Friendship

Quote from Letter 5,35 to Elias, priest and abbot of the province of Isauria. May 595

I have received the most charming letter of your Holiness, in which you satisfy me so that I should not be upset over your not coming to the abode of Saint Peter, the prince of the apostles, in accordance with my desire. In fact I wanted very much to see you. But if a difficulty over body or age stopped you from coming, this suffices for me, that wherever your Holiness should be, you should pray for me with concern that, although we are divided in body by our locations, we should never be divided in our love.

Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, translated by John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMPS, 2004), II, 346