Such were the blessed Pope Gregory’s replies to the questions of the most reverend Bishop Augustine. The Pope also wrote a letter to the Bishop of Arles, which was delivered to Vergilius, successor to Etherius. This ran as follows:
‘To our most reverend and holy brother Vergilius, our fellow-bishop: Gregory, servant of the servants of God.
‘It is well established that brethren who visit us on their own initiative should be warmly welcomed, since most visitors are invited out of affection. Therefore, if Bishop Augustine, who is brother to us both, happens to visit you, I beg you to receive him with proper affection and kindness, so that he may be encouraged by your goodwill and that others may learn how brotherly love is to be cultivated. And since it often happens that an independent observer sees what needs correction sooner than the man on the spot, I ask that, should he bring to your notice any wrong-doing among clergy or others, you make careful enquiry into these matters with his help. In this way you will show yourself strict and alert against all abuses that offend God and incur His displeasure, so that the guilty may be corrected, the innocent vindicated, and others mend their ways. God keep you safe, most reverend brother.
‘Dated the twenty-second day of June, in the nineteenth year of our most pious Lord and Emperor Maurice Tiberius Augustus, and the eighteenth year after his Consulship: the fourth indiction.