Prayers, No Bribes

Letter 1,64 - to Felix, bishop of Messina. July 591.

"And for the rest, we are opposed to your being obliged to send anything extra to us. And since we are not pleased by presents, the palm-embroided roes which your Fraternity sent we have received with due thanks, but we have sold them at a good price and have sent the proceeds to your Fraternity as a single payment, so that you cannot suffer any loss therefrom.
But since w have learnt that your Charity wishes to come to us, we warn you with this letter that you should not take on the trials of the journey.
But pray for us, that the more the distance of the journey separates us, the more we are joined together in our minds with mutual love, with Christ's assistance, so that, by helping each other with an exchange of prayers, we may return the office undertaken by us to our coming Judge in a blameless condition."

Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 181.