(Book VIII, letter 27.) 9. Meanwhile, upon the death of Bishop Natalis, when the whole body of the Dalmatians had harmoniously chosen the archdeacon Honoratus—whom he himself had converted from presbyter into deacon—to be set over them, and the pontiff had approved their decree, by the faction of Bishop Malchus, rector of the apostolic patrimony, and by military force, Maximus, involved in many crimes, invaded the episcopate of the city of Salona. Hearing which, Gregory forbade the bishops of Dalmatia and Zara, under great threat, to lay hands upon him.
But Maximus, who had invaded the episcopal see contrary to the canons, did not even fear to procure the priesthood contrary to God through simoniacal heresy, from bishops who were themselves excommunicated and corrupted by a price: an occasion of the times favoring him, arising from the cupidity and at the same time the insolence of Augustus, whom, by squandering the resources of the invaded church, he made so much the defender of his crimes that he not only frequently demanded of Gregory that he should leave Maximus's promotion undiscussed, but even that he should receive him with honor when he came to Rome to give satisfaction for the simoniacal heresy and other crimes. 10.
But Gregory, respecting no one's face against the truth, deprived this same Maximus first of the solemnities of the Mass, and afterwards of the communion of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, until he should present himself. But Maximus, supported by the imperial troops, after his excommunication both chanted the Masses and, quite unworthy, received the sacraments. Wherefore Gregory writes to the Empress Constantina, after many other things, saying: The bishop of the city of Salona was ordained without the knowledge of me or of my envoy; and a thing has been done which happened under no earlier princes.
Hearing which, I immediately sent to this same transgressor who was ordained inordinately, that he should by no means presume to celebrate the solemnities of the Mass at all, until I should first learn from the most serene lords whether they had themselves commanded this to be done. This I charged him under the imposition of excommunication: and, despising and scorning me, in the audacity of certain secular men—to whom, having stripped bare his own church, he is said to bestow many rewards—he presumes even to this day to perform the Masses, and would not come to me according to the command of the lords.
But I, obeying the command of their Piety, have so pardoned from my heart, to this same Maximus who was ordained without my knowledge, the fact that in his ordination he presumed to pass over me or my envoy, as if he had been ordained with me as its author. But his other perverse deeds—namely the bodily evils which I have come to know, whether that he was elected with money, or that, being excommunicated, he presumed to perform the Masses—for God's sake I cannot pass over uninvestigated; but I hope, and beseech the Lord, that nothing of those things which have been said may be able to be found concerning him, and that his cause may be concluded without peril to my soul:
yet before these things are known, the most serene lord, by a command hastening about, has ordered that I should receive him with honor when he comes. And it is very grievous that a man about whom such and so great things are reported should be honored, when he ought first to be inquired into and examined. And if the causes of bishops committed to me are disposed of at the court of the most pious lords by the patronage of others, what am I, unhappy, doing in this church? But that my bishops should despise me, and have recourse against me to secular judges, I give thanks to Almighty God, I impute it to my sins. This much, however, I briefly suggest, that I am waiting a little while; and if he shall long delay to come to me, I shall by no means cease to exercise canonical strictness upon him.
But in Almighty God I trust, that long life will be granted to the most pious lords, and that He may dispose of us under your hand not according to our sins, but according to the gifts of His grace. (Book V, letter 21.) 11. These things Gregory wrote to the dissembling Empress. But since this same Maximus remained in his presumption, he cut off the consecrators and all the bishops of Dalmatia and Zara from his communion under excommunication: so much so that they should not even mention the name of Maximus amid the sacred solemnities of the Mass. This being done, all were so dismayed in mind that, under the satisfaction of penance, they abandoned Maximus and begged pardon. Whence the most merciful pontiff, writing to Sabinianus, bishop of Zara:
Just as, he says, vengeance is by right owed to persevering guilt, so pardon is to be granted to those who repent. For as that former deed is wont deservedly to stir up anger against itself, so this latter is wont, in its very love, to propagate concord. And therefore, because the gravity of the priest, at length brought back to your mind, so afterwards held your Fraternity suspended from the fellowship and communion of Maximus—into which neglect had earlier driven you—that you would by no means suffer yourself to be content with that separation alone, unless, receiving yourself into the cloisters of a monastery, you should bewail what had formerly been committed: therefore do not doubt that you have been received into our grace and communion. For as much as the fault of your Charity had earlier offended us, so much has your penitence mitigated it.
