To Anastasius, Archbishop of Corinth, Announcing His Ordination

Gregory to Anastasius, and so on.

The more unsearchable the judgments of God are, the more they ought to be feared by human understanding. So mortal reason, unable to grasp them, must bow the neck of a humble heart beneath them, and follow with the obedient steps of the mind wherever the will of the Ruler may lead. I, then, considering that my weakness cannot reach to the height of the Apostolic See, would rather have declined this burden, so as not to fail in action through poor administration once I held pastoral rule. But since it is not for us to go against the will of the Lord who orders all things, I obediently followed the way in which it pleased the merciful hand of the Ruler to deal with me. [b]

For it was necessary that your fraternity should be told, even if the present opportunity had not come, how the Lord had been pleased that I, unworthy as I am, should preside over the Apostolic See. Since, then, reason required this to be done, and an opportunity has come through our sending to you the bearer of this letter, Boniface the defensor, we take care not only to offer your fraternity by letter the good wishes of love, but also to tell you of our ordination, as we believe you would wish us to do. So let your love, by a letter in reply, make us rejoice over the unity of the church and over welcome news of your own well-being, so that our bodily absence from each other, which the distance between us forces us to bear, may become a kind of presence through the exchange of letters.

We also urge you on this matter. We have sent the bearer named above on certain necessary business to the feet of our most clement prince, and the uncertainty of the times commonly produces many hindrances on the way. So let your priestly affection give him whatever he may need, whether provisions for his journey by land or the means of going by sea, so that through God’s mercy he may be able to finish his intended journey all the more quickly.