Why Not Worship The Sun?

The Cathodox claim that the second commandment only forbids the worship of images depicting PAGAN gods. But this is obviously false because God proceeds to forbid them from worshiping anything in nature, including the sun in the sky! Is the sun a pagan deity? Obviously not. So obviously God is issuing a broader prohibition of worshiping ANYTHING in nature, even things that humans DIDN’T create.

Predictably, the Cathodox make this argument: “Since Christ became visible in a human form, we can worship visible representations of His body drawn with paint and other lifeless materials.” But according to the early church, and even the chief idolater himself, John of Damascus, Jesus came to earth in a very ugly form, which is not accurately depicted in icons. Thus, you are not worshiping an accurate picture of Jesus’ body, but a likeness from your own imagination! Again, the Cathodox will say, “Our icons are not necessarily exact portraits, but REPRESENTATIONS of Jesus.”

But if God really wanted us to worship him by bowing to REPRESENTATIONS of him, then the greatest and most accurate representation of God in all of creation wouldn’t be something we made with our own hands; it would actually be something God created with His own hands, a glorious, life-giving image of overwhelming brightness: the sun! The sun is superior to painted icons for all of these reasons:

It’s a representation of God made by God Himself, not humans.
It represents God more accurately than a painting because it gives light to the world, life to vegetation, etc.
It pre-existed all other created representations of Him.
It represents Christ’s pre-existent divinity, not the flesh that veils it.
Its substance is more glorious than any other in creation.
It’s in heaven, visible everywhere on the earth to all nations.
There is only one sun, symbolizing one God, whereas there are many images.
It can’t be destroyed by humans

Think about it: wouldn’t you rather see Jesus in His glorious form than His humble slave form? Which form do you think is superior: his slave form or the one that shines as bright as the sun? “But we can’t depict His glorious form. It’s too bright to be depicted in paint.” You’re right, and that’s the point! The sun accomplishes something a painted icon never could! The sun is the ultimate God-given illustration of Jesus’ glory!

This representation of God doesn’t just signify the flesh of Jesus, but symbolizes His very divinity (which is superior to his flesh in both substance and eternity), the glory hidden under the veil of the flesh! But are we Christians permitted to bow to the sun as an image of God? You might respond, “God only gave us His flesh to worship, not the sun, so it would be unlawful to worship the sun.” But you forget, you’re not worshiping Jesus’ flesh, but a PAINTING of His flesh, just as the sun is not His ACTUAL divinity, but a REPRESENTATION of His divinity, which is superior to His flesh (and which came from our nature, while His glory preexisted His incarnation). The apostles considered it a greater privilege to see His more glorious appearance at the transfiguration, which is why they asked if they could make tents to abide there permanently. So why wouldn’t you rather worship pictures of that form? You can’t say the reason why you can’t worship His shining form is because it was never shown to anyone. It clearly was shown to the apostles, and it’ll be shown to the world again. Are you saying you won’t be worshiping Jesus’ glorious form when He appears? Didn’t the apostles bow down to Him at the transfiguration? “Well, Jesus didn’t show that form to US; only to the apostles.” Well, He didn’t show YOU His flesh in person either! He only showed His flesh to a select number of people in earth’s history. So no matter how you cut it, you can neither worship His flesh in person nor that glorious transfigured body in person. You have to choose between one of these representations, either a painting or the sun, right?

But some Cathodox will surely say, “Christ became incarnate as a man, not as the sun. We can only worship the thing he actually became: FLESH!” But did God become incarnate as one of your paintings? Is the painting actually the living God? No? So you’re making my point. You can’t worship lifeless paintings because He never became incarnate as a painting! He was a living, breathing man, and He still is. A painting is a representation of Christ’s flesh, not His actual flesh. Christ didn’t become a framed painting. So why am I allowed to worship other types of matter that He never became? “Because He sanctified ALL matter” Oh, so I can worship all matter? “You worship the Eucharist!” Is all matter the Eucharist? I can worship anything at all? I can worship trees and grass and animals? So I CAN worship the sun? But according to you, I CAN’T worship the sun because He never became the sun. But then you say I CAN worship paintings because they’re matter, and because they merely REPRESENT Christ – and not even His divinity, but just His body that obscured His divinity!