(Book VIII, letter 10.) 12. And so Maximus, perceiving at long last that it is hard to kick against the goad, having abandoned the imperial supports, through the exarch Callinicus quite humbly begged of Gregory that penance and at the same time pardon be granted to him. Gregory himself, unwilling to have him wearied by a journey to Rome, committed his cause to be examined at Ravenna, writing to Constantius, bishop of Milan: Maximus, he says, the transgressor of the church of Salona, after he was able to obtain nothing through the greater powers of the world, betook himself to the lesser: and he strives to prevail over us both by the excess of his prayers and by the attestation of good works.
For which reason I have considered it inhuman if he who says that he as it were greatly fears me could in no respect find me somewhat more moderate: and therefore I have decreed that our most reverend brother and fellow-bishop Marinianus ought to take cognizance of his cause in the city of Ravenna. But if his person shall perhaps be held suspect, we wish that your Fraternity also, if it is not laborious for you, should take the trouble to travel to that same city, and to sit together with the aforesaid brother in the same judgment. But whatever shall please the holiness of you both, know that it will please me in every way, and I count your judgment as my own. (Book IX, letter 67.) 13.
Amid these things the transgressor Maximus, in the seventh year of his excommunication, after Gregory's chastisements and scourgings, returning to his heart, made for Ravenna, and cast himself down, stretched out within the city in the midst of the paved street, crying out and saying: I have sinned against God and against the most blessed pope Gregory. And while he was doing penance for three hours, the exarch Callinicus ran up, and Castorius, chartulary of the Roman Church, together with Bishop Marinianus, and they lifted him up from the pavement: and he even began to do a fuller penance in their presence. When Gregory heard this, he returned at once to mercy, writing to Bishop Marinianus, among other things:
What is the will—or rather the petition—of your Fraternity concerning the cause of Maximus, we have learned from the report of the bearer of these present letters, Castorius, our chartulary. And therefore, if this same Maximus shall, in the presence of you and our aforesaid chartulary, purge himself by an oath given concerning the simoniacal heresy, and concerning the other matters, being merely questioned before the body of Saint Apollinaris, shall answer that he is free: we commit the cause of him—concerning the fact that, being excommunicated, he presumed to perform the solemnities of the Mass—to the judgment of your Fraternity, by what penance such a fault ought to be purged. And therefore whatever pleases you according to God, dispose it with confidence, nor have any doubt concerning us.
For whatever shall have been ordained by you in this cause, we both gratefully accept and gladly admit. Nevertheless we exhort you to be solicitous, and so to temper those things which you perceive to be lamentable, that both you may grant him communion, if so it seems fit, and may preserve the character of ecclesiastical vigor by a fitting dispensation, as is proper. But we have instructed the above-written bearer in person as to what is to be done with him in your presence: from whom, learning all things subtly, so show yourself in all things that we may feel our own presence to have been in your solicitude. 14. Likewise to Castorius, notary and chartulary at Ravenna:
By how much you see both necessary causes enjoined upon you, by so much the more ought you to show yourself vigorous and solicitous. Accordingly, if Maximus of Salona, an oath having been given, shall affirm that he is not held by simoniacal heresy, and concerning the other matters, being merely questioned before the body of Saint Apollinaris, shall answer that he is innocent, and shall have done penance for his disobedience, as we have appointed: we wish that, for his consolation, your Experience should give him the letter which we have written to him, wherein we have signified that we have restored to him both our grace and our communion: because, just as it befits us to be severe toward those persisting in obstinacy, so again toward the humbled and penitent we ought not to deny a place for pardon. (Book
IX, letter 80.) 15. And when Maximus had humbly given satisfaction concerning all things at the body of the blessed Apollinaris according to Gregory's command, Castorius the chartulary presented to him a letter of consolation, asserting in the words of Gregory: Although, upon the culpable beginnings of your ordination, you added a grave evil through the fault of disobedience, we nevertheless, tempering the authority of the Apostolic See with that measure which was fitting, have never until now blazed forth against you as the cause demanded; but that our displeasure—which you yourself stirred up against yourself—should draw itself out longer, the solicitude entrusted to us vehemently distressed us, lest we should seem negligently to pass over certain unlawful things which we had heard concerning you.
