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For things done by violence and not by persuasion are robberies. And a witness is the second synod held in Ephesus, which to this day has received the name of "robber synod," having been forced by the imperial hand, when the blessed Flavian was killed. These things are for synods, not for emperors, as the Lord said: "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them." Christ did not give the authority to bind and to loose to emperors, but to the apostles and to their successors and shepherds and teachers. "But though an angel," says Paul the apostle, "preach any other gospel unto you than that which you have received;" and we will be silent about the rest, out of consideration, awaiting conversion. But if we see the perversion to be irreversible, then we will add what is left; but may this be averted. If someone were to enter a house, in which a painter has painted on the walls the story of Moses and Pharaoh with colors, and then he should ask, for instance, about those who passed through the sea as on dry land: "Who are these?" What will you say when asked? Will you not say: "The sons of Israel?" "Who is the one striking the sea with a rod?" Will you not say: "Moses?" So too, if someone should depict Christ crucified, and be asked: "Who is this?" "Christ the God, who was incarnate for us," he will say. Yes, Lord, I venerate all that is yours and embrace it with burning desire, the divinity, the power, the goodness, the mercy toward me, the condescension, the incarnation, the flesh. And just as I am afraid to touch red-hot iron, not because of the nature of the iron, but because of the fire united to it, so I venerate your flesh, not because of the nature of the flesh, but because of the divinity united to it in substance. We venerate your sufferings. Who has seen a venerated death, who has seen revered sufferings? But truly we venerate the bodily death of my God and the saving sufferings, we venerate your image; we venerate all that is yours, your servants, your friends, and before these, the mother, the Theotokos. Therefore I beseech the people of God, the holy nation, to hold fast to the ecclesiastical traditions; for the gradual removal of things handed down, like stones from a building, quickly brings the whole building crashing down. May we remain steadfast, unbending, unshaken, established on a strong rock, which is Christ, to whom belongs glory, honor, and worship with the Father and the Spirit both now and ever and unto the endless ages of ages. Amen. 3,55 From the Philotheus Historia of Theodoret, bishop of Cyrus, on the life of Saint Symeon the Stylite: For it is superfluous to speak of Italy. For they say that the man became so famous in great Rome, that in all the entrances of the workshops they set up small images of him, providing for themselves a certain protection and security from them. From Saint Basil, from the commentary on Isaiah: Since he saw man in the image and likeness of God, being unable to turn against God, he poured out his own wickedness upon the image of God; just as if some angry man were to stone the image, since he is not able to [stone] the emperor, striking the wood that bears the likeness. (Scholion) Thus also everyone who honors the image clearly honors the archetype. From the same, from the same commentary: For just as one who insults the emperor's image is judged as having sinned against the emperor himself, so clearly he who insults the one made in the image is liable for the sin. From Saint Athanasius, from the one hundred chapters written to Antiochus the governor, in question and answer, chapter 38: Answer: We the faithful do not venerate the images as gods, God forbid, as the Greeks do, but only showing the disposition and desire of our love toward the character of the face of the image. Whence, often when the character has been worn away, we burn the former image as now useless wood. Just as, therefore, Jacob, when he was about to die, "upon the

