Letter 4060: The bond that unites the great sees of Rome and Alexandria is ancient and deep, and I feel it in both the joys and...

To Bishop Eulogius. [Editorial summary:] He observes that both of them are bound together by a special bond of love; hence he groans together with the one who grieves; and lest he increase his grief, he keeps silent about the evils he suffers from the Lombards. He wonders that he made no reply to the letter against the pride of John of Constantinople. He sends mutual gifts. Gregory to Eulogius, Bishop of Alexandria. Love, the mother and guardian of all good things, which binds together the hearts of many by uniting them, does not reckon as absent the one whom it holds present to the eyes of the mind. Since therefore, most dear brother, we are held in the root of this love, neither bodily absence nor the remoteness of regions will be able to claim anything for itself within us; for indeed we who are one are not far from one another. And this love we always wish to be common to us with our other brethren. Yet there is something that binds us to the Church of Alexandria by a certain particularity, and compels us by a kind of special law to be more inclined in love of it. For just as it is clear to all that the blessed evangelist Mark was sent to Alexandria by Saint [Peter the apostle his master, so by the unity of this master and disciple we are bound together, such that I seem to preside over the seat of the disciple on account of the master, and you over the seat of the master on account of the disciple. To this unity of hearts we are bound also by the merits of your holiness, whom we know to follow the wholesome institutions of their author, and] always [to advance] to greater things [...]. [Through] our common son Sabinianus the deacon, who renders the replies of the Church in the royal city, we sent our writings, which he ought to have directed to your fraternity. And if you have received them, we wonder why you have made no reply at all to them. And therefore, because we must take care lest the pride of anyone introduce scandal into the Churches, it is necessary that, re-reading those same writings carefully, with all zeal and full attention you preserve those things which pertain to your honor and the peace of the Church. And may Almighty God, who by the grace of His piety has conferred on you a priestly spirit and love, protect you in His service, and guard you within and without from all adversity, and graciously grant by your preaching the conversion of erring souls to Himself. The bearer of the present letter, Isidore the deacon, our common son, we have received with the love that was fitting, as he brought us the blessing of Saint Mark the evangelist. And you indeed, resplendent by the merit of a good life, sent us sweet-smelling woods, those which are near to paradise. But we, because we are sinners, have sent you woods from the West, which, fit for building ships, signifying the tumult of our mind, are always tossed about in the waves of the sea: and indeed we wished to send greater things, but this narrow ship did not take them. In the month of August, in the 14th indiction. Letter LXI. To Castorius the Notary. [Editorial summary:] That grave and faithful men should swear to what was formerly observed in the use of the pallium at Ravenna, and that this should be preserved at Ravenna. Gregory to Castorius the notary. The magnificent man, the lord Andreas, frequently presses me about restoring the use of the pallium at the Church of Ravenna according to the ancient custom. And because John the bishop wrote to me that in the solemn litanies it was the custom of that same Church for the bishop to use the pallium. The deacon of this Church, Adeodatus, when he asked me strongly for the same cause, satisfied me by an oath that four times a year they were accustomed to use the pallium in the litanies of that place's bishop. But the aforesaid lord Andreas in his letters says that, except in Lent, at every time the bishop of Ravenna used the pallium in the litanies. And he asserts these very litanies to be solemn, which he is not ashamed to call daily. Whereat I was altogether astonished. But let your experience consider the person of no one, the words of no one; let it hold before its eyes only the fear of God and rectitude, and let it inquire of the elder persons, and of the archdeacon of that same Church, whom I do not suspect of perjuring himself for another's honor, and of other older men, who had been in sacred orders before the times of bishop John; or if there are any more mature men outside sacred orders; and let them come before the body of Saint Apollinaris, and touching his tomb let them swear what the custom was before the times of bishop John, because, as you know, that same man proved to be very presumptuous, and tried to arrogate many things to himself through pride. And whatever has been sworn by faithful and grave men, according to the schedule which is appended below, this we wish to be preserved in that same Church. But see that you do not act negligently, lest anyone corrupt your faith or your devotion in this cause, for I know your zeal. Act carefully, yet in such a way that the aforesaid Church be not burdened contrary to justice, but that the usage which existed before the times of bishop John be preserved for it. And require not two or three persons to satisfy you, but as many older and graver men as you can find, so that we neither deny to that same Church what was the older usage, nor grant what has been sought by a new presumption. But do everything gently and sweetly, so that your action may be strict, and your tongue mild. The sword which was left there, as we wrote some time ago, recall with you, and attend carefully to what our son Boniface the deacon, and the magnificent man Maurentius the chartulary, wrote to you. I swear by the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the inseparable Trinity of the divine power, and by this body of the blessed Apollinaris the martyr, that I have not testified for favor of any person, nor with any advantage intervening. But this I know, and have learned through myself, that before the times of John the former bishop, the bishop of Ravenna, in the presence of the apocrisiarius of the Apostolic See on this day and that, on these days and those, had the custom of using the pallium, and I did not know that he had usurped this secretly, or in the absence of the apocrisiarius.

