Quote from Letter 4,44 to Rusticiana, patrician. August 594.
On receiving your Excellency's letter, I was glad to hear how you had reached Mount Sinai. Believe me, I too should have gone with you, but by no means to have returned with you. And yet, it is extremely difficult for me to believe that you have visited holy places, and have seen many Fathers. For, I believe that if you had seen them, you could not have returned to the city of Constantinopel so quickly. Rather, as the love of such a fine city by no means left your heart, I suspect that your Excellency paid little attention in your heart to the sacred things that you experienced with your body.
But, may almighty God illuminate your mind with the grace of his piety, and grant you wisdom, and let you know how transient all temporal things are For, while we are saying this, time flies and the Judge is approaching.
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I:322
Showing posts with label grace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label grace. Show all posts
Tuesday, 6 March 2012
Monday, 16 January 2012
Church of Saint Agatha
Letter 4,19 - to Leo, acolyte. March 594
(Thus) the church of Saint Agatha, situated in Subura, that was once a cave of heretical depravity, has been brought back to the worship of the Catholic faith, by the grace of God. For that reason, armed with the direction of this authority, continue to collect each year the taxes on all the houses built in this city that the aforesaid church is agreed to have hand in the time of the Goths.
However much is necessary for repairing buildings or for lamps, and for other restoration of that church, you must be keen to pay in full. But whatever might be left over, we order you to credit it honestly to the Church accounts.
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 301
(Thus) the church of Saint Agatha, situated in Subura, that was once a cave of heretical depravity, has been brought back to the worship of the Catholic faith, by the grace of God. For that reason, armed with the direction of this authority, continue to collect each year the taxes on all the houses built in this city that the aforesaid church is agreed to have hand in the time of the Goths.
However much is necessary for repairing buildings or for lamps, and for other restoration of that church, you must be keen to pay in full. But whatever might be left over, we order you to credit it honestly to the Church accounts.
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 301
Tuesday, 16 August 2011
Wisdom Of Life
Letter 3,51 - to Priscus, patrician of the East. July 593
"But as a traveler walks now over level ground, and now over uneven ground, so certainly do we, while we remain in this life, now meet prosperity and now adversity, and finally they succeed one another in alternate periods of time, and with each in succession they become confused.
And so, while the rule of mutability corrupts everything in this world, we should neither be lifted up by prosperity nor broken by adversity. And so it suits us to strive with all our mind to reach that world, where whatever is firm endures and where prosperity is not altered by adversity.
There fore in this life it is arranged by the wonderful direction of almighty God that either adversity follows prosperity or prosperity follows adversity. For, when humiliated, we must learn whatever fault we have committed. And again, when exalted, we must retain in our mind the memory of adversity, as if an anchor of humility.
This therefore should be considered not as the anger of our Creator, but as his grace, through which we learn that the more humbly we hold on to his gifts, the more truly we preserve them."
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 269.
"But as a traveler walks now over level ground, and now over uneven ground, so certainly do we, while we remain in this life, now meet prosperity and now adversity, and finally they succeed one another in alternate periods of time, and with each in succession they become confused.
And so, while the rule of mutability corrupts everything in this world, we should neither be lifted up by prosperity nor broken by adversity. And so it suits us to strive with all our mind to reach that world, where whatever is firm endures and where prosperity is not altered by adversity.
There fore in this life it is arranged by the wonderful direction of almighty God that either adversity follows prosperity or prosperity follows adversity. For, when humiliated, we must learn whatever fault we have committed. And again, when exalted, we must retain in our mind the memory of adversity, as if an anchor of humility.
This therefore should be considered not as the anger of our Creator, but as his grace, through which we learn that the more humbly we hold on to his gifts, the more truly we preserve them."
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 269.
Thursday, 28 July 2011
Justice Must Be
Letter 3,37 - to Libertinus, praetor of Sicily. May 593
"But he [the Jew Nasas] is said to have both purchased Christian slaves, and allotted them to his own service and advantage. While he ought therefore to have been punished most severely for such great crimes, the glorious Justin, besmeared with the balm of avarice, as we have been informed, putt off punishing this injury to God.
But let your Glory inquire into all of this with a strict examination, and if you find that there is proof of this sort of crime, you must quickly inflict on this same wicked Jew so strict a corporal punishment, that you may obtain the grace of our God for yourself in this case.
Thus, by these examples you may show yourself to be worthy of imitation by future generations, for the reward you receive. But give their freedom of any of those Christian slaves clearly bought by him, as the law requires, without any ambiguity, so that the Christian religion is not polluted (Heaven forbid!) in subjection to Jews, Therefore correct everything so very carefully and hastily that we may not only give thanks to you for this discipline, but also provide a proof of your goodness wherever it should be necessary."
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 260.
"But he [the Jew Nasas] is said to have both purchased Christian slaves, and allotted them to his own service and advantage. While he ought therefore to have been punished most severely for such great crimes, the glorious Justin, besmeared with the balm of avarice, as we have been informed, putt off punishing this injury to God.
But let your Glory inquire into all of this with a strict examination, and if you find that there is proof of this sort of crime, you must quickly inflict on this same wicked Jew so strict a corporal punishment, that you may obtain the grace of our God for yourself in this case.
Thus, by these examples you may show yourself to be worthy of imitation by future generations, for the reward you receive. But give their freedom of any of those Christian slaves clearly bought by him, as the law requires, without any ambiguity, so that the Christian religion is not polluted (Heaven forbid!) in subjection to Jews, Therefore correct everything so very carefully and hastily that we may not only give thanks to you for this discipline, but also provide a proof of your goodness wherever it should be necessary."
Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 260.
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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
