Gregory the Great (Wisigothic)→Unknown|gregory great
From: Gregory the Great, Pope, in Rome
To: Victor, Bishop of Palermo [Sicily]
Date: ~598 AD
Context: Gregory instructs Victor not to trouble Jews in the matters that are permitted to them by law.
Gregory to Victor, bishop of Palermo.
Reports have reached me that Jews in your diocese are being troubled and harassed in matters that are lawfully permitted to them. I direct you to stop this.
The principle I am asserting is this: Jews are not to be forced to convert, nor are they to be harassed, nor are their lawful practices to be interfered with. Force and coercion do not produce genuine conversions; they produce resentment and resistance. Moreover, the church does not claim authority over the internal practices of Jewish communities in matters that belong to them.
What we may do is preach, argue, demonstrate the truth of the Christian faith by the quality of our lives and reasoning. What we may not do is harass, coerce, or obstruct.
See that the Jewish communities in your area are left in peace in their lawful affairs.
Gregory
AD VICTOREM EPISCOPUM PANORMITANUM.
Judeos in his que ipsis concessa 8unt nullo incom- +
modo afficiendos.
Gregorius Victori episcopo Panormitano.
Sicut Judzis non debet esse licentia quidquai in
ce De lapsis nequaquam ad ordinum functiones re-
cipiendis epist. 18 lib. 1, et epist. 26 lib. 11, nunc
lib. 1v, etc.
4 Ornatum intellige, splendorem, decus sive privi-
legium jam ab antiquo concessum, atlque adeo legi-
time expetitum. Vide Henricum Steph., Schediasm.
c. 18; Joan. Brodzi, Miscel. lib. ix, c. 20. Syagrinus
Augustodun. episcopus, pro genio et honore sue Ec-
clesi@ pallium pos'ulat, infra, lib. tx, epist, 108.
Svinere, ita in his quz eis concessa Sunt uullum de-
bent prxjudicium sustinere. Que auteiwu nobis in bac
urbe Roina habitantes Hebrzi pro his qui Panorini
degunt, conquesti sunt, data vos ab eis petitio que
in Subdilis tenetur inſformat. Si igitur' querimonia
eoruin veritate ſulcitur, oportet ut fraternitas vestra,
legis serie-diligenter inspecta, ita eis quidquid hac
de re decretum est custodire debeat ac servare, ut
nec ipsa aliquid injustum facere, nec illi pati praju-
dicium videantur. Si vero est aliquid quod ad resti-
wwendum ea que sunt postulata rationabiliter possit
obsistere, judices a partibus eligantur, qui ea que
#2quitati conveniunt valeant definire. Quod si forle
illic contentio ipsa finiri nequiverit, ad nos venire
B causam necesse esl; quatenus * sinc veslra invidia
que amica juslilie visa ſuerint QI 5 decernantur.
Quousque ergo causa ipsa finem accipiat, a conse-
crativone locorum quz ablala dicuntur ſraternilas $e
vesira Suspendat.
◆
From:Gregory the Great, Pope, in Rome
To:Victor, Bishop of Palermo [Sicily]
Date:~598 AD
Context:Gregory instructs Victor not to trouble Jews in the matters that are permitted to them by law.
Gregory to Victor, bishop of Palermo.
Reports have reached me that Jews in your diocese are being troubled and harassed in matters that are lawfully permitted to them. I direct you to stop this.
The principle I am asserting is this: Jews are not to be forced to convert, nor are they to be harassed, nor are their lawful practices to be interfered with. Force and coercion do not produce genuine conversions; they produce resentment and resistance. Moreover, the church does not claim authority over the internal practices of Jewish communities in matters that belong to them.
What we may do is preach, argue, demonstrate the truth of the Christian faith by the quality of our lives and reasoning. What we may not do is harass, coerce, or obstruct.
See that the Jewish communities in your area are left in peace in their lawful affairs. Gregory
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.