The Definition of Idol:
The word “idol” (or Eidolon / εἴδωλον ) is derived from the Greek Eidos / εἶδoς, a noun meaning “form,” “shape,” or “appearance.” The two words are very similar. While eidos is the abstract concept of a “form” or “shape,” adding the suffix -ol turns it into a concrete, isolated instance of that shape: “A little form,” “a crafted shape,” or “an outlined appearance.” The suffix ending (-ol / -olion) gives the sense of a derivative, lightweight, or insubstantial copy. It is something that has a form (eidos), but lacks the heavy, genuine reality of the original. That is why the Greeks used it for shadows, reflections in water, ghost-phantoms, and eventually, hollow man-made images—things that look like a shape, but are fundamentally empty.
Here are three facts about this word which contradict Cathodox doctrine concerning the supposed distinction between “images” and “idols”:
The word “Idol” does not mean “an image of a false god.” The Greeks used this word for thousands of years in reference to their own images, which they most certainly did not consider to be false gods. It did not EVER mean “an image of a false deity.” It was the Jews who first gave a negative connotation to the word “idol” when the seventy elders translated the Hebrew word Elil / אֱלִיל (an empty/vain thing) as Eidolon / εἴδωλον. Since the Jews considered EVERY image to be an abomination (even of non-deities), ALL idols were spoken of in a negative way.
The vast majority of instances where the word “idol” is used are actually not in reference to statues, but rather to ethereal apparitions and mental pictures. This is important because it proves that “idol” was considered to be a close cousin of “icon”, meaning an image or a form, not just an image of a deity. The church fathers did not understand the word “idol” to refer only to pagan deities, but they themselves used the word “idol” when referring to mental images, ghosts, or insubstantial forms.
- Most shocking of all, when both the Greeks and Jews used this word “idol,” they frequently used the word “icon” (Eikon / εἰκών) right alongside it interchangeably! Idols are not inherently evil, anymore than icons are inherently evil. In the same way that an icon doesn’t HAVE to be an image of a false deity, an idol doesn’t HAVE to be an image of a false deity. The Cathodox have created a false distinction between images and idols, and weaved a fairytale that Christians are allowed to worship images, but not idols! This is based on a nonexistent distinction in Scripture. “Eidolon” does not refer exclusively to pagan deities, while “icon” frequently DOES refer to pagan deities!
Icon and Idol Are Interchangeable:
EXAMPLE 1:
Exodus 20:4-5 – “You shall not make for yourselves an idol (ειδωλον), nor any likeness (ομοιωμα) of anything, either in heaven above or in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down (προσκυνεω) to them, nor serve (λατρευω) them; for I am the Lord your God, a jealous God, visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation to those who hate me.”
Deuteronomy 4:12–19 – “And the Lord spoke to you out of the middle of the fire a voice of words, which you heard: and you saw no form (ομοιωμα), only you heard a voice. And he announced to you his covenant, which he commanded you to keep, even the ten commandments; and he wrote them on two tablets of stone. And the Lord commanded me at that time, to teach you statutes and judgments, that you should do them on the land, into which you go to inherit it. And take good heed to your souls, for you saw no form (ομοιωμα) on the day in which the Lord spoke to you in Horeb on the mountain out of the middle of the fire, lest you sin, and make for yourselves an image (εικων), or any likeness (ομοιωμα), the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal of those that are on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird which flies under heaven, the likeness of any reptile which creeps on the earth, the likeness of any fish of those which are in the waters under the earth; and lest having looked up to the sky, and having seen the sun and the moon and the stars, and all the heavenly bodies, you should go astray and worship (προσκυνεω) them, and serve (λατρευω) them, which the Lord your God has assigned to all the nations under heaven.”
- When Moses reiterates the second commandment, he substitutes the word “idol” for “icon,” because they are both interchangeable.
EXAMPLE 2:
Daniel 3:13 – There are certain Jews, whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O king, have disregarded you; they don’t serve your idol (εἰδώλῳ), nor bow to the golden image (εἰκόνι) which you have set up.”
