Letter 9081: Although to what was faulty in your ordination at the first you have added serious evil through the fault of disobedience, yet we, tempering with becoming moderation the authority of the Apostolic See, have never been incensed against you to the extent that the case demanded. But our displeasure which you had excited against yourself continued t...

Gregory to Maximus, Bishop of Salona. Your ordination was flawed from the start, and you then compounded the problem through serious disobedience. Even so, I tempered the authority of the Apostolic See and never treated you as harshly as the situation warranted. But my displeasure lasted as long as it did because the weight of my responsibilities tormented me -- I could not simply ignore the reports of your unlawful conduct. And if you are honest with yourself, you will see that by putting off your submission, you only confirmed those reports and made things worse. Now, however, you have followed wise counsel and humbly accepted the yoke of obedience. Your penance has purged the offense through proper satisfaction, as I directed. I am restoring to you the favor of brotherly charity. Be grateful that you are received back into our fellowship. As it is right to be strict with those who persist in wrongdoing, so it is right to show mercy to those who come to their senses. Now that your Fraternity knows communion with the Apostolic See has been restored, send someone to us according to custom to receive the pallium [the vestment signifying metropolitan authority] and bring it to you. I will not allow unlawful things to stand, but neither will I withhold what is customary. I should mention that the request of our most excellent son, the lord Exarch Callinicus, that I treat you with moderation, has weighed heavily in your favor. His wishes are dear to me, and I cannot cause him sorrow.

Book IX, Letter 81 To Maximus, Bishop of Salona . Gregory to Maximus, etc. Although to what was faulty in your ordination at the first you have added serious evil through the fault of disobedience, yet we, tempering with becoming moderation the authority of the Apostolic See, have never been incensed against you to the extent that the case demanded. But our displeasure which you had excited against yourself continued the longer in that a sense of the responsibility entrusted to us tormented us exceedingly, lest we might seem to be passing over without attention certain unlawful doings of yours that we had heard of. And, if you consider well, you will see that you yourself, by deferring to satisfy us, confirmed these reports, and thereby exasperated us the more against you. But now that, following wholesome counsel, you have submitted yourself humbly to the yoke of obedience, and that your love, in doing penance , has purged itself, as we directed, by fitting satisfaction, understand that the favour of brotherly charity is restored to you, and give thanks that you are received into our fellowship: for, as it becomes us to be strict with those who persevere in a fault, so does it to be kind in pardoning those who return to a better mind. Now, therefore, that your Fraternity knows that he has recovered the communion of the Apostolic See, let him send some one to us, according to custom, to receive and convey to him the pallium. For, while we do not suffer unlawful things to be perpetrated, we no less refuse not what is customary. Further, though the discharge of the duties of our position might have called upon us to concede this, yet we are greatly constrained thereto by the request of our most sweet and excellent son, the lord Exarch Callinicus, that we would treat you with moderation. His most dear wish we cannot resist, nor can we cause him sorrow. About this page Source. Translated by James Barmby. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 13. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1898.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/360209081.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.