Sacred Images
The veneration of sacred images, including their miraculous properties and role in prayer. Basil prayed before an image of Our Lady on which was also depicted the martyr Mercury, and received a prophetic vision through it foretelling Julian the Apostate's death. Cited from John of Damascus's Oration On Images.
Preliminaries
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TO THE MOST REVEREND AND MOST ILLUSTRIOUS LORD HENRY FRANCIS VAN DER BURCH, ARCHBISHOP AND DUKE OF CAMBRAI, PRINCE OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE, COUNT OF CAMBRAI.
— Basil prayed before "the image of Our Lady, on which also was depicted the figure of Mercury the celebrated martyr" and received a vision of the martyr holding a bloodied spear.
"Basil... stood before the image of Our Lady, on which also was depicted the figure of Mercury the celebrated martyr, and stood there in prayer that the impious apostate Julian might be removed. And from that image indeed he learned what was to come to pass."