If therefore it cannot bear the words of dust, what will it do at the judgment of the Creator? Yet I confess that I believe the mercy of the supernal grace to be very great, in that it beholds you fleeing from life, and yet still reserves you unto life: in that it sees you proud, and bears with you. (Register, book i, letter 34.) And when Venantius, persisting in the same apostasy, having certain rivalries arisen, learned that his oblations had been cursed by John, bishop of Syracuse, he was stirred up against the bishop after the manner of an enemy, and did not fear to accuse him to Gregory. To whom he himself writes back, saying:
The letter which you sent found us much saddened already, in that we have learned that between you and John, our brother and fellow bishop, of whose concord we were desiring to rejoice, a scandal has arisen. For whatever the cause had been, wrath ought not to have burst forth so far that your armed men, as we have heard, should rush into the episcopal residence, and commit divers evils after the manner of an enemy, and that this affair should meanwhile divide you from fatherly charity. Could it not, if there was any contention whatsoever, have been tranquilly settled, so that neither the interest of the parties should feel detriment, nor grace suffer harm?
But of what gravity, of what holiness, of what gentleness our above-mentioned brother is, we are not ignorant. From this we gather that, unless the excessive force of grief had driven him, his brotherly charity would by no means have come to that deed on account of which you declare yourselves grieved. As soon as we learned of this from his own writing, we at once wrote to him, admonishing him both to receive your offerings as before, and not only to permit Masses to be celebrated in your house, but even, if you should wish it, to perform them himself; and so forth. (Register, book vi, letter 43.)
Now Venantius, returning into concord with the bishop, after for eleven years he had refused, though exhorted by Gregory with many letters, to return to the monastic profession, fell into a most grievous sickness. Hearing this from John, bishop of Syracuse, Gregory wrote back, saying: I have received the writings of your Fraternity, which spoke to me of the sickness of my most sweet son, the lord Venantius, and related in full how all things had been done concerning him. But hearing at one and the same time both that he despaired and was gravely ill, and that wicked men were pressing hard upon the property of the orphans—namely his daughters—the grief could scarcely find room within my heart.
But in this there was consolation, that tears burst forth from me through groans. Your Holiness therefore ought not to neglect that first care which is fitting, so as to think upon his soul, by exhorting, by entreating, by setting before him the terrible judgment of God, by promising His ineffable mercy; that he may return to his habit, at least at the last: lest the guilt of so great a fault stand against him in the eternal judgment. (Register, book xi, letter 36.) If, however, Gregory perceived any judges to be incorrigible in their wickedness, he denounced them by his own writings before the princes. Whence he complains to Constantina Augusta, saying:
Since I had learned that there were many pagans in the island of Sardinia, and that they still, after the manner of wicked heathenism, were enslaved to the sacrifices of idols, and that the priests of that same island were sluggish in preaching our Redeemer, I sent thither one of the bishops of Italy, who, with the Lord's cooperation, brought many of the pagans to the faith. But a certain man reported to me a sacrilegious matter: that those who sacrifice to idols in that island pay a bribe to the judge, so that this may be permitted them to do. When some of these had been baptized and had now ceased to sacrifice to idols, that same bribe is still exacted from them by the judge of the island, even after baptism, which was formerly wont to be given for the sacrificing to idols.
When the aforesaid bishop rebuked him, he answered that he had promised so great a payment (for his office) that he could not meet it except even from such causes. But the island of Corsica is oppressed by so great an excess of tax-collectors and by such a burden of exactions, that those who dwell in it can scarcely satisfy what is demanded of them by selling their own sons. Whence it comes about that, the pious commonwealth being abandoned, the possessors of that island are driven to flee to the most abominable nation of the Lombards. For what heavier, what crueller thing can they suffer from the barbarians, than that, straitened and crushed, they are compelled to sell their own sons?
In the island of Sicily, moreover, a certain Stephen, a registrar of the maritime districts, is said to work such prejudices and such oppressions—invading the lands of individuals, and, without any pleading of the causes, setting up his title-deeds over their possessions and houses—that if I should wish to relate each of his deeds that have come to me, I could not fill out these things even in a great volume. Let my most serene lady diligently look upon all these things, and check the groans of the oppressed. And a little after: Weigh what minds, what bowels of parents can be, when they sell off their sons that they may not be tortured. But how one ought to pity the sons of others, they know well who have their own.
