Table Of ContentGregory
the Great
, ,
George E. Demacopoulos
Gregory the Great
Gregory
the Great
, ,
George E. Demacopoulos
University of Notre Dame Press
Notre Dame, Indiana
Copyright © 2015 by the University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556
www.undpress.nd.edu
All Rights Reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Demacopoulos, George E.
Gregory the Great : ascetic, pastor, and first man of Rome /
George E. Demacopoulos.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-268-02621-9 (pbk. : alk. paper) —
ISBN 0-268-02621-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) —
ISBN 978-0-268-07786-0 (e-book)
1. Gregory I, Pope, approximately 540–604. I. Title.
BX1076.D46 2015
270.2092—dc23
[B]
2015023757
∞ The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability
of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the
Council on Library Resources.
Acknowledgments \vii
Introduction \1
Part One
Gregory as Ascetic Theologian \13
A Theology of Asceticism \17
Fall, Redemption, and the Ascetic’s Filter \31
Ecclesiology and the Rhetoric of Episcopal Equality \36
Some Mystical Attributes of Gregory’s Ascetic Theology \44
Part Two
Gregory as Pastoral Theologian \53
The Importance of Spiritual Leadership \57
The Recruitment of Leaders \62
The Tasks of the Spiritual Leader \70
The Impediments to Effective Leadership \79
vi – Contents
Part Three
Gregory as “First Man” of Rome \83
The Rome of Gregory’s Imagination \85
Ever the Praefect: Gregory’s “Secular”
Responsibilities \102
Gregory’s Ascetic Program and Its Opponents \113
Prefect of the Roman Church \125
Spreading Christianity beyond the Roman World \139
The Steward of Peter’s Tomb \149
Conclusion: The Apostolic Steward \156
Abbreviations \159
Notes \160
Bibliography \221
Index \232
In some respects, I have been working on this book for more than
fifteen years. I wrote my doctoral dissertation at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill on Gregory’s distinctive approach to spiritual
direction. That project expanded to include additional authors in my
first monograph, Five Models of Spiritual Direction in the Early Church
(University of Notre Dame Press, 2007), which concluded with a chap-
ter on Gregory. A second monograph, The Invention of Peter (University
of Pennsylvania Press, 2013), on Petrine discourse in the early Church
similarly concluded with a chapter that investigated Gregory’s contribu-
tion. While those projects were intellectually satisfying in their own ways,
it was not until I began working on the present study that I was able to
articulate with some semblance of clarity how it was that Gregory’s asce-
tic and pastoral commitments fit alongside his pragmatic administration
of the Roman Church.
This project began in earnest during the fall of 2011 with the com-
bined support of the Carpenter Foundation and a Fordham Faculty Fel-
lowship. It was late in the year, however, before I began—the sabbatical
had been devoted primarily to The Invention of Peter—and I was only
able to dedicate a few months to rereading Gregory’s large corpus and to
developing what I hope is an original approach to the material. Thus, I
have written the majority of this book in short bursts of a few days at a
time over the course of the past few years.
Along the way, I benefitted a great deal from the generosity of
friends in the academy who were willing to share their time and insight.
vii
viii – Acknowledgments
Kristina Sessa has proven to be an invaluable conversation partner for
all matters regarding the Roman Church in late antiquity. Her insight
and patience are beyond compare. Carole Straw read an early draft of the
manuscript, providing pertinent critiques and identifying many lacunae.
Joseph Lienhard, S.J., a longtime friend at Fordham, also read the manu -
script and offered many helpful suggestions for revision. Although they
did not contribute directly to this project, I would be remiss if I failed to
acknowledge Aristotle Papanikolaou and Ben Dunning, who continu-
ously provide intellectual stimulation, models of scholarly excellence, and
friendship.
Finally, this book is dedicated to Peter Iver Kaufman. It was Peter who
first pushed me to think more carefully and more comprehensively about
the multiple strands within Gregory’s thought and action. As both friend
and mentor, Peter has provided me more than I can ever hope to repay.
Introduction
Pope Gregory I, known among Western Christians as St. Gregory
the Great and by Eastern Christians as St. Gregory the Dialogist, was
born around the year 540 to an aristocratic family well connected to
the Roman Church. Gregory’s great-great-grandfather was likely Pope
Felix III (bishop of Rome from 483– 492), and Pope Agapetus (bishop
of Rome from 533– 536) was presumably a distant uncle.1Three of Greg -
ory’s aunts (on his father’s side) are known to have been estate-dwelling
ascetics.2Gregory’s father, Gordianus, held the administrative rank of de-
fensorin the Church of Rome, which would typically mean that he served
as a property and legal manager for a portion of the Church’s extensive
landholdings.3 Gregory’s family was wealthy, and he possessed all of
the advantages of an aristocratic youth, including a palatial estate on the
Caelian Hill and the best education available at that time.4Unfortunately,
Gregory tells us little about his youth or the specifics of his studies.5
At the time of his birth, Italy and the city of Rome were shadows of
their former selves. For most of his childhood, the “Roman” armies of
the East waged a destructive war against the Ostrogoths for supremacy
of the Italian peninsula. Between 546 and 547 alone, control of the city
of Rome switched three times between imperial and Gothic hands.6We
1
