To Honoratus, Archdeacon of Salona

Gregory to Honoratus, archdeacon of Salona. Not long ago the instructions of ourselves and of our predecessor reached your love, acquitting you of the charges falsely brought against you, and we ordered you to be restored to the order of your rank without any dispute. But after no great while you came again to the city of Rome, complaining of certain improper proceedings among you over the disposal of sacred vessels. And while we had people here with us who could have answered your objections, Natalis, your bishop, departed this life. So we have judged it necessary to confirm further, by this present letter, those same instructions of our predecessor and of our own which, as has been said, we sent not long ago for your acquittal. Therefore, acquitting you fully of all the charges brought against you, we wish you to continue without any dispute in the rank of your order, so that the question raised by the man named above may not harm you in the least on any pretext. Moreover, as to the counts of your complaint, we have strictly charged Antoninus, subdeacon and rector in your parts of the patrimony of the holy church over which, by God’s providence, we preside: if he finds church persons involved in them, he is to decide these cases with the utmost strictness and authority. But if the business concerns persons whom the force of church jurisdiction cannot reach, he is to lodge the proofs on each separate count among the public records and send them to us without any delay, so that, being accurately informed, we may know how, with Christ’s help, to settle the matter. [a]