Letter 2016: A short time ago I received a letter from Your Holiness, in which you saw fit to admonish me affectionately even...

To the holy and apostolic lord, and to the patron and bishop Aeonius, who beyond all others is to be cultivated by me with a more particular devotion and affection in Christ the Lord, Bishop Ruricius. A little while ago I received the letter of your Holiness, in which you also thought it worth your while to admonish me, with much affection, concerning my failure in courtesy, saying: nothing is more excellent than charity. This I affirm to be entirely true, and, following the Apostle, I declare that charity to be perfect and sublime which proceeds from a pure heart and a good conscience and unfeigned faith; which, according to the same Apostle, is patient, is kind, which is not puffed up, is not envious, does not seek the things that are its own, does not rejoice over iniquity but rejoices together with the truth, believes all things, hopes all things, and from this it comes that it never falls. It is patient, because against the temptations or storms of the world it remains fixed and immovable in God. It is kind, because it takes delight in the advancement of those near to it. It is not puffed up, because it does not exalt itself over the lowly. It is not envious, because it knows not how to begrudge an equal. It does not seek the things that are its own, since, according to the Lord's judgment, it sets even the least before itself, and earns the advantages of others by its own disadvantages. It does not rejoice over iniquity, because it knows not how to rejoice except in the prosperity of the brethren. But it rejoices together with the truth, because it venerates a friend with sincere, not feigned, love, and does not deride him with false flattery, but honors him with true esteem. It believes all things, because it trusts in the divine commands and promises, and therefore hopes all things, because it does not doubt that great things will be repaid to it in place of the least, eternal things in place of perishable, everlasting things in place of temporal. It never falls, because humility cannot have a fall, since it always has an ascent; and, although it ever meditates upon lofty things, it nevertheless does not presume to dwell among the heights. Although its way of life is held in heaven, it nevertheless seems to cling to earthly things, lofty in its work, with its mind cast down, having whereby it may glory in the Lord and yet not be exalted in the world. These things, because you commanded it, I have presumed to write not on account of any learning of ours, but on account of your condescension. But it is your part to instruct us with words and ever to summon us to this same charity by your examples, since the love which was begun between us as absent persons, before we knew one another, by mutual exchange of letters in conversation, and which has always been nourished, ought to be increased by bodily sight, not diminished, and to grow by the gaze of the eyes, which had its beginning in speech.

XVI. DOMINO SANCTO ET APOSTOLICO AC MIHI PRAE CETERIS IN CHRISTO DOMINO CULTU AFFECTUQVE PECULIARIUS EXCOLENDO PATRONO ET PAPAE AEONIO EPISCOPO RURICIUS EPISCOPUS. Ante paucum tempus litteras uestrae sanctitatis accepi, quibus etiam de inofficiositate tanti habuistis adfectuosius commonere dicentes: nihil caritate praestantius. quod ego ualde uerum esse confirmo et secundum apostolum illam caritatem dico esse perfectam et sublimem, quae de corde puro et conscientia bona et fide non ficta procedit, quae iuxta eundem apostolum patiens est, benigna est, quae non inflatur, non aemulatur, non quaerit, quae sua sunt, non \'gaudet super iniquitate, congaudet autem ueritati, omnia credit, omnia sperat, et inde est, quod numquam cadet. patiens est, quia contra temptationes saeculi uel procellas in deum defixa perstat immobilis. benigna est, quia proximorum profectibus delectatur. non inflatur, quia non superbit humili. non aemulatur, quia inuidere nescit aequali. non quaerit, quae sua sunt, dum iuxta domini sententiam sibi etiam minimos anteponit et aliorum commoda suis mereatur incommodis. non gaudet super iniquitate, quia laetari nisi fratrum prosperitate non nouit. congaudet autem ueritati, quia amicum sincera, non fucata dilectione ueneratur nec falsa 16] 1 Tim. 1, 5. 18] 1 Cor. 13, 4. 26] Matth. 25, 40. 1 decerpta v, discerpta S 2 querenti S 8 licta S 4 orfanorum S 5 compererit v tribuit S 6 presidium S perducit S 9 cateris S 13 quilius S 16 que S 17 fide ex ficte S 1 que S 18 paciens S que S 19 querit S que S 20 iniquitate S 22 cadit Kr. coll. p. 400,5 paciens S 23 perstat v, praestat S 26 querit que S 80 fugata S adulatione subsannat, sed uero honore concelebrat. omnia credit, quia in mandatis diuinis promissisque confidit, et ideo omnia sperat, quia pro minimis magna, pro caducis perpetua, pro temporalibus aeterna sibi retribuenda non ambigit. numquam cadit, quia humilitas habere non potest casum, cum habeat semper ascensum, et, cum iugiter excelsa meditetur, habitare tamen in sublimibus non praesumit. cum conuersatio eius habeatur in caelis, ipsa tamen uidetur adhaerere terrenis excelsa opere, mente deiecta habens, unde glorietur in domino nec tamen extollatur in saeculo. Haec, quia iussisti, scribere non pro eruditione nostra, sed pro uestra dignatione praesumpsi. uestrum uero est nos edocere uerbis et ad hanc eandem caritatem prouocare semper exemplis, quia dilectio, quae ante cognitionem mutua inter absentes epistulario inchoata sermone semper et fota est, debeat augeri corporali uisione, non minui, et crescere intuitu, quae coepit affatu.