Gregory to Anthemius the subdeacon. It has come to us that Benenatus, the late bishop of Misenum, received solidi for building a fort there. And because a part of those solidi is said to have remained with him, let your Experience search out by subtle investigation; and if you shall have clearly learned that anything of those solidi has remained, let the office deliver it to the count of the aforesaid city under a written receipt, and let it press that they be applied, God helping, to the construction of that same place, as they were given; for no reason permits that what is known to have been given for the common utility should be applied to anyone's own uses. Gregory to Secundinus, servant of God, an anchorite.
I have received the writings of your Charity, which in my sense were savoured, seasoned with the honey of love. Oh, with how great an inspiration are they full of life, which are brought forth through the grace of the Spirit! In them appeared no cultivation of eloquence, no swelling of words, but, holding only the root of truth and of charity, through everything they spoke they breathed forth the love of the heavenly homeland. In them, indeed, your love was zealous to seek of me that I ought to write a little book of exhortation for you. But it is necessary that you know, most dear son, that I am so pressed by such great pains of the gout, and by such great tumults of cares, that, although I remember myself never to have been anything, yet I very much see that I am not who I was. But as for the fact that your Charity
asserts that, even beyond your fiftieth year, you are still subject to youthful desires — in this too you fulfil the precept of the divine oracle, whereby it is written: The just man is in the beginning his own accuser (Prov. 18:17). Nor yet do I doubt that you endure greater snares of the cunning enemy, who have prepared greater wars against him. For he seeks out the more ardently the contrivances of deception, the more fervently he perceives you to pant after the heavenly homeland. And we indeed, who lead our life among the multitude, are the more timid and fearful; yet because we have set war against the ancient enemy, we stand as it were in the battle-line.
But you who lead the solitary life, what else should I call you than single combatants, who in the fervour of virtue hasten even to go out from the battle-line? Why then should he not attack singly the man by whom he expects to be attacked singly? And we indeed, who live among men, are often tempted through men by the cunning enemy. But you who lead the way of the present life outside the throng of men, must needs suffer contests so much the greater, in that the master of temptations himself draws near to you.
For you cannot be free for prayers and the praises of God without some interruption of time, because, although the intention is continually ready, yet the very infirmity of humanity slips back to itself, so that at times, wearied, it lies prostrate, and grows numb from the exercise of its own zeal. But the ancient enemy, as soon as he finds the mind at leisure, draws near to it under certain occasions, about to speak to it, and he recalls to its memory certain things about past deeds, unseemly resounds to the thought words once heard; and if any things were once done shamefully, he sets their image before the eyes of the heart, so that whom he cannot defile with present things, he may violate with past evils.
And he often restores the deceived mind to that delight from which it has now long afflicted itself through penance; so that it may truly say with the Psalmist: My scars have rotted and grown worse before the face of my folly (Ps. 37:6). For a scar is the figure of a wound, but of one healed. A scar therefore returns to putrefaction when the wound of sin, which has now been healed through penance, strikes the soul into delight of itself. Often what we have never done, we see through the snares of the cunning enemy with the eyes of the heart. And when delight insensibly creeps in here, although the soul now bewails what it had done, yet the unhappy soul is grieved not to have done certain things which it may bewail.
These are the darknesses of our heart, which in this life, willing and unwilling, we endure. Whom must we seek against these, save the Helper in opportune times, in tribulation? But I received very gladly that your Charity questioned me concerning your doubt, whether the Churches of the East follow the faith and doctrine of Pope Leo of holy memory, lest perchance their mind be divided among themselves over the defence of the Three Chapters. Whence I desire that your love be certain, that the aforesaid most holy Churches of the East hold the faith with one mind, with one doctrine,
and hold that of the holy memory of the same Leo, and so keep and venerate the holy Council of Chalcedon along with us, that no one is reckoned to be a bishop who has not been a defender and follower of the same council. For hence it is that, as often as bishops are ordained in the four principal sees, they send synodal letters to one another in turn, in which they confess that they keep the holy Council of Chalcedon along with the other general councils; even as we too turn away from, and deem worthy to be smitten with anathema, any who presume either to diminish anything of the faith of the same council, or to add anything to it.
