40

it being a custom among them, they being accustomed to honor in this manner. From the same author, from the ninth book of the same History, concerning the emperor Constantine: Being very well aware of the help from God, he immediately commanded the trophy of the saving passion to be set up under the hand of his own statue, and indeed, having set up his statue holding the saving sign in its right hand, especially in the most public places of Rome, he ordered this very inscription to be engraved in these very words in the Roman tongue: "By this saving sign, the true proof of courage, I have liberated your city, saved from the tyrant; and moreover, I have also freed and restored the senate and the people of Rome to their ancient distinction and splendor." From the Ecclesiastical History of Socrates, book one, chapter 18, concerning the same emperor: After this, the emperor Constantine, being more attentive to Christian matters, turned away from the Greek religions, and he stopped the gladiatorial contests, and he set up his own images in the temples. From Stephen of Bostra, Against the Jews, chapter 4. But we have made the images of the saints in memory of the saints, such as Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Moses and Elijah and Zachariah and the rest of the prophets and holy martyrs who were slain for his sake, so that everyone who sees their images may remember them and glorify him who glorified them. From the same: And concerning images we are confident, that every work done in the name of God is good and holy. But concerning idols and statues, away with them; for they are evil and strange, both they and those who make them. For an image of a holy prophet is one thing, and a statue or image of Cronus and Aphrodite, of the Sun and of the Moon, is another. And since man was made in the image of God, he is venerated. But the serpent, since it is an image of the devil, is unclean and to be rejected. But if you reject things made by hand, tell me, O Jew: What on earth is not made by hand, that is venerated? Was the ark of God not made by hand? The altar and the mercy seat and the cherubim and the golden jar containing the manna and the table and the inner tabernacle and all the things that were called Holy of Holies by God? Were not the cherubim made by hand, images of angels? What do you say? If you call them idols, what do you say to Moses who venerated them, and to Israel? And veneration is a symbol of honor. Just as we sinners venerate God according to divine worship and worthy adoration, we glorify and tremble before him as our maker and provider, but we venerate the angels and servants of God in honor of God as creations of God and his servants; for an image is the name and likeness of the one depicted in it. Wherefore by letters and engravings we always commemorate the sufferings of the Lord and the holy prophets who are written of in the law and the gospels. From Saint Gregory of Nazianzus, from the Oration against Julian the Apostate: The symbols of his plague on this account the images still bear, being publicly displayed. From Chrysostom, from the interpretation of the righteous Job: "In all these things that happened to him, he did not attribute folly to God." Just as in the case of images, when we write something in historical writing, we write, "So-and-so dedicated," so also here, having written the image of his soul, the one who wrote the book, as if writing an inscription below in a small space, says: "In all these things that happened to him, Job did not sin." From the Life of Saint Constantine, book 4: And with how much divinely-inspired power of faith his soul was strengthened, one might learn by considering this also, how on his gold coins he himself depicted his own image, so that he seemed to be looking upward, stretched out

