Epistula ad Theodosium imperatorem

Epiphanius, bishop of Cyprus, Letter to the Emperor Theodosius. The devil contrived idolatry in the world by his own evil craft, and sowed this in the world and established it, and turned men away from God. But now again, after the heresies and the idols, he has dragged the faithful down into ancient idolatry and deceived them. He introduces himself in the letter as having followed the faith of the fathers at Nicaea from his youth, and that his parents were born in this faith and held the same confession. For your piety will perceive whether it is fitting for us to have a God depicted by means of colors. I have heard that some even undertake to depict the incomprehensible Son of God; I do not recall having seen any such thing. 23 Which of the ancient fathers painted an image of Christ and placed it in a church or in his own house or on door curtains? Which of the ancient bishops dishonored Christ by painting him? Who thus paraded and triumphed over Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and the prophets, or Peter, Andrew, James, John, and the rest of the apostles? Moreover, they lie, fashioning forms of the saints from their own imagination, now as old men, now as younger, the same ones, intruding upon things they have not seen. For they paint the Savior with long hair, from the supposition that he is called a Nazorean, since the Nazirites have long hair.

They are mistaken, however, who attempt to attach images to him; for the Savior drank wine, which the Nazirites did not drink. It is not fitting... for us to have God depicted in colors and limbs. For even that which they fashion, conceiving it from their own imagination, they falsify. For the deceivers depict the holy apostle Peter as an old man, with his head and beard shorn; and they depict the holy Paul, some as balding in front, others as bald with a beard, and the other disciples as clean-shaven. If, then, the Savior had long hair, while the other disciples were shorn and he himself was not shorn and appeared equal to them, for what reason did the Pharisees and scribes give thirty silver pieces to Judas as a reward, so that by kissing him he might indicate to them that "this is the one you seek," when they could have known through themselves or through others by the sign of his hair the one they sought to find, without giving a reward? He confesses, first, that this was set before the many as a mockery in the nonsense attributed to him, and then that, having advised his fellow bishops and fellow ministers to remove these things, he was not heard. We found at the end of the letter an indication containing the following: that having spoken many times to my fellow ministers about removing the images, I was not accepted by them, nor did they endure to hear my voice even briefly. That the veils having such a depiction might be gathered for the burial of the poor, and those on walls might be whitewashed with colors.

As for the things previously taken up to be painted in a mosaic, since such a construction is difficult to dismantle, if it is possible to dismantle it, that is good; but if it is impossible, let us be content with what has been done before and no longer paint anyone in this way.