Nilus of Ancyra→Olympiodorus|c. 415 AD|nilus ancyra|From Ancyra|AI-assisted
To Olympiodorus the Eparch [a high imperial official, prefect].
You write to me asking whether it would be most fitting, since you are about to construct a very great shrine in honor of the holy martyrs - of whom Christ himself was attested through martyric contests, and labors, and sweat - both to set up images in the sanctuary, and to fill the walls, those on the right and those on the left, with hunts of animals of every kind, so that one might see, on the land side, nets stretched out, and hares, and gazelles, and other fleeing animals, and the men hastening to hunt them, pursuing eagerly along with their little dogs; and on the sea side, nets being let down, and fish of every kind being caught, and being drawn out onto the dry land by fishermen's hands; and besides this, to display every sort of plasterwork-modeling exhibited for the pleasure of the eyes in the house of God. And moreover, in the common house also, to fix a thousand crosses, and depictions of birds and beasts, and reptiles, and sproutings of every kind.
But I, in reply to what you have written, would say that it would be childish and infantile to lead astray the eye of the faithful with the things mentioned above. It belongs rather to a firm and manly mind to fashion, in the sanctuary, toward the east of the most divine precinct, one cross and one only - for through one saving cross the race of mankind is preserved, and hope is everywhere proclaimed to those in despair. But to fill the temple of the holy ones on this side and on that with the depictions of the Old and New Testament by the hand of a most excellent painter, so that those who do not know letters, and are not able to read the divine Scriptures, may by the contemplation of the painting take remembrance of the manly courage of those who genuinely served the true God, and may be stirred up to rivalry of those glorious and far-famed deeds of valor, through which they exchanged earth for heaven, having preferred the things not seen to the things that are seen. But in the common house, which is divided into many and various little chambers, I think it necessary that each little chamber be content with being fixed with a precious cross, and that the superfluous things be left aside. And with earnest prayers, and unwavering faith, and almsgivings, and humility, and unceasing hopes toward God, and meditations on the divine words, and compassion toward our own kind, and with the love of mankind toward your own household, and with all the commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ to fence about both yourself and your wife and children, and to shelter, and adorn, and make secure all your substance - this I counsel and exhort.
To Olympiodorus the Eparch [a high imperial official, prefect].
You write to me asking whether it would be most fitting, since you are about to construct a very great shrine in honor of the holy martyrs - of whom Christ himself was attested through martyric contests, and labors, and sweat - both to set up images in the sanctuary, and to fill the walls, those on the right and those on the left, with hunts of animals of every kind, so that one might see, on the land side, nets stretched out, and hares, and gazelles, and other fleeing animals, and the men hastening to hunt them, pursuing eagerly along with their little dogs; and on the sea side, nets being let down, and fish of every kind being caught, and being drawn out onto the dry land by fishermen's hands; and besides this, to display every sort of plasterwork-modeling exhibited for the pleasure of the eyes in the house of God. And moreover, in the common house also, to fix a thousand crosses, and depictions of birds and beasts, and reptiles, and sproutings of every kind.
But I, in reply to what you have written, would say that it would be childish and infantile to lead astray the eye of the faithful with the things mentioned above. It belongs rather to a firm and manly mind to fashion, in the sanctuary, toward the east of the most divine precinct, one cross and one only - for through one saving cross the race of mankind is preserved, and hope is everywhere proclaimed to those in despair. But to fill the temple of the holy ones on this side and on that with the depictions of the Old and New Testament by the hand of a most excellent painter, so that those who do not know letters, and are not able to read the divine Scriptures, may by the contemplation of the painting take remembrance of the manly courage of those who genuinely served the true God, and may be stirred up to rivalry of those glorious and far-famed deeds of valor, through which they exchanged earth for heaven, having preferred the things not seen to the things that are seen. But in the common house, which is divided into many and various little chambers, I think it necessary that each little chamber be content with being fixed with a precious cross, and that the superfluous things be left aside. And with earnest prayers, and unwavering faith, and almsgivings, and humility, and unceasing hopes toward God, and meditations on the divine words, and compassion toward our own kind, and with the love of mankind toward your own household, and with all the commandments of our Lord Jesus Christ to fence about both yourself and your wife and children, and to shelter, and adorn, and make secure all your substance - this I counsel and exhort.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.