教牧守則·對話錄與書信 第 223 章

Gregory to Jobinus, prefect of Illyricum. Although the scarcity of letter-bearers, the roads being beset by hostilities, may hinder us from rendering the offices of paternal charity, yet as often as an occasion arises, we do not cease to visit your excellency by letters passing to and fro, so that those whose face we cannot see in person, we may in some measure be able to behold by alternating letters. We rejoice therefore that the Lord has willed to provide by your eminence's government for an afflicted province, so that the province which on the one part He wounds by the scourge of barbarian devastation, this on the other part He may heal through your eminence, as though by a remedy laid over it.

Consider therefore that the dignity bestowed upon you comes from the sole gift of the Giver, and by the very administration of the government granted to you, render your Creator more favourable toward you; so that, when He shall see that what He has bestowed is by the merits of good works recalled to His glory, He may both make you more illustrious in this life, and grant you the rewards of the heavenly kingdom. The bearer of this letter, therefore, whom we have sent thither for the administration of that small patrimony, we commend to your excellency. For we, bound by the bond of your charity, beseech the Lord that He may so direct your acts in this life, that by their merit He may lead you to the eternal realms.

But as for our brother and fellow-bishop Natalis, let your Glory in no way bring him aid against justice, because it is the more necessary that he should feel the vengeance of canonical punishment, the more he is ignorant of the canonical rule itself.