But I could make the case that Christ DID become the sun, since the Scriptures say His glorified body became “as bright as the sun,” and the Scriptures frequently tell us that the sun is a representation of Him, and the fathers all say the same thing. So you might say Christ’s body actually DID take on the nature of the sun! Therefore, why can we not worship the sun, when it’s the prototype for the glory of His body? After all, it doesn’t say that the sun became bright like Jesus’ body, but that Jesus’ body became bright LIKE THE SUN! 

“You can’t worship the sun because His body only became LIKE the sun. It wasn’t the same substance as the sun!” Neither is a painting the same substance as Christ. “But it is matter!” So is the sun.

Why wouldn’t you rather worship a representation of that glorious form he had after the resurrection, the one which the apostles got a sneak-peek of, the one which the whole world will see, as it says, “He will come in the glory of His Father”? Isn’t that glorious body far superior to the one you always depict in your icons? Why wouldn’t I prefer that form over the flesh that died and was glorified?

“It’s not lawful to depict that glorious form!” Whoa! So you’re saying there are some physical, visible forms of Jesus that are unlawful to depict and worship?

“A painting is a representation of Christ, a window to heaven.” The sun is also a representation of Christ, literally placed in heaven. Why can’t I worship representations? Isn’t Jesus the lamb of God? Why can’t I worship a picture of a lamb? “We can’t make an image of Christ as a lamb, since He wasn’t incarnate as a lamb, only as a human. The Council of Trullo banned images of Jesus as anything other than a man.”

In some pictures of the venerable icons, a lamb is painted to which the Precursor points his finger, which is received as a type of grace, indicating beforehand through the Law, our true Lamb, Christ our God. Embracing therefore the ancient types and shadows as symbols of the truth, and patterns given to the Church, we prefer grace and truth, receiving it as the fulfilment of the Law. In order therefore that that which is perfect may be delineated to the eyes of all, at least in colored expression, we decree that the figure in human form of the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world, Christ our God, be henceforth exhibited in images, instead of the ancient lamb, so that all may understand by means of it the depths of the humiliation of the Word of God, and that we may recall to our memory his conversation in the flesh, his passion and salutary death, and his redemption which was wrought for the whole world. – Council of Trullo, Canon 82

But the lamb represents Christ. Doesn’t the church teach that we can make representations of Christ? “Yes, but the prophetic types are fulfilled by the Incarnation, so we should depict Him in His true form.” I see. So you don’t depict any of the prophetic types, like Abraham and Isaac with a ram caught by its horns? Oh, you do? Doesn’t that ram represent Christ? You can’t change the fact that it does. So you do draw representations of Christ as a sheep. “Well, that’s a Biblical scene from the old testament, but ever since He became incarnate, we’ve stopped making pictures of Jesus as a sheep.” I see. So you wouldn’t depict Christ in the New testament as anything other than his true form, which is that of a man? But in the NEW TESTAMENT, John saw Jesus in a vision as a lamb that had been slain:

Revelation 5:6 – And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain….

Not only is a lamb depicted in John’s vision, but according to you Cathodox, this scene from heaven is depicting a LITURGY! And you have to LITERALLY follow the example of the heavenly beings in this vision! So let’s see, are they bowing to the lamb and offering it incense?

Revelation 5:8 – Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

Revelation 5:13-14 – And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: “Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!” Then the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever.

