Letter 5022: You did me the honor of entrusting the choice of your bishop to my judgment, and I want you to know that I take that...

Gregory the Great (Wisigothic)Unknown|c. 599 AD|Pope Gregory the Great|AI-assisted
education booksillnessimperial politics

You did me the honor of entrusting the choice of your bishop to my judgment, and I want you to know that I take that trust seriously. I am working to find you a man of the quality you deserve — and the standard I have in mind is high. Maximianus has shown what a good Sicilian bishop can be, and I am not going to present you with someone who falls significantly short of that example. Be patient a little longer. I am looking, and I will not stop looking until I find the right man.

AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.

Latin / Greek Original

AD NOB/LES SYRACUSANOS.

Cum episcopi electionem Gregorii arbitrio commis's8ent,
talem eis ordinare studet, qr: Maximianum deces80-
rem imiltelur.

Gregorius nobilibus Syracusanis.

Laudis vestre testimonium 4 quam direxistis gerit
epistola, quod electionis vos onera 8apieuter decli-
nasse $ignificat. Et quoniam nostro hoc arbitlrio com-
mi-ivtis, ac mulia bona de venerandzze memorize
quondam Maximiano episcopo JSZ referentes
talem vobis ordinari depo>citis, - vos quidem sicut
decet fideles filios facitis, quia hc de digno sollici-
loque patre lestamini, et obtrectantibus aliis bona
jipsius etiam pos! obitum non lacelis. Unde oramus
omnipotentem Dominum, ut et vobis pro sinceritatis
vesirz voluntate retribuat, et obloquentibus clemen-
ter ignoscat. Hoc tamen sciat maguitudo vesira, quia
civitati illi quem dare Maximiano reverendissimo
similem non habemus. Sed quia a clero et plebe
Ecclesiz Syracusanze Agatho, ab aliquibus autem
alter eligitur, hunc qui a clero et plebe electus est
ad nos jiterum venire necesse est, ut utrisque comi-
nus constitutis, ille qui Deo placuerit, et uiiler
visus ſuerit, ordinetur. Nam desiderii nostri est ta-
lem illic cum Chrisli gratia ordinari pomificem, qui
bonorum $supradicti episcopi cujus vos actiondbis
tes monium perhibevs in omnibus debeat, Dev ad-
jutore, imilator exislere.

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