{"slug":"tmp920.tmp920.opp-lat1","id":"latin:ogl-pl:tmp920.tmp920.opp-lat1","title":"Epistolae","title_source":"Epistolae","author":"SS Simplicius","genre":"letter","date":"","tradition":"latin","coverage":"not-located","coverage_claim":{"status":"not-located","text":"No English translation could be identified: a language model asked twice could not name one, though it could not rule one out either. That is not proof that none exists — translations in dissertations, recent books and other modern languages are easily missed."},"publication":{"status":"machine-draft","reviewed_by":null,"model":"deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash:floor","provider":"Relace","generated":"2026-11-15T18:50:42Z","cost_usd":0.005031},"source":{"registry_id":"latin:ogl-pl:tmp920.tmp920.opp-lat1","work_id":"tmp920.tmp920.opp-lat1","edition":"ogl-pl","language":"","license":"Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License","url":"https://github.com/OpenGreekAndLatin/patrologia_latina-dev/blob/master/data/tmp920/tmp920/tmp920.tmp920.opp-lat1.xml"},"stats":{"passages":56,"english_words":13528,"coptic_letters":0,"source_letters":54334,"commentary_units":0,"commentary_kinds":0,"derived_notes":22,"ambiguities":0,"work_notes":0,"external_links":0,"timeline":0},"summary":{},"links":[{"kind":"source","label":"Open Greek and Latin Patrologia Latina","url":"https://github.com/OpenGreekAndLatin/patrologia_latina-dev/blob/master/data/tmp920/tmp920/tmp920.tmp920.opp-lat1.xml"}],"checks":{"work":"tmp920.tmp920.opp-lat1","status":"pass","blocking":[],"warnings":[],"stats":{"passages":56,"translated":56,"commentary_passages":0,"commentary_units":0,"english_words":13528,"source_letters":53976,"commentary_kinds":0},"model":"deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash:floor"},"work_notes":[],"derived_work_notes":[{"kind":"coverage","severity":"info","text":"No English translation could be identified: a language model asked twice could not name one, though it could not rule one out either. That is not proof that none exists — translations in dissertations, recent books and other modern languages are easily missed."},{"kind":"limit","severity":"caution","text":"The English is a machine draft produced passage by passage from the transcribed Latin; no human has verified it. The commentary is model-written and cites only keys the pipeline could resolve."},{"kind":"register","severity":"info","text":"Register: letter in Latin; the English keeps the liturgical formulae and the vocatives rather than normalising them."},{"kind":"structure","severity":"info","text":"Passages: 56 narrative."},{"kind":"caution","severity":"caution","text":"22 passage(s) are fragmentary in the source; the English bridges each break and says so in the note."},{"kind":"source","severity":"info","text":"Source edition: ogl-pl."},{"kind":"source","severity":"info","text":"Licence: Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License"}],"derived_structure":{"narrative":56},"term_index":[],"citations":{},"segments":[{"i":1,"ref":"p1","source":"EPISTOLÆ SIMPLICII PAPÆ.\n\nEPISTOLA I.\n\nSIMPLICII PAPÆ AD ZENONEM [ rectius HISPALENSEM] SPALENSEM EPISCOPUM.\n\nDe commissa illi vice sedis in omnibus Hispaniarum Ecclesiis. Hispalensem episcopum virum optimum sedis apostolicæ vicarium constituit.\n\nDilectissimo fratri Zenoni Simplicius.\n\nPlurimorum relatu comperimus dilectionem tuam fervore Spiritus sancti ita te Ecclesiae gubernatorem existere, ut naufragii detrimenta, Deo auctore, non sentiat. Talibus idcirco gloriantes indiciis, congruum duximus vicaria sedis nostræ te auctoritate fulciri, cujus vigore munitus, apostolicæ institutionis decreta, vel sanctorum terminos Patrum, nullo modo transcendi permittas: quoniam digna honoris remuneratione cumulandus est per quem in his regionibus divinus crescere innotuit cultus, Deus te incolumem custodiat, frater carissime.\n\nEPISTOLA II\n\nSIMPLICII PAPÆ AD JOANNEM RAVENNATEM EPISCOPUM.","english":"LETTERS OF POPE SIMPLICIUS.\n\nLETTER I.\n\nOF POPE SIMPLICIUS TO ZENO, BISHOP OF SPALIS [more correctly, OF HISPALIS].\n\nConcerning the vice committed to him of the see in all the churches of the Spains. He appoints the bishop of Hispalis, a most excellent man, as vicar of the apostolic see.\n\nSimplicius to his most beloved brother Zeno.\n\nThrough the report of very many we have learned that your belovedness, by the fervor of the Holy Spirit, so conducts yourself as a governor of the Church that, with God as author, it suffers no losses of shipwreck. Therefore, rejoicing in such evidences, we have deemed it fitting that you be supported by the vicarious authority of our see, strengthened by whose vigor you are to permit in no way the decrees of the apostolic institution, or the boundaries of the holy Fathers, to be transgressed: since he must be heaped with a worthy recompense of honor through whom the divine worship has been made known to grow in these regions. May God keep you safe, dearest brother.\n\nLETTER II\n\nOF POPE SIMPLICIUS TO JOHN, BISHOP OF RAVENNA.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[{"kind":"lacuna","severity":"caution","text":"The source is fragmentary here: the edition marks a break or an editorial bracket, and the English carries across it. Treat the bridge as supplied, not translated."}]},{"i":2,"ref":"p2","source":"Reprehendit Joannem quod Gregorium adhibita vi episcopum ordinasset; cui ut Mutinensem Ecclesiam, nullam causam cum Joanne habiturus, gubernet præcipit.\n\nSimplicius episcopus Joanni episcopo Ravennati.\n\nSi quis esset intuitus ecclesiasticæ disciplinæ. vel si quid apud te sacerdotalis modestiæ teneretur, nunquam plectibiles perpetrarentur excessus: a quibus si nullo te paternarum regularum poteras continere praecepto, saltem sanctae memoriae praedecessoris tui fueras revocandus exemplo. Qui cum minus deliquisset faciendo presbyterum invitum, senserat tamen dignum pro tali u surpatione judicium. Ubi ista didicisti, quæ in fratrem et cœpiscopum nostrum Grcgorium non electione, sed invidia perpetrasti, quem inexcusabili violentia pertrahi ad te passus es, atque vexari,ut ei honorem tantum non per animi tranquillitatem, sed per amenliam (sicut dicendum est) irrogares? Neque enim talia potuissent fieri sanitate consilii. Nolumus exaaggerare quod a dignum est, ne cogamur judicare quod dignum. Nam privilegium meretur amittere qui permissa sibi abutitur potestate. Sed una nos ratio facit esse sententiae mollioris, quam maluimus te, fratre et coepiscopo nostro Projecto referente, cognoscere, non nostris litteris propter opprobrium publicare.","english":"He reproves John for having ordained Gregory as bishop by force; and he orders him to govern the Church of Mutina, since he will have no case to plead with John.\n\nSimplicius, bishop, to John, bishop of Ravenna.\n\nIf anyone had regard for ecclesiastical discipline, or if any priestly modesty were held in you, never would punishable excesses be perpetrated; and if you could not restrain yourself from these by any precept of the fathers' rules, you should at least have been recalled by the example of your predecessor of holy memory. Although he had offended less by making a presbyter against his will, he had nonetheless felt a judgment worthy of such usurpation. Where did you learn those things which you have perpetrated against our brother and fellow bishop Gregory, not from election but from envy, whom you suffered to be dragged to you with inexcusable violence and to be harassed, so that you imposed that honor upon him not through tranquillity of mind but through madness (as it must be called)? For such things could not have been done with sound counsel. We do not wish to exaggerate what is unworthy, lest we be compelled to judge what is unworthy. For he deserves to lose a privilege who abuses the power granted to him. But one reason makes us of a gentler opinion, which we preferred to learn through the report of our brother and fellow bishop Projectus, rather than to publish it in our letters on account of the disgrace.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":3,"ref":"p3","source":"Nam scandalum, cujus auctor cognosceris, ita moderatio nostra compescuit, ut frater et coepiscopus meus Gregorius (quem non provectum constat esse, sed pulsum) nullam caus am (sicut petiit) tecum habiturus, Mutinensem gubernet Ecclesiam, et contubernium spiritale speciale J, quod sortiri non oportebat invitum, non recuset amplecti. Cui si quid negotii forsitan emerserit, nostrum ex [ab] eo vel contra eum petatur examen. Necessitatibus etiam, quas (faciente te) compellitur sustinere, hac definitione * consulemusv ut refuso prædio, quod ante annum sibi datum esse conimemorat, atque ad Ecclesiam Ravennatem reverso, possessio in. Bononiensi triginta solidorum reddituum [reditus] liberorum sine dubitatione tradatur in diem scilicet vitæ ejus, salvo proprietatis jure Ravennatis Ecclesiæ, ad quam post praedicti obitum revertetur. Quod si non fuerit nostris parium constitutis, quid post transgressionem maneat contumacem, ipse perpendis. Denuntiamus autem, quod si post hac. quidquam tale praesumpseris, et aliquem seu episcopum seu. presbyterum, seu diaconum, invitam facere forte credideris, ordinationes tibi Ravennatis Ecclesiæ vel Æmiliensis noveris auferendas. Data e tertio calendas Junii (anno Domini 482), Severino viro clarissimo consule.","english":"For the scandal, of which you are known to be the author, our moderation has restrained in such a way that my brother and fellow bishop Gregory (who is known not to have been advanced, but driven out) shall have no case (as he requested) with you, but shall govern the Church of Mutina, and shall not refuse to embrace the special spiritual fellowship which it was not fitting for him to obtain unwillingly. If any business should perhaps arise for him, let our judgment be sought from him or against him. Also, for the necessities which (through your doing) he is compelled to endure, we will provide by this decree: that after the property, which he recalls was given to him a year ago, has been refunded and returned to the Church of Ravenna, a possession in the territory of Bologna yielding thirty solidi of free income shall be handed over without hesitation for the term of his life, saving the right of ownership of the Church of Ravenna, to which it will revert after the aforesaid’s death. If our decrees are not complied with, you yourself may consider what awaits the contumacious after transgression. Moreover, we declare that if after this you presume anything of the sort, and should you perhaps believe that you can compel any bishop or presbyter or deacon unwillingly, know that the ordinations of the Church of Ravenna or of Aemilia will be taken from you. Given on the third day before the Kalends of June (in the year of the Lord 482), with Severinus, a most distinguished man, as consul.