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with this man assisting them and, according to the account of John, bringing the works to completion, who was called by the name of Patrikes, and was dignified with the honor of the patricians, having accomplished this one thing more splendidly, namely to erect a church in the bedchamber in the name of our most holy lady the Theotokos, and in the forecourt of such palaces 99 a triconch church, most beautiful in beauty and excelling many in size, and the middle part in the name of the archistrategos, and those on either side of it in the names of holy women martyrs. 10 And in such matters Theophilos seemed and was considered magnificent and wonderful; but towards us the faithful and those who venerate the sacred and divine icons, what a man! like some barbarian and harsh, striving to surpass all who were terrible in this. For those before him (and they were Leo and Michael his father), the one decreed that on none of the painted icons, even if they happened to be painted somewhere, should the word ‘holy’ be inscribed, as it is not fitting for this to be inscribed on anyone else than the divine, not hitting the mark well in his mind; for how, if God, having imparted to men—not by nature, but gods I say, if it was he himself who spoke through the prophet—the very word 'god', which is higher, will he deny them the word 'holy', which is much lower? However, the one, he says, had decreed this, but the other, Leo, that they should not even be venerated; but I, that they should not even be depicted in colors and be given form, since being base things one should not be excited by them, but should look to the truth alone. From this, then, the divine forms were taken down in every church, and in their place beasts and birds were set up and depicted, 100 exposing his beastly and slavish mind. From this, with profane hands through the marketplace the sacred treasures were insulted and otherwise cast down to the ground to be given to the fire, and precious things were considered common, as many as bore the divine forms engraved upon them. From this, the city prisons were full of those who held them in honor, of painters, of monks, of bishops, of shepherds, of the shepherded, and the mountains and caves were full of those who were killed as malefactors by hunger and thirst, and no less of those from a terrible siege. For having just commanded that the cities be kept inaccessible to monks, and having decreed that they be driven away everywhere as an abomination, and not even dare to be seen in the countryside, he made their monasteries and hermitages manifestly places of many men and secular lodgings. For some of them, not at all willing to betray virtue and the sacred habit, wasted away by hunger and hardships and died; but those who were not even able to look such a struggle in the face, disregarded their habits, and somehow managed their own salvation; and others, living more carelessly, embraced a relaxed and dissolute life, being unsparing of the divine hymns and odes and vestment, since the tyrant wished that not even these assemblies be held, which often alone are able to preserve and be a kind of bridle for those who slip disorderly into the passions. 101 11 However, the frankness and freedom of men was not seen to have departed entirely, but some of the more fervent, some one by one and some in groups, like those originating from the monastery of the Abramites, proved to him logically, both from the things said by our fathers, the divine Dionysius and Hierotheus and Irenaeus, that the way of life and state of monks was not devised yesterday or the day before, but is something ancient and primeval and lovely to men. And not only this, but they also proved that the depiction of divine icons was nurtured with and shared the life of the apostles, if indeed the divine Luke depicted the form of the Theotokos, and Christ himself, our lord and God, impressed his own on a certain cloth

