Letter 3067: On receiving the letters of your most sweet Blessedness I greatly rejoiced, since they spoke much to me of sacred Scripture. And, finding in them the dainties that I love, I greedily devoured them. Therein also were many things intermingled about external and necessary affairs.

Gregory to Domitian, Metropolitan. Receiving the letters of your most dear Blessedness gave me great delight, for they spoke at length about sacred Scripture. Finding in them the intellectual nourishment I love, I devoured them eagerly. Interspersed among the spiritual reflections were many points about practical and necessary affairs — as though you had prepared a banquet for the mind, where the variety of dishes makes each course more enjoyable. And if the practical matters are, like common food, less flavorful in themselves, you have treated them with such skill that they go down pleasantly. Even ordinary fare becomes palatable when prepared by an accomplished cook. Now, while keeping to the truth of the historical narrative, the spiritual interpretation I offered earlier should not be dismissed. Even if — since you insist — that interpretation does not apply directly to my own situation, the reading I drew from the passage itself may still be held without hesitation. Consider: the man who violated Dinah is called "the prince of the country," and by this the devil is plainly signified, since our Redeemer Himself says, "Now shall the prince of this world be cast out." This prince also seeks her for his wife, because the evil spirit hastens to claim rightful possession of the soul he has first corrupted by hidden seduction. And so the sons of Jacob take up their swords against the entire house of Shechem and his country — because all who have zeal for God must also confront those who become accomplices of the evil spirit. They first impose circumcision on them, and then, while the men are in pain, strike them down. For severe teachers who do not know how to temper their zeal may cut away the inclination to corruption through preaching, and yet, when the offenders already mourn their wrongdoing, these teachers remain savage in applying discipline — harsher than the situation demands.

Book III, Letter 67 To Domitian, Metropolitan. Gregory to Domitian, etc. On receiving the letters of your most sweet Blessedness I greatly rejoiced, since they spoke much to me of sacred Scripture. And, finding in them the dainties that I love, I greedily devoured them. Therein also were many things intermingled about external and necessary affairs. And you have acted as though preparing a banquet for the mind so that the offered dainties might please the more from their diversity. And if indeed external affairs, like inferior and ordinary kinds of food, are less savoury, yet they have been treated by you so skilfully as to be taken gladly, since even contemptible kinds of food are usually made sweet by the sauce of one who cooks well. Now, while the truth of the History is kept to, what I had said some time ago about its divine meaning ought not to be rejected. For, although, since you will have it so, its meaning may not suit my case, yet, from its very context, what was said as being drawn from it may be held without hesitation. For her violator (i.e. Dinah's) is called the prince of the country Genesis 34:2, by whom the devil is plainly denoted, seeing that our Redeemer says, Now shall the prince of this world be cast out John 12:31. And he also seeks her for his wife, because the evil spirit hastens to possess lawfully the soul which he has first corrupted by hidden seduction. Wherefore the sons of Jacob, being very angry, take their swords against the whole house of Sichem and his country Genesis 34:25, because by all who have zeal those also are to be attacked who become abettors of the evil spirit. And they first enjoin on them circumcision, and afterwards, while they are sore, slay them. For severe teachers, if they know not how to moderate their zeal, though cutting off the bias of corruption by preaching, nevertheless, when delinquents already mourn for the evil they had done, are frequently still savage in roughness of discipline, and harder than they should be. For those who had already cut off their foreskins ought not to have died, since such as lament the sin of lechery, and turn the pleasure of the flesh into sorrow, ought not to experience from their teachers roughness of discipline, lest the Redeemer of the human race be Himself loved less, if in His behalf the soul is afflicted more than it should be. Hence also to these his sons Jacob says, You have troubled me, and made me odious to the Canaanites (Ibid. 5:30). For, when teachers still cruelly attack what the delinquents already mourn for, the weak mind's very love for its Redeemer grows cold, because it feels itself to be afflicted in that wherein of itself it does not spare itself. So much therefore I would say in order to show that the sense which I set forth is not improbable in connection with the context. But what has been inferred from the same passage by your Holiness for my comfort I gladly accept, since in the understanding of sacred Scripture whatever is not opposed to a sound faith ought not to be rejected. For, even as from the same gold some make necklaces, some rings, and some bracelets, for ornament, so from the same knowledge of sacred Scripture different expositors, through innumerable ways of understanding it, compose as it were various ornaments, which nevertheless all serve for the adornment of the heavenly bride. Further, I rejoice exceedingly that your most sweet Blessedness, even though occupied with secular affairs, still brings back its genius vigilantly to the understanding of Holy Writ. For so indeed it is needful that, if the former cannot be altogether avoided, the latter should not be altogether put aside. But I beseech you by Almighty God, stretch out the hand of prayer to me who am labouring in so great billows of tribulation, that by your intercession I may be lifted up to the heights, who am pressed down to the depths by the weight of my sins. Moreover, though I grieve that the Emperor of the Persians has not been converted, yet I altogether rejoice for that you have preached to him the Christian faith; since, though he has not been counted worthy to come to the light, yet your Holiness will have the reward of your preaching. For the Ethiopian, too, goes black into the bath, and comes out black; but still the keeper of the bath receives his pay. Further, of Mauricius you say well, that from the shadow I may know the statue; that is, that in small things I may perpend greater things. In this matter, however, we trust him, since oaths and hostages bind his soul to us. About this page Source. Translated by James Barmby. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 12. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1895.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/360203067.htm>. Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is feedback732 at newadvent.org. (To help fight spam, this address might change occasionally.) Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.