Resultados25 letters/passages
gregory_great · c. 600 · score 0.02
Gregory to Maximus, Bishop of Salona. When our mutual friend the priest Veteranus arrived in Rome, he found me so weakened by gout that I could not personally answer your Fraternity's letters. Regarding the Slavic nation [the Slavs, who were pressing into the Balkans and threatening the Dalmatian coast], from which you …
gregory_great · c. 594 · score 0.02
Whatever it was my duty to do in humility, I have not neglected. But if I am disregarded in my reproof, I will have no choice but to bring the matter before the Church. May Almighty God show you, brother, how great a love for you constrains me in saying these things, and how deeply I grieve in this matter -- not agains …
gregory_great · c. 592 · score 0.02
Book III, Letter 29 To the Priests and Clergy of Milan [one of the most important cities in northern Italy, close to Lombard-controlled territory]. Gregory to the priests, deacons, and clergy of the church of Milan. We have received your letter, which, though it speaks of your sufferings and difficulties, also reveals …
gregory_great · c. 594 · score 0.02
Before him, pagan rulers who knew nothing of the true God but worshipped idols of wood and stone still paid the highest respect to their priests. How much more fitting, then, that a Christian emperor should honor the priests of the true God, when pagan rulers knew how to honor priests who served gods of wood and stone? …
gregory_great · c. 603 · score 0.02
Gregory to Phocas Augustus. It gives us joy to consider, with rejoicing and deep thanksgiving, what praises we owe Almighty God now that the yoke of sorrow has been lifted and we have come to times of freedom under the imperial authority of Your Benign Piety. That Your Serenity has not found a deacon of the Apostolic S …
gregory_great · c. 593 · score 0.02
Gregory to Victor and Columbus, Bishops of Africa. We know from our own experience in this life how a disease, if neglected at its onset, gains strength. If it were met by skilled physicians at the start, it would be stopped before the far greater harm that comes from attending to it too late. Reason compels us, then, …
gregory_great · c. 595 · score 0.01
As for what we ourselves are suffering from the swords of the Lombards in the daily plundering, wounding, and killing of our citizens — we prefer not to speak of it, lest in recounting our own sorrows we should only add to yours through the sympathy you bear toward us. Furthermore, a short while ago we sent to Sabinian …
gregory_great · c. 590 · score 0.01
Book I, Letter 43 To Leander, Bishop of Hispalis [Seville, in Visigothic Spain; Leander was Gregory's close friend from their time together in Constantinople]. Gregory to Leander. I would have liked to reply to your letters with my full attention, but I am so worn down by the labor of pastoral responsibility that I am …
gregory_great · c. 601 · score 0.01
Gregory to Barbara and Antonina. Most beloved daughters, I received your Glory's letter -- written more in tears than in words -- and I am touched by no less sorrow than you feel for your father's illness. The law of charity makes your sadness my own. But even in the direst circumstances, we must not lose trust in the …
gregory_great · c. 591 · score 0.01
Book II, Letter 42 To John, Bishop of Ravenna [the second most important city in Italy, seat of the imperial Exarch]. Gregory to John. The very fact that I write less often than I should shows how overwhelmed I am by the burdens of this place. But let Your Fraternity take the will for the deed, since what I cannot expr …
gregory_great · c. 594 · score 0.01
Was it not the case -- as you well know -- that the prelates of this Apostolic See, which by God's providence I now serve, were offered the title of "universal" by the venerable Council of Chalcedon? Yet not one of them ever accepted it or claimed this ill-advised name, lest by seizing the glory of singularity by virtu …
gregory_great · c. 594 · score 0.01
On my own account I was not at all disturbed. My conscience bears me witness: I was prepared to endure any hardship, so long as I emerged from it all with my soul intact. But I have grieved deeply for the distinguished men Gregory the prefect and Castorius the military commander, who neglected nothing that could be don …
gregory_great · c. 594 · score 0.01