Daniel 3:18 – “But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your idol (εἰδώλῳ), nor bow to the golden image (εἰκόνι) which you have set up.”
- The three youths are refusing to do the two things God forbade His people from doing to images: bowing and serving. Only one image is in question here, the king’s golden statue.
EXAMPLE 3:
Wisdom 13:5-19 – For from the greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their Creator. Yet these men are little to be blamed, for perhaps they go astray while seeking God and desiring to find him. For as they live among his works they keep searching, and they trust in what they see, because the things that are seen are beautiful. Yet again, not even they are to be excused; for if they had the power to know so much that they could investigate the world, how did they fail to find sooner the Lord of these things? But miserable, with their hopes set on dead things, are the men who give the name “gods” to the works of men’s hands, gold and silver fashioned with skill, and likenesses of animals, or a useless stone, the work of an ancient hand. A skilled woodcutter may saw down a tree easy to handle and skillfully strip off all its bark, and then with pleasing workmanship make a useful vessel that serves life’s needs, and burn the castoff pieces of his work to prepare his food, and eat his fill. But a castoff piece from among them, useful for nothing, a stick crooked and full of knots, he takes and carves with care in his leisure, and shapes it with skill gained in idleness; he forms an image (εικων) of a man, or of some worthless animal, giving it a coat of red paint and coloring its surface red and covering every blemish in it with paint; then he makes for it a niche that befits it, and sets it in the wall, and fastens it there with iron. So he takes thought for it, that it may not fall, because he knows that it cannot help itself, for it is only an image (εικων) and has need of help. When he prays about possessions and his marriage and children, he is not ashamed to address a lifeless thing. For health he appeals to a thing that is weak; for life he prays to a thing that is dead; for aid he entreats a thing that is utterly inexperienced; for a prosperous journey, a thing that cannot take a step; for money-making and work and success with his hands he asks strength of a thing whose hands have no strength.
Wisdom 14:12-31 – For the idea of making idols was the beginning of fornication, and the invention of them was the corruption of life, for neither have they existed from the beginning nor will they exist for ever. For through the vanity of men they entered the world, and therefore their speedy end has been planned. For a father, consumed with grief at an untimely bereavement, made an image (εικων) of his child, who had been suddenly taken from him; and he now honored as a god what was once a dead human being, and handed on to his dependents secret rites and initiations. Then the ungodly custom, grown strong with time, was kept as a law, and at the command of monarchs graven images were honored (τιμαω). When men could not honor monarchs in their presence, since they lived at a distance, they imagined their appearance far away, and made a visible image (εικων) of the king whom they honored (τιμαω), so that by their zeal they might flatter the absent one as though present. Then the ambition of the craftsman impelled even those who did not know the king to intensify their worship (θρησκεια). For he, perhaps wishing to please his ruler, skilfully forced the likeness to take more beautiful form, and the multitude, attracted by the charm of his work, now regarded as an object of worship (σέβασμα) the one whom shortly before they had honored as a man. And this became a hidden trap for mankind, because men, in bondage to misfortune or to royal authority, bestowed on objects of stone or wood the name that ought not to be shared. Afterward it was not enough for them to err about the knowledge of God, but they live in great strife due to ignorance, and they call such great evils peace…. they no longer keep either their lives or their marriages pure, but they either treacherously kill one another, or grieve one another by adultery, and all is a raging riot of blood and murder, theft and deceit, corruption, faithlessness, tumult, perjury, confusion over what is good, forgetfulness of favors, pollution of souls, sex perversion, disorder in marriage, adultery, and debauchery. For the worship of idols not to be named is the beginning and cause and end of every evil. For their worshipers either rave in exultation, or prophesy lies, or live unrighteously, or readily commit perjury; for because they trust in lifeless idols they swear wicked oaths and expect to suffer no harm.
