Letter 9105: That we have been so long in sending a letter to your Fraternity attribute not to sluggishness, but to press of business. We now commend to you in all respects the bearer of these presents, our most beloved son Cyriacus, the Father of our Monastery, that no delay may detain him in the city of Massilia, but that he may proceed under God's protect...

Gregory to Serenus, Bishop of Marseilles. That I have taken so long to write to your Fraternity -- blame the press of business, not sluggishness. I commend to you our most beloved son Cyriacus, the Father of our monastery, who carries this letter. Please ensure he is not delayed in Marseilles, but proceeds under God's protection to our brother and fellow bishop Syagrius, with your full support. Now, to a matter I must address. It has come to my attention that your Fraternity, seeing certain people worshipping images in churches, smashed and threw down those images. I commend your zeal in opposing the worship of anything made by human hands. But you should not have destroyed the images themselves. Here is why: images in churches serve a purpose. Those who cannot read can at least learn by looking at the walls what they cannot learn from books. Your Fraternity should have preserved the images while forbidding the people to worship them. That way, the illiterate would still have a means of learning sacred history, and the people would not fall into the sin of worshipping a picture. Both goals matter. Keep the images. Forbid the worship.

Book IX, Letter 105 To Serenus Bishop of Massilia (Marseilles). Gregory to Serenus, etc. That we have been so long in sending a letter to your Fraternity attribute not to sluggishness, but to press of business. We now commend to you in all respects the bearer of these presents, our most beloved son Cyriacus, the Father of our Monastery, that no delay may detain him in the city of Massilia, but that he may proceed under God's protection to our brother and fellow bishop Syagrius with the succour of your Holiness. Furthermore we notify to you that it has come to our ears that your Fraternity, seeing certain adorers of images, broke and threw down these same images in Churches. And we commend you indeed for your zeal against anything made with hands being an object of adoration; but we signify to you that you ought not to have broken these images. For pictorial representation is made use of in Churches for this reason; that such as are ignorant of letters may at least read by looking at the walls what they cannot read in books. Your Fraternity therefore should have both preserved the images and prohibited the people from adoration of them, to the end that both those who are ignorant of letters might have wherewith to gather a knowledge of the history, and that the people might by no means sin by adoration of a pictorial representation . About this page Source. Translated by James Barmby. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 13. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1898.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/360209105.htm>. Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is feedback732 at newadvent.org. (To help fight spam, this address might change occasionally.) Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.