約伯倫理 第 15 章 第 2/2 段

but he assigns this cause of the want which the City suffered, namely that grain cannot long be kept at Rome uncorrupted. And with the enemy imminent and the roads besieged, it was not possible to succor the City with new supplies from time to time. 2. Incredible then shone forth Gregory's constancy, both in bearing calumnies with equanimity, and in asserting, against the detractors, the innocence of the illustrious men joined to him in friendship. It was not obscure that the Roman exarch, to divert from himself the odium of affairs unhappily conducted, had cast it upon the prefect of the City and the supreme pontiff himself. Of him St Gregory speaks thus in a letter to Sebastian, bishop of Sirmium:

«What things, most holy brother, we suffer in this land from the person of your friend the lord Romanus, we are by no means able to speak. Yet briefly I say, that his malice toward us has conquered the swords of the Lombards; so that the enemies who kill us seem kinder than the judges of the commonwealth, who by their malice, rapines, and deceits consume us in anxious thought. And to bear at one time the care of bishops and clerics, of monasteries too, and of the people; to be solicitously vigilant against the ambushes of the enemy; to be ever suspicious against the deceits and malices of the dukes—of what labor, of what grief this is, let your fraternity weigh so much the more truly, the more purely he loves me who suffer these things» (Book v, ep. 42). 3.

A little afterward, Agilulf withdrew his camp, brought up to the walls of the City. That peace was then made, at the persuasion of Theodelinda, Paul the Deacon relates. To her counsels there were added Gregory's prayers and gifts, by which he was accustomed to redeem the liberty and life of the Roman people, as he himself describes, setting forth the state of affairs to Constantina Augusta: «For twenty-seven years now we pass, in that we live in this city amid the swords of the Lombards. How many things are daily disbursed to them by this Church, that we may be able to live among them, need not be suggested.»

«But briefly I indicate, that just as in the parts of Ravenna the piety of the lords has a paymaster with the chief army of Italy, who makes daily expenditures upon supervening cases, so also in this city in such cases I am their paymaster. And nevertheless this Church, which at one and the same time expends so many things unceasingly upon clerics, monasteries, the poor, the people, and moreover upon the Lombards, behold is still pressed by the affliction of all the Churches» (Book v, ep. 21). 4.

That the resources of the Roman Church (while its patrimonies and estates everywhere lay open to plunder) sufficed for so many necessities, with Gregory dispensing them, seems next to a miracle—especially since he held nothing more important than to make good the damages inflicted upon the tenants and peasants by the guardians and stewards of the Church's patrimonies, as we observed above, and to guard against them for the future. How much he abhorred unjust exactions, these words of epistle 44 of book i indicate: «We do not wish the purse of the Church to be defiled by base gains.» Nay more, in the Roman council [formerly ep. 44, book iv, now at the end of the Epistles

He judged that not only the administrators of the Church's patrimonies, who were striving to enlarge them beyond what was fitting and were invading the boundaries of others by affixing false title-markers, should be punished with the penalty of anathema, but also the very bishops themselves, if they either commanded such things to be done or did not forbid them. 5. But his fairness, his integrity, and his greatness of soul nowhere shine more brightly than in the letter to the Empress Constantina, written on this occasion (Book V, Letter 41). When he had learned that not a few of the heathen still survived in Sardinia, and that the island's priests, out of sloth, were too little concerned for their conversion,

he took care to send there a certain bishop from Italy, by whose preaching very many came to the faith, receiving baptism and ceasing to sacrifice to idols. But because they had earlier been accustomed to pay some sum to the governor or judge in order to obtain the license to sacrifice, the judge, unwilling to be deprived of this shameful gain, was exacting the same tribute even from the baptized, who now served no other than the true God. When rebuked for this matter by the bishop, he had answered that so great a sum of money was demanded of himself that, unless he raised it by these unjust exactions, he could not pay it. So too the inhabitants of the island of Corsica were oppressed by such immense exactions that they could scarcely satisfy them even by selling their own children;

nor was Sicily harassed by lesser depredations. Of these crimes and robberies Gregory informed the Empress, so that concerning them, at a suitably chosen time, she might take care to remind Maurice. But in this letter he anticipated what the emperor could reply: namely, that whatever was gathered from the aforesaid islands was transmitted for the expenses of Italy. To which the most holy Pope says: But I suggest this, that even if less be granted for the expenses in Italy, he should nevertheless, by his own imperial authority, restrain the tears of the oppressed. For perhaps it is for this very reason that such great expenditures profit less toward usefulness in this land, because they are collected with some admixture of sin.