Wisdom 15:4-8 – For neither has the evil intent of human art misled us, nor the fruitless toil of painters, a form (εἶδος) stained with varied colors, whose appearance arouses yearning in fools, so that they desire the lifeless form (εἶδος) of a dead image (εικων). Lovers of evil things and fit for such objects of hope are those who either make or desire or worship (σέβασμα) them.
Wisdom 15:9-13 – But he is not concerned that he is destined to die or that his life is brief, but he competes with workers in gold and silver, and imitates workers in copper; and he counts it his glory that he molds counterfeit gods. His heart is ashes, his hope is cheaper than dirt, and his life is of less worth than clay, because he failed to know the one who formed him and inspired him with an active soul and breathed into him a living spirit. But he considered our existence an idle game, and life a festival held for profit, for he says, “One must get money however one can, even by base means.” For this man, more than all others, knows that he sins when he makes from earthy matter fragile vessels and graven images.
Wisdom 15:15-17 – For they thought that all their heathen idols were gods, though these have neither the use of their eyes to see with, nor nostrils with which to draw breath, nor ears with which to hear, nor fingers to feel with, and their feet are of no use for walking. For a man made them, and one whose spirit is borrowed formed them; for no man can form a god which is similar to himself. He is mortal, and what he makes with lawless hands is dead, for he is better than the objects he worships (σεβάσματα), since he has life, but they never have.
EXAMPLE 4:
Hosea 13:2 – Now they sin more and more, and have made themselves images (εἰκόνα) of silver, idols (εἰδώλων) according to their own understanding, all of them the work of the craftsmen.
No honest reader of the Scriptures would ever come to the conclusion that God ALLOWS the worship of “images” but FORBIDS the worship of “idols.” God clearly prohibits the worship of all man-made images (whether of kings, departed family members, or the heavenly bodies), not just images of pagan deities.
Here is a great resource for reading all of the instances of “idol” in historical writings. https://vocab.perseus.org/lemma/24930/
How the Greeks Defined an Idol:
Plutarch of Chaeronea (Born c. 46 AD), Greek biographer and essayist:
“It is said that when Alcmene’s body was being carried out for burial, it became invisible, and a stone was seen lying on the bed. And in general, they mythologize many such things, irrationally deifying the mortal aspects of nature together with the divine ones.
Therefore, to completely reject the divinity of virtue is impious and ignoble, but to mix earth with heaven is foolish. So we must say, keeping to what is safe (according to Pindar), that:
‘The body of all men follows after mighty death, but a living image (εἴδωλον) of life still remains — for this alone comes from the gods.'”
At this stage of the struggle they say that a great light flamed out from Eleusis, and an echoing cry filled the Thriasian plain down to the sea, as of multitudes of men together conducting the mystic Iacchus in procession. Then out of the shouting throng a cloud seemed to lift itself slowly from the earth, pass out seawards, and settle down upon the triremes. Others fancied they saw apparitions (φάσματα) and shapes (εἴδωλα) of armed men coming from Aegina with their hands stretched out to protect the Hellenic triremes. These, they conjectured, were the Aeacidae, who had been prayerfully invoked before the battle to come to their aid.
Thus, by despising himself, admiring his friend, loving that friend’s kindly solicitude and revering his excellence, he insensibly acquired an
image (εἴδωλον) of love,
as Plato says,
to match love,
and all were amazed to see him eating, exercising, and tenting with Socrates, while he was harsh and stubborn with the rest of his lovers. Some of these he actually treated with the greatest insolence, as, for example, Anytus, the son of Anthemion.
Democritus says we ought to pray that we may be visited by phantoms (εἰδώλων) which are propitious, and that the favorable and beneficial ones rather than the harmful and perverse ones may come to us from the surrounding environment—thus introducing a doctrine that is neither true and that leads to boundless superstitions, dragging it down into philosophy.
Athenaeus of Naucratis (Born 170 AD), Greek rhetorician and grammarian:
Athenaeus of Naucratis, Deipnosophistae
And as the drinking went on, and the shadows were beginning to fall, they opened the chamber where everything was encircled all round with white cloths. And when these curtains were drawn, the torches appeared, the partitions having been secretly removed by mechanism. And there were seen Cupids, and Dianas, and Pans, and Mercuries, and numbers of statues (εἴδωλα) of that kind, holding torches in silver candlesticks.
