Letter 4020: Though the merits of any one's life were in other respects such as to offer no impediment to his ordination to priestly offices, yet the crime of canvassing in itself is condemned by the severest strictness of the canons. Now we have been informed that thou, having either obtained surreptitiously, or pretended, an order from the most pious princ...

Gregory to Maximus, Pretender at Salona. Even if a man's life were otherwise beyond reproach, the crime of canvassing for office is itself condemned by the strictest severity of the canons. We have been informed that you, having either obtained a fraudulent order from the most pious emperors or simply fabricated one, have forced your way into the priesthood — an office to be revered by all — while being wholly unworthy by your conduct and your years. We believed this without hesitation, since your life and age are well known to us. We also know the mind of our most serene lord the Emperor: he does not customarily involve himself in the affairs of priests, lest he be burdened with our sins. There is an even more outrageous report: that after our formal prohibition — issued under pain of excommunication of both you and those who would ordain you — you were installed by military force, and presbyters, deacons, and other clergy were beaten. We cannot in any way recognize this as a valid consecration, since it was performed by excommunicated men. Since you have violated, without any precedent, so great a dignity as the priesthood, we order the following: until we have verified through letters from the Emperor or from our representative that your ordination was authorized by a genuine and not a fraudulent order, neither you nor your ordainers may presume to exercise any priestly function. You are not to approach the altar until you hear from us again. Should you presume to act in defiance of this order, let you be anathema from God and from the blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles — so that your punishment may serve as an example to other Catholic churches as well.

Book IV, Letter 20 To Maximus, Pretender (Præsumptorem). Gregory to Maximus, Pretender in Salona. Though the merits of any one's life were in other respects such as to offer no impediment to his ordination to priestly offices, yet the crime of canvassing in itself is condemned by the severest strictness of the canons. Now we have been informed that thou, having either obtained surreptitiously, or pretended, an order from the most pious princes, hast forced your way to the order of priesthood , which is of all men to be venerated, while being in your life unworthy. And this without any hesitation we believed, inasmuch as your life and age are not unknown to us, and further, because we are not ignorant of the mind of our most serene lord the Emperor, in that he is not accustomed to mix himself up in the causes of priests, lest he should in any way be burdened by our sins. An unheard-of wickedness is also spoken of; that, even after our interdiction, which was pronounced under pain of excommunication of you and those who should ordain you, it is said that you were brought forward by a military force, and that presbyters, deacons, and other clergy were beaten. Which proceeding we can in no wise call a consecration, since it was celebrated by excommunicated men. Since, therefore, without any precedent, you have violated such and so great a dignity, namely that of the priesthood, we enjoin that, until I shall have ascertained from the letters of our lords or of our responsalis, that you were ordained under a true and not a surreptitious order, you and your ordainers by no means presume to handle anything connected with the priestly office, and that you approach not the service of the holy altar till you have heard from us again. But, if you should presume to act in contravention of this order, be anathema from God and from the blessed Peter, Prince of the apostles, that your punishment may afford an example to other Catholic churches also, through their contemplation of the judgment upon you. The month of May, Indiction 12. About this page Source. Translated by James Barmby. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 12. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1895.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/360204020.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.