To John, Bishop of Constantinople, on the Beaten Presbyter

Gregory to John, bishop of Constantinople. Though consideration of the case moves me, love also urges me to write, since I have written once and again to my most holy brother the lord John and have received no letter from him. For someone else, a layman, has written to me under his name. If those letters really were his, then I have not been watchful, having believed something of him far different from what I have found. For I had written about the case of the most reverend presbyter John, and about the questions of the monks of Isauria, one of whom, a priest, has been beaten with clubs in your church. And your most holy fraternity, as the signature of the letter shows, has written back to me claiming not to know what I wrote about. I was utterly astonished at this reply, and turned it over silently in my mind: if he speaks the truth, what can be worse than that such things should be done against the servants of God, and that even he who was close at hand should not know? For what excuse can a shepherd have if the wolf devours the sheep and the shepherd does not know it? But if your holiness knew both what I referred to in my letter and what had been done, whether against John the presbyter or against Athanasius, monk of Isauria and presbyter, and still wrote to me, “I do not know,” what can I answer to this, since the Truth says through his Scripture, “The mouth that lies kills the soul”? I ask you, most holy brother: has that great abstinence of yours come to this, that by a denial you would hide from your brother what you knew had been done? Would it not have been better for meat to go into that mouth as food than for falsehood to come out of it to deceive a neighbor? Especially when the Truth says, “It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a person.” [a]

But far be it from me to believe anything of the kind of your most holy heart. Those letters bore your name at their head, but I do not think they were yours. I had written to the most blessed lord John, but I believe that that intimate of yours has replied: that young man who has as yet learned nothing about God; who does not know the tender heart of love; who is accused by everyone of his wicked doings; who daily lays traps for the deaths of various people by means of hidden wills; who neither fears God nor respects people. Believe me, most holy brother, you must correct this man first, so that by the example of those who are near you, those who are not near may be better corrected. Do not listen to his tongue. He ought to be guided by the counsel of your holiness, not your holiness swayed by his words. For if you listen to him, I know that you cannot have peace with your brothers. For I, as my conscience is my witness, wish to quarrel with no one, and I avoid it with all my strength. And though I greatly desire to be at peace with all people, it is especially so with you, whom I love greatly, if only you are yourself the man I knew. For if you do not keep the canons, and wish to tear up the decrees of the fathers, I do not know who you are. So act, then, most holy and most dear brother, that we may know each other again, lest, if the ancient enemy should stir the two of us to take offense, he should kill many through his most dreadful victory.

As for me, to show that I seek to do nothing in a proud spirit: if that young man I spoke of before did not hold the highest place of wrongdoing with your fraternity, I could meanwhile have passed over in silence what the canons put ready to my hand, and could have sent back to you with confidence the persons who came to me at first, knowing that your holiness would receive them with love. But even now I say: either receive these same persons, restoring them to their orders and leaving them in peace; or, if perhaps you are unwilling to do this, keep the decrees of the fathers and the rulings of the canons in their case, and put aside all dispute with me. But if you do neither, we for our part are unwilling to start a quarrel, yet we will not shun one if it comes from your side. Moreover, your fraternity knows well what the canons say about bishops who want to inspire fear by blows. For we have been made shepherds, not persecutors. And the excellent preacher says, “Argue, appeal, rebuke, with all patience and teaching.” But new and unheard of is this preaching that exacts faith by blows. But I need not speak at length by letter about these things, since I have sent my most beloved son, the deacon Sabinianus, as my representative in church business, to the threshold of our lords, and he will speak with you about everything in more detail. Unless you are disposed to quarrel with us, you will find him ready for all that is just. I commend him to your blessedness, so that he at least may find that lord John whom I knew in the royal city.