The Life and Holiness of the Bishop of Romilla
Abba Theodore told us that thirty miles from Rome, there is a small town called Romilla. In that town, there was a very great and virtuous bishop. One day, some of the people of Romilla came to the most blessed Agapetos, Pope of Rome, and made charges against their own bishop, saying that he ate from a consecrated paten. The pope was shocked when he heard this. He sent two clerics to bring the bishop, bound, to Rome on foot, and he threw him into prison when he arrived.
When the bishop had been in prison for three days, Sunday came around. Whilst the pope was sleeping, as dawn broke on the Sunday morning, he saw in his sleep someone who stood beside him and said, “You are not to celebrate the Eucharist this Sunday, neither you nor any of the clergy and bishops who are in this city, except the bishop whom you are holding in prison. I want him to celebrate the Eucharist this day.” When the pope awoke, he said to himself concerning the vision he had seen, “I have received such a complaint against him, and he is to celebrate the Eucharist?”
A second time, the voice came to him in his sleep, saying, “I told you: that bishop, who is in prison, he shall celebrate the Eucharist.” Likewise, a third time, the figure appeared to him as he was grappling with the problem and said the same thing to him.
When the pope awoke, he sent for the prison and had the bishop brought out. Then he questioned him, “What is your way of life?” But the bishop would answer nothing other than, “I am a sinner.” As he could not persuade the bishop to say anything else, he said to him, “Today you shall celebrate the Eucharist.”
When he stood at the holy altar with the pope beside him and the deacons in a circle around the altar, the bishop began the prayer of consecration; but before adding the conclusion, he began the prayer of consecration all over again for a second, a third, and a fourth time. Everybody was astonished at such repetition, and the pope said to him, “What is this then, that you are starting the holy prayer for a fourth time and do not bring it to a conclusion?”
Then the bishop replied, “Forgive me, holy pope, but I do not perceive the coming of the Holy Ghost as is usually the case; that is why I do not conclude the prayer. However, my sacred lord, would you send that deacon holding the fan away from the altar, for I do not dare to tell him to go.” Then the godly Agapetos gave the order, and the deacon went away.
Straightaway, the bishop and the pope saw the presence of the Holy Ghost; the curtain which was above the altar moved of its own volition and overshadowed the pope, the bishop, all the deacons who were in attendance, and even the holy altar itself, for three hours. Then the godly Agapetos realized that this was a great bishop who had been falsely accused. So great was his distress at having wronged him that he resolved never again to make any hasty decision, but to act with much thought and great patience.