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the one imprisoned, the one isolated, the one straitened, the one snatched away from every face, the one lacking necessities, the one hungering, the one thirsting, the one not receiving the sun's ray, dying daily, as Paul cries out, and being put to death all the day long, as David sings. But if we die, we shall also live with Christ; if we endure, we shall also reign with Him. In former times grace chose those whom it chose for the martyrdom of Christ, from generation to generation martyrs arise; for it is necessary that temptations come, Christ said, so that the elect may shine forth like the sun and the tares may be made manifest like the night. Let us become, O brothers, in this crooked and perverse generation as luminaries shining for those in the dark moon of heresy, just as Christ chose us for His boast, for the glory of orthodoxy. As those of old were to us, so may we be shown to be a support and an example to those who come after, and may we be found dancing on the day of Christ. And yet we have a more manifest martyrdom than those near us; for it is not about the natures or wills in Christ and all the disputed things related to them, the error of which, being in the realm of concepts, offered no sensible proof, but now along with the concepts, the disputed or rather the impious thing is before our eyes. For the opponents not only say and wrongly think that Christ should not be depicted, along with the Theotokos and any of the saints, but they also destroy those who are depicted, decreeing the divine images to be an error and perdition of souls. O the impiety, Jewish and Greek in reciprocity! Therefore, there is no change at all except for the difference of substance, in which the argument lies; the Jew or the Greek says to the Christian, "Deny Christ, Mary"; the iconoclast says this too. For the icon of Christ, just as that of the Theotokos, is homonymously called Christ and Theotokos. So one who says to deny the icon would be demanding to deny explicitly the one whose icon it is. For is the argument from me, a nobody? Hear what the God of all says to Moses: "Make Cherubim." And yet he commanded him to make an icon of Cherubim; for no one with any sense would say he represented a cherubic nature. And again: "Make a bronze serpent." And indeed here too he commands to make an icon of a serpent. But this is the nature of prototype and derivative, for the thing derived, that is, the thing depicted, to be called by the name of the archetype, and for the one to be destroyed with the destruction of the other, as things that exist together. Was there an angel? For this reason also