Pope Gregory the Great Letters

To Eulogius, Bishop of Alexandria
Gregory to Eulogius, &c.
Our common son, the bearer of these presents, when he brought the letters of your
Holiness found me sick, and has left me sick; whence it has ensued that the scanty water
of my brief epistle has been hardly able to exude to the large fountain of your
Blessedness. But it was a heavenly boon that, while in a state of bodily pain, I received
the letter of your Holiness to lift me up with joy for the instruction of the heretics of the
city of Alexandria, and the concord of the faithful, to such an extent that the very joy of
my mind moderated the severity of my suffering. And indeed we rejoice with new
exultation to hear of your good doings, though at the same time we by no means suppose
that it is a new thing for you to act thus perfectly. For that the people of holy Church increases, that spiritual crops of corn for the heavenly garner are multiplied, we never
doubted that this was from the grace of Almighty God which flowed largely to you, most
blessed ones. . . . But, since in the good things you do I know that you also rejoice with others, I
make you a return for your favor, and announce things not unlike yours; for while the
nation of the Angli, placed in a corner of the world, remained up to this time misbelieving
in the worship of stocks and stones, I determined, through the aid of your prayers for me,
to send to it, God granting it, a monk of my monastery for the purpose of preaching. And
he, having with my leave been made bishop by the bishops of Germany, proceeded, with
their aid also, to the end of the world to the aforesaid nation; and already letters have
reached us telling us of his safety and his work; to the effect that he and those that have
been sent with him are resplendent with such great miracles in the said nation that they
seem to imitate the powers of the apostles in the signs which they display. Moreover, at
the solemnity of the Lord’s Nativity which occurred in this first indiction, more than ten
thousand Angli are reported to have been baptized by the same our brother and fellow-
bishop. This have I told you, that you may know what you are effecting among the people
of Alexandria by speaking, and what in the ends of the world by praying. For your
prayers are in the place where you are not, while your holy operations are shewn in the
place where you are.

To Mellitus, Abbot
Gregory to Mellitus, Abbot in France.
Since the departure of our congregation, which is with thee, we have been in a state of great suspense from having heard nothing of the success of your journey. But
when Almighty God shall have brought you to our most reverend brother the bishop
Augustine, tell him that I have long been considering with myself about the case of the
Angli; to wit, that the temples of idols in that nation should not be destroyed, but that the
idols themselves that are in them should be. Let blessed water be prepared, and sprinkled
in these temples, and altars constructed, and relics deposited, since, if these same temples
are well built, it is needful that they should be transferred from the worship of idols to the
service of the true God; that, when the people themselves see that these temples are not
destroyed, they may put away error from their heart, and, knowing and adoring the true
God, may have recourse with the more familiarity to the places they have been
accustomed to. And, since they are wont to kill many oxen in sacrifice to demons, they
should have also some solemnity of this kind in a changed form, so that on the day of
dedication, or on the anniversaries of the holy martyrs whose relics are deposited there,
they may make for themselves tents of the branches of trees around these temples that
have been changed into churches, and celebrate the solemnity with religious feasts. Nor
let them any longer sacrifice animals to the devil, but slay animals to the praise of God
for their own eating, and return thanks to the Giver of all for their fullness, so that, while
some joys are reserved to them outwardly, they may be able the more easily to incline
their minds to inward joys. For it is undoubtedly impossible to cut away everything at
once from hard hearts, since one who strives to ascend to the highest place must needs
rise by steps or paces, and not by leaps. Thus to the people of Israel in Egypt the Lord did
indeed make Himself known; but still He reserved to them in His own worship the use of
the sacrifices which they were accustomed to offer to the devil, enjoining them to