Foods do not defile; violated women are not guilty
Gregory is writing to a bishop about how to treat Christians who were taken captive by barbarian invaders and ate food placed before them, and about women who suffered sexual violation at the hands of the barbarians.
Foods do not defile us, holy pope, if the captives ate what their masters placed before them—especially since everyone agrees that the barbarians who overran our regions did not sacrifice to idols. The apostle says, “Foods are for the belly, and the belly for foods, and God will abolish both this and those” (1 Corinthians 6:13). And the Savior, who cleanses all foods, says, “It is not what enters that defiles a person, but what comes out” (Matthew 15:11). And as for the captive women being corrupted, with the barbarians committing violation against their bodies: But if a woman’s life had already been condemned before, because she walked after the eyes of fornicators, as it is written, then clearly her immoral disposition is suspect even in the time of captivity, and such women should not readily share in the prayers. If, however, a woman who had lived in extreme chastity and had shown her former life to be clean and beyond all suspicion has now fallen into violation through force and necessity, we have the example in Deuteronomy concerning the young woman whom a man found in the open country and, after forcing her, slept with her: “You shall do nothing to the young woman; there is no capital sin for the young woman, because just as if a man rises up against his neighbor and takes his life, so is this matter. The young woman cried out, and there was no one to help her” (Deuteronomy 22:25–27). These things, then, are so.
Greek
Οὐ τὰ βρώματα ἡμᾶς βαρεῖ, ἱερὲ πάπα, εἰ ἔφαγον οἱ αἰχμάλωτοι ταῦτα, ἅπερ παρετίθεσαν αὐτοῖς οἱ κρατοῦντες αὐτῶν· μάλιστα ἐπειδὴ εἷς λόγος παρὰ πάντων, τοὺς καταδραμόντας τὰ ἡμέτερα μέρη βαρβάρους, εἰδώλοις μὴ τεθυκέναι. Ὁ δὲ ἀπόστολός φησι· Τὰ βρώματα τῇ κοιλίᾳ, καὶ ἡ κοιλία τοῖς βρώμασιν, ὁ δὲ Θεὸς καὶ ταύτην καὶ ταῦτα καταργήσει. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ Σωτήρ, ὁ πάντα καθαρίζων τὰ βρώματα· Οὐ τὸ εἰσπορευόμενον κοινοῖ τὸν ἄνθρωπον, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἐκπορευόμενον, λέγει, καὶ τὸ τὰς αἰχμαλώτους γυναῖκας διαφθαρῆναι, ἐξυβριζόντων τῶν βαρβάρων εἰς τὰ σώματα αὐτῶν. Ἀλλ᾿ εἰ μὲν καὶ πρότερον κατέγνωστό τινος ὁ βίος, πορευομένης ὀπίσω ὀφθαλμῶν τῶν ἐκπορνευόντων κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον, δῆλον ὅτι ἡ πορνικὴ ἕξις ὕποπτος καὶ ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας, καὶ οὐ προχείρως δεῖ τὰς τοιαύτας κοινωνεῖν τῶν εὐχῶν. Εἰ μέν τοι τις ἐν ἄκρᾳ σωφροσύνῃ ζήσασα καὶ καθαρόν, καὶ ἔξω πάσης ὑπονοίας ἐπιδεδειγμένη βίον τὸν πρότερον, νῦν περιπέπτωκεν ἐκ βίας καὶ ἀνάγκης ὕβρει, ἔχομεν παράδειγμα τὸ ἐν τῷ Δευτερονομίῳ τὸ ἐπὶ τῇ νεάνιδι, ἣν ἐν τῷ πεδίῳ εὗρεν ἄνθρωπος καί, βιασάμενος αὐτήν, ἐκοιμήθη μετ᾿ αὐτῆς· Τῇ νεάνιδι, φησίν, οὐ ποιήσετε οὐδέν· οὐκ ἔστι τῇ νεάνιδι ἁμάρτημα θανάτου· ὅτι, ὡς εἴ τις ἀναστῇ ἄνθρωπος ἐπὶ τὸν πλησίον αὐτοῦ καὶ θανατώσει αὐτοῦ τὴν ψυχήν, οὕτω τὸ πρᾶγμα τοῦτο. Ἐβόησεν ἡ νεᾶνις, καὶ ὁ βοηθῶν οὐκ ἦν αὐτῇ. Ταῦτα μέν τοι τοιαῦτα.