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[{"kind":"lacuna","severity":"caution","text":"The source is fragmentary here: the edition marks a break or an editorial bracket, and the English carries across it. Treat the bridge as supplied, not translated."}]},{"i":4,"ref":"p4","source":"EPISTOLA III\n\nSIMPLICII PAP޺Æ AD FLORENTIUM, EQUITIUM ET SBVE- RUM EPISCOPOS.\n\nGaudentius Aufiniensis episcopus, ob illicitas ordinationes factas, munere sacerdotali ei triplici parte redituum ecclesiæ privatur.\n\nSimplicius episcopus, Florentio, Equitio et Severo episcopis.\n\nRelatio nos vestrae dilectionis instruxit, et gestotum series plenius intima via, Gaudentium Aufiniensis [Burcb., Offiniensis ] Ecclesiæ sacerdotem, contra statuta canonum ac nostra praecepta, ordioationes illicitas perpetrasse, quarum illi totam penitus auferri praecipimus potestatem. Scripsimus enim ad Severum fratrem et coepiscopum nostrum, ut (si necesse fuerit) ipse in supradicta Ecclesia, consideralis Patrum regulis, hoc fungatur officio, quo ille abusus esse convictus est; ita ut hi qui illicite ab eodem sunt provecti, ab ecclesiasticis ministeriis sint remoti. Simul etiam de redditibus Ecclesiae vcl oblatione fidelium, quid deceat nescienti, nihil licere permittat, sed sola ei ex his quarta [una] portio remittatur. Duæ ecclesiasticis fabricis, et eroga* tioni peregrinorum et pauperum profuturae, ab Onagro [a Bonagro] presbytero sub periculo sui ordinis ministrentur; ultima inter se clericis pro singulotum meritis dividatur.","english":"EPISTLE III\n\nOF POP SIMPLICIUS TO THE BISHOPS FLORENTIUS, EQUITIUS, AND SEVERUS.\n\nGaudentius, bishop of Aufinium, is deprived of the priestly office and of three parts of the church's revenues, on account of illicit ordinations made by him.\n\nSimplicius, bishop, to the bishops Florentius, Equitius, and Severus.\n\nThe report of your beloved selves has informed us, and the course of events has more fully made known, that Gaudentius, priest of the Church of Aufinium, against the statutes of the canons and our precepts, has perpetrated illicit ordinations; the entire power of which we command to be wholly taken away from him. For we have written to our brother and fellow bishop Severus, that (if it be necessary) he himself, in the aforesaid Church, with the rules of the Fathers considered, should discharge this office, which that man is convicted of having abused; so that those who have been illicitly advanced by him be removed from ecclesiastical ministries. At the same time also, concerning the revenues of the Church or the offering of the faithful, let him permit nothing to be lawful to one who does not know what is fitting, but let only a fourth part of these be remitted to him. Two parts, to be of profit for the fabric of the churches and for the disbursement to strangers and the poor, are to be administered by the presbyter Onager under peril of his own order; the last is to be divided among the clergy themselves according to the merits of each.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[{"kind":"lacuna","severity":"caution","text":"The source is fragmentary here: the edition marks a break or an editorial bracket, and the English carries across it. Treat the bridge as supplied, not translated."}]},{"i":5,"ref":"p5","source":"At vero ministeria ecclesiro quæ alienata comperimus, reparare praesumptor, prædicti fratris compellatur instantia, e cui etiam hoc specialiter praecipimus imminere, ut tres illas portiones, quas per triennium dicitur sibi tantummodo vindicasse, restituat. Data decimo tertio (XIV) calendarum Decembrium (anno Domini 475), post consulatum Leonis Augusti.\n\nEPISTOLA IV\n\nSIMPLICII PAPÆ AD ZENONEM.\n\nRoga! ut Timotheum Ælurum, qui Alexandrinam sedem iterum occupare, et clam Constantinopoli suas hœreses disseminare conabatur, regia potestate cohibeat.\n\nZenoni Augusto [Basilisco in cod. Virdunensi 1] Simplicius episcopus.\n\nCuperem quidem, quantum ad meæ spectat devotionis arbitrium, qua principes Christianos jugi veneratione suscipio, debita pietati vestræ continus officia deferre colJoquils. Sed cum ad hujus intentiohis augmentum etiam sacrae cura religionis accedat, ratio mihi negotii potioris incumbit, ut simul honorificentiam vobis prona mente persolvam, et causas fideliter insinuem: quia me ad utramque vel dicata trahit clementiæ vestrae semper affectio, vel respectus ordinis mei et apostolici moderaminis sol. licitudo compellit.","english":"But as for the church ministries which we have found to be alienated, let the presumptuous one be compelled by the insistence of the aforementioned brother to restore them, and we specifically command him to press this matter, so that he also restore those three portions which he is said to have claimed only for himself over a triennium. Given on the thirteenth (fourteenth) day before the Kalends of December (in the year of the Lord 475), after the consulship of Leo Augustus.\n\nLETTER IV\n\nPOPE SIMPLICIUS TO ZENO.\n\nHe asks that Timothy Aelurus, who was attempting to occupy the see of Alexandria again and to disseminate his heresies even at Constantinople, be restrained by royal authority.\n\nTo the Augustus Zeno [Basiliscus in the Verdun codex 1], Simplicius the bishop.\n\nI would indeed, as far as pertains to the judgment of my devotion, by which I embrace Christian princes with constant veneration, wish to offer the due offices of your piety in continuous colloquies. But since to the increase of this intention the sacred care of religion is also added, the reason of a more important business falls upon me, so that I may both pay homage to you with a ready mind and faithfully set forth the causes: because I am drawn to both by the always present affection of your clemency, or compelled by the respect for my office and the solicitude of apostolic moderation.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[{"kind":"lacuna","severity":"caution","text":"The source is fragmentary here: the edition marks a break or an editorial bracket, and the English carries across it. Treat the bridge as supplied, not translated."}]},{"i":6,"ref":"p6","source":"Functus igitur, gloriosissirne ac clementissime fili imperator Auguste, munere salutandi, quae in Ecclesiis Orientis per haereticorum latrocinia recidiva rursus dicuntur scandala concitari, nec debeo silere, nec possum. Nam sicut in meam notitiam ferventium pro fide catholica detulerunt scripta monachorum, comperi Timotheum parricidam, qui Ægyptiacæ pridem vastator Ecclesiae in morem Cain (ut lectio divina [Gen. IV] lebtatur) ejectus a facie Dei, hoc est, ab Ecclesiæ dignitate seclusus, et jam per deserta vagus, sceleratæ conscientiæ diu tormenta passurus, in exsilium proprii erroris abductus est, resumptis pristini furoris incendiis conflasse nihilominus agmina perditorum, et Alexandrinae urbis Ecclesiam, quam sacerdotali prius sanguine cruentavil, ipsum denuo nunc cruentum depulsione legitimi pervasisse pontificis: ut cui illa relegationis humilitas injicere debuerit ex iis quæ impie gesserat, aculeum poenitendi, nutriendi potius otia tri bnisse videatur atrocioris insaniae: quo procul dubio Cain ipso longe deteslabilior approbatur. Ille siquidem a perpetrato semel facinore damnatus abstinuit, hic profecit ad crimina majora post poenam.","english":"Having therefore, most glorious and most merciful son, Emperor Augustus, discharged the duty of greeting you, I neither ought nor can remain silent about the scandals that are said to be stirred up again in the churches of the East through the renewed brigandage of heretics. For just as the writings of the monks zealous for the catholic faith have brought to my notice, I have learned that Timothy, that parricide who long ago laid waste the church of Egypt, cast out in the manner of Cain (as the divine reading [Gen. 4] recounts) from the face of God—that is, shut out from the dignity of the church—and now wandering through the deserts, destined long to endure the torments of a guilty conscience, led away into the exile of his own error, having rekindled the fires of his former fury, has nonetheless gathered bands of the lost and has again invaded the church of the city of Alexandria, which he had previously stained with the blood of a bishop, now himself bloodstained by the expulsion of the lawful pontiff; so that the humiliation of that relegation, which ought to have driven into him the sting of repentance for the impious deeds he had committed, appears rather to have fostered leisure for a more savage madness; whereby he is beyond doubt shown to be far more detestable than Cain himself. For the latter, condemned for a crime committed once, refrained from further deeds; this man has advanced to greater crimes after punishment.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[{"kind":"lacuna","severity":"caution","text":"The source is fragmentary here: the edition marks a break or an editorial bracket, and the English carries across it. Treat the bridge as supplied, not translated."}]},{"i":7,"ref":"p7","source":"Nec eo tamen scelerum fine contentus, Constantinopolitanam insuper urbem, recti semper dogmatis amore flagrantem (ne quid intemeratum populator humanae salutis omiueret) fertur audacter ingressus, ct a suae consortibus pravitatis libenter audisse soli Christo debitam vocem, qua plane non in nomine Domini venire benedictus, sed divini culminis usurpator evidenter est monstratus Antichristus: qui cum etiam a communione catholica tam laudabiliter esset exclusus, per quorumdam privatas domos, respersis humano sanguine manibus, non divina sacrificia, sed sacrilegia celebrasse memoratur, in quo utique non est ejus firmata susceptio, sed consciorum divulgata proditio, cum eodem de illa iniquitatis sede, nisi resipiscant, omnimode casuros, quam sicut diabolus pater ejus, Altissimo similem se faciens, aeternum sibi perfidus construere non desinit ad ruinam.","english":"Nor, however, is he content with that limit of crimes: he is reported to have boldly entered the city of Constantinople as well, ever burning with love of right doctrine (lest the destroyer of human salvation omit anything undefiled), and to have willingly listened, with his partners in depravity, to a voice owed to Christ alone, by which he who came not in the name of the Lord, but was plainly shown to be a usurper of divine eminence, was evidently revealed as Antichrist. And although he had been so laudably excluded from Catholic communion, through certain men's private houses, with hands sprinkled with human blood, he is recorded to have celebrated not divine sacrifices but sacrileges; in this, indeed, his acceptance was not confirmed, but the betrayal of his accomplices was made public, since, unless they repent, they will fall utterly with him from that seat of iniquity, which he, like his father the devil, making himself like the Most High, faithless as he is, does not cease to build for himself unto eternal ruin.