If God showed John an image of a lamb that had been slain, and every creature in heaven and earth bowed to the lamb, why can’t I pray to an image of the lamb? And why shouldn’t I be allowed to pray to images of rocks? Isn’t Jesus our rock and our redeemer? And why can’t I bow down to a big A and O? Didn’t Jesus say He’s the Alpha and the Omega? After all, you say letters are images! Why can’t I worship Jesus as the letters Alpha and Omega? “Because it’s not TRULY Christ as He is right now, a man! It’s only a representation!” On that basis, I shouldn’t pray to any kind of painting, since they aren’t truly Christ but only lifeless representations.

So can we worship representations of God then? If you were to be consistent, I should be allowed to worship vines (since Christ is the vine; John 15:1-5), and worship doors (since He is the door; John 10:7), and worship a chicken (since He is a mother hen; Matthew 23:37), and worship a worm, since He says, “I am a worm, and not a man; Psalm 21:7)! “But He never actually BECAME a vine or a door or a chicken, so we can’t worship representations of those things!” But didn’t a mental image of a chicken appear in your mind? And didn’t God write the letters on the page, which caused you to fashion that image in your mind? He KNEW that when He mentioned Jesus as a chicken, you were going to make a mental image of it. Everyone knows this! If you say, “Don’t imagine a purple elephant,” you instantly think of a purple elephant.

Therefore, without a doubt, God intended for you to fashion an image in your mind of Christ as a chicken, and it is lawful for you to paint a similar image and worship it. “No! He never became incarnate as a chicken!” Neither did He become incarnate as a painting, which you worship, but your paintings REPRESENT His flesh. Jesus wasn’t made of flesh before He became incarnate as a man, nor was He a chicken before God compelled you to create images of Him as a chicken in your mind. But according to your philosophy, He always intended for you to fashion an image of Him as a chicken, at least in your mind. So if you can create an mental image of Him as a chicken, why can’t you fashion a physical image of Him as a chicken?

Scriptures on The Sun Representing God:

Romans 1:20 – For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made.

Wisdom of Solomon 5:6 – Therefore have we erred from the way of truth, and the light of righteousness has not shined unto us, and the Sun of righteousness rose not upon us.

Malachi 4:2 – Unto you shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings.

Matthew 17:2 – And He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.

Revelation 1:16 – He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.

Revelation 22:5 – There shall be no night there. They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.

Psalm 19:5 – In the sun He has set His tabernacle; and He comes forth as a bridegroom out of His chamber. He will exult as a giant to run His course.

Church Fathers on The Sun Representing God:

The church fathers agree that the sun IS a representation of God! In fact, the sun is used as an illustration of God more than any other type in the writings of the fathers. It was the chief illustration employed when explaining the Trinity, that the Son proceeds from the Father like a ray from the sun.

On the fourth day the luminaries were made; because God, who possesses foreknowledge, knew the follies of the vain philosophers, that they were going to say, that the things which grow on the earth are produced from the heavenly bodies, so as to exclude God. In order, therefore, that the truth might be obvious, the plants and seeds were produced prior to the heavenly bodies, for what is posterior cannot produce that which is prior. And these contain the pattern and type of a great mystery. For the sun is a type of God, and the moon of man. And as the sun far surpasses the moon in power and glory, so far does God surpass man. And as the sun remains ever full, never becoming less, so does God always abide perfect, being full of all power, and understanding, and wisdom, and immortality, and all good. But the moon wanes monthly, and in a manner dies, being a type of man; then it is born again, and is crescent, for a pattern of the future resurrection. In like manner also the three days which were before the luminaries, are types of the Trinity, of God, and His Word, and His wisdom. And the fourth is the type of man, who needs light, that so there may be God, the Word, wisdom, man. Wherefore also on the fourth day the lights were made. The disposition of the stars, too, contains a type of the arrangement and order of the righteous and pious, and of those who keep the law and commandments of God. For the brilliant and bright stars are an imitation of the prophets, and therefore they remain fixed, not declining, nor passing from place to place. And those which hold the second place in brightness, are types of the people of the righteous. And those, again, which change their position, and flee from place to place, which also are called planets, they too are a type of the men who have wandered from God, abandoning His law and commandments. – Theophilus, To Autolycus, Chapter 15 (AD 180)

