ph to the Church of God, which equals, some may
think surpasses even, the grandeur of the first.

It was fitting that the See of Peter should sound the note, which was its
prelude, by the mouth of Anastasius, as the pastoral staff of St. Gregory
was extended over its conclusion.

Scarcely less remarkable than the words of Pope Anastasius were those
addressed to the new convert by a bishop, the temporal subject of the
Burgundian prince, Gundobald, an Arian, that is, by St. Avitus of Vienna,
grandson of the emperor of that name. Before the baptismal waters were dry
on the forehead of the Frankish king, he wrote to him in these words:[72]

"The followers of all sorts of schisms, different in their opinions,
various in their multitude, sought, by pretending to the Christian name,
to blunt the keenness of your choice. But, while we entrust our several
conditions to eternity, and reserve for the future examination what each
conceives to be right in his own case, a bright flash of the truth has
descended on the present. For a divine provision has supplied a judge for
our own time. In making choice for yourself, you have given a decision for
all. Your faith is our victory. In this case most men, in their search for
the true religion, when they consult priests, or are moved by the
suggestion of companions, are wont to allege the custom of their family,
and the rite which has descended to them from their fathers. Thus making a
show of modesty, which is injurious to salvation, they keep a useless
reverence for parents in maintaining unbelief, but confess themselves
ignorant what to choose. Away with the excuse of such hurtful modesty,
after the miracle of such a deed as yours. Content only with the nobility
of your ancient race, you have resolved that all which could crown with
glory such a rank should spring from your personal merit. If they did great
things, you willed to do greater. Your answer to that nobility of your
ancestors was to show your temporal kingdom; you set before your posterity
a kingdom in heaven. Let Greece exult in having a prince of our law; not
that it any longer deserves to enjoy alone so great a gift, since the rest
of the world has its own lustre. For now in the western parts shines in a
new king a sunbeam which is not new. The birthday of our Redeemer fitly
marked its bright rising. You were regenerated to salvation from the water
on the same day on which the world received for its redemption the birth o