A letter from Gregory I, pope (592, April)

Translated letter:

Upon receiving your Excellence’s letter, I was relieved by the much-desired report of your good health, as I pray continuously that the Lord in His mercy would protect and preside over your life and affairs. However, I was quite surprised as to why you have set aside your intention of taking the journey you planned to the holy lands, and your vow of a good deed, given that if at any time some good [deed] is conceived in one’s heart as a gift for the Creator, it must be fulfilled with swift devotion. Otherwise, the sly poacher, in the course of trying to ensnare a soul, repeatedly produces delays on account of which the mind, weakened by trivial affairs, does not bring one’s desires to fruition. For that reason, it is necessary for your Excellence to resist all the impediments hindering pious motives, and to long eagerly for the fruit of a good deed with the complete effort of your heart, in order that one may both live with tranquillity in the present age and possess a celestial kingdom in the future. But about that which you wrote – that Passivus has undertaken some malicious charges against you, consider that the most pious emperors have not only heard them with displeasure but also received with bitterness whose gift this was; and turn the complete hope of your mind to the one who powerfully opposes the men in this world, so that they may not be able to do as much harm as they would seek to do. [Consider] how he repels the depraved wills of men with the opposition of his arm, and [how] he himself destroys their endeavors mercifully, as he has been accustomed [to do]. I ask that the glorious lord Appio and his wife Eusebia and the lord Eudoxius and his wife Gregoria be greeted by you on my behalf.(1)

Original letter:

Epistolam excellentiae vestrae suscipiens votivo sum incolomitatis eius nuntio relevatus, optans, ut vitam actusque vestros sua misericordia Dominus et protegat et disponat. Valde autem miratus sum, cur deliberatae viae eundi ad loca sancta intentionem et votum boni operis deflexistis, dum si quando bonum aliquod dono Conditoris in corde concipitur, celeri necesse est devotione compleri, ne dum callidus insidiator animum redire nititur, subinde impedimenta suggerat, quibus ad effectum minime desideria sua mens occupationibus debilitata perducat. Unde necesse est excellentiam vestram omnibus impedimentis piis causis obviantibus anteire, et ad fructum boni operis totis cordis nisibus inhiare, ut et in praesenti saeculo tranquille vivere, et in futuro caeleste regnum valeat possidere. Illud autem quod scripsistis, Passivum contra vos aliquas molitum fulsse calumnias, piissimos vero imperatores non solum libenter non audisse, sed etiam aspere suscepisse, cuius hoc fuerit donum perpendite, et ad eum qui hommibus in hoc saeculo, ne quantum appetunt nocere valeant, potenter obviat, totam spem mentis inflectite, quatenus pravas hominum voluntates brachii sui oppositione reverberet, conatusque eorum ut consuevit misericorditer ipse confringat. Gloriosum domnum Appionem et domnam Eusebiam, domnum Eudoxium et domnam Gregoriam mea per vos deprecor vice salutari.

Historical context:

The pope writes encouraging her to go to the Holy Lands as she had intended but deferred, and warns her about malicious charges that have been made against her to the emperor and empress, who were not receptive to them.

Scholarly notes:

1 This translation was provided by Angela Kinney.

Printed source:

Gregorii I Papae Registrum Epistolarum, ed. Paulus Ewald and Ludovicus Hartmann (Berlin: Weidmann, 1887-91, MGH, 123-24, ep.2.27.

Date:

592, April