If you consider these things well, you yourself, by deferring to give satisfaction through yourself, were confirming them, and from this were the more sharply inciting our zeal against you. But when at length, using salutary counsel, you humbly submitted yourself to the yoke of obedience, and your Charity, doing penance, purged itself with worthy satisfaction, as we appointed, understand that the grace of fraternal charity is restored to you, and rejoice that you have been received into our fellowship: because, just as it befits us to be strict toward those persevering in guilt, so to be kindly toward those who repent, unto pardon. After therefore your Fraternity knows that it has restored to itself the communion of the Apostolic See, let it send a person to us, who may receive the pallium to be conveyed to you according to custom.
For just as we do not permit unlawful things to be perpetrated, so we do not deny those things which are of custom. But although the dispensation of our office has called us to grant these things, nevertheless the petition of our sweetest and most excellent son, the lord Callinicus the exarch, that we should deal more mildly with you, greatly urged us on; whose most dear will we neither have endured, nor were we able, to sadden. (Book IX, letter 8.) 16.
Moreover the most greedy and most grasping emperor, who used most frequently to defraud, contrary to the most ancient customs, of their donatives the soldiers of the legions—as the history of the Romans relates—perceiving that Gregory, against all the tumults of the world, had utterly no need of the imperial defenses by whose support he boasted that he had raised this man to the citadel of the pontificate: nay rather, that by canonical authorities and by the virtues of his own holiness and prudence, Christ being favorable, he prevailed over all who savor of high things: turned himself more and more to hatred and to the disparagement of his fame, reproaching with crafty assertions the liberality of the pontiff, because he had distributed both ecclesiastical and public grain to the famished soldiers.
To him Gregory—as one who attributed his own advancement to the divine judgment, in whose hand indeed the hearts of kings, abiding there, are inclined wherever He wills (Prov. xxi), and not to fleeting human favors—contradicting with free voice, broke him and disfigured him with these responses, and moreover terrified him by discoursing somewhat concerning the future judgment of God: In his most serene commands, he says, the Piety of the lords, while it strove to reprove me concerning certain matters, by sparing me spared me not at all. For in them he calls me a fool, under the term of urban simplicity. For in Sacred Scripture, when simplicity is taken in a good sense, it is often watchfully associated with prudence or with rectitude. Whence also of blessed Job it is written:
He was a man simple and upright (Job i, 1). And the blessed Apostle Paul admonishes, saying: Be simple in evil, and prudent in good (Rom. xvi, 19). And Truth Himself, through His own person, admonishes in the Gospel, saying: Be prudent as serpents, and simple as doves (Matt. x, 16), judging it altogether useless if either prudence be lacking to simplicity, or simplicity to prudence. Therefore, that He might make His servants instructed for all things, He willed them to be both simple as doves and prudent as serpents, so that in them the cunning of the serpent might sharpen the simplicity of the dove, and the simplicity of the dove might temper the cunning of the serpent.
I therefore, who in the most serene commands of the lords am declared simple—as one deceived by the cunning of Ariulf, with prudence not added—it stands beyond doubt that I am called a fool, which I too myself confess to be so. For if your Piety should be silent about this, the very causes cry it out. For I, if I had not been a fool, would by no means have come to endure these things which I suffer in this place amid the swords of the Lombards. But in that matter which I reported concerning Ariulf—that with his whole heart he was ready to come over to the commonwealth—since I am not believed, I am even reproached as having lied. But even though I am not a priest, I know that this is a grievous injury to a priest, that, serving the truth, he should be believed deceitful.
