Letter 5: [Pope Gelasius I (r. 492-496) writes to Ereleua, the mother of King Theodoric the Great.

Pope Gelasius to Ereleua. [Pope Gelasius I (r. 492-496) writes to Ereleua, the mother of King Theodoric the Great. This letter, preserved among the Variae, concerns clerics who have violated Church jurisdiction by seeking recourse in secular courts.] I am astonished that Felix and Petrus, clerics of the church of Nola, have managed to deceive Your Sublimity's judgment. In defiance of both divine and human laws, they have cast off the privileges of the Church, suppressed their clerical status, and rushed to the public courts -- even though imperial constitutions have decreed that in disputes between such persons, whatever the Apostolic See has decided must be observed. Not only have they deceived my lord, the magnificent king [Theodoric], by seeking royal orders against their own bishop as though they were laymen, but they have even employed barbarians [Gothic soldiers] under the name of your household to rage against that same bishop's safety and very life -- when in fact, after being rightly convicted of owing Church funds, a considerable sum had already been forgiven them through the generous clemency of their own bishop. Since Your Sublimity plainly sees that they have gone so far as to insult the Apostolic See itself, I ask -- having offered the courtesy of my greeting -- that you suffer the privileges of the Blessed Apostle Peter, which both divine and human laws have granted since antiquity, to be undermined by no one's deceit.

V. GELASIUS ERELEUVAE. [1] Felicem et Petrum Nolanae ecclesiae clericos surripere potuisse sensibus vestrae sublimitatis admiror, ut contra divinas humanasque leges ecclesiastica privilegia respuentes suppresso nomine clericali ad iudicia publica convolarent, quando imperialibus constitutis inter huiusmodi personas quicquid sedes apostolica censuisset, decretum fuerit oportere servari, non solum domno filio meo, magnifico regi illudentes, veluti laici contra proprium praecepta regia deposcerent sacerdotem, sed etiam adhibitis barbaris sub nomine domus vestrae in eiusdem praesulis sui perniciem necemque saevierint, cum iustis ex causis ante convicti, quod ecclesiasticam pecuniam reddere cogerentur, magna sit eis sui humanitate pontificis quantitas relaxata. quia ergo pervidet vestra sublimitas etiam in apostolicae sedis contumeliam eos fuisse progressos, officio meae salutationis accepto precamur, ut privilegia beati apostoli Petri, quae divinis humanisque legibus concessit antiquitas, nulla patiamini subreptione convelli.