Letter 5104: I return to the counsel I gave you previously: the way to overcome the shadow of your predecessor is simply to...

Gregory to John, bishop of Corinth. After our God, from whom nothing is hidden, cast out the abominable plague of pollution from the governance of His Church, and willed to bring you to its governance, great care must be taken by you, so that after the wounds and varied evils of the former pastor, the Lord's flock may find in your fraternity consolation and a salutary remedy. Let the hand of your action so wipe away the stain of the preceding contagion that no traces of that execrable depravity remain, or be allowed to persist. Let your solicitude toward your subjects therefore be praiseworthy. Let discipline be applied with gentleness. Let correction be exercised with discernment. Let kindness temper anger; let zeal sharpen kindness; and let one be seasoned by the other, so that neither excessive punishment afflicts more than is proper, nor laxity break the uprightness of discipline. Let the instruction of the people committed to you be your fraternity's own conduct. Let them see in you what they may love; let them perceive what they may hasten to imitate. Let them be taught to live by your example. Led by you, let them not deviate from the right path; following you, let them arrive at God, so that you may receive from the Savior of the human race as many rewards as you have gained for Him in souls. Labor, therefore, dearest brother, and so direct the full efficacy of your mind and heart to this end that you may deserve to hear in the future: Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord. As for the pallium, just as you requested through your letter which we received through our brother and fellow bishop Andrew, we have sent it, which you must use as your predecessors used it, with the approval of our own predecessors. Furthermore, it has come to our attention that in those regions no one attains sacred orders without payment of a fee. If this is so, I say it weeping, I announce it groaning, because when the priestly order has fallen inwardly, it will not be able to stand outwardly for long either. For we know from the Gospel what our Redeemer did in person: that entering the temple, He overturned the chairs of those selling doves. For to sell doves is to receive a temporal fee from the Holy Spirit, whom God Almighty, consubstantial with Himself, bestows upon men through the laying on of hands. From this evil, as I said, what follows is already implied: because those who presumed to sell doves in the temple of God — by God's judgment their chairs fell. This error is propagated among subordinates with increase. For the very person who is promoted to sacred honor, already corrupted at the very root of his advancement, is readier to sell to others what he has bought. And where is what is written: Freely you have received, freely give? And since the Simoniac heresy was the first to arise against the holy Church, why is it not considered, why is it not seen that whoever ordains someone for a price acts, by promoting him, to make him a heretic? Since, therefore, the holy universal Church utterly condemns this most wicked depravity, we exhort your fraternity to restrain so detestable and so monstrous a sin in all places under your care, with all the insistence of your solicitude. For if we learn that any such thing is done hereafter, we will correct it no longer with words but with canonical punishment, and we will begin to form a different judgment about you — one that is not fitting. Your fraternity knows, moreover, that formerly the pallium was not given without payment of a fee. But since this was improper, a council was held before the body of the blessed Peter, prince of the apostles, and we have prohibited under strict interdiction the acceptance of anything either for this or for ordinations. It is therefore necessary that you consent to no one being brought to sacred orders either through payment, or through favor, or through the entreaty of certain persons. For the sin, as we have said, is grave, and we will not allow it to remain without correction.

