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| Concerning Images.
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Chapter XVI.—Concerning Images2496
| 2496 Some
mss. have the title “Concerning the
adoration of the august and holy images,” or “Concerning
the holy and sacred images,” or “Concerning holy
images.” | .
But since some2497
| 2497 Cf.
Petavius, Theol. Dogm. xv., ch. 12. | find
fault with us for worshipping and honouring the image of our Saviour
and that of our Lady, and those, too, of the rest of the saints and
servants of Christ, let them remember that in the beginning God created
man after His own image2498
. On what
grounds, then, do we shew reverence to each other unless because we are
made after God’s image? For as Basil, that much-versed
expounder of divine things, says, the honour given to the image passes
over to the prototype2499
| 2499 Basil, De Spir.
Sancto, ch. 18. | . Now a
prototype is that which is imaged, from which the derivative is
obtained. Why was it that the Mosaic people honoured on all hands
the tabernacle2500
which bore an image
and type of heavenly things, or rather of the whole creation? God
indeed said to Moses, Look that thou make them after their pattern
which was shewed thee in the mount2501
| 2501 Ibid. xxv. 40; Heb. viii. 5. | . The Cherubim, too, which
o’ershadow the mercy seat, are they not the work of men’s
hands2502
? What, further, is the celebrated
temple at Jerusalem? Is it not hand-made and fashioned by the
skill of men2503
?
Moreover the divine Scripture blames those who
worship graven images, but also those who sacrifice to demons.
The Greeks sacrificed and the Jews also sacrificed: but the
Greeks to demons and the Jews to God. And the sacrifice of the
Greeks was rejected and condemned, but the sacrifice of the just was
very acceptable to God. For Noah sacrificed, and God smelled a
sweet savour2504
, receiving the
fragrance of the right choice and good-will towards Him. And so
the graven images of the Greeks, since they were images of deities,
were rejected and forbidden.
But besides this who can make an imitation of the
invisible, incorporeal, uncircumscribed, formless God? Therefore
to give form to the Deity is the height of folly and impiety. And
hence it is that in the Old Testament the use of images was not
common. But after God2505
in His bowels of
pity became in truth man for our salvation, not as He was seen by
Abraham in the semblance of a man, nor as He was seen by the prophets,
but in being truly man, and after He lived upon the earth and dwelt
among men2506
, worked miracles,
suffered, was crucified, rose again and was taken back to Heaven, since
all these things actually took place and were seen by men, they were
written for the remembrance and instruction of us who were not alive at
that time in order that though we saw not, we may still, hearing and
believing, obtain the blessing of the Lord. But seeing that not
every one has a knowledge of letters nor time for reading, the Fathers
gave their sanction to depicting these events on images as being acts
of great heroism, in order that they should form a concise memorial of
them. Often, doubtless, when we have not the Lord’s passion
in mind and see the image of Christ’s crucifixion, His saving
passion is brought back to remembrance, and we fall down and worship
not the material but that which is imaged: just as we do not
worship the material of which the Gospels are made, nor the material of
the Cross, but that which these typify. For wherein does the
cross, that typifies the Lord, differ from a cross that does not do
so? It is just the same also in the case of the Mother of the
Lord. For the honour which we give to her is referred to Him Who
was made of her incarnate. And similarly also the brave acts of
holy men stir us up to be brave and to emulate and imitate their valour
and to glorify God. For as we said, the honour that is given to
the best of fellow-servants is a proof of good-will towards our common
Lady, and the honour rendered to the image passes over to the
prototype2507
| 2507 Basil, in
40 Mart: also De Spir. Sancto, ch.
27. | . But this
is an unwritten tradition2508
| 2508 Cf. August.,
Contr. Donatist., bk. iv. | , just as is also
the worshipping towards the East and the worship of the Cross, and very
many other similar things.
A certain tale2509
| 2509 Evagr., Hist.
iv., ch. 27. | , too, is
told2510
| 2510 Procop., De
Bellis, ii. ch. 12. | , how that when Augarus2511
was king over the city of the Edessenes,
he sent a portrait painter to paint a likeness of the Lord, and when
the painter could not paint because of the brightness that shone from
His countenance, the Lord Himself put a garment over His own divine and
life-giving face and impressed on it an image of Himself and sent this
to Augarus, to satisfy thus his desire.
Moreover that the Apostles handed down much that
was unwritten, Paul, the Apostle of the Gentiles, tells us in these
words: Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions
which ye have been taught of us, whether by word or by
epistle2512
. And to
the Corinthians he writes, Now I praise you, brethren, that ye
remember me in all things, and keep the traditions as I have delivered
them to you2513
.”E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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