For the council which was made generally after it is received by us on this account, that, being a follower of the same council in all things, it guards its honour and authority. Whence it is necessary that your love, most sweet to me — in this, that it especially lives in good morals, that it afflicts itself through abstinence, that it more vehemently insists on the doctrine of God — should the more studiously take heed of this: lest, following the error of the schismatics, it be found divided from the holy universal Church. And what will so many labours profit, if they be not found in the unity of the faith, which above all guards the soul in good deeds before the eyes of Almighty God? For hence it is said: One is my dove, my perfect one (Cant. 6:8). Hence the Lord says to Moses:
There is a place with me, and you shall stand upon the rock (Exod. 33:21). What place is there which is not in God, since all things are contained by Him through whom they were created? But nevertheless there is a place with Him, namely the unity of the holy Church, in which one stands upon the rock, while the solidity of its confession is humbly held. Concerning which place it is subjoined: Then you shall see my back parts. For standing on the rock, that is, in the holy Church, we shall see the back parts of God, when we shall now contemplate those joys of the heavenly homeland which are promised at the end.
But perverse men who, having found the occasion of the Three Chapters, flee ecclesiastical discipline, dread to be reproved for their carnal deeds, refuse to be subject to the precepts of the Apostolic See, and reprove us as it were concerning the faith, which they themselves do not know. And while they are neither upright in faith nor intent on good works, they are zealous to seem to be contending for the faith. And so it comes about that daily they become worse, while in them the fault grows gross, which desires to seem even praiseworthy, as though out of the zeal of fervour. But according to that which is written: By their works you shall know them (Matt. 7:16). Let your Charity attend to their life, and consider the merit of their intention.
For, to speak briefly to your love concerning the same matter: the holy Council of Chalcedon, up to the definition of the faith and the promulgation of the canons, spoke of general causes. For after the promulgation of the canons it took care to lay to rest the special contentions of bishops. But the letter which the most reverend Ibas in it denies to be his own, you recognize that it lies in the extreme part of the council. Which letter asserts that Nestorius was condemned unheard and without inquiry having been made; but suspects that Cyril fell into the dogma of Apollinaris.
And if the whole preceding text of the aforesaid council is read, it is found how greatly this letter is opposed to that same council, namely because the holy council both denounces Nestorius as a heretic, as he is, and venerates blessed Cyril as a Catholic father. The letter therefore which defends him who was condemned by the council, and accuses him who was venerated by the council, is without doubt proved to be opposed to the definition of the holy council. But because its defenders are wont to say that Ibas wrote this at the time when Cyril was still held in doubt on account of the twelve chapters which he had not yet expounded, weigh, in this very letter, that it is read that between the Eastern bishops and blessed Cyril peace had been celebrated.
