But what else have they introduced, contrary to Church tradition? The
holy and august images have been offered piously in honor of divine
prototypes, and indicate iconically both veneration in representing
these holy images by the faithful, and the truth. For they represent
the Word Made Flesh for our sake, and all of His divine works and
sufferings and miracles and mysteries on our behalf, and moreover the
sacrosanct image of His holy evervirgin mother, and His saints, and
the very things of which the Gospel and the rest of Divine Scripture
speak, as in other writings, they teach iconically, through coloring
and the rest of the materials [i.e., of painting]. These men are
always innovating, as is said, and they often portray holy images
contrary to tradition in another way; and instead of using the
clothing and hairstyles in icons, they dress them up with human hair
and garments - not the image of hair and garments, but they are the
hair and garments of some person, and not the icon and model (typos)
of their prototypes.
And they depict these things and dress them up contrary to piety,
which is opposed to holy icons, as the canon from the sixth
ecclesiastical council establishes. For it prohibits depicting things
that do not benefit simpler folk. And that which is contrary to canon
law is not pure. And the Fathers do not practice this. But moreover,
they produce some things as if in a drama, contrary to divine law.
For contrary to the canons, they put men at crossroads and on
platforms, as if they were representing iconically things pertaining
to the Annunciation of the Virgin and Mother of God, and the
crucifixion of the Savior, etc. And one models on behalf of the
Virgin, and they call that man Mary; another is called the angel, and
another the Ancient of Days, on whom they put white hair for a beard.
For since the Latins don't hold shaving them to be effeminate and
contrary to natural law they put on fake ones, hence showing they
contrive things as they see fit. For if the prophets saw that God has
a beard, iconically speaking, we too have beards in honor of nature
and according to what God intended. So they act contrary to what God intended, shaving to the disgrace of nature, especially priests and
monks, who defend this bodily vanity.2 Moreover, they portray the
Ancient of Days holding onto a winged dove in place of the Holy
Spirit, thereby showing that they follow their own devices.3
For if they believe the Spirit proceeds also from the Son, why don't
they portray the Son sitting together with the Ancient of Days, so
that both dispatch the dove?4 But instead, they should also send the
Son to the one they call Mary. For the Spirit was not incarnated,
even though it hovered over the Virgin. Yet all these things are
contrary to reason, alien to Church tradition, and designed to insult
the mysteries and Christian piety. And what things are modeled for
the sake of Christ's crucifixion? Putting blood from brute animals
into animals' guts, they substitute it for the Lord's blood, to man's
hands and feet and chest, as he pretends to be crucified. What, then,
is that man being crucified? And what is the blood? Real, or an icon?
And if it's an icon, how on earth could it be a man and blood? For an
icon is not a man. But if they are really man and blood, then it's
not an icon. So then, what is that man? And what is that blood? And
whose is it supposed to be, the Savior's, οr is it shared? Bless me,
how bizarre! These things are contrary to the holy icons and the
Gospels and, moreover, the awesome mysteries of Christ. But why did they undertake these things? Which saint taught such things? Verily, these men have made innovations in everything. And they do these things at crossroads and on platforms, setting out men contrary to canon law; and exhibiting dramas about matters beyond reason, and about miracles which it is not right [to dramatize] and calling a
dove, a bird, the Holy Spirit.
And such men chant and respond these things on feast days.5 And the
pretend Mary receives a stupid dove instead of the Spirit. And again,
as we said, someone is crucified, called Christ by these men, the
crucifixion is not real, and the shedding of blood from some animal
is an insult to the flowing blood of God. And yet the Lord commands
that we commemorate the mysteries not in this way but rather as He
Himself taught, through which He acts again and ministers himself;
and the body and blood being sanctified are his. So then, aren't
things of this sort perilous, and extremely perilous? My man, if you
wish to present these things and to teach men, minister as he
handed it down to you; teach using words, write using treatises, and
make icons with colors, as is traditional. Wherefore also the truth
is formed in a perfect image, like the writing in a book, and divine
grace is in them, also, since the things imprinted are holy. But
these men, turning away once and for all, rush headlong to forbidden
things. And if they should censure us for the furnace of the three
children, yet shall they not rejoice completely.6For we do not light
up a furnace, but candles for lights, and we offer incense to God as
is customary, and we portray an image of an angel, we do not lower a
man. And we offer only singing children, as pure as those Three
Children, to sing the verses from their canticle according to
tradition.
And all these children sealed [in Christ] and holy, typify those
Children. And since all are consecrated, each typifies the one of his
own rank. And while the first hierarch typifies the Lord, the bishops
typify the first of the apostles, since they also possess their
grace, and the priests the seventy; and the deacons the Levites; and
the other sub-deacons the rank of the Prophets. And from another
perspective the ranking hierarch typifies the Divine Word made flesh,
the priests the higher-placed ranks, the deacons the lower liturgical
powers; and the rest of the clergy, along with the Orthodox laity,
the lowest ranks. And all of them have rank according to their
station, and a corresponding grace. Wherefore it is not unfitting for
the children to portray those three Children, for it is possible to
possess their grace. But to portray the Lord in a crucifixion, and to
pretend he is killed, and pours forth blood, is neither truthful nor
according to divine tradition. And for the Mother of God to be
portrayed through a man or a weak woman, and to receive a dove instead of the Holy Spirit, is entirely out of place. And to decorate the
saints using someone else's hair and garments, and dressing them up
contrary to piety, is not handed down by the Fathers; simply put, to
reveal divine things as if on-stage in a drama is not pious, not
handed down, nor worthy of Christians. And if they should say that
practicing priests perform these things, and therefore it is possible
for them to model the Lord and his virgin mother - it makes no sense
to perform in them.
For they model what is needed in these: in baptizing, in conducting
services, in washing each other's feet, as well as the rest that the
Savior told us, that is given to priests and hierarchs to do. And the
singers too, who are given authority to read, do so in reading and
singing. Surely not in being crucified and shedding blood falsely or,
worse, blood from an animal; unless someone is asked to shed his own blood as a true martyr, so that he is afflicted in the flesh as in
the crucifixion with suffering and passions, (as Paul said), so
that "The world is crucified to me, and I to the world,"7 and everyone
ought to hasten to do this. And nobody is capable of playing the
Virgin birth-giver of God (Theotokos) whether with respect to her
chastity, or the reception of the Holy Spirit into her flesh and the
bearing of the Lord, as she alone did this, and by herself; but he who
imitates her example, living chastely and seeking to live as a
celibate, is also worthy of the reception of grace, as much as can be
given. Moreover, it ought to be desired by everyone to imitate her in
these agreed ways. But if they say these things are like divine
painted icons, their reasoning is unreasonable, since what is in
images is truly an icon -- the painted icon of Christ, the iconized
blood, and the mother of God in an icon, and an angel, and an apostle, and a bishop and a martyr, and the Holy Spirit in the shape of a dove, and every icon, since icons and scripture are from divinity, is
honorable and worthy of veneration: but the imitation of these things
by men is not pious.