--- title: "Gregory the Great, Ephrem Syrus and Aphrahat" author: "Gregory the Great, Ephrem the Syrian and Aphrahat" translator: "Philip Schaff (ed.)" languages: [en] shelf: "Church Fathers" section: 30 of 134 url: https://scriptura.si/works/gregory-the-great-ephrem-syrus-aphrahat/30/ cite: "Gregory the Great, Ephrem the Syrian and Aphrahat, tr. Philip Schaff (ed.), Gregory the Great, Ephrem Syrus and Aphrahat, section 30. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/gregory-the-great-ephrem-syrus-aphrahat/30/" --- # Gregory the Great, Ephrem Syrus and Aphrahat *Gregory the Great, Ephrem the Syrian and Aphrahat, tr. Philip Schaff (ed.)* Gregory the Great's letters, with Ephrem Syrus and Aphrahat the Persian Sage. ## 30. To Brunichild, Queen of the Franks Source: https://scriptura.si/works/gregory-the-great-ephrem-syrus-aphrahat/30/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/gregory-the-great-ephrem-syrus-aphrahat/30/#p-N [¶0] Epistle LXII. [¶1] Gregory to Brunichild, &c. [¶2] We render thanks to Almighty God, Who, among all the other gifts of His loving-kindness that He has bestowed upon your Excellency, has so filled you with a love of the Christian religion that whatever you know to pertain to the gain of souls, whatever to the propagation of the faith, you cease not to carry into effect with devout mind and pious zeal. As to the great favour and assistance wherewith your Excellence aided our most reverend brother and fellow-bishop Augustine on his progress to the nation of the Angli, fame had already not been silent; and afterwards certain monks, returning to us from him, gave us a particular account thereof. [¶3] And indeed, let others to whom your benefactions are less known wonder at these evidences of your Christianity; for to us who know them by experience they are not a subject of wonder, but of rejoicing, because through what you bestow upon others you delight yourself. Now of what sort and how great are the miracles which our Redeemer has wrought in the conversion of the above-written nation is already known to your Excellency. On which account you ought to have great joy, since the succours afforded by you claim to themselves the larger share herein, it having been through your aid, after God, that the word of preaching became widely known in those parts. For one who aids the good work of another makes it his own. But, that the fruit of your reward may be richer more and more, we beg of you kindly to afford the support of your patronage to the monks, the bearers of these presents, whom we have sent with our most beloved sons, the presbyter Laurentius and the abbot Mellitus, to our aforesaid most reverend brother and fellow-bishop, because of his telling us that those who are with him are not sufficient; and to vouchsafe to stand by them in all things, to the end that, when by the good auspices of your Excellency they shall have had the better success, and shall have found no delays or difficulties in your parts, you may call down the mercy of our God towards you and your most sweet nephews in proportion as you have demeaned yourselves compassionately for the love of Him in causes of this kind. [¶4] [(In Collect. Pauli Diac.) Given the tenth day of the Kalends of July, Indiction 4.] ### To Brunichild, Queen of the Franks [¶6] Epistle LXIII. [¶7] Gregory to Brunichild, &c. [¶8] What good gifts have been conferred on you from above, and with what piety heavenly grace has filled you, this, among all the other proofs of your merits, intimates evidently to all that you both govern the savage hearts of barbarians with the skill of prudent counsel, and (what is still more to your praise), adorn your royal power with wisdom. And since, as you are above many nations in both these respects, so also you excel them in the purity of your faith, we have great confidence in your amending what is unlawful. For the contents of the letters you have already sent us are witness how your Excellency has embraced our exhortation, and with what devotion you long to fulfil the same. But, since He Who is the giver of good dispositions is wont to be their helper also, we trust that He may direct your causes in His loving-kindness all the more favourably as He sees you to be assiduous in His cause. Do you God’s work, and God will do yours. Wherefore order a synod to be assembled, and, among other things, as we have before written, studiously prohibit by the definition of a council the sin of simoniacal heresy in your kingdom. Offer a sacrifice to God by conquering the enemy that is within, that by His help you may conquer the enemies that are without; and that, according to the zeal you evince against His foes, such you may feel Him to be in aiding you. Believe me, moreover, that, as we have learnt from the experience of many, whatever is gathered together with sin is spent with loss. If, then, you wish to lose nothing unjustly, endeavour to the utmost to have nothing got by injustice. For in earthly matters loss has always its origin in sin. You, therefore, if you wish to stand above adverse nations, if you would speedily, with God’s leave, be victorious over them, receive with trembling the commandments of the same Almighty God, that He Himself may fight for you against your adversaries, Who has promised in Holy Writ, saying, The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace (Exod. xiv. 14). [¶9] [In Collect. Pauli Diac.: Data die decima Kalend., Indict. 4. In Remigiano: Data die x Kalendas Julii, Indict. 4.]