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BOOK II.
GREGORY'S PONTIFICATE.
CHAPTER I.
GREGORY'S VIEW OF THE EPISCOPATE
THERE can be no doubt that Gregory was sincerely
anxious to avoid the lofty dignity which was thrust upon him. If over in his
early days some sentiment of ambition had stirred within him, inclining him to
quit the glories of secular life in the hope of attaining a yet higher
elevation through the offices of the Church, that feeling had long been
extinguished. In the monastic life he found complete satisfaction for all the
aspirations of his soul. Here he was in harmony with his surroundings and at
peace. In the quiet of his cell he could surrender himself freely to those
fair, mystical dreams in which his fancy revelled,
and live serenely in a world of his own creation, undisturbed by the swords of
the Lombards or the caprices of the Emperor. He was supremely content to be
mated with the barren but lovely Rachel, the symbol of the contemplative life.
Nor had the political experience of his later years tended in any degree to
diminish his affection. His intimacy with Pelagius had made him acquainted with
the multitudinous anxieties and engrossing duties of the Papal office, and had
convinced him that the supreme dignity of the Catholic Church was nothing but a
grievous burden, embittering the life and imperilling the soul of him who was unfortunate enough to win it. And he felt that to walk
obscurely in the peace of God was better than an outward exaltation for which
one had to pay so great a price.
It was, therefore, with unfeigned regret that he found
himself made Pope. Congratulations poured in on him from every side, but his
answers were only a perpetual wail of lamentation. He declared on his
conscience that he "undertook the burden of the dignity with a sick
heart"; he was "so stricken with sorrow that he could scarcely
speak"; "the eyes of his soul were darkened with grief." He
protested that his elevation to what he paradoxically calls "the lowly
height of external advancement," was not a true promotion. He would have
been really promoted if he had been granted his "longed-for rest":
but, as things were, he was "shackled with the chains of dignity",
"distracted with the tumults of mundane matters", "oppressed to
suffocation with business"—nay, even "driven from the face of the
Lord into the exile of employment," and by his episcopal order
"separated almost from the love of God."
The ferment of his mind expressed itself in a very
interesting letter which he wrote, shortly after his consecration, to
Theoctista, the Emperor's sister. "Under the pretence of being made a bishop, I am brought back to the world; for I am now more in
bondage to earthly cares than ever I was as a layman. I have lost the deep joy
of my quiet, and while I seem outwardly to have risen, I am inwardly falling
down. Wherefore I grieve that I am driven far from the face of my Maker. It
used to be my daily aim to put myself beyond the world, beyond the flesh; to
expel all corporeal forms from the eyes of the soul, and to behold in the
spirit the blessedness of heaven. Panting for the sight of God, I used to cry
not only in words but from the depths of my heart, I have sought Thy face; Thy
face, Lord, will I seek. Desiring nothing and fearing nothing in this world, I
seemed to myself to stand as it were on the summit of things, so that I almost
thought that in me had been fulfilled the Lord's promise by His prophet, I will
cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth. For he is lifted up upon
the high places of the earth who in his mind despises and tramples down even
the things which in the present world seem high and glorious. But from this
height I have been suddenly cast down by the whirlwind of this trial. I have
fallen into fear and trembling, for, though I dread nothing for myself, I am
greatly afraid for those who are committed to my charge. I am tossed to and fro with the waves of business, I am overwhelmed with its
storms, so that I can truly say, I am come into deep waters, so that the floods
run over me. When my business is done I try to return to my inner self, but
cannot, for I am driven away by vain tumultuous thoughts. I loved the beauty of
the contemplative life, as it were Rachel, barren but far seeing and beautiful,
who, though in her quietness she bears fewer children, yet beholds the light
more clearly. But by some judgment, I know not what, I have been wedded in the
night to Leah, to wit the active life, fruitful but blear-eyed; seeing less,
but bringing forth more children. I longed to sit with Mary at the Lord's feet,
and to hear the words of His mouth; but lo! I am compelled to serve with Martha
in outward service and to be troubled about many things. When, as I thought,
the legion of devils had been cast out of me, I wished to forget those whom I
had known and to rest at the feet of the Saviour; and
yet, against my will I hear and am compelled to obey the words, Go home to thy
friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee. But who
amidst so many earthly cares can declare the wonderful works of God? As for me,
I find it difficult even to think of them. There are, indeed, many men who can
so control their outward prosperity that they are inwardly not at all degraded
by it. As it is said by Solomon: A man of understanding shall possess
governments. But for me such things are difficult, and the task is heavy upon
me; for what the mind does not undertake voluntarily it does not manage well.
