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You shudder and you blush, seeing me every day in the whole world destroying temples of idols and raising up temples of martyrs. If I were to venerate the idols, why do I honor the martyrs who destroyed the idols? And if I glorify pieces of wood, as you say, how do I honor the saints who burned the wooden images of demons? And if I also glorify stones, how do I glorify the apostles who broke the stone idols? If I reverence the images of the falsely-named gods, how do I glorify and praise and celebrate the feasts of the three children who contended in Babylon and did not venerate the golden, idolatrous image? But truly great is the hardness of heart of the lawless, great is their blindness. O Jew, great is your shamelessness and your impiety; truly the truth is wronged by you. "Arise, O God, judge your cause;" judge and deliver us from a nation not holy, but unholy and alien and provoking you always. Of the same; If, then, as I have often said, I were to venerate wood and stone as a god, I too would have said to the wood and stone: "You have begotten me." But if I venerate the images of the saints, or rather the saints themselves, and I venerate and honor the struggles of the holy martyrs, how can you say these are idols, O foolish one? For idols are likenesses of the falsely-named, of adulterers and murderers and child-sacrificers and the effeminate, and not of prophets nor of apostles. And so that I may in part present to you a brief and most faithful example concerning Christian and Greek likenesses, listen. In Babylon the Chaldeans had all sorts of musical instruments for the worship of idols of demons, and the sons of Israel from Jerusalem also had instruments, which they hung on the willows; and both were instruments, and harps and lyres and flutes existed, but the ones were for the glory of God, and the others were counterfeit for the worship of demons. Thus, then, also concerning the Greek and Christian images and idols, understand that those were made for the glory and memory of the devil, but these for the glory of Christ and of his apostles and martyrs and saints. Of the same; Therefore, when you see a Christian venerating the cross, know that he venerates on account of Christ who was crucified and not the nature of the wood. Since otherwise we would have venerated all the wood of the field, and just as Israel used to venerate the groves and the trees, saying: "You are my god, and you have begotten me." But we are not so, but we have a remembrance and a depiction of the sufferings of the Lord and of those who contended for him; in the