Letter 9023: Our son the glorious exconsul Leontius has made a serious complaint to us of our brother and fellow bishop Leo; and his complaint has altogether disturbed us, since a bishop ought not to have acted so precipitately and lightly. This case we have committed, to be thoroughly enquired into, to our Guardian (defensoris) Romanus when he comes to you....
Gregory to John, Bishop of Syracuse.
Our son the glorious ex-consul Leontius has lodged a serious complaint against our brother and fellow bishop Leo. This matter has greatly disturbed me -- a bishop should not have acted so rashly and carelessly. I have assigned the case to our defensor Romanus for thorough investigation when he arrives.
Leontius's messenger has also raised a concern about your Fraternity: that in defending the illustrious physician Archelaus, you may be damaging the interests of our brother and fellow bishop, the metropolitan Domitian. Your Fraternity should certainly protect your people -- and perhaps in this case the interests of the holy Church -- but you must not give adversaries any grounds for complaint.
I do not doubt that you are already mindful of this. Still, I have instructed Romanus to work with you to sort out what is just in this case as well when he arrives.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
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