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":8,"ref":"p8","source":"Haec venerabilis imperator, cum horreat animus vel a tanto gladiatore fuisse tentata, maximo tamen (fateor) stupore detineor, sub vestræ pietatis aspectibus potuisse commiui. Quis enim devotam semper Deo clementiæ vestræ mentem, et orthodoxis deditam regulis, aut ignoret, aut ambigat? quippe qui supernæ dispositione providenliae, sicut pro utilitate publica augustae memoriae Marciani pariter et Leonis eruditi virtuLibus, sic eorum sitis etiam ad catholicam veritatem sensibus instituti: nec cuiquam omnino sit dubium, pietatem tuam illorum esse fidei sequacem, quorum es successor imperii. Quæ cum de vestrae tranquillitatis animo certa ab omnibus teneantur et fixa, absit ut temporibus vestris divini cultus integritas, et antiquitus roborata fidei catholicae putetur interpellanda sinceritas.\n\nRespicite, quaeso, ad divina beneficia; et quae sint vobis collata perpendite; atque ut haec prospera Valeant permanere, propitiandum esse censete auctorem muneris, non lædendum. Inter quaslibet enim occupationes publicas a religioso principe magnopere procurandum est, quod ejus protegit principatum: et præferenda cunctis rebus est cælestis observantiae rectitudo, sine qua recte nulla consistunt. Suppetunt affatim clementiæ tuæ (si in palatii sui requiri mandet archivis) cum nostrorum coeuntia definitione majorum documenta copiosa.","english":"These things, venerable emperor, although my mind recoils that they should have been attempted by so great a gladiator, nevertheless (I confess) I am held in the greatest astonishment that they could have been committed in the sight of your Piety. For who either does not know or doubts that your Clemency's mind, always devoted to God and dedicated to orthodox rules? Indeed, you who by the disposition of supernal Providence, just as you were instructed in virtues for the public utility by the august memory of Marcian and Leo alike, so too were you established in your senses for the catholic truth: nor is it doubtful to anyone at all that your Piety is a follower of the faith of those whose successor in empire you are. Since these things are held certain and fixed by all concerning the mind of your Tranquillity, far be it that in your times the integrity of divine worship and the sincerity of the catholic faith, strengthened from ancient times, should be thought to be assailed.\n\nLook, I ask, upon the divine benefits; and weigh what has been conferred upon you; and so that these prosperous things may remain, judge that the author of the gift must be propitiated, not offended. For amid whatever public occupations, by a religious prince that must be greatly procured which protects his principality: and the rectitude of heavenly observance must be preferred to all things, without which nothing stands rightly. There abundantly supply your Clemency (if he orders it to be sought in the archives of his palace) copious documents agreeing with the definition of our forefathers.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":9,"ref":"p9","source":"Neque enim conscientiam vestram latere credendum est, quae per cunctas provincias Orientis ex imperii vestri arce diffusa sunt: illa scilicet quae vel ad augustae memoriæ Marciani, nihilominus et Leonis, vel ad Chalcedonensis concilii beatae recordationis prædecessor mens Leo consulta direxit: quibus ita plene atque dilucide sacramentum dominicae incarnationis exposuit, ut non modo catholicus, sed ne Christianus quidem valeat nuncupari, quisquis illic et redemptionis suæ causas non evidenter agnoscat.\n\nCerte ut facilis vobis necessaria non desit instructio, earumdem exemplaria litterarum ad fratrem et coepiscopum nostrum Acacium misi vestris sensibus, offerenda. Haec igitur pietas tua si recensere dignetur, vel quæ totius Orientis episcopi de hujus praedicationis consensione rescripserint, aspiciet profecto examinata diligenter, et veraciter promulgata, atque ideo pestiferae falsitatis ambagibus nequaquam debere pulsari. Quia revera quae de Scripturarum fonte purissimo sincera perspicuaque manarunt, nullis agitari nebulosæ versutiæ poterunt argumentis. Perstat enim in suceessoribus suis haec et eadem apostolicæ norma doctrinae, cui Dominus totius curam ovilis injunxit, cui se usque ad finem saeculi minime defuturum, cui portas inferi nunquam prævalituras esse promisit; cujus sententia quae ligarentur in terris, solvi testatus est non posse nec in coelo (Matth. XVI).","english":"For it must not be believed that this escapes your conscience—those things which have been spread through all the provinces of the East from the citadel of your empire: namely, those decrees which my predecessor Leo of blessed memory directed to the revered memory of Marcian, and likewise to Leo, and to the blessed record of the Council of Chalcedon; by which he so fully and clearly set forth the mystery of the Lord's incarnation that whoever does not plainly recognize therein the causes of his own redemption can be called not only not a Catholic, but not even a Christian.\n\nCertainly, so that the necessary instruction may not be lacking to you in your readiness, I have sent copies of those same letters to our brother and fellow bishop Acacius, to be offered to your understanding. If your Piety deigns to review these, it will surely see, once diligently examined, both what the bishops of the whole East have written back concerning agreement with this preaching, and that it has been truthfully proclaimed, and therefore ought by no means to be assailed by the circuitous evasions of pestilent falsehood. For truly, things that have flowed pure and clear from the most limpid fountain of the Scriptures cannot be disturbed by any arguments of cloudy cunning. For this same norm of apostolic doctrine persists in its successors, to whom the Lord entrusted the care of the whole flock, to whom He promised that He would by no means be absent even to the end of the age, and that the gates of hell would never prevail against it; by whose judgment He testified that what is bound on earth cannot be loosed even in heaven (Matt. 16).","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":10,"ref":"p10","source":"Quapropter clementiam vestram, cui mea vice propensius frater et coepiscopus meus Acacius supplicabit, precor atque obsecro, ut imitatores facti tantorum et talium praedecessorum, nefandae præsumptionis operarios catholico pectore respuentes, regia censcatis potestate cohiberi. Quisquis aliud (sicut praedixit Apostolus) præterquam quod accepimus, seminare molitur; anathema sit (Galat. I). Nullus ad aures vestras perniciosis mentibus subrependi (AI. subripiendi pandatur accessus: nulla retractandi quidpiam de veteribus constitutis fiducia concedatur. Quia (sicut saepius iterandum est) quod apostolicis manibus cum Ecclesiae universalis assensu acie meruit evangelistæ falcis abscindi, vigorem sumere non potest renascendi: nec in dominicae vitis fructivam (fructiferam) valet redire propaginem, quod igni deputatum constat aeterno.\n\nSi hæresum denique machinamenta cunctarum ecclesiasticis prostrata decretis nunquam sinuntur oppugnatione elisa reparari certamina: anle omnia autem quaeso, ut beati Marci evangelistae sedes (Alexandrinam loquor Ecclesiam) a crucntissimi praedonis incubatione liberata, catholico reformetur antistiti, libertatemque suam pariter recipiat et quietem.","english":"Wherefore I beseech and implore your Clemency, to whom my brother and fellow bishop Acacius will make supplication in my stead with all the more earnestness, that, imitating the deeds of so great and such predecessors, and rejecting with catholic heart the workers of abominable presumption, you may deem it right to restrain them by your royal power. Whoever attempts to sow anything other than what we have received (as the Apostle foretold), let him be anathema (Galatians 1). Let no access be opened for pernicious minds to creep into your ears; let no confidence be granted of retracting anything from the ancient constitutions. Because (as must be repeated rather often) what has deserved to be cut off by the sharp edge of the evangelist's sickle through apostolic hands with the assent of the universal Church cannot take vigor for being born again; nor can that return into the fruitful offspring of the Lord's vine which is known to have been consigned to eternal fire.\n\nIf, finally, the devices of all heresies, laid low by ecclesiastical decrees, are never allowed to be repaired by assault, their struggles being shattered: but before all things I ask that the see of the blessed evangelist Mark (I speak of the Church of Alexandria), freed from the brooding of a most cruel robber, be reformed with a catholic bishop, and equally receive back both its liberty and its peace.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":11,"ref":"p11","source":"At vero impius parricida, qui divinis simul est reus legibus et humanis, reductus eodem quo jure fuerat ante detrusus, ab innocentium ncce retrabatur animarum; procul a regno pietatis vestrae funesti capitis venena discedant: quae quoniam salutiferæ prædicationis auribus obturatis, medicantia verba capere nequiverunt, ab humani conventus abducta pernicie, in virulentiae suae congrua solitudine contabescant: quo magis B. Petri apostoli voce, qualiscunque sedis ejus minister, obtestor, ut inimicos antiquae fidei non sinas impune grassari, qui vestros optatis habere subjectos; ut verae confessionis pacem cunctas Domini servare decernatis Ecclesias, qui or. bem vestri imperii desideratis tenere pacatum; et unicam spem salutis, quae genus hominum ad regna coelestia vitamque perducit aeternam, nulla patiamini parte violari, qui placatum Deum vel regno vestro cupitis, vel saloti. Data quarto idus Januarias (anno Chr. 476), Basilisco Augusto [Armato coss.] consule.","english":"But indeed the impious parricide, who is guilty at once under divine and human laws, let him be dragged back by the same law by which he had been thrust down before, and be drawn away from the slaughter of innocent souls; far from the kingdom of your Piety let the poisons of that deadly head depart. And since, having shut their ears to the health-bringing preaching, they could not receive the healing words, let them, withdrawn from human fellowship together with their perniciousness, waste away in a solitude suited to their own virulence. Wherefore, the more earnestly by the voice of the blessed apostle Peter, I, whatever manner of minister of his see I am, implore you not to allow the enemies of the ancient faith, who desire to have your subjects, to rage unpunished; that you may decree that all the Churches of the Lord preserve the peace of the true confession, you who desire to hold the world of your empire at peace; and that you suffer the one hope of salvation, which leads the human race to the heavenly kingdoms and to eternal life, to be violated in no part, you who desire God to be propitiated both for your kingdom and for your salvation. Given on the fourth day before the Ides of January, in the consulship of Basiliscus Augustus [and Armatus].","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[{"kind":"lacuna","severity":"caution","text":"The source is fragmentary here: the edition marks a break or an editorial bracket, and the English carries across it. Treat the bridge as supplied, not translated."