Behold! my Most Serene Lord the Emperor has ordered an ape to become a lion.
And a lion, indeed, it may be called at his command, but a lion it cannot
become. Wherefore he must lay the blame of all my faults and negligences, not on me, but on the kind feeling which led
him to commit the ministry of power to so weak an agent."
In another letter to John patriarch of Constantinople,
after chiding him for thrusting on his brother the episcopal office which he
had himself endeavoured to avoid, Gregory continues:
"Since I, weak and unworthy, have received the charge of a ship which is
old and sadly shattered—for the waves are pouring in on every side, and the
rotten planks, daily smitten with the violence of the storm, creak shipwreck—I
pray you by Almighty God to stretch out the hand of your prayer to help me in
my peril, for you can pray the more earnestly as you stand the further from the
tumultuous woes we suffer here."'
But though Gregory dreaded the task that was set
before him, he was too conscientious to refuse to undertake it. He was
profoundly convinced that he had been called to the work by God. “I have
undertaken the burden of this honour with regret”, so
he wrote to the Bishop of Salona, “but I could not resist the divine
judgments”. And again to the Bishop of Corinth he wrote: “Feeling myself too
weak to reach the height of the Apostolic See, I wished to avoid this burden,
lest I should fail in the pastoral rule through my imperfect discharge of its
duties. But as it is impossible to resist the ordinances of God, I have
obediently followed what the merciful hand of the Lord has been pleased to work
out for me”. And it was this intense conviction of a divine vocation that gave
him hope. If the task was imposed on him by God's Will, the performance of it
would not be left to his own unaided powers; but as the work was superhuman, so
the ability to do it would be supernatural. Hence it was with mingled feelings
of fear and hope, often, indeed, desponding and mournful, but sometimes calmly
confident of ultimate success, that Gregory entered on the labours and anxieties of his pontificate.
It may be here inquired—What was Gregory’s idea of the
duties and responsibilities of the episcopal office? What was the standard and
ideal, which as a bishop he endeavoured to maintain
and realize?
The answer to this question is supplied to us in
the Liber Regulae Pastoralis,
or, as it is more commonly called, the Liber Pastaralis Curae—an admirable treatise on the Office of a Bishop, issued by Gregory at
the beginning of his pontificate. The special occasion of this "golden
little book" was a letter from John of Ravenna, reproving Gregory for his
unwillingness to undertake the burden of the Pastoral Care. By way of reply,
the Pope composed this treatise, in which he dwelt on the onerous nature of the
episcopal office and the awful responsibility of those who are promoted to it.
The book, however, was more than a mere apologia. Long before, while he was
still engaged on his Commentary on Job, Gregory had in his mind the plan of
such a treatise, which he intended to work out in detail when he had leisure.
Parts of it were, perhaps, composed while he was yet at St. Andrew's, though
the final form of it was not perfected until after his consecration; when the
letter of the Archbishop of Ravenna furnished an appropriate excuse for its
publication. Gregory hoped that the book would not only serve as an apology for
his own attitude, but would also be instrumental in deterring unskilled and
precipitate persons from striving to gain "the citadel of teaching,"
and coveting a perilous dignity in heedless ignorance of its dangers and
responsibilities.
In composing his handbook on the episcopal office,
Gregory was indebted for several hints and suggestions to the similar treatise
of Gregory Nazianzen, which was likewise written as an explanation of the
author's unwillingness to be made a bishop. With the celebrated De Sacerdotio of Chrysostom he appears to have been
unacquainted.
