Gregory the Great: Contemplative Servanthood as Spiritual Leadership
While there is much in the life and writings of Gregory the Great that have little application for the modern day, his writing and thinking on leadership remains valid for moderns. In particular, Gregory’s Rule of Pastoral Care provides many of his most helpful thoughts; his ideas on leadership can also be found in his other writings and Biblical commentaries. In addition, numerous instances in his life illustrate how he applied this philosophy to the challenges of the episcopal role.
For those who are not familiar with Gregory the Great, click here for a brief introduction.
The Rule of Pastoral Care is evidently written for pastors, that is, the clergy of the church who would directly minister to the laity. Yet it would be a mistake to view this resource as applicable only to clergy. The varied terms that Gregory uses to refer to the pastor imply that he has his eye on all those who exercise spiritual leadership.[1] This broadness of vision means that the book is applicable even for spiritual leaders of the present day.
Gregory’s philosophy of spiritual leadership is particularly valuable for study because it was successfully applied in a chaotic power vacuum. The wars of the Byzantines and Lombards created political instability; the transition of the church through this period required strong spiritual leadership; and the city of Rome experienced multiple tragedies during Gregory’s episcopacy.
Such a milieu of chaos places high demands on the leader. Gregory’s leadership was fit for the task, viewing as it did the spiritual leader as a discerning servant and an active ascetic.
The Spiritual Leader as a Discerning Servant
In contrast with the patriarch of Constantinople, who styled himself a universal bishop, Gregory preferred the label of ‘servant of the servants of God.’[2] Yet unlike many of the Popes who would continue to use that title out of tradition, Gregory firmly believed its content. His strong denunciation of the term ‘universal bishop’ indicated not only his disgust at the actual title but also his fear of the pride which lay behind it. In his own words, his philosophy was simple: “Wherefore all who are superiors should not regard in themselves the power of their rank, but the equality of their nature; and they should find their joy not in ruling over men, but in helping them.”[3]
A less notable anecdote from Gregory’s life proves the same point. When a bishop wrote a letter to Gregory thanking him for advice and noting that he had obeyed the ‘command,’ Gregory was displeased with the word. He wrote to the bishop, noting that “in degree you are my brothers; in moral character, my fathers. Therefore I have not commanded but have taken care to indicate what things seemed useful.”[4] Gregory believed that the goal of the pastor was ‘prodesse,’ to be of use, not ‘praessee,’ to be in charge.[5]
For Gregory, the government of souls is the art of arts.[6] The spiritual leader is a physician of the heart,[7] who exercises pastoral care – he shepherds his people with attention. It is to this that the spiritual leader is called. His role, then, is to be a servant for the benefit of his people. Such care does not focus solely on a limited aspect of a person; it is all-encompassing.
While the modern age sees a sharp break between the physical and spiritual, no such dichotomy limited Gregory’s view of servant leadership. As the bishop of Rome, his care for the people extended to their physical needs; his active involvement in politics – even to the point of directing preparations for war[8] – indicates that Gregory felt a need to care for his people in their weakness. Further, Gregory was known for his unstinting charity – he supplied so much food for the city of Rome that its sudden withdrawal on his death may have contributed to a famine.[9] The point here is the same: the spiritual leader cares for his people in all the ways he can.
