Letter 9005: We have received the letter of your Greatness, in which you speak of having incurred our displeasure, and of your wish to be in favour with us through direct satisfaction. And indeed we have heard such things of your Greatness as ought never to have been committed by a faithful man. For all assert that you are the author of all that great mischi...
Gregory to Marcellus, proconsul of Dalmatia.
I have received the letter of your Greatness, in which you speak of having incurred my displeasure and of your wish to regain my favor through direct satisfaction. I have indeed heard things about your Greatness that a faithful man should never have committed. Everyone asserts that you are the author of all the great trouble in the case of Maximus: that the plundering of that church, the ruin of so many souls, and the audacity of that unprecedented presumption all originated with you.
As for your seeking my favor: it is fitting that with your whole heart and soul, and with tears, as befits you, you should make satisfaction to our Redeemer for these things. Unless satisfaction is made to Him, what real good can my forgiveness or favor do you? But as long as I observe you still entangled in the ruinous schemes of pretenders and in the defense of those who have gone astray, I cannot see what kind of satisfaction you are offering either to God or to men.
Your Greatness may know that you genuinely and openly satisfy God and men when you bring what is crooked back to what is right and what is arrogant back to the discipline of humility. If this is done, you may be confident that you will have favor with both God and men.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
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