The plan of the Pastoral Care is as follows:—It
consists of four parts, of which the third is the longest and the fourth the
shortest. The first part explains what manner of man should "come to
supreme rule," and in what spirit he should undertake it. The second part
teaches how a man should order his life when constituted in the office of
bishop. The third part discusses how a bishop should teach. The fourth and last
part sets forth briefly how a bishop, while teaching well, should yet call to
mind his own infirmities. These four parts must be considered a little in
detail.
(1) The first part, as I said, is an investigation of
the character of a proper candidate for the episcopate. Gregory commences with
a couple of syllogisms, which, though expressed confusedly, came to something
like this: Every art must be learned: the government of souls is the art of
arts: therefore the art of governing souls must be learned. Again, dangerous
diseases must be treated by qualified physicians: the diseases of the soul are
the worst of all diseases: these, then, require qualified physicians for their
treatment. In other words, the episcopal office, which is the Master-Art and
Supreme Science of Healing, must be undertaken only by skilled men—by men who,
through nature and training, are specially fitted for that office. This canon
at once excludes those persons who covet the “magisterium humilitatis”
for the sake of the distinction it confers, and also those who, though learned
and studious, are evil livers. Such men cannot be skilled in episcopal
government, for an arrogant bishop cannot teach his flock humility, neither can
a perverse liver instruct in righteousness. On the contrary, their influence is
thoroughly bad, and their leadership is "a leadership of perdition."
Ecclesiastical rule, then, belongs of right to the
skilled man. But even by such men the office is not to be coveted, being one of
the greatest danger. For, as we observe in the cases of Saul and David,
temporal prosperity is apt to engender pride, and pride is the mother of sin.
Moreover, the multifarious cares of government necessarily distract the mind,
and deprive it of “the solidity of inward fear”. Therefore, says Gregory,
“those who stumble on plain ground should shrink from approaching a precipice”.
It is best to be content with a safe obscurity, and to leave Church government
to abler men, if such can be found.
On the other hand, although government is not to be
coveted, the really skilled man is not justified in refusing it when it is
thrust upon him. He who is endowed with great gifts must not allow a selfish
love of quiet to hinder his exercising them in the public interest. For great
gifts, if selfishly used, will be taken away; and the Son of God Himself came
forth from the bosom of the Father that He might profit many. Nor must such a
one be deterred by any consideration of false modesty. For it is not true humility
which obstinately refuses what it is enjoined to undertake. Real humility is
rather shown when a man, "submitting himself to the divine disposals and
averse from the vice of obstinacy," does what he is bidden, fleeing the
duty in his heart, but against his will obeying.
From these considerations Gregory lays down the
general rule that "it is safer to decline the office of preaching, but we
ought not to decline it pertinaciously when we see that God wills us to
undertake it". "He who abounds in virtues should accede to government
under compulsion: he who is void of virtues should not under any compulsion
approach it."
Finally, Gregory sketches out the character of the
ideal candidate for the episcopate. “He ought by all means to be brought
forward for a pattern of life, who, dying to the affections of the flesh,
already live after a spiritual sort, who hath left worldly prosperity behind,
who fears no adversity, and desires only inward wealth. And, agreeing well with
his intentions, neither does his body in any wise strive against them through
infirmity, nor his spirit greatly by disdain. He who is not drawn to desire other
men's goods, but is liberal with his own; who through his bowels of compassion
is quickly bent to forgiveness, but is never, by forgiving more than is meet,
turned away from the post of uprightness; who is guilty of no unlawful deeds,
but mourns for those that are committed by others, as though they were his own;
who feels for the infirmity of others with hearty sympathy, and rejoices in the
good deeds of his neighbour as in his own
advancement; who so gives himself for a pattern in all things to others, that
he hath nothing, at least in act, to put him to shame among them; who strives
so to live as to be able to water also the parched hearts of his neighbours with streams of doctrine; who hath already
learnt by the using and making proof of prayer, that he can obtain from the
Lord what things he asks, to whom it is already said, as it were specially by
the voice of experience, Whiles thou art yet speaking, I will say, Lo! here I
am! For if anyone should chance to come to take us to intercede for him with
some powerful man who is angry with him and a stranger to us, we should answer
at once, 'We cannot go to intercede, because we have no intimate acquaintance
with him.' If, therefore, a man is ashamed to be an intercessor with a man with
whom he hath no assurance, with what heart doth he catch at the place of
interceding for the people with God, who knows not by the worthiness of his
life that he is acquainted with His grace? Or, how doth he ask pardon from Him
for others, who is ignorant whether or not He is appeased towards
himself?"
