To Syagrius, Aetherius, Virgilius and Desiderius, Bishops of Gaul, on Simony and a Synod

Gregory to Syagrius of Autun, Aetherius of Lyons, Virgilius of Arles and Desiderius of Vienne, bishops of Gaul. Sent in identical copies. [a]

Our Head, who is Christ, has willed us to be his members for this purpose: that through the bond of love and faith he might make us one body in himself. It is right for us to cling to him in heart in such a way that, since without him we can be nothing, through him we may be able to be what we are called. Let nothing divide us from the stronghold of our Head, or, if we refuse to be his members, we may be left apart from him and wither like branches cut off from the vine. So, that we may be counted worthy to be the dwelling place of our Redeemer, let us remain in his love with complete earnestness of mind. For he himself says, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” But we cannot keep close to the author of all good unless we cut away from ourselves greed, which is the root of all evil. So by this present letter, which joins us to one another as though in the exchanged talk of a longed-for visit, we approach your fraternity in keeping with apostolic rules. Leaning on the rules of the fathers and the Lord’s commands, we mean to banish from the temple of faith greed, which is the service of idols, so as to allow nothing harmful and nothing disorderly to be in the house of the Lord. [b]

I must tell you that we have long heard it commonly reported that in the regions of Gaul sacred orders are conferred through the simoniac heresy. And it fills us with sorrow and disgust if money has any place in the offices of the church, and what is sacred is made worldly. Whoever sets out to buy this thing by paying a price is looking not to the office but to the title; he wants not to be a priest, but only to be called one. What, then? What comes of this, except that there is no testing of a man’s conduct, no care about his character, no inquiry into his life, and the only one counted worthy is the man who has the means to pay the price? So it follows, if the matter is weighed in a true balance, that when someone wickedly hurries to snatch a place of usefulness for the sake of empty glory, he is all the more unworthy for the very fact that he seeks the rank. Moreover, just as the man who refuses when he is invited and runs away when he is sought should be brought up to the sacred altar, so the man who asks for it of his own accord and pushes himself forward persistently should without doubt be turned away. For when someone strives in this way to climb to higher places, what does he do but shrink as he grows, and sink low within as he rises outwardly? So, dearest brothers, in ordaining priests let sincerity prevail; let there be simple consent with no buying and selling, and let a pure election be preferred, so that promotion to the highest place in the priesthood may be believed to come not from the votes of sellers but from the judgment of God. For that it is a grievous crime to wish to obtain or to sell the gift of God for a price, the authority of the Gospel bears witness. [c]

For when our Lord and Redeemer went into the temple, he overturned the seats of those who sold doves. What else is it to sell doves than to take a price for the laying on of hands, and to put up for sale the Holy Spirit, whom Almighty God gives to people? And the overturning of the seats plainly signifies that the priesthood of those who do this falls in the eyes of God. Yet the perversity of this wickedness still puts out its strength. For it drives those whom it tricks into buying to sell in their turn. And while no attention is paid to what the divine voice commands, “Freely you have received, freely give,” the result is that the sin grows, and is doubled in one and the same infection, that of the buyer and that of the seller. It is well known that this heresy crept into the church from a poisonous root before all others, and was condemned at its very beginning by the abhorrence of the apostles. Why, then, is it not guarded against? Why does no one consider that the blessing is turned into a curse for the man who is promoted in such a way that he becomes a heretic? [d]

For the most part, then, the enemy of souls, when he cannot slip into them what is plainly wrong, tries to trip them up by throwing over it, as it were, a show of piety. He persuades them, perhaps, that money ought to be taken from those who have it, so that there may be something to give to those who do not, if only in this way he can pour in deadly poisons hidden under the appearance of almsgiving. For the hunter would not deceive the wild animal, nor the bird catcher the bird, nor would the fisherman catch the fish, if the first two set their snares in plain view, or if the last did not have his hook hidden by the bait. By all means, then, the cunning of the enemy is to be feared and guarded against, or those he cannot overthrow by open temptation he may manage to kill more cruelly with a hidden weapon. Indeed, it is not to be counted almsgiving if what is given out to the poor was gained by unlawful dealings, since the man who takes wrongly with this intention, as though to give out well, is the worse for it rather than the better. The alms that please the eyes of our Redeemer are not those gathered in unlawful ways and from wrongdoing, but those given out of what has been granted to us and honestly acquired. So this too is certain: even if monasteries or hospitals or anything else are built with the money given for sacred orders, it brings no reward. For when a perverse man who has bought his rank is placed in a holy position, and for a payment appoints others in his own likeness, he destroys more by his evil administration than the one who took money from him for his ordination can build up. That we should not, then, try to gain anything by sin under the pretense of almsgiving, Holy Scripture plainly warns us, saying, “The sacrifices of the impious, which are offered from wickedness, are an abomination.” For whatever is offered from wickedness in God’s sacrifice does not appease the anger of Almighty God but provokes it. So again it is written, “Honor the Lord from your just labors.” Whoever, then, takes wrongly so that he may, as he supposes, give well, plainly does not honor the Lord. So it is also said through Solomon, “Whoever offers a sacrifice from the goods of the poor is like one who kills a son before his father’s eyes.” Now let us consider how great a father’s grief is if his son is killed before his eyes; and from this we easily understand how much God is grieved when a sacrifice is given to him out of plunder. So, most beloved brothers, committing the sins of the simoniac heresy under the pretense of almsgiving is something to be shunned above all. For it is one thing to give alms because of sins, and another to commit sins because of alms. [e]