As the drinking party progressed and the hour grew dusky, they threw open the house, which was entirely partitioned all around with white linen curtains. And when these were thrown open, Naiads appeared—the barriers having been secretly opened by means of stage mechanisms—along with Erotes, Artemises, Pans, Herms, and many such figures (εἴδωλα) holding torches in silver lamp-stands. While we were marveling at the craftsmanship, actual Erymanthian wild boars, pierced through with silver spears on square plaques with gold miters, were carried around to each guest.
Athenaeus of Naucratis, Deipnosophistae
The rest of the procession is difficult to describe, but it must be summarized. About eight hundred ephebes (young men) marched, wearing golden crowns; about a thousand well-fed oxen; nearly three hundred theorides (sacred embassy ships); and eight hundred elephant tusks. The multitude of statues (ἀγαλμάτων) is impossible to recount. For images (εἴδωλον) of all the gods or daimons said or believed to exist among men, and furthermore of heroes, were led along—some gilded, others dressed in gold-embroidered robes. And for all these, the appropriate myths were provided nearby, according to the transmitted accounts, in lavish arrangements. They were accompanied also by an image (εἴδωλον) of Night and of Day, of Earth and of Heaven, and of Dawn and of Noon.
Athenaeus of Naucratis, Deipnosophistae
For one woman lay there, revealing her white breast in the moonlight, her strap having been loosened. Another, in her dance, loosened her left hip; and naked, she displayed a living painting to the gazing heaven—her white skin shone back as the work of black shadow. Another bared her beautiful-armed forearms; another partially covered her feminine neck. Another, through the torn folds of her fine garments, revealed her thigh, and the desire of smiling Desire (Eros) was imprinted there beyond all expectation. They fell upon beds of helenium, breaking also the dark-leaved petals of violets and the crocus, which wiped away the image (εἴδωλον) of shadow onto the sunlit fabrics of their robes.
Isocrates (436–338 BC) Greek rhetorician and orators
Isocrates, Nicocles or the Cyprians
For this it is which has laid down laws concerning things just and unjust, and things base and honorable; and if it were not for these ordinances we should not be able to live with one another. It is by this also that we confute the bad and extol the good. Through this we educate the ignorant and appraise the wise; for the power to speak well is taken as the surest index of a sound understanding, and discourse which is true and lawful and just is the outward image (εἴδωλον) of a good and faithful soul.
By force he drags me away, as if he had captured a strong man, and does not see that he is cutting down a corpse, the shadow of smoke, a mere phantom (εἴδωλον). In my strength he could not have taken me—no!—nor even in my present condition, save by deceit. But now, because of my rotten fate, I have been tricked. What should I do?
ODYSSEUS: Yet I pity the poor wretch, though he’s my enemy. He’s yoked to an evil delusion, but the same fate could be mine. For I see clearly: we who live are nothing more than phantoms (εἴδωλʼ) or fleeting shadows.
Now I perceive that in this journey some trusty omen from you has surely led me home to this grove; never otherwise could I have met with you, first of all, in my wanderings—I, in my sobriety, with you who touch no wine, —or taken this august seat not shaped by men. Then, goddesses, according to the word of Apollo, give me at last some way to accomplish and close my course—unless, perhaps, I seem too lowly, enslaved as I am evermore to woes the sorest on the earth. Hear, sweet daughters of primeval Darkness! Hear, you that are called the city of great Pallas, Athens, given most honor of all cities! Pity this poor ghost of the man Oedipus! A mere image (εἴδωλον) — for in truth it is the former living body no more.
Philo of Alexandria
Philo Judaeus, De Opificio Mundi (On the Creation of the World)
Section 17 to Section 18 (17– 18)
It is not lawful to say or even to suppose that the world composed of the ideas exists in some [physical] place. But how it is constituted, we shall understand by following a certain image (εἰκόνι) from among those we know.
