Gregory to Natalis, Bishop of Salona. As if forgetful of the series of preceding writings, I had resolved to speak to your Beatitude only those things that pertained to sweetness; but since your letter, by reasoning, recalls me to my former writings, I am perhaps again compelled to relate certain things that may please less. For in defense of banquets your Fraternity mentions the banquet of Abraham, in which, as the sacred oracle testifies, he is related to have received three angels (Gen. 18). But by this example we do not reproach your Beatitude concerning a banquet, if we know you to receive angels in hospitality. Again you relate that Isaac, being satisfied, gave a blessing to his son (Gen. 27:27).
Both of which things of the Old Testament, since they were so accomplished in history that nonetheless they signified something by allegory — would that we might so run through the deeds by reading them, that we might also be able to perceive by foresight the things to be done. For that man, saluting one in the three angels, declared the subsistences of the Trinity to be of one substance. But that man, being satisfied, blessed his son, because he who is filled with divine feasts, his understanding is stretched into the power of prophecy. Now the divine feasts are the words of the sacred oracle. If therefore you read assiduously, if, drawing an example from outward things, you penetrate inward ones, then, as if satisfied from the hunting of the field, you fill the belly of the mind, so that, the son being set before you — that is, the people received — you may be able to announce things to come.
But already in this age he who prophesies something of God grows dim of sight, because assuredly it is fitting that he here already see less through concupiscence, whose sense inwardly flashes through understanding. Draw these things therefore to yourselves, and if you know yourselves to be such, there is nothing that you should doubt concerning our estimation. I also find that your Beatitude rejoices, if you bear the name of a voracious man together with the Author of things. Which I briefly expound: that if what is said of you is false, you bear this name truly together with the Author of things. But if it is true concerning you, who would doubt that this was false concerning Him? An equal name does not avail to acquit those whose cause is unequal. For with Him the thief also, about to perish, took up the cross;
but him whom his own guilt held fast, an equal crucifixion did not absolve. But I, with as many prayers as I am able, beseech that your most holy Fraternity may be joined to our Author not only in name, but also in cause. Now the banquets which are made from the intention of expending charity, your Holiness rightly praises in your letters.
But nevertheless it must be known that they proceed truly from charity when in them no life of absent persons is bitten, no one is reproached by mockery, and there are not empty tales of secular business in them, but the words of sacred reading are heard; when the body is served no more than is necessary, but only its infirmity is refreshed, so that it may be kept for the use of exercising virtue. If then you do these things in your banquets, I confess you are the masters of the abstinent. As to the testimony of the apostle Paul which you set before me, in which he says: Let not him who does not eat judge him who eats (Rom. 14:3);
I altogether think it was unfitting, because neither do I not eat, nor was this said by Paul so that the members of Christ, which in His body — that is, in the Church — are mutually connected to one another by the bond of charity, should in any way take no care of one another. But if neither I pertained to you, nor you in any way to me, I would rightly be compelled to keep silence, so as not to reprove him who could not be amended. This sentence therefore was spoken only on account of those who strive to judge those whose care has not been committed to them. But since we, God being the author, are one, if we keep silent about those things which are to be corrected in us, we greatly offend.
Behold, your Fraternity took it ill that you were reproved by me concerning banquets, while I — who, even if I do not transgress in life, yet transgress in place — am ready to be corrected by all, to be amended by all. And I esteem him alone my friend by whose tongue, before the appearing of the strict Judge, I wipe away the stains of my mind. But that, dearest brother, which you say — that, pressed by tribulations, you are unable to read — I think less suitable for excuse, since Paul says: Whatever things were written, were written for our instruction, that through the patience and consolation of the Scriptures we might have hope (Rom. 15:4).
If therefore the sacred Scripture is prepared for our consolation, we ought to read all the more, the more we perceive ourselves to be wearied under the burden of tribulations. But if trust is to be placed only in that sentence which you set forth in your letter, in which the Lord says: When they deliver you up, take no thought how or what you shall speak, for it shall be given you in that hour what you shall speak. For it is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you (Matt. 10:19) — then the sacred oracles have been committed to us in vain, who, filled with the Spirit, have no need of outward words.
But it is one thing, dearest brother, what we ought without doubt to trust in the straitened time of persecution, and another what we ought to do in the tranquility of the Church. For it behooves us through this Spirit now, by reading, to perceive what we can, so that, if occasion befall in us, we may also demonstrate it by suffering. But I greatly rejoiced at your letter, in that you profess to give effort to exhortation. For in this I know that you diligently attend to the care of your order, if you take care to draw others to your Author. But as to what you say in the same place, that you are not like me, after the gladness that arose you at once saddened me, because I reckon that my praises are spoken by way of mockery, which I by no means recognize as true.