Yet undoubtedly it was the spiritual side that Gregory was most focused on. The spiritual leader is called to be a physician of hearts. Gregory’s idea of the spiritual leader has been likened to that of a guide who journeys in slow but steady progress alongside his people as they undertake their own inward journey of self-discovery. Such a journey is mediated through the leader, who brings them the Word of God and teaches them how to navigate the internal and external realities that confront them.[10]
The great tool of the spiritual servant-leader is Scripture, and it is applied through the mediation of preaching. Gregory’s life is one of pursuit of the Word of God, as the source of ultimate knowledge.[11] This is not to say that Gregory’s hermeneutic was in any way modern. The bishop flourished in an age when the allegorical, spiritual meaning of a text was considered hidden behind the external words. This severely limits the value of Gregory’s expositions, since they are rarely exegetical. Yet even with this flaw, his understanding of Scripture as the change-agent that the spiritual leader uses is commendable. While Gregory undoubtedly believed in the value of the sacraments, it was preaching that held the emphasis for him.[12] The spiritual leader did little service to his people if he did not speak the Word to them.[13]
Gregory’s spiritual leader is far from an impersonal preacher, or a servant who mindlessly serves. He is a profoundly discerning servant, who knows his people well and uses that intimate knowledge to mediate the teaching of Scripture to them with wisdom. There was no single ‘right’ way to deal with mankind; different men required different styles of leadership. The greatest testament to Gregory’s idea of discernment is the third section of the Rule, in which he gives detailed advice on how to counsel various groups of people. From ‘the joyful and the sad’ to ‘the obstinate and the fickle,’ Gregory outlines advice on how to spiritually lead nearly seventy different groups of people.
In a rather shocking story for modern audiences, Gregory’s commitment to do the most good for his people shines forth. As abbot, Gregory once heard the dying confession of a monk who had secretly hidden silver in the monastery. He refused the dying man any friendship or spiritual comfort in his final agonies, and after the man died in bitter grief and sorrow, his corpse and silver were thrown onto a dung heap, with the words, “thy money perish with thee.”[14] As the story goes, however, the harsh treatment tended to the monk’s ultimate blessedness, since it helped purge him of evil and hastened him to heaven. It proves not only Gregory’s care to do what was in his people’s best interest, but also his recognition that different methods – even austere harshness – could be used by the discerning pastor.
The modern challenge is to understand how Gregory could view himself as a servant while he held the high position of pope. Gregory understood all men as created equal, yet certain men are placed above others.[15] This is natural and for good, as Gregory explains in the second part of the Rule. Gregory viewed the world in three classes: those committed to the active life (the laity), those committed to the contemplative life (ascetics), and those who exercised spiritual leadership as active ascetics (the clergy).[16] Each of these classes contained men of equal worth, but those in spiritual leadership held a definite hierarchical superiority over those they lead. Yet spiritual leaders were not to be careless in their leadership; as Gregory lays out in part two, chapter six of the Rule, leaders require extreme humility in view of the dangers that they face. Those under them also have an obligation to respect their authority and honor them.
As already noted, Gregory believed that Petrine succession made him the preeminent bishop of the church, but not the head bishop. In fact, the ‘universal bishop’ controversy, which shows Gregory’s abhorrence of proud titles, may have pushed him to see the Roman pontiff as increasingly more powerful. If anything, this view of hierarchy revealed that for Gregory, the servant leader still has a position of authority and eminence that commands respect, though the leader must never flaunt such distinction.
In summary, then, the spiritual leader is first a servant who cares for his people, especially as he mediates the Word of God to them through discerning preaching. The servant is equal in nature but exalted in position, which demands humility on his part and honor from his people.
The Spiritual Leader as an Active Ascetic
Gregory, it must be remembered, was the first monk called to the papacy, so it should be no surprise that ascetic themes show up in his writing on leadership. Ascetic does not here mean any excessive legalistic approach to justification, but rather a severe moral restraint and discipline which aims for contemplation as the work of life. Gregory’s own asceticism was notedly severe, leaving him at times near the point of death, and surely it hasted his own demise.[17]
The contemplative life – the goal of the ascetic – was the opposite of the active life. Using Scriptural allegory, Gregory likened the life of contemplation to Jacob’s wife Rachel. Like Rachel, the life of contemplation is beautiful and barren – beautiful, because it is a sweet thing to spend all one’s time meditating on God; barren, because it pulls one out of the world and away from the active service of charity that benefits others.[18] Gregory of course was never able to enjoy the contemplative life that he had always aimed for; his service as papal representative in Constantinople, and as pope himself, made it an elusive goal. Hence he was thrown against his will into the role of an active ascetic – one who must balance the competing interests of an active and contemplative life. For Gregory, the nearest approach to a solution was to continually stoke the contemplative side of life. Contemplation was a fire, and the pastor must return to it again and again to keep his charity toward mankind warm and zealous.[19]
In one of his more beautiful and touching Biblical references, Gregory recommended that the active person must constantly catch ‘glimpses of Jesus’ as he goes about his work. If he cannot enjoy the life of Mary but must serve as Martha, let him at least look to Jesus every chance he gets; these snippets of contemplation will provide the fuel for his active life.[20]
As an ascetic himself, Gregory placed great value on virtuous life as a qualification for ministry. Preaching is good, but deeds and actions speak louder than words.[21]Hence he gives great attention in his Rule to the qualifications of those who undertake the office of spiritual leadership. If a human physician requires high qualifications, he argues, ought not a physician of hearts to be even more qualified[22]?