If, then, this same letter was written after concord had been restored to peace and after the doubt had been removed by satisfaction, it is plain that it is not the letter of a catholic man, since it calls a catholic father — one praised throughout the whole volume of the synod — a heretic. This I have said in few words, because I have not found in the letters the chief grounds on which your Charity holds this matter in doubt. And because your Holiness
has required this of us, that we should write to him authorities concerning the priestly office of rising again after a fall — since he says that he has read diverse canons on this matter and found diverse opinions, some saying that one may rise again, others that one by no means can — therefore we venerate the holy general synods, beginning with Nicaea, together with the remaining four that were held afterward, because, following that same synod, the rest agree unanimously in all their canonical judgments. For we too ought to follow the Fathers who went before us, from whose sacred teaching, since God is its author, we do not dissent. Beginning therefore from the head down to the fourth ministry of the altar, we acknowledge that this rule is to be observed: that, just as the greater precedes the lesser in honour, so also in guilt;
and let him whom the greater fault follows be smitten with the greater punishment, and so afterward let penance be believed to be fruitful. For what does it profit to sow wheat and not to gather its fruit? or to build a house and not to dwell therein? After worthy satisfaction, therefore, we believe that one may return to honour, since the Prophet says: 「Shall not he who falls rise again?」 (Ps. 40:9). And: 「Shall he who is turned away not return?」 (Jer. 8:4). And to the sinner He says: 「On whatever day you are converted and lament, then shall you be saved」 (Isa. 30:15, according to the Seventy). Whence also the Psalmist says: 「Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within my bowels.」
「Cast me not away from Thy face, and take not Thy holy spirit from me」 (Ps. 51:12). For while he begged that he might not be cast away by the Lord for the guilt of his fall, the king and prophet at once, trembling and terrified, that he had seized another man's wife; and the prophet, disclosing his own crime and doing penance, added: 「Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and confirm me with a princely spirit」 (ibid. 14). For if he had not made a penance worthy of God, he would by no means have preached to others. For he says: 「I will teach the wicked Thy ways, and the ungodly shall be converted unto Thee」 (ibid. 15). For when the Prophet, cleansed by penance, beheld his sins, he did not hesitate by preaching to heal the sins of others, and he strove to offer a sacrifice of himself to God, when he said:
「A contrite spirit is a sacrifice to God」 (ibid. 19). For this these things would suffice; but every judgment, the more it is confirmed by the testimonies of Sacred Scripture, the more easily is it believed. For concerning this the prophet says: 「I do not will the death of the sinner, but that he be converted and live」 (Ezek. 18:32). Concerning this it is said of those who sin: 「On whatever day the sinner is converted and laments, he shall be saved; all his iniquities shall be delivered to oblivion」 (ibid. 22). For if our Redeemer, who came not to destroy sinners but to justify them, has left behind in oblivion the offences of those who sin, what man reserves for condemnation those things which the Apostle says: 「If God justifies, who is he that condemns?」 (Rom. 8:33)?
Having recourse to the fountain of mercy, let us bring forward the sentence of the Gospel: 「I shall rejoice,」 He says, 「over one sinner doing penance, more than over ninety-nine just who need no penance」 (Luke 15:7). And the Lord Himself testifies that the lost sheep, the ninety-nine that did not stray being left behind, was carried back to the fold on the shoulder of the loving shepherd. If the lost and straying sheep is, after being found, carried back to the fold on the shoulder, why should this man, after penance, not be recalled from his fall to the ministry of the Church? As it is said in the Apocalypse concerning the ministry of the Church: 「Remember whence you have fallen, and do penance, and do the first works」 (Apoc. 2:5).
For which is graver: to commit a carnal offence, without which few are found, or to deny the Son of God by oath? In which word we recognize that this very blessed Peter, prince of the apostles, upon whose sacred body we, unworthy, are seated, fell. But after his denial penance followed, and after penance mercy was given, for afterward the apostolate did not expel him, since He had beforehand foretold that he would deny Him. Let these words, dearest son, suffice for you, so that him whom you see wiping away his offences with weeping, you may not doubt to obtain mercy in the sight of the Godhead, because He does not despise the sinner who has returned, He who came to redeem sinners with His blood.
But your Charity asks concerning the ordinations of the pontiffs of the Apostolic See, whether after the most blessed Hormisdas any have been added. But you should know that the ordinations of the prelates are set down up to the times of Pope Vigilius. Moreover we have sent, by the bearer of the present letter, aloes, incense, storax, and balsam, to be offered upon the bodies of the holy martyrs. And at the end of the letter you asked what should be answered to those who question your Beloved-self concerning the souls of little children who die without the grace of baptism, saying: If the body is held by original guilt, whence shall the soul, which is given by God, be guilty, which has not yet consented to the body in actual sin?