We also include this report, which has reached our ears, as deserving no less abhorrence: that some men, puffed up with desire for rank, are tonsured when bishops die, and from being laymen are suddenly made priests. They shamelessly snatch at the leadership of the religious life before they have even learned to be soldiers. What good do we suppose these men will do those under them, when they are not afraid to take the place of masters before they have touched the threshold of being disciples? In such a case, even if a man were of unquestioned merit, he ought to be trained in the offices of the church by passing through the distinct orders. He should see what he is to imitate; he should be formed into the shape he is to keep; so that afterward, when he is chosen to show the way of life to those who stray, he may not stray himself. He should, then, be polished for a long time by religious meditation, so that he may be pleasing, and may shine like a candle set on a candlestick, in such a way that the opposing force of the winds driving against the kindled flame of his learning does not put it out but makes it grow. For since it is written, “Let them first be tested, and then let them serve,” much more ought he to be tested first who is taken as an intercessor for the people, lest bad priests become the cause of the people’s ruin. There can therefore be no excuse and no defense against this, since everyone clearly knows how anxious the holy and excellent teacher is that careful attention be paid to this matter, for he forbids a novice to come to sacred orders. But just as in those days a novice was one newly planted in the way of life of the holy faith, so now one is to be held a novice who has been suddenly planted in the religious habit and creeps forward to canvass for sacred ranks. Orders, then, should be climbed in order. For the man who seeks to reach the topmost height of a place by steep ascents, ignoring the steps that lead up to it, is courting a fall. And since the same apostle teaches his disciple, among other directions about sacred orders, that hands are to be laid hastily on no one, what could be more hasty, what more headlong, than to begin at the top, and for a man to start by being a bishop before he has been a minister? Whoever, then, wants to obtain the priesthood, not for the show of pride but to do good, should first measure his own strength against the burden he is to take up. Then, if he is not equal to it, he may hold back; and even if he thinks himself sufficient for it, he may approach it with fear. [f]

Further, it will not be beside the point if, besides the argument drawn from beings with reason, we draw one from our use of things without reason. Timber suitable for building is cut from the forests, yet the weight of the building is not laid on it while it is still green, but only after a delay of many days has dried out its greenness and made it fit for the use it is needed for. And if this precaution is ever neglected, the timber is soon broken by the mass laid on it, and the material provided for support brings about ruin. This is also why physicians, whose care is for the body, do not give certain remedies to the patient who needs them while they are freshly mixed, but leave them to steep for some time. For if anyone gives them before they are ready, there is no doubt that the means of health becomes a cause of danger. Let priests, then, learn in their office, those, that is, to whom the cure of souls is entrusted, to observe what men of various crafts take care to do under the teaching of reason; and let them hold back from ambition, if not out of fear, then at any rate out of sheer shame. But in case anyone should still wish to defend himself by pleading an evil custom, let your fraternity’s discernment restrain such men with the rein of reason, and not allow them to slip into unlawful acts. For whatever deserves punishment ought to be brought forward not as an example to imitate, but as something to correct.

Nor, further, can we allow you to pass carelessly over this other matter, which equally needs correcting. For what is the use of guarding everything else if harmful access is given to the enemy at one place? So let women be forbidden to live with those who are set in any sacred order. On this matter, so that the ancient enemy of the human race may not exult, it must be laid down by the consent of all that they may have no other women with them except those whom the sacred canons list. And though this ban may perhaps seem bitter for the moment to some, there is no doubt that afterward it will grow sweet through the very benefit it brings their souls, if the enemy is overcome in the very thing by which he might have overcome them. [g]

In this part of our care, too, we must not leave unmentioned what the fathers wisely ordained for the common good about holding councils throughout the dioceses. So, that there may be no dissension among brothers and no stirring up of discord between those set over others and those under them, priests must meet together. Then there can be discussion of the cases that arise and wholesome consultation about the practices of the church, so that, as what is past is corrected and what is to come is regulated, the Almighty Lord may be praised on every side by brothers of one mind. Know whose presence will be with you, since it is written, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them.” If, then, he deigns to be present where there are two or three, how much more will he not be missing where many priests have come together? And it is well known what the rules of the fathers lay down about holding a council twice a year. But in case some necessity does not allow this rule to be kept, we decree that one council at least is to meet once a year, with no excuse allowed, so that nothing wrong and nothing unlawful may be attempted while a council is expected. For people commonly hold back from what they know may displease the judgment of all, if not out of love of justice, at least out of fear of an inquiry. Let us, most beloved brothers, keep this practice so that it may be handed on to those who come after us; and let us meditate on all that is written in the sacred writings for our instruction, and urge everyone we can to follow it. For it is certain that if we attend with all our heart to these wholesome precepts, we escape every stain of vice; for while we lean on the things by which we are built up, we leave no room, surely, for deception. [h]

For the purposes mentioned above, therefore, we wish your fraternity, God willing, to assemble a synod. In it, through the agency of our most reverend brother and fellow bishop Aregius and our most beloved son Cyriacus, let everything that, as we said before, goes against the sacred canons be strictly condemned under the sentence of anathema: that is, that anyone should presume to give any payment for obtaining orders in the church, or take any for conferring them; or that anyone should dare to pass all at once from the lay state to a position of rule; or that any women should live with priests other than those allowed, as we said, by the sacred canons. On all these matters let our most reverend brother the bishop Syagrius, with the whole synod, take care to send us word of what has been done when our most beloved brother Cyriacus returns to us. Then, knowing exactly what has been decreed, with what safeguards and in what manner, we may give thanks without ceasing to Almighty God for your life and conduct. [i]