Letter 1,6 - to Narses. October 590.
"As you describe the heights of contemplation, you have made me lament my ruin once again. For I heard what I had lost internally, while I was ascending to the highest command, externally and undeservedly. But realize that I am struck by so much grief that I am scarcely able to speak. For the eyes of my mind are blocked off by the shadows of my grief. Whatever I look at is gloomy, whatever I think is delightful appears lamentable to my heart. For I weigh carefully, falling from the high summit of my repose, to what a low peak of external advancement I have risen. And sent, for my sins, into an occupational exile from the face of the Lord, I say with the prophet in his words, as at the destruction of Judeae: 'He who comforted me has withdrawn far from me' (Lam 1:16)."
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 124.
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