To Long For The Eternal City

Letter 3,29 - to the priests, deacons and clergy of the church of Milan. April 593

"And so I honor all of you who are chosen with my prayer that almighty God, who is always prescient of out future acts, may provide you with such a bishop in whose eloquence and morality you can find a pasture for divine exhortation. In his mind let humility shine forth with rectitude, and severity with piety, a man who may show you a path of life not only by his eloquence but also by his way of life, so that by his example your Beloved selves may learn to long for the pleasures of the eternal city.
And so, most beloved sons, be reminded of the severity of our office. In this case of electing a bishop, we persuade each of you not to look for his own profit, neglecting the common good, in case if someone seeks his personal advantage, he may be deceived by a frivolous judgement, because his mind, bound by greed, does not examine the person he should prefer with a free judgement.
So considering what is expedient for all, show the purest obedience always and in all things to him whom divine grave has placed in charge of you. For a bishop once elected ought not to be judged by you any further. But he should be judged with as much subtlety now as afterwards he should not be judged at all. Commit yourselves with all your mind to the consecrated bishop, with God's authority, and thereby serve the almighty Lord, who has placed this man over you."

Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 254.