教牧守則·對話錄與書信 第 310 章

Gregory to Chrysanthus, bishop of Spoleto. Two years before this we had deputed to Your Fraternity the office of visitation of the Church of Mevania, in which — by the sea (?) of our archive — we willed you to do nothing concerning the promotions of clerics. But now the bearers of the present letter, clerics of the aforesaid Church, coming here, said that they have no priest either in that same Church or in its parishes. We exhort therefore Your Fraternity that, if indeed you shall have been able to find such a person as is worthy to be promoted to the summit of the episcopal office, you send him here quickly, with the solemnity of a decree and the testimony of your letters.

But if this cannot now be found, seek out with all zeal and vivacity persons who may be able to be consecrated there in the order of the presbyterate. First examine their life and acts by subtle inquiry, so that in nothing may either the sacred canons or the ecclesiastical rules be able to oppose them; that by this provision the people dwelling there may rejoice to have received back the communion of which they tearfully complain to be deprived on account of the lack of priests, and that in those churches the sacred solemnities of the Masses may not be lacking. But also for confirming the infants, let Your Fraternity take care to go thither, so that there may be nothing which the neglected care of pastoral solicitude may gnaw against you. Gregory to Maurice Augustus.

He is guilty before almighty God, who to the most serene lords is not pure in all that he does and says. But I, the unworthy servant of your piety, in this suggestion speak neither as a bishop, nor as a servant by the right of the commonwealth, but by private right; because, most serene lord, from that time already you were my lord, when you were not yet lord of all. When Longinus, a most illustrious man, the groom, was coming, I received the lords' law; to which, wearied then by sickness of body, I was able to reply nothing. In which the piety of the lords sanctioned that whosoever shall have been implicated in public administrations, it should not be lawful for him to come to an ecclesiastical office.

Which I greatly praised, knowing most evidently that he who, deserting the secular habit, hastens to come to ecclesiastical offices wishes to change the world, not to relinquish it. But as to what is said in the same law, that it should not be lawful for him to be converted into a monastery, I greatly marveled, since both his accounts can be settled through the monastery, and it can be arranged that from that place in which he is received his debts too may be assumed. For even if anyone with devout mind should have wished to be converted, let him first restore the things wrongly taken away, and think about his own soul the more truly the more unencumbered he is. In which law it is subjoined that it should be lawful for none who is enrolled by the hand (i.e. a soldier) to be converted. Which constitution I, I confess to my lords,

I have vehemently feared, because through it the way of the heavens is closed to many, and what hitherto was lawful is now forbidden to be lawful. For many are they who can lead a religious life even with a secular habit. And very many are they who, unless they shall have relinquished all things, can by no means be saved before God. But I, speaking these things to my lords, what am I but dust and worm? Yet nevertheless, because I perceive this constitution to be aimed against God the Author of all, I cannot be silent to my lords. For to this end power over all men is divinely given from heaven to the piety of my lords, that those who desire good things may be aided, that the way of the heavens may be opened more widely, that the earthly kingdom may serve the heavenly kingdom.

And behold, with open voice it is said that to him who has once been enrolled in earthly warfare, unless his warfare is completed, or he is discharged on account of weakness of body, it should not be lawful to serve as a soldier of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Cf. John the Deacon, bk. III, ch. 50.) To these things, behold, through me, His and your lowest servant, Christ will answer, saying: 'I made you from a notary a count of the excubitors, from a count of the excubitors a Caesar, from a Caesar an emperor; and not only this, but also a father of emperors. I committed my priests to your hand, and do you withdraw your soldiers from my service?' Answer, I pray, most pious lord, to your servant, what you will answer in the judgment to your Lord when He comes and says these things? But perhaps it is believed that none of them is converted with a pure mind.

I, your unworthy servant, know how many soldiers converted in the monastery in these my days have worked miracles, have wrought signs and mighty deeds. But by this law it is now forbidden that any such should be converted. Let my lord inquire, I pray, what former emperor gave such a law, and let him more subtly estimate whether it ought to have been given. And indeed it is very much to be considered that we are now forbidden to relinquish the world at the very time when the end itself of the ages has drawn near. For behold, there will be no delay; and, the heaven burning, the earth burning, the elements flashing, with angels and archangels, with thrones and dominions, with principalities and powers, the dread Judge will appear.

If He shall have forgiven all sins, and one shall have said that only this law was brought forth against him, what, I pray, will be the excuse? Wherefore, through that same dread Judge, I beseech that those so many tears, so many prayers, so many fasts, and so many almsgivings of my lord may not, on any occasion, grow reddened (i.e. be brought to shame) before the eyes of almighty God; but that Your Piety may bend, either by interpreting, or by changing the vigor of the same law; because then the army of the lords the more increases against the enemies, when the army of God shall have increased for prayer. I indeed, subject to the command, caused the same law to be transmitted through diverse parts of the lands; and because that law by no means accords with almighty God, behold, through the page of my suggestion I have announced it to the most serene lords.

On both sides therefore I have discharged what I owed, who both rendered obedience to the emperor, and for God did not keep silent what I felt. Gregory to Theodore the physician. How great the good things of almighty God and of my most serene lord the emperor I possess, my tongue does not suffice to unfold. For which good things, what is there of mine to render, save purely to love their footsteps? But, my sins bringing it about — from whose suggestion or counsel I know not — a year ago he brought forth in his commonwealth such a law that whoever purely loves him ought to weep vehemently. To which law I was then unable to reply, because I was sick. But now I have suggested some things to the same lord.

For he decrees that no one who has held a public office, and no one who has been an adjutant, or marked on the hand, or reckoned among the soldiers, may be permitted to be converted to the monastic life, unless perchance his military service has been fully completed. This law, as those who know the ancient laws report, was first promulgated by Julian, of whom we all know how great an adversary of God he was. But if our most serene lord has done this because perhaps many soldiers were being converted and the army was dwindling, was it then by the valour of soldiers that Almighty God subjugated to him the empire of the Persians? Was it not his tears alone that were heard, and by an order which he himself knew not that the empire of the Persians was made subject to his rule?

But it seems very harsh to me that he should forbid his soldiers from the service of Him who has bestowed all things upon him, and has granted him to hold dominion not only over soldiers but even over priests. If the intention is the preserving of property, could not those very monasteries which had received the soldiers render back the property of others and take in men only for conversion? Because these things grieve me deeply, I have submitted this same matter to that same lord. But let your Glory privately, at an opportune time, present my suggestion to him. I do not wish it to be given publicly by my representative, since you who serve him more familiarly can speak to him more freely and openly the things that pertain to his soul, for he is occupied with many affairs, and his mind is scarcely found free from weighty cares.

You indeed, glorious son, speak for the sake of Christ. If you are heeded, it is the gain of the soul of your aforesaid lord and of your own. But if you are not heeded, you have wrought gain for your own soul alone.