Letter to one of the bishops, around 600

This letter, dating from around 600, is an excerpt from the correspondence of St. Gregory the Great (Dvoeslov) with one of the bishops. The saint condemns the bishop for his passion for grammar and secular sciences. He considers it unacceptable for a clergyman to praise pagan gods, even indirectly, through the study of secular literature. We were told so many good things about your activities, and therefore such great joy was born in our hearts that it would not allow us to refuse you what you (fraternitas vestra) ask for. But then it came to us, and what we cannot remember without shame, namely, that you (frater nitas tua) teach someone grammar. The news of this act, for which we feel great contempt, made a very difficult impression on us, so that everything that I spoke about above turned into grief and sadness for me: with one’s lips one cannot give praise to Christ along with praises to Jupiter (quia in uno se ore, cum Jovis laudibus, Christi laudes non capiunt). Just think about how criminally and indecently bishops act when they sing of things that even a secular pious person would not agree to sing. And although our dear son, Presbyter Candide, who subsequently arrived here, tried to refute that rumor and, with his subtle reasoning, wanted to justify you, I still did not calm down, because if you feel strong disgust when listening to such stories about a clergyman, then strong evidence is needed to finally verify their injustice. So, if you clearly prove that everything told about you is false, that you are not engaged in absurd secular sciences, then we will glorify our Lord, who did not allow your lips to be defiled with blasphemous praise of such things that cannot even be said. In this case, only calmly and without any doubts will we think about allowing you what you ask for.