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necessary things, evidently also taking the letters. But when I learned what was done there by the former presiding officer, I was amazed and ended up in lamentation; but how did you not inform me about Philagrios, whose care presses upon my humble soul? 379 {1To the same}1 Your letter came to me unexpectedly, O beloved child; for he whom I expected to be in Rome, speaks to me from Byzantium, and he whom I considered to be free, arrives as a prisoner. What is this? It is clear that it is the work of God's providence, so that you too might share with your holy brothers in the sufferings for Christ, not only as being one of the leaders, but also as one excelling many in knowledge and holding the first place among the scribes, and I might add, as being the mouth of my humility. You, then, spoke what you spoke in your letters, deifying my things (but it is true to say they are yours, since the things of the father belong to the son) and exceeding the measure out of longing; but I exhort you to stand nobly in the struggles for Christ, bearing everything up to the point of bloodshed, since the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us, as it is written, especially since you also chose from the beginning to be subject to the confessors and you all but threw yourself into the danger. Therefore your martyrdom was lawfully administered to you, brother, having just now been led to it according to reason. Let us not then shrink back, I beseech you, nor pity our flesh, but let us offer it for whatever Christ may prepare, so that we may cast both soul and body into immortal good things. Pray you also the same things for me, the sinner. The brother with me greets you. 380 {1To my child Naucratius}1 I rejoice in you, my brother Naucratius, because you are called a son of joy, which is to suffer for Christ's sake. For what is more full of grace than this, what is more glorious? You were scourged, then, in imitation of Christ, you were taken from prison to prison, handed over into the hands of John the impious, over which I in my humility was in agony; but because when he attacked you were not overthrown, but on the contrary you sent away the vain-minded man with a refutation, I, the wretched one, sang and was glad. May you have help from the Lord for the future and for whatever may happen. But since you said that he put forward in the debate sayings for the overthrow of the holy icons, namely of Asterius, Epiphanius, and Theodotus, I thought it necessary for the instruction of both of us to set them forth here, even if it exceeds the epistolary style, their very sayings and, with God's help, their overthrow by us the unlearned. The saying of Asterius, then, is literally this: "4Do not paint Christ; for