}]},{"i":12,"ref":"p12","source":"' EPISTOLA V.\n\nSIMPLICII PAPÆ AD ACACIUM.\n\nScribit Acacio. ut omni conatu obsistat Timotheo ne concilium universale, quod ille apud imperatorem agebat, habeatur.\n\nSimplicius papa Acacio episcopo Constantino politano.\n\nQuantum presbyterorum et ex diversis monasteriis Domino servientium monachorum relatione patefactum est, Ecclesias Domini rursus diabolus inquietat; ita ut excluso Alexandrino sacerdote, hæreticus, atque ab universitate damnatus, eumdem locum de quo pulsus fuerat occupasse dicatur; insuper, quibusdam faventibus, Constantinopolim ausum fuisse contendere, ut civitas Christianorum principum circa fidei catholicæ veritatem devotione præcellens, et Christiana plebs in defensione religionis attenta, hæreticorum pravitate, quae jam fuerat sopita, turbetur. Sed misericordia Dei, cujus est causa, non defuit, ut Timotheus, qui ab universali Ecclesia sacerdotalibus sententis et imperialibus cons itutis juste fuerat segregatus [AI. jure est Segregatus], ad Ecclesiam tuæ dilectionis, vel ad fidelium domorum limina non permitteretur accedere. Quem conventus novos pro se didicimus comminari, resolvi existimantem quod de se universalis decrevit auctoritas. Unde quia sanctæ memoriae praedccessorum nostrorum exsiante doctrina, contra quam nefas est disputarc, quisquis.","english":"EPISTLE V.\n\nOF POPE SIMPLICIUS TO ACACIUS.\n\nHe writes to Acacius that with every effort he should oppose Timothy, lest the universal council which he was promoting before the emperor be held.\n\nPope Simplicius to Acacius, bishop of Constantinople.\n\nAs has been made clear by the report of the presbyters and of the monks serving the Lord in various monasteries, the devil is again troubling the Churches of the Lord; so that, with the Alexandrian priest shut out, a heretic and one condemned by the whole world is said to have occupied the very place from which he had been driven; and moreover, with certain persons favoring him, he has dared to strive to reach Constantinople, so that the city of Christian princes, surpassing in devotion to the truth of the catholic faith, and the Christian people, attentive to the defense of religion, might be thrown into confusion by the depravity of heretics, which had already been lulled to rest. But the mercy of God, whose cause it is, was not lacking, so that Timothy, who by priestly sentences and imperial decrees had justly been separated from the universal Church, was not permitted to approach the church of your belovedness, or the thresholds of the houses of the faithful. We have learned that he threatens new assemblies on his own behalf, thinking that what the universal authority has decreed concerning him is to be dissolved. Wherefore, since the teaching of our predecessors of holy memory stands, against which it is impious to dispute, whoever.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[{"kind":"lacuna","severity":"caution","text":"The source is fragmentary here: the edition marks a break or an editorial bracket, and the English carries across it. Treat the bridge as supplied, not translated."}]},{"i":13,"ref":"p13","source":"recte sapere videtur, novis assertionibus non indiget edoceri, sed plana atque perfecta sunt omnia quibus potest vel deceptus ab baercticis erudini, vel in v nea Domini plantandus institui, implorata fide clement ssimi principis vocein faciendæ synodi fac respui, nec sit apud aures imperatoris Christiani pigra suggestio; quia salus ejus et regni ipsius Christus est fortitudo.\n\nErgo cum prædictis presbyter ac monacbis opportune pietati ejus nostro quoque nomine supplica, et legationem hanc pro nobis quoque clementiæ ipsius, ne quid subrepatur, insinua: iomnium pariter precibus instruatur, ne per occupationes publicas quieti ecclesiasticae aliquas inimicus moliatur insidias: integritati suae Alexandrinam reddi præstet Ecclesiam, et beati Marci evangelistæ sede hostem parricidamque propellat; et qualiter catholicae fidei tenea ur integritas, in penetralibus aulae suae dignanter inquirat: quæ ne aliqua forsitan fidei aemulorum fraude vitientur, licet in ecclesiæ tuæ possint scrinis inveniri, tamen exemplaria misimus, quæ pietati ipsius praeparabis [AI. properabis] offerri.","english":"He who seems to think rightly does not need to be taught by new assertions, but all things are plain and perfect by which one can either be instructed, when deceived by heretics, or be planted in the vineyard of the Lord; having implored the faith of the most clement prince, see that the calling of a synod is refused, and let not the suggestion be sluggish in the ears of the Christian emperor, because his salvation and the strength of his kingdom is Christ.\n\nTherefore, together with the aforesaid presbyters and monks, supplicate his piety in our name as well, and commend this legation on our behalf also to his clemency, lest anything creep in; let him be instructed equally by the prayers of all, lest through public occupations the enemy contrive any snares against the quiet of the Church: let him grant that the Church of Alexandria be restored to its integrity, and let him drive the enemy and parricide from the see of the blessed Mark the evangelist; and let him deign to inquire within the inner chambers of his palace how the integrity of the catholic faith is to be held; and lest these things perhaps be corrupted by any fraud of the emulators of the faith, although they can be found in the archives of your church, nevertheless we have sent copies, which you shall prepare to be offered to his piety.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[{"kind":"lacuna","severity":"caution","text":"The source is fragmentary here: the edition marks a break or an editorial bracket, and the English carries across it. Treat the bridge as supplied, not translated."}]},{"i":14,"ref":"p14","source":"Nota namque et omnibus illic potestatibus celebrata, quae sanctæ memoriae prædecessor meus Leo ad consultationem augustae recordationis Leonis scripserit, et quam veneranter accepta sint, recognoscant: appareat sic ( ut confidimus) ejus imilator fidei, cujus, propitiante Deo, dignior est successor imperii; sibique scriptum æstimet, quidquid ante se principibus pia est traditam lectione. llla est namque perennitas, regnique per seriem propaganda posleritas, si in successore reperitur, quod a prædecessore descendit.\n\nHortor ergo, frater carissime, ut modis omnibus faciendae synodi perversorum conatibus resistatur; quæ non alias semper indicta est, nisi cum aliquid in pravis sensibus novum, aut in assertione dogmatum emersit ambiguum: ut in commune tractantibus. si quae esset obscurilas, sacerdotalis deliberationis illuminaret auctoritas; sicut primum Arii, ac deinde Nestorii, postremum Dioscori atque Eutychetis fieri coegit impietas. Et (quod misericordia Christi Dei nostri salvatoris avertat!) intimandum est abominabile esse contra sententias totius orbis Domini sacerdotum et principum utriusque rectorum, damnatos reos restituere, reduci exsules, relegatos in causa nefariæ conjurationis absolvi. Itaque (quod saepe re. petendum est hæc omnia clementissimis auribus suppliciter intimato.","english":"For let them acknowledge what is noted and celebrated among all the powers there—what my predecessor Leo, of holy memory, wrote in reply to the consultation of Leo, of august memory—and how reverently it was received. Let it appear thus, as we trust, that he is an imitator of his faith whose successor to the empire, by God's favor, he is the more worthy to be; and let him reckon as written for himself whatever was piously handed down by reading to princes before him. For that is enduring permanence, and posterity to be propagated through a succession of reign, if there is found in the successor what descends from the predecessor.\n\nI urge therefore, dearest brother, that by all means resistance be made to the attempts of the wicked against the holding of a synod; which has never at other times been decreed except when something new in depraved senses, or something ambiguous in the assertion of dogmas, has emerged: so that, with matters treated in common, if there were any obscurity, the authority of priestly deliberation might illuminate it; just as the impiety of Arius first, then of Nestorius, and lastly of Dioscorus and Eutyches, forced it to be done. And (may the mercy of Christ our God and Savior avert it!) it must be made known that it is abominable, against the judgments of the Lord's priests of the whole world and of the princes ruling both, to restore condemned guilty parties, to bring back exiles, to absolve those relegated in the case of the nefarious conspiracy. Therefore (which must often be repeated) let all these things be suppliantly made known to his most clement ears.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":15,"ref":"p15","source":"Veniet procul dubio Deus in adjutorium vestrum, in cujus manu cor regis esse retinens constitutum potestatis suae nesciat [AI. nescit aliunde principium. Data quinto idus Januarii.\n\nI EPISTOLA VI.\n\nSIMPLICII PAPÆ AD ACACIUM.\n\nCommendat Acacium quod Timotheo Æluro nulla ccclesia Constantinopoli patuerit, hortaturque eumdem ut imperatorem moneat ne Chalcedonensis conc Iii statuta violari permittat.\n\nSimplicius episcopus Acacio episcopo Constantinopo litano.\n\nCum filii nostri illustris vir Latinus palricius et spectabilis Madusius pro legatione publica miuerentur, negligere non potuimus quod omni intentione curamus. Proxime namque cum presbyterorum et monachorum de Timotbeo olim ab universali Ecclesia separato querela venisset, tam Cbristianissimo principi quam dilectioni tuæ scripsimus, ut modis omnibus resistat ne quid hæreticorum contra Chalcedonense concilium moliatur audacia, fratcr caris. slme; et dilectionis tuae laudando constantiam, multum nobis, imo ipsi Domino placere memoravimus, quod damnatum hominem non solum fidei, sed etiam parricidii causa, nullam Constantinopoli ecclesiam introire permiseris.","english":"God will without doubt come to your aid, in whose hand he holds the king's heart, established, and it knows not the beginning of its power from elsewhere. Given on the fifth day before the Ides of January.\n\nEPISTLE VI.\n\nOF POPE SIMPLICIUS TO ACACIUS.\n\nHe commends Acacius because no church at Constantinople was opened to Timothy Aelurus, and he urges him to warn the emperor not to allow the decrees of the Council of Chalcedon to be violated.\n\nSimplicius, bishop, to Acacius, bishop of Constantinople.