To the Bishops Peter, Domitian and Elpidius, on Excessive Praise of Cyriacus

Gregory to Peter, Domitian, and Elpidius, bishops. I rejoice exceedingly that you welcomed with great joy the ordination of the most holy Cyriacus, my brother and fellow priest. And since we have learned from the preaching of Paul the apostle that “if one member rejoices, all the members rejoice with it,” you must consider with how great delight I rejoice with you in this matter, in which not one member but many members of Christ have rejoiced. Nevertheless, as far as I have been able to consider your fraternity’s letters on a quick reading, great joy has carried you away into excessive praise of this brother of mine. For you say that he has appeared in the church like the sun, so that you all cried out, “This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Yet surely this is a promise of the life to come, since it is said, “The righteous will shine like the sun.” For whatever virtue a person may excel in, how can he shine like the sun while still in the present life? In this life “the perishable body weighs down the soul, and the earthly tent burdens the mind that ponders many things.” In it “we see another law in our members, warring against the law of our mind and bringing us into captivity to the law of sin which is in our members.” In it “we have in ourselves the sentence of death, so that we should not trust in ourselves.” In it the prophet too cries aloud, “Fear and trembling have come upon me, and darkness has covered me.” For it is also written, “A wise man remains like the sun; a fool changes like the moon.” There the comparison with the sun is not made for the splendor of its brightness, but for perseverance in doing good. But the good beginning of his ordination could not yet be praised by you for perseverance. And as for your saying that you cried out, “This is the day which the Lord has made,” you ought to have considered of whom this is said. For what comes before it is this: “The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.” And of this same stone it is at once added, “This is the day which the Lord has made.” For he who, for the strength of the building, is called a stone, is called the Day for the grace of enlightenment. And he is also said to be made, because he became incarnate. We are told to rejoice and be glad in him, because he has overcome the darkness of our error in us by the light of his excellence. So that expression, which is fitting for the Creator alone, ought not to have been used in praise of a creature. [a]

But why should I find fault with these things, knowing as I do how joy carries away the mind? For your love produced great gladness in you, and the tongue followed that gladness of heart with applause. This being so, the praise that love found ready to hand cannot now be called a fault. But about my most holy brother, something brief should have been said to me that I could accept with satisfaction. For I knew him to be one who has long given me in particular this proof of his greatness: that, though busy with so many affairs of the church’s administration, he has kept a calm heart in the midst of turbulent crowds and has always held himself in check with a gentle bearing. And this is indeed no small commendation of a great and steady mind, not to have been thrown into disturbance among the disturbances of business.

Further, your fraternity should be earnest in constant prayer, that Almighty God may guard in our brother and fellow priest named above what has been well begun, and always lead him on to what is better still. This should always be the prayer of you, most holy ones, and of the people under him. For the merits of rulers and of peoples are so bound up with each other that the lives of those under authority are often made worse by the fault of those set over them, and the lives of pastors often decline because of what the peoples deserve. The Pharisees are evidence that the wrongdoing of one who is over others does very great harm to those under him. Of them it is written, “You shut up the kingdom of heaven against people. For you neither go in yourselves, nor allow those who are entering to go in.” And we see from what David did that the fault of the peoples does much harm to the life of pastors. For he, praised by the testimony of God, he who knew heavenly mysteries, was puffed up by the swelling of a hidden self-exaltation and sinned in numbering the people; and yet the punishment for David’s sin fell on the people. Why was this? Because in truth the hearts of rulers are shaped according to what the peoples under them deserve. Now the righteous Judge rebuked the sinner’s fault by a punishment on those on whose account he sinned. But because he himself was not free from fault, having grown proud by his own will, he too received the punishment of his fault. For the fierce wrath that struck the people in body also laid the ruler of the people low with deep sorrow of heart. So weigh these things on both sides. And just as he who is set over you and over the people should intercede for all, so all of you should pray for his way of life and conduct, so that before Almighty God you may profit by imitating him, and he may be helped by your merits. Further, let us all with one accord pray continually, with much weeping and with all our strength, for our most serene lords and their devout children, that protecting heavenly grace may guard their lives and bow the necks of the nations to the Christian empire. [d]