Epiphanius was more of a symbolist than a realist, and his
rejection of visual images was in keeping with his psychological orientation.
This was, of course, poor theology, but such a "theological opinion" does not
discredit Epiphanius' authority in the Church. To a certain extent this way of
thinking is an understandable result of the historical conditions of the fourth
century, which was a period of struggle against paganism and active defense of
the "consubstantiality" of the Word. Given these circumstances, the transition
from symbolism to realism in iconography might well have seemed to be
heretical.
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