Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series • VOLUME 12
Leo the Great & Gregory the Great
SECTION 281
Epistle LX.
Epistle LX. To Eulogius, Bishop. Gregory to Eulogius, Bishop of Alexandria. Charity, the mother and guardian of all that is good, which binds together in union the hearts of many, regards not as absent him whom it has present in the mind's eye. Since then, dearest brother, we are held together by the root of charity, neither …
720 wordsSECTION 282[1676] Cf. VII. 40; IX. 78.
[1676] Cf. VII. 40; IX. 78. Epistle LXI. To Castorius, Notary [1677] . Gregory to Castorius, &c. The magnificent lord Andreas presses me continually about restoring the use of the pallium in the Church of Ravenna according to ancient custom. And thou knowest that the bishop John wrote to me that it had been the custom for th…
1,063 wordsSECTION 283Epistle LXV.
Epistle LXV. To Mauricius, Emperor. Gregory to Mauricius Augustus. Amidst the cares of warfare and innumerable anxieties which you sustain in your unwearied zeal for the government of the Christian republic, it is a great cause of joy to me along with the whole world that your Piety ever watches over custody of the faith wher…
1,149 wordsSECTION 284Book VII.
Book VII. Epistle II. To Columbus, Bishop. Gregory to Columbus, Bishop of Numidia [1683] . We received at the hands of the bearer, your deacon, the epistle of your Fraternity, in which you informed us of what had been done among you with regard to the person of the bishop Paul. This has been done so late that he could not no…
2,466 wordsSECTION 285Epistle V.
Furthermore, while you have truly and accurately professed the right faith, we find that among those whom you have held to be condemned by the most holy general synods you have condemned a certain Eudoxius; whose name we have not found mentioned in the Latin language either in synods or in the books of the bishops of blessed mem…
972 wordsSECTION 286Epistle VI.
Epistle VI. To Mauricius Augustus. Gregory to Mauricius Augustus. Almighty God, who has made your Piety to be the guardian of ecclesiastical peace, preserves you by the same faith which, through unity among priests, you preserve; and when you submit your heart humbly to the yoke of heavenly loving-kindness, it is brought to p…
1,597 wordsSECTION 287Epistle XI.
Epistle XI. To Rufinus, Bishop of Ephesus. Gregory to Rufinus, &c. The charity of your acts of friendship in the past has moved us to visit your Fraternity with the present letter. For we have been refreshed with great joy by learning from reports given us of your health that all is well with you. But, while this is so, we im…
751 wordsSECTION 288Epistle XIII.
Epistle XIII. To Fortunatus, Bishop. Gregory to Fortunatus, Bishop of Fanum [1692] . As it is reprehensible and deserving of punishment for any one to sell consecrated vessels except in cases sanctioned by law and the sacred canons, so it is not a matter for reproach or penalty if they should be disposed of with a compassiona…
873 wordsSECTION 289Epistle XVII.
Epistle XVII. To Sabinianus, Bishop. Gregory to Sabinianus, Bishop of Jadera [1693] . If thou hadst been at pains to weigh with careful consideration the rule of ecclesiastical administration and the order of ancient custom, neither would any fault of unlawful presumption have crept in upon thee, nor would others have incurre…
954 wordsSECTION 290Epistle XX.
Epistle XX. To the Clergy and People Ariminum [1698] . Gregory to the Clergy, &c. Our pastoral charge constrains us to succour with anxious consideration any Churches that are deprived of the government of a priest. Accordingly, inasmuch as your Church has long been deprived of pastoral rule from the malady, as you know, of i…
1,461 wordsSECTION 291Epistle XXVI.
Epistle XXVI. To Theoctista, Patrician [1704] Gregory to Theoctista, &c. That your Excellency, though placed in so great a tumult of affairs, is full of the fruitfulness of the sacred word, and incessantly pants after eternal joys, for this I give great thanks to Almighty God, in that in you I see fulfilled what is written of…
1,795 wordsSECTION 292Epistle XXVII.
Epistle XXVII. To Anastasius, Bishop. Gregory to Anastasius, Bishop of Antioch. I have received through the hands of our common son the deacon Sabinianus the longed for letter of your most sweet Holiness, in which the words have flowed not from your tongue but from your soul. And it is not surprising that one speaks well who …
1,076 wordsSECTION 293Epistle XXX.
Epistle XXX. To Narses, the Religious (Narsæ Relegioso) [1710] . Gregory to Narses, &c. When I was sending Romanus the guardian (defensorem) to the royal city, he sought long your letters, but they could not be found: but afterwards they were found among many letters from other persons, your Sweetness, therein telling me of y…
1,322 wordsSECTION 294Epistle XXXI.
Epistle XXXI. To Cyriacus, Bishop. Gregory to Cyriacus, Bishop of Constantinople. We have received the letters of your Blessedness, which speak to us in words not of the tongue but of the soul. For they open to me your mind, which, however, was not closed to me, since of myself I retain experience of the same sweetness. Where…
1,334 wordsSECTION 295Epistle XXXIII.
Epistle XXXIII. To Mauricius Augustus. Gregory to Mauricius Augustus. The provident piety of my lords, lest perchance any scandal might be engendered in the unity of Holy Church by the dissension of priests, has once and again deigned to admonish me to receive kindly the representatives of my brother and fellow-priest Cyriacu…
700 wordsSECTION 296Epistle XXXIV.
Epistle XXXIV. To Eulogius, Bishop. Gregory to Eulogius, Bishop of Alexandria, and Anastasius, Bishop of Antioch [1717] . The charity wherewith I am greatly bound to you allows me by no means to keep silence, that your Holiness may know all that is going on among us, and, deceived by no false rumours, may keep more perfectly …
1,351 wordsSECTION 297Epistle XXXV.