AD EULOGIUM EPISCOPUM. Speciali charitatis vinculo ambos ips0s cons{ringi ob- servat : hinc dolenti congemiscit ; ac ne illius dolo- rem augeat, reticet mala qu a Langobard:s palitur. Miratur quod epistole adversus Joannis Constanti- nopolitani superbiam non respouderit. Mutua millit munera. Gregorius Eulogio episcopo Alexandrino. Mater et custvs bonorum omnium charitas, que multorum corda uniendo constringit, absentem non #e$limat eum quem oculis mentis habet presentem. In bujus ergo radice cum, frater charissime, tenca- mur, nibil sibi in nobis corporalis absentia, nihil poteril regionum vindicare longinquilas ; quippe quia sCilicet longe a nobis non Sumus qui unum $Sumus. Hance autem esse nobis cum cxteris ſratribus coimmu- nem $Semper optamus. Est tamen aliquid quod nos erga Alexandrinam Ecclesjiam quadam peculiaritale constringit, et in cjus amore proniores existere spe- ciali quodammodo lege compellit. Nam sicut omni- bus liquet quod heatus evangelista * Marcus a sancto muni filio Sabiniano. diacono responsa Ecclesiz- in urbe regia facienti scripta nostra transmisimus, 4 que vesire ſraternitati dirigere debuisset. Quz $i susce- pistis, miramur cur nobis ad ea minime respondislis. Et ideo quia cavendum est ne cujuslibet superbia scandalum Ecclesiis introducat, necesse e:t ut, ea- dem scripta $ublititer relegentes, 0::ni $studio et tota intentione que ad honorem vestrum et pacem Ecclesiz pertinent conservelis. Omnipotens autem Deus, qui pielatis 8uz gralia 8acerdotalem vobis animum et charitalem contulit, in $UO vos $ervitio prolegat, atque ab omni adyer- Silate interius exteriusque custodiat, et converli ad $e errantium animas vestra propitius pradicatione concedal. Latorem autem prxesentium Isidorum diaconum communem filium cum ea qua oportuit charitale suscepimus, * benedictionem nobis $8ancti Marci evangelistz deferentem. Et vos quidem, bon vitz merito resplendentes, ea quz paradiso vicina sunt bene olentia nobis ligna transmisistis. Nos vero quia videlicet peccatores Sumus, ab Occidente vobis ligna iransmisimus, quz, construendis aptly navibus, no- sIre mentis tumultum $ignantia, in marinis semper fNluctibus agitantur : el quidem transmiltere ma;ora voluimus, f ged hzc navis angusta non recepit Mense Augusto, indictione 14. EPISTULA LXI. AD CAST'RIUM NOTARIUN. Petro apostolo magistro suo Alexandriam sit trans- D Quod in pallii usu olim 8ervatum juraverint Raven- missus, sic hujus nos magistri et discipuli unitate constringimur, ut et ego sedi discipuli prasidere vi- dear propter magisirum, et vos sedi magistri propter discipuium. Ad hanc aulem unitatem cordium etiam vesirze sanclitatis meritis ligamur, quos auctoris sui salu- briter $equi instituta cognoscimus, et Semper ad ma- Eeist. LX. — * Hinc apos(Glica nominalur s8edes, vt supra notavimus, epist. 37 lib. rv, nunc lib. v, 39. GUsSANV. 4 Siznficat epistolam 45 lib. v, uhi de Joanunis Cons'tantinop. superbia conqueritur. His 1n!tem $erj- nales viri graves ac fideles, id Ravenne 5er- vandum. Gregorius Castorio notario. Vir magnificus, domnus Andreas, crebro mihi imminet de usu pallii secundum antiquam consuetu- | dinem in Ravennati Ecclesia restituendo. Et ci quia Joannes episcopus mihi seripserit quod in lita- niis Solemnibus consuetudo ſuit ejusdem Eccle:-i? ptis non responderat Eulogius, vel quia vocem cecu- menici benignius interpretabatur, vel quia tutius arbitrabatur ab illis contentionibns abstinere. { Ita cum omnibus Vatic., Norm., etc. veteres Ed., ubi recent. habent navis angustia, 844. 