\n\nWhen our sons, the illustrious man Latinus, patrician, and the distinguished Madusius, were being sent on a public embassy, we could not neglect what we pursue with all our attention. For recently, when a complaint concerning Timothy, long since separated from the universal Church, had come from the presbyters and monks, we wrote both to the most Christian prince and to your beloved self, that he should resist in every way lest the audacity of heretics attempt anything against the Council of Chalcedon, dearest brother; and, praising the constancy of your beloved self, we recalled that it greatly pleased us, nay rather the Lord himself, that you did not permit a man condemned not only on account of the faith but also on account of parricide to enter any church at Constantinople.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[{"kind":"lacuna","severity":"caution","text":"The source is fragmentary here: the edition marks a break or an editorial bracket, and the English carries across it. Treat the bridge as supplied, not translated."}]},{"i":16,"ref":"p16","source":"Quod nunc iterum commonemus ut cum ad dilectionem tuam cadem scripti pervenerinl, imo et am donec venialia, apud Christiinissimum principem etiam nostro nomine agere supplierter atque insinuare non desinas, ut quæ toties et Icene statuta sunt, nulla obreptione violentur: quia regni ejus certum et singulare est firmamentum, vero atque æterno regi congregatorum in causa lidei divino spiritu sacerdotum illæsum conservare concilum.\n\nEPISTOLA VII.\n\nSIMPLICH PAPÆ AD PRESBYTEROS ET ARCHIMANDRITAS CONSTANTINOPOLITANOS.\n\nClericorum ac monachorum Constantinopoli degentium fidei constantiam commendat, cum Timotheum ad cummunionem non admiserint; illumque, ut sæpe damnatum, ostendit non audiendum.\n\nSimplicius episcopus presbyteris et archimandrisis apud Constantinopolim conStitutis.\n\nPer filium nostrum laudabilem virum Epipha ium litteris vestræ dlectionis serius quam voluistis acceitis, magno sumus dolore permoti, quod illic intra Ecclesiam Dei scandalorum recidiva nascuntur incendia, ubi totius [A!. toties] auctoritate apostolicæ sedis, et sententia synodi universalis exstincta sunt.","english":"What we now again remind you of is that, when the letters of your belovedness have reached you—indeed, even until they come—you should not cease suppliantly to act and to make known in our name also to the most Christian prince, so that the things which have so often and legitimately been decreed may not be violated by any stealthy encroachment; because it is the certain and singular firmament of his kingdom, for the sake of the faith of those gathered to the true and eternal King, to preserve unharmed by the divine Spirit the council of priests.\n\nEPISTLE VII.\n\nOF POPE SIMPLICIUS TO THE PRESBYTERS AND ARCHIMANDRITES OF CONSTANTINOPLE.\n\nHe commends the constancy in the faith of the clerics and monks dwelling at Constantinople, since they have not admitted Timothy to communion; and he shows that he, as one often condemned, is not to be heard.\n\nSimplicius, bishop, to the presbyters and archimandrites established at Constantinople.\n\nThrough our son the praiseworthy man Epiphanius you have received the letters of your belovedness later than you wished; we have been moved by great grief that there arise there, within the Church of God, recurrent fires of scandals, where they had been extinguished by the authority of the apostolic see and the sentence of the universal synod.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[{"kind":"lacuna","severity":"caution","text":"The source is fragmentary here: the edition marks a break or an editorial bracket, and the English carries across it. Treat the bridge as supplied, not translated."}]},{"i":17,"ref":"p17","source":"Cui namque in tolo terrarum orbe cum perversitate dogmatum ncfandorum Nestorii, Eutychetis, Dioscorique damnatio; cui Timothei rursus Alexandrinæ Ecclesiæ pervasoris non est nota dejectio' Testis est anterius Ephesinum, testis est recens Chalcedonense concilium, quod quisquis desiderat retractari, in numero fidelium pronuntiat se non haberi; cum prædictorum talis impietas auctoribus et principibus Christianis, non solum ab Ecclesiae corpore, verum a cœtu omnium exsiliis segregata diversis, unitæ sententiæ damnatione percussa est. De quorum nihil est nunc errore dicendum; quia post traditionem tantorum Domini sacerdotum, qui longe ante nos in universa mundi parte has quoqu4 hxreses evicerunt, beatæ recordationis prædecessor noster Leo multiplici sernwne doctrinae, quid catholica. veritatis sequatur integritas, quid detestetur, asseruit. Hac cruditione fundata, non contentione opus est, ut adhuc tanquam de dubiis judicetur. Sed sicut dilcctionem vestram gaudemus facere, firmis contra dejectos state vestigiis: nec vos adversarius terreat, aut tardam putetis desnper venire victoriam. Cadere didicit qui resultat.","english":"For to whom in the whole world is the condemnation of the unspeakable doctrines of Nestorius, Eutyches, and Dioscorus, together with their perversity, not known? To whom again is the deposition of Timothy, the usurper of the Alexandrian church, not known? The earlier Council of Ephesus is witness, the recent Council of Chalcedon is witness, that whoever desires this to be reconsidered declares himself not to be counted among the faithful; since the impiety of the aforementioned men, together with its authors and Christian leaders, has been struck by the condemnation of a united sentence, not only from the body of the Church but also from the assembly of all, segregated into various exiles. Nothing need now be said of their error, because after the tradition of so many priests of the Lord, who long before us in every part of the world overcame these heresies as well, our predecessor of blessed memory, Leo, in the manifold discourse of his teaching, asserted what the integrity of catholic truth follows and what it detests. With this learning as our foundation, there is no need for contention, so that judgment should still be made as though about doubtful matters. But just as we rejoice to inform your belovedness, stand with firm steps against those who have been cast down; let not the adversary terrify you, nor think that victory ever comes slowly. He who resists has learned to fall.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":18,"ref":"p18","source":"Breviter hæc ad consultationem, imo etiam consolationem vestræ scripsimus caritati, volentes aliquos, quemadmodum cupitis, pro causae necessitate dirigcre, nisi ad omnem plenitudinem, non jatn defendendæ, quae solidae [forte solide] jacta est, fidei, sed repellendis hæreticis atque damnatis illa sufficerent, quæ etiam ad sanctae memoriae Flavianum, atque ad sanctam Chalcedonensem synodum, vel ad angustae recordationis Marcianum ac Lconem, beatae memoriæ antecessorem meum scri. psi se retinetis, atque totius Orientis episcopi rescriptis ad principem tunc Leonem propriis intimarunt. Unde insolubile esse non dubium est, quod vel ante decreverunt in unum convenientes tot Domini sacerdotes, vel quod singuli per suas Ecclesias constituti, eadem nihilominus sentientes, diversis quid vocibus, sed una mente dixerunt, damnantes eorum exsecrabilium auctores pariter et sequaces. Quapropter inter tot formas, quae erectae sunt, praedicandi, non assertione nova, sed constantia nitendum est. Jam probatum est, quid (Domino vos juvante profecerint labores vestri, Deo placitus fructus ostendit, quando ejus domum vobis obsistentibus latroni introire non licuit, qui nonnullis occurrentibus sibi, latentes ad.","english":"We have written these things briefly to your charity for consultation, and indeed also for consolation, desiring, as you wish, to direct certain men according to the necessity of the case, unless for every fullness—not now of defending the faith which has been cast down (which is solid), but of repelling heretics and the condemned—those things would suffice which you yourselves retain, both what I wrote to Flavian of holy memory and to the holy synod of Chalcedon, and to Marcian and Leo of narrow remembrance, and what the bishops of the whole East made known to the then emperor Leo in their own rescripts. Hence it is beyond doubt that it cannot be dissolved, either what so many priests of the Lord decreed when they came together in one, or what each one, established throughout their churches, nonetheless thinking the same things, said in different words but with one mind, condemning both the authors of those execrable men and their followers. Wherefore among so many forms of preaching that have been set up, we must strive not by new assertion but by constancy. It has already been proved what your labors have accomplished (with the Lord helping you); the fruit pleasing to God shows it, when, with you resisting, it was not permitted to the robber to enter his house, who, with some running to meet him, [turned] the hidden to...","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[{"kind":"lacuna","severity":"caution","text":"The source is fragmentary here: the edition marks a break or an editorial bracket, and the English carries across it. Treat the bridge as supplied, not translated."}]},{"i":19,"ref":"p19","source":"huc forsitan sui similcs publicavit, non enim junguntur bona pssiniis, recta perversis; nec possunt salutaria coire cum noxiis: quia luci communio nulla cum tenebris, nec infideli portio cum lideli. Unde necessario damnatorum comitabuntur exitum, qui talium delegere consortium; nisi forte resipiscentibus animis, et maxime qui nuper decepti sunt, videntes in quæ abrupta sunt ducti, ad splendorem veræ fidei discussa conferant se nube mendacii. Quod apostolicae sedis pietate ut provenire possit op'amus, quia vitam in Domini voluntatem cognoscimus, ad christianissimum quoque principem, vel ad fratrem et coepiscopum nostrum Acacium competentia simul scripta direximus, cujus accusandum silentium non putamus, quia scientes fidem probatissimi sacerdotis, certum tenemus suum non esse quod tacoit. Ut autem plenius dilectio vestra cognoscat nostrarum, quas ad Cbristianissimum principem misimus, seriem litterarum, exemplaria, internuntio quem misistis redeunte, direximus. Data III idus ianuarii, consule suprascripto.","english":"He has perhaps published to this point those like himself, for good things are not joined to the worst, nor right things to perverse; nor can wholesome things unite with harmful: because there is no communion of light with darkness, nor portion of the faithful with the unfaithful. Hence of necessity they will accompany the end of the damned, who have chosen the company of such men; unless perhaps, with minds repenting, and especially those who have recently been deceived, seeing into what precipices they have been led, once the cloud of falsehood has been dispelled, they betake themselves to the splendor of the true faith. That this may come about through the piety of the apostolic see, we pray, because we know life to be in the Lord's will; and to the most Christian prince also, and to our brother and fellow bishop Acacius, we have sent together the relevant writings, whose silence we do not think should be accused, because, knowing the faith of a most approved priest, we hold it certain that what he has kept silent on is not his own. But so that your charity may more fully know the series of our letters, which we have sent to the most Christian prince, we have sent copies, with the messenger whom you sent returning. Given on the third day before the ides of January, in the consulship written above.