Epistle XXXV. To Dominicus, Bishop. Gregory to Dominicus, Bishop of Carthage. Though we believe that thy Fraternity gives attention with pastoral vigilance to the care of monasteries, yet we think it necessary to inform you of what we have learnt about a monastery in the African province. Now the abbot Cumquodeus, the bearer …
772 wordsSECTION 298Epistle XL.
Epistle XL. To Eulogius, Bishop. Gregory to Eulogius, Bishop of Alexandria. Your most sweet Holiness has spoken much in your letter to me about the chair of Saint Peter, Prince of the apostles, saying that he himself now sits on it in the persons of his successors. And indeed I acknowledge myself to be unworthy, not only in t…
888 wordsSECTION 299Epistle XLII.
Epistle XLII. To Marinianus, Bishop. Gregory to Marinianus, Bishop of Ravenna. We find from the information given in your Fraternity's letter that the sons of the Church of Cornelium are continually supplicating you to consecrate a bishop for them in place of their former bishop who has lapsed, and that you are in doubt as to…
1,077 wordsSECTION 300Epistle II.
Epistle II. To Anastasius, Bishop of Antioch. Gregory to Anastasius, Patriarch of Antioch. I have received the letters of your most sweet Blessedness, which flowed with tears for words. For I saw in them a cloud flying aloft as clouds do; but, though it carried with it a darkness of sorrow, I could not easily discover at its …
1,185 wordsSECTION 301Epistle III.
Epistle III. To Donus, Bishop of Messana (in Sicily). Gregory to Donus, &c. The most eloquent man, our son Faustinus, has come to us and complained that his late father Peltrasius left some things which were not his own to your Church for his burial. And indeed he knows himself, and we have heard, what the secular law is in s…
816 wordsSECTION 302Epistle VI.
Epistle VI. To Amos, Patriarch of Jerusalem. Gregory to Amos, Bishop of Jerusalem. Being confident that your Fraternity pays regard to the ordinances of the canons and the vigour of discipline, lest the falseness of one of your clerics should succeed in imposing on you so as to escape the strictness of ecclesiastical order, w…
786 wordsSECTION 303Epistle XIII.
Epistle XIII. To Columbus. Gregory to Columbus, Bishop of Numidia [1736] . How we may presume on your Charity we gather from the disposition of our own mind with regard to you. Nor do we think that you love the Apostolic See otherwise than as it loves you. Whence it must needs be that we should more peculiarly commend those w…
740 wordsSECTION 304Epistle XV.
Epistle XV. To Marinianus, Bishop of Ravenna. Gregory to Marinianus, &c. How necessary it is to provide for the quiet of monasteries [1739] , and to take measures for their perpetual security, you are aware from the office you formerly filled in government of a monastery. And so, seeing that we have learnt how the monastery o…
848 wordsSECTION 305Epistle XVII.
Epistle XVII. To Maurentius. Gregory to Maurentius, magister militum [1741] . My most beloved son, Cyprian the deacon, had pleased me much by his return to me, if his whole self had returned to me. But now that your Glory has stayed in Sicily, I know most certainly that he has returned indeed in body, but in mind has remained…
789 wordsSECTION 306Epistle XXI.
Epistle XXI. To John, Bishop of Syracuse. Gregory to John, &c. Felix, the bearer of these presents, has complained to us that, being born of Christian parents, he was given (i.e. as a slave) by a certain Christian to a Samaræan [1744] , which is an atrocious thing to be said. And, though neither order of law nor reverence for…
885 wordsSECTION 307Epistle XXIII.
Epistle XXIII. To Fantinus, Guardian (Defensorem). Gregory to Fantinus, &c. From the information of the lady abbess of the monastery of Saint Stephen in the territory of Agrigentum we find that many of the Jews, divine grace inspiring them, wish to be converted to the Christian faith; but that it is necessary for some one to …
1,189 wordsSECTION 308Epistle XXIX.
Epistle XXIX. To Eulogius, Bishop of Alexandria. Gregory to Eulogius, &c. An address from a learned man is always profitable, because the hearer either learns what he had known himself to be ignorant of, or, what is more, comes to know what he did not know he had been ignorant of. A hearer of the latter kind I have now become…
1,640 wordsSECTION 309Epistle XXXIII.
Epistle XXXIII. To Dominicus. Gregory to Dominicus, Bishop of Carthage. The letter of your Holiness, which we received at the hands of the bearer of these presents, so expressed priestly moderation as to soothe us, in a manner, with the bodily presence of its author. Nor indeed does infrequency of communication cause any harm…
1,202 wordsSECTION 310Epistle XXXV.
Epistle XXXV. To Leontius, Ex-Consul. Gregory to Leontius, &c. Since in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, and some indeed to honour but some to dishonour (2 Tim. ii. 20), who can be ignorant that in the bosom of the Universal Church some as vessels of dishonour are …
2,228 wordsSECTION 3112 Corinthians
2 Corinthians [1170]1:8-9 [1171]1:9 [1172]1:17 [1173]1:23 [1174]2:15 [1175]2:17 [1176]3:17 [1177]3:17 [1178]4:5 [1179]4:18 [1180]4:18 [1181]5:13 [1182]5:14-15 [1183]5:15 [1184]5:15 [1185]5:16 [1186]5:19 [1187]5:19 [1188]5:19 [1189]6:1 [1190]6:2 [1191]6:2 [1192]6:7 [1193]7:1 [1194]8:9 [1195]8:9 [1196]8:13-14 [1197]8:14 [1198]9:6…
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Source & rights
Historical text source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The downloaded text itself records Public Domain.