς ὄφις. Ὅτι δὲ οὐ καινὸν ἐφεύρημα τὸ τῶν εἰκόνων, ἀλλὰ ἀρχαῖον καὶ τοῖς ἁγίοις καὶ ἐκκρίτοις πατράσιν ἐγνωσμένον τε καὶ εἰθισμένον, ἄκουε· Γέγραπται ἐν τῷ βίῳ Βασιλείου τοῦ μάκαρος τῷ δι' Ἑλλαδίου, τοῦ αὐτοῦ μαθητοῦ καὶ διαδόχου τῆς αὐτοῦ ἱεραρχίας, ὡς παρειστήκει ὁ ὅσιος τῇ τῆς δεσποίνης εἰκόνι, ἐν ᾗ καὶ ὁ χαρακτὴρ ἐγέγραπτο Μερκουρίου τοῦ ἀοιδίμου μάρτυρος· παρειστήκει δὲ ἐξαιτῶν τὴν Ἰουλιανοῦ τοῦ ἀθεωτάτου καὶ ἀποστάτου τυράννου ἀναίρεσιν. Ἐξ ἧς εἰκόνος ἐμυήθη ταύτης τὴν ἀποκάλυψιν· ἑώρα γὰρ πρὸς μὲν