What about Epiphanius tearing a church curtain?
The passage must be confronted as contrary evidence, not dismissed through a slogan about all fathers agreeing.
Key points
- In the letter preserved as Jerome's Letter 51, Epiphanius describes tearing a curtain showing Christ or a saint because he judged it contrary to Scripture.
- Letter 51.9 contains both an image in a church and an objection to that image. It is evidence for diversity, whichever conclusion one draws.
- Authenticity, transmission, and the separate anti-image texts attributed to Epiphanius must be handled individually.
- An Orthodox defense may deny that one father's judgment governs the whole Church, while admitting the passage is a serious historical difficulty for claims of universal unanimity.
- Do not declare this passage forged without a source-specific textual argument; do not conflate it with all disputed Epiphanian writings.