And I have long known that Nordulf was believed more than I, Leo more than I. And now credence is given to those who seem to be in the middle, more than to my assertions. And indeed, if the captivity of my land were not increasing through daily moments, I would gladly keep silent, content amid the contempt and mockery of myself. But this vehemently afflicts me, that from the same source whence I bear the charge of falsehood, thence Italy is daily led captive under the yoke of the Lombards; and while in nothing is credence given to my suggestions, the forces of the enemy monstrously increase. This nevertheless I suggest to the most pious lord, that he may think of me whatever evils he pleases;
but concerning the utility of the commonwealth and the cause of the deliverance of Italy, let him not readily lend pious ears to just anyone, but let him trust deeds rather than words. And let our lord not too quickly grow indignant with priests out of earthly power, but out of excellent consideration, for the sake of Him whose servants they are, let him so rule over them that he may also render them due reverence. For in the divine words priests are sometimes called gods, sometimes angels. And through Moses it is said of him who is to be brought to an oath: Bring him to the gods (Exod. xxii, 8), that is, to the priests. And again it is written: You shall not disparage the gods (ibid. xxxiii), that is, the priests. And the prophet says:
'The lips of the priest keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth, for he is the angel of the Lord of hosts' (Malachi 2:7). What wonder is it, then, if your Piety deigns to honour those to whom God Himself, bestowing honour upon them in His own word, gives even the name of angels or of gods? The ecclesiastical history likewise bears witness that, when accusations against bishops had been presented in writing to the prince Constantine of pious memory, he received indeed the documents of accusation, but summoning the very bishops who had been accused, he burned before their eyes the documents he had received, saying: 'You are gods, established by the true God. Go, and settle your causes among yourselves;'
for it is not fitting that we should judge gods.' Yet in this saying, O pious lord, he conferred more upon himself out of humility than upon them by the reverence he showed. For before him there were pagan princes in the commonwealth who, not knowing the true God, worshipped gods of wood and stone, and nevertheless rendered the greatest honour to their priests. What wonder is it, then, if a Christian emperor deigns to honour the priests of the true God, when the pagans, as we have said, knew how to bestow honour upon priests who served gods of wood and stone? These things I urge upon the piety of my lords not for my own sake, but for the sake of all priests. For I am a sinner, and man;
and because I daily and unceasingly offend against Almighty God, I suspect that in His fearful judgment I have some remedy, if I am unceasingly smitten with daily blows. And I believe that I render that same Almighty Lord the more favourable to you, the more strictly you afflict me who serve Him ill. For I had already received many blows, and, when my lords' commands came upon me, I found a consolation that I did not hope for. If I can, let me quickly enumerate these blows. First, that the peace was taken from me which I had made with the Lombards stationed in Tuscany, without any loss to the commonwealth. Then, the peace being broken, the soldiers were taken away from the city of Rome.
And indeed some were slain by the enemy, while others were stationed at Narni and Perugia; and in order that Perugia might be held, Rome was abandoned. After this a heavier blow was the coming of Agilulf, so that with my own eyes I saw Romans bound by ropes about the neck in the manner of dogs, being led away to be sold in Francia. And because we who were within the city, by God's protection, escaped his hands, an inquiry was made in what respect we might seem culpable — namely, why there had been a lack of grain, which in this city can by no means be kept in large quantity for long, as I have indicated more fully in another report.
And indeed, concerning myself I was in no way troubled, for with my conscience as witness I confess that I am prepared to suffer whatever adversities, provided only that I escape all these things with the salvation of my soul. But concerning the glorious men Gregory the prefect and Castorius the master of soldiers I was not a little afflicted; for they both neglected in no way to do everything that could be done, and endured most vehement labours of watches and of the guarding of the city during that same siege; and after all this they were struck by the grave indignation of my lords. Concerning whom I plainly understand that it is not their own deeds but my person that weighs upon them, since, because they had laboured together in tribulation, after their labour they are together in tribulation.
But as to the fact that my lords' piety holds over me that fearful and terrible judgment of Almighty God, I beg by that same Almighty Lord that they do this no further; for as yet we do not know who there is of what sort; and Paul the excellent preacher says: 'Judge not before the time, until the Lord come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts' (1 Corinthians 4:5). This, however, I say briefly, that as a sinner and unworthy I presume more upon the mercy of the coming Jesus than upon the justice of your piety; and there are many things which men are ignorant of concerning His judgment, for perhaps the things which you praise He will reprove, and the things which you reprove, He will praise.
Amid all uncertainties, therefore, I turn back to tears alone, asking that that same Almighty God may both govern our most pious lord here with His own hand, and in that terrible judgment find him free from all offences; and may He so grant me to please men, if it be necessary, that I may not offend His eternal grace. (Book V, letter 40.) 17.
At length the emperor Maurice, marvelling at the freedom of speech of so great a pontiff and at his constancy in reproof — because he had terrified himself concerning the future judgment of God — was striving to come forth to exercise tyranny against him; but immediately, in that same year, a certain man clad in monastic garments, moved by a certain divine power, seized a sword in his right hand, and carrying it drawn from the forum as far as the bronze statue of the gladiator, foretold that the emperor would die by the sword before all. When Maurice heard this, he restrained himself from inflicting tyranny upon Gregory, and he feared the divine judgment which he had threatened against him — that he would soon undergo it — all the more, the more he believed that Gregory could not lie. 18.