For He Himself is “the light of the world” who also illuminates the Church by his light. For just as the moon is said to receive light from the sun so that the night likewise can be illuminated by it, so also the Church, when the light of Christ has been received, illuminates all those who live in the night of Ignorance. – Origen of Alexandria, Commentary on Genesis

Thus too the Church bathed in the light of the Lord projects its rays over the whole world, yet there is one light which is diffused everywhere, and the unity of the body is not separated. She extends her branches over the whole earth in fruitful abundance; she extends her richly flowing streams far and wide; yet her head is one, and her source is one, and she is the one mother copious in the results of her fruitfulness. By her womb we are born; by her milk we are nourished; by her spirit we are animated. – Cyprian of Carthage, Treatise 1, chapter 5

For as if a man, when the sun is shining, and the whole earth illumined by his light, were to shut fast his eyes and imagine darkness where no darkness exists, and then walk wandering as if in darkness, often falling and going down steep places, thinking it was dark and not light — for, imagining that he sees, he does not see at all — so, too, the soul of man, shutting fast her eyes, by which she is able to see God, has imagined evil for herself, and moving therein, knows not that, thinking she is doing something, she is doing nothing. – Athanasius, Against the Heathen, part 1, chapter 7

And just as men who have turned from the sun and have come into dark places go round by many pathless ways, and see not those who are present, while they imagine those to be there who are not, and seeing see not; so they that have turned from God and whose soul is darkened, have their mind in a roving state, and like men who are drunk and cannot see, imagine what is not true. – Athanasius, Against the Heathen, part 1, chapter 23

Just as the moon, as some people claim, receives beams from the sun, and becomes a secondary light derived from the greater one, so too the Church is a light to the world. For instance, the Lord said to his disciples, “You are the light of the world,” not a light like the sun, since it is he who is the “Sun of Justice,” but a lesser one and derived from him. And the Apostle, in saying, “You are among them like lights in the world,” shows that they are a “light of the world” through sharing in “the true light”; in fact, he went on, “By holding fast to the word of life.” The moon would represent the presence in them of the light itself; the Lord did not say, “You are the lights,” but the “light,” since in having unity among themselves they all are one light, being Church as they are. (104) The stars among them could be taken allegorically as those elevated by the Word above the others whom they illuminate; such ones would be prophets, who before the rising of the sun dispatch the beam of prophecy. – Didymus the Blind, on Genesis

If any man love His appearing, he will do everything to invite Him to himself, and to hold Him, that the light may shine upon him. Let there be nothing unworthy of His coming, and He will soon take up His abode with us. And it is called His Epiphany, because He will appear above, and shine forth from on high. Let us therefore seek those things that are above, and we shall soon draw down those beams upon us. None of those who grovel below, and bury themselves in this lower earth, will be able to view the light of that Sun. None of those who defile themselves with worldly things will be able to behold that Sun of righteousness. He shines on none of those who are so occupied. Recover yourself a little, recover yourself from that depth, from the waves of a worldly life, if you would see the Sun, and enjoy His appearing. – John Chrysostom, Homily 9 on 1 Timothy