All that was foretold has come to pass. The king of pride draws near, and -- terrible to say -- an army of priests is being marshaled for him, since those appointed as leaders in humility have enlisted under the banner of pride. But in this matter, even if I said nothing at all, the power of Him who personally and uniq …
gregory_great · c. 596 · score 0.01
Take heed therefore, and quickly wipe away the ground of offense from your heart, so that Almighty God may be able to receive the sacrifice of your offering as acceptable. Furthermore, while you have truly and accurately professed the right faith, we find that among those whom you have held to be condemned by the most …
gregory_great · c. 590 · score 0.01
Your description of his character in your letter has made me love him, though I have never met him. But since you know the tricks of the ancient enemy [the devil], who wages fiercer war against those who have conquered him, watch over Reccared all the more carefully. May he follow through on what he has well begun, nev …
gregory_great · c. 591 · score 0.01
Book II, Letter 41 To Leander, Bishop of Seville [Gregory's close friend in Visigothic Spain]. Gregory to Leander. The bearers of this letter, returning to Spain, have given me a welcome opportunity to write to you. Though I am heavily burdened with the weight of my pastoral duties and frequently crushed by the concern …
gregory_great · c. 591 · score 0.01
Book II, Letter 48 To Columbus, Bishop [a bishop in Numidia, North Africa]. Gregory to Columbus. It is well known, most dear brother in Christ, that the ancient enemy [the devil], who by cunning persuasion deposed the first man from paradise, never ceases to sow discord among the faithful. When he cannot destroy faith …
gregory_great · c. 590 · score 0.01
Book I, Letter 36 To Peter the Subdeacon [Gregory's delegate in Sicily]. Gregory, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to Peter the Subdeacon. The instructions I gave you when you departed for Sicily must be studied carefully. The greatest attention must be paid to ensuring that bishops do not involve themselves in …
gregory_great · c. 590 · score 0.01
Gregory to Paul, Scholasticus. When outsiders congratulate me on the dignity of my office, I pay it little mind. But when you do the same, it genuinely pains me -- because you know what I truly wanted, and yet you treat this as a promotion. The real promotion for me would have been achieving what I longed for: the peac …
gregory_great · c. 599 · score 0.01
Gregory to Januarius, Bishop of Cagliari. I knew before your Brotherhood's letter reached me what our enemies had accomplished in Sardinia. Having long feared this would happen, I now grieve with you over what I foresaw coming to pass. Had attention been paid to what I wrote both to our most excellent son Gennadius and …
gregory_great · c. 596 · score 0.01
These things having been ordained and granted by us, study in the governing of your community to show yourself so earnest and attentive in all respects that the malice of the evil one may find nothing there that can be corrupted. All these provisions, set out in this document of injunctions, we decree to be observed, u …
gregory_great · c. 604 · score 0.01
Gregory to Queen Theodelinda of the Lombards. The letters you sent us from Genoa have made us share in your joy. By the favor of Almighty God, a son has been given to you -- and, as is greatly to your Excellency's credit, he has been received into the fellowship of the Catholic faith [through baptism]. Nothing less was …
gregory_great · c. 594 · score 0.01
If the captivity of my land were not growing worse by the day, I would gladly pass over in silence the contempt and ridicule directed at me. But what afflicts me deeply is that my being branded a liar means Italy is dragged further under the Lombard yoke daily. While my reports go unbelieved, the enemy's strength grows …
gregory_great · c. 590 · score 0.01
Book I, Letter 44 To Peter, Subdeacon of Sicily. Gregory to Peter, etc. With regard to our having so long delayed sending off your messenger, we have been so occupied with the engagements of the Paschal festival that we have been unable to let him go sooner. But, with regard to the questions on which you have desired i …
gregory_great · c. 601 · score 0.01
Gregory to Brunichild, Queen of the Franks. Since it is written, "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin makes peoples miserable," a kingdom is believed to be stable only when a known fault is quickly corrected. Reports from many sources have reached me -- and I cannot mention them without deep anguish of heart -- that …