the one humility of his incarnation, which he voluntarily accepted for our sake, is sufficient for him. But carrying the incorporeal Word intellectually in your soul, bear him about."5. Let the speech-writer be asked, therefore, why, having forbidden Christ to be painted, he says that the one humility of the incarnation is sufficient for him, as if he were avoiding as inglorious the second manifestation of humility once it had been chosen. And how is it voluntary, if it is inglorious? For the voluntary is glorious, not having the ingloriousness of the involuntary. But if not this, but because it is a repetition, how is the painting which shows the same and the first by way of likeness a repetition? And how will he not reject being reminded through hearing, if indeed being celebrated through sight is hateful to him as bringing a repetition? For each is concomitant with and equivalent to the other, as the divine mouth, Basil the Great, declared. And by analogy it will be reckoned also that the cross being painted once is a repetition of another cross, obviously, as is also the case with the gospel; and since both are always painted, there exist countless crosses, and in addition gospels, not one [cross] and one [gospel]. But if there is one and not a second cross, even if it be painted ten thousand times, and one and not a second gospel, even if it be written countless times, then there is one and not two Christs, even if he be painted in the same way. For he who is painted is as he who is read, and the ear will not be filled with hearing

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ἀναγκαῖα, αἴροντα δηλονότι καὶ τὰ γράμματα. Ἃ δὲ ἐκεῖσε πέπρακται ὑπὸ τοῦ πρὶν προεδρεύσαντος μαθὼν ἐξέστην καὶ εἰς ἐλεεινολογίαν κατέληξα· πῶς δὲ οὐκ ἐσήμανας περὶ τοῦ Φιλαγρίου, οὗ ἡ μέριμνα πιέζει μου τὴν ταπεινὴν ψυχήν; 379 {1Τῷ αὐτῷ}1 Ἐκ παραδόξου μοι τὸ γράμμα σου, ὦ φίλτατον τέκνον· ὃν γὰρ προσεδόκουν ῥωμαΐζειν, ἐκ Βυζαντίου μοι φθέγγεται, καὶ ὃν ἐλογιζόμην ἀφέμενον εἶναι, δέσμιος ἥκει. τί τοῦτο; δῆλον ὅτι προνοίας θεοῦ τὸ ἔργον, ἵνα καὶ σὺ μετασχοίης σὺν τοῖς ἱεροῖς ἀδελφοῖς σου τῶν ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ παθημάτων, οὐ μόνον ὡς τῶν προεχόντων ὤν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν πολλῶν ἐν γνώσει διαφέρων καὶ τὸ πρωτεῖον τῶν γραφέων ἔχων, προσθείην δ' ἂν καὶ ὡς στόμα τῆς ταπεινώσεώς μου ὑπάρχων. σὺ μὲν οὖν ἐφθέγξω ἃ ἐφθέγξω ἐν τοῖς γράμμασιν ἐκθειάζων τὰ ἐμὰ (σὰ δὲ εἰπεῖν ἄληθες, ἐπειδὴ υἱῷ τὰ πατρὸς ἀνήκει) καὶ τοῦ μέτρου διὰ τὸν πόθον ἐξιστάμενος, ἐγὼ δέ σε παρακαλῶ στῆναι γενναίως ἐν τοῖς ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ ἀγωνίσμασι, πάντα φέρων τὰ μέχρις αἵματος, ἐπειδὴ οὐκ ἄξια τὰ παθήματα τοῦ νῦν καιροῦ πρὸς τὴν μέλλουσαν δόξαν ἀποκαλύπτεσθαι εἰς ἡμᾶς, ὡς γέγραπται, ἄλλως τε