Treatise against Those Who Make Images · §1 · Epiphanius of Salamis

The opening charge against image-making

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Epiphanius opens his treatise by stating his target: those who make painted images of Christ, the Mother of God, martyrs, angels, and prophets, and he begins to answer their claim that the images are for memorial and honor.

A discourse of Saint Epiphanius against those who make a practice of producing images according to an idolatrous custom, in likeness of Christ and of the Mother of God and of the martyrs, and further of angels and prophets.

They whitewashed the wall and impressed images on it with varied colors.

Because, they say, we make images of the saints as a memorial and for their honor.

Falsely named.

But how did bones and sinews fitted together become visible to him in the painting of the archangel? It would take his own wit to say.

Those who think they honor the apostles in this way should learn that instead of honoring them, they dishonor them all the more.

For Paul, insulting the falsely named priest, declared him to be a whitewashed wall.

Greek

Λόγος τοῦ ἁγίου ̓Επιφανίου κατὰ τῶν ἐπιτηδευόντων ποιεῖν εἰδωλικῷ

θεσμῷ εἰκόνας εἰς ἀφομοίωσιν τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ τῆς Θεοτόκου καὶ τῶν

μαρτύρων, ετι δὲ καὶ ἀγγέλων καὶ προφητῶν.

1 τὸν τοῖχον κονιάσαντες χρώμασι διηλλαγμένοις τὰς εἰκόνας ἀνετύπωσαν.

2 οτι δή, φασί, τὰς εἰκόνας τῶν ἁγίων ποιοῦμεν εἰς μνημόσυνον καὶ τιμὴν αὐτῶν. 3

ψευδωνύμους 4 πόθεν δὲ αὐτῷ ἐπὶ τῆς τοῦ ἀρχαγγέλλου γραφῆς οστεα καὶ νεῦρα

ἐνηρμοσμένα κατάδηλα ἐγένετο, τῆς ἐκείνου ην λέγειν συνέσεως. 5 οἱ νομίζοντες ἐν

τούτῳ τιμᾶν τοὺς ἀποστόλους, μαθέτωσαν οτι ἀντὶ τοῦ τιμᾶν, πλέον αὐτοὺς

ἀτιμάζουσιν.

Παῦλος γὰρ τὸν ψευδώνυμον ἱερέα ἐνυβρίσας τοῖχον κεκονιαμένον

ἀπεφήνατο.

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About this text

Epiphanius argues against painting images of Christ, the Mother of God, the saints, and the angels, saying they dishonor those they mean to honor.

Epiphanius of Salamis (c. 310/320–403) was bishop of Salamis, the chief city of Cyprus, from 367 until his death. This treatise is attributed to him and belongs to a small group of writings against images that circulated under his name, though modern scholars debate whether all of them are genuine. It is addressed to Christians who make and honor painted images of Christ, the Mother of God, martyrs, angels, and prophets.

The work opposes the practice of making painted images for memorial and honor, which the author regards as a return to idolatry. He argues that making images of the saints dishonors rather than honors them, since Scripture promises they will be transformed into glory like Christ and the angels, not depicted in dead, voiceless matter.

The fathers at the Council of Laodicea are quoted pronouncing an anathema on those who abandon the church to invoke angels. The author calls Christ incomprehensible and uncircumscribable, meaning he cannot be grasped by the mind or contained in a visual form. The word images renders painted likenesses, worship renders the act of bowing before them, and idolatrous custom renders the practice the author opposes. Old Testament quotations follow the Greek Septuagint book names and Psalm numbering.

Printed text used

Translated from PG 41 – 43 (Greek)

This work has passed our source check. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Greek on any section to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.

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