The Book of Pastoral Rule, and Selected Epistles, of Gregory the Great
Rome · 604
G
Gregory the Great
Gregory the Great
540 CE–604 CE · Constantinople (Istanbul)
Gregory the Great (c. 540–604) was born into a wealthy Roman senatorial family and served as prefect of Rome before renouncing his fortune to found a monastery and embrace monastic life. Ordained a deacon and dispatched to Constantinople as papal legate (apocrisiarius) from c. 579 to 585/586, he returned to Rome to lead his monastery before being elected pope in 590. As Bishop of Rome he reorganized Church administration, negotiated with the Lombard invaders, composed influential theological works including the Moralia in Job and Pastoral Rule, and dispatched Augustine of Canterbury's mission to the Anglo-Saxons. He died in Rome on 12 March 604 and is venerated as a Doctor of the Church across Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican traditions.
Life journeyclick any stop, or use ←/→Trace on the orchard map →
✦
Stop 2 of 2579–585Papal Legate
Constantinople (Istanbul)קונסטנטינופולOttoman Empire
What they did here
Served as apocrisiarius (papal ambassador) to the imperial court, first under Tiberius II (died 582) and then under Maurice, gaining firsthand knowledge of Byzantine politics; he composed much of the Moralia in Job during this period.
Constantinople (Istanbul) in this era
Ruled by the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) emperors, Constantinople sat at the center of the conciliar age: the Fourth Ecumenical Council met at nearby Chalcedon (451) just across the Bosphorus, while the Fifth Ecumenical Council (553) convened in the city itself under Justinian I. Rome's popes disputed the see's claimed primacy — Pope Leo I rejected Canon 28 of Chalcedon outright — yet Constantinople consolidated its dominant role as the heart of Eastern Christianity.
About Constantinople (Istanbul)
Major post-1492 Sephardi center under Ottoman protection. Home of R. Yehudah Rosanes (Mishneh L'Melech) and many other Acharonim.
In Constantinople (Istanbul) at the same time
Agathias Scholasticus, Stephanus of Alexandria, Maximus the Confessor
Works(2)
Selected Epistles of Gregory the Great
Rome · 604