To Donus, Bishop of Messina, on Burial Fees and Detained Slaves

Gregory to Donus, and so on. [a] Our son Faustinus, a most eloquent man, has come to us and complained that his late father Peltrasius left to your church, for his burial, some things that were not his own. He knows himself, and we have heard, what the secular law is in such a case: the heir is bound to pay if his father has bequeathed what was not his. But since we know that your fraternity lives by the law of God and not of the world, it seems very unjust to me that your fraternity should keep an amber cup, and a boy who is said to belong to a certain church on his property in the diocese of Cosenza. For when the most reverend Palumbus, now a bishop but then archdeacon, had testified that things were as I have said, you certainly ought to have taken his word and given back what was not your own. Further, in my opinion you ought to have considered the gold brooch, which would be his whole estate if anything was to remain to support those he left behind, and to have accepted that at the time for his burial. [b]

In any case, you know our ruling: we have entirely forbidden the old custom in our church, and we do not consent to anyone being allowed to acquire a burial place for a human body for a price. For if the men of Shechem, who were, as we suppose, Gentiles, offered Abraham a burial place free of charge, so that the dead Sarah might be buried in a place of her own, and could hardly be persuaded by his great insistence to accept a price for her grave, ought we, who are called bishops, to charge anything for burying the bodies of the faithful? This, then, we leave to the judgment of your fraternity.

The same most eloquent man also complains that Sisinnius, the defensor of your church, unreasonably keeps certain slaves in his possession. He says that the bishop Maximianus of holy memory decided that whoever was holding them should give them up, but that Sisinnius has so far deliberately put off returning them. So we urge your fraternity, if the case has clearly been judged, to see that what was ordered is carried out. Otherwise, have someone appointed to act in the case, and have him go to the territory of our brother and fellow bishop Secundinus for judgment. Then, once his sentence has declared to whom the slaves belong, neither will the one side seem to have been wronged nor the other bear a grudge. [e]