Whence let it suffice that I have briefly suggested these things, lest, if your Piety should not have known those things which are done in these parts, the guilt of my silence should condemn me before the strict Judge. (Register, book v, letter 41.) 49. Hence it is that in the time of this Gregory so many priests and laymen throughout diverse regions are proved, with the Dialogues as witness, to have shone with miracles, as could never afterwards be found under later pontiffs. The enemy of the human race, therefore, envying such great felicities of the Church of God, inflamed some of the pontiffs and likewise of the secular judges to envy against him. Concerning whose affliction he complains, among other things, to John, bishop of Ravenna, saying:
I reckon this to my sins, that this man who is now present (there is no doubt but that it is the Roman exarch) both dissembles about fighting against our enemies, and forbids us to make peace: although even now, even if he should wish it, we cannot make it at all: because Ariulf, having the army of Autharith and Nordulf, desires that their pledged lands be given to him, so that he may deign to speak somewhat of peace with you. (Register, book ii, letter 46.) Likewise to Sebastian, bishop of Sirmium, after some things: What we suffer in this land, most holy brother, from the person of your friend the lord Romanus, we are scarcely able to tell:
yet I say briefly that his malice toward us has surpassed the swords of the Lombards, so that those enemies who slay us seem more benign than the judges of the commonwealth, who consume us in their thoughts by their malice, by robberies and deceits. And at one and the same time to bear the care of bishops and of clerics, and also of monasteries and of the people, to watch anxiously against the ambushes of the enemy, to be ever wary against the deceits and malices of the dukes—of what labor, of what grief this is, your Fraternity weighs the more truly the more purely you love me who suffer these things. (Register, book v, letter 42.) Likewise to Anastasius the patriarch, after many things:
What evils we suffer from the swords of the barbarians, what from the perversity of the judges, I shrink from relating to your Beatitude, lest I increase the groaning of one whose groaning I ought rather to have diminished by consoling. (Register, book iv, letter 39.) Likewise to Palladius, presbyter of Mount Sinai, after very many things: I ask that you should pray for me, that almighty God may deign to guard me both from evil spirits and from perverse men: for in this pilgrimage of my life evils, both many and great, surround me, so that with the Psalmist I may rightly say: Thy wraths have passed over me, and thy terrors have troubled me. They have compassed me about like water all the day, they have compassed me about together (Psalm lxxxvii, 17 and 18). (Register, book xi, letter 2.) 50.
Furthermore, to Maurice, then a most avaricious and likewise most rapacious prince, who at the suggestions of his enemies was passing a most deadly law, that it should be lawful for none of the soldiers—namely of any who had been marked (enlisted) by the hand—to be converted (to the monastic life), he thus answered among other things: To this end has power over all men been 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 lie the more widely open, that the earthly kingdom may serve the heavenly kingdom. And behold, it is said with open voice that it is not lawful for him who has once been enrolled in earthly military service to serve our Lord Jesus Christ, unless either his service be completed, or he be rejected on account of bodily weakness.
But behold, through me, His and your lowest servant, Christ will answer, saying: I made thee, from a notary, count of the guards; from count of the guards, Caesar; from Caesar, emperor; and not this only, but even father of emperors. My priests I have committed to thy hand, and dost thou withdraw thy soldiers from My service? Answer, I pray, most pious lord, thy servant: what wilt thou answer in the judgment to thy Lord, when He comes and says these things? And a little after: Let my Lord, I beg, inquire what former emperor gave such a law, and let him more subtly consider whether it ought to have been given. (Register, book ii, letter 65.) Likewise to Theodore the physician, after some things:
By the working of my sins, he says, at whose suggestion or counsel I know not, the emperor within the past year has brought forth in his commonwealth such a law, that no one who has held a public office, no one who has been marked by function or by hand, or has been reckoned among the soldiers, may be permitted to be converted (into monastic life) in a monastery, unless perhaps his military service has been completed. Which law, as those who know the old laws say, Julian first brought forth—concerning whom we all know how far he was turned away from God. (Same place, letter 66.) 51.
