To Anastasius, Bishop of Antioch, in His Troubles

Gregory to Anastasius, patriarch of Antioch. [a] I have received the letter of your most dear blessedness, which flowed with tears instead of words. In it I saw a cloud flying high, as clouds do. But though it carried a darkness of sorrow with it, I could not easily discover at the start where it came from or where it was going, since, because of that very darkness, I did not fully understand its origin. Yet you, most holy one, should always call to mind what the preacher to the Gentiles says: “In the last times perilous times will be at hand, and there will be men who love themselves, greedy, puffed up,” and what follows, which it would be a burden for me to say and which you have no need to hear. See: in your holy old age your blessedness labors under many troubles. But consider whose seat you sit in. Is it not the seat of the one to whom the voice of the Truth said, “When you are old, another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go”? But as I say this, I remember that your holiness has toiled under many hardships even from your youth. So say with the good king, “I will think back over all my years in the bitterness of my soul.” [b]

For there are many, as you say in your letter, who make sport of our wounds. But we know who said, “You will mourn and weep, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful.” And there he at once adds, “But your sorrow will be turned into joy.” Since, then, we already suffer what was foretold, it remains for us to hope also for what was promised. As for those who, you say, themselves lay on the burdens they ought to have lightened, I know that they are the ones who come in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. But they must be endured all the more because they persecute us not only with a malicious mind but also in a religious guise. And as for their wanting to have for themselves, above others, what it would not be right for them to have even together with their brothers, we are not at all disturbed by this. For we trust in Almighty God that those who desire what belongs to others will all the sooner be stripped even of what is their own. For we know who said, “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled.” And again it is written, “Before a fall the heart is lifted up.”

But in these days, I find, new wars of heretics are arising. I have written to your blessedness about them before. They go so far as to try to set aside the prophets, the Gospels, and all the sayings of the fathers. But while your holiness lives, we trust in the favor of our Protector that their mouths, which have been opened against the solid truth, will all the sooner be stopped. For however sharp the swords used against it, they break and spring back when they strike the rock. Moreover, by the great favor of Almighty God there is this: among those who are divided from the teaching of holy church there is no unity, since “every kingdom divided against itself will not stand.” And holy church is always more thoroughly equipped in her teaching when she is attacked by the questionings of heretics. So what the psalmist said of God, against heretics, is fulfilled: “They are divided from the wrath of his face, and his heart has drawn near.” For while they are divided in their wicked error, God brings his heart near to us, because, taught by their contradictions, we learn to understand him more thoroughly. [e]

Further, I shrink from telling your blessedness what evils we suffer from the swords of the barbarians and from the perversity of judges, for fear of increasing your groaning, which I ought to lessen by consolation. But in all these things the teachings of our Master comfort me. He says, “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have trouble.” For I consider to whom it was said, “This is your hour, and the power of darkness.” If, then, the hour of light will come afterward, since it is said to the elect, “You are the light of the world,” and as it is written, “The righteous will rule over them in the morning,” then whatever we suffer in the hour of the power of darkness is not to be mourned. [f]

Your most dear holiness also tells me that you would have liked, if it had been possible, to talk with me without paper and pen, and you grieve that a distance almost as great as that between East and West lies between us. But what I feel, I declare to be true: on paper your soul speaks to me without paper, since in the words of your holiness love alone sounds. And we who, by the gift of Almighty God, are joined together in the bond of love are not divided by distance of place. Why, then, do you ask to be given the wings of a dove covered with silver, when you already have them? For these wings are the love of God and of our neighbor. By them holy church flies aloft, and by them she rises above everything earthly. If your holiness did not have them, you would not have come to me by letter with such great love. [g] Further, I beg you to pray earnestly for the weakness of my heart, so that Almighty God, through your intercession, may defend my soul from all evils, and all the sooner snatch me away from the hurricanes of this time, which are so many, and bring me to the shores of eternal rest.

I have received all the very rich blessings you sent me, you who as a man of God are poor in spirit, saying of them, “For what can a poor man give but what is poor?” But if you had not been poor through a spirit of humility, your blessings would not have been rich. May Almighty God guard you from all evils by his protection; and since your life is very necessary to all good people, may he bring you, after many years still to come, to the joys of the heavenly homeland. [h]