Pastoral Rule, Dialogues & Letters 456

Gregory to Peter, Domitian and Elpidius, bishops. I rejoice vehemently that you received the ordination of the most holy man Cyriacus, my brother and fellow-priest, with great gladness. And since we have learned from the preaching of the Apostle Paul: 'If one member rejoice, all the other members rejoice with it' (1 Cor. 12:26), you must consider with what great exultation I rejoice with you in this matter, in which not one member but many members of Christ have rejoiced. Yet, as I was able to weigh in running through the writings of Your Fraternity, a great gladness carried you away into immoderate praise of this same brother of mine. For you say that he has appeared in the Church like the sun, so that you all cried out: 'This

the day which the Lord hath made; let us be glad and rejoice therein' (Ps. 117:24). And certainly this is the promise of the life to come, for it is said: 'The just shall shine as the sun' (Matt. 13:43; Wisd. 3:7). For in this life, while a man is still set here, however great the virtue in which he abounds, how can he shine as the sun, in a life in which the body that is corrupted weigheth down the soul, and the earthly habitation presseth down the mind that museth upon many things (Wisd. 9:15); in which we see another law in our members warring against the law of our mind, and leading us captive into the law of sin, which is in our members (Rom. 7:23); in which also we have within ourselves the sentence of death, that we should not trust in ourselves (2 Cor. 1:9); in which too the Prophet cries out:

'Fear and trembling are come upon me, and darkness hath covered me' (Ps. 54:6)? For it is also written: 'The wise man continueth like the sun, the fool is changed like the moon' (Ecclus. 27:12); the comparison drawn from the sun refers not to the brightness of splendour, but to the perseverance of good work. But the good of his ordination could not yet be praised by you as to perseverance, since it is but a beginning. As for the fact that you say you cried out, 'This is the day which the Lord hath made,' you ought to have weighed concerning whom this was said. For it is set forth beforehand: 'The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner. This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes' (Ps. 117:22-23). And concerning this same stone it is immediately added:

'This is the day which the Lord hath made.' For He Himself who, on account of the strength of the building, is called a stone, is, on account of the grace of illumination, named a day—He who was also made in that He was made incarnate. In whom we are bidden to exult and rejoice, because He overcame in us the darkness of our error by the light of His power. Therefore that word ought not to have been applied to the praise of a creature, which befits the Creator alone. But why do I reprehend these things, I who know how greatly joys carry away the mind? For your charity begot in you a great gladness, which gladness of mind the tongue followed in its favour. And since this is so, that praise which charity has found can no longer be called a fault.

But concerning my most holy brother it ought to have been said to me briefly what I might sufficiently receive, since I already knew who he was, who chiefly gave me long ago this proof of his greatness: that, occupied in so many affairs of ecclesiastical administration, he kept a tranquil heart amid turbulent throngs, and always restrained himself under meekness. And this indeed is no small praise of a great and unshaken spirit, not to have been troubled amid the tumults of affairs. Moreover, Your Fraternity ought to persist in constant prayers, that Almighty God may guard the good things begun in our aforesaid brother and fellow-priest, and always bring them on to better things. It must ever be prayed for you most holy men, and for this people set under him.

For the merits of those who govern and of the peoples are so bound together, that often through the fault of those who preside the life of the subjects is made worse, and often through the merit of the peoples the life of the pastors goes astray. That the evil action of the one who presides greatly harms his subjects, the Pharisees bear witness, of whom it is written: 'You shut up the kingdom of heaven against men. For you yourselves go not in, and those that are going in, you suffer not to enter' (Matt. 23:13). And that the fault of the peoples greatly harms the life of the pastors, we recognize in the deed of David (2 Kings 24). For he, praised by God's own testimony, he who was privy to heavenly mysteries, being puffed up by the swelling of sudden elation, sinned by numbering the people; and yet the people, while David sinned, received the punishment. Why so?

Because, namely, the hearts of those who govern are disposed according to the merit of the peoples. But the just Judge chastised the sin of the one who sinned by the punishment of those very persons on whose account he sinned. Yet because he himself, swelling with pride by his own will, was not free from fault, he too received the punishment of his fault. For the wrath, raging, which struck the people bodily, also laid low the ruler of the people with the deepest grief of heart. Consider therefore these things mutually, and just as he who has been set over you and the peoples is to intercede for all, so ought you all to pray for his manner of life and morals, so that before Almighty God both you may be able to profit by his imitation, and he may be helped by your merits.

But let us all with one accord, as much as we are able, pray unceasingly with great weeping for our most serene lords and their pious offspring, that heavenly grace protecting them may guard their life, and may subject the necks of the nations to the Christian empire. Gregory to Bishop Stephen. The writings of Your Holiness spoke to me the very marrow of the words of charity, so that through the pen the mind so passed over into the letters, as though the mind itself were speaking to me through its very self. For which reason I render great thanks to Almighty God, that even though our bodies are divided and you have departed far from us, charity remains undivided between us. And indeed you show in your letters much favour toward me, and beyond what I, unworthy, ought to hear. And it is written:

'Praise not a man during his lifetime' (Ecclus. 11:30). Yet even if I am not worthy to hear such things, I ask through your prayers that I may be made worthy—so that, if you have not said the good things concerning me because they exist, they may exist because you have said them. But concerning the glorious lady Maria the patrician I have greatly rejoiced, because she has been gathered into the holy fold of God: which I do not doubt was brought about by your constant preaching, since by the very fruit you show how much you labour for the catholic faith. I also suspect that many come to the Church through her, which redounds wholly to your praise, as it is written: 'Where there are many crops, there is manifest the strength of the ox' (Prov. 14:4). For the power of preachers is made manifest, where a harvest of souls arises.

But our common son, the most excellent lord Constantine the prefect, the more you love him, the more you ought unceasingly to exhort him, that in the causes in which he is engaged he may always have the judgement of Almighty God before the eyes of his heart, and may study to please Him alone who is able both in the present life to protect and to repay the rewards of the heavenly fatherland. (Cf. John the Deacon, Bk. IV, n. 62.)