To Serenus, Bishop of Marseilles, on the Breaking of Images

Gregory to Serenus, and so on. [a]

The beginning of your letter showed that you have the good will that befits a priest, and it made us rejoice all the more in your fraternity. But its end was so out of keeping with its beginning that such a letter might be thought to come not from one mind but from different minds. Indeed, your very doubts about the letter we sent you show how thoughtless you are. For if you had paid careful attention to the warning we gave you in brotherly love, you would not only not have doubted it, but would have seen what, in priestly seriousness, it was your duty to do. For Cyriacus, formerly an abbot, who carried our letter, was not a man of such training and learning as to dare to make up another letter, as you suppose. Nor should you have held this suspicion of forgery against his character. But while you set aside our wholesome warnings, you have come to be at fault not only in your deeds but in your questions as well. For it had indeed been reported to us that, inflamed with thoughtless zeal, you had broken images of the saints, on the plea, as it were, that they ought not to be worshiped. And in forbidding them to be worshiped we praise you altogether; but we blame you for breaking them. Tell me, brother, what priest has ever been heard of doing what you have done? If nothing else, should not this thought at least have held you back, so that you would not despise other brothers, supposing yourself alone to be holy and wise? For to worship a picture is one thing; to learn, through the story a picture tells, what is to be worshiped is another. For what writing offers to those who read, a picture offers to the unlearned who look at it. In it even the ignorant see what they ought to follow; in it those who do not know their letters read. So, and above all for the nations, a picture takes the place of reading. And you especially, who live among the nations, ought to have paid attention to this, so that, inflamed thoughtlessly by a right zeal, you would not give offense to savage minds. And since antiquity has not without reason allowed the stories of the saints to be painted in venerable places, if you had seasoned your zeal with discernment, you could no doubt have gained what you were aiming at. You would not have scattered the flock that was gathered, but rather gathered one that was scattered. Then the deserved name of a shepherd would have set you apart, instead of the blame of a scatterer lying on you. But because you acted thoughtlessly on the impulse of your feelings, you are said to have so offended your children that most of them have cut themselves off from communion with you. When, then, will you bring wandering sheep to the Lord’s fold, when you cannot keep those you have? We urge you, even now, to take care from here on, and to hold yourself back from this presumption. Make haste, with a father’s gentleness, with every effort and all earnestness, to win back to yourself the minds of those you find estranged from you. [b]

For the scattered children of the church must be called together, and it must be shown them by the testimony of Holy Scripture that it is not lawful to worship anything made with hands, since it is written, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.” Then, as to the pictures that had been made to build up an unlearned people, so that, though they did not know their letters, they might learn what had been done by turning their eyes to the story itself, it must be added that you had been so moved to order them broken because you had seen them come to be worshiped. And they must be told: “If you wish to have images in the church for the instruction for which they were made in ancient times, I allow them by all means both to be made and to be kept.” And explain to them that what displeased you was not the sight of the story the hanging picture bore witness to, but the worship that had been wrongly paid to the pictures. Calm their minds with such words, and bring them back into agreement with you. And if anyone wishes to make images, by no means forbid it, but forbid by every means the worship of images. But let your fraternity carefully warn them that from the sight of the event portrayed they should catch the fire of heartfelt sorrow, and bow themselves down in worship of the one almighty Holy Trinity. [f]

We say all this out of love for holy church and for your fraternity. So do not let my rebuke shake you in your zeal for what is right; let it rather help you in the earnestness of your devout administration.

Further, it has come to our ears that your love gladly receives bad men into your company, so much so that you have as a close friend a certain presbyter who, after falling, is said to be living still in the filth of his wickedness. This we do not entirely believe. For one who receives such a man does not correct wickedness but rather seems to give others license to commit the like. But in case he should win you over, by some underhand persuasion or pretense, to receive him and keep him still in favor, you ought not only to drive him further away from you, but also to cut off his excesses in every way with priestly zeal. As for others who are reported to be bad, take pains to hold them back from their badness by a father’s urging, and to call them back to the right way. But if, God forbid, you find that your wholesome warning does them no good at all, you will take care to cast these also far away from you. Otherwise, because you receive them, their evil deeds may seem not to displease you at all, and not only will they themselves remain uncorrected, but others will also be corrupted because you receive them. Consider how detestable it is before men, and how dangerous in the eyes of God, if vices should seem to be fostered by the very man whose duty it is to punish crimes. So attend to these things carefully, most beloved brother, and take pains to act in such a way that you correct the bad for their good and avoid giving offense to the minds of your children by keeping company with evil men. [h]