Much Ado About Nothing: Gregory the Great’s Apology to the Istrians (original) (raw)

Gregory was familiar with the political ramifications of the Istrians' schism. As Urban Prefect 1 in 573, he subscribed to the formal submission to the papacy tendered by Laurentius, Bishop of Milan, technically ending the schism with the church of Milan; see Gregory, Ep. IV, 2 (to Constantius, September 593), Registrum epistularum, ed. by Dag Norberg, 2 vols, CCSL, 140-140A (Turnhout: Brepols, 1982), 140, p. 218. Gregory's letters are henceforth cited from this edition unless otherwise indicated. Gregory retired to monastic life in 574, but in 579 Pelagius II (579-90) sent him as his legate to Constantinople (apocrisiarius) with the office of deacon; see Paul the Deacon,