Letter 3001: I am writing to you on two things and I will put the more important one first.

From: Graecus (correspondent) To: Ruricius, Bishop of Limoges Date: ~490 AD Context: A fellow bishop or clergy writes to Ruricius congratulating him on his faith and commending a person in need — typical of the letter-culture of late Gallo-Roman aristocratic Christianity. Graecus to the most beloved and holy Bishop Ruricius. I am writing to you on two things and I will put the more important one first. Your letter arrived and renewed in me, as your letters always do, the sense that the faith is actually real — that there are people who hold it with genuine conviction and who live it with genuine consistency. This is not so common as one might hope. We are surrounded by people who are formally Christian and practically something else entirely, and the contrast with someone who actually means it is bracing. The second thing: the person bearing this letter is known to me personally and has genuine need of episcopal assistance. I will not specify the nature of the need in writing — let them tell you directly. I ask only that you receive them with the pastoral attention that you bring to everything, and that you not dismiss them because they are not eloquent or because the problem seems small. To them it is not small. I hold you in my affection and prayers. Graecus

I. DOMINO RELIGIONIS HONORE SUBLIMI AC FIDEI MERITIS MAGNIFICANDO FILIO RURICIO GRAECUS. Gratias domino, quod fidei uestrae meritum sicut proficit deuotione ita crescit et opere. laborantium necessitates sollicitudine praeuenis, benignitate foues, humanitate sustentas. his enim rebus iuxta apostolum spiritu feruentes, domino seruientes, spe gaudentes diuinas uobis (uitae) aeternae retributiones adquiritis. sed in sublimitate uestra ista non noua sunt, quia animus uester, sicut plenus est dei timore, ita plenus est caritate, caritate, inquam, quae sola usu proficit et largiendo succrescit et pensum sciens et detrimenta non sentiens. dum enim dependitur, non expenditur, sed magis, dum prorogatur, augetur eiusque gratia ita muneratur percipiens, ut non minoretur inpertiens, quae ad similitudinem diuinitatis dat, quod (habet), habetque, quod dederit.