The madness of the judges was strengthened, or rather fostered, by John, then bishop of the royal city, formerly a monk; who at the time when Gregory, appointed apocrisiarius by the prelate Pelagius, was staying at Constantinople, feigned as if humbly to flee the supreme priesthood; but once he had received it, he grew to such a height in the pride of his crafty mind that, seeking an occasion from another matter, he held a synod in which he attempted to call himself universal. As soon as Pope Pelagius recognized this, by letters sent forth from the authority of the holy apostle Peter, he annulled the acts of that same synod. And he forbade the deacon who, according to custom, attended upon the emperors for the transacting of ecclesiastical responses, to celebrate the solemnities of Mass with him.
Following whose sentence, blessed Gregory too had punished the aforesaid John with a like sentence, when, though often admonished, he put off acquiescing; and he had charged all the pontiffs, under threat of their own honor, that they should never either write the profane word 'universal,' or accept it written, or, where it had been written, subscribe to it. Wherefore John, purchasing by many deceits the consent of the most avaricious emperor to his hypocrisy, obtained that the emperor should write to Gregory that he had shown himself peaceable toward him. Wherefore he himself writes, among other things, to the empress Constantina, saying:
From Sabinianus, my deacon and responsalis, writing to me, I have learned how great a justice your Serenity expends in the causes of blessed Peter, prince of the apostles, against certain men who are proudly humble and feignedly bland. Whence I still beg that you permit the hypocrisy of no one to prevail against the truth: for there are some who, according to the voice of the excellent preacher, by sweet speeches and blessings seduce the hearts of the innocent (Romans xvi); who are indeed despised in their garment, but swell in heart, and, as though they despised all things in this world, yet nonetheless seek to obtain at once all the things that are of the world;
who confess themselves unworthy in comparison with all men, yet cannot be content with private titles, because they crave that whereby they may seem worthier than all. (Register, book v, letter 21.) And a little after: 52. Moreover I make known that I have received the writings of my most pious lords, that I should be at peace with my brother and fellow-priest John. And indeed it befitted so religious a lord to enjoin this upon a priest. But since with new presumption and pride this same brother of mine calls himself universal bishop, so that in the time of my predecessor of holy memory he caused himself to be inscribed in a synod with this proud title:
although all the acts of that synod were annulled, the Apostolic See contradicting them, my most serene lord intimates something sad to me; that he did not correct him who is proud, but rather wished to turn me aside from my intention—me who in this cause defend the truth of the statutes of the Gospels and of the canons concerning humility and rectitude. In which matter my aforesaid brother and fellow-priest acts against the Evangelical sentence, against blessed Peter the apostle also, and against all the churches and the statutes of the canons. But there is an almighty God, in whose hand are all things, of whom it is written: There is no wisdom, there is no prudence, there is no counsel against the Lord (Proverbs xxi, 30).
And indeed the aforesaid most holy brother often endeavors to persuade many things to my most serene lord; but I well know that those great prayers and tears of his permit nothing to be filched from him by anyone against reason or against his own soul. Yet it is very sad that it should be patiently borne that, all others being despised, the aforesaid brother and my colleague in the episcopate should attempt to be called bishop alone. But in this pride of his, what else is signified, save that the times of Antichrist are now near at hand? For he plainly imitates him who, despising the legions of angels in the shared joy, attempted to burst forth to the summit of singularity, saying: Above the stars of heaven will I exalt my throne, I will sit upon the mount of the Testament, on the sides of the North.
I will ascend above the height of the clouds: I will be like the Most High (Isaiah xiv, 13). Whence through the almighty Lord I beg that you not permit the times of your Piety to be stained by the arrogance of one man: nor in any way whatsoever lend any assent to so perverse a title; and in this cause let not your Piety in any wise despise me; because even if the sins of Gregory be so great that he ought to suffer such things, yet the sins of the apostle Peter are none, that in your times he should deserve to suffer such things.
Whence again and again through the almighty Lord I beg that, as the former princes sought the favor of the holy apostle Peter, you too take care both to seek and to preserve it for yourselves, and that on account of our sins, we who serve him unworthily, his honor with you be in no way diminished—he who is able both now to be your helper in all things, and afterward to forgive your sins. Now we have already led twenty-seven years since we have lived in this city amid the swords of the Lombards: how many things are daily disbursed to them by the Church, that we may be able to live among them, need not be suggested.