But on this matter, most sweet one, let your Charity know that among the holy Fathers no small inquiry has been carried on concerning the origin of the soul; but whether it descends from Adam, or is certainly given to each individually, has remained uncertain, and they have confessed that in this life it is an insoluble question. For it is a grave question, and cannot be comprehended by man, because if the soul is born with the flesh from the substance of Adam, why does it not also die with the flesh? But if it is not born with the flesh, why is it held bound by sins in that flesh which was brought forth from Adam? But although this is uncertain, that other thing is not uncertain: that unless a man be reborn by the grace of holy baptism, every soul is fettered by the bonds of original sin. Hence it is written concerning this:
「None is clean in His sight, not even the infant of one day upon the earth」 (Job 14:4-5, according to the Seventy). Hence David says: 「In iniquities was I conceived, and in sins did my mother bring me forth」 (Ps. 51:7). Hence Truth itself says: 「Unless a man be reborn of water and the Holy Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven」 (John 3:5). Hence Paul the Apostle says: 「As in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive」 (1 Cor. 15:22). Why then can the infant, who has done nothing, not be clean in the sight of almighty God? Why was the Psalmist, brought forth from a lawful marriage, conceived in iniquities? Why, unless one has been cleansed by the water of baptism, is he not clean?
Why does every man die in Adam, if he is not held by the bonds of original sin? But because the human race rotted in its first parent as in a root, it drew dryness into its branches; and thence every man is born with sin, whence the first man would not remain without sin. Of these matters I ought to have spoken more subtly and more boldly; but since both the tumult of cares presses upon me, and the occasion for these things arose more hastily than it should have been relaxed, therefore, though I owed much, I have spoken little.
I pray almighty God that He may protect you with His grace, and by the intercession of blessed Peter, prince of the apostles, preserve you unharmed from all evils, so that the fervour of heavenly desire may daily grow more ardently in your mind, so that, ever new and ever stronger than itself, it may attain to receiving the heavenly rewards more abundantly. I have also sent two books of homilies, which I delivered in the church while I was still able to speak, so that, since I cannot see you and converse with you diligently in person, I may not, though absent, be absent from your Charity, at least through those things which I have been able to write. I have also striven to send a small garment, by which your Charity — since it burns with a southern warmth in the soul — may outwardly ward off from the body the cold of Arcturus.
I ask moreover that you should more earnestly pray for me, so that by the help of your intercession I may deserve both to be rescued from present evils and to be presented to eternal joys. The images which you asked to be sent to you by the deacon Dulcidius we have sent. Whence your request pleased us greatly, because you seek with your whole heart and whole intention Him whose image you desire to have before your eyes, so that daily bodily sight may keep you exercised, so that while you see His picture, you may burn in your soul toward Him whose image you desire to see. We do not do this without reason, if through visible things we show forth invisible things.
Thus a man who ardently desires to see another, or who, loving his betrothed, strives to see her, if it happens that she goes to the bath or to church, at once prepares himself along the way she is passing, so that he may depart cheered by the sight of her. I know indeed that you do not ask for an image of our Saviour in order to worship it as God, but that, through remembrance of the Son of God, you may grow warm again in His love, whose image you desire to see. And we too indeed do not prostrate ourselves before it as before the Godhead, but we adore Him whom, through the image, we remember as either born, or suffering, or even sitting upon the throne. And while the picture itself, as a kind of writing, brings back the Son of God to our memory, it either gladdens our mind concerning the resurrection, or soothes it concerning the passion.
And therefore we have directed to you two cloths, containing the image of God our Saviour, and of the holy Mother of God Mary, and of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, through our aforesaid son the deacon; and one cross, and also a key for a blessing from the most holy body of Peter, prince of the apostles, so that, defended by it from the evil one, you may remain, believing yourself fortified by its sign, and that He may protect you from it, He who ever prompts us to recall the things of youth; so that you may persevere in your good deeds, so that you may remain in His love unto the end, for whose love you desire to dwell as a solitary; so that you may kindle others in His love, on whose account you have made yourself to be held;
so that, for whatever evils of this life the enemy suggests, you may burn as with torches, kindled by the fruits of a mind casting them behind; for whose love you would even wish to end your life: may He Himself also protect you unto the end, He who deigned to redeem the whole world, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns for ages of ages. Amen.