(2) The second part of the Pastoral treats of the life
of a bishop. Here Gregory singles out and enlarges upon certain qualities which
mark the true pastor’s character and conduct. The enumeration is as follows:
A ruler must be pure in thought; "for the hand
that would cleanse from dirt must needs itself be clean." The ruler should
make reason supreme within his breast, should cultivate a nice discernment
between good and evil, and carefully distinguish what things are good for what
persons, and when and how. He must root out from his mind all bias and
self-interest, and judge according to the abstract standard of right. To enable
him the better to do so, he ought to meditate on the lives of the saints and to
keep the fear of God ever before his eyes?
Again, a ruler should be chief in action, transcending
in his virtue even the virtuous. His station requires him to make the highest
professions; hence he is likewise compelled to set the best example.
Again, a ruler must be discreet in silence, profitable
in speech; "that he may neither make known that which should be kept
silent, nor be silent on that which should be made known. For as incautious
words lead to error, so indiscreet silence leaves them in error who might have
been instructed." He must beware of loquacity, taking care not to talk
inordinately even of what is right. Careless, unseasonable, babbling robs good
advice of its effect.
Again, a ruler must be near to all in sympathy, but
exalted above all in contemplation; that he may, by the bowels of kindness,
transfer to himself the infirmity of others, and by the height of contemplation
transcend even himself in his desire for things invisible; that he may neither,
while he seeks things on high, despise the weakness of his neighbours;
nor, being suited to the weakness of his neighbours,
abandon the desire of things on high." In this respect the type of the
good ruler is found in the Apostle Paul, who could search out the secrets of
the third heaven, and yet condescend to lay down rules for the regulation of
the intercourse of carnal persons, being joined at once to the highest and the
lowest by the bond of charity."
A ruler, once more, should, through humility, be
companionable to those who do well, but, by his zeal for righteousness, alert
to punish the sins of the transgressors. Nature, so Gregory teaches, made all
men equal; but sin has sunk some below the level of the others. Over those who
are debased by sin the ruler must exercise authority for their own good. Yet he
"has dominion rather over faults than over the brethren"; and those
whom he corrects are, save for sin, his equals. Hence he must not be puffed up,
but must endeavour "to preserve humility in the
heart and discipline in practice," exercising at once "both mercy
which is justly considerate, and discipline which is pitifully severe,"
and showing himself to his subjects "both as a mother by kindness and a
father by discipline". "Let there be love then, but not enervating;
let there be rigour, but not exasperating. Let there
be zeal, but not immoderately fierce; and pity, but not sparing more than is
good. That, while righteousness and mercy mingle in the post of government, he
who is at the head may both soothe the hearts of those that are under him,
whiles he makes them to fear, and yet in soothing bind them to a fearful
reverence."
Again, a ruler must not neglect external concerns in
his attention to spiritual things, nor yet be so absorbed in earthly business
as to lose sight of the things of heaven. A good bishop is frequently inclined
to fall into the former error. "And no wonder their preaching is generally
looked down upon; for while they reprove the deeds of transgressors, but yet do
not furnish them with things needful for this present life, they are not heard
with any willingness; for the word of doctrine makes no way into the soul of a
man in want, if the hand of mercy commend it not to his mind." A bishop,
therefore, should bear with secular business out of consideration for his
flock, not seeking it for love, but enduring it from compassion.
A ruler should not set his heart on pleasing men, yet
he should attend to that which ought to please them. He who inordinately
desires popularity is in effect striving to attract men's love to himself
instead of to his Master, and is therefore an enemy of the Redeemer."
Still, "it behaves good rulers to desire to please men, but so as to draw
their neighbours by the sweetness of their character,
to a fondness for the Truth; not that they should desire to be loved
themselves, but that they may make the affection borne to them, as it were a
sort of road by which they may lead the hearts of their hearers to the love of
their Creator. For it is hard for a preacher who is not loved, however right
may be his warnings, to be heard gladly."