Let the most serene lords therefore command that nothing be collected with sin. And I know that, even if less is contributed to the advantages of the commonwealth, the commonwealth is thereby greatly helped. And even if it should perhaps happen that it be less helped by smaller revenues, it is nevertheless better that we should not live in a temporal way than that you should find any obstacle to eternal life. For consider what minds, what feelings, parents can have when they sell off their own children lest they be tortured. Now let us turn to ecclesiastical matters. 6.

At the beginning of this second year of Gregory's pontificate, Laurentius, archdeacon of the Roman Church (he perhaps who had been appointed at Constantinople in his stead when Gregory himself was returning to Rome, by Pope Pelagius), was deposed on account of pride and other faults. His place was taken by Honoratus, in a synod of all the priests and deacons and of the whole clergy (at the end of the Letter, formerly at the beginning of Book II); so that the supreme pontiff might make plain how much it was at heart for him to remove the unworthy from the sacred ministry — understanding most wisely that the commonwealth, even the ecclesiastical one, is held together, as by reward, so also by punishment (Cicero, to Brutus). 7.

In the same year he entrusted the office of the Apostolic See over all the Churches of Sicily to the holy Maximian, bishop of Syracuse, of whom we have already treated: which dignity he conferred not upon the place but upon the person, understanding well from his past life what might be presumed concerning his subsequent conduct (Book II, Letter 7). Nevertheless he willed that the greater and more difficult causes be referred to himself for settlement. From a letter written to the same man a little later (ibid., Letter 24) it is clear how carefully he investigated who might seem worthy to exercise the episcopate (wherever they lay hidden), so that he might strive to promote them to the pastoral care. 8.

Among the other things worthy of note that he established this year, this decree against repeated ordinations must not be passed over cursorily: Just as one baptized once ought not to be baptized again, so he who has been consecrated once cannot be consecrated again in the same order. But if perchance anyone comes to the priesthood with a light fault, a penance ought to be imposed for the fault, and yet the order be preserved (Book II, Letter 46). These words of the holy pontiff also are to be read attentively: Far be it from me to infringe upon the statutes of our forefathers in regard to my fellow priests in any Church whatsoever; for I do myself an injury if I disturb the rights of my brethren (Book II, Letter 52).

By these words he showed how religious a cultivator he was of the episcopal power instituted by Christ, even in bishops subject to him. He testifies the same in writing back to Bishop Dominicus: Concerning ecclesiastical privileges, what your Fraternity writes, hold this without any doubt: that just as we defend our own, so we preserve to each several Church its own rights. And to no one, though grace favor him, do I grant beyond what he deserves, nor from anyone do I detract that which is proper to his limits, though ambition goad me; but I desire to honor my brethren in all things (ibid., Letter 47). 9.

Two bishops had brought to Gregory, as a mark of honor, Dominicus's letter congratulating him on his assumption of the pontificate, and to them two attendants had been assigned, one deacon and the other a notary. Since he could not return the like honors (for that would have been foreign to his supreme dignity), he at least repaid love with love, and that even with interest — being no less careful to preserve the rights of friendship than those of the episcopate. This will be held for certain by anyone who reads this letter to Dominicus. For how great is the fragrance of charity in these words: Let us, most holy brother, hold fast with unshaken steadfastness to this mother and guardian of the virtues (that is, love). Let no tongues of deceivers diminish it in us, let no snares of the ancient enemy corrupt it.

