In c. 513/515, John Diakrinomenos in his Ecclesiastical History mentions that Philoxenus of Mabbug opposed the depiction of angels in human form, and opposed the veneration of images of Christ. Written in Greek in Constantinople.
E07732
Literary - Other narrative texts (including Histories)
John Diakrinomenos, Ecclesiastical History, excerpts from Book 4
Ξεναΐας ὁ Φιλόξενος οὔτε Χριστοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ οὔτε ἀγγέλου εἰκόνας ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ συνεχώρει ἀνατίθεσθαι.
'Xenaias Philoxenos did not allow images of Christ the God or angels in church.'
Fragment quoted in the Acts of the Second Council of Nicaea, Act V (Mansi 13, 180 E - 181 B)
Ἰωάννου τοῦ Διακρινομένου ἐκ τῆς ἐκκλησιαστικῆς ἱστορίας
Μὴ γὰρ εἶναι θεμιτὸν ἔλεγεν ὁ Ξεναΐας ἀσωμάτους ὄντας ἀγγέλους σωματοποιεῖν καὶ ὡς ἐν μορφαῖς ἀνθρωπίναις ὑπάρχοντας ἐνσωμάτους τυποῦν. ἀλλὰ μὴν μηδὲ κἀκεῖνο νομίζειν, τιμὴν ἢ δόξαν έκνέμειν τῷ Χριστῷ τὴν διὰ γραφῆς αὐτῷ τεχνιτευομένην εἰκόνα˙ εἶναι δὲ μόνην αὐτῷ προσδεκτὴν εἰδέναι τὴν ἐν πνεύματι καὶ ἀληθείᾳ προσκύνησιν.
'From the Ecclesiastical History by John Diakrinomenos'
For Xenaias used to say that it was unacceptable that the angels, although bodiless, be given a body and depicted as if having a human form. But also that one should not even believe that an icon produced by painting ascribes honour or glory to Christ. And one should know that the only acceptable form of worship for Him is in spirit and truth.'
Text: Hansen 1995, 155.
Translation: Efthymios Rizos.
Rejection of the cult of images
Use of ImagesCommissioning/producing an image
Theorising on SanctityConsiderations about the validity of cult forms
Source
John Diacrinomenus (Ioannes Diakrinomenos) was the author of an ecclesiastical history, which covered the period between the First Council of Ephesus (431) and c. 512. He wrote under the emperor Anastasius (491-518), and is known to have been a moderate Monophysite (hence his epithet Diakrinomenos, ‘the Hesitant’). However, only brief excerpts of the ten books of his history survive. In the 9th century, Photius had access to Books 1 to 5 (Bibliotheca cod. 42). Most of the fragments survive through their inclusion in an epitome of ecclesiastical history produced by an unknown author in the early 7th century (the same work through which most of the fragments of Theodore Lector survive): on the epitome and its transmission, see Hansen 1995, xxiv-xxxix.Bibliography
Text:Hansen, G.C., Theodoros Anagnostes. Kirchengeschichte. 2nd ed. (Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten drei Jahrhunderte NF 3; Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1995).
Further reading:
Treadgold, W., The Early Byzantine Historians (Basingstoke, 2006), 168-169.
Efthymios Rizos
20/08/2019
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00723 | Angels, unnamed or name lost | Certain |
|---|
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL:
Efthymios Rizos, Cult of Saints, E07732 - http://csla.history.ox.ac.uk/record.php?recid=E07732