Letter 4,20 - to Maximus, a pretender in Salona. April 594
Although other aspects of someone's life may have such merit that there is nothing that might prevent him from priestly promotions, yet the sin of bribery on its own is condemned by the most severe punishment of canon laws. And so we have learnt that, by a false or pretended command of our most pious emperor, while you were being unworthy in your way of life, you forced your way into the office of bishop, a highly venerated rank. We believed this then without any hesitation. For we are well aware of your way of life and your age, and furthermore, we are not ignorant of the mind of our most serene Lordship and emperor, knowing that he does not usually involve himself in the cases of bishops, so as not to be burdened in any way by doing us wrong.
Added to this is an unheard of sin. For even after our interdiction that was made pursuant to the excommunication of you and those consecrating you, you were led before the public by a military troop, it is said, after priests, deacons and other clergy had been killed. We can in no way call this a consecration, as men were conducting it who had been excommunicated.
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 302
Showing posts with label emperor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label emperor. Show all posts
Tuesday, 17 January 2012
Monday, 12 September 2011
Silent Diplomacy
Letter 3,64 - to Theodore, physician. August, 593
" For he [the emperor] has decreed that nobody should be allowed to become a monk who has had a public occupation (..). If our most serene Lordship did this because perhaps many soldiers were becoming monks and the army was decreasing, did almighty God subjugate the empire of Peria to him through the courage of his soldiers at all? was it not that his tears alone were heard, and by that order which our Lordship knew not, God subjected the Persian empire to his empire? It seems very harsh to me that he prohibits his soldiers from the service of God, who has provided him with everything, and who allowed him to be ruler not only of troops but of priests also.
If his intention is to save property, how were those same monasteries, which had taken in the soldiers, unable to pay off their debts, and keep the men just simply for a religious way of life?
I have suggested to the same Lordship that this greatly upsets me. But would your Glory offer my suggestion to him privately, at an opportune moment? I do not want it to be given by my emissary in public, because you who serve him as a friend can say more openly and freely what is the good of his soul."
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 285.
" For he [the emperor] has decreed that nobody should be allowed to become a monk who has had a public occupation (..). If our most serene Lordship did this because perhaps many soldiers were becoming monks and the army was decreasing, did almighty God subjugate the empire of Peria to him through the courage of his soldiers at all? was it not that his tears alone were heard, and by that order which our Lordship knew not, God subjected the Persian empire to his empire? It seems very harsh to me that he prohibits his soldiers from the service of God, who has provided him with everything, and who allowed him to be ruler not only of troops but of priests also.
If his intention is to save property, how were those same monasteries, which had taken in the soldiers, unable to pay off their debts, and keep the men just simply for a religious way of life?
I have suggested to the same Lordship that this greatly upsets me. But would your Glory offer my suggestion to him privately, at an opportune moment? I do not want it to be given by my emissary in public, because you who serve him as a friend can say more openly and freely what is the good of his soul."
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 285.
Tuesday, 6 September 2011
Protest Against A Law
Letter 3,62 - to the Emperor Maurice. August 593
"In [this new law] your Lordship's piety enacted that anyone involved in public administration should not be allowed to obtain an ecclesiastical office. I praise this greatly, knowing most clearly that one who hastens to obtain ecclesiastical offices, while giving up a secular occupation, wants to change what is secular, not relinquish it.
But I was totally amazed that in the same law it is stated that this person should not be allowed to become monk, while his accounts can be handled through a monastery, and it can be arranged also that his debts may be recovered from that place which accepts him. For, although nobody with a devout mind would have wanted to become a monk before repaying what was wrongly taken, he could also think about his own soul all the more truthfully, as he is the more lightly burdened.
In this law it has been added that no one marked on the hand should be allowed to become a monk. This regulation, I confess to my Lordship, had greatly alarmed me. For through it, the path to Heaven is closed for many men, and what has been legal up till now, is prohibited from being legal. For there are many who can lead a religious life, even in a secular condition. And there are very many who could not in any way be saved in the presence of God, unless they gave up everything.
However, as I say this to my Lordship, what am I but dust and worm? And yet because I feel that this regulation turns against God, the author of all things, I cannot be silent before my Lordship's piety for this reason, that those who seek good things are given help, that the path of Heaven is opened more widely, and that an earthly kingdom is in service to the heavenly kingdom."
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 280.
"In [this new law] your Lordship's piety enacted that anyone involved in public administration should not be allowed to obtain an ecclesiastical office. I praise this greatly, knowing most clearly that one who hastens to obtain ecclesiastical offices, while giving up a secular occupation, wants to change what is secular, not relinquish it.
