Resultados25 letters/passages
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. 594 · score 0.02
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 0.02
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. 591 · score 0.02
Book II, Letter 37 To Maximianus, Bishop of Syracuse [Gregory's trusted deputy in Sicily]. Gregory to Maximianus. I must write to your Fraternity about a situation that requires pastoral attention. We have learned that certain monks in the province of Sicily are wandering about without any supervision, neither observin …
gregory_great · c. 590 · score 0.02
Book I, Letter 12 To John, Bishop of Orvieto [a town in central Italy]. Gregory to John. Agapitus, abbot of the monastery of Saint George, informs us that he suffers many grievances at your hands. You have not only withheld things the monastery needs in times of hardship, but you have even prohibited the celebration of …
gregory_great · c. 591 · score 0.02
Book II, Letter 46 To Natalis, Bishop of Salona [modern Split, Croatia]. Gregory to Natalis. Many complaints have reached us about your conduct -- complaints we had hoped would cease after our repeated warnings. But since you persist in the same behavior, we are compelled to write yet again. We have learned that you co …
gregory_great · c. 602 · score 0.01
Gregory to John, Subdeacon of Ravenna. Some monks from the monastery of the late Abbot Claudius have petitioned me to appoint the monk Constantius as their abbot. I was firmly against their request, because they appeared thoroughly worldly in wanting such a worldly man to lead them. Here is what I have learned about Co …
gregory_great · c. 598 · score 0.01
Gregory to John, Bishop of Scyllacium [Squillace, in southern Italy]. It is a serious matter -- and entirely unbefitting a priest -- to try to strip a monastery of privileges it has long held, or to overturn arrangements made to ensure its peace. The monks of the Castilliensian monastery in your city have complained to …
gregory_great · c. 601 · score 0.01
Gregory to John, Bishop of Syracuse. I received your Fraternity's letter telling me of the illness of my dearest son, the lord Venantius, and giving me an account of the situation around him. When I heard simultaneously that he was desperately and gravely ill, and that unscrupulous men were already moving to seize the …
gregory_great · c. 594 · score 0.01
Gregory to John, Bishop of Ravenna. First, it saddens me that your Brotherhood writes to me with a divided heart -- showing one face in letters and quite another in casual conversation. Second, it grieves me that my brother John still indulges in the kind of sharp-tongued wit that notaries pick up as boys. He speaks wi …
gregory_great · c. 590 · score 0.01
Gregory to John, Bishop of Constantinople. If the essence of charity is love of neighbor, and we are commanded to love our neighbors as ourselves, then how is it, Your Blessedness, that you do not love me as you love yourself? I know how passionately, how anxiously, you sought to escape the burden of the episcopate -- …
gregory_great · c. 590 · score 0.01
I receive and venerate the four great Councils exactly as I do the four Gospels: The Council of Nicaea [325 AD], which overthrew the teaching of Arius [who denied that Christ is fully God]. The Council of Constantinople [381 AD], which refuted the errors of Eunomius and Macedonius [who denied the full divinity of the H …
gregory_great · c. 594 · score 0.01
Our Creator descended from the heights of his glory to give honor to the human race, and we -- created from dust -- set our faces toward heaven, pass our tongues over the earth, and feel no shame or fear at being lifted up. Even we, who are corruption, and sons of men who are worms. Let us remember, dearest brother, wh …
gregory_great · c. 591 · score 0.01
Book II, Letter 26 To John, Bishop [of Nepi, a town north of Rome]. Gregory to John. Since we have assigned our brother Bishop Paul to oversee the Neapolitan church, let Your Fraternity not hesitate to take on the oversight of the church of Nepi [a town in central Italy north of Rome]. The Easter season's requirements …
gregory_great · c. 594 · score 0.01
Guard against the wicked suggestions of evil men. Flee from every instigation to give offense. Offenses must come, to be sure, but woe to the one through whom they come. Because of this abominable title of pride, the Church is torn apart and the hearts of all the brothers are provoked to offense. Has it escaped your me …
gregory_great · c. 591 · score 0.01
Through our teaching, let the people entrusted to us learn that there is another life. Let your preaching be a welcome spur to urge them on, and your own life an example for them to follow. Your preaching should reveal to them what to love and what to fear. Above all, take careful precaution never to make any unlawful …
gregory_great · c. 601 · score 0.01
Gregory to John, Abbot of Mount Sinai. The letter of your Humility speaks to the holiness of your life, and I give great thanks to Almighty God that there are still some who pray for our sins. For we who bear the outward appearance of church leadership are tossed by the waves of this world -- waves that often overwhelm …
gregory_great · c. 594 · score 0.01
I say this with tears and deep grief in my heart, and I attribute it to my own sins that this brother of mine -- appointed to the episcopal rank for the very purpose of leading souls back to humility -- has himself proved incapable of returning to humility, and though he teaches truth to others, refuses to teach it to …
gregory_great · c. 591 · score 0.01
Book II, Letter 23 To John, Bishop of Prima Justiniana [a major city in Illyricum/the Balkans, designated by Emperor Justinian as a metropolitan see] in Illyricum. Gregory to John, Bishop of Prima Justiniana. It is clearly a powerful testament to goodness when everyone's agreement converges on one person. Since the rep …
gregory_great · c. 596 · score 0.01
Gregory to John, Bishop of Syracuse. When disputes arise between religious men, they should be settled quickly, before concern over worldly matters -- God forbid -- damages the bonds of charity between them. The abbot Caesarius of St. Peter's monastery at Baiae has informed me that a serious boundary dispute has develo …
gregory_great · c. 594 · score 0.01
Gregory to John, Bishop of Ravenna. I understand that your Brotherhood is greatly upset about being forbidden to wear the pallium during litanies. Through the most excellent Patrician, the most eminent Prefect, and other leading men of your city, you have pressed urgently to have this permission granted. Now, after car …
gregory_great · c. 592 · score 0.01
Book III, Letter 7 To John, Bishop of Larissa [a city in Greece, in the province of Illyricum]. Gregory to John, Bishop of Larissa. Our brother Adrian, bishop of the city of Thebes, has come to Rome with bitter complaints that he was condemned unlawfully -- with neither proper legal procedure observed nor adequate oppo …
gregory_great · c. 592 · score 0.01
Gregory to John, Bishop of Constantinople. Both the facts of the case and my own sense of duty compel me to write, since I have now written to my most holy brother, the Lord John, more than once and received no reply. Some secular official wrote back to me in his name. If those letters were truly his, then I have faile …
gregory_great · c. 599 · score 0.01
Gregory to John, Bishop of Syracuse. Someone arriving from Sicily told me that certain people there -- whether Greek or Latin I do not know -- are grumbling about changes I have made to the liturgy, claiming: "How can he say he is keeping the church of Constantinople in check when he follows their practices in everythi …
gregory_great · c. 594 · score 0.01
The one who said: "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of heaven; I will sit upon the mount of the testament, in the sides of the North; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High." For what are all your brother bishops of the universal Church but stars of …