Therefore he soon sent prayers composed in writing, both to Gregory himself and to all the patriarchs, bishops, and monks of the cities and of the deserts, together with much money, wax-tapers, and incense, entreating this above all: that they should beseech the Lord that in this world he might receive the deserts of his evils, if only he might be worthy to be redeemed from the torments to come. And when he himself also, very vehemently and for a long time, asked this with tears, one night as he slept, he saw himself standing before a great multitude, beside the bronze gate of the palace, before a bronze statue of the Saviour. Then a terrible voice came forth from the very likeness of the incarnate Word, saying: 'Give up Maurice.'
And the ministers of judgment, seizing him, placed him beside the umbilicus of the boy that was there. To whom the same voice of the likeness said: 'Where do you wish that I repay you the evils which you have perpetrated in this world?' He answered: 'Lover of men, O Lord, and just Judge, requite them to me here rather, and not in the world to come.' At once the divine voice commanded that Maurice and his wife Constantina, with their sons and daughters and all his kindred, be handed over to the soldier Phocas. Waking, therefore, Maurice sent the chamberlain, and summoned to himself Philippicus his son-in-law, whom he had for some time suspected of wishing to snatch away the empire for himself.
But he, supposing that he was to be destroyed on account of the suspicion, called his wife Gordia and, as though he would not see her again, bade her a last farewell; and having received the sacrament of communion, he came to the palace, and entering the emperor's bedchamber, fell down at his feet. But the emperor, rising to him, nevertheless fell down at his feet in turn, saying: 'Forgive me, I beg, for now indeed, taught by a divine revelation, I have learned that you have committed nothing against me of that which I suspected. But if you know anyone in our ranks who is wont to be called Phocas, tell me.' And Philippicus, long reflecting within himself, said: 'I know one Phocas, who was lately named procurator by the army and was opposing your rule.'
But when Maurice inquired concerning the character of that man, Philippicus said: 'He is indeed young and rash, yet timid.' And Maurice said: 'If he is timid, then surely he is also a murderer.' And while he was wavering over such a matter, on the morrow the messenger, returning from the hermits to whom he had carried the emperor's prayers, brought back the answer, saying: 'God, having received your penitence, will save your soul, and will set you with the saints together with your whole house; but from the empire you shall fall with ignominy and peril.' 19. Hearing which, Maurice, glorifying God, held fast to penitence;
but so far did he not withdraw from the covetousness of avarice, that with deadly letters he pressed upon Peter the general that the army should winter in perilous places, and, having crossed the Danube, should perilously seek their food for themselves from the region of the Slavs, lest, that is, they should eat the public provisions. And he, having summoned the taxiarchs, said: 'The emperor's commands seem to me exceedingly grievous, ordering the Romans to winter in a foreign land. For not to obey them is savage, and again to obey them is most savage. Avarice brings forth no good, since it is the mother of all evils; sickening with it, the Emperor becomes to the Romans the cause of these greatest evils.'
The army, therefore, having heard this through the taxiarchs, turned to sedition, and, having raised Phocas upon a shield through a centurion, they acclaimed him exarch; and, the general being put to flight, they directed a message to Theodosius the emperor's son and to Germanus his father-in-law, that one of them should undertake to rule over them. They in no way consented, but rather reported this to Maurice. But he wished to destroy Germanus, who, because he had fled into the Church, scourged his own son as a betrayer of his counsel, and sending mutes to drag him out from that same church, was never permitted to do so; rather, torn with many insults by the people, he was called a Marcionist heretic. And a grave tumult being stirred up within Constantinople.
Maurice, in disguised attire, embarked by night with his wife and sons upon a swift ship; and fleeing, he came to Saint Autonomus. But Phocas, coming with the army to the seventh mile, was made emperor; and by him Maurice, together with his wife, sons, and daughters, was ordered near Chalcedon and, just as had been foretold to him, was beheaded. And because the prayer of Gregory, by which he had asked that he be found free from all offences in the terrible judgment of God, could not be void, that same Maurice received what he had deserved, and, blessing God amid all his misfortunes, deserved to be freed from everlasting punishment. 20.
Therefore, on the seventh day before the Kalends of May, in the sixth indiction, the image of Phocas and of Leontia, the augusti, was brought to Rome with their gracious letters. And after it had been acclaimed by the clergy and senate in the basilica of Julius, by Gregory's order it was placed in the oratory of Saint Caesarius established in the Lateran palace. He also wrote back thus to the emperor Phocas: 'Glory to God in the highest, who, according to that which is written, changes the times and transfers kingdoms (Daniel 2:21); and who has made this known to all, which He deigned to speak through His prophet, saying: That the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and to whomsoever He will, He gives it (Daniel',