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Three Orations on the Images

An apologetic oration of our father among the saints, John of Damascus

against those who slander the holy icons. It were indeed fitting for us, ever conscious of our own unworthiness, to keep silent and to offer to God the confession of our sins, but since all things are beautiful in their season, and I see the Church, which God built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ his Son being the cornerstone, being tossed as by a sea-storm with wave upon wave piling high, being stirred up and troubled by a most grievous onslaught of evil spirits, and the seamless tunic of Christ, woven from above, being torn apart, which the children of the impious presumed to divide, and his body, which is the people of God and the tradition of the Church that has held sway from the beginning, being cut up into different opinions, I have not thought it reasonable to keep silent and to put a muzzle on my tongue, fearing the threatened sentence which says: 'If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him,' and 'if you see the sword coming and do not warn your brother, I will require his blood from you.' Struck, therefore, with unbearable fear, I have come to speak, not placing the high rank of emperors before the truth; for 'I spoke,' I have heard David the Forefather of God saying, 'before kings, and was not ashamed,' but rather am all the more spurred on to speak by this. For the word of a king is powerful for the persuasion of his subjects; for few are those who from of old have disregarded royal decrees, those who know that the king on earth is ruled from above, and that laws rule over kings. First of all, then, having fixed as a kind of keel or foundation for my reasoning the preservation of the ecclesiastical legislation, through which salvation is naturally brought forth, I have opened the starting-gate of my discourse and urged it on like a well-bridled horse from the starting-line. For I thought it truly terrible and beyond terrible for the Church, resplendent with so many prerogatives and adorned with the traditions from above of the most pious men, to turn back to the poor elements, fearing a fear where there is no fear, and as if not having known the true God, to be suspicious of the slip into idolatry and to fall short of perfection even in the smallest thing, like bearing a blameworthy spot in the middle of a very beautiful face, marring the whole by the discrepancy from the written rule of beauty; for a small thing is not small when it leads to something great, especially when it is not a small thing at all for the tradition of the Church, which has held sway from the beginning, to be overturned, as if those who have led us were condemned, whose conduct we ought to observe and imitate their faith. I beseech therefore, first of all, the almighty Lord, before whom all things are naked and laid bare, to whom we must give account, who knows the purity of my humble mind in this matter and the sincerity of my purpose, to give me utterance in the opening of my mouth and to take up the reins of my mind in His own hands and draw it to Himself, directing its course to the path that is before Him and straight, not turning aside to what seems right or is openly known to be left, -and after Him all the people of God, the holy nation, the royal priesthood, together with the good shepherd of Christ's rational flock, who represents in himself the hierarchy of Christ, to receive my discourse with goodwill, not to the

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Orationes de imaginibus tres