Whenever a city is founded with great ambition by a king or some sovereign ruler who claims absolute power, and whose brilliant spirit further adorns his good fortune, sometimes a man of education and architectural skill comes forward. After observing the balance and suitability of the location, he first draws within himself almost all the parts of the city that are to be completed—temples, gymnasiums, council halls, marketplaces, harbors, ship-sheds, alleys, the construction of walls, the foundations of houses and other public buildings.
Then, having received in his own mind, as on a waxen tablet, the form (τύπους) of each building, he carries in his heart the statue (ἀγαλματοφορεῖ) of a city, perceptible as yet only by the intellect. By stirring up the images (εἴδωλα) of that city with his innate memory and sealing the characters even more firmly, he then, like a good craftsman, begins to construct the city out of stones and timber, looking to the model (τὸ παράδειγμα) — making the material substances resemble each of the incorporeal ideas.
Philo Judaeus, De Plantatione (About the Planting of Noah)
It was therefore fitting that the human soul, having been formed according to the image (ἀπεικονισθείσης) of the archetypal principle (λόγον) of its cause, should also raise its gaze to the purest portion of the universe—heaven—once the body had been raised up, so that the invisible might be clearly apprehended through the visible. Since, then, it was impossible to see the drawing of the mind toward that which truly is, except by those who have themselves been led by it alone (for what each has experienced he alone knows in a particular way), God has given us the eyes of the body as an evident and visible image (εἴδωλον) of the invisible eye, which are able to look up to the heaven.
Philo Judaeus, De Fuga Et Inventione
The distinguished man, having drawn much from the naturally social element, and being a companion of true monarchy, comes to the undistinguished man—who, as I have already said, fashions material ruling principles from the gods (so to speak) but thinks nothing is effective beyond these—in order to teach him that he does not have correct judgment. For the world has come into being, and it has certainly come into being from some cause. And the principle (logos) of the maker is itself the seal (ἡ σφραγίς) by which each of the things that exist has been formed. Hence the Form (τὸ εἶδος) from the beginning accompanies everything that comes into being as something perfect, since it is an impression (ἐκμαγεῖον) and an image (εἰκών) of a perfect principle (logos). For the living thing that has come into being is imperfect in quantity (witness the growths that occur at each stage of life), but perfect in quality. For the same quality remains, since it has been impressed (ἐκμαγεῖσα) from a remaining and in no way changing divine principle (logos). Seeing that it (the soul) has been made deaf to learning and lawful discipline, it naturally plans an escape. For it fears that, besides being unable to do any good, it may itself be harmed. For associations with fools are harmful, and often the soul unwillingly impresses upon itself the images (εἴδωλα) of their madness. And truly, education is by nature hostile to ignorance, and diligence to negligence.
Philo Judaeus, De Somniis (lib. i-ii)
Philo Judaeus, De Somniis (lib. i-ii)
But the deep and bottomless sleep, by which every worthless person is possessed, removes true apprehensions and fills the mind with deceptive images (ψευδῶν εἰδώλων) and unstable phantoms, persuading it to accept blameworthy things as praiseworthy. For even now he dreams of grief as if it were joy, and does not realize that he is looking at the plant of foolishness and madness — the vine.
Philo Judaeus, De Specialibus Legibus (lib. i‑iv)
So that, transcending all visible essence by means of our reason, let us press forward to the honour of that everlasting and invisible Being who can be comprehended and appreciated by the mind alone; who is not only the God of all gods, whether appreciable only by the intellect or visible to the outward senses, but is also the creator of them all. And if any one gives up the service due to the everlasting and uncreated God, transferring it to any more modern and created being, let him be set down as mad and as liable to the charge of the greatest impiety.
