Letter 11002: I have heard that a certain Isaurus, moved by devotion, began the construction of a hospice [xenodochium] near your...
The letter of your humility bears witness to the holiness of your life, and for this we give great thanks to almighty God, because we recognize that there still exist those who are able to win pardon by their prayers for our sins. For we, under the appearance of ecclesiastical governance, are tossed about by the waves of this world, which frequently overwhelm us; but, with the hand of heavenly grace protecting us, we are lifted up out of the deep. You, therefore, who in such serenity of your repose lead a tranquil life and stand secure as it were upon the shore, stretch out the hand of your prayer to us as we sail, or rather as we suffer shipwreck, and aid with as many entreaties as you can those who are striving to make their way to the land of the living, so that you may be able to have a reward forever not only for your own life but also for our deliverance. May the Holy Trinity protect your beloved self with the right hand of its protection, and grant you to feed rightly in its sight the flock committed to you, by praying, by admonishing, by showing forth examples of good work, so that you may be able to arrive at the pastures of eternal life together with the very flock that you feed. For it is written: 'My sheep shall come and shall find pastures.' These pastures, namely, we then find when, free from the winter of this life, we are satisfied, as it were, by the truth of eternal life as by a new spring. Through the report of our son Simplicius we have learned that couches, or rather banquet-couches, in the [...]
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
Sanctitatem vitae tuae* humilitatis tuae testatur epistola^, unde omnipotenti Deo
magnas gratias agimus, quia adhuc esse cognoscimus, qui® pro peccatis nostris^ valeant
exorare. Nos enim sub colore ecclesiastici regiminis mundi huius fluctibus volvimur®,
qui frequenter nos' obruunt, sed caelcstis gratiae manu protegente de profundo rele-
vamur. Vos ergo, qui in tanta quietis vestrae serenitate tranquillam vitam ducitis et
securi quasi in litore statis, nobis navigantibus aut potius naufragantibusc^ orationis
vestrae manum tendite et conantes ad tcrram viyentium pergere quantis potestis pre-
cibus adiuvate^, ut non solum de vcstra vita, sed etiam de ereptione nostra mercedem
in perpetuum^ habere valeatis. Sancta trinitas dilectionem tuam suae protectionis
dextera protegat detque tibi^ commissum gregem^ orando, anmionendo'", exempla boni
operis ostendendo in suo conspectu recte pascere, ut ad aetemae vitae pascua valeas
cum ipso quem pascis grege pervenire. Scriptum quippe est: 'Oves meae'^ venient
et pascua invenient' ^ Quae^ videlicet pascuai" tunc invenimus, quando huius vitae hieme
carentes de aetemae vitae quasi de novi^ veris veritate' satiamur.
Filio nostro Simplicio renuntiante cognovimus lectos" vel lectistemia in hiero-
Revision history
- 2026-05-27v2.2.34-import
Initial corpus import from modern gregory great retranslated v1.
Fields: letter text, metadata, source links. Source: https://archive.org/details/gregoriiipapaer00greggoog
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