Abstract
The author aims to make available a letter of Patriarch Germanos I to Metropolitan Thomas of Claudiopolis defending the depiction and veneration of icons, in which a passage documents Leo III's use of visual propaganda in the years when his attitude to religious images was taking shape. The author hopes to demonstrate that the letter helps to make sense of the confusion that still informs not only the debate on the Chalke icon, but also our understanding of the motives of the first Iconoclast emperor. The text containing the passage is the last and by far the longest of three letters attributed to Germanos in the Acts of Nicaea II. The texts referred generally to Christ, but specifically confirmed the emperors' belief in the saving power of the Cross. The apostles and prophets may have been shown pointing towards the Cross with their hands that were not holding the scrolls. Keywords:apostles; Christ; Cross; icons; image; Leo III; letter; Palace gate; prophets; visual propaganda
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