churches and houses we have everything, doing it all for him, our Lord. And again, tell me, O Jew, what scripture permitted Moses to bow down to Jethro, his father-in-law, who was an idolater, and Jacob to Pharaoh and Abraham to the sons of Hamor and Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar who was impious? And if they, righteous men and prophets <ὄντες> for the sake of a worldly and temporary life, did these things, how do you accuse me for venerating the holy written and historical memorials of the saints and their sufferings and contests, from which I am benefited daily and await eternal and everlasting life? From the Ecclesiastical History of Theodorus, fourth volume; And under this consulate, during the month of December, on its thirtieth and fifth day, a fearful and extraordinary wonder occurred, which astounded every human ear. For a certain Olympius by name, the attendant of Euthymius, the leader of the Arian religion, dancing lewdly in the bath of the Helenianae palace by the anointing room, and seeing some of the bathers revering the doctrine of the homoousion, spoke in these very words: "For what is the trinity? And on what wall is it not inscribed?" And grabbing his own private parts, he said: "Behold, I too have a trinity," so that those present were moved and about to lay hands on him; but they were restrained by a certain Magnus,

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φρίττεις καὶ ἐρυθριᾷς, ὁρῶν με καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ἐν πάσῃ τῇ οἰκουμένῃ ναοὺς εἰδώλων καταλύοντα καὶ ναοὺς μαρτύρων ἀνεγείροντα. Εἰ τὰ εἴδωλα προσεκύνουν, διατί τοὺς μάρτυρας τιμῶ τοὺς καταλύσαντας τὰ εἴδωλα; Εἰ δὲ τὰ ξύλα, ὡς φῄς, δοξάζω, πῶς τιμῶ τοὺς ἁγίους τοὺς τὰ ξύλινα ξόανα τῶν δαιμόνων κατακαύσαντας; Εἰ δὲ καὶ τοὺς λίθους δοξάζω, πῶς δοξάζω τοὺς ἀποστόλους τοὺς τὰ λίθινα εἴδωλα κατακλάσαντας; Εἰ τὰς εἰκόνας τῶν ψευδωνύμων θεῶν σέβω, πῶς δοξάζω καὶ ἐπαινῶ καὶ ἑορτὰς ἐπιτελῶ τῶν τριῶν παίδων τῶν ἐν Βαβυλῶνι ἀθλησάντων καὶ τῇ εἰκόνι τῇ χρυσῇ μὴ προσκυνησάντων τῇ εἰδωλικῇ; Ἀλλ' ὄντως πολλὴ τῶν ἀνόμων ἡ πώρωσις, πολλὴ τύφλωσις. Ὦ Ἰουδαῖε, πολλὴ ἡ ἀναίδειά σου καὶ ἡ ἀσέβεια· ἀληθῶς ἀδικεῖται ὑπὸ σοῦ ἡ ἀλήθεια. «Ἀνάστα, ὁ θεός, δίκασον τὴν δίκην σου·» κρῖνον καὶ δίκασον ἡμῖν ἐξ ἔθνους οὐχ ὁσίου, ἀλλὰ ἀνοσίου καὶ ἀλλοτρίου καὶ παροξύνοντός σε διὰ παντός. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ· Εἰ μὲν οὖν, ὡς πολλάκις εἶπον, τῷ ξύλῳ καὶ τῷ λίθῳ ὡς θεῷ προσεκύνουν, εἶπα ἂν κἀγὼ τῷ ξύλῳ καὶ λίθῳ· «Σύ με ἐγέννησας.» Εἰ δὲ τὰς εἰκόνας τῶν ἁγίων προσκυνῶ, τοὺς ἁγίους μᾶλλον, καὶ προσκυνῶ τὰς τῶν ἁγίων μαρτύρων ἀθλήσεις καὶ τιμῶ, πῶς λέγεις εἴδωλα ταῦτα, ὦ ἀνόητε; Τὰ γὰρ εἴδωλα τῶν ψευδωνύμων, τῶν μοιχῶν καὶ φονευτῶν καὶ τεκνοθυτῶν καὶ μαλακῶν ὁμοιώματά εἰσι καὶ οὐ προφητῶν οὐδὲ ἀποστόλων. Καὶ ἵνα ἐκ μέρους παραστήσω σοι σύντομον καὶ πιστότατον ὑπόδειγμα περὶ χριστιανικῶν καὶ Ἑλληνικῶν ὁμοιωμάτων, ἄκουσον. Εἶχον ἐν Βαβυλῶνι οἱ Χαλδαῖοι ὄργανα παντοῖα μουσικὰ πρὸς θεραπείαν εἰδώλων δαιμόνων, εἶχον δὲ καὶ οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰσραὴλ ἀπὸ Ἱερουσαλὴμ ὄργανα, ἃ ἐπὶ ταῖς ἰτέαις ἐκρέμασαν· καὶ ἀμφότερα ὄργανα καὶ νάβλαι καὶ κιθάραι καὶ αὐλοὶ ὑπῆρχον, ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν εἰς δόξαν θεοῦ ἐγένοντο, τὰ δὲ εἰς θεραπείαν τῶν δαιμόνων ἀντίμιμα. Οὕτω λοιπὸν καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν εἰκόνων καὶ εἰδώλων Ἑλληνικῶν καὶ χριστιανικῶν νόει, ὅτι ἐκεῖνα μὲν εἰς δόξαν διαβόλου καὶ μνήμην κατεσκευάσθησαν, ταῦτα δὲ εἰς δόξαν Χριστοῦ καὶ ἀποστόλων καὶ μαρτύρων καὶ ἁγίων αὐτοῦ. Τοῦ αὐτοῦ· Ὅταν τοίνυν ἴδῃς χριστιανὸν προσκυνοῦντα τῷ σταυρῷ, γνῶθι, ὅτι διὰ Χριστὸν τὸν σταυρωθέντα καὶ οὐ τὴν φύσιν τοῦ ξύλου προσκυνεῖ. Ἐπεὶ πάντα ἂν τὰ ξύλα προσεκυνοῦμεν τοῦ ἀγροῦ, καὶ ὥσπερ ὁ Ἰσραὴλ προσεκύνει τὰ ἄλση καὶ τὰ δένδρα λέγων· «Σύ μου εἶ θεός, καὶ σύ με ἐγέννησας.» Ἡμεῖς δὲ οὐχ οὕτως, ἀλλὰ μνήμην καὶ γραφὴν ἔχομεν τῶν τοῦ κυρίου παθημάτων καὶ τῶν δι' αὐτὸν ἀθλησάντων ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις καὶ οἴκοις ἔχομεν πάντα δι' αὐτὸν ποιοῦντες, τὸν ἡμέτερον κύριον. Καὶ αὖθις, εἰπέ, ὦ Ἰουδαῖε, ποία γραφὴ ἐπέτρεψε Μωσεῖ προσκυνῆσαι Ἰοθόρ, τῷ γαμβρῷ αὐτοῦ, εἰδωλολάτρῃ ὄντι, καὶ Ἰακὼβ τῷ Φαραὼ καὶ Ἀβραὰμ τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἐμμὼρ καὶ ∆ανιὴλ τῷ Ναβουχοδονόσορ ἀσεβεῖ ὄντι; Καὶ εἰ ἐκεῖνοι δίκαιοι καὶ προφῆται <ὄντες> διὰ κοσμικὴν καὶ πρόσκαιρον ζωὴν ταῦτα ἐποίουν, πῶς ἐμοὶ ἐγκαλεῖς προσκυνοῦντι ταῖς ἁγίαις τῶν ἁγίων μνήμαις γραφικαῖς καὶ ἱστορικαῖς καὶ τὰ πάθη καὶ τὰς ἀθλήσεις, ἐξ ὧν καθ' ἡμέραν εὐεργετοῦμαι καὶ αἰώνιον καὶ ἀΐδιον ζωὴν ἐκδέχομαι; Τῆς ἐκκλησιαστικῆς ἱστορίας Θεοδώρου δʹ τόμου· Ὑπὸ δὲ ταύτην τὴν ὑπατείαν κατὰ τὸν μῆνα τὸν ∆εκέμβριον, ἔχοντα αὐτὸν τριακάδα καὶ πέμπτην ἡμέραν, θαῦμα φοβερὸν καὶ ἐξαίσιον πᾶσάν τε ἀκοὴν ἀνθρώπων καταπλῆττον γεγένηται. Ὀλύμπιος γάρ τις τοὔνομα Εὐθυμίου τοῦ τῆς Ἀρείου θρησκείας ἐξάρχοντος τὸν βαδιστὴν παραχορεύων ἐν τῷ λουτρῷ τοῦ παλατίου Ἑλενιανῶν γενόμενος κατὰ τὸν προμαλάττοντα καὶ θεασάμενός τινας τῶν λουομένων τὴν τοῦ ὁμοουσίου δόξαν σεμνύνοντας ἔφη αὐταῖς λέξεσιν οὕτως· «Τί γάρ ἐστιν ἡ τριάς; Ποίῳ δὲ τοίχῳ οὐκ ἐπιγέγραπται;» Καὶ κρατήσας τῶν ἑαυτοῦ ἀναγκαίων ἔφη· «Ἴδε, κἀγὼ τριάδα ἔχω», ὥστε κινηθέντας τοὺς ἐκεῖ εὑρεθέντας μέλλειν αὐτὸν διαχειρίζεσθαι· ἀλλ' εἴρχθησαν ὑπό τινος Μάγνου,