Gregory the Great's Dilemma

Today in both Eastern and Western churches is the commemoration of Gregory the Great, or as he is known in the East, Gregory the Dialogist, Bishop of Rome. In the West he is one of the four greatest "Doctors of the Church" (along with Augustine, Jerome, and Ambrose). He is credited as the author of the Presanctified Liturgy served in Lent on weekdays in the Eastern churches.

He was Pope for about 14 years (590-604). Like many of the best men in the church who assumed "high office," the last thing in the world he wanted was high office. Until about age fifty, he had been "simple" monk, who was highly regarded for his Christian virtues in following Christ. He was elected abbot.

He later served as a secretary to Pope Pelagius, who died during a plague epidemic. Gregory called for people to repent, they apparently did, and the plague stopped. Eschewing honors awaiting him for this spiritual leadership, he hid in a cave, but he was discovered and brought back to Rome and consecrated Pope, against his will on September 3, 590.

It said that he replied to congratulations on his election with tears, "With the office of bishop, you see me bound to the world more closely than I was as a layman. I have lost the deep of my rest; it is externally, an elevation, but internally it is a fall." He excelled as Pope.

Each day he received twelve of the poor at his table, washing their hands. In his letters he used only the title, "Servant of the Servants of God." He sent the Augustinian mission to the pagan parts of England in 597. He is known for "Gregorian chant." And so much more.

He seems to have solved the dilemma of being in high church office by holding it in the way Christ instructed the men whom he called Apostles and appointed to be foundational witnesses to His mission: as servants, not lording it over others, using their unique authority to build up others in Christ.

Comments

[David Gray]

He sounds a little bit like the new OCA Metropolitan, Bishop Jonah. Or perhaps vice-versa is more appropriate...

[Stuart Koehl]

One should note that St. Gregory the Dialogist is also the author of the awesome and beautiful "Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts", which is celebrated by the Byzantine Churches, Orthodox and Catholic, during weekday evenings of the Great Fast.

[Matthias]

That's what I was taught too, but many websites that discuss the Presanctified Liturgy (including Wikipedia) now assert that Gregory merely observed the liturgy in Constantinople and wrote down what he saw. I've seen no reliable source cited for that claim. But it sounds more plausible to me than the idea that he invented this liturgy and it promptly died out in the west but got ported to the east and thrived.

[William Tighe]

There is no historical evidence that Gregory the Great had anything whatsoever to do with the origin or elaboration of the Presanctified Liturgy of the Byzantine Tradition. Certainly, the Roman Rite never, ever shared the Byzantine discipline that Lenten weekdays are "aliturgical" days, on which the Eucharist is not to be celebrated.