Offences are to be feared from two quarters, for there are two precepts upon which the whole Law hangeth and the Prophets, the love of God and of our neighbour. The Church is loved for the sake of our neighbour, but God for the sake of God. Of God, is understood the sun figuratively: of the Church, is understood the moon figuratively. Whoever can err, so as to think otherwise of God than he ought, believing not the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost to be of one Substance, has been deceived by the cunning of heretics, chiefly of the Arians. If he hath believed anything less in the Son or in the Holy Spirit than in the Father, he hath suffered an offence in God; he is scorched by the sun. Whoever again believeth that the Church existeth in one province only, and not that she is diffused over the whole world, and whoso believeth them that say, “Lo here,” and “Lo there, is Christ,” as ye but now heard when the Gospel was being read; since He who gave so great a price, purchased the whole world: he is offended, so to speak, in his neighbour, and is burnt by the moon. Whoever therefore erreth in the very Substance of Truth, is burnt by the sun, and is burnt through the day; because he erreth in Wisdom itself …God therefore hath made one sun, which riseth upon the good and the evil, that sun which the good and the evil see; but that Sun is another one, not created, not born, through whom all things were made; where is the intelligence of the Immutable Truth: of this the ungodly say, “the Sun rose not upon us.” Whosoever erreth not in Wisdom itself, is not burnt by the sun. Whosoever erreth not in the Church, and in the Lord’s Flesh, and in those things which were done for us in time, is not burnt by the moon. But every man although he believeth in Christ, erreth either in this or that respect, unless what is here prayed for, “The Lord is thy defence upon the hand of thy right hand,” is realized in him. He goeth on to say, “So that the sun shall not burn thee by day, nor the moon by night” (ver. 6). Thy defence, therefore, is upon the hand of thy right hand for this reason, that the sun may not burn thee by day, nor the moon by night. Understand hence, brethren, that it is spoken figuratively. For, in truth, if we think of the visible sun, it burneth by day: doth the moon burn by night? But what is burning? Offence. Hear the Apostle’s words: “Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not?” – Augustine, Commentary on Psalms 121:6

Forgive it there where God sees. For sometimes a man remits with the mouth, and in the heart retains; he remits with the mouth for men’s sake, and retains in the heart, as not fearing the eyes of God. But do ye remit entirely. Whatever you have retained up to these holy days, in these holy days at least remit. The sun ought not to go down upon your wrath, yet many suns have passed. Let then your wrath at length pass away also, now that we are celebrating the days of the great Sun, of that Sun of which Scripture says, Unto you shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings. What is, in His wings? In His protection. Whence it is said in the Psalms, Keep me under the shadow of Your wings. But as to others who in the day of judgment shall repent, but all too late, and who shall mourn, yet unavailingly, it has been foretold by Wisdom what they shall then say as they repent and groan for anguish of spirit, What has pride profited us, or what good has riches with our vaunting brought us? All these things are passed away like a shadow. And, Therefore have we erred from the way of truth, and the light of righteousness has not shined unto us, and the Sun of righteousness rose not upon us. That Sun rises upon the righteous only; but this sun which we see, God makes, daily to rise upon the good and evil. The righteous attain to the seeing of that Sun; and that Sun dwells now in our hearts by faith. If then you are angry, let not this sun go down in your heart upon your wrath; Let not the sun go down upon your wrath; lest haply you be angry, and so the Sun of righteousness go down upon you, and you abide in darkness. – Augustine, Sermon 8 on the New Testament, chapter 7

But the church fathers condemn bowing to the sun:

For what reason, men of Greece, do you wish to bring the civil powers, as in a pugilistic encounter, into collision with us? And, if I am not disposed to comply with the usages of some of them, why am I to be abhorred as a vile miscreant? Does the sovereign order the payment of tribute, I am ready to render it. Does my master command me to act as a bondsman and to serve, I acknowledge the serfdom. Man is to be honoured as a fellow-man; God alone is to be feared,—He who is not visible to human eyes, nor comes within the compass of human art. Only when I am commanded to deny Him, will I not obey, but will rather die than show myself false and ungrateful. Our God did not begin to be in time: He alone is without beginning, and He Himself is the beginning of all things. God is a Spirit, not pervading matter, but the Maker of material spirits, and of the forms that are in matter; He is invisible, impalpable, being Himself the Father of both sensible and invisible things. Him we know from His creation, and apprehend His invisible power by His works. I refuse to adore that workmanship which He has made for our sakes. The sun and moon were made for us: how, then, can I adore my own servants? How can I speak of stocks and stones as gods? For the Spirit that pervades matter is inferior to the more divine spirit; and this, even when assimilated to the soul, is not to be honoured equally with the perfect God. Nor even ought the ineffable God to be presented with gifts; for He who is in want of nothing is not to be misrepresented by us as though He were indigent. But I will set forth our views more distinctly. – Tatian, Address to the Greeks, Chapter 4