an icon of an angel. Was there a serpent? For this reason also an icon of a serpent and of any other of existing things. And they are called sometimes icons of what they are, and sometimes, because of the relation, they are named as the archetypes themselves and not their icons. Thus also says the holy apostle, "above it were the Cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat," using the name of the prototypes for the icons. Hear also Basil the Great: "Let Christ, the judge of the contests, also be inscribed on the panel." For he did not say, "4Let the icon of Christ, the judge of the contests, be inscribed,"5 but "4Christ."5 Hear also Gregory of Nyssa, "Isaac is set forth," naming the icon of Isaac "Isaac." Hear Chrysostom: "I saw an angel in an icon"; for he did not say he saw an "icon of an angel" in an icon, but an "angel." For in the icon the archetype is revealed as in the type of the cross the life-giving cross, in which way also the one is inseparable from the other in veneration. For this reason the depiction also has the name of the prototype; for the type of the cross is called cross. Thus also in the case of a king and of every person and of every form it is true for us to say that the icon of the king is also called king. The divine Basil says: And the icon of Peter is Peter. Should I say something even higher? Man is also god, as an icon of God. Therefore Basil said, the icon of Christ is also Christ; for he said, and I say again, "4Let there be inscribed on the panel,"5 not "4the icon

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καθειργμένος, ὁ μεμονωμένος, ὁ στενοχωρούμενος, ὁ ἀφηρπασμένος ἐκ παντὸς προσώπου, ὁ ὑστερούμενος τῶν κατὰ χρείαν, ὁ πεινῶν, ὁ διψῶν, ὁ μὴ τὴν τοῦ ἡλίου ἀκτῖνα δεχόμενος, καθ' ἡμέραν ἀποθνήσκων, ὡς βοᾷ ὁ Παῦλος, καὶ ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν θανατούμενος, ὡς ᾄδει ∆αυίδ. ἀλλ' εἰ ἀποθάνωμεν, καὶ συζήσομεν Χριστῷ· εἰ ὑπομείνωμεν, καὶ συμβασιλεύσομεν αὐτῷ. ἐν τοῖς ἄνω χρόνοις ἐξελέξατο ἡ χάρις οὓς ἐξελέξατο εἰς τὸ Χριστοῦ μαρτύριον, κατὰ γενεὰν καὶ γενεὰν ἀνίσχουσι μάρτυρες· ἀνάγκη γὰρ ἐλθεῖν τὰ σκάνδαλα, Χριστὸς ἔφησεν, ἵνα οἱ ἐκλεκτοὶ ἐκλάμψωσιν ἡλιοειδῶς καὶ τὰ ζιζάνια φανερὰ γένηται νυκτοειδῶς. Γενοίμεθα, ὦ ἀδελφοί, ἐν τῇ γενεᾷ ταύτῃ τῇ σκολιᾷ καὶ διεστραμμένῃ ὡς φωστῆρες αὐγάζοντες τοῖς ἐν σκοτομήνῃ τῆς αἱρέσεως, καθὰ ἡμᾶς ἐξελέξατο Χριστὸς εἰς καύχημα αὐτοῦ, εἰς κλέος ὀρθοδοξίας. ὡς ἡμῖν οἱ ἀνέκαθεν, οὕτω ἡμεῖς τοῖς μετέπειτα στηριγμὸς καὶ ὑπογραμμὸς ὑποδειχθείημεν καὶ εἰς ἡμέραν Χριστοῦ εὑρεθείημεν χορεύοντες. καίτοι γε τῶν προσεχῶν ἡμεῖς μᾶλλον φανερώτερον τὸ μαρτύριον ἔχομεν· οὐδὲ γὰρ περὶ τῶν ἐν Χριστῷ φύσεων ἢ θελημάτων καὶ ὅσα πρὸς τούτοις