To Venantius, Former Monk, Patrician of Syracuse

Gregory to Venantius, and so on. [a]

Many foolish people have supposed that, if I were raised to the rank of bishop, I would refuse to speak to you or to keep up contact with you by letter. But this is not so. For I am compelled by the very necessity of my position not to keep silent. For it is written, “Cry aloud, do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet.” And again it is written, “I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; you shall hear the word from my mouth, and declare it to them from me.” And what follows, for the watchman or for the hearer, from the message being kept back or spoken is told at once: “If, when I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ you do not declare it to him, nor speak to him so that he may turn from his wicked way and live, the wicked man himself shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. Yet if you declare it to the wicked, and he does not turn from his iniquity and from his wicked way, he himself shall indeed die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your soul.” That is why Paul too says to the Ephesians, “My hands are clean today from the blood of all of you. For I have not shrunk from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.” He would not, then, have been clean of the blood of all, had he refused to declare to them the counsel of God. For when the pastor refuses to rebuke those who sin, there is no doubt that by keeping silent he kills them. [c]

So, compelled by this consideration, I will speak whether you like it or not; for with all my strength I desire either that you be saved or that I be rescued from your death. For you remember the state of life you were in, and you know what you have fallen to, without regard to the censure of heavenly strictness. Consider your fault, then, while there is time; dread, while you can, the severity of the Judge who is to come, so that you do not find it bitter then for having shed no tears to escape it now. Consider what is written: “Pray that your flight may not be in winter, or on the Sabbath day.” For the numbness of cold hinders walking in winter, and by the ordinance of the law it is not lawful to walk on the Sabbath day. So whoever wishes to flee from the wrath of the strict Judge only when he is no longer allowed to walk is trying to flee in winter or on the Sabbath day. So while there is time, while it is allowed, flee from a censure so greatly to be dreaded. Consider what is written: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor plan, nor wisdom, in the grave to which you are hurrying.”

You know from the witness of the Gospel that the divine severity accuses us for idle talk and demands a strict account of a useless word. Consider, then, what it will do for perverse deeds, if in its judgment it condemns some for talking. Ananias had vowed money to God, and afterward, overcome by the devil’s persuasion, he held it back. But you know by what death he was punished. If, then, he deserved the penalty of death who withdrew the money he had given to God, consider how great a penalty you will deserve in the divine judgment, who have withdrawn, not money, but yourself, from Almighty God, to whom you had devoted yourself in the monastic way of life. So if you will hear the words of my rebuke so as to follow them, you will come to know in the end how kind and sweet they are. See, I confess it: I speak mourning, and constrained by sorrow for what you have done. I can scarcely get the words out. And yet your mind, aware of its guilt, can hardly bear what it hears; it blushes, it is confused, it protests. If, then, it cannot bear the words of dust, what will it do at the judgment of the Creator? And yet I acknowledge the exceeding mercy of heavenly grace, in that it sees you fleeing from life and still keeps you for life; that it sees you acting proudly and still bears with you; that through its unworthy servants it brings you words of rebuke and warning. This is so great a thing that you ought to ponder anxiously what Paul says: “We urge you, brothers, not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, ‘At an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.’ See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation.”

But I know that when my letter arrives, friends will at once gather round you, your literary dependents will be called in, and advice about the purpose of life will be sought from the promoters of death. They love not you but what belongs to you, and tell you nothing but what may please you for the moment. For such, as you yourself remember, were those former advisers of yours who drew you on to commit so great a sin. To quote you something from a secular writer: “All things should be considered with friends, but the friends themselves should be considered first.” But if in your case you are looking for an adviser, take me, I beg you, as your adviser. For no one can be relied on more for advice than one who loves not what is yours, but you. May Almighty God make known to your heart with what affection and with what love my heart embraces you, though only so far as not to offend against divine grace. For I so attack your fault as to love your person; I so love your person as not to embrace the wickedness of your fault. If, therefore, you believe that I love you, come to the threshold of the apostles, and use me as an adviser. But if perhaps I am thought too keen in the cause of God, and am suspected because of the heat of my zeal, I will call the whole church together into counsel on this question. And whatever all think should be done for good, this I will in no way contradict, but will gladly carry out and sign what is decided in common. May divine grace keep you as you carry out what I have urged you to do. [e]