Pastoral Rule, Dialogues & Letters 303

Gregory to John, bishop of Constantinople. Although consideration of the cause moves me to write, yet charity also impels me, because both once and twice I wrote to my most holy brother, the lord John, but I did not receive his letters. For another, some worldly man, was speaking to me under his name; and if those letters were his, I was not vigilant, who believed far otherwise of him than I found. For I had written concerning the cause of the most reverend man John the presbyter, and concerning the questions of the monks of Isauria, one of whom, even set in the priesthood, was beaten with cudgels in your church; and Your most holy Fraternity wrote back to me—as I recognize from the name of the letter—that he did not know concerning what cause I was writing.

At which reply I was vehemently astounded, revolving silently within myself: if he speaks truth, what can be worse than that such things should be done against the servants of God, and he himself who is at hand should not know it? For what excuse can there be for a shepherd, if the wolf devours the sheep, and the shepherd knows it not? But if Your Holiness did know, both concerning what cause I wrote, and what was done either against John the presbyter or against Athanasius, monk and presbyter of Isauria, and wrote to me—I know not; against this, what am I to answer, when through His Scripture the Truth says: The mouth that lies slays the soul (Wisdom 1:11)?

I ask, most holy brother: has that so great abstinence come to this, that a man should wish, by denying, to hide from his brother the deeds which he knows to have been done? Would it not have been better for flesh to enter that mouth to be eaten, than for a false word to go forth from it to mock a neighbor? Especially since the Truth says: Not that which enters into the mouth defiles a man; but the things which come forth from the heart, those are what defile a man (Matthew 15:11). But far be it that I should believe any such thing of your most holy heart. Those letters were superscribed with your name, but I do not think they were yours.

I had written to that most blessed man, the lord John, but I believe that it was that familiar young man of yours who wrote back to me—one who as yet has learned nothing of God, who knows not the bowels of charity, who is accused by all in wicked matters, who daily plots the deaths of divers persons through secret wills, and neither fears the Lord nor blushes before men. Believe me, most holy brother, if you have perfectly the zeal of truth, correct him first, so that from those who are near you even those who are not near may be better amended by the example. Do not receive his tongue; he ought to be directed to the counsel of your Holiness, and not Your Holiness be bent to his words.

For if he listens to that man, I know that he will not be able to have peace with his brethren. For I, with my conscience bearing me witness, confess that I wish to have a quarrel with no man, and I decline it with all the strength I can. And although I most earnestly desire to have peace with all men, yet with you especially, whom I vehemently love, if however you are the very ones I have known. For if you do not keep the canons, and wish to overthrow the statutes of the elders, I do not recognize who you are. Come then, most holy and most dear brother, that we may recognize one another anew, lest, if the ancient enemy should move two by scandal, he slay many through his most wicked victory.

For, to indicate openly that through pride I seek nothing: if that young man of whom I have spoken before held no summit of depraved action in the eyes of Your Fraternity, I could for the time have kept silent even about those very things concerning the canons which are at my disposal, and from the very beginning I would have sent back to you, in confidence, the persons who came to me, knowing that Your Holiness would receive them with charity. But even now I say: either receive those same persons in their orders, and grant them repose; or if perchance you are unwilling to do this, then, laying aside all altercation with me, keep in their cause the statutes and the bounds of the canons of the elders. But if you do neither, we indeed do not wish to bring on strife, yet we do not shun one who comes from you.

But what the canons say concerning bishops who wish to be feared by blows, Your Fraternity well knows. For we have been made shepherds, not persecutors. And the excellent preacher says: Reprove, entreat, rebuke, in all patience and doctrine (2 Timothy 4:2). But this preaching is new and unheard of, which exacts faith by blows. But I ought not to say many things about these matters in letters, because I have transmitted my most beloved son, the deacon Sabinianus, to the footsteps of our lords, for the making of ecclesiastical responses, who will speak all things with you more particularly. If you are unwilling to litigate with us, you will find him ready for all things that are just. Whom I commend to your Blessedness,

—so that at least he himself may find that lord John, whom I knew in the royal city.