Morality and virtue are not only the qualifications for the office of spiritual leader; they must be cultivated regularly by the leader. In his fourth section of the Rule, Gregory warns that even the virtues of the leader can ruin him; constant attention and fear of his high calling are necessary. He warns of the mind which is “lifted up in the confidence of its beauty, when with blithe self-assurance it glories over its virtues.”[23]
There is another reason why the spiritual leader must take so much care: because the active life is by its very nature defiling. It is impossible to be in the world and avoid the defilements of the world, which is why the contemplative life, or at least the little glimpses of it, are so essential. Such constant defilement requires constant cleansing.[24]
The greatest temptation to the spiritual leader, according to Gregory, was pride. His rabid denunciation of titles and excesses already proves this. His Rule shows it even further: he constantly warns of pride. He even titled the fourth section of the Rule, “How the preacher when he has done everything as required, should return to himself, to prevent his life or preaching from making him proud.”[25]
Conclusion
Gregory lived in a time of dramatic transition. The political and religious power vacuums of the late sixth century were filled by his steady leadership, and his philosophy was studied for generations after him. Despite his flaws, Gregory has much to teach modern audiences about leadership. Indeed, the modern world has its parallels to Gregory’s time: political instability and chaos in large parts of the world and break-neck transitions everywhere. God’s people must navigate this chaotic scene. The church needs more leaders like Gregory commended: discerning servants who remain active ascetics. Such leaders will never be irrelevant to the world.
[1]George E. Demacopoulos. Gregory the Great: Ascetic, Pastor, and First Man of Rome (Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 2015), 55.
[2] Aelred Niespolo. “Authority and Service in Gregory the Great.” Downside Review 122, no. 427. (2004): 122.
[3]Henry Davis, ed. Saint Gregory the Great: Pastoral Care (New York: Newman Press, 1978), 60.
[4]Gregory, as quoted in Lester Little, Calvin’s Appreciation of Gregory the Great. Harvard Theological Review 56, no. 2 (April 1963): 150.
[5]R. A. Markus. Gregory the Great and His World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 30.
[6]Henry Davis, ed. Pastoral Care, 21.
[7]Ibid., 21
[8]J. Barmby. The Fathers for English Readers: Gregory the Great (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge 1879), 102.
[9]Ibid., 141.
[10]Carole Straw. Gregory the Great: Perfection in Imperfection(Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1988), 205
[11]Markus, Gregory the Great and His World, 38-39.
[12]Demacopoulos, Gregory the Great: Ascetic, Pastor, and First Man of Rome, 70.
[13]Little, “Calvin’s Appreciation of Gregory the Great,” 151-52.
[14]Barmby, Gregory the Great, 35-38.
[15]Henry Davis, ed. Pastoral Care, 60-61.
[16]Demacopoulos,Gregory the Great: Ascetic, Pastor, and First Man of Rome, 58-60.
[17]Barmy, Gregory the Great, 35.
[18]Demacopoulos,Gregory the Great: Ascetic, Pastor, and First Man of Rome, 67.
[19]Markus, Gregory the Great and His World, 24.
[20]Ibid., 25.
[21]Henry Davis, ed. Rule of Pastoral Care, 232-33.
[22]Ibid., 21.
[23]Ibid., 235.
[24]Demacopoulos, Gregory the Great: Ascetic, Pastor, and First Man of Rome, 80.
[25]Henry Davis, ed. Rule of Pastoral Care, 234.