844. $alutig $. At- quau- come 3ie In 1quz SUSCE- dietis. perbia it, ea. dio et acem gralia ntulit, adver- ri ad atione ;0nuUm \rilale Marci Raven- - Wiki Suelu- | Q@cut- tutus iv, 's Ed., ball TEC WE TTY => epis20P0s uti pallio. Hujus Ecclesiz diaconus Adeo- A datus, cum me pro eadem causa foriiter rogaret, jurejurando $atisfecit quia quater in anno uti in lita- niis pallio ejusdem loci episcopi solebant. Pra dicius autem domnus Andreas in epistolis $snis dicit quia, prter Qnadragesimam , omni tempore Ravennas episcopus in litaniis pallio utebatur. Et ipsas asser it litanias 8olemnes, quas non erubescit dicere quoti- dianas. Unde omnino miratus $um. Sed tuna expe- rientia nullius personam, nullins verba consideret ; $0lum Dei timorem et rectitudinem ante oculos h1- beat et $enjores personas, ct ejusdem Ecclesiz ar- chidiaconum, quem non 8uspicor pro alierius ho- nore perjurare, et alios antiquiores, qui in $Acris ordinibus ante Joannis episcopi tempora ſuerant, requirat, vel $i qui maturiores 8unt extra $acros ordines; et veniant ante corpus sancti Apollinaris, et lacto ejus sepulcro -jurent que consuetudo ante Joannis episcopi tempora ſnerit, quia, 8icut . scis, idem vir multum presumptor exslitit, et multa 8ibi per superbiam conabatur arrogare. YZ8g Et quid- quid a ſidelibus viris et gravibus juratum ſuerit, $e- cundum indicutum qui subler'annexus est hoe volu- mus in eadem Ecelesia conservari. Sed vide ne negligenter agas, ne quis fidem tuam aut devotio- nem tuam in hac causa corrumpat, zelum eaim tunmn $cio. Age sollicite, ita tamen ut praedicta Ec- clesia contra justitiam non gravetur, $ed usvs qui ante Joannis episcopi tempora exstitil ej conservVe- - tur, Personas autem non duas, vel tres ad salisſa- ciendum tibi, sed quantas antiquiores et graviores inveneris require, ut neque quod usus ſuit antiquior eidem Ecclesia: denegemus, neque quod novo ausu appetitum est concedamus. Sed omnia age blande el dulciter, ut ct actio tua districta sit, et lingua mills. Spatam quz illic dimissa es, sicut jam pridem 8cri- psimus, tecum revoca, ct hoc quod tibi filius noster Boniſacius diaconus, et vir magvilicus Maurentius chartwlarius scripsitl, sollicite altende. Juro ego per Pairem, et Filium, et Spirilum $an- ctum, inseparabilem divine pulenlize Trinitatem, et hoc corpus beati Apollinaris martyris, me pro nul- lius favore personZ#, neque commodo aliquo inter- veniente leslaii., Sed hoc <cio, et per memetipsum cognovi, quia ante lempora Joannis quondam epi- Scopi Ravennas episcopus , Prazsenie apocrisiario sedis aposlolice illo atque ilio, iis atque illis diebus, consuetudinem utendi pallio babuit, et non cognovi quia hoc latenler, vel absente apocrisiario usurpasset. (Cf..-Joan., Diac. |. 1v, n. 6.) Eersr, LXIL | AF. 75, ind. 4]. — © In Norm., Col- bert. et tribus Vatic. A, D, E, sancti Leucii, In Vlic. B, 8@ncit Laurentii, | © [1 {fine juxtla alias Eilit. legitur "data mense A!- gui, indiclone 4. Quod unicus tantum Cud. e Va- lic. exiihel, quatuvr ali:s lacentibus, imo omnihiis, quibus usi Sumus, Si unus excipiatur Colbert., in fo $46