ὅτι καὶ προῄρου κατ' ἀρχὰς ὑποβληθῆναι τοῖς ὁμολογηταῖς καὶ σαυτὸν ἐπέρριψας μικροῦ δεῖν τῷ κινδύνῳ. νόμιμον οὖν τὸ μαρτύριόν σοι ᾠκονομήθη, ἀδελφέ, ἄρτι ἀχθέντι κατὰ λόγον. μὴ οὖν ἀναδύωμεν, ἀντιβολῶ, μηδὲ ἐλεήσωμεν σάρκας, ἀλλὰ προησώμεθα ταύτας εἰς ὅ τι ἂν καὶ παρασκευάσοι Χριστός, ἵνα καὶ ψυχὴν καὶ σῶμα εἰς ἀθάνατα ἀγαθὰ ἐμβάλωμεν. Προσεύχου καὶ αὐτὸς τὰ ἴσα περὶ ἐμοῦ τοῦ ἁμαρτωλοῦ. ὁ σὺν ἐμοὶ ἀδελφὸς προσαγορεύει. 380 {1Ναυκρατίῳ τέκνῳ}1 Χαίρω ἐπὶ σοί, ἀδελφέ μου Ναυκράτιε, ὅτι τῆς χαρᾶς υἱὸς χρηματίζεις, ὅπερ ἐστὶ τὸ διὰ Χριστὸν πάσχειν. καὶ τί γὰρ τούτου χαριέστερον, τί δὲ εὐκλεέστερον; ἐμαστίχθης οὖν χριστομιμήτως, ἤρθης ἐκ φυλακῆς εἰς φυλακήν, παραδοθεὶς εἰς χεῖρας Ἰωάννου τοῦ ἀσεβοῦς, ἐφ' ᾧ ὁ ταπεινὸς καὶ ἠγωνίασα· ἀλλ' ὅτι προσβαλόντος αὐτοῦ οὐ περιετράπης, τοὐναντίον δὲ καὶ ἀπεπέμψω διελεγκτικῶς τὸν ματαιόφρονα, πάνυ ὁ τάλας ᾖσα καὶ εὐθύμησα. εἴη δέ σοι καὶ πρὸς τὸ ἑξῆς πρὸς πᾶν ὁτιοῦν τῶν συμβησομένων παρὰ Κυρίου βοήθεια. ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἔφης προτεῖναι αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ διαλέξει φωνὰς ἐπ' ἀνατροπῇ τῶν ἁγίων εἰκόνων, ἤγουν Ἀστερίου, Ἐπιφανίου καὶ Θεοδότου, ἀναγκαῖον ᾠήθην πρὸς καταρτισμὸν ἀμφοτέρων παραθέσθαι ἐνταῦθα, εἰ καὶ ὑπερτείνει τὸ ἐπιστολιμαῖον ὕφος, αὐτὰς ἐκείνων τὰς φωνὰς καὶ τὴν σὺν θεῷ παρ' ἡμῶν τῶν ἀμαθῶν ἀνατροπὴν αὐτῶν. Ἡ οὖν τοῦ Ἀστερίου ἐπὶ λέξεως τάδε· "4μὴ γράφε τὸν Χριστόν· ἀρκεῖ γὰρ αὐτῷ ἡ μία τῆς ἐνσωματώσεως ταπεινοφροσύνη, ἣν αὐθ αιρέτως δι' ἡμᾶς κατεδέξατο. ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς ψυχῆς σου βαστάζων νοητῶς τὸν ἀσώματον λόγον περίφερε"5. ἐρωτάσθω τοιγαροῦν ὁ λογογράφος, ἀνθ' ὅτου ἀπαγορεύσας Χριστὸν γράφεσθαι ἀρκεῖν αὐτῷ λέγει τὴν μίαν τῆς ἐνσωματώσεως ταπεινοφροσύνην, ὡς καὶ τὴν ἅπαξ αἱρεθεῖσαν ἄδοξον ὑποφεύγοντι τὴν δευτερεύουσαν τῆς ταπεινοφροσύνης φανέρωσιν. καὶ πῶς αὐθαίρετος, εἰ ἄδοξος; τὸ γὰρ αὐθαίρετον ἔνδοξον, οὐκ ἔχον τοῦ ἀκουσίου τὸ ἄδοξον. εἰ δὲ τοῦτο οὔ, ἀλλ' ὅτι δευτέρωσις, πῶς δευτέρωσις ἡ τὸ αὐτὸ καὶ πρῶτον καθ' ὁμοίωσιν δεικνύουσα γραφή; πῶς δὲ καὶ τὸ ὑπομνηματίζεσθαι δι' ἀκοῆς οὐ παραιτήσεται, εἴγε τὸ δι' ὄψεως θριαμβεύεσθαι ὡς δευτέρωσιν φέρον νεμεσητὸν αὐτῷ; ἑκάτερον γὰρ θατέρου σύνοδόν τε καὶ ἰσοδύναμον, ὡς τὸ θεῖον στόμα, Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, ἀπεφθέγξατο. λογισθήσεται δὲ κατὰ τὸ ἀνάλογον καὶ τὸ τὸν σταυρὸν ἅπαξ γραφῆναι ἑτέρου δηλαδὴ σταυροῦ δευτέρωσις, ὡς καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου· καὶ ἐπειδὴ ἀεὶ γράφεται ἀμφότερα, ἀπείρους σταυρούς, πρὸς δὲ καὶ εὐαγγέλια, οὐχ ἕνα καὶ ἓν ὑπάρχειν. εἰ δὲ εἷς καὶ οὐ δεύτερος, κἂν μυριοστῶς γράφοιτο, σταυρός, καὶ ἓν καὶ οὐ δεύτερον, κἂν ἀπείρως γράφοιτο, εὐαγγέλιον, καὶ εἷς καὶ οὐ δύο, κἂν ὡσαύτως γράφοιτο, Χριστός. γραφόμενος γάρ ἐστιν ὡς ἀναγινωσκόμενος καὶ οὐ πλησθήσεται οὖς ἀπὸ ἀκροάσεως