Letter 1021: We have received at the hands of the deacon Stephen, whom you sent to us, the letters of your Reverence, wherein you congratulate us on our promotion. And truly what has been offered in the kindness and earnestness of charity demands full credence, reason having prompted your pontifical order to rejoice with us. We therefore, being cheered by yo...
Book I, Letter 21
To Natalis, Bishop of Salona [modern Split, Croatia].
Gregory to Natalis.
Your deacon Stephen delivered your letter of congratulations, and we received it gladly. A greeting offered with genuine warmth deserves to be believed as such, and it's right that a bishop should share in the joy of a fellow bishop's appointment. We're glad you wrote.
I'll be honest: I took on this office with a heavy heart. But since I couldn't resist God's will, I've managed to find some peace with it. I'm writing to ask for your prayers — for me, and for the Christian flock now in my care — so that we may have the strength, with that support, to endure whatever these times throw at us.
The month of February; ninth Indiction [591 AD].
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.
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