For this it is that joins together things divided, and guards things joined. This raises up the humble without swelling. This bows down the exalted without casting them down. Through this the unity of the universal Church, which is the framework of the body of Christ, rejoices in each member by an equality of mind, though there be also disparity in the diversity of the members. Through this these same members both, being afflicted, leap for joy at another's gladness, and, being glad, pine away at another's sorrows. For, as the teacher of the Gentiles testifies, while if one member suffers, the other members suffer with it, and if one member is glorified, all the members rejoice together, I do not doubt that you groan over our disturbance, since it is altogether certain that we rejoice over your peace. And after many things:

Through the bond of charity, both what I speak of myself is yours, and what I earnestly desire you to do is mine. 10. That we may glean a few things concerning monastic affairs pertaining to the second year of Gregory's pontificate, nothing more worthy of note occurs to us than the Pope's solicitude in composing the dissension between Maximian, bishop of Syracuse, and Eusebius the abbot. Of how great sanctity Maximian was, has already been said by us more than once. That the office of the Holy See was committed to him by Gregory at the beginning of this year, we have recorded above. Yet the holy pontiff judged that this holy man, and almost foremost among his intimates, was to be reproved on account of the excommunication he had inflicted, from a rather slight cause and out of a movement of the mind, upon the abbot Eusebius.

On this matter he thought he ought to be admonished by Peter the subdeacon, who was acting in Sicily for the affairs of the Roman See, to whom he writes thus: I have taken it ill that Maximian excommunicated the lord Eusebius, a man of such great age and such great infirmity. Wherefore it is necessary that you say secretly to the same lord bishop, that in pronouncing sentences he be not precipitate, for causes which are to be decided by sentence must first be weighed with diligent and most frequent consideration (Book II, Letter 32). Note the title of 'lord' granted by the Pope himself, out of honor, to the aged abbot.

Nor was it enough for Gregory to address Maximian through Peter, but he admonished him by letter to endeavor to soothe and console Eusebius, who was exasperated by such great fury. In this letter he recalls to Maximian's mind how often he had admonished him not to be precipitate in pronouncing sentence (Book II, Letter 34). He marvels that he had blazed up in such fury against the abbot, whose long-standing manner of life, great age, and long-lasting infirmity ought to have turned the bishop's mind away from anger. For whatever excess there may have been in him, he says, the very affliction of his infirmity ought to have sufficed him as a scourge.... but perhaps you were permitted to go to excess against such a person, so that you might become more cautious in lesser matters.

Would that prelates and rulers always kept before their eyes these admonitions of the most holy doctor in their judgments toward their subjects. Maximian complied, and wished to restore communion and grace to Eusebius; but the abbot refused to accept it. Wherefore St. Gregory strove to recall him to his duty by this letter: Let your Charity believe me, that I have been greatly saddened by your sadness, as if I myself had suffered the injury in you. But when I afterward learned that, even when the most reverend man, our brother and fellow bishop Maximian, was restoring grace and communion, your Dilection was unwilling to be communicated with by him, I recognized also that what was formerly done was just.

The humility of the servants of God ought to appear in the time of affliction. But those who raise themselves up against their superiors are assuredly shown to disdain to be servants of God. And indeed, this which was done ought by no means to have been done by that man; yet by you it ought to have been received with all humility; and again, when he was restoring grace, he ought to have been met with a giving of thanks. Because this was not so done by you, from this I recognize that there is altogether need of tears for us. For it is no great thing to be humble toward those by whom we are honored, since even any worldly persons do this; but we ought to be humble most of all toward those from whom we suffer something. For the Psalmist says: Behold my humiliation from my enemies.

Of what life are we, we who are unwilling to be humble even toward our fathers? Therefore, most beloved son, I beg that all bitterness may pass from your heart, lest perhaps the end be near, and the ancient enemy, through the iniquity of discord, bar the way of the heavenly kingdom. We have judged that this almost entire, wholly golden letter should be here reprinted, that from it all may learn humility and reverence even toward superiors who act unjustly. But lest Eusebius should perhaps be exasperated by this free rebuke, in order to mollify him he took care that a hundred solidi be paid out to him by Peter the subdeacon for the necessities of his monastery; which proves at once both the man's supreme liberality and his prudence. 11.

In another way he composed the quarrels between the bishop of Rimini and the monks of the monastery of Saints Andrew and Thomas at Rimini, to whom he granted an ample privilege, which he signified to Castorius, bishop of Rimini, in these words: We exhort your Fraternity, that when the abbot of that monastery dies, your Church should on no occasion involve itself in describing and providing for the acquired or to-be-acquired possessions of the same monastery. But we wish you to ordain as abbot for that same monastery no other, but the one whom the whole congregation, by common consent, shall demand as worthy in character and fit for monastic discipline (Book II, Letter 41). Of other privileges granted in favor of the monks we shall speak below (Book III, ch. 2, no. 9).