But I cannot be persuaded to pay religious homage to the natural elements, nor can I undertake to persuade my neighbour. – Tatian, Address to the Greeks, chapter 21

He ought, therefore, either not to have at all attributed this practice to the Jews, seeing he has observed that they keep their law, and has called them those who live according to their law; or if he did attribute it, he ought to have shown that the Jews did this in violation of their code. But again, as they transgress their law who offer worship to those who are said to appear to them who are involved in darkness and blinded by sorcery, and who dream dreams, owing to obscure phantoms presenting themselves; so also do they transgress the law who offer sacrifice to sun, moon, and stars. And there is thus great inconsistency in the same individual saying that the Jews are careful to keep their law by not bowing down to sun, and moon, and stars, while they are not so careful to keep it in the matter of heaven and the angels. – Origen Against Celsus, Book 5, Ch.9

And just as those who worship the sun and the moon and the stars because their light is perceptible and heavenly would not worship a spark of fire or a lamp on earth, seeing the incomparable superiority of what they suppose worthy of worship over the light of sparks and lamps—so also those who have understood how “God is light,” and who have grasped how the Son of God is the “true light, which enlightens every man coming into the world,” and who also understand how He says, “I am the light of the world,” would not reasonably worship what is, as it were, a small spark as light, namely the light of God in the sun and moon and stars. Nor do we dishonor such great creations of God, nor, like Anaxagoras, call the sun a “fiery mass” and speak similarly of the moon and stars; rather, we recognize the ineffable superiority of the divinity of God, and also that of His only-begotten Son, surpassing all else. And being persuaded that the sun and moon and stars themselves pray to the God over all through His only-begotten Son, we judge that one should not pray to those who themselves pray. For they themselves would rather direct us upward to the God to whom they pray than draw us down to themselves or divide our power of prayer away from God and toward themselves. I will also use this example concerning them: when our Savior and Lord once heard someone say, “Good Teacher,” He referred the one who said this to His Father, saying, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except one—God the Father.” If then the Son, as the image of the Father’s goodness, said this, how much more appropriately would the sun say to those who worship it: “Why do you worship me? For ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve,’—the One whom I and all who are with me worship and serve. – Origen Against Celsus, Book 5, Ch. 11

For, supposing honour was given to Minerva as having been a woman of ancient times, by those who instituted mysteries and ceremonies for their followers, and who wished her name to be celebrated as that of a goddess, much more are we forbidden to pay divine honours to Minerva, if we are not permitted to worship so glorious an object as the sun, although we may celebrate its glory. – Origen Against Celsus, Book 8, Chapter 67

And it is absurd, when He who fills heaven and earth, and who said, Do I not fill heaven and earth? Says the Lord, is with us, and near us (for I believe Him when He says, I am a God near at hand, and not afar off, says the Lord ) to seek to pray to sun or moon, or one of the stars, whose influence does not reach the whole of the world.But, to use the very words of Celsus, let it be granted that the sun, moon, and stars do foretell rain, and heat, and clouds, and thunders, why, then, if they really do foretell such great things, ought we not rather to do homage to God, whose servant they are in uttering these predictions, and show reverence to Him rather than His prophets? Let them predict, then, the approach of lightnings, and fruits, and all manner of productions, and let all such things be under their administration; yet we shall not on that account worship those who themselves offer worship, as we do not worship even Moses, and those prophets who came from God after him, and who predicted better things than rain, and heat, and clouds, and thunders, and lightnings, and fruits, and all sorts of productions visible to the senses. Nay, even if sun, and moon, and stars were able to prophesy better things than rain, not even then shall we worship them, but the Father of the prophecies which are in them, and the Word of God, their minister. But grant that they are His heralds, and truly messengers of heaven, why, even then ought we not to worship the God whom they only proclaim and announce, rather than those who are the heralds and messengers? – Origen Against Celsus, Book 5, Ch. 12

