" It is disastrous to suppose that the Church does not know God as He is, that she degenerates into idolatry, for if she declines from perfection [3] in a single iota, it is as an enduring mark on a comely face, destroying by its unsightliness the beauty of the whole. A small thing is not small when it leads to something great, nor indeed is it a thing of no matter to give up the ancient tradition of the Church held by our forefathers, whose conduct we should observe, and whose faith we should imitate. "
― John of Damascus , On the Divine Images
![John of Damascus quote : It is disastrous to suppose that the Church does not know God as He is, that she degenerates into idolatry, for if she declines from perfection [3] in a single iota, it is as an enduring mark on a comely face, destroying by its unsightliness the beauty of the whole. A small thing is not small when it leads to something great, nor indeed is it a thing of no matter to give up the ancient tradition of the Church held by our forefathers, whose conduct we should observe, and whose faith we should imitate.](/image/1430170.jpg)