Treatise against Those Who Make Images · §4 · Epiphanius of Salamis

No one can depict the incomprehensible Christ

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Epiphanius is closing his treatise by attacking the opponents' claim that the incarnate Christ can be depicted, arguing that the command to make such images comes from the evil one, not from God.

How can anyone claim to paint the incomprehensible, the inexpressible, the inconceivable, the one who cannot be encompassed or depicted—the one Moses could not even gaze upon? Some say, "Since he became a perfect human being from Mary the ever-virgin, that is why we make him as a human being." And did he become incarnate for this reason—so that you could paint with your hands the incomprehensible one through whom all things were made? Then is he not like the Father, and does he not give life to the dead? Where did he command you, when he came to earth, to make something like him and to worship it and gaze upon it? This command is from the evil one, so that you would despise God. For God abolishes these things in all the Old and New Testaments, saying precisely: "You shall worship the Lord your God, and him alone shall you serve" (Deuteronomy 6:13).

Greek

12 πῶς τὸν ἀκατάληπτον καὶ ἀνεκδιήγητον καὶ ἀπερινόητον ἀπερίγραφόν τε γράφειν λέγει τις,

ον οὐκ ι σχυσε Μωυσῆς ἀτενίσαι; 13 φασίν τινες οτι ἐπειδὴ τέλειος ανθρωπος ἐγένετο ἐκ Μαρίας τῆς ἀειπαρθένου, διὰ τοῦτο ανθρωπον αὐτὸν ποιοῦμεν. 14 καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἐνηνθρώπησεν, ινα τὸν ἀκατάληπτον δι' ου τὰ πάντα ἐγένετο, διὰ χειρῶν σου γράψαι δυνηθῇς; 15 οὐκοῦν οὐκ εστιν ομοιος τοῦ πατρὸς οὐδὲ ζωοποιεῖ τοὺς νεκρούς; 16 ποῦ σοι διέταξε ταῦτα ἐλθὼν ἐπὶ γῆς, ποιῆσαι ομοιον αὐτῷ καὶ προσκυνεῖν καὶ ὁρᾶν; 17 αυ τη ἡ διάταξις τοῦ πονηροῦ ἐστιν, ινα καταφρονήσῃς θεοῦ. 18 ὁ θεὸς γὰρ ἐν πάσῃ τῇ παλαιᾷ καὶ καινῇ ταῦτα ἀναιρεῖ, ἀκριβῶς λέγων· «κύριον τὸν θεὸν προσκυνήσεις καὶ αὐτῷ μόνῳ λατρεύσεις».

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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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