But I briefly make known that, just as in the parts of Ravenna the Piety of our Lords keeps a paymaster with the foremost army of Italy, who, when causes arise, makes the daily expenditures, so also in this city, in such causes, I am their paymaster. And yet this church, which at one and the same time so unceasingly expends so much upon clerics, monasteries, the poor, the people, and moreover the Lombards—behold, it is still oppressed by the affliction of all the churches, because from the pride of one man many groan, even if they presume to say nothing. (Same place.) 53. To the most avaricious prince also Gregory contradicts with a free voice, writing after some things:
Behold, there is no doubt but that Peter received the keys of the heavenly kingdom, the power of binding and loosing is bestowed on him, the care of the whole Church and the primacy is committed to him, and yet he is not called universal apostle; and my most holy man and fellow-priest John endeavors to be called universal bishop. I am compelled to cry out and to say: O the times, O the morals! Behold, all things in the parts of Europe are handed over to the jurisdiction of the barbarians: cities are destroyed, fortresses overthrown, provinces depopulated, no cultivator inhabits the land; the worshippers of idols rage and lord it daily over the slaughter of the faithful;
and yet priests, who ought to have lain weeping upon the pavement and in ashes, seek for themselves names of vanity, and glory in new and profane titles. Do I in this matter, most pious Lord, defend my own cause? Do I vindicate a special injury, and not rather the cause of almighty God, and the cause of the universal Church? Who is this, who against the Evangelical statutes, against the decrees of the canons, presumes to usurp for himself a new name? Would that, even without the diminution of others, he were but one who craves to be called universal. And certainly we know that many priests of the Church of Constantinople have fallen into the abyss of heresy, and have been touched as not only heretics but even heresiarchs.
Thence indeed came Nestorius, who, deeming Christ Jesus, the mediator of God and men, to be two persons, because he did not believe that God could become man, burst forth even to Jewish perfidy. Thence indeed came Macedonius, who denied that the Holy Spirit, consubstantial with the Father and the Son, is God. If therefore anyone has seized for himself in that church the name whence so many heresiarchs are known to have proceeded, then the universal Church—which God forbid—falls from its state, when he who is called universal falls. But far be from the hearts of Christians that name of blasphemy, in which the honor of all priests is taken away, while it is madly arrogated by one to himself.
Certainly, for the honor of blessed Peter, prince of the apostles, it was offered to the Roman pontiff through the venerable Council of Chalcedon; but none of them ever consented to use this name of singularity, lest, while something was given privately to one, all priests should be deprived of their due honor. What is it, then, that we do not seek the glory of this title even when offered, and another presumes to seize it for himself even when not offered? He, therefore, is the more to be bent by the command of our most pious lords, who scorns to render obedience to the canonical precepts.
He is to be coerced, who does injury to the holy universal Church, who swells in heart, who craves to rejoice in the name of singularity, who by a private title sets himself even above the honor of your empire. Behold, we all suffer scandal in this matter. Let the author of the scandal, then, return to the right way, and all the quarrels of priests will cease. For I am the servant of all priests, inasmuch as they live in a priestly manner. But he who against almighty God, through the swelling of vainglory, and against the statutes of the Fathers, raises his neck—I trust in the almighty Lord that He will not bend mine to him, not even with swords.
But what was lately done in this city upon the hearing of this title, I have more subtly indicated to Sabinianus, my deacon and responsalis. (Register, book v, letter 20.) 54. Likewise to John, bishop of Constantinople: At the time when your Fraternity was advanced to the priestly honor, you recollect what peace and concord of the churches you found: but with what boldness, or with what swelling, I know not, you have attempted to seize for yourself a new name, whence the hearts of all the brethren might have come to scandal. In which matter I greatly marvel, since I remember that, in order that you might not come to the episcopate, you wished to flee it; and yet, having obtained it, you desire so to exercise it as though you had rushed to it with ambitious longing.
For you, who confessed yourself unworthy to be called bishop, have at length been brought to this, that, despising the brethren, you crave to be called bishop alone. And a little after: For truly, weeping, I say, and out of the inmost grief of my bowels I reckon it to my sins, that that brother of mine has not until now been able to be brought back to humility—he who was established in the degree of the episcopate to this end, that he might bring back the souls of others to humility: which he who teaches others the truth has not consented to teach himself, nor even at my entreaty. Likewise after some things:
Who, I ask, in this so perverse a title, is set forth for imitation, save he who, despising the legions of angels socially established with him, attempted to burst forth to the summit of singularity, so that he might seem to be subject to none, and alone to preside over all? Who also said: I will ascend into heaven, above the stars of heaven will I exalt my throne, I will sit upon the mount of the testament, on the sides of the North; I will ascend above the height of the clouds, I will be like the Most High (Isaiah xiv, 13). For what are all thy brethren, the bishops of the universal Church, but the stars of heaven, whose life and tongue together shine amid the sins and errors of men as amid the darkness of night?
