To Anthemius the Subdeacon, on Monks Who Leave Their Monasteries

Gregory to Anthemius, and so on. [a]

John, our brother and fellow bishop, in a memorandum sent to us by his cleric Justus, has told us the following, among many other things. Some monks of the diocese of Sorrento move from monastery to monastery as they please, and leave the rule of their own abbot out of a desire for a worldly life. Worse still, each of them aims at having property of his own, which is known to be unlawful. So by this present order we command your experience that from now on no monk be allowed to move from monastery to monastery, and that you permit none of them to have anything of his own. But if anyone at all should presume to do so, let him be sent back under fitting restraint to the monastery where he lived at first, to be under the rule of his own abbot, from which he had escaped. Otherwise, if we let so great a wrong go on uncorrected, the souls of those who are lost will be required from the souls of their superiors. Further, if any of the clergy happen to become monks, they are not to be allowed to go back again to the church in which they had served before, or to any other. The exception is a monk whose life is such that the bishop under whom he formerly served thinks him worthy of the priesthood; then he may be chosen by that bishop, and ordained by him to whatever place he thinks fit. And since we have learned that some of the monks have plunged into such great wickedness as to take wives openly, seek them out with all vigilance, and when they are found, send them back under due restraint to the monasteries of which they had been monks. Do not neglect also to deal with the clergy who profess the monastic life, as we said above. In this way you will be pleasing in the eyes of God, and will be found a partaker of a full reward. [b]