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":20,"ref":"p20","source":"EPISTOLA I VIII\n\nSIMPLICII AD ZENONEM IMPERATOREM.\n\nGratulatur ei de recuperato imperio, hortaturque ut Alexandrinum episcopum MOt suæ restituat, et eonis, et Chalcedonensis concilii decreta servari faciat.\n\nSimplicius episcopus Zenoni Augusto.\n\nInter opera divinae providentiae, quæ pia semper et justa sunt, nostris quoque temporibus eloqui potentias Domini vix quaelibet humana lingua sufficiet. Quis etenim valeat vel cogitatione complecti, vel voce depromere, quod in ipso utriusque rei laboranlis articulo et volis publicis religionis sanctæ reddidit vos quieti, nisi quod tanti consideratione miraculi clamandum est cum propheta: Hæc est mutatio dexterae excelsi (Psal. LXXVI), quas exaltantes semetipsos potenter humiliat, et humiliantes se clementer exaltat? In quibus etiam si dispensationis supernae sagacius mensura libretur, profecto evidenter apparet, ideo perfidorum irrepsisse perniciem, ut fides clementiæ tuae etiam inter adversa probaretur; quantoque magis rebus urgeri crederetur infestis, tant clarius vestra magnanimitas immineret: atque ob hoc mansuetudinis vestræ de Constantinopolitana urbe provenisse discessum, ut universorum des!deriis expetiti, gloria majore rediretis; ut ex contrariorum pcriculis, quod in vobis esset cunctis utile nosceretur.","english":"EPISTLE I VIII\n\nOF SIMPLICIUS TO THE EMPEROR ZENO.\n\nHe congratulates him on the recovery of the empire, and urges him to restore the bishop of Alexandria to his see, and to cause the decrees of the Council of Nicaea and of Chalcedon to be observed.\n\nSimplicius, bishop, to Zeno Augustus.\n\nAmong the works of divine providence, which are always pious and just, scarcely any human tongue will suffice in our times also to declare the powers of the Lord. For who could either grasp in thought or bring forth in speech that, at the very crisis of the peril of both matters, he restored you to the public vows of holy religion and to peace—unless, in consideration of so great a miracle, one must cry out with the prophet: This is the change of the right hand of the Most High, who mightily humbles those exalting themselves, and mercifully exalts those humbling themselves? In these things, even if the measure of the heavenly dispensation is weighed more keenly, it plainly appears evident that the destruction of the faithless crept in for this reason, that the faith of your clemency might be proved even amid adversities; and that the more it was believed you were pressed by hostile circumstances, the more clearly your magnanimity stood forth; and that for this reason your departure from the city of Constantinople came about, so that, sought by the desires of all, you might return with greater glory; so that from the perils of opposites it might be known to all what was useful in you.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":21,"ref":"p21","source":"Davidicae nimirum illius virtutis exemplo, qua singulari patientia cedens paululum furoribus parricidæ, continuo victoriam populorum precibus imploratus praestantiore fastigio est reversus in regnum. Lætare igitur, venerabilis imperator, eos fuisse tuos hostes qui exstiterunt Divinitatis inimici; atque gaude cum Ecclesia laborasse, et cum fidei catholicæ libertate imperium restitutum, atque ut in omnibus doceas causam libi cum Deo esse communem, cujus ope viriliter fretus insiste; ut per quem publicos incubatores subegit, Ecclesiae quoque depellat tyrannos. Sicut enim pietas vestra merito recteque confidit, illo nos tempore nihil aliud Deum nostrum suppliciter implorasse, quam ut nobis Romani imperii præsules quales HUnC loquimur, redd rentur; ita exspectari cernis, ut hujusmodi vos esse ipsorum actuum qualitate monstretis. Respicite, quæso, augustæ memoriæ Marciani atque Leonis omni mundo conspicuam catholica devotione constantiam; et salubri consideratione perpendite, cum iu eodem loco stare nequiverint qui ab eorum rectitudine deviarunt, successorem regiae potestatis legitimum, ac divinitus attributum eum fore sine dubio, qui illorum fidei perstiterit imitator. Debes, gloriosissime et clementissime fili imperator, augustae memoriae tantorum virorum taliumque reverentiam, debes vices muneribus Dei. Ille te ad istorum reduxit imperium: tu Deo istis similem redde famulatum.","english":"By the example, surely, of that Davidic virtue, by which, yielding with singular patience for a little while to the fury of the parricide, he immediately, when implored by the prayers of the peoples, returned as victor to the kingdom with a more excellent dignity. Rejoice therefore, venerable emperor, that those were your enemies who proved to be enemies of the Divinity; and rejoice that you have labored with the Church, and that the empire has been restored together with the liberty of the catholic faith, and that in all things you may show that your cause is shared with God; relying manfully on whose aid, press on, so that through him by whom he subdued the public oppressors, he may also drive out the tyrants of the Church. For just as your piety rightly and deservedly trusts that in that time we suppliantly implored nothing else of our God than that there should be restored to us such rulers of the Roman empire as we speak of, so you see it is expected that you show yourselves to be of this kind by the quality of your own acts. Consider, I beseech you, the constancy, conspicuous to the whole world in catholic devotion, of Marcian and Leo of august memory; and weigh with wholesome consideration that, since those who deviated from their rectitude could not stand in the same place, he will without doubt be the legitimate successor of royal power, and divinely granted, who has persisted as an imitator of their faith. You owe, most glorious and most clement son emperor, reverence to the august memory of such great and such men; you owe requital for the gifts of God. He brought you back to the empire of these men: you, render to God a service like theirs.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":22,"ref":"p22","source":"Et quia bxc beato Apostolo docente nos Petro mea nuper humilitate predicante, refutata sunt, a casuris, Deo fautore, proficiant in regni soliditate mansuris. Equidem liueris quas vestra clementia destinavit, pignus immensum venerandæ religiositatis accipiens, et ingenti gratulatione respiro, ct omnino non ambigo menlem vestram in rebus divinis gestutam longe potiora quam cupio: sed mei memor officii, in hanc partem clementiam tuam ideo prolixiore hortor alloquio, quia imperii tui pariter et salutis affectu, illis te causis inhaerere semper eiopto, quibus solis et præsentis regni stabilitas custoditur et aeterni gloria comparatur. Unde ante omnia precor, ut Alexandrinam Ecclesiam non minus a fonesto quam ab hæretico pervasore clementiæ vestræ dispositionibus liberatam, catholico ac legitimo restitui censeatis antistiti; eisque etiam quos temeritate diabolica diversis ecclesiis ordinasse perhibetur ejectis, rectae fidei subrogari constituatis episcopos: ut sicut rempublicam vestram a tyrannica dominatione purgastis, ita ubique Ecclesiam Dei ab hæreticorum latrociniis atque contagiis exuatis; nec id potius B prævalere patiamini, quod iniquilas temporum, et cos quos non solum vestro imperio, sed et in Deum quoque rebellisspiritus concitavit; quam quod tot tantique pontifices, et cum egregiis orthodoxisque pontificibus universalis Ecclesiæ decrevit assensus.","english":"And because these things, by the teaching of the blessed Apostle Peter and by my humble preaching lately, have been refuted, may they profit, with God's favor, for those who are about to fall, unto the solidity of the kingdom that is to endure. Indeed, receiving the letters which your clemency has sent as an immense pledge of venerable religiosity, I breathe again with great rejoicing, and I do not at all doubt that your mind, rejoicing in divine matters, has in view far greater things than I desire; but mindful of my office, I exhort your clemency in this direction with a somewhat longer address for this reason, that with affection both for your empire and for your salvation, I always desire you to cleave to those causes by which alone both the stability of the present kingdom is preserved and the glory of the eternal one is obtained. Wherefore, before all things, I pray that you deem it right that the Alexandrian Church, freed by the ordinances of your clemency no less from a foul than from a heretical usurper, be restored to a catholic and legitimate bishop; and that, with those also whom he is reported to have ordained by diabolical temerity for various churches having been cast out, you appoint bishops of the right faith to be put in their place: so that, just as you have cleansed your commonwealth from tyrannical domination, so you may strip the Church of God everywhere of the robberies and contagions of heretics; and that you not permit that to prevail rather which the iniquity of the times has stirred up, and those spirits most rebellious not only against your empire but also against God; than that which so many and such great pontiffs, and with the excellent and orthodox pontiffs the assent of the universal Church, has decreed.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":23,"ref":"p23","source":"Chalcedonensis synodi constituta, vel ea quæ beatam memoriae prædecessor meus Leo apostolica erudi. tione perdocuit, intemerata vigere jubeatis; quia nec ullo modo retract ri potest quod illorum definitione sopitum est, nec ullatcuus recipi totiens uno undique ore damnatus. Ipsa est quippe, sicut experti estis, catholica fides, quae potentes de sedo læsa deposuit, et exaltandos humiles cutodita servavit. Quare satis agendum cst pietati tuae, ut qui hujus tibi auctor est doni, sit ipse etiam propagatur. Data octavo [al. septimo] idus Octobris (anno Cur, 477) post consulatum Basilisci et Armati.\n\nEPISTOLA\n\nACACII AD SIMPLICIUM PAPAM A.\n\nSimplicium de Alexandrinae Ecclesiæ statu certioreM. facit, scribens ob Timothei hæretici mortem, Patri Moggi ejusdem Ecclesiæ perturbatoris fugam, pacem Ecclesiæ redditam esse, ac Timotheum suæ sedi restitutum.","english":"May you order that the decrees of the Council of Chalcedon, and those things which my predecessor Leo, of blessed memory, taught by apostolic instruction, remain inviolate; because neither can that be in any way retracted which was settled by their definition, nor can he be received at any time who has been so often condemned by one mouth on every side. For this is truly, as you have experienced, the catholic faith, which has cast down the mighty from their seat when it was injured, and has kept the humble who were to be exalted in safety. Wherefore it must be sufficiently attended to by your piety, that he who is the author of this gift to you may himself also be its propagator. Given on the eighth [or seventh] day before the Ides of October (in the year of the Lord 477), after the consulship of Basiliscus and Armatus.