Letter 9012: Gregory to John, Bishop of Syracuse.

Gregory to John, Bishop of Syracuse. Someone arriving from Sicily told me that certain people there -- whether Greek or Latin I do not know -- are grumbling about changes I have made to the liturgy, claiming: "How can he say he is keeping the church of Constantinople in check when he follows their practices in everything?" When I asked what practices they meant, I was told: you have ordered the Alleluia to be sung outside the Pentecost season; you have directed subdeacons to process without outer vestments; you have introduced the Kyrie Eleison; and you have placed the Lord's Prayer immediately after the canon [the central prayer of the Mass]. My reply: in none of these things have we followed Constantinople. Regarding the Alleluia -- our custom of singing it here is said to derive from the church of Jerusalem, brought by the tradition of the blessed Jerome in the time of Pope Damasus of blessed memory. So in this matter, we actually curtailed the earlier Greek practice that had been handed down to us. Regarding the subdeacons processing without outer vestments -- this was the ancient practice of our Church. At some point, a pope whose name I do not recall ordered them to wear linen tunics. But where did your Sicilian churches get that custom, if not from their mother, the Roman Church? Regarding the Kyrie Eleison -- we do not say it the way the Greeks do. Among them, everyone says it together. With us, the clergy say it and the people respond. And we also say "Christe Eleison" in equal measure, which the Greeks do not say at all. In daily Masses we omit some of the usual prayers and say only the Kyrie Eleison and Christe Eleison, to move things along more efficiently. As for the Lord's Prayer -- it seemed deeply wrong to me that we would say the prayer composed by some scholar over the offering, and then not say the prayer our Redeemer himself composed over his own body and blood. I moved it to follow the canon directly.

Book IX, Letter 12 To John, Bishop of Syracuse. Gregory to John, etc. One coming from Sicily has told me that some friends of his, whether Greeks or Latins I know not, as though moved by zeal for the holy Roman Church, murmur about my arrangements [i.e. of divine service], saying, How can he be arranging so as to keep the Constantinopolitan Church in check, when in all respects he follows her usage? And, when I said to him, What usages of hers do we follow? He replied; you have caused Alleluia to be said at mass out of the season of Pentecost ; you have made appointment for the sub-deacons to proceed disrobed , and for Kyrie Eleison to be said, and for the Lord's Prayer to be said immediately after the canon. To him I replied, that in none of these things have we followed another Church. For, as to our custom here of saying the Alleluia, it is said to be derived from the Church of Jerusalem by the tradition of the blessed Jerome in the time of Pope Damasus of blessed memory; and accordingly in this matter we have rather curtailed the former usage which had been handed down to us here from the Greeks. Further, as to my having caused the sub-deacons to proceed disrobed, this was the ancient usage of the Church. But it pleased one of our pontiffs, I know not which, to order them to proceed in linen tunics. For have your Churches in any respect received their tradition from the Greeks? Whence, then, have they at the present day the custom of the subdeacons proceeding in linen tunics, except that they have received it from their mother, the Roman Church? Further, we neither have said nor now say the Kyrie Eleison, as it is said by the Greeks: for among the Greeks all say it together; but with us it is said by the clerks, and responded to by the people; and as often as it is said, Christe Eleison is said also, which is not said at all among the Greeks. Further, in daily masses we suppress some things that are usually said, and say only Kyrie Eleison, Christe Eleison, so as to devote ourselves a little longer to these words of deprecation. But the Lord's prayer (orationem Dominicam) we say immediately after the prayer (mox post precem) for this reason, that it was the custom of the apostles to consecrate the host of oblation to (ad) that same prayer only. And it seemed to me very unsuitable that we should say over the oblation a prayer which a scholastic had composed, and should not say the very prayer which our Redeemer composed over His body and blood . But also the Lord's Prayer among the Greeks is said by all the people, but with us by the priest alone. Wherein, then, have we followed the usages of the Greeks, in that we have either amended our own old ones or appointed new and profitable ones, in which, however, we are not shown to be imitating others? Wherefore, let your Charity, when an occasion presents itself, proceed to the Church of Catania; or in the Church of Syracuse teach those who you believe or understand may possibly be murmuring with respect to this matter, holding a conference there, as though for a different purpose, and so desist not from instructing them. For as to what they say about the Church of Constantinople, who can doubt that it is subject to the Apostolic See, as both the most pious lord the emperor and our brother the bishop of that city continually acknowledge? Yet, if this or any other Church has anything that is good, I am prepared in what is good to imitate even my inferiors, while prohibiting them from things unlawful. For he is foolish who thinks himself first in such a way as to scorn to learn whatever good things he may see.