Again, a ruler ought to be a person of penetration and
discretion: He must be able to distinguish, for instance, between virtues and
virtuous-seeming vices; for vices often feign to be virtues, niggardliness
masquerading as frugality, lavishness as liberality, unbridled anger as
spiritual zeal, and so forth. He must understand, moreover, how to deal with
these vices when detected. For "sometimes the faults of subjects are
discreetly to be winked at, but to be shown that they are winked at; sometimes
even when they are openly acknowledged, they are in their season to be borne;
but sometimes even those that are hidden are to be curiously sought out;
sometimes they are to be gently reproved, at others sharply rebuked."
Lastly, a ruler must studiously meditate daily on the
words of Holy Scripture, "that the words of the divine admonitions may
restore in him the force of anxiety and of provident care in regard to the
heavenly life, which familiarity with men's conversation incessantly destroys;
and that he who is drawn to the old life by the society of worldly persons, may
be continually renewed to the love of his spiritual country by the breathings
of contrition."
(3) The third part of the Pastoral is entitled,
"After what manner the ruler that lives well ought to teach and admonish
those that are under him." In this part Gregory shows at considerable
length how a bishop ought to accommodate his admonitions to the special wants
and exigencies of his hearers. "For as Gregory Nazianzen of reverend
memory hath taught long before us, one and the same exhortation is not suited
to all, because all are not bound by the same manner of character. For oft times
the things which profit some are bad for others. Inasmuch as for the most part
the herbs also which feed some animals kill other some; and a gentle whistling
which stills horses, settles dogs astir. And the medicine which abates one
disease, gives force to another; and the bread which strengthened the life of
the vigorous, puts an end to that of babes. The speech, therefore, of teachers
ought to be fashioned according to the condition of the hearers, that it may
both be suited to each for their own needs, and yet may never depart from the
system of general edification. For what are the attentive minds of the hearers
but, as I may so say, certain strings stretched tight on a harp? Which he that
is skillful in playing, to the end that he may produce a tune which shall not be
at variance with itself, strikes in various ways. And therefore the strings
give back harmonious melody; because they are beaten indeed with one quill, but
not with one stroke. Whence also every teacher, to the end that he may edify
all in the one virtue of charity, ought to touch the hearts of his hearers out
of one system of teaching, but not with one and the same address." Gregory
proceeds to illustrate this by a series of discussions in which he sets forward
the manner of preaching suitable for various types and classes of persons.
Among the thirty-six types and classes singled out are the poor and the rich,
the kind and the envious, those who are taciturn and those who waste time in
much talking, the gluttonous and the abstemious, those that understand not the
words of the holy Law aright and those that understand rightly but speak not of
them with lowliness, those who lament sins of deed and those who lament sins of
thought, those who are overcome with sudden passion and those who of set
purpose are bound in sin, those who do not begin good works and those who never
finish what they have begun. As an example of his method of dealing with the
subject, I will quote his chapter on the appropriate way of preaching to the
wise and the dull:
"Different admonitions are to be addressed to the
wise in this world and to the dull. For the wise are to be exhorted to let go
the knowledge which they possess; the dull also are to be admonished that they
desire to know things which they know not. In the former this is first to be
thrown down, that they esteem themselves wise; in the latter, whatever is known
of heavenly wisdom is at once to be built up: because, seeing they are in no
wise proud, they have, as it were, prepared their hearts to receive a building.
With the other we must labour that they may become
more wisely foolish, that they may abandon their foolish wisdom, and learn the
wise foolishness of God; but to these we must preach that they pass over as
from a nearer point, from that which is accounted folly to true wisdom. The one,
for the most part, are converted by arguments of reasoning, the other better
sometimes by examples. To the one doubtless it is profitable to fall beaten in
their own disputations; but for the other it ofttimes suffices to know the
praiseworthy deeds of others. Whence also the consummate teacher, a debtor to
the wise and to the unwise, when he was admonishing some of the Hebrews that
were wise and some that were slower,—speaking to the former concerning the
fulfillment of the Old Testament, overcame their wisdom by argument, saying,
Now that which decays and waxes old is ready to vanish away. But since he saw
that some were to be drawn to him simply by examples, he added in the same
Epistle: Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you
the word of God; whose faith follow, considering the end of their
conversation—in order that conquering reason might subdue the one, and gentle
imitation might persuade the other to mount to greater things."
