Gregory to Antoninus the subdeacon. It has come to us that Florentius, bishop of the city of Epidaurus, having first had his goods snatched away, was condemned for certain unproven crimes without a priestly council. And because he ought not to sustain canonical penalty in whose condemnation no canonical sentence has been pronounced, we command your Experience that you should press upon Natalis our brother and fellow bishop, so that he may cause the aforesaid man to be cast out from the exile into which he is now said to have been thrust. And a council of bishops being convened, if those things of which he is accused shall have been canonically approved, we wish the sentence of our aforesaid brother and fellow bishop Natalis to obtain its own force against him.
But if he shall have been absolved by general judgment, permit him not thereafter to be subject to the prejudice of anyone whatsoever, and let the aforesaid goods be restored by the strict diligence of your solicitude. It is necessary therefore that, the more you weigh the graver burdens of such affairs, the more you should be zealous to complete them with a maturer and more vigilant execution.