Epiphanius of Salamis, Letter to Emperor Theodosius

Epistula ad Theodosium imperatorem

A Letter of Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus, to Theodosius the Emperor.

19 the devil contrived idolatry in the world by his own evil artifice and sowed this in the world and established it and turned men away from God; but now again after the heresies and the idols he has dragged down the faithful into ancient idolatry and deceived them. 20 he brings himself forward in the letter as having followed from a young age the faith of the fathers in Nicaea and that his parents were born in it and held the same confession. 21 for your Piety will understand if it is fitting for us to have a God painted with colors. 22 I have heard that some claim to paint even the incomprehensible Son of God; I do not remember having seen any such thing.

23 Which of the ancient fathers, having painted an image of Christ, set it up in a church or in his own house or on the veils of doors? Which of the ancient bishops, dishonoring Christ, painted him? Who thus made a public example of and triumphed over Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and Moses and the prophets, or Peter or Andrew or James or John or the other apostles? 24 and at the same time they also lie, fashioning the forms of the saints in different ways from their own conception, sometimes the same ones as old men, sometimes as younger men*, prying into things they have not seen. For they paint the Savior having long hair, from the supposition that he was called a Nazarene, since the Nazirites have long hair.

But those who try to apply the types to him are mistaken; for the Savior drank wine, which the Nazirites did not drink. 25 it is not fitting ... for us to have a God depicted in colors and limbs. 26 For in the very thing they fashion, thinking from their own conception, they lie. For the deceivers paint Peter the holy apostle as an old man, with his head and beard shorn; and they paint the holy Paul, some as bald in front, others as a bald man with a beard, and the other disciples as closely shorn. 27 If, then, the Savior had long hair, and the other disciples were shorn and he was not shorn and appearing like them, for what reason did the Pharisees and the scribes give thirty pieces of silver to Judas as payment, so that by kissing him he might point out to them that "this is he whom you seek," when they could have recognized by the sign of his hair the one they sought to find, both by themselves and through others, and not have given a payment? 28 he confesses, first, that he was exposed to the ridicule of the many for the things he foolishly said, and second, that having advised his fellow bishops and fellow ministers that these things be removed, he was not heard. We found at the end of the letter a passage containing the following: that having spoken many times to my fellow ministers that the images be removed, I was not accepted by them nor did they deign to listen to my voice even for a short while. 29 that the veils having such a painting, having been collected, might be used for the burial of the poor, and those on the walls made of colors be whitewashed.

30 And as for the things previously painted in mosaic, since such a removal is difficult, if it is possible for them to be removed, good; but if it is impossible, to be content with what has been done before and for no one to paint thus any longer.

Epistula ad Theodosium imperatorem

̓Επιφανίου ἐπισκόπου Κύπρων Ἐπιστολὴ πρὸς Θεοδόσιον τὸν βασιλέα.

19 τὴν εἰδωλολατρείαν ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ τῇ ἑαυτοῦ κακοτεχνίᾳ ὁ διάβολος ἐμηχανήσατο καὶ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ ἔσπειρε τοῦτο καὶ ἐθεμελίωσε καὶ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ ἀπέστρεψε· νῦν δὲ πάλιν μετὰ τὰς αἱρέσεις καὶ τὰ εἴδωλα εἰς ἀρχαίαν εἰδωλολατρείαν τοὺς πιστοὺς καθείλκυσε καὶ ἠπάτησε. 20 εἰσφέρει ἑαυτὸν ἐν τῇ ἐπιστολῇ τῇ πίστει τῶν ἐν Νικαίᾳ πατέρων ἐκ νέας ἡλικίας ἠκολουθηκέναι καὶ ὡς οἱ γονεῖς αὐτοῦ ἐν ταύτῃ γεγέννηνται καὶ τὴν αὐτὴν εἶχον ὁμολογίαν. 21 νοήσει γὰρ ἡ σὴ εὐσέβεια εἰ πρέπον ἐστὶν ἔχειν ἡμᾶς θεὸν ζωγραφητὸν διὰ χρωμάτων. 22 ἤκουσα ὡς καὶ τὸν ἀκατάληπτον υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ τινὲς γράφειν ἐπαγγέλλονται οὐ μέμνημαί τι τοιοῦτον ἰδών.

