To Maximus, the Usurper at Salona

Gregory to Maximus, usurper in Salona. [a] Even if the merits of a man’s life were otherwise such as to put no obstacle in the way of his ordination to priestly offices, the crime of canvassing for office is in itself condemned by the severest strictness of the canons. Now we have been told that you, while unworthy in your life, have forced your way into the order of the priesthood, which all men should revere, having either obtained by trickery, or pretended to have, an order from the most pious princes. This we believed without any hesitation, since your life and age are not unknown to us, and further because we know the mind of our most serene lord the emperor: he is not used to involving himself in the cases of priests, so that he may not be weighed down in any way by our sins. An unheard-of wickedness is also spoken of. Even after our prohibition, which was pronounced under pain of excommunication for you and for those who should ordain you, you are said to have been brought forward by a military force, and presbyters, deacons and other clergy are said to have been beaten. We can by no means call this proceeding a consecration, since it was celebrated by excommunicated men. Since, then, you have violated so great a dignity, the dignity of the priesthood, without any precedent, we command as follows. Until I have learned from the letters of our lords, or of our representative at their court, that you were ordained under a true order and not one obtained by trickery, you and those who ordained you are by no means to presume to handle anything belonging to the priestly office, and you are not to approach the service of the holy altar until you have heard from us again. But if you presume to act against this order, be anathema from God and from the blessed Peter, prince of the apostles, so that your punishment may be an example to the other catholic churches too, as they see the judgment passed on you. In the month of May, in the twelfth indiction. [b]