AD JOANNEN EPISCOPUN. Pos! nequissimum decessorem Anastosium , Corinthios 8ic regat, ut praecedentis contagii omnes abstergat macuias. Concedit pallii usum. Hortalur ut in 8ub- gectis 8ibi locis 8imoniam compescat. Gregorius Joanni episcopo Corinthiorum. Postquam Deus noster, cui nihil occultum est, de Ecclesiz s8vz gubernatione nefaiidam pollutionis pe- slem abjiciens, vos ad ejus voluit regimen adducere, * magna vobis pr:rcavendum ext $ollicitudine ut post vulnera Þ et diversa prioris mala pastoris iv ſrater- Nnilate veslra grex dominicus consolationem ac salu- bre medicamentum inveniat. Sic ergo pracedentis conlagii maculam manus vestre actionis abstergat, ul nulla exsecrandz pravitatis illius vesligia, © vel sinat manere. | Sit igitur erga $ubjectos s0llicitudo laudabilis. TY8g Exhibeatur cum mansuetudine disciplina. Sit cum discretione correptio. Iram benignitas mitiget, beni- guitatem zclus exacuat ; et ita alterum condiatur ex altero, ut neciimmoderala ultio plus quam oportet C aſſligat , nec iterum ſrangat rectitudinem discipline remissio. Instructio commissi populi ſraternitatis ve- $IrZ Sit actio. Videat in vyobis quod diligat, cernat quod imitari ſestinet. Exemplo vestro vivere docea- tur. A recto itlinere te duce non deviet, ad Deum vos Sequendo perveniit, ut tot ab bumani generis Salvatore rc::ibutiones accipias, quot Jucra ei ope- ratns fueris animarum. Labora itaque, ſrater charis- Sime, et ita totam mentis et cordis ad hoc efflicaciam dirige, quatenus in ſuturo merearis audire : EFuge, 8erve bone et fidelis, intra in gaudium Domini tui (Luc. xix, 17). Pallium vero, sicut per epistolam vestram, quam per Andream fratrem et coepiscopum nosfrum $usce- pimus , postulastis, direximus, quo ita vos uti ne- D . Þ Laicos Ecclesiz filios , clericos vero Eecclesie milites appellare $olet. Vide lib. v1, epist. 5, ne ergo filti Eccles @, etc. Ante missarum celebrationem $e- debat episcopus in secrelario , nunc vulgo 8acrislia , ſidelium $alutativnes excepturus ; quibus dimissis , Sacris veslibus indutus , ad altare procedehat. Inde locus i!Je salu/atorium dicebatur. Vide Gregorium Turon., Ilist. 1:b. 1, c. 21; card. Bona de rebus Li- turg., lib. 1, cap. 24, num. 2. © Supra, 8ecretarium, elc., epistola 19 lib. 1. Gus- SANV. EeisT. LVII [| AL 55 ]. — © Vatie. D, Norm. et Corb., magna vobis ope nitendum esl. Valic. A, B, C, magnopere vobis nitendum esl. © lidem, nullam sinat manere memoriam. Norm., vel 8inat manere memoriam. SANCTI GREGORII MACNI cesse est, sicut predecessores vestri usi , conceden- A Suprascriptum vero Andream ſratrens et coepisco- tibus nostris pradecessoribus , approbantur. Prezterea pervenit ad nos quod in illis partibus nullus ad $2crum ordinem sine commodi datione perveniat. Quod si ita est, fl-ns dico, gemens de- nuntio, quia cum $acerdolalis ordo intus cecidit, ſoris quoque diu $stare non poterit. Scimus quippe ex Evangelio quid Redemptor noster per Semetipsum fecerit, quia ingressus templam cathedras venden- tium columbas everlit ( Matth. xx1, 12). Columbas enim vendere est de $ancto Spiritu, quem Deus onmnipotens consubslintialem Sibi per impositionem manuum hominibus tribuit, commodum temporale percipere. Ex quo, ut pradixi, malo jaw invwitur quid sequatur, quia qui in templo Dei coiumbas ven- dere praxsumpserunt, eorum Deo judice cathedra ceciderunt. Qui videlicet error. in Subditis cum au- gmento propagatur. Nam ipse quoque qui 4 ad $a- crum honorem perducitur, jam in ipsa proveclus $ui radice vitiatus, paraltior