To John, Subdeacon of Ravenna, on an Abbot, Gregory’s Writings and the Aqueducts

Gregory to John, and so on. [a]

Some monks from the monastery of the late abbot Claudius have come to me and petitioned that the monk Constantius be made their abbot. But I was strongly set against their petition, because they seemed to me to be altogether worldly-minded in seeking a very worldly man for their abbot. For I have learned that this same Constantius is eager to have property of his own, and this is the strongest evidence that he does not have the heart of a monk. I have learned, further, that he presumed to go alone, without any of his brothers with him, to a monastery in the province of Picenum. From this conduct of his we know that a man who walks without a witness does not live rightly. And how can he keep the rule for others who does not know how to keep it for himself? [b]

So, giving him up, they asked to have a certain cellarer named Maurus, to whose life and diligence there are many testimonies; the late abbot Claudius, among others, had also spoken in his praise. Let your experience, then, make careful inquiry. If his life is such as to fit him for a position of authority, have him ordained abbot by our brother and fellow bishop Marinianus. But if there is anything decidedly against him, and they cannot find any suitable person in their own community, let them choose someone from elsewhere, and let the one they choose be made abbot. Further, be sure by all means to tell our brother and fellow bishop whom I have named to put down with the utmost earnestness the holding of property of their own by four or five of the monks of the monastery, which it has so far proved impossible to correct, and to hasten to cleanse this monastery of such a plague. For if monks hold private property there, neither harmony nor love can last in this community. What, indeed, is a monk’s way of life but a despising of the world? How, then, do they despise the world who seek gold while placed in a monastery? So let your experience proceed in such a way that the ordering of the place is not put off, and no complaint on this subject reaches us any more. [c]

Furthermore, my late and most dear son Claudius had heard me say something about Proverbs, the Song of Songs, the Prophets, and also about the Books of Kings and the Heptateuch, which because of my ill health I was unable to set down in writing. So that these things would not be forgotten, he had dictated them to be copied out according to his own understanding of their meaning, intending to bring them to me at a suitable time, so that they might be dictated more correctly. For when he read me what he had written, I found that the sense of what I had said had been changed very much for the worse. It is necessary, then, that your experience, without any excuse or delay, go to his monastery and assemble the brothers, and that they produce, fully and truthfully, whatever papers on the various Scriptures he had brought there. Take them, and send them to me with all possible speed. [d]

As for your return, since I have learned that you have run into serious trouble, we will consider it by and by. Further, I have not been pleased to hear what certain persons have told me: that our most reverend brother and fellow bishop Marinianus has my comments on the blessed Job read publicly at the vigils. For this is not a work for the people, and it brings unlearned hearers hindrance rather than progress. Tell him instead to have the comments on the Psalms read at the vigils, which shape the minds of people living in the world to good conduct. For indeed I do not wish, while I am in this flesh, that what I may have said should be readily made known to people. I took it badly that Anatolius the deacon, of most beloved memory, gave the lord emperor, at his request and command, the book of the Pastoral Rule, which my most holy brother and fellow bishop Anastasius of Antioch translated into the Greek language. I was told by letter that it pleased him greatly; but it greatly displeased me that those who have what is better should be occupied with what is least. [e]

Further, in the third part of the blessed Job, at the verse where it is written, “I know that my Redeemer lives,” I suspect that our brother and fellow bishop Marinianus, whom I have named, has a faulty copy. For in the copy in our bookcase this passage reads differently from what I find in the copies others have. So I have had this passage corrected, so that our often-named brother may have it as it stands in our bookcase. For there are four words whose absence from the passage may cause the reader no little difficulty. Carry out all these things thoroughly and quickly. And if you can do nothing with the most excellent exarch, show that you have not neglected to do what is in your power. [g]

What shall I say about the place of Albinus, on which the answer given us is plainly contrary to justice? You ought, however, to consider the case attentively. Furthermore, a little while ago we had instructed your experience to deal with our most eminent son the prefect, so that the care of the aqueducts might be entrusted to Augustus the vice-count, since he is in every way a diligent and energetic man. And you have put off the business so long that you have not even told us what you have done. So even now hasten with all earnestness to deal with our same most eminent son, so that the aqueducts may be entrusted entirely to this most distinguished man, and he may to some extent succeed in repairing them. For these aqueducts are so scorned and neglected that unless greater attention is given to them, they will fall into utter ruin within a short time. Since you know, then, how necessary this business is, and how useful to the whole community, you must do your very best to have it entrusted, as we have said, to this man for his careful attention. Given in the month of January, in the fifth indiction. [h]