But there are some persons who have given gold and silver to sculptors and statuaries, as people able to fashion gods for them. And they, taking the lifeless materials and using a mortal model, have (which is a most extraordinary thing) made gods, as far as appearance went, and have built temples and erected altars, and dedicated them to them, honouring them with excessive pains and diligence, with sacrifices and processions, and all kinds of other sacred ceremonies and purifications; the priests and priestesses exciting themselves to the very extremity of their power to extend this kind of pride and vanity.
To whom the Father of the universe thus speaks, saying: “You shall not make to yourselves gods of silver and gold;” all but teaching them in express words, “You shall not make to yourselves any gods whatever of this or of any other material, nor shall you worship anything made with hands,” being forbidden expressly with respect to the two most excellent materials; for silver and gold are esteemed the most honourable of all materials.
And, besides this distinct prohibition, there is another meaning which appears to me to be intended to be figuratively conveyed under these words, which is one of very great influence as contributing to the formation of the moral character, and which convicts in no slight degree those who are covetous of money and who seek to procure silver and gold from all quarters and when they have acquired it treasure it up, as though it were some divine image, in their inmost shrines, looking upon it as the cause of all good things and of all happiness.
And all the poor men that are possessed of that terrible disease, the love of money, but who, from not having any riches of their own which they can think worthy of their attention, fix their admiration on the wealth of their neighbours, and, for the purpose of offering adoration to it, come the first thing in the morning to the houses of those who have abundance, as if they were noble temples at which they were going to offer prayers, and to entreat blessings from their owners as if from the gods.
And to these men, Moses says, in another passage, “You shall not follow images (εἰδώλοις), and you shall not make to yourselves molten gods.” Teaching them, by figurative language, that it is not right to pay such honours to wealth as one would pay to the gods; for those celebrated materials of wealth, silver and gold, are made to be used, which, however, the multitude follows, looking upon them as the only causes of wealth which is proverbially called blind, and the especial sources of happiness.
These things, he calls idols (εἴδωλα), resembling shadows and phantoms, attached to nothing strong or stable. For they are carried along like an unstable wind, undergoing all kinds of turns and changes. A clear sign of this is that sometimes, when people do not expect it, it suddenly flies toward them, and when they think it has been securely seized, it jumps away again. And even when it is present, like the images (εἴδωλα) in mirrors, it deceives the sense, bewitches it, and presents things that do not endure as if they were substantial.
And why need I explain how unstable the wealth and pride of men are, which vain opinions decorate with showy colours? For, before now, some men have existed who have affirmed that all other animals and plants, of which there is any birth or any decay, are in one continual and incessant state of transition, and that the external sense of this transition is somewhat indistinct, inasmuch as the swiftness of nature surpasses the very quickest and most precise glance of the vision.
But not only are wealth, and glory, and all other such things mere phantoms (εἴδωλα) and unsubstantial (ἀμενηναὶ), but also all the other deceits which the inventors of fables have devised, puffing themselves up by reason of their ingenuity, while they have been raising a fortification of false opinion in opposition to the truth, bringing in God as if by some theatrical machine, in order to prevent the everlasting and only true existing God from being consigned to oblivion, are so likewise. But such men have adapted their falsehood to melodies, and rhythm, and metres, with a reference to what is persuasive, thinking that by these means they should easily cajole all who read their works.
Moreover, they also enlisted sculpture and painting as accomplices of deception, so that by means of well-crafted forms (ἰδέαις) of colors, shapes, and qualities, they might lead astray those who see them, and by enticing the leading senses—sight and hearing—the former with lifeless beauties, the latter with poetic melody, they might snatch away the soul, rendering it unstable and ungrounded.
Philo Judaeus, De Specialibus Legibus (lib. i‑iv)
[Speaking about the symbolism of the bodily organs]: There is also this additional point to what has been said: it so happens that the nature of the liver, being elevated and very smooth, has the role of an extremely clear mirror (κατόπτρου) because of its smoothness. So that when the mind, having withdrawn from daily cares — the body being relaxed in sleep and none of the senses standing in the way — begins to circulate within itself and to examine its thoughts clearly by itself, then, looking into the liver as into a mirror, it beholds each of the intelligible things purely, and looking around in a circle at images (εἴδωλα), it checks whether any shame is present, so that it may flee the one and choose the opposite. And having taken delight in all the impressions (φαντασίαις), it prophesies through dreams the things to come.
