To Gennadius, Exarch of Africa, on Wrongs Done at Turris

Gregory to Gennadius, and so on. [a]

The bowed necks of your enemies bear witness that you keep the fear of God always before your eyes and pursue justice. But so that the grace of Christ may keep your glory in the same prosperity, check with prompt prohibition, as you have been accustomed to do, whatever you find being done wrongfully, so that, armed with the weapons of justice, you may overcome hostile attacks by the power of faith, which is the summit of all virtue. [b]

Now Marinianus, our brother and fellow bishop of the city of Turris, has told us in tears that the poor of his city are being harassed everywhere and burdened with costs in the form of gifts or payments. Further, the religious of his church are enduring serious harassment from the men of Theodore, the master of the soldiers, and are suffering bodily injuries. This thing is breaking out to such a pitch that (shocking to say) they are thrown into prison, and he himself is also seriously hindered by that glorious person in cases that concern his church. How opposed such things are, if indeed they are true, to the good order of the state, you yourselves know. And since it is fitting for your excellency to put all these things right, I greet your eminence and demand that you let them be done no more. Order him strictly to stop harming the church; let no one be aggrieved by burdens laid on them, or payments, beyond what reason allows; and if there are any lawsuits, let them be decided not by the terror of power but by the order of law. I pray you, then, with the Lord inspiring you, so to correct all these things by the threat of your command that the glorious Theodore and his men may refrain from such things, if not out of regard for what is right, then at least out of the fear your order inspires. In this way, to the increase of your good name and your reward, justice with liberty may flourish in the regions committed to your charge.