Resultados25 letters/passages
gregory_great · c. 592 · score 0.02
Book III, Letter 30 To John, Subdeacon [Gregory's representative]. Gregory to John. Since it is clear that the Apostolic See [the papacy], by God's ordering, is set over all churches, there is among our many responsibilities none we take more seriously than ensuring the proper governance of the churches that look to us …
gregory_great · c. 591 · score 0.02
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. 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
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. 599 · score 0.02
Gregory to John, Bishop of Syracuse. I have received Your Fraternity's letter informing me that the most eloquent Martin has arrived from the African province and shared certain information with you privately. Your Fraternity, as always, never misses an opportunity to demonstrate your devotion to the blessed apostle Pe …
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. 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. 594 · score 0.01
… of that abominable title of pride, and he forbade his archdeacon -- sent to the imperial court according to custom -- from celebrating Mass with you. After Pelagius's death, when I, unworthy as I am, succeeded to the governance of the Church, I addressed your Fraternity through my representatives and through our mutual …
gregory_great · c. 595 · score 0.01
Gregory to John, Bishop of Syracuse. Moved by the goodwill of the Apostolic See and by long-established custom, I have decided to grant your Brotherhood -- who is now known to have received the office of leadership in the Church of Syracuse -- the use of the pallium, at such times and in such manner as it was used with …
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 …
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 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. 592 · score 0.01
Gregory to John, Bishop of Ravenna. Not long ago, certain reports reached us about your Fraternity, and we made our views fully known when our notary Castorius traveled to your region. We had heard that certain things were being done in your church contrary to established custom and to the way of humility — which, as y …
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. 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. 592 · score 0.01
Book III, Letter 6 To John, Bishop of Prima Justiniana [Gregory's vicar in Illyricum, the western Balkans]. Gregory to John, Bishop of Prima Justiniana. After the long sufferings that Adrian, bishop of the city of Thebes [in Greece], has endured from his fellow clergy -- as though his misfortunes were not already heavy …
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. 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. 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. 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. 590 · score 0.01
When I try to examine these requirements one by one, I feel the weight of every single one. [Gregory here summarizes passages from his own Pastoral Rule on the duties of a bishop — covering the need for purity of thought, leadership by example, wisdom about when to speak and when to stay silent, and the delicate balanc …
gregory_great · c. 590 · score 0.01
Book I, Letter 25 To John, Bishop of Constantinople, and the Other Patriarchs [the five senior bishops of the Christian world]. Gregory to John of Constantinople, Eulogius of Alexandria, Gregory of Antioch, John of Jerusalem, and Anastasius, ex-Patriarch of Antioch. An identical letter to each. When I reflect on how I …
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. 590 · score 0.01
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. 594 · score 0.01
Gregory to John, Bishop of the Corinthians. Now that our God, from whom nothing is hidden, has been pleased to cast out an atrocious plague of corruption from the governance of His Church and advance you to lead it, you must take anxious care that the Lord's flock -- after the wounds and evils inflicted by its former s …