But I give thanks to almighty God, that through you indeed heretics are recalled to the holy Church. But it is necessary for you to take care that even those who are contained within the bosom of the holy Church may so live that its adversaries do not arise by depraved morals. For if they serve not divine desire but earthly cupidities and pleasures, within its bosom alien sons are nourished. But as to what you profess — that ecclesiastical orders cannot be unknown — this too I know of you in all things, and therefore I am greatly saddened, because, since you know the order of things, you have offended against me, and — what is worse — knowingly.
For after writings both of my predecessor and of my own were directed to your Beatitude in the case of the archdeacon Honoratus, then, the sentence of both being despised, the aforesaid Honoratus was deprived of his proper grade. But if any of the four patriarchs had done this, so great a contumacy could in no way have passed without a most grievous scandal. Nevertheless, after your Fraternity returned to your order, I am mindful neither of my own injury nor of my predecessor's.
But as to what you say — that in our times those things ought to be preserved which were also handed down and kept by my predecessors — far be it from me that I should infringe the statutes of the elders, my fellow priests, in any Church, because I do myself an injury if I disturb the rights of my brothers. But when your representatives arrive, I shall learn what things between you and the aforesaid archdeacon Honoratus are just; and from my own examination you will perceive that, if your part is upheld by justice, you will suffer nothing adverse from me, just as you have not suffered before. But if justice supports the oft-named archdeacon Honoratus in his assertion, from his acquittal I shall show that I do not acknowledge in judgment even persons whom I know.
But concerning the article of excommunication — which nonetheless, under an interposed condition, was already added a second or third time, so to say, out of necessity — your Beatitude complains without cause, since the apostle Paul says: Having in readiness to avenge all disobedience (2 Cor. 10:6). But let these things now pass; let us return to our own affairs. For if he acts rightly, I cannot but be joined to lord Natalis, to whose affection I know myself to be greatly a debtor. Gregory to the deacon Honoratus. My son, lord Venantius, nephew of the late patrician Opilio, has come to blessed Peter the apostle, in order to ask this of me most earnestly: that I should commend his case to your Dilection.
For he has no honors, and has sought the charters of the ex-consulship, for which he has sent thirty pounds of gold, that they may be procured for him. In this matter I wish that your Dilection expend yourself most earnestly, because he is such a man to whom honor is owed even without price. And since he is prepared to buy these same charters, as I said, it is not very necessary that anything be said by me to the most serene princes, but rather let your Dilection so bestir itself for him that, the customary fees being offered in the treasury, he may deserve to receive the honors. If nevertheless you are able to act somewhat more leniently concerning him, you will have a very great reward. But so act that his labor, by which he has here wearied himself in coming to us, be not in vain.
But if you perceive that anything is difficult in this same matter, since he requests this through me, you ought to inform me, and to intimate to our most serene lords of what goodness, of what modesty and wisdom he is. To the most blessed pope Gregory, Bishop Licinianus. The Book of Rules published by your Holiness, and brought to us with the help of divine grace, we have read the more gladly, the more we recognize spiritual rules to be in it. Who would not read the more gladly there, where by continual meditation he may find the medicine of his own soul; where, the fleeting things of this world being despised, varying in their mutability, he may open the eyes of his mind to the station of eternal life? This your book is a hall of all the virtues.
There prudence fixes the discernment between good and evil, gentle; justice renders to each his own, while it subjects the soul to God and the body to the soul. There fortitude is found even in adversity and in prosperity always equal, which is neither broken in contrarieties nor exalted in prosperities. There temperance breaks the fury of lust, and with discretion imposes measure on pleasures. There you comprehend all things that pertain to the participation of eternal life; and not only for shepherds do you describe a rule of living, but you also grant a rule of living to those who have no office of governance. For shepherds have in your fourfold distribution: of what sort they should come to this office; what life they should lead when they have come;
how or what things they should teach; and, lest they be lifted up on the whole priestly height, what they should do. To this excellent doctrine of yours the holy ancient Fathers bear witness, the doctors and defenders of the Church: Hilary, Ambrose, Augustine, Gregory Nazianzen; all these give testimony to you, just as the prophets gave it to the apostles. Holy Hilary says, expounding the words of the Apostle, the teacher of the nations: «For thus he signifies that the things which are of proper discipline and of morals are useful to the merit of the priesthood, if also these things which are necessary for the knowledge of teaching and defending the faith shall not be lacking among the rest;
