Hypatius of Ephesus, Fragment of "Miscellaneous Enquiries" addressed to his suffragan bishop Julian of Atramytion:¹ Then you say that those who set up in sanctuaries [representations of] holy and venerable things in painting or carving alike are upsetting the Divine Tradition; that you clearly understand Scripture to forbid such a practice, and that not only does it forbid the making [of representations], but even bids us to destroy them when they are being made or are already in existence.
It is necessary to examine the reason why Scripture says such things, and to understand at the same time why it is that the moulding of sacred objects is allowed. Inasmuch as some people believed (as Holy Writ says) that "the Godhead is like unto gold and silver and stones and the tracing made by man's device;"² inasmuch as they invented unto themselves material gods according to their fancy and "worshipped the creature more than the creator;"³ [for this reason] it says: "Destroy and cut down their altars and burn with fire their graven images,⁴ and take good heed of your souls, for ye saw no similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you on the mount of Horeb out of the midst of the fire, lest ye corrupt yourselves and make you a graven similitude."⁵ For no existing thing is similar or equal or identical to the Trinity that is good and divine above all beings, and is the creator and cause of "who is like unto thee, who shall be likened to thee?"⁶ as we hear the divines sing.

This being so, you say, "We allow venerable paintings⁷ in sanctuaries, but in forbidding, as we often do, carving in wood and stone, we do not regard the latter as being free from sin, except on doors.⁸

But, 0, my reverend friend, we neither confess nor set down in writing that the Divine essence (whatever it may be) is similar or identical or equal to any existing thing. And as for the inexpressible and incomprehensible love of God towards us men,⁹ and the holy patterns set by the saints,¹⁰ we ordain that these should be celebrated in sacred writings, since, for our part, we take no pleasure whatever in any sculpture or painting. However, we permit simple folk, inasmuch as they are less perfect, to learn such things in an introductory manner by means of sight, which is appropriate to their natural development, having found on many occasions that even the old and new ordinances of God¹¹ may be brought down to the level of the weaker for the sake of their spiritual salvation. Indeed, even the holy prophet Moses, who made the above legislation at God's prompting, set up in the Holy of Holies golden images of the Cherubim of beaten work. And in many other cases we see the divine wisdom through its salutary love of men sometimes relaxing its strictness for the sake of souls that are as yet in need of guidance. … For these reasons we, too, permit material adornment in the sanctuaries, not because God considers gold and silver, silken vestments and vessels encrusted with gems to be precious and holy, but because we allow every order of the faithful to be guided in a suitable manner and to be led up to the Godhead, inasmuch as some men are guided even by such things towards the intelligible beauty, and from the abundant light of the sanctuaries to the intelligible and immaterial light. …¹²

¹ Ed. F. Diekamp, =Analecta Patristica=, Orient. Christiana Analecta, CXVII (Rome, 1938), 127-29.
² Acts 17:29.
³ Rom. 1:25.
⁴ Deut. 7:5, 25.
⁵ Deut. 4:15, 16.
⁶ Ps. 70:19; 82:2 (Septuagint).
⁷ Or "paintings to be worshipped."
⁸ This paragraph is obscure, possibly because the text is corrupt.
⁹ Probably referring to the Incarnation of Christ.
¹⁰ Meaning doubtful.
¹¹ I.e., the ordinances contained in the Old and New Testaments.
¹² On the interpretation of this difficult text see N. H. Baynes, "The Icons before Iconoclasm," Harvard Theological Review, XLIV (1951), 93 ff.; P. J. Alexander, "Hypatius of Ephesus," ibid., XLV (1952), 177 ff.