§21. The idea of communications through angels involves yet wilder inconsistency, nor does it, even if true, justify the worship of the image.

But as to their second and as they say profounder defence, one might reasonably add as follows. If these things are made by you, ye Greeks, not for the sake of a self-manifestation of God Himself, but for the sake of a presence there of angels, why do you rank the images by which ye invoke the powers as superior and above the powers invoked? For ye carve the figures for the sake of the apprehension of God, as ye say, but invest the actual images with the honour and title of God, thus placing yourselves in a profane position. 2. For while confessing that the power of God transcends the littleness of the images, and for that reason not venturing to invoke God through them, but only the lesser powers, ye yourselves leap over these latter, and have bestowed on stocks and stones the title of Him, whose presence ye feared, and call them gods instead of stones and men’s workmanship, and worship them. For even supposing them to serve you, as ye falsely say, as letters for the contemplation of God, it is not right to give the signs greater honour than that which they signify. For neither if a man were to write the emperor’s name would it be without risk to give to the writing more honour than to the emperor; on the contrary, such a man incurs the penalty of death; while the writing is fashioned by the skill of the writer. 3. So also yourselves, had ye your reasoning power in full strength, would not reduce to matter so great a revelation of the Godhead: but neither would ye have given to the image greater honour than to the man that carved it. For if there be any truth in the plea that, as letters, they indicate the manifestation of God, and are therefore, as indications of God, worthy to be deified, yet far more would it be right to deify the artist who carved and engraved them, as being far more powerful and divine than they, inasmuch as they were cut and fashioned according to his will. If then the letters are worthy of admiration, much more does the writer exceed them in wonder, by reason of his art and the skill of his mind. If then it be not fitting to think that they are gods for this reason, one must again interrogate them about the madness concerning the idols, demanding from them the justification for their being in such a form.

21 Περὶ δὲ τῆς δευτέρας αὐτῶν καὶ βαθυτέρας δῆθεν ἀπολογίας, καὶ ταῦτα ἄν τις ἀκολούθως εἴποι· εἰ οὐ διὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπι φάνειαν ταῦτα ὑμῖν πεποίηται, ὦ Ἕλληνες, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν ἀγγέλων ἐκεῖ παρουσίαν, διὰ τί τὰ ἀγάλματα, δι' ὧν ἐπικαλεῖσθε τὰς δυνά μεις, κρείττονα καὶ ὑπὲρ αὐτὰς τὰς ἐπικληθείσας δυνάμεις ποιεῖτε; χάριν γὰρ τῆς περὶ Θεοῦ καταλήψεως γλύφοντες τὰς μορφάς, ὥς φατε, αὐτοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν τιμὴν καὶ προσηγορίαν αὐτοῖς τοῖς γλύμμασι περιτίθετε, πρᾶγμα πάσχοντες οὐκ εὐαγές. ὁμολογοῦντες γὰρ ὑπεραίρειν τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ δύναμιν τῆς τῶν ἀγαλμάτων σμικρό τητος, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μὴ τολμῶντες τὸν Θεὸν δι' αὐτῶν, τὰς δὲ ἐλάττω δυνάμεις ἐπικαλεῖσθαι, αὐτοὶ ταύτας ὑπερβάντες, οὗ τὴν παρουσίαν ἐφοβήθητε, τούτου τὴν προσηγορίαν τοῖς λίθοις καὶ ξύλοις ἀνεθήκατε, καὶ θεοὺς ἀντὶ λίθων καὶ τέχνης ἀνθρώπων ὀνομά ζετε καὶ προσκυνεῖτε. εἰ γὰρ καὶ ὡς γράμματά εἰσιν ὑμῖν ταῦτα, ὡς ψεύδεσθε, τῆς ἐπὶ Θεὸν θεωρίας, οὐ δίκαιον τὰ σημαίνοντα τοῦ σημαινομένου προτιμᾷν. οὐδὲ γὰρ εἰ γράφοι τις τὸ βασιλέως ὄνομα, ἀκινδύνως ἔχοι τὸ γράμμα προτιμῶν τοῦ βασιλέως· ἀλλ' ὁ τοιοῦτος θάνατον μὲν ἔχει τὴν ζημίαν, τὸ δὲ γράμμα τῇ τοῦ γράψαντος ἐπιστήμῃ τετύπωται. οὕτω καὶ ὑμεῖς, εἴπερ ἐρρωμένον εἴχετε τὸν λογισμόν, οὐκ ἂν τὸ τηλικοῦτον τῆς θεότητος γνώρισμα εἰς ὕλην κατεφέρετε· ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ γλύμμα οὐκ ἂν προετιμήσατε τοῦ γλύψαντος ἀνθρώπου. εἰ γὰρ καὶ ὅλως ὡς γράμματα σημαίνουσι τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπιφάνειαν, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ὡς Θεὸν σημαίνοντα, θεοποιίας εἰσὶν ἄξια· ἀλλὰ γοῦν τὸν ταῦτα γλύψαντα καὶ χαράξαντα, φημὶ δὴ πάλιν τὸν τεχνίτην, πολλῷ πλέον ἔδει θεοποιηθῆναι, ὡς μᾶλλον ἐκείνων δυνα τώτερον καὶ θειότερον ὑπάρχοντα, ὅσῳ κἀκεῖνα κατὰ τὴν αὐτοῦ βούλησιν ἐξέσθη καὶ τετύπωται. εἰ τοίνυν τὰ γράμματα θαύματός εἰσιν ἄξια, πολλῷ πλέον ὁ γράψας ὑπεραίρει τῷ θαύματι διὰ τὴν τέχνην καὶ τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπιστήμην. οὐκοῦν εἰ μὴ διὰ τοῦτο θεοὺς αὐτοὺς ἄξιον νομίζειν, πάλιν αὐτοὺς ἄν τις ἔροιτο περὶ τῆς τῶν εἰδώλων μανίας, τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς τοιαύτης αὐτῶν μορφῆς παρ' αὐτῶν ἀξιῶν μαθεῖν.