because it is not at once the mark of a good and useful priest either only to act knowingly, or only to preach knowingly, since the innocent man suffices for himself alone if he be learned, and the learned man does not suffice unless by living the doctrine.» To this book of yours holy Ambrose bears witness in those books which he made On Duties. Holy Augustine bears witness, saying: «In action honor is not to be loved in this life, sive [or read: without] power, since all things under the sun are vain; but the work itself which is done through that same honor or power, if it is done rightly and usefully, that is, so that it may avail toward that salvation of subordinates which is according to God... On which account the Apostle says:
「渴慕監督職的，是渴慕善工。」他想要闡明何謂主教［或作：監督職］，因為這是一項工作的名稱，而非榮譽的名稱。因為此字是希臘文，並由此衍生：因為那被立來管轄他人的，便監督他所管轄的人，即擔負對他們的照顧；因為 episcopus 意即「督察」。所以，我們若願意，在拉丁文中可稱 episcopus 為「督察」。好使他明白：那愛好轄管而非愛好造益的，並非主教。因為如此，無人被禁止懷有認識真理的熱忱，這熱忱屬於值得稱讚的閒暇；
He who desires the episcopate, desires a good work. He wished to expound what a bishop is [perhaps: the episcopate], because it is the name of a work, not of an honor. For the word is Greek, and thence derived, because he who is set over those over whom he is set superintends, that is, bearing care of them; for episcopus is 'intention' [i.e. oversight]. Therefore, if we wish, we can in Latin say episcopus to be 'to superintend.' So that he may understand that he is not a bishop who loves to preside, not to profit. For thus no one is prohibited from the zeal of knowing the truth, which pertains to praiseworthy leisure;
but the higher place, without which the people cannot be ruled, even if it be so held and administered as is fitting, nevertheless is unbecomingly coveted. Wherefore charity seeks holy leisure; one must be free for perceiving and defending the truth. But if it is imposed, it must be undertaken on account of the necessity of charity. Yet not even so is the delight of truth to be forsaken, lest that sweetness be withdrawn and this necessity oppress.» (Book VIII On the Trinity, no. 1.) Holy Gregory bears witness, whose style you follow, by whose example you desired to lie hidden, that you might decline the weight of the priesthood — of what sort it is, is clearly declared in your whole book; nevertheless you bear what you feared. For your weight is borne upward, not downward;
not what presses you to the depths, but what lifts you to the stars; while, through the grace of God and the merit of obedience and the efficacy of good work, that becomes sweet which through human weakness seemed to have heaviness. For you say the things that accord with the apostles and apostolic men. For being beautiful you have said beautiful things, and in these you have shown yourself to be beautiful. I do not therefore wish you to resemble an unseemly painter painting beautiful things, because spiritual doctrine proceeds from a spiritual mind. The painter, a man, is esteemed by most more than the inanimate painting. But do not impute this to flattery or adulation, but to truth; because it neither befits me to lie, nor befits you to praise falsely.
Therefore, being clearly faithful, I have beheld both you and all your things beautiful, and I have seen myself, in comparison with you, to be unseemly. Wherefore I beg, by the grace of God which abounds in you, that you not spurn one who entreats, but willingly teach the things which I confess I do not know. For we are compelled by necessity to do that which you teach. For when no skilled man is found who may come to the priestly office, what is to be done, unless that an unskilled man such as I am be ordained? You command that an unskilled man be not ordained. But let your prudence consider whether perhaps it may suffice for his skill to know Jesus Christ, and Him crucified; but if it does not suffice, there will be no one in this book who may be said to be skilled; there will be no priest at all, since he ought not to be unless he is skilled.
For we openly resist bigamists, lest indeed the sacrament be corrupted. What if the husband of one wife, before his wife, has touched a woman? What if he has had no wife, and yet has not been without the touch of a woman? Console us by your pen, that we be punished neither by our own nor by another's sin. For we greatly fear lest through necessity we do those things which we ought not. Behold, we must obey your precepts, that such a one be made as apostolic authority befits; and no such one as is sought is found. Faith therefore shall cease, which consists of hearing; baptism shall cease, if there be no one to baptize; those most sacred mysteries shall cease, which are performed through priests and ministers. In either case the danger remains;
...either one who ought not to be is ordained, or there is no one to celebrate or minister the sacred mysteries. A few years ago Leander, bishop of Seville, returning from the royal city, saw us as he passed by, and told us that he had homilies published by your Blessedness on the book of holy Job. And because he passed through in haste, he did not at all show them to us, though we asked. Afterwards, however, you wrote to him concerning the threefold immersion, and in that letter they recall that this work had displeased you; but that you had, by a more wholesome counsel, determined to recast them into the arrangement of books. We do indeed have some little books belonging to the salvation of Hilary, bishop of Poitiers, which he translated from the Greek of Origen into Latin; but he did not expound everything according to the order of the book of holy Job.
And I greatly wonder that so learned and holy a man should translate the trifling fables of Origen about the stars; for me, most holy Father, it can by no means be urged that I should believe the stars of heaven to be rational spirits, which Holy Scripture declares were made neither with the angels nor with men. May your Blessedness therefore deign to send to my lowliness the work itself on the book of holy Job, and also the other moral books which you record having made, in this book of Rules. For we are yours, and we delight to read your writings. For it is desirable to me, and glorious, as your own Gregory says, to go on learning even to the last old age.