But I was totally amazed that in the same law it is stated that this person should not be allowed to become monk, while his accounts can be handled through a monastery, and it can be arranged also that his debts may be recovered from that place which accepts him. For, although nobody with a devout mind would have wanted to become a monk before repaying what was wrongly taken, he could also think about his own soul all the more truthfully, as he is the more lightly burdened.
In this law it has been added that no one marked on the hand should be allowed to become a monk. This regulation, I confess to my Lordship, had greatly alarmed me. For through it, the path to Heaven is closed for many men, and what has been legal up till now, is prohibited from being legal. For there are many who can lead a religious life, even in a secular condition. And there are very many who could not in any way be saved in the presence of God, unless they gave up everything.
However, as I say this to my Lordship, what am I but dust and worm? And yet because I feel that this regulation turns against God, the author of all things, I cannot be silent before my Lordship's piety for this reason, that those who seek good things are given help, that the path of Heaven is opened more widely, and that an earthly kingdom is in service to the heavenly kingdom."
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 280.
Monday, 14 February 2011
Concerning A Diploma
Letter 2,49 - to Deacon Honoratus about honoring Venantius. September 591-August 592.
"My son Lord Venantius, one-time grandson of the patrician Opilio, has come to Saint Peter the apostle, to make this very strong petition to me, that I should have recommended his case to your Beloved. For he has no honors and seeks the diploma of ex consul, for which he has sent over thirty pounds of gold. so that it might be obtained for him.
In this matter I want your Beloved to take very special care, because he is such a man that an honor is owed to him even without a payment.
And because as I have said he was prepared to purchase the same diploma, it is not all that necessary that should say anything to our most serene emperor. But let your Beloved act more on your own, so that he deserves to receive honors, after offering the usual payments to the treasury."
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 228.
"My son Lord Venantius, one-time grandson of the patrician Opilio, has come to Saint Peter the apostle, to make this very strong petition to me, that I should have recommended his case to your Beloved. For he has no honors and seeks the diploma of ex consul, for which he has sent over thirty pounds of gold. so that it might be obtained for him.
In this matter I want your Beloved to take very special care, because he is such a man that an honor is owed to him even without a payment.
And because as I have said he was prepared to purchase the same diploma, it is not all that necessary that should say anything to our most serene emperor. But let your Beloved act more on your own, so that he deserves to receive honors, after offering the usual payments to the treasury."
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 228.
Saturday, 14 August 2010
In All Fairness
Letter 1,47 to Deacon Honaratus. June 591.
"The glorious military commander Theodore, who is known to have taken on the dukedom of the island of Sardinia, is carrying out many things there contrary to the orders of his most holy emperor (...). For this reason we want you to inform our most holy emperor at an appropriate time about what the provincials of the aforesaid island justly and properly demand.
For already in the seventh indiction, an imperial decree addressed to the glorious gentleman Edantius, then duke of Sardinia, had arrived ordering all the troublesome sections to be removed, so that its orders, proceeding from the generosity of His Holiness, might be obeyed, unchanged by any dukes who happened to be in charge at the time, and so that their reward should nog be dissipated by costs of administration.
Thus they will pass a quiet life under the merciful command of their emperor, and at the arrival of the eternal judge, they will receive, with increased recompense, the consideration peacefully bestowed by them upon their own subjects."
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 172.
"The glorious military commander Theodore, who is known to have taken on the dukedom of the island of Sardinia, is carrying out many things there contrary to the orders of his most holy emperor (...). For this reason we want you to inform our most holy emperor at an appropriate time about what the provincials of the aforesaid island justly and properly demand.
For already in the seventh indiction, an imperial decree addressed to the glorious gentleman Edantius, then duke of Sardinia, had arrived ordering all the troublesome sections to be removed, so that its orders, proceeding from the generosity of His Holiness, might be obeyed, unchanged by any dukes who happened to be in charge at the time, and so that their reward should nog be dissipated by costs of administration.
Thus they will pass a quiet life under the merciful command of their emperor, and at the arrival of the eternal judge, they will receive, with increased recompense, the consideration peacefully bestowed by them upon their own subjects."
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 172.
Thursday, 20 May 2010
An (Allmost) Unconditional Friendship
Letter 1,22 - to George, praetorian prefect of Italy. February 591.
"The goodness of your Excellency I have always knows, and now I have renewed my knowledge of it with an added experience. Wherefore I pray to our almighty Lord to guard you with his protection, and to bestow his grace on you both in Heaven and in the palace of our most serene emperor. If no depravities of men who are among us force us apart, know with full certainty that I am your friend."
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 134.
"The goodness of your Excellency I have always knows, and now I have renewed my knowledge of it with an added experience. Wherefore I pray to our almighty Lord to guard you with his protection, and to bestow his grace on you both in Heaven and in the palace of our most serene emperor. If no depravities of men who are among us force us apart, know with full certainty that I am your friend."
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 134.
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