While you desire to set yourself above them by an exalted title, and to trample their name by comparison with your own, what else do you say but: I will ascend into heaven, above the stars of heaven will I exalt my throne? Are not all bishops clouds, who both rain down words of preaching and shine with the light of good works? While your Fraternity, despising them, attempts to press them beneath yourself, what else do you say but that which is said by the ancient enemy: I will ascend above the height of the clouds? When I behold all these things weeping, and dread the hidden judgments of God, my tears are multiplied, and the groans do not find room in my heart:
that that most holy man, the lord John, of such great abstinence and humility, has by the seduction of familiar tongues burst forth into such great pride, that in the craving of a perverse name he strives to become like him who, while he proudly wished to be like God, lost even the grace of the likeness bestowed on him, and therefore lost true blessedness, because he sought a false glory. Certainly Peter, prince of the apostles, is a member of the holy and universal Church; Paul, Andrew, John—what else are they than heads of individual peoples? And yet under one Head all are members of the Church.
And, that I may bind together all things in a brief cincture of speech: the saints before the Law, the saints under the Law, the saints under grace, all these, making perfect the body of the Lord, are constituted among the members of the Church, and no one ever wished to be called universal. Let your Holiness therefore acknowledge how greatly you swell within, you who crave to be called by that name by which no one who was truly holy presumed to be called. Likewise after a little: Certainly of old it is cried out by the apostle: Little children, it is the last hour (1 John ii, 18). And according to what the Truth foretold, pestilence and the sword rage through the world; nations rise up against nations; the globe of the earth is shaken, and with its inhabitants the earth is swallowed up as the ground gapes open;
all the things that were foretold come to pass (Luke xxi). The king of pride is near, and—what it is unlawful to say—an army of priests is prepared for him: because those who had been set for this end, that they might furnish the leadership of humility, now do military service for the neck (arrogance) of elation. But in this matter, even if our tongue by no means contradicts, His power is raised against elation, who by Himself in a special manner opposes the vice of pride. And below: It behooves you to consider, lest any root of bitterness springing up above should hinder, and through it many be defiled: which, however, if we neglect to consider, against the swelling of so great an elation the judgments from above will keep watch. (Register, book v, letter 19.) Likewise to the same in another letter, after many things:
But even now I say: either receive those same persons (namely John of Chalcedon and Athanasius, presbyters of Isauria) into their orders, and grant them rest; or if perhaps you are unwilling to do this, then, all altercation being set aside, keep in their case the statutes of the elders or the bounds of the canons. But if you do neither, we indeed do not wish to bring on strife, yet we do not shun it when it comes from you. But what the canons say concerning bishops who wish to be feared by blows, your Fraternity well knows. For we have been made shepherds, not smiters. And the excellent preacher says: Reprove, entreat, rebuke, with all patience and doctrine.
But new and unheard-of is that preaching which exacts faith by blows. (Book ii, letter 53.) 55. Likewise to Sabinianus, deacon of Constantinople: Concerning the cause of our brother, the most reverend man John, bishop of Constantinople, I was unwilling to make two letters: but one has been briefly made, which seems to have both admixed, that is, both rectitude and blandishment. Let your Charity therefore take care to give him that letter which I have now sent, on account of the emperor's will. For concerning what follows, another such letter shall be transmitted, in which his pride may not rejoice.
For to this point he has gone, that under the occasion of the presbyter John he transmitted hither certain acts, in which he named himself ecumenical patriarch through almost every line. But I hope in the almighty God that the majesty from above will dissolve his hypocrisy. But I marvel that he was able to deceive your Charity, so that you permitted the lord emperor to be persuaded to transmit to me his writings concerning this cause of his, in which he might admonish me that I ought to have peace with him (who, if he wishes to hold justice, ought rather to have admonished him to restrain himself from the proud title), and that peace might forthwith be made between us. Yet with what craftiness this was contrived by our aforesaid brother John, as I suspect, you by no means weighed.