est aliis venundare quod emit, Et ubi est quod scriptum est: Cratis accepistis, gratis date (Matth, x, 8)? Et cum prima contra san- ctam Ecclesiam $imonica beresis Sit exorla, cur non perpenditur, cur non videtur quia eum quem quis cum pretio ordinat provehendo agit ut hcereticus fiat ? Quia ergo hanc neſandissimam pravitatem 8an- cla universalis omnino damnat Ecclesia , hortamur fraternitatem vesiram ut tam deteslabile et tam im- mane peccatum de locis omnibus que $sub se sunt Sollicitudinis suz modis omnibus compescat instan- tia. Nam si quid tale deinceps fieri senserimus, jam non verbis, sed canonica hoc ultione corrigemus, et de vobis, quod non oportet, aliud incipiemus habere judicium. Novit autem ( Grat. dist. 400, cap. 5) ſraternitas vesira quia prius pallium nisi dato commodo non dabatur. Quod quoniam incongruum erat, * ſacto concilio ante corpus Zg9 beali Petri apostolorum_ principis , tam de hoe quam de ordinationibus (Grat. 1,9. 1, c. 116) aliquid accipere ub dis:ricla interdi- ctione veluimus. Oporlet ergo ut neque per commodum, neque per . gratiam aut quorumdam supplicationem aliquos au 8acros ordines consentiatis adduci. Nam et peccatum, Sicut diximus, grave est, et sine correptione hoc non palimur remanere. 4 In Vulgatis, ad sacrum ordinem. Et infra, et cum primo, pro, et cum prima. | © Concilii .hujus acta post omnes epistolas exhi- bebimaus. Joan. Larissxi contra Adrianum ſhebanum episco- pum lege epistolas 6 et 7 lib. im. I» ex>ecutione hic Significat Joannis Larissxi jussa ensequendo. Eersr, LVIE [AL 56]. — * Nic titulus divers0 modo in Mss. legitur. In Vatic. D, pr Arche!aidam. In Anglic. , episcopis Adrellada consitntis, vel Arel- pum nostrum ob hoc tarde suscepimus, quia renin- tianle ſratre el coepiscopo nostro Secundino didici- mus f epistolas nostras sibi cum in Joannis Larisszi episcopi exsecutione (inxisse. Et nisi bona veslra no- bis que audivimus 8uasissent, nulla illum habuimus ratiune SuscCipere. 6 Data die 15 mensis Augusti, in- dict. 13. | EPISTOLA LVYIiI. AD UNIVERSOS EPI*COPOS PER HELLADIAN. Gratulatur de Anaslasii correctione, cujus casus 8 illis cauiela, Joanni illius 8uccessori obediant, Non pa- tiantur, aut dato pramio, aut alicujus gratia rel up» plicatione clericos ordinari vet promoveri. Gregorius universis episcopis * per Helladiam pro- vinciam constitutis. . | Gratias omnipolenti Deo vobiscum, ſratres charis- Simi, reſero, qui latens vulnus quod antiquus hostis inuierat ad omnium fecit pervenire notitiam, et de Ecclesix: $uz corpore $aluliſera jllud incisione com- pescvit, Ex qua re et grudendum nohbis est, et dolen- dum. Gaudendum quippe de correctione farinoris, dolendum vero de casu fratris. Sed quoniam plerum- que allerius casus, alterius s0let esse caulela, Þ hoe quisquis cadere tlimet, attendat, aditum hosti non prabeat, non pulet latere quod agitur. Nam Veritas clamat : Nikhil occultum quod non revelabitur (Matth. x, 26).. llc enim vox actionis nostrz jam. przco es, et, ips0 lesle, modis omnibus adducit ad publicum quod agitur in Secrety. Aut quis actus $uns ante illum nitatur abscondere, qui corum et teslis et judex est ? C Quia vero nonnunquam dum aliud attenditur aliud non cavelur, oportet ut contra omnes hostis insidias quisque debeat esse $ollicitus, ne dum in uno vincit, Superetur in allero, Nam et terrenus hostis, qui mu- nita loca cupit invadere, pugnandi ante sic utitur : Latenlier quidem ponit insidias, et ad unius loci $6 expugnationem totlus ostendit, JYQ ut dum ad