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λῃστρικὰ γὰρ τὰ βίᾳ καὶ οὐ πειθοῖ γινόμενα. Καὶ μάρτυς ἡ ἐν Ἐφέσῳ τὸ δεύτερον γεγενημένη σύνοδος, μέχρι δεῦρο λῃστρικὴν δεδεγμένη τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν, βασιλικῇ χειρὶ ἐκβιασθεῖσα, ὅτε Φλαβιανὸς ὁ μακάριος ἀπεκτέννυτο. Συνόδων ταῦτα, οὐ βασιλέων, ὡς ὁ κύριος ἔφησεν· «Ὅπου συναχθῶσι δύο ἢ τρεῖς ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματί μου, ἐκεῖ εἰμι ἐν μέσῳ αὐτῶν.» Οὐ βασιλεῦσι τοῦ δεσμεῖν καὶ λύειν τὴν ἐξουσίαν δέδωκεν ὁ Χριστός, ἀλλ' ἀποστόλοις καὶ τοῖς τούτων διαδόχοις καὶ ποιμέσι καὶ διδασκάλοις. «Κἂν ἄγγελος», φησὶ Παῦλος ὁ ἀπόστολος, «εὐαγγελίσηται ὑμᾶς παρ' ὃ παρελάβετε·» καὶ τὸ ἑξῆς σιωπήσομεν φειδοῖ τὴν ἐπιστροφὴν ἐκδεχόμενοι. Ἂν δὲ ἴδωμεν τὴν διαστροφὴν ἀνεπίστροφον, τότε ἐπάξομεν καὶ τὸ λειπόμενον· ἀλλ' ἀπηύχθω τοῦτο. Εἴ τις εἰσέλθοι εἰς οἶκον, ἐν ᾧ ζωγράφος τοῖς τοίχοις ἱστορίαν Μωσέως καὶ Φαραὼ ἔγραψε χρώμασιν, εἶτα ἐρωτήσει τυχὸν περὶ τῶν ὡς ἐπὶ ξηρὰν διοδευσάντων τὴν θάλασσαν· «Τίνες οὗτοί εἰσιν;» Τί ἐρεῖς ἐρωτώμενος; Οὐχί· «Οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰσραήλ;» «Τίς ὁ ῥάβδῳ παίων τὴν θάλασσαν;» Οὐχί· «Μωσῆς;» Οὕτω καί, εἴ τις τὸν Χριστὸν εἰκονίσει σταυρούμενον, καὶ ἐρωτηθῇ· «Τίς οὗτός ἐστιν;» «Χριστὸς ὁ θεός, ὁ δι' ἡμᾶς σαρκωθείς», ἐρεῖ. Ναί, δέσποτα, προσ κυνῶ πάντα τὰ σὰ καὶ πόθῳ ἐκκαεῖ περιπτύσσομαι, τὴν θεότητα, τὴν δύναμιν, τὴν ἀγαθότητα, τὸν περὶ ἐμὲ ἔλεον, τὴν συγκατάβασιν, τὴν σάρκωσιν, τὴν σάρκα. Καὶ ὥσπερ ἅψασθαι σιδήρου πεπυρακτωμένου δέδοικα οὐ διὰ τὴν τοῦ σιδήρου φύσιν, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸ ἡνωμένον αὐτῷ πῦρ, οὕτω τὴν σάρκα τὴν σὴν προσκυνῶ οὐ διὰ τὴν τῆς σαρκὸς φύσιν, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν καθ' ὑπόστασιν ἡνωμένην αὐτῇ θεότητα. Προσκυνοῦμέν σου τὰ πάθη. Τίς εἶδε θάνατον προσκυνούμενον, τίς πάθη σεπτά; Ἀλλ' ὄντως προσκυνοῦμεν τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ μου σωματικὸν θάνατον καὶ τὰ σωτήρια πάθη, προσκυνοῦμέν σου τὴν εἰκόνα· πάντα τὰ σὰ προσκυνοῦμεν, τοὺς θεράποντας, τοὺς φίλους καὶ πρὸ τούτων τὴν μητέρα τὴν θεοτόκον. ∆ιὸ δυσωπῶ τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ λαόν, τὸ ἔθνος τὸ ἅγιον, τῶν ἐκκλησιαστικῶν ἀνθέξεσθαι παραδόσεων· ἡ γὰρ κατὰ μικρὸν τῶν παραδεδομένων ἀφαίρεσις ὡς ἐξ οἰκοδομῆς λίθων θᾶττον ἅπασαν τὴν οἰκοδομὴν καταρρήγνυσιν. Εἴη δὲ ἡμᾶς ἑδραίους, ἀκαμπεῖς, ἀκλονήτους διαμένειν, ἐπὶ πέτραν ὀχυρὰν ἐστηριγμένους, ἥτις ἐστὶν ὁ Χριστός, ᾧ πρέπει δόξα, τιμὴ καὶ προσκύνησις σὺν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ τῷ πνεύματι νῦν τε καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς ἀπεράντους αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν. 3,55 Ἐκ τῆς Φιλοθέου ἱστορίας Θεοδωρήτου, ἐπισκόπου Κύρου, εἰς τὸν βίον τοῦ ἁγίου Συμεῶνος τοῦ Κιονίτου· Περὶ γὰρ Ἰταλίας περιττόν ἐστι καὶ λέγειν. Φασὶ γὰρ οὕτως ἐν Ῥώμῃ τῇ μεγίστῃ πολυθρύλλητον γενέσθαι τὸν ἄνδρα, ὡς ἐν ἅπασι τοῖς τῶν ἐργαστηρίων προπυλαίοις εἰκόνας αὐτῷ βραχείας ἀναστῆσαι, φυλακήν τινα σφίσιν αὐτοῖς καὶ ἀσφάλειαν ἐντεῦθεν πορίζοντας. Τοῦ ἁγίου Βασιλείου ἐκ τῆς εἰς τὸν Ἡσαΐαν ἑρμηνείας· Ἐπειδὴ εἶδε τὸν ἄνθρωπον κατ' εἰκόνα καὶ ὁμοίωσιν θεοῦ, μὴ δυνάμενος εἰς θεὸν τραπῆναι, εἰς τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ πονηρίαν ἐκένωσεν· ὥσπερ εἴ τις ἄνθρωπος ὀργιζόμενος τὴν εἰκόνα λιθάζοι, ἐπειδὴ τὸν βασιλέα οὐ δύναται, τὸ ξύλον τύπτων τὸ τὴν μίμησιν ἔχον. (Σχόλιον) Οὕτω καὶ πᾶς ὁ τιμῶν τὴν εἰκόνα τὸ ἀρχέτυπον δηλονότι τιμᾷ. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τῆς αὐτῆς ἑρμηνείας· Ὥσπερ γὰρ ὁ βασιλικὴν εἰκόνα καθυβρίσας ὡς εἰς αὐτὸν ἐξαμαρτήσας τὸν βασιλέα κρίνεται, οὕτω δηλονότι ὑπόδικός ἐστι τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ὁ τὸν κατ' εἰκόνα γεγενημένον καθυβρίζων. Τοῦ ἁγίου Ἀθανασίου ἐκ τῶν γραφέντων ἑκατὸν κεφαλαίων πρὸς Ἀντίοχον τὸν ἄρχοντα κατὰ πεῦσιν καὶ ἀπόκρισιν κεφάλαιον ληʹ· Ἀπόκρισις· Οὐχ ὡς θεοὺς τὰς εἰκόνας προσκυνοῦμεν οἱ πιστοί, μὴ γένοιτο, ὥσπερ οἱ Ἕλληνες, ἀλλὰ τὴν σχέσιν μόνον καὶ τὸν πόθον τῆς ἡμῶν ἀγάπης πρὸς τὸν χαρακτῆρα τοῦ προσώπου τῆς εἰκόνος ἐμφανίζοντες. Ὅθεν πολλάκις τοῦ χαρακτῆρος λεανθέντος ὡς ξύλον λοιπὸν ἀργὸν τήν ποτε εἰκόνα κατακαίομεν. Ὥσπερ οὖν ὁ Ἰακὼβ μέλλων τελευτᾶν «ἐπὶ τὸ