Pastoral Rule, Dialogues & Letters 378

Gregory to Anastasius, bishop of Antioch. Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will (Luke 2:14); for that great river which once, forsaking the dry places of Antioch, had left them parched, has at length returned to its own channel, and waters the subjected valleys set nearby, so that it may bring forth fruit, one thirtyfold, another sixtyfold, and another a hundredfold. Now there is no doubt that many flowers of souls are growing up in its valleys, and that they come, through the streams of your tongue, even to ripe fruits. Wherefore to almighty God we render due praise, with the voices of heart and mouth, out of all our inmost being, and we rejoice together in your blessedness, not with you only, but with all who are subject to you.

I have received the letters of your Holiness, most sweet and most delightful to me, sweating out, so to speak, that very labour. And indeed I know that after those heights of quiet, in which you touched with the hand of the heart the secrets of heaven, it is very grievous to endure outward things. But remember that you govern the apostolic see, and you the more quickly temper the grief, because you have become all things to all men. In the books of Kings, as your perfect Holiness knows, one is described who used either hand for the right (1 Chronicles 21).

In which matter I am not in doubt concerning my most sweet and most holy patron of old, my lord Anastasius, that while he draws earthly works to heavenly profit, he turns his left hand to the use of the right, so that the heavenly intention may perform its work, namely, with the right hand, and the care of temporal things, while it is directed to the profit of justice, may be transformed from the left into the strength of the right. And indeed these things can in no wise be without grievous labour and weariness. But let us call to mind the labours of those who went before, and the things which we endure will not be hard. For through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22). And we were burdened beyond measure, even beyond our strength, so that it wearied us even to live.

But we ourselves had within us the sentence of death, that we should not trust in ourselves (2 Corinthians 1:8-9). And yet the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come which shall be revealed in us (Romans 8:18). How then can we, weak sheep, pass without labour through the heat of this world, in which we know that even rams have grievously sweated? But how great the tribulations that I suffer in this land — from the swords of the Lombards, from the iniquities of the judges, from the insolence and importunity of lawsuits, from the care of my subjects, from the affliction even of the body — I suffice to set forth neither with pen nor tongue.

Of these things, even if I can briefly speak somewhat, I ought not, lest to your most holy Charity, while it is afflicted over its own tribulations, I should add mine also. But may almighty God, out of the bounty of His mercy, fill the mind of your most holy Blessedness with all consolation, and grant to unworthy me at some time, through your intercession, to have rest from these evils which I suffer. Amen. Grace. Which words indeed, taken from your writings, I therefore set in my own letters, that your Blessedness may know concerning holy Ignatius, that he is not only yours but also ours. For as we hold in common his master, the prince of the apostles, so likewise let none of us hold as private that same prince's disciple.

Your blessing, moreover, we have received with the mind we ought, well-scented, well-savoured. And we give thanks to almighty God, because both fragrant and savoury are the things you do, the things you say, the things you give. Concerning your life, therefore, let us all alike say, let us all say: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will.