40

συνηθείας οὔσης παρ' αὐτοῖς, τοῦτον τιμᾶν εἰωθότων τὸν τρόπον. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐκ τῆς αὐτῆς Ἱστορίας ἐνάτου βιβλίου εἰς τὸν βασιλέα Κωνσταντῖνον· Εὖ μάλα τῆς ἐκ θεοῦ συνῃσθημένος βοηθείας, αὐτίκα τοῦ σωτηρίου τρόπαιον πάθους ὑπὸ χεῖρα ἰδίας εἰκόνος ἀνατιθέναι προστάττει, καὶ δὴ τὸ σωτήριον σημεῖον ἐν τῇ δεξιᾷ κατέχοντα αὐτόν, μάλιστα ἑστώτων ἐπὶ Ῥώμης δεδημοσιευμένων τόπων στήσαντας αὐτὴν δὴ ταύτην παραγραφὴν ἐν τάξει ῥήμασιν αὐτοῖς τῇ Ῥωμαίων κελεῦσαι φωνῇ· «Τούτῳ τῷ σωτηριώδει, τῷ ἀληθεῖ ἐλέγχῳ τῆς ἀνδρείας, τὴν πόλιν ὑμῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ τυράννου διασωθεῖσαν ἠλευθέρωσα, ἔτι μὴν καὶ τὴν σύγκλητον καὶ τὸν δῆμον Ῥωμαίων τῇ ἀρχαίᾳ ἐπιφανείᾳ καὶ λαμπρότητι ἐλευθερώσας ἀποκατέστησα.» Ἐκ τῆς ἐκκλησιαστικῆς ἱστορίας Σωκράτους, βιβλίου πρώτου, κεφαλαίου ιηʹ, περὶ τοῦ αὐτοῦ βασιλέως· Μετὰ ταῦτα δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς Κωνσταντῖνος ἐπιμελέστερος ὢν τὰ περὶ χριστιανισμοῦ ἀπεστράφη τὰς Ἑλληνικὰς θρησκείας, καὶ παύει μὲν τὰ μονομάχια, εἰκόνας δὲ τὰς ἰδίας ἐν τοῖς ναοῖς ἀπέθετο. Στεφάνου Βοστρηνοῦ κατὰ Ἰουδαίων κεφ. δʹ. Ἡμεῖς δὲ τὰς εἰκόνας τῶν ἁγίων εἰς μνήμην τῶν ἁγίων ἐποιήσαμεν, οἷον Ἀβραὰμ καὶ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ Ἰακὼβ καὶ Μωσέως καὶ Ἡλία καὶ Ζαχαρίοκαὶ τῶν λοιπῶν προφητῶν καὶ ἁγίων μαρτύρων τῶν δι' αὐτὸν ἀναιρεθέντων, ἵνα πᾶς ὁ ὁρῶν αὐτῶν τὰς εἰκόνας μνημονεύῃ αὐτῶν καὶ δοξάζῃ τὸν δοξάσαντα αὐτούς. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ· Περὶ δὲ εἰκόνων θαρροῦμεν, ὅτι πᾶν ἔργον γινόμενον ἐν ὀνόματι θεοῦ καλὸν καὶ ἅγιόν ἐστι. Περὶ δὲ εἰδώλων καὶ ἀγαλμάτων, ἄπαγε· κακὰ γὰρ καὶ ἀλλόκοτα καὶ αὐτὰ καὶ οἱ ποιοῦντες αὐτά. Ἕτερον γάρ ἐστιν εἰκὼν ἁγίου προφήτου, καὶ ἕτερον ἄγαλμα ἢ ζῷδον Κρόνου καὶ Ἀφροδίτης Ἡλίου τε καὶ Σελήνης. Ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ ἄνθρωπος κατ' εἰκόνα θεοῦ γέγονε, προσκυνεῖται. Ὁ δὲ ὄφις, ἐπειδὴ εἰκών ἐστι διαβόλου, ἀκάθαρτός ἐστι καὶ ἀπόβλητος. Εἰ δὲ τὰ χειροποίητα ἀποβάλλῃ, εἰπέ, ὦ Ἰουδαῖε· Τί ἐστιν ἐπὶ γῆς ἀχειροποίητον, ὃ προσκυνεῖται; Μὴ ἡ κιβωτὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ἀχειροποίητος ἦν; Τὸ θυσιαστήριον καὶ τὸ ἱλαστήριον καὶ τὰ χερουβὶμ καὶ ἡ στάμνος ἡ χρυσῆ ἡ ἔχουσα τὸ μάννα καὶ ἡ τράπεζα καὶ ἡ σκηνὴ ἡ ἐσωτέρα καὶ πάντα, ἃ Ἅγια ἁγίων ἐκλήθησαν ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ; Οὐκ ἦσαν τὰ χερουβὶμ χειροποίητα, εἰκόνες ἀγγέλων; Τί λέγεις; Εἰ εἴδωλα ἀποκαλεῖς αὐτά, τί λέγεις τῷ Μωσῇ προσκυνήσαντι καὶ τῷ Ἰσραήλ; Καὶ ἡ μὲν προσκύνησις τιμῆς ἐστι σύμβολον. Καθὼς καὶ ἡμεῖς οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ προσκυνοῦμεν τὸν μὲν θεὸν κατὰ τὴν θεϊκὴν λατρείαν καὶ ἀξίαν προσκύνησιν δοξάζομεν καὶ τρέμομεν ὡς ποιητὴν καὶ χορηγὸν ἡμῶν, τοὺς δὲ ἀγγέλους καὶ δούλους τοῦ θεοῦ κατὰ τιμὴν τοῦ θεοῦ ὡς ποιήματα τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ δούλους αὐτοῦ· εἰκὼν γάρ ἐστιν ὄνομα καὶ ὁμοίωσις τοῦ ἐν αὐτῇ γραφέντος. ∆ιὸ καὶ γράμμασι καὶ χαράγμασιν ἀεὶ μνημονεύομεν τῶν τοῦ κυρίου παθημάτων καὶ τῶν ἁγίων προφητῶν τῶν ἐν νόμῳ καὶ εὐαγγελίοις γεγραμμένων. Τοῦ ἁγίου Γρηγορίου Ναζιανζοῦ ἐκ τοῦ λόγου τοῦ κατὰ Ἰουλιανοῦ τοῦ παραβάτου· Οὗ τὰ σύμβολα τῆς ἐπὶ τούτῳ πληγῆς αἱ εἰκόνες φέρουσιν ἔτι δημόσιαι προκείμεναι. Τοῦ Χρυσοστόμου ἐκ τῆς ἑρμηνείας τοῦ δικαίου Ἰώβ· «Ἐν τούτοις πᾶσι τοῖς συμβεβηκόσιν αὐτῷ οὐκ ἔδωκεν ἀφροσύνην τῷ θεῷ.» Καθάπερ ἐπὶ τῶν εἰκόνων, ἐπειδάν τινα γράφωμεν ἐν τῇ ἱστορικῇ γραφῇ, «Ὁ δεῖνα ἀνέθηκε» γράφομεν, οὕτω καὶ ἐνταῦθα, τὴν εἰκόνα τῆς ψυχῆς αὐτοῦ γράψας, ὁ γράψας τὸ βιβλίον ὥσπερ ἐν χοινικίδι κάτωθεν ὑπογράφων λέγει· «Ἐν τούτοις πᾶσι τοῖς συμβεβηκόσιν αὐτῷ οὐχ ἥμαρτεν Ἰώβ.» Ἐκ τοῦ βίου τοῦ ἁγίου Κωνσταντίνου, βιβλίου δʹ· Ὅσῃ δὲ αὐτοῦ ἡ ψυχὴ πίστεως ἐνθέου ἐστήρικτο δυνάμει, μάθοι ἄν τις καὶ ἐκ τοῦδε λογιζόμενος, ὡς ἐν τοῖς χρυσοῖς νομίσμασιν αὐτὸς τὴν αὐτοῦ εἰκόνα διεγράφετο, ὡς ἄνω βλέπειν δοκεῖν ἀνατεταμένην