When, therefore, you behold the sun arising, admire the Creator; when you behold him hiding himself and disappearing, learn the weakness of his nature, that you may not bow to (προσκυνήσῃς) him as a Deity! For God has not only implanted in the nature of the elements this proof of their weakness, but has also bidden His servants, that were but men, command them; so that although you should not know their servitude from their aspect, you may learn, from those who have commanded them, that they are all your fellow-servants. Therefore it was, that Joshua, the son of Nave, said, “Let the sun stand still in Gibeon, and the moon over against the valley of Ajalon.” And again the prophet Isaiah made the sun to retrace his steps, under the reign of Hezekiah; and Moses gave orders to the air, and the sea, the earth, and the rocks. Elisha changed the nature of the waters; the Three Children triumphed over the fire. You see how God has provided for us on either hand; leading us by the beauty of the elements to the knowledge of His divinity; and, by their feebleness, not permitting us to lapse into the worship (λατρείαν) of them. – John Chrysostom, Homily 10 on the Statues, chapter 9-10

For, on a sudden, to have brought men more senseless than stones to the dignity of Angels, simply through bare words, and faith alone, without any laboriousness, is indeed glory and riches of mystery: just as if one were to take a dog, quite consumed with hunger and the mange, foul, and loathsome to see, and not so much as able to move, but lying cast out, and make him all at once into a man, and to display him upon the royal throne. They were wont to worship stones and the earth; but they learned that themselves are better both than the heaven and the sun, and that the whole world serves them; they were captives and prisoners of the devil: on a sudden they are placed above his head, and lay commands on him and scourge him: from being captives and slaves to demons, they have become the body of The Master of the Angels and the Archangels; from not knowing even what God is, they have become all at once sharers even in God’s throne. Would you see the countless steps they overleaped? First, they had to learn that stones are not gods; secondly, that they not only are not gods, but inferior even to men; thirdly, to brutes even; fourthly, to plants even; fifthly, they brought together the extremes: that not only stones but not earth even, nor animals, nor plants, nor man, nor heaven; or, to begin again, that not stones, not animals, not plants, not elements, not things above, not things below, not man, not demons, not Angels, not Archangels, not any of those Powers above, ought to be worshipped by the nature of man. – John Chrysostom, Homily 5 on Colossians

“And He said to me: Surely you have seen, son of man: is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they should commit these abominations which they have committed here? For, filling the land with iniquity, they have turned to provoke Me; and behold, they apply the branch to their nostrils.” (Ezekiel 8:17) Instead of what we rendered, “And behold, they apply the branch to their nostrils,” the Seventy translated: “And behold, they themselves as though mocking”; to which, from Theodotion, was added, “They stretch out a branch,” so that the whole may read together: “And behold, they stretch out the branch as though mocking.” Symmachus interpreted it as: “as though they were sending forth a sound like a song through their nostrils.” Now this signifies the twenty-five men, who are set firmly in a square formation and, through the five senses multiplied five times, make the figure of a square: not only do they have the temple behind their backs, but, after the manner of idolaters, they apply a branch to their nostrils—without doubt, branches of palms, which in Greek are called βαΐα—so that by this he may signify that they worship idols. Finally, Job also says that among his other virtues he had this: that, when he looked upon heaven, the sun, the moon, and the shining stars, he never “kissed his hand,” that is, worshipped created things. (Job 31:26–28) – Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel, Book 3, chapter 8:17, Migne PL 25.84C-D