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ἐκείνοις τούτου παρισταμένου καὶ κατὰ τὴν ̓Ιωάννου ἐξήγησιν τὰ τῶν εργων ἐκπερατοῦντος, ος ονο- μα μὲν Πατρίκης ουτω καλούμενος ὠνομάζετο, τῇ τῶν πατρικίων δὲ τιμῇ ἐσεμνύνετο, τοῦτο μόνον περιττότερον ἐργασάμενος, τὸ κατὰ τὸν κοιτῶνα μὲν ἀνεγεῖραι ναὸν εἰς ονομα ὑπεραγίας δεσποί- νης ἡμῶν θεοτόκου, κατὰ δὲ τὸ προαύλιον τῶν τοιούτων παλα- 99 τίων τὸν τρίκογχον ναὸν κάλλει τε κάλλιστον καὶ μεγέθει πολλῶν διαφέροντα, καὶ τὸ μὲν μέσον εἰς ονομα τοῦ ἀρχιστρατήγου, τὰ δὲ ἑκατέρωθεν τούτου εἰς μαρτύρων γυναικῶν ἁγίων ὀνόματα. 10 Καὶ περὶ μὲν τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐδόκει τε καὶ ἐνομίζετο με- γαλοπρεπὴς ὁ Θεόφιλος καὶ θαυμαστός· περὶ δὲ τοὺς πιστοὺς ἡμᾶς καὶ τοὺς τὰς σεπτὰς καὶ θείας εἰκόνας προσκυνοῦντας οιος! ὡς βάρβαρός τις καὶ αὐστηρός, πάντας παρελάσαι φιλονεικῶν ἐπὶ τούτῳ δεινούς. οἱ μὲν γὰρ πρὸ αὐτοῦ (Λέων δὲ ησαν καὶ Μιχαὴλ ὁ τούτου πατήρ) ὁ μὲν ἐθέσπισεν μή τινι τῶν γεγραμμέ- νων εἰκόνων, καν ει που γραφόμεναι τύχοιεν, τὴν αγιος φωνὴν ἐγχαράττεσθαι, ὡς οὐκ αλλῳ τινὶ ταύτην ἁρμόζει ἐπιγράφεσθαι η  τῷ θείῳ οὐκ εὐστόχως βαλὼν τῷ νῷ· πῶς γάρ, ειγε καὶ αὐτῆς τῆς θεὸς φωνῆς ὑψηλοτέρας ουσης μεταδοὺς ὁ θεὸς τοῖς ἀνθρώ- ποις, τοῖς οὐ φύσει, θεοῖς δέ φημι, ειγε αὐτὸς διὰ τοῦ προφήτου ην ὁ φθεγξάμενος, τῆς αγιος ἀποστερήσει ταπεινοτέρας ουσης κατὰ πολύ; πλὴν ὁ μὲν τοῦτο, φησί, θεσπίσας ην, ατερος δὲ ὁ Λέων τὸ μηδὲ προσκυνεῖσθαι· ἐγὼ δὲ τὸ μηδὲ χρώμασι ταύτας τυποῦσθαί τε καὶ μορφάζεσθαι, καθὸ χαμαιπετῆ οντα οὐ χρὴ πρὸς ταῦτα ἐπτοῆσθαι, πρὸς μόνην δὲ τὴν ἀλήθειαν σκοπεῖν. ἐντεῦθεν ουν καθῃροῦντο μὲν κατὰ πᾶσαν ἐκκλησίαν αἱ θεῖαι μορ- φαί, θηρία δὲ καὶ ορνιθες ἀντὶ τούτων ἀνεστηλοῦντο καὶ ἐνεγρά- 100 φοντο, τὴν θηριώδη καὶ ἀνδραποδώδη τούτου διάνοιαν ἐξελέγχον- τα. ἐντεῦθεν βεβήλοις χερσὶ δι' ἀγορᾶς τὰ ἱερὰ κειμήλια ἐφυ- βρίζοντο καὶ αλλως ἐρριπτοῦντο κατὰ τῆς γῆς πυρὶ διδόμενα, καὶ κοινὰ τὰ τίμια ἐλογίζοντο, οσα τὰς θείας εφερον ἐγκεκολαμμένας μορφάς. ἐντεῦθεν πλήρη μὲν τὰ πολιτικὰ δεσμωτήρια τῶν διὰ τιμῆς ἀγόντων αὐτάς, τῶν γραφόντων, τῶν μοναζόντων, τῶν ἐπισκόπων, τῶν ποιμένων, τῶν ποιμαινομένων, πλήρη δὲ τὰ ορη τε καὶ τὰ σπήλαια τῶν ὡς κακούργων ἀναιρεθέντων λιμῷ τε καὶ δίψει, καὶ τῶν ἐκ πολιορκίας δεινῆς οὐκ ἐπ' ελαττον. αρτι γὰρ ἀβάτους τηρεῖσθαι τοῖς μοναχοῖς τὰς πόλεις ἐγκελευσάμενος, καὶ πάντῃ τούτους ὡς ἀποτρόπαιον ἀπελαύνεσθαι θεσπίσας, ἀλλὰ μηδὲ κατὰ χώραν ὁρᾶσθαι τολμᾶν, εἰργάσατο τούτων τὰ μονα- στήρια καὶ ἡσυχαστήρια περιφανῶς πολυάνδρια καὶ κοσμικὰ καταγώγια. τινὲς μὲν γὰρ αὐτῶν προδοῦναι τὴν ἀρετὴν καὶ τὸ ἱερὸν ενδυμα οὐμενοῦν θέλοντες λιμῷ τακέντες καὶ κακουχίαις ἐξέλιπον· οἱ δὲ πρὸς τοσοῦτον ἀγῶνα μηδ' ἀντοφθαλμεῖν δυνά- μενοι τῶν ἐνδυμάτων μὲν κατωλιγώρησαν, τὴν ἑαυτῶν δὲ σωτη- ρίαν πως ᾠκονόμησαν· ετεροι δὲ ῥᾳθυμότερον διαζῶντες τὸν ανε- τον καὶ ἐκλελυμένον ἠσπάσαντο βίον, τῶν θείων υμνων καὶ ᾠδῶν καὶ ἐσθήματος ἀφειδήσαντες, τὸ μηδὲ τούτους τελεῖσθαι τοὺς συλλόγους τὸν τύραννον βούλεσθαι, α  πολλάκις καὶ μόνα δύναν- ται τηρεῖν καὶ οιον χαλινός τις ειναι τοῖς πρὸς τὰ πάθη ἀτάκτως κατολισθαίνουσιν. 101 11 Πλὴν οὐκ ην πάντῃ τὴν παρρησίαν καὶ ἐλευθερίαν ἰδεῖν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀποφοιτήσασαν, ἀλλὰ τῶν θερμοτέρων τινὲς μὲν καθ' εις τινὲς δὲ συστάδην, ὡς οἱ τῆς τῶν ̓Αβρααμιτῶν μονῆς ὁρμώμενοι, αὐτῷ λογικῶς εκ τε τῶν εἰρημένων τοῖς πατράσιν ἡμῶν ∆ιονυσίῳ τε τῷ θείῳ καὶ ̔Ιεροθέῳ καὶ Εἰρηναίῳ ἀπεδείκνυον ὡς οὐ χθὲς καὶ πρῴην ἡ τῶν μοναχῶν πολιτεία τε καὶ κατάστασις ἐπινενόηται, παλαιὰ δέ τις καὶ ἀρχέγονος καὶ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐπέραστος. οὐ μὴν δὲ ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν θείων εἰκόνων ἐκτύπωσιν σύντροφόν τε τῶν ἀποστόλων καὶ ὁμοδίαιτον ἀπεδείκνυον, ειγε Λουκᾶς μὲν ὁ θεῖος τὴν τῆς θεοτόκου μορφὴν ἐνετύπωσεν, αὐτὸς δὲ Χριστὸς ὁ δεσπότης ἡμῶν καὶ θεὸς τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἐπί τινος ὀθό- νης ἀπομαξάμενος