\n\nLETTER\n\nOF ACACIUS TO POPE SIMPLICIUS.\n\nHe makes Simplicius more certain of the state of the Church of Alexandria, writing that on account of the death of the heretic Timothy, and the flight of Moggi his father, a disturber of the same Church, peace has been restored to the Church, and Timothy has been restored to his see.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[{"kind":"lacuna","severity":"caution","text":"The source is fragmentary here: the edition marks a break or an editorial bracket, and the English carries across it. Treat the bridge as supplied, not translated."}]},{"i":24,"ref":"p24","source":"Domino beatissimo sancto patri archiepiscopo [pa triarchæ episcopo] Simplicio Acacius.\n\nSollicitudinem omnium Ecclesiarum, secundum Apostolum (11 Cor. xi), circumferentes, nos indesinenter hortamini, quamvis sponte vigilantes ac præcurrentes: sed vos divinum zelum solito |divino zelo D sollicitos] demonstratis, statum Alexandrinae Eccle. siae certius requirentes; ut pro paternis canonibus suscipiatis laborem, piissimo stillantes sudore pro his, sicut semper est approbatum. Sed Christus Dominus noster, qui diligentibus se in bonum cooperatur (Rom. VIII), nostris cogitationibus insidens, et unam nobis in his mentem atque eamdem pro gloria sua esse cognoscens, omnem victoriam ipse perfecit, consortes nos cum tranquillissimo principe faciens, et Timotheum quidcm decessorem, spirantem procellas, et ecclesiasticam tranquilitatem (sicut apparuit) conturbantem, vilae subduxit humanae, dicens ei: Tace et obmutesce(Marc. IV). Petrum quoque, qui ab Alexandria more similiter [similis] procellæ surrexerat, dissipavit, atque in æternam fugam (sancto Spiritu flante) convertit, unum et ipsum de his qui olim fucrant damnati. Sicut enim in nostris archivis [conciliis] inventum est, et de vestris scriniis [strenue], si dignamini requirere, poteritis agnoscere quæ in tempore de eodem subsecuia, ab Alexandrino episcopo Romam ad aherutrum sint relata.","english":"To the most blessed lord and holy father, the archbishop [patriarch-bishop] Simplicius, Acacius.\n\nCarrying about the solicitude of all the churches, according to the Apostle (2 Cor 11), you urge us unceasingly, though we watch and run ahead willingly; but you demonstrate your divine zeal, seeking more certainly the state of the church of Alexandria, so that for the sake of the fathers' canons you may undertake the labor, dripping with most pious sweat on their behalf, as has always been approved. But Christ our Lord, who works together for good to those who love him (Rom 8), indwelling our thoughts and knowing that we have one and the same mind in these matters for his glory, has himself accomplished every victory, making us sharers with the most tranquil prince; and he has removed from human life Timothy, the predecessor, breathing storms and (as has appeared) disturbing the tranquility of the church, saying to him: Be silent and be dumb (Mark 4). Peter also, who had risen up from Alexandria in the manner of a similar storm, he has scattered and turned to eternal flight (with the Holy Spirit blowing), one and the same man as those who had once been condemned. For just as has been found in our archives [councils], and from your records [diligently], if you deign to inquire, you will be able to learn what things were subsequently reported in time concerning the same man by the bishop of Alexandria to Rome to be brought.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[{"kind":"lacuna","severity":"caution","text":"The source is fragmentary here: the edition marks a break or an editorial bracket, and the English carries across it. Treat the bridge as supplied, not translated."}]},{"i":25,"ref":"p25","source":"Qui Petrus noctis existens filius, ct operum diei lucentium alienus apparens, omnino tenebras ad latrocinium peragendum congruas, cnrum cooperator inveniens media nocte, adhuc jacente cadavere illius qui paternos canones subverterat, insepulto, suhrepsit in sedem [surripuit sedem], sicut ipse arbitratus eSI, uno et solo præsente, et eo qui consors illins insistebat insaniæ, ita ut propter hoc majoribus suppliciis subderetur: nec quod sperabat effectum est. Scd ille quidem de se ex parte vel minima judicans, nusquam penitus omnino comparuit. Timotheus autem paternorum canonum custos, qui Davidicac mansuetudinis exemplo subditur, et usque in finem patiens, atque potestati propriæ restitutus a Christo, propriae sedis honore lætatur: et spiri ualium filiorum voces accipicns, gratiam curationis exspectat multiplicato in se honore a Christo principe sacerdotuo: propter quem et tolerantiæ coronam sibimet religavit. At eutius igitur oret vestra beatitudo et pro Christianissimo imperatore, et pro nobisipsis. Nihil enim prætermittitur eorum quae ad custodiam ecclesiasticæ respiciunt disciplinæ. Universam fraternitatem quæ vobiscum est in Christo, et cgo et qui mecum sunt, salutamus. Et alia manu. In Domino conserveris, sanctissime et beatissime pater [ora pro nobis, justissime pater].","english":"He who, being a son of Peter's night and appearing a stranger to the works that shine in the day, found a partner in crime wholly suited to the darkness for carrying out his robbery, and at midnight, while the corpse of him who had overturned the fathers' canons still lay unburied, crept into the see—as he himself supposed, with one man alone present, and that one a sharer in his madness—so that for this reason he was subjected to greater punishments; nor was what he hoped for brought to pass. But he indeed, judging himself in the least degree, never appeared anywhere at all. Timothy, however, the guardian of the fathers' canons, who submits himself after the example of Davidic meekness and is patient even to the end, and has been restored to his own power by Christ, rejoices in the honor of his own see; and receiving the voices of his spiritual sons, he awaits the grace of healing, with honor multiplied in him by Christ, the prince of priests; for whose sake he has also bound to himself the crown of endurance. Therefore let your blessedness pray both for the most Christian emperor and for us ourselves. For nothing of those things which look to the custody of ecclesiastical discipline is omitted. I and those who are with me salute the whole brotherhood that is with you in Christ. And in another hand: May you be preserved in the Lord, most holy and most blessed father [pray for us, most righteous father].","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[{"kind":"lacuna","severity":"caution","text":"The source is fragmentary here: the edition marks a break or an editorial bracket, and the English carries across it. Treat the bridge as supplied, not translated."}]},{"i":26,"ref":"p26","source":"EPISTOLA IX.\n\nSIMPLICII PAPÆ AD ACACIUM.\n\nGratulatur Timotheum Alexandriæ episcopum catholicum suæ Ecclesiæ fuisse restitutum.\n\nSimplicius episcopus Acacio episcopo Constantino politano.\n\nQuam sit efficax supplicantium Domino perseverantia sacerdotum, et quam jucundo gratuletur atfectu, studium quod defensioni fidei sinceris mentibus exhibctur, litteris tuæ dilectionis agnoscitur, quando po tanta certamina, quibus Dei misericordia in causa propriae religionis famulos et ministros tuæ constituens potestati, probatissimos sibi fecit esse victores, siquidem Alexandrina Ecclesia divino tandem judicio liberata, in consortium communium nos advocans gaudiorum, eum qui ab hæretico fugatis fuerat, ad ejus sedem rediisse testaris. Unde animis exsuitantibus ad universalis Ecclesiæ quietem, Christo Deo nostro pro salute primum fidelissimi principis supplicamus, cui pro devotione, qua cunctos antevenit sacerdotes, pictas hæc divina concedit, quæ nos liberos pro populis Christianis apud omnipotentiam cœlestem praestat interpretes. Sicut ergo in reditu fratris et coepiscopi nostri Timothei gratulamur, ita eum commonente dilectione tua cupimus irreprehensibilem reperiri: quia meministi hoc, eum jamdudum fidelis praesulis non habuisse constandam, quando ei, ut damnati Dioscori nomen inter altaria recitaretur, extortum est. Data tertio idus Martii (anno Chr. 478), tUo viro clarissimo consule.","english":"EPISTLE IX.\n\nOF POPE SIMPLICIUS TO ACACIUS.\n\nHe rejoices that Timothy, the catholic bishop of Alexandria, has been restored to his Church.\n\nSimplicius, bishop, to Acacius, bishop of Constantinople.\n\nHow effective is the perseverance of priests who entreat the Lord, and with how joyful an affection the zeal that is shown by sincere minds for the defense of the faith is welcomed, is learned from the letter of your belovedness, since after so many struggles, in which God's mercy, establishing the servants and ministers of your authority in the cause of His own religion, made them most proven victors for Himself—seeing that the Church of Alexandria, at last freed by divine judgment, calling us into a share of common joys, you testify that he who had been put to flight by the heretic has returned to his see. Therefore, with exulting hearts for the peace of the universal Church, we entreat Christ our God first for the safety of the most faithful prince, to whom, in return for the devotion by which he surpasses all priests, this divine piety grants those things which make us free intercessors on behalf of the Christian peoples before the heavenly omnipotence. Just as, therefore, we rejoice in the return of our brother and fellow bishop Timothy, so too, with your belovedness urging it, we desire that he be found blameless; because you remember that he did not long ago have the constancy of a faithful prelate, when it was extorted from him that the name of the condemned Dioscorus be recited among the altars. Given on the third day before the Ides of March, in the consulship of your illustrious man (the year of Christ 478).","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":27,"ref":"p27","source":"EPISTOLA X.\n\nSIMPLICII PAPÆ AD ZENONEM IMPERATOREM.\n\nGratias agit Timotheum Alexandrinæ Ecclesias restitutum, eumque rogat ut Petrum ejusdem Ecclesiæ perturbatorem expelli jubeat.\n\nSimplicius episcopus Zenoni Augusto.\n\nPer Petrum virum spectabilem comitem Placidiæ nobilissimæ feminae olim divinorum exsultatione munerum, triumphalis in Domino regni vestri gloria dilatatur, cum universalis Ecclesiae gaudio mediocritatis meæ litteras obtulisse meminerim; nec inter universos catholicæ fidei sacerdotes opera Domini nostri vel solus potui tacere, vel primus: quia secundum beatum Paulum apostolum (II Cor.","english":"EPISTLE X.