The preacher's difficulty, says Gregory, is to address
a large mixed congregation in such a way that his words may encourage the
virtues of each one of his hearers without giving any countenance to the vices
that are contrary to such virtues—for instance, to preach humility to the proud
without increasing the terror of the timid, or liberality to the niggardly
without encouraging the liberal to be prodigal. It is hard to make a single
oration suitable to the wants of many hearers, diversely constituted. Yet it is
even harder to admonish a single individual who is subject to contrary vices
and passions—sometimes over joyous, at other times too much given to
melancholy; sometimes too hasty, at other times too timid and cautious, and so
on. In such cases the physician of the soul must in his discourse compound a
medicine which may have power to check the moral disease in both directions;
or, if this is impossible in any given case, he must devote all his energy to
overcome the more dangerous ailment, tolerating the lesser for a time until the
other be extinguished. Finally, the preacher must use judgment in revealing
deep things to feeble minds. He must understand that he is not to draw the mind
of his hearer beyond his strength, lest, so to speak, the string of the soul,
being stretched beyond that it can endure, be broken; for all deep things ought
to be covered over when there are many hearers, and scarcely opened to a few.
Hence the Truth by His own mouth speaks: Who, thinks thou, is that faithful and
wise steward whom the Lord settle over His household, that he may give them,
their measure of corn in his season? Now by the measure of corn is signified
the portion of the Word, lest when something that it cannot contain is poured
into a narrow heart, it run over."
(4) The fourth part, which consists of only one
chapter, shows how a physician of the soul, while exercising his art on others,
must see that he is sound himself. The better the work a man does, the greater
is the danger of his becoming self-confident; and self-confidence is but a
prelude to a fall. Whence it is needful, when we are flattered by the abundance
of our virtues, that the eye of the soul should come back to her own weak
points, and should put herself down in a wholesome manner; and look not at the
right things which she hath done, but at those which she hath neglected to do;
to the end that the heart, being broken by the remembrance of her weakness, may
be the more strongly embellished in virtue before the Author of lowliness. For
in general also, the Almighty God, though He perfect in great measure the souls
of rulers, yet for this cause leaves them imperfect in some small measure, that
whiles they shine with wondrous virtues, they may be wearied with the
irksomeness of their own imperfectness, and may in no wise set themselves up on
account of great things, when they still toil in their strife against the
smallest; but since they have not strength to overcome the lowest difficulties,
they may not dare to boast themselves upon their principal actions."
Gregory thus concludes his treatise: "Behold, my
good friend, constrained by the necessity of my reproof, and being intent to
show what a Pastor ought to be, I, a foul painter, have portrayed a fair
person; and I direct others to the shore of perfection, while I am yet tossing
on the waves of transgression. But, I beseech thee, in this shipwreck of my
life, do thou hold me up with the plank of thy prayers, that whereas my own
weight makes me to sink, the hand of thy worthiness may lift me up."
As will appear from the above, Gregory regards a
bishop preeminently as a physician of souls. His principal functions are
preaching and the exercise of discipline. In order to carry out his duties
effectively, he is bound to study with anxious care every form of spiritual
disease; and he must have the skill to devise remedies to suit all cases. He
must be to his people as a kindly father, but also, if need arise, as a severe
governor. For the souls of the people are committed to his charge; he is their ruler;
and for their salvation he will be held responsible. The episcopal dignity, in
short, is an office of government, to be administered by one who is skilled in
the treatment of souls, for the benefit of the governed. And the principal
instrument through which the work is carried on is that of preaching.