ἀμφισβητούμενα, ὧν ἡ διαμάρτησις, κατὰ τὰ νοήματα οὖσα, οὐδὲν αἰσθητῶς παρεῖχε τὴν ἀπόδειξιν, νῦν δὲ σὺν τοῖς νοήμασι καὶ κατ' ὀφθαλμοὺς τὸ ἀμφισβητούμενον ἤτοι ἀσεβούμενον. τὸν γὰρ Χριστὸν οἱ ἀντικείμενοι οὐ μόνον οὐκ εἰκονίζεσθαι λέγουσί τε καὶ λοξονοοῦσι σὺν τῇ Θεοτόκῳ καὶ οὑτινοσοῦν τῶν ἁγίων, ἀλλὰ γὰρ καὶ ἐγγεγραμμένους ἐξαφανίζουσι, πλάνην καὶ ὄλεθρον ψυχῶν τοὺς θείους χαρακτῆρας δογματίζοντες. ὢ τῆς ἰουδαϊκῆς καὶ ἑλληνικῆς ἀντιπεπονθότως ἀσεβείας. οὐδὲν οὖν ἄρα τὸ καθόλου ἢ παρὰ τὸ τῆς οὐσίας διάφορον ἡ ἐξαλλαγή, ἐν ᾧ ὁ λόγος· φῆ ὁ Ἰουδαῖος ἤτοι ὁ Ἕλλην τῷ χριστιανῷ, ἄρνησαι τὸν Χριστόν, τὴν Μαρίαν· τοῦτο καὶ ὁ εἰκονομάχος. ἡ γὰρ εἰκὼν Χριστοῦ ὥσπερ καὶ τῆς Θεοτόκου ὁμωνύμως Χριστὸς καὶ Θεοτόκος λέγεται. ὥστε λέγων τὴν εἰκόνα ἀρνεῖσθαι, τὸν οὗτινος ἡ εἰκών, ἐκεῖνον διαρρήδην ἐξαρνεῖσθαι ἀπαιτοίη. μὴ γὰρ ἐμοῦ τοῦ οὐδαμινοῦ ὁ λόγος; ἄκουε τί φησι τῷ Μωυσεῖ ὁ τῶν ὅλων θεός· ποίησον Χερουβίμ. καίτοι εἰκόνα Χερουβὶμ ποιῆσαι προστέταχεν· οὐ γάρ τοι φύσιν χερουβικὴν φρονῶν τις παραστῆσαι αὐτὸν φαῖεν ἄν. καὶ αὖθις· ποίησον ὄφιν χαλκοῦν. καὶ μὴν κἀνταῦθα εἰκόνα ὄφεως ποιεῖν προστάσσει. Ἀλλὰ αὕτη ἡ φύσις πρωτοτύπου καὶ παραγώγου, τὸ παραχθὲν ἤγουν τὸ εἰκονισθὲν τοῦ ἀρχετύπου τῷ ὀνόματι καλεῖσθαι καὶ τῇ θατέρου ἀναιρέσει θάτερον ἀναιρεῖσθαι ὡς τῶν ἅμα ὄντων. ἦν ἄγγελος; διὰ τοῦτο καὶ εἰκὼν ἀγγέλου· ἦν ὄφις; διὰ τοῦτο καὶ εἰκὼν ὄφεως καὶ οὑτινοσοῦν ἄλλου τῶν ὄντων. καὶ καλοῦνται πῇ μὲν εἰκόνες ὧνπερ καὶ εἰσί, πῇ δὲ διὰ τὴν σχέσιν ὡς αὐτὰ τὰ ἀρχέτυπα ὀνομαζόμενα καὶ οὐκ εἰκόνες αὐτῶν. οὕτω φησὶ καὶ ὁ ἱερὸς ἀπόστολος, ὑπεράνω δὲ αὐτῆς Χερουβὶμ δόξης κατασκιάζοντα τὸ ἱλαστήριον, τῷ ὀνόματι τῶν πρωτοτύπων χρησάμενος ἐπὶ τῶν εἰκόνων. ἄκουε καὶ τοῦ Μεγάλου Βασιλείου· ἐγγραφέσθω τῷ πίνακι καὶ ὁ τῶν παλαισμάτων ἀγωνοθέτης Χριστός. μὴ γὰρ εἶπεν, "4ἐγγραφέσθω ἡ εἰκὼν τοῦ τῶν παλαισμάτων ἀγωνοθέτου Χριστοῦ"5, ἀλλὰ "4Χριστός"5. ἄκουε καὶ Γρηγορίου τοῦ Νυσσαέως, πρόκειται Ἰσαάκ, τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ Ἰσαὰκ Ἰσαὰκ ὀνομάσαντος. ἄκουε τοῦ Χρυσοστόμου· εἶδον ἄγγελον ἐν εἰκόνι· μὴ γὰρ ἀγγέλου εἰκόνα ἔφη ἐν εἰκόνι ἰδεῖν, ἀλλὰ ἄγγελον. ἐν γὰρ τῇ εἰκόνι τὸ ἀρχέτυπον ἐκφαίνεται ὡς ἐν τῷ τύπῳ τοῦ σταυροῦ ὁ ζωοποιὸς σταυρός, καθὸ καὶ ἀχώριστόν ἐστι θάτερον θατέρου τῇ προσκυνήσει. διὰ τοῦτο καὶ τὴν κλῆσιν τοῦ πρωτοτύπου ἔχει τὸ εἰκόνισμα· σταυρὸς γὰρ ὁ τύπος τοῦ σταυροῦ κέκληται. οὕτω καὶ ἐπὶ βασιλέως καὶ παντὸς ἀνθρώπου καὶ παντὸς εἴδους ἀληθὲς ἡμῖν λέγειν ὅτι βασιλεὺς λέγεται καὶ ἡ τοῦ βασιλέως εἰκών. φησὶν ὁ θεῖος Βασίλειος· καὶ Πέτρος ἡ Πέτρου εἰκών. εἴπω τι καὶ ὑψηλότερον; καὶ θεὸς ὁ ἄνθρωπος ὡς θεοῦ εἰκών. τοιγαροῦν βασίλειος ἔφη, καὶ Χριστὸς ἡ Χριστοῦ εἰκών· εἶπεν γάρ, καὶ αὖθις λέγω, "4ἐγγραφέσθω τῷ πίνακι"5 οὐχὶ "4ἡ εἰκών