Letter 491: Theodore Studite, Letter 491; Greek heading: Διογένει ἀσηκρῆτις Ἐρώτησις. Πῶς δεῖ καλεῖν τὴν Χριστοῦ εἰκόνα καὶ πῶς αὐτὴν προσκυνεῖν χρή. Ἀπόκρισις.

[To Diogenes the asekretis (a senior imperial secretary). The question: How ought one to name the icon of Christ, and how ought one to venerate it? The answer:] The question has a twofold answer, that is, as regards the naming; for that which is named in reference to it [the icon] is spoken of both properly and not properly. For properly the icon [eikon, image] of Christ is called the icon of him, but not properly when it is called "Christ"; rather it is so called by a misuse of terms, as is the case also with the life-giving Cross and with its figure [type]. The same consideration applies in like manner to veneration [proskynesis, the bowing reverence due to images, as distinct from latreia, the worship due to God alone], the veneration being similar to the figure of the Cross. For it is relative, as belonging to things that exist in relation to something, namely to the archetype and the image, according to the saying of Basil the Great: for the honor paid to the image passes over to the archetype. For the veneration of both is one, neither split nor divided, but existing in the case of the archetype essentially, and in the case of the derivative [image] relatively, just as the appearance of the form is present there [in the archetype] naturally, but here [in the image] by participation. The one, therefore, who venerates the icon of anyone whatsoever, whether of Christ, or of the Theotokos [the God-bearer, the Virgin Mary], or of a saint, or simply of an emperor, or of a magistrate, or of a person of lower station, has in this [icon] venerated the one whose icon it happens to be; and venerating in this way he does not err, but, resting upon orthodox ground, he justly repels those who set themselves against the truth on either side. And who are these? Both those who refuse to venerate the holy [august] icons, and those who, in the veneration, say that they are venerating the very archetypes themselves naturally—of which two errors the blasphemy is equal: of the former as abolishing the mystery of the dispensation [oikonomia, the incarnate economy of salvation], of the latter as deifying, that is, treating as substance, things that stand far removed in nature from the archetypes. Therefore the icon of Christ must be venerated (for here is the crown [colophon] of the argument) relatively, but it must not be given worship [latreia]; for that [worship] belongs naturally to Christ himself, since the worship is one, that of the Trinity. And neither is worship to be given to the Theotokos herself, nor to the life-giving Cross itself. So too no worship is to be given to the icon of Christ, but veneration; all the venerations being referred, through the medium of their respective archetypes, to the one and only worshipful veneration of the Holy Trinity; for all the others are not worshipful, but honorific, according to the difference of the person, whether of lower or of higher station.

Ἡ ἐρώτησις διπλῆν ἔχει τὴν ἀπόκρισιν, ἤγουν τὴν κλῆσιν· λέγεται γὰρ καὶ κυρίως καὶ οὐ κυρίως τὸ ἐπ' αὐτῇ ὀνομαζόμενον. κυρίως μὲν γὰρ εἰκὼν Χριστοῦ εἴρηται ἡ εἰκὼν αὐτοῦ, οὐ κυρίως δέ, ὅταν καλῆται Χριστός, ἀλλὰ κατὰ κατάχρησιν, ὡς ἔχει ἐπί τε τοῦ ζωοποιοῦ σταυροῦ καὶ τοῦ τύπου αὐτοῦ· ἀναλογοῦν τὸ θεώρημα ὡσαύτως καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς προσκυνήσεως, παραπλησίως τῷ τύπῳ τοῦ σταυροῦ ἡ προσκύνησις. σχετικὴ γὰρ ὡς τῶν πρός τι ὄντων, πρωτοτύπου τε καὶ εἰκόνος, κατὰ τὴν φωνὴν τοῦ Μεγάλου Βασιλείου· ἡ γὰρ τιμὴ τῆς εἰκόνος ἐπὶ τὸ πρωτότυπον διαβαίνει. ἔστι γὰρ τῶν ἀμφοτέρων μία ἡ προσκύνησις, οὐ σχιζομένη οὐδὲ διαιρουμένη, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ μὲν τοῦ πρωτοτύπου οὐσιωδῶς, ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ παραγώγου σχετικῶς ὑπάρχουσα, ὥσπερ καὶ τὸ εἶδος τῆς μορφῆς, ὅτι ἐκεῖ μὲν φυσικῶς, ἐνταῦθα δὲ μεθεκτῶς πάρεστιν. Ὁ γοῦν προσκυνῶν τὴν εἰκόνα οὑτινοσοῦν, εἴτε Χριστοῦ, εἴτε τῆς Θεοτόκου, εἴτε ἁγίου, εἴτε ἁπλῶς βασιλέως, εἴτε ἄρχοντος, εἴτε ὑφειμένου ἀνθρώπου, ἐν ταύτῃ προσεκύνησε τὸν οὗπερ αὕτη τυγχάνει εἰκών· καὶ οὕτω προσκυνῶν οὐ σφάλλεται, ἀλλ', ὀρθοδόξως ἐρειδόμενος, τοὺς ἐφ' ἑκατέρᾳ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ ἀντιπίπτοντας ἐνδίκως ἀποκρούεται. τίνες δὲ οὗτοι; οἵ τε ἀπαναινόμενοι προσκυνεῖν τὰς σεπτὰς εἰκόνας καὶ οἱ ἐν τῇ προσκυνήσει λέγοντες αὐτὰ τὰ πρωτότυπα φυσικῶς προσκυνεῖν, ὧν ἀμφοτέρων ἐπ' ἴσης τὸ βλάσφημον, τῶν μὲν ὡς ἀναιρούντων τὸ τῆς οἰκονομίας μυστήριον, τῶν δὲ ὡς θεοποιούντων, ἤτοι οὐσιοποιούντων, τὰ μακρὰν ἀπέχοντα τῇ φύσει ἀπὸ τῶν πρωτοτύπων. τοιγαροῦν προσκυνητέον τὴν εἰκόνα Χριστοῦ (ὧδε γὰρ ὁ κολοφὼν τοῦ λόγου) σχετικῶς, ἀλλ' οὐ λατρευτέον· τοῦτο γὰρ φυσικῶς ἐπ' αὐτοῦ Χριστοῦ, ἐπείπερ ἡ λατρεία μία τῆς Τριάδος. καὶ οὐδὲ αὐτῇ τῇ Θεοτόκῳ λατρευτέον οὐδὲ αὐτῷ τῷ ζωοποιῷ σταυρῷ. οὕτως οὐδὲ τῇ Χριστοῦ εἰκόνι λατρευτέον, ἀλλὰ προσκυνητέον, πασῶν τῶν προσκυνήσεων διὰ μέσου τῶν κατ' αὐτὰς πρωτοτύπων ἐπὶ τὴν μίαν καὶ μόνην λατρευτικὴν προσκύνησιν τῆς Ἁγίας Τριάδος ἀναφερομένων· αἱ γὰρ ἄλλαι οὐ λατρευτικαὶ ἅπασαι, ἀλλὰ τιμητικαί, κατὰ τὸ διάφορον τοῦ ὑφειμένου ἤ προύχοντος προσώπου.