Gregory's little book was received with great
appreciation. The Pope himself sent a copy of it to his friend Leander, the
archbishop of Seville, who is said to have kissed it and to have made it known
in all the churches in Spain. There is still extant a letter, written to
Gregory by the saintly Licinianus of Carthagena, in which the Book of Bales is
highly praised as "a palace of all virtues" and a treasure-house of
sound teaching in conformity with that of "the holy ancient Fathers, Doctors,
and Defenders of the Church—Hilary, Ambrose, Augustine, Gregory
Nazianzen": at the same time, a doubt is expressed whether the standard of
fitness for the episcopate may not have been placed too high. The Emperor
Maurice, having obtained a copy from Anatolius, Gregory's deacon at
Constantinople, had it translated into Greek by Anastasius of Antioch, probably
with a view to circulating it through the dioceses of the East. Augustine
carried it into England, where, nearly three hundred years afterwards, it was
paraphrased in the West Saxon tongue by King Alfred the Great, assisted by Plegmund his Archbishop, Asser his Bishop, and Grimbold and
John his Mass-priests. In 796 Alcuin wrote to an Archbishop of York:
"Wherever you go, let the handbook of the holy Gregory go with you. Read
and re-read it often. It is a mirror of the pontifical life, and a cure for
every wound of diabolical deceit." In a series of Councils holden by
command of Charlemagne in 813 at Mainz, Rheims, Tours, and Chalon-sur-Saone,
the study of the Pastoral Care was enjoined on all bishops; and a little later,
as appears from the words of Hincmar archbishop of Rheims, this book, together
with the Canons of the Church, was given into the hands of bishops at their
consecration, and they were admonished, and solemnly promised, to observe what
was written therein in their life, their teaching, and their decisions.
Enough has been said to show the value which was
deservedly attached to this little treatise by the entire Church in the sixth
and the following centuries. Its influence during this period can scarcely be
overrated,—indeed, it is felt even now in its results. The maxims of Gregory
have moulded the Church. They have sensibly shaped
the conduct and the policy of the Church's rulers, and, as a modern writer well
expresses it, have "made the bishops who have made modern nations."
The ideal which Gregory upheld was for centuries the ideal of the clergy of the
West, and through them the spirit of the great Pope governed the Church, long
after his body had been laid to rest beneath the pavement of St. Peter's.
The view which Gregory took of the episcopal dignity,
its functions and duties, may be found in a condensed form in the long
synodical letter which, according to the usual custom, he forwarded after his
consecration to his brother Patriarchs, John of Constantinople, Eulogius of Alexandria, Gregory of Antioch, and John of
Jerusalem, and also, for particular reasons, to Anastasius ex-patriarch of
Antioch. The matter of this lengthy circular is, for the most part, abstracted
from the Pastoral Care, and there are several passages which are taken from it
word for word. The last paragraph, however, contains the gist of the letter, a
confession of the orthodox faith ; and this section it may be advisable to
quote. " Since with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation, I acknowledge that I receive and
reverence the four Councils as I do the four Books of the Holy Gospel—I mean
the Council of Nicaea, in which the perverse doctrine of Arius is destroyed; the
Council of Constantinople, in which the error of Eunomius and Macedonius is refuted; the first Council of Ephesus, in which the impiety
of Nestorius is judged; and the Council of Chalcedon, in which the wickedness
of Eutyches and Dioscorus is condemned. These I
embrace with full devotion and observe with entire approbation, because on
them, as on a four-square stone, rises the structure of our holy faith; and any
man, whatever be his life and actions, who does not hold to their entirety, really
lies outside the building of the Church, even though he seem to be a stone in
it. I also greatly reverence the Fifth Council, in which the letter attributed
to Ibas is condemned as full of error, Theodore is convicted of having fallen
into impious misbelief, by dividing the Person of our Mediator, making two subsistences, and the writings of Theodoret, in which the
belief of the blessed Cyril is attacked, are refuted as reckless madness. All
the persons whom these venerable Councils reject I reject, whom they reverence
I reverence; for as they are confirmed by universal consent, if any man
ventures to loose those whom they bind or to bind those whom they loose, he
destroys not them but himself. Whoever, then, thinks otherwise, let him be
anathema. But whoever holds the faith of these synods, to him be peace from God
the Father, through Jesus Christ His Son, who lives and reigns with Him, God of
the same Substance, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, world without end.
Amen."
Such, then, was Gregory's view of the conduct,
character, and belief of a good bishop. The following chapters will show how
far he himself was able to realize his ideal, and in what respects he fell
short of it.
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