Philo Judaeus, De Praemiis Et Poenis Et De Exsecrationibus
For habit is a pull, so that there is a risk that if he stays, he may be caught and trapped by so many surrounding attractions, whose impressions (φαντασίαι) will again stir up the quiet that has arisen from shameful practices, and will produce in him vivid memories (μνήμας ἐνάυλους) — memories which it would have been good to forget.
At any rate, many have been made chaste by journeys abroad, curing their mad and raging loves, because sight was no longer able to supply to the passion the images (τὰ εἴδωλα) of pleasure. For by the separation, the passion must necessarily go in vain, since the thing by which it would be provoked is no longer present.
Philo Judaeus, Quod Omnis Probus Liber Sit
And we must not pay the slightest attention to threats and menaces which some persons hold out over even wise men, but we must say as Antigonides the flute-player did; for it is related that he, when one of his rivals in art being angry with him, said to him, “I will buy you for a slave,” said with very profound wit, “Then I will teach you to play the flute;” and in the same way it would become the virtuous man to say to any one who appeared inclined to purchase him, “Therefore you will be able to learn wisdom.” And if any one were to threaten him with banishment beyond the borders of the country, it would become him to reply, “Every land is my country;” and if any one were to threaten him with loss of money, he might make answer, “A moderate means of subsistence are sufficient for me:” while if any one were to menace him with stripes or death, he would reply, “These things have no terrors for me, nor am I inferior to a boxer or to a wrestler in the pancratium, who, seeing merely some indistinct images (εἴδωλα) of virtue, because they have laboured merely at the one object of producing a good condition of body, endure both blows and death with fortitude; for in me the mind, which is the ruler of the body, has been invigorated by courage, and so completely fortified, that it is able to show itself superior to any kind of pain.”
Philo Judaeus, De Vita Contemplativa
For it is not just any free men who are assigned to these services, but rather the young men within the community who have been chosen after careful selection as the best by birth (aristindan) — as is proper for those who are refined and well-born, hastening toward the highest virtue. They, like legitimate sons, willingly and ambitiously serve their fathers and mothers, considering their common parents to be more their own than those by blood, if indeed nothing is more akin to right-thinking men than nobility and goodness. They enter ungirt and with their tunics lowered, ready to serve, so that they may carry no image (μηδὲν εἴδωλον) of a servile appearance.
“I am Flaccus! who but a little while ago was the governor of the mighty city, of the populous city of Alexandria! the governor of that most fertile of all countries, Egypt! I am he on whom all those myriads of inhabitants turned their eyes! who had countless forces of infantry, and cavalry, and ships, formidable, not merely by their number, but consisting of all the most eminent and illustrious of all my subjects! I am he who was every day accompanied when I went out by countless companies of clients!
But now, was not all this a vision rather than reality? and was I asleep, and was this prosperity which I then beheld a dream—phantoms (εἴδωλα) marching through empty space, fictions of the soul, which perhaps registered non-existent things as though they had a being? Doubtless, I have been deceived.
“We venerate images, not idols!”
Is there a difference between venerating an image and venerating an idol? What is the difference? Did God or the church fathers give permission to venerate images but not idols? Below is a list of passages from the Septuagint, you’ll find notes that contrast the Septuagint with the Latin Vulgate. In nearly all instances where the Greek word “idol” appears, Jerome translates “idol” as “simulacra,” “image,” or “similitude.” On rare occasions, he leaves the Greek word “idol” alone and doesn’t change it, showing that he sees all of these words as interchangeable. All of the Latin writers of the church – from Tertullian to Cyprian to Augustine – do the same thing in their writings. All of these passages were selected to demonstrate that the Latin Vulgate translates the Greek word “idol” as “simulacra,” “image,” or “similitude,” showing that they all mean the same thing.
