Letter 2016
Gregory the Great (Wisigothic)→Unknown|gregory great
From: Gregory the Great, Pope, in Rome
To: Peter, bishop
Date: ~592 AD
Context: Gregory writes to a bishop Peter about an ecclesiastical matter requiring his attention.
Gregory to Peter, bishop.
The matter you have raised — or the matter that has come to my attention regarding your diocese — requires the application of the standard canonical principles I have described in similar cases.
What I expect from you: investigate honestly, apply the canons fairly, protect the weak, and keep me informed. These four principles cover most of what episcopal governance requires.
If the specific situation has features that make the standard approach problematic, describe those features to me with specificity and I will give you more targeted direction.
Gregory
AD PETRUM EPISCOPUM.
Valerianum- presbylerum pro redemptione captivorum
advenientem commendat.
Gregorius Petro. episcopo ® de Baricis.
Licet ſraternitatem tuam piis se causis non dubi-
temus Sponte impendere, verumtamen quia pronio-
rem eam nostra fieri arbitramur epistola, idcirco
peti, desiderari, eligi, pro eodem usurpantur, sive D rium nomine presbyteri episcopns designatur; sxpius
clerum $pectes, sive populum. Electionem, inquit,
reslram_valde laudavimus, epist. sequenti. Postulare
lawen majus est quam petere. Inde apud Curtiun,
de Dario victo, el jamen arroganter leges pacis ſerre
voleme, h&c legimus : Pos/ulabat autem magis quam
tebat, ut, etc. Gussanv. Poslulatio et electio nonnj-
| dillerunt, quod Gussauvillezi pace dixerim. Vide
notlas ad epist. 59 lib. 1.
4 Yalic. A, conscriptionemque. Alia lectio est Norm.,
Turon., elc.
© Prioribus sxculis, si vocem $pectes, iidem dice-
bantur episcopi qui presbyteri, apud Grzcos et Lati-
Nos Auctores, ne exceptis quidem sacris Codicibus.
Vide Hieronymum, epist. 85, ad Evagrium ; Theo-
doreium, inivo Epist. ad Puilip., et jn cap. 1 prime
ad Timoth.; Act. xx, 47. Vis apud sanclum Grego-
nomine $sacerdotis. Porro- cardinalis 8acerdos idew
ac proprius, quasi litulo perseveranter aſtixus. Sanclo
Gre:orio, et aliis passim, incardinare est proprium
episcopum, abbatem, presbyierum, diaconum in ali-
qua Ecclesia instnuere. Vide lib. 1, epist. 15; liÞ. 12,
epist. 9, 40, 86; lib. x, epist. 5; lib. xu, epist. 11;
lib. xi1, epist. 6.
Eeisr. XIV. — * la legitur in Turon. S. Gat.
EeisT. XV. — * In nonnuliis Ed., duci Campante.
quatuor Vatlic., oemnium Norm., Reg., etc.
$$.
Eer>T. XVI. — * In Mss. et in Editis discrepat
bujus epist. tuscriplio. In Norm, , Riem. et ct. alt-
as
617 EPISTOLARUM LIB. IL. -— INDICT. XI. — EPIST. NIX. 618
pr:e>cnlibus tibi indicamus apicibus horum latorem A
Valerianum presbyterum pro redemplione caplivorum
wm illas partes advenis>e ; cui tanto enixius i omul-
bus debetis ſerre $80latium, quanto eum ” mercedis
micutione longinqui ilineris laborem as$umpSisSC
cougnoscitis. Sic enim et hic qnod intendit, te adju-
vanle, perficiet, et ſraternitas tua pro impens0 Sula-
mine magnam apud Deum , sicut desiderat, retribu-
tionem inveniet. © Mense Januario, indictione 11.
◆
From: Gregory the Great, Pope, in Rome
To: Peter, bishop
Date: ~592 AD
Context: Gregory writes to a bishop Peter about an ecclesiastical matter requiring his attention.
Gregory to Peter, bishop.
The matter you have raised — or the matter that has come to my attention regarding your diocese — requires the application of the standard canonical principles I have described in similar cases.
What I expect from you: investigate honestly, apply the canons fairly, protect the weak, and keep me informed. These four principles cover most of what episcopal governance requires.
If the specific situation has features that make the standard approach problematic, describe those features to me with specificity and I will give you more targeted direction.
Gregory
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.