Τοῦ ἐν ἁγίοις πατρὸς ἡμῶν Ἰωάννου τοῦ ∆αμασκηνοῦ λόγος ἀπολογητικὸς

πρὸς τοὺς διαβάλλοντας τὰς ἁγίας εἰκόνας. Ἐχρῆν μὲν ἡμᾶς ἀεὶ τῆς ἑαυτῶν συναισθανομένους ἀναξιότητος σιγὴν ἄγειν καὶ θεῷ τὴν τῶν ἡμαρτημένων ἡμῖν προσάγειν ἐξομολόγησιν, ἀλλ' ἐπειδὴ πάντα καλὰ ἐν καιρῷ αὐτῶν, ὁρῶ δὲ τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, ἣν ὁ θεὸς ᾠκοδόμησεν ἐπὶ τῷ θεμελίῳ τῶν ἀποστόλων καὶ προφητῶν ὄντος ἀκρογωνιαίου Χριστοῦ τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ βαλλομένην ὥσπερ θαλαττίῳ κλύδωνι κύμασιν ἀλλεπαλλήλοις κορυφουμένῳ, ἐξ ἐπαχθεστάτης φορᾶς τῶν πονηρῶν πνευμάτων κυκωμένην τε καὶ ταραττομένην, καὶ τὸν χιτῶνα Χριστοῦ τὸν ἄνωθεν ὑφαντὸν διαιρούμενον, ὃν ἀσεβῶν διελεῖν ηὐθαδιάσαντο παῖδες, καὶ τὸ σῶμα αὐτοῦ εἰς διαφόρους δόξας κατατεμνόμενον, ὅ ἐστιν ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ λαὸς καὶ ἡ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ἄνωθεν κεκρατηκυῖα παράδοσις, οὐκ εὔλογον ἡγησάμην σιγᾶν καὶ δεσμὸν ἐπιθεῖναι τῇ γλώσσῃ τὴν ἠπειλημένην ἀπόφασιν ὑφορώμενος τὴν φάσκουσαν· «Ἐὰν ὑποστείλῃ, οὐκ εὐδοκεῖ ἐν σοὶ ἡ ψυχή μου», καὶ «ἐὰν ἴδῃς τὴν ῥομφαίαν ἐρχομένην καὶ μὴ ἀναγγείλῃς τῷ ἀδελφῷ σου, ἐκ σοῦ ἐκζητήσω τὸ αἷμα αὐτοῦ.» Φόβῳ τοίνυν ἀφορήτῳ βαλλόμενος ἐπὶ τὸ λέγειν ἐλήλυθα οὐ βασιλέων ὕψος πρὸ τῆς ἀληθείας τιθείς· «ἐλάλουν γάρ,» ἤκουσα τοῦ θεοπάτορος λέγοντος ∆αυίδ, «ἐναντίον βασιλέων καὶ οὐκ ᾐσχυνόμην», ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον καὶ μᾶλλον τούτῳ πρὸς τὸ λέγειν νυττόμενος. ∆εινὸν γὰρ βασιλέως λόγος πρὸς ὑπαγωγὴν τῶν ὑπηκόων· ὀλίγοι γάρ, ὅσοι τῶν ἀνέκαθεν τῶν βασιλικῶν κατωλιγώρησαν θεσπισμάτων, ὅσοι τὸν ἐπὶ γῆς βασιλέα βασιλευόμενον οἴδασιν ἄνωθεν, καὶ ὡς κρατοῦσιν οἱ νόμοι τῶν βασιλέων. Πρῶτον μὲν οὖν ἁπάντων οἷόν τινα τρόπιν ἢ θεμέλιον τῷ λογισμῷ καταπήξας τὴν τῆς ἐκκλησιαστικῆς θεσμοθεσίας συντήρησιν, δι' ἧς ἡ σωτηρία προσγίνεσθαι πέφυκε, τοῦ λόγου τὴν βαλβίδα ἠνέῳξα καὶ τοῦτον ὥσπερ ἵππον εὐχάλινον τῆς ἀφετηρίας παρώρμησα. ∆εινὸν γὰρ ὄντως ᾠήθην καὶ πέρα δεινῶν τοσούτοις τὴν ἐκκλησίαν ἀμαρύσσουσαν προτερήμασι καὶ ταῖς τῶν εὐσεβεστάτων ἀνδρῶν ἄνωθεν παραδόσεσιν ὡραϊσθεῖσαν παλινοστεῖν ἐπὶ τὰ πτωχὰ στοιχεῖα, φοβουμένην φόβον, οὗ οὐκ ἔστι φόβος, καὶ ὥσπερ οὐκ ἐγνωκυῖαν τὸν ὄντως θεὸν ὑφορᾶσθαι τὸν εἰς εἰδωλολατρείαν ὄλισθον καὶ κἂν γοῦν ἐν σμικροτάτῳ τῆς τελειότητος λείπεσθαι, ὥσπερ τινὰ στιγμὴν ἐπίμωμον ἐν μέσῳ προσώπου λίαν ὡραϊσμένου φέρουσαν, τῷ ἀπόσῳ τοῦ παρ εγγράμματος τοῦ κάλλους τὸ πᾶν λυμαινομένην· οὐ γὰρ μικρὸν τὸ μικρόν, ὅταν εἰς μέγα ἐκφέρῃ, ὅπου γε οὐδὲ σμικρὸν τὸ παρεγχάραγμα ἄνωθεν κεκρατηκυῖαν ἐκκλησίας ἀνατραπῆναι παράδοσιν, οἷα κατεγνωσμένων τῶν προκαθηγησαμένων ἡμᾶς, ὧν ἐχρῆν ἀναθεωροῦντας τὴν ἀναστροφὴν μιμεῖσθαι τὴν πίστιν. Ἐκλιπαρῶ τοίνυν πρῶτον μὲν τὸν παντοκράτορα κύριον, ᾧ γυμνὰ πάντα καὶ τετραχηλισμένα, πρὸς ὃν ἡμῖν ὁ λόγος, εἰδότα τῆς ταπεινῆς μου γνώμης ἐν τούτῳ τὸ ἀκραιφνὲς καὶ τοῦ σκοποῦ τὸ εἰλικρινές, δοῦναί μοι λόγον ἐν ἀνοίξει τοῦ στόματός μου καὶ τοῦ νοῦ τὰς ἡνίας οἰκείαις χερσὶν ἀναδέξασθαι καὶ τοῦτον πρὸς ἑαυτὸν ἐπισπάσασθαι, πρὸς ἐνώπιόν τε καὶ εὐθεῖαν τρίβον τὴν ῥύμην ποιούμενον μὴ ἐγκλίνοντα πρὸς τὰ δοκοῦντα δεξιὰ ἢ ἀναφανδὸν ἀριστερὰ γνωριζόμενα, -μεθ' ὃν ἅπαντα τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ λαόν, τὸ ἔθνος τὸ ἅγιον, τὸ βασίλειον ἱεράτευμα, σὺν τῷ καλῷ ποιμένι τῆς λογικῆς Χριστοῦ ποίμνης, τῷ τὴν Χριστοῦ ἱεραρχίαν ἐν ἑαυτῷ ὑπογράφοντι, δέξασθαί μου τὸν λόγον μετ' εὐμενείας, μὴ τῷ