23 Τίς τῶν παλαιῶν πατέρων Χριστοῦ εἰκόνα ζωγραφήσας ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ ἢ ἐν οἴκῳ ἰδίῳ κατέθετο ἢ ἐν βήλοις θυρῶν; τίς τῶν ἀρχαίων ἐπισκόπων Χριστὸν ἀτιμάσας ἐζωγράφησεν; τίς τὸν Ἀβραὰμ καὶ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ Ἰακώβ, Μωυσέα τε καὶ τοὺς προφήτας ἢ Πέτρον ἢ Ἀνδρέαν ἢ Ἰάκωβον ἢ Ἰωάννην ἢ τοὺς λοιποὺς ἀποστόλους οὕτως παρεδειγμάτισεν καὶ ἐθριάμβευσεν; 24 ἅμα δὲ καὶ ψεύδονται, ἐξ ἰδίας αὐτῶν ἐννοίας μορφὰς τῶν ἁγίων ἄλλως καὶ ἄλλως ἀνατυποῦντες, ποτὲ μὲν γέροντας ποτὲ δὲ νεωτέρους τοὺς αὐτοὺς*, ἃ μὴ ἑωράκασιν ἐμβατεύοντες. κόμην γὰρ ἔχοντα τὸν σωτῆρα γράφουσιν ἐξ ὑπονοίας διὰ τὸ Ναζωραῖον αὐτὸν καλεῖσθαι, ἐπείπερ οἱ Ναζιραῖοι κόμας ἔχουσιν.

Σφάλλονται δὲ οἱ τοὺς τύπους αὐτῷ συνάπτειν πειρώμενοι· οἶνον γὰρ ἔπινεν ὁ σωτήρ, ὃν οἱ Ναζιραῖοι οὐκ ἔπινον. 25 οὐ πρέπον ... ἐστὶ θεὸν ἔχειν ἡμᾶς ἐν χρώμασι καὶ μέλεσι ζωγραφούμενον. 26 καὶ αὐτὸ γὰρ ὅπερ πλάσσουσιν ἀπὸ ἰδίας ἐννοίας διανοούμενοι, ψεύδονται. γράφουσι γὰρ Πέτρον τὸν ἅγιον ἀπόστολον οἱ πλάνοι γέροντα ἄνδρα, τὴν κεφαλὴν καὶ τὸ γένειον κεκαρμένον· γράφουσι δὲ καὶ τὸν ἅγιον Παῦλον ἄλλοι μὲν ἀναφαλαντέα, ἄλλοι δὲ φαλακρὸν γενειήτην καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους μαθητὰς ψιλῶς κεκαρμένους. 27 εἰ τοίνυν κόμην εἶχεν ὁ σωτήρ, οἱ δὲ ἄλλοι μαθηταὶ ἦσαν κεκαρμένοι καὶ μὴ ἦν αὐτὸς κεκαρμένος καὶ ἴσος αὐτοῖς φαινόμενος, τίνι τῷ λόγῳ οἱ Φαρισαῖοι καὶ οἱ γραμματεῖς τριάκοντα ἀργύρια ἐδίδουν τῷ Ἰούδᾳ μισθοῦ χάριν, ὅπως φιλήσας αὐτὸν ὑποδείξῃ αὐτοῖς ὅτι "οὗτός ἐστιν ὃν ζητεῖτε", δυνάμενοι καὶ δι' ἑαυτῶν καὶ ὑπ' ἄλλων γνῶναι διὰ τοῦ σημείου τῆς κόμης ὃν ἐζήτουν εὑρεῖν καὶ μὴ μισθὸν δοῦναι; 28 ὁμολογεῖ, πρῶτα μὲν ὡς χλεύη τοῖς πολλοῖς ἐπὶ τοῖς ληρῳδουμένοις αὐτῷ προὔκειτο, ἔπειτα δὲ ὅτι καὶ τοῖς συνεπισκόποις καὶ συλλειτουργοῖς συμβουλεύσας ταῦτα περιαιρεθῆναι οὐκ ἠκούσθη. εὕρομεν ἐν τῷ τέλει τῆς ἐπιστολῆς ἔμφασιν τοιάδε περιέχουσαν· ὅτι πολλάκις λαλήσας τοῖς συλλειτουργοῖς μου περιαιρεθῆναι τὰς εἰκόνας οὐκ ἐδέχθην παρ' αὐτῶν οὐδὲ πρὸς βραχὺ ἀκοῦσαι τῆς ἐμῆς φωνῆς ἠνέσχοντο. 29 ὅπως τὰ βῆλα τὰ ἔχοντα τοιαύτην γραφὴν συλλεγέντα εἰς ταφὴν τῶν πτωχῶν προχωρήσειεν, τὰ δὲ ἐν τοίχοις διὰ χρωμάτων λευκανθῆναι.

30 Τὰ δὲ ἐν μουσαρίῳ προληφθέντα γραφῆναι, ἐπειδὴ δυσχερές ἐστι τὸ τοιοῦτον ἀνασκεύασμα, εἰ μὲν δυνατὸν ἀνασκευασθῆναι, καλόν· εἰ δὲ ἀδύνατον, ἀρκεσθῆναι τοῖς προγεγονόσι καὶ μηκέτι τινὰ ζωγραφεῖν οὕτως.