Leo the Great: From such a system of teaching proceeds also the ungodly practice of certain foolish folk who worship the sun as it rises at the beginning of daylight from elevated positions: even some Christians think it is so proper to do this that, before entering the blessed Apostle Peter’s basilica, which is dedicated to the One Living and true God, when they have mounted the steps which lead to the raised platform, they turn round and bow themselves towards the rising sun and with bent neck do homage to its brilliant orb. We are full of grief and vexation that this should happen, which is partly due to the fault of ignorance and partly to the spirit of heathenism: because although some of them do perhaps worship the Creator of that fair light rather than the Light itself, which is His creature, yet we must abstain even from the appearance of this observance: for if one who has abandoned the worship of gods finds it in our own worship, will he not hark back again to this fragment of his old superstition, as if it were allowable, when he sees it to be common both to Christians and to infidels? This objectionable practice must be given up therefore by the faithful, and the honour due to God alone must not be mixed up with those men’s rites who serve their fellow-creatures. For the divine Scripture says: “You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve” (Matthew 4:10). And the blessed Job, a man without complaint, as the Lord says, and one that eschews every evil (Job 1:8), said: “Have I seen the sun when it shone or the moon walking brightly, and my heart has rejoiced in secret, and I have kissed my hand? What is my great iniquity and denial against the most high God?” (Job 31:26–28).

[This is a reference to the heathen practice of blowing a kiss to the gods – either idols or the celestial bodies – as mentioned in Mark Minucius Felix, The Octavius, chapter 2-3: Cæcilius, observing an image of Serapis, raised his hand to his mouth, as is the custom of the superstitious common people, and pressed a kiss on it with his lips. Then Octavius said: “It is not the part of a good man, my brother Marcus, so to desert a man who abides by your side at home and abroad, in this blindness of vulgar ignorance, as that you should allow him in such broad daylight as this to give himself up to stones, however they may be carved into images, anointed and crowned; since you know that the disgrace of this his error redounds in no less degree to your discredit than to his own.”]

But what is the sun or what is the moon but elements of visible creation and material light: one of which is of greater brightness and the other of lesser light? For as it is now daytime and now nighttime, so the Creator has constituted various kinds of luminaries, although even before they were made there had been days without the sun and nights without the moon. But these were fashioned to serve in making man, that he who is an animal endowed with reason might be sure of the distinction of the months, the recurrence of the year, and the variety of the seasons, since through the unequal length of the various periods, and the clear indications given by the changes in its risings, the sun closes the year and the moon renews the months. For on the fourth day, as we read, God said: “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven, and let them shine upon the earth, and let them divide between day and night, and let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be in the firmament of heaven that they may shine upon earth” (Genesis 1:14–15). Awake, O man, and recognize the dignity of your nature. Recollect you were made in the image of God, which although it was corrupted in Adam, was yet re-fashioned in Christ. Use visible creatures as they should be used, as you use earth, sea, sky, air, springs, and rivers: and whatever in them is fair and wondrous, ascribe to the praise and glory of the Maker. Be not subject to that light wherein birds and serpents, beasts and cattle, flies and worms delight. Confine the material light to your bodily senses, and with all your mental powers embrace that true light which lights every man that comes into this world (John 1:9), and of which the prophet says, Come unto Him and be enlightened, and your faces shall not blush. For if we are a temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells in (1 Corinthians 3:16) us, what every one of the faithful has in his own heart is more than what he wonders at in heaven. – Leo the Great, Sermon 27, Chapter 4–5

These things are the principal of what they [the Manichaeans] say and think. And they [the Manichaeans] honour very especially the sun and moon, not as gods, but as the way by which it is possible to attain unto God. – Alexander of Lycopolis, Of the Manicheans, chapter 5

[6] After the flood, the human race was restored again through the three sons of Noah, who had been preserved with their wives. And when the growing multitude began to fill the world, men again forgot God, the Creator of the world, and, abandoning the Creator, began to worship the creatures. Some adored the sun, others the moon or the stars, others fire, others the deep water or springs of waters, believing that all these things had not been made by God for the use of men, but that they had arisen of themselves and were gods. – Martin of Braga, Reforming the Rustics 6. (DE CORRECTIONE RUSTICORUM) (https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/martinbraga/rusticus.shtml)