Gregory the Great and the Bishops

Integration into the Christian community was one of the main factors that connected East Central Europe to the world surrounding it and, in Roman antiquity, especially to the Mediterranean. In addition, Christianity, with its ecclesiastical structure, was a key factor for religious, social, and cultural continuity in the transition from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages. ¹ In contrast to the central regions of the late Roman Mediterranean, the development of theological thought and ecclesiastical structure in the Christian communities in East Central Europe is often only poorly documented in written sources. One of the most important groups of literary texts reflecting the integration of East Central Europe into the ecclesiastical community of the late Roman and early medieval world are collections of the letters written by ecclesiastical authorities, among them the bishops of Rome. ²