Opposition began as early as the use of images. Irenæus in the second century (167) denounced the practice.[275:1] Tertullian (192), quoting the second of the Ten Commandments, severely denounced all use of images as sinful.[275:2] Clement of Alexandria (192) took the same view.[275:3] Origen also based his opposition to the practice upon the Jewish interpretation.[275:4] Minucius Felix (220) argued that man was the image of God, hence there was no need of any artificial representations.[275:5] Lactantius (303) held that since the spirit of God could be seen everywhere, His image "must always be superfluous."[275:6] Arnobius (303) took the same view.[275:7] Christians were told to carry God and His Son in their hearts and not to attempt to procure their images. The Spanish Synod of Elvira (306) excluded images from the churches.[276:1] The early Fathers, taken altogether, looked with but little favour upon the misuse of images in worship. Eusebius, in replying to the request from Constantia for an image of Christ, wrote a famous letter in opposition to the practice which virtually became the platform of the Iconoclastic party.[276:2] St. Augustine (393) declared that "It is unlawful to set up such an image to God in a Christian temple."[276:3] Epiphanius (d. 402) with his own hands tore down a curtain which had an image on it in a little village church in Palestine. This seems to be the first act of Iconoclasm.[276:4] Asterius (d. 410), Bishop in Pontus, opposed wearing Bible pictures on clothing and told his people to wear the image of Christ in their hearts.[276:5] Xenius (end of sixth century), the Monophistic Bishop of Hierapolis, destroyed the images of the angels in his church and hid those of Jesus.[276:6] In 518, the clergy of Antioch complained to the Patriarch of Constantinople that their Patriarch had melted down the images of gold and silver hung over the font and the altar.[276:7] Serenus, Bishop of Marseilles, early in the seventh century, threw the images out of his churches. Pope Gregory the Great praised him for his zeal, but still justified the use of images.[276:8] The Jews and the Mohammedans in the seventh century fiercely assailed the Christian veneration of images as idolatry. This crystallised the Iconoclastic elements of opposition into a party. Finally, in the eighth century, the secular head, Leo III., the Isaurian (716-741), championed the Iconoclastic cause. His son, Constantine V. (741-775), carried it forward. The Synod of Constantinople in 754 officially condemned the use of images,[277:1] and this marks the climax of the movement.