To All the Bishops of the Council of Byzacena, on Their Primate Crementius

Gregory to all, and so on. [a]

It is praiseworthy and wise to show due reverence and honor to superiors. In the same way, if anything in them needs correction, it belongs to uprightness and the fear of God not to put it off by looking the other way, so that disease may not begin to invade the whole body, which God forbid, because the sickness is not cured in the head. Now a considerable time ago certain things were reported to us about our brother Crementius, your primate, of a kind to pierce our heart with no slight sorrow. But under the pressure of various troubles, and especially because of the enemies raging around us, we have had no time to look into the matter. And since it is so serious that it ought by no means to be passed over without investigation, we hereby urge your fraternity, with all care and energy, to search out the real truth in every way, so that if these things are so, they may be cut off by canonical punishment, or, if they are false, our brother’s innocence may not lie for long under the wounds of a shameful report. So that there may be no idle sluggishness in the inquiry, we warn you that neither the interest, nor the favor, nor the flattery of any person whatever, nor anything else, should soften any of you as you sift what has been reported to us, or turn you from the path of truth. Gird yourselves instead, as priests should, to investigate the truth. For if anyone presumes to be slow or to show himself negligent in this matter, let him know that he will share in these crimes before Almighty God, since zeal for God does not move him to inquire fully into cases of monstrous wickedness. [b]