To Fantinus, Defensor of Palermo, on the Synagogues Seized by Bishop Victor

Gregory to Fantinus, and so on. [a]

A little while ago we wrote to Victor, our brother and fellow bishop, because certain Jews had complained, in a petition presented to us, that synagogues with their guest rooms in the city of Palermo had been unreasonably seized by him. We told him to keep away from their congregation until it could be established whether this had been done justly, so that it might not appear that the injury had been alleged by them merely on their own word. And indeed, considering his office as a priest, we could not easily believe that our brother had done anything improper. But we now find from the report of Salarius, our notary, who was there afterward, that there had been no reasonable cause for seizing those synagogues, and that they had been consecrated unwisely and rashly. [b]

So, since what has once been consecrated can no longer be given back to the Jews, we instruct your experience to see to it that our brother and fellow bishop pays the price at which our sons, the glorious Venantius the patrician and Urbicus the abbot, value the synagogues themselves, together with the guest rooms that are under them or joined to their walls, and the gardens next to them. In this way what he has had seized may belong to the church, and the Jews may in no way be oppressed or suffer any injustice. Moreover, let any books or ornaments that have been taken away be searched for likewise. And if any have plainly been taken, we want them also to be returned without any evasion. For just as they ought to have no license, as we ourselves have already written, to do anything in their synagogues beyond what is laid down by law, so neither should any damage or cost be brought on them against justice and fairness.