de- ſensionem loci jllius ubi instat periculum convenitur, loca alia de quibus nulla est suspicio capiantur, Et evenit ul qui cognilus resislentis virtue repulsus est, latens oblineat quod certando non potuit. Sed quia in his omnibus divine protectionis auxilio opts est, roce cordis singuli clamemus ad Dominum, dicentes : Domine, ne longe ſacias auxilium tuum a me, ad de- ſensionem meam respice (Pgal. xxi, 20). Manifſestum D namque es quia nisi ipse auxiliatus ſuerit, et ad se lada ; quod etiam habet Norm. et Corb., ubi : episco- pis Aretlada Provincia consistentibus. In Reg., epizco- pis Arellade constitutis provincie. In tribus Vatic., quo0s prztulimus, habetur per Heltadiam. Hellas est proprie Achaia, quz Corintho, a quo verbum Dei ac- cepil, vicina. Hinc Paulus, Il Cor. 1, 1 : Eccl-sie Dei que es: Corinthi, cum omnibus sanctis qui sunt in universa Achaia. Ideo forte Sanctus Gregorius dirit Helladizz episcopos, ex antiqua consueludine, epi- Scopo C: rinthi esse Subditos. Editi, quo quisque cadere, elc..; paulo post, nihil oper- tum quod non revelttur , et occultum quod non $cia- tur, —_ - —omuoeye womooey - = 3 YI ner 793 EPISTOLARUM LIB. VI. — INDICT. XIV. — EPIST. I. 7% clamantes defenderit, hostis noster vinci non po= A porale percipere. Ex quo, ut praedixi, malo innuitur terit. Przterea epistolam charitatis vestrix per Andream ſratrem et coepiscopum nostrum suscipientes, paliium Joanni fratri nostro Corinthiorum episcopo nos trans- misis$e cognoscite; cui vos magnopere convenit obe- dire, presertim dum hoc sibi et antique consuetudi- nis ordo deſendat, et bona ejus, quibus ipsi testimo- njum perhibetis, invitent. Quibusdam namque nar- rantibus (Grat. 1, g. 1, c. 117) -agnovi quod in illis partibus nullus ad sacrum ordinem 8ine commodi da- tione perveniat. Quad «i ita est, flens dico, gemens- que denuntio, quia cum sacerdotalis ordo intus ceci- dit, foris quoque dia $tare non poterit. Scimus quippe ex Evangelio, quid Redemptor noster per se- quid sequatur, quia qui in templo Dei columbas ven- dere presumpserunt, eorum Deo judice cathedrz ce- ciderunt. Qui videlicet error in $subditis cum aug- mento propagatur. Nam ipse quoque, qui ad sacrum ordinem perducitur, jam in ipsa provectus $ui radics vitialus, paratior est aliis vendere quod emit. Et ubi est quod scriptum est : Gratis accepistis , gratis date (Vatth. x, 8)? Et cum prima contra sanciam Eccle- siam simomaca hzresis sit exorta, cur non perpen- - ditur, cur non videtur quia eum quem quis cum pre- tio ordinat, provehendo agit ut bezreticus fiat ? Ideo- que hortamur ut nullus vestrum denuo hoe fieri pa- tiatur ; sed neque gratia alicujus, neque Supplicatione, aliquos ad sacros ordines audeat promovere, © nisi metipsum ſecerit, quia-ingressus in templum, cathe- B eum quem vitz et actionis qualitas ad hoc dignum dras vendentium columbtas evertit (Matth. xx1, 12). Columbas quippe veudere est de sancto Spiritu, quem 8ihi consubslantjalem Deus omnipotens per imposi- tiorem manuum bominibus tribuit, commodum tem- 1 In duobus Teller. et in Yatic. D notatnr indictio 14. At cum in omnibus Mss. etiam Vaticanis, qui epi- esse monstraverit. Nam si aliter factum denuo sense- rimus, districia et canonica illud noveritis ultions compesci. 4 Datum die 15 mensis Augusli, indi clione 13. © stolas secundum indictionum ordinem continent, hae epistola in serie scriptarum indictione 15 reperiatur, eam loco movere non debuimus. Eadem ratio mi- litat pro superiori epistola, quz eodem lempore scri- pla ſuit. —_