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.

Serious Matters And A Touch Of Irony

Letter 2,50 - to Peter, sub-deacon of Sicily, about various cases. July-August 592.

"But when you come, bring with you the money and jewels from the inheritance of Antoninus. Also bring with them any rents obtained by you from the ninth and tenth indictions, and all the accounts. Make an effort to cross the sea, if it pleases God, before the nativity of Saint Cyprian, in case some danger might eventuate (Heaven forbid!) from the sigh that is always a threat at that time.
Besides this, you should know that I severely rebukes Pretiosus, a monk, over a slight fault, and I sent him from my presence, a sad and embittered man. As a result, I am deeply distressed in my thoughts. And I wrote to the lord bishop, that he should send him back to me, if he were willing. But he was not at all willing. I neither should nor can upset the bishop, for occupied as he is in the service of God, he should be supported with words of comfort, and not criticized with bitterness. In fact the same Pretiosus, from what I hear, is extremely sad, because he is not returning to me. But as I have said, I cannot upset the lord bishop, who does not want to send him away, and I remain undecided between the two of them. You therefore, if you have a greater amount of wisdom in your poor old body than I have in mine, arrange this same case in such a way that my wish is realized, and the lord bishop is not upset."

Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 229.

Stand By Your Calling

Letter 2,26 - to Stephen, our recorder for Sicily, on the restoration of monks. 19 May 592.

"And so it has been suggested to us by the abbot of the monastery of Saint George, which is situated in the domain called Maratodis, that two monks have taken refuge there, and one of them has in fact already taken a wife from the locals, while the other lives a secular life, having become a layman.
They themselves assert that they are not from slaves of the domain, but are free men. But even if they have been tied to their situation, it was contrary to God that after receiving the sacrament of the divine office, they should go back to their secular life and clothing.
For that reason I encourage you to take consideration of the eternal judge, and make the monks hand themselves over without delay, so that the strictness of the other monasteries is not weakened by their example, with you at fault (God forbid!). But rather, with the support of your Greatness, let the hope of doing such things be removed from all other monks."

Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 208.

Considering Divine Judgement

Letter 1,33 - to Venantius, patrician ex-monk. February 591.

"You know that divine judgement will condemn us for idle talk, and will examine our reason for useless words with great care. Consider therefore what this judgement will do concerning a perverse deed, if it will condemn some in its court for their words.
Ananias had solemnly promised to give money to God, but afterwards he withdrew it,overcome by the persuasion of the Devil. But you know with what death he was punished.
If therefore he who withdrew from God the money he had given deserved the danger of death, consider how great the danger you will deserve before the divine tribunal, you who have withdrawn from almighty God not money, but yourself, after devoting yourself to Him in you monk's habit."

Cited from: The Letters of Gregory the Great, trans. John R.C. Martyn (Toronto: PIMS, 2004), I: 152.