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Apologia of St John Damascene Against those who Decry Holy Images Part I
With the ever-present conviction of my own unworthiness, I ought to have kept silence and confessed my shortcomings before God, but all things are good at the right time. I see the Church which God founded on the Apostles and Prophets, its corner-stone being Christ His Son, tossed on an angry sea, beaten by rushing waves, shaken and troubled by the assaults of evil spirits. I see rents in the seamless robe of Christ, which impious men have sought to part asunder, and His body cut into pieces, that is, the word of God and the ancient tradition of the Church.
Recognising the power
Therefore I have judged it unreasonable to keep silence and to hold my tongue, bearing in mind the Scripture warning:–“If thou withdrawest thyself, my soul shall not delight in thee,” (Heb. 10.38) and “If thou seest the sword coming and dost not warn thy brother, I shall require his blood at thy hand.” (cf. Ez. 33.8) Fear, then, compelled me to speak; the truth was stronger than the majesty of kings. “I bore testimony to Thee before kings,” I heard the royal David saying, “and I was not ashamed.” (Ps. 119.46) No, I was the more incited to speak. The King’s command is all powerful over his subjects. For few men have hitherto been found who, whilst recognising the power of the earthly king to come from above, have resisted his unlawful demands.

In the first place, grasping as a kind of pillar, or foundation, the teaching of the Church, which is our salvation, I have opened out its meaning, giving, as it were, the reins to a well caparisoned charger. For I look upon it as a great calamity that the Church, adorned with her great privileges and the holiest examples of saints in the past, should go back to the first rudiments, and fear where there is no fear.

Apologia of St John Damascene Against those who Decry Holy Images Part 28

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Listen to me, people of all nations, men, women, and children, all of you who bear the Christian name: If any one preach to you something contrary to what the Catholic Church has received...

Apologia of St John Damascene Against those who Decry Holy Images Part 27

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The truth proclaims also that in Christ, the second person of the Holy Trinity, there are two natures and one person. Now, the devil, the enemy of the truth and of man’s salvation, in...

Apologia of St John Damascene Against those who Decry Holy Images Part 26

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The man who received one, and buried it, gave it back without interest, and being pronounced a wicked servant, was banished into external darkness. (Mt. 25.20ff) Lest I should suffer in the same way,...

Apologia of St John Damascene Against those who Decry Holy Images Part 25

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If any one should enter a house and should see on the walls a history in painting of Moses and Aaron, perchance he might ask about the people who are walking across the sea...

Apologia of St John Damascene Against those who Decry Holy Images Part 24

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Taken word for word from the Life of St John Chrysostom.Blessed John loved the epistles of St Paul exceedingly. . . . He had an image of the apostle in a place where he...

Apologia of St John Damascene Against those who Decry Holy Images Part 23

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How was it that the image of the serpent worked salvation to the people in distress? Would it not have been more reasonable to say, “If any of you be bitten, let him look...

Apologia of St John Damascene Against those who Decry Holy Images Part 22

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For instance, the rod of Moses, the tablets of the law, the burning bush, the rock giving forth water, the ark containing the manna, the altar set on fire from above (purenqeon), the lamina...

Apologia of St John Damascene Against those who Decry Holy Images Part 21

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And again, How does God order us to worship the earth and mountains? “Exalt the Lord your God and worship Him upon His holy mountain, and adore His footstool,” (Ps. 99.9, 5) that is,...

Apologia of St John Damascene Against those who Decry Holy Images Part 20

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Commentary.–You see that the divine beauty is not set forth in form or shape, and on this account it cannot be conveyed by an image (ouk eikonizetai) it is the human form which is...

Apologia of St John Damascene Against those who Decry Holy Images Part 19

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Commentary.-What better proof have we that images are the books of the illiterate, the ever-speaking heralds of honouring the saints, teaching those who gaze upon them without words, and sanctifying the spectacle. I have...

Treasures of Brusa

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