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.
Human translation — New Advent (NPNF / ANF series)
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