Painters invent false appearances of Peter, Paul, and the disciples
Epiphanius is arguing that painters fabricate the appearances of the saints from their own imagination, and he now gives specific examples of how they depict Peter, Paul, and the other disciples.
For the very thing they fashion from their own thought, they are lying about. The deceivers paint the holy apostle Peter as an old man, with his head and beard shorn. They also paint Saint Paul—some as bald in front, others as bald with a beard—and the other disciples as simply shorn. If the Savior had long hair while the other disciples were shorn, and he was not shorn yet appeared the same as them, then why were the Pharisees and scribes giving thirty pieces of silver to Judas for payment, so that after kissing him he might point out to them, “This is the one you are looking for”? Could they not have found him by themselves or through others, by the sign of the long hair, without giving a reward?
Greek
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;