1 John 5:21 (Vulgate) – Dear children, guard yourselves from idols (simulacris).
Acts 7:41 (Vulgate) – They made a calf in those days, and brought a sacrifice to the idol (simulacro), and rejoiced in the works of their hands.
Acts 15:20 (Vulgate) – We write to them that they abstain from the pollutions of idols (simulacrorum), from sexual immorality, from what is strangled.
1 Corinthians 12:2 (Vulgate) – You know that when you were heathen, you were led away to those mute idols (simulacra), however you might be led.
1 Thessalonians 1:9 (Vulgate) – For they themselves report concerning us what kind of a reception we had from you; and how you turned to God from idols (simulacris), to serve a living and true God….
Revelation 9:20 (Vulgate) – But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols (simulacra) of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk.
Colossians 3:5 (Vulgate) – Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry (simulacrorum servitus).
- Are your icons mute? “Yeah, but they’re not mute in the same way. They’re in a different category of muteness.”
- Are your icons the works of men’s hands? “Yeah, but they’re in a different category of ‘the works of men’s hands.’ We can worship THESE works of our hands.”
- Are they images? “Yeah, but they’re in a different category of images. We flee from a certain CATEGORY of images.”
- Are they made of gold and silver and brass and wood? “Yeah, but there’s a category of images made of gold and silver and brass and wood that we’re allowed to worship — commanded to, even! It’s not the fact that they’re lifeless matter or that they’re the works of men’s hands that makes them ineligible for worship. It’s other things that would disqualify them! Like being an idol!”
- Have you put to death image-service (simulacrorum servitus) in your members? “No, but we put to death idol-service.”
- Is the Greek word IDOL translated as IMAGE in the Latin vulgate? “Yeah, but that’s a different category of images that happened to be idols.”
- So idols are images? “Yeah, but not all images are idols.”
- What makes an image an idol? “When you make an image of a false deity and worship it.”
- If that’s what makes an image an idol, why is worship of the sun forbidden? Is the sun an image of a pagan deity? And why is so much condemnation placed on people for serving images that are mute, can’t move or talk, are fashioned by human hands, and are made of earthly matter?
- If you were to offer sacrifices to an image of Jesus, would that be idolatry? Yes? So you’re proving that idolatry is defined by what you do to an image (latreia), not what it’s depicting? What if I were to offer sacrifices to an image of a saint? Is that idolatry? Yes? Again, you’re proving that idolatry consists of an action, regardless of what’s being depicted.
Habakkuk 2:18 (Vulgate) – What good is a carved thing (sculptile), because its maker carved it, a cast-metal thing, and a false image (imaginem)? Because its maker trusted in his own creation, to make mute idols (simulacra).
Leviticus 26:30 (Vulgate) – “I will destroy your high places, and shatter your idols (simulacra). You shall fall among the ruins of your idols (idolorum), and my soul shall abhor you.”
Romans 2:22 (Vulgate) – You who say a man shouldn’t commit adultery. Do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols (idola), do you rob temples?
1 Corinthians 8:4 (Vulgate) – Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols (idolis), we know that no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no other God but one.
1 Corinthians 10:14 (Vulgate) – Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry (idolorum).
2 Corinthians 6:16 (Vulgate) – And what agreement has the temple of God with idols (idolis)? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.”
- Question for you Cathodox: Why do Latin translators of the Scriptures translate the same Greek word sometimes as “image”, sometimes as “simulacrum,” sometimes as “similitude”, and sometimes as “idol”? Answer: Because these words are interchangeable. They do not refer to different things. An idol is an image that people bow to, pray to, and burn incense to. The ancients were not ignorant of the fact that idol, imageo, simulacrum, and similitudo are all different words, and yet they saw it as perfectly accurate to translate “idol” generically as image, simulation, and similitude! They believed God not only forbade idols, but that we Christians ought to FLEE FROM IMAGES (1 John 5:21)!
One Response
Minucus Felix also uses the word “simulacra” in Octavius 10 when talking about how Christians don’t have temples.