Canons of the Synod of 754
It is the unanimous doctrine of all the holy Fathers and of the six Ecumenical Synods, that no one may imag- ine any kind of separation or mingling in opposition to the unsearchable, unspeakable, and incomprehen- sible union of the two natures in the one hypostasis or person. What avails, then, the folly of the painter, who from sinful love of gain depicts that which should not be depicted-that is, with his polluted hands he tries to fashion that which should only be believed in the heart and confessed with the mouth? He makes an image and calls it Christ. The name Christ signifies God and man. Consequently it is an image of God and man, and conse- quently he has in his foolish mind, in his representation of the created flesh, depicted the Godhead which cannot be represented, and thus mingled what should not be mingled. Thus he is guilty of a double blasphemy-the one in making an image of the Godhead, and the other by mingling the Godhead and manhood. .. like the Monophysites, or he represents the body of Christ as not made divine and separate and as a person apart, like the Nestorians. The only admissible figure of the humanity of Christ, however, is bread and wine in the holy Supper. This and no other form, this and no other type, has he chosen to represent his incarnation. Bread he ordered to be brought, but not a representation of the human form, so that idolatry might not arise. And as the body of Christ is made divine, so also this figure of the body of Christ, the bread, is made divine by the descent of the Holy Spirit; it becomes the divine body of Christ by the mediation of the priest who, separating the oblation from that which is common, sanctifies it.
Source: Excerpted from The Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Undivided Church, trans. H. R. Percival, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd Series, ed. P. Schaff and H. Wace (repr. Grand Rapids, MI: 1955), pp. 543-44. Questions for Analysis
With what other things does John of Damascus compare the making of images? How do these com- parisons help him make his argument in favor of them? synod compare the making of images?
