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Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

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744 24. the organization <strong>of</strong> the church<br />

Europe, and has shaped the attitudes and practices <strong>of</strong> countless clergy.<br />

Gregory’s numerous exegetical works <strong>of</strong>ten draw on earlier writers, but are<br />

also original. <strong>Hi</strong>s Dialogues, which include the biography <strong>of</strong> Benedict, constitute<br />

a justification for the life <strong>of</strong> ascetic holiness in the face <strong>of</strong> the<br />

impending end <strong>of</strong> the world, as well as exhibiting the ascetical prowess <strong>of</strong><br />

the western church (notably Benedict) against the eastern. 50 Gregory’s convictions<br />

flowed from the established law and custom <strong>of</strong> the church as he<br />

understood it. The Roman church was fortified with a massive set <strong>of</strong><br />

records. These had been ably sifted and made accessible by such scholars as<br />

Dionysius Exiguus, who had not only calculated the fundamentals <strong>of</strong> the<br />

Christian calendar as it exists to the present, but early in the sixth century<br />

had translated and systematized the findings <strong>of</strong> past councils and the<br />

decrees <strong>of</strong> past popes. 51<br />

50 Dialogues ed. de Vogüé (1978,80).<br />

51 Bibliography in Richter (1982); see also Dekkers (1995), nos. 652,4; 1284,6.<br />

<strong>Cambridge</strong> <strong>Hi</strong>stories Online © <strong>Cambridge</strong> University Press, 2008

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