“It must be argued that images and paintings that are based on established narratives must also be respectfully acknowledged by all. This does not need to be proven at length. However, let us mention what Basil the Great says in his sermon on the forty martyrs: ‘what the story shows in speech, the painting silently shows by reproducing reality.’ Therefore, just as the Church venerates with complete devotion the battles of the holy martyrs and the lives of the Fathers when they are written with rigour, so does she call for them to be venerated with the same devotion when they are shown by the painter.”

“Consequenter dicendum est, eas quoque picturas et Imagines quae solidis historiis innituntur, reverenter ab omnibus agnoscendas esse. Quod multa probatione non eget. Siquidem ut Basilius Magnus habet sermone in 40. Martyres, ea quae historia oratione exprimit, haec tecens pictura per imitationem ostendit. Quare sicut sanctorum omnium martyrum agones et vitas patrum solide scriptas, omni devotione Ecclesia veneratur, sic pari pietate eadem ipsa picturis expressa omni veneratione suscipit.”