Letter 12005

From: Pope Gregory I To: Oportunus of Aprutium Date: ~602 AD Context: Gregory consoles Oportunus after having previously rebuked him I was harder on you in my last letter than perhaps I needed to be. That is not an apology for what I said — I said what I believed true and necessary — but it is an acknowledgment that rebuke, when it has done its work, should give way to encouragement. If my words still sting, carry them not as a wound but as a remedy. God does not correct those he has abandoned. The very fact that I trouble to write to you again is evidence, I hope, that my concern for you is pastoral rather than merely judicial. Rise, Oportunus. The Lord's service is ahead of you, and he is merciful to those who turn to him.

Pervenit ad me, quia ex eo tempore, quo* dilectionem tuam verbis asperis^ propter quaedam, quae mihi iure displicuerant °, contristavi, magha tibi sif* oborta® tristitia Mense cei,: ita Q,Q*f qui oct et uuv abhr,; m. octb ind. om, eet, R; menso novembrio indictione qiiinta oni, cet, R*l, XIIf4 in titulo: Passibo q* — add, Firmano, ut videtur, q3. ») Aprudontiura Q*2.3; Abrutiam Vat. A (ed. M.). *>) iia tcr,; causQ eodd. «) ita R; om. hoc verb. q1; qui q*.q3, ordinare debuisso q1. •) ita R; InportunO q1; luportunus Q*l; Importunus q*2.3. 0 laudatur Rl. 8) boni Ql. ^) multa Rl, ita Rl; tunc orandus q1; tunc hortandus q*.q3. ita com. Mommsen, dumtaxat £kr.; deo dictum R1.q*.q3; dui dictuni q1; deo dutactum R2, grandia, suprascr. vel g^avia q3. ™) ir perfectus ex debeatis corr, R2, XII y 5 in titulo: de Abrutio Q*.Ql. Vctt. A. E (ed. M,); de Abrucio R* 1; episcopo de Abrutio Vat. B; O. abbati (om. cet.) Vat, D (ed, M,). a) quod q3. *>) aspiris Ql. displicuerat RI.qI.q*!. XII, 4. De Passivo, ep, Ftrtnatw, cf, ep. IX, 51 n. 1. l) De castro Aprutio cf, ep. IX, 71 (n. 2), ex qua elucet iam ind. II mem. Nov.-Dec. sedem Aprutinam vacasse, et ep, seq. 2) Cf. ep. seq, XII, 5. Cf, ep. praeced. IXDKTIO y. OCT. NOV. (XII. 4) — lAN. (XII, «). atquc continuuN aninii^ nuieror. Undc tc, dilectissimc fili, volo cognosccrc, quia illa» ego*' vcrbtt non iiKpcritatc cordis, Hcd aniorc tuac' aniniac suni locutus. Tu itaquc ad omnipotcntem Dcum tota mcntc oonvcrtcre; quam nihil sit fugitiva^ praesens vita eonsidera: aeterna praemia lucrari fcstina; in quantum virtus sufficit, castiga carnem, quac, quando* in voluptatibus"' vixit, animani castigavit. Bcnignitatem tuam proximis" exhibe^; psalmodiac ct laorimiH horart»' vitac frcquentius impcndc; inhita mala a pro- xiniis aequanimiter'1 tolcra. Si contru vcritatcm iniuriam pertulcris, lucrum puta, ut haec agens'' per temporalia, quac dcspicicndo* pateris. ad caelcstia* regna pertingas. MENSE lANUARIO INDICTIONE V.