\n\nOF POPE SIMPLICIUS TO THE EMPEROR ZENO.\n\nHe gives thanks that Timothy has been restored to the Churches of Alexandria, and asks him to order the expulsion of Peter, the disturber of that same Church.\n\nSimplicius, bishop, to Zeno Augustus.\n\nThrough Peter, a man of spectable rank, count of Placidia, that most noble woman, once enriched by the rejoicing of divine gifts, the glory of your triumphant kingdom in the Lord is spread abroad, since I remember that my letters, [written] in my lowliness, were presented to the joy of the universal Church; nor among all the priests of the catholic faith could I alone, or first, keep silent about the works of our Lord: because according to the blessed Paul the apostle (II Cor.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":28,"ref":"p28","source":"xn), Ecdesiarum omnium curam sustinens, mihi summam gaudii de reddita pro clementia vestra earum quiete specialiter vindicavi, quod vos Divinitatis auxilio, dejectis religionis et regni hostibus, meruerimus habere victores, et in uno eodemque proventu, Christo in nobis ubique vincente, et cultus veræ fidei, et stans est reparatus imperii: quod utrumquo ideo fuerat (diabolo se ad tempus interserente turbatum, ut alterutrius adversariis dissipatis, præconia lierent majora vincentis; unde tam præclaræ fructum virtutis adeptus cum lætitia universalis Ecclesiae nunc quoque sine cessalione facio; tacere non possum gratias sine dubio perennes quod antiquæ veraeque fldei in fratre et coepiscopo meo Timotheo Alexandrinam Ecclesiam reddidistis, cujus ad me nuper litteræ commeantes, expulsa profanitate Eotychelis atque Dioscori damnatorum, ad regendos orthodoxos beati Petri et evangelistae Marci sedem (quod ante compertum est) se recepisse commemoravit; incitans nos volentes, ut hæc ipsa pietatis vestris sensibus referremus.","english":"Sustaining the care of all the Churches, I have especially claimed for myself the greatest joy over the peace of those Churches restored through your clemency, because by the aid of the Divinity, with the enemies of religion and of the empire cast down, we have deserved to have you as victors, and in one and the same advance, with Christ conquering in us everywhere, both the worship of the true faith and the standing of the empire have been restored; and both of these had therefore been disturbed (with the devil interposing himself for a time) so that, once the adversaries of either were scattered, the proclamations of the conqueror might become greater; hence, having obtained the fruit of so distinguished a virtue, with the joy of the universal Church I now also without ceasing give thanks; I cannot be silent about thanks that are undoubtedly everlasting, because you have restored to my brother and fellow bishop Timotheus the Alexandrian Church of the ancient and true faith, whose letter recently coming to me recalled that, with the profanity of the condemned Eutyches and Dioscorus expelled, it had received itself for the governing of the orthodox the see of blessed Peter and of the evangelist Mark (as was previously made known); urging us, willing as we are, to report these very things to your pious minds.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":29,"ref":"p29","source":"Ut ergo tranquillitas vestri perpetua et fixa sit regni, quietem quam cunctis in memorata Ecclesia praestitistis, pervigili proiectione custoJite: et quod juvante vos Domino pro inuocentium fecistis salute animarum, religiosiore studio et diligentia attentiore protegite: quia non minoris cst gloriæ quod condideris servare quam concedere [condere]; et omnibus est probatum, tantuin vobis divini favoris impensum, quantum Chr;stianæ religioni a vestra pietatc est sedulita is exhibitum. Et quamvis iu omni parte regni sui profutura divina cuhui providentia vestra non desisteret cu is publicis tranquillitatem Ecclesiæ præferre, precor lumen nt quod per nos serio postulat, imo quod ipsi specialius supplicamus, Petrum Alexandrinæ Ecclesiæ pervasorem, et ob hoc jure damnatum, A quia moliri quaedam latens in Alelandrina (sicut ad nes scriptum est) civitale contra hæc quæ a vobis sunt statuta, memoratur, ad exteriora transferri piissima praeceptione jubeatis, ne aliquos modicae fidei (quod facere perhibetur) inficiat, et ad perversitatis suæ instrumenta traducat. Longe sint ab innocentibus perniciosa contagia, ut per vos intra Domini gregis ovile sit sinceritas, quam sola tenere potest imperialis auctoritas.","english":"Therefore, so that the tranquility of your kingdom may be perpetual and fixed, guard with vigilant protection the peace that you have granted to all in the aforementioned Church; and what you have done, with the Lord's help, for the salvation of innocent souls, protect with more religious zeal and more attentive diligence, because it is no less glory to preserve what you have founded than to grant it; and it has been proven to all that as much of divine favor has been bestowed upon you as the devotion of Christian religion has been shown by your piety. And although in every part of his kingdom the divine providence would not cease to be of benefit to your rule, in preferring the tranquility of the Church to public affairs, I pray—nay, what we ourselves especially entreat—that by your most pious command you order to be transferred to the outer regions Peter, the invader of the Church of Alexandria, and for this reason justly condemned, because he is reported to be secretly plotting certain things in the city of Alexandria (as has been written to us) against these things which have been decreed by you, lest he infect some of little faith (as he is said to do) and lead them away to the instruments of his perversity. Far be the pernicious contagions from the innocent, so that through you sincerity may exist within the fold of the Lord's flock, which only imperial authority can preserve.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[{"kind":"lacuna","severity":"caution","text":"The source is fragmentary here: the edition marks a break or an editorial bracket, and the English carries across it. Treat the bridge as supplied, not translated."}]},{"i":30,"ref":"p30","source":"EPISTOLA XI.\n\nSIMPLICII PAPÆ AD ACACIUM.\n\nScribit Timotheum Alexandriæ catholicam episcopum a se veniam petiisse, quod Dioscori nomen inter altuna timore ductus recitasset, et se ad imperatorem litteras dedisse ut Petrum dictæ Ecclesiæ perturbatorem procul arceat.\n\nSimplicius episcopus Acacio Constantinopolitano episcopo.\n\nQuantos et quam uberes fructus constantiæ fidei, et devotarum circa religionem catholicam mentium semper habeat fortitudo, labor tuae dilectionis et eorum qui pariter repente diabolo jamdudum turbantur, ostendit. Nam cum Christi inimicus et regni Christiani semper aulam mox casurus invaderet, atque impia persecutione fideles Domini plebemque concuteret, oratione atque vigiliis sacrilega lentamenta superavit, et se victoria cœlestis eo usque porrexit, ut regressu religiosissimi principis, Ecclesiæ quoque Alexandrinae catholicus redderetur antistes, de quo mox cum exsultatione divina; gratiae gaudia nostra contulimus, et mutuis nos litteris fecimus gratulari.","english":"EPISTLE XI.\n\nOF POPE SIMPLICIUS TO ACACIUS.\n\nHe writes that Timothy, the catholic bishop of Alexandria, has asked pardon of him because, led by fear, he had recited the name of Dioscorus among the altars, and that he has sent letters to the emperor so that he keep far away Peter, the disturber of the said Church.\n\nSimplicius, bishop, to Acacius, bishop of Constantinople.\n\nThe labor of your love and of those who likewise have lately been thrown into confusion by the devil has shown how great and how abundant are the fruits of the constancy of faith and of minds devoted to the catholic religion that the strength of these always possesses. For when the enemy of Christ and of the Christian kingdom, soon to fall, was invading the court, and by impious persecution was shaking the faithful of the Lord and the people, he overcame the sacrilegious delays by prayer and vigils, and extended himself so far in heavenly victory that, with the return of the most religious prince, the catholic high priest of the Church of Alexandria was also restored, concerning whom presently, with divine exultation, we have brought the joys of our grace, and have made us rejoice together by mutual letters.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":31,"ref":"p31","source":"Et licet laetitiae ipsius nunquam sui defuerit plenitudo, tamen frater et coepiscopus noster Timotheus persecutione probabilior factus, pristini non immemor instituti per fratrem et eoepiscopum Isaiam, et filios nostros Nilum presbyterum, et Martyrium diaconum Alexandrinae Ecclesiæ solemnia scripta direxit, quibus et illud quod ante perterrilus de Dioscori nomine fecerat, se destruxisse memoravit, et remissionem ipsius erroris expetiit, nosque de quiete fecit Ecclesiæ gratulari, expertus erga se quantum nobiscum tua caritas videt, quod in eo tunc reprehendimus non inultum et reconciliatum sibi, nunc divinae miserationis affectum, frater carissime, memoratis In urbe, quae mox venerant, constitutis occasionem filii nostri Petri, viri spectabilis comitis, quasi ex sententia proficiscentis amplexi, tam nostro proposito, quam petitione fratris et coepiscopi nostri Timothei, legatorumque ipsius precibus, idipsum ad tuam voluimus pervenire notitiam, ut etiam nunc communium fieres particeps gaudiorum, et in praedictae Ecclesiæ tranquillitate (quemadmodum diximus) laboris tui nobiscum carperes fructum, et cbristianissimo et clementissimo principi nostras litteras offerens, super hac etiam rc, ut et ipse quoque devotionis et fidei propriæ donis, se Deo protegente, lætetur, atque insistente carilate tua acrioribus studiis catholicæ religionis salutaria scripta mittendo munire dignetur","english":"And although the fullness of his own joy has never been lacking, nevertheless our brother and fellow bishop Timothy, made more approved by persecution, not unmindful of his former resolve, sent solemn written letters of the Alexandrian Church through our brother and fellow bishop Isaiah, and our sons Nilus the presbyter and Martyrius the deacon, in which he recorded that he had destroyed that which he had earlier done in fear concerning the name of Dioscorus, and he sought remission of that error of his, and he made us rejoice concerning the peace of the Church, having experienced toward himself how much your love sees with us, that what we then reproved in him was not unavenged and, now reconciled to him, the affection of divine mercy, dearest brother, having embraced the opportunity, at the city, which had soon arrived, of our son Peter, a most illustrious count, as if setting out by sentence, both by our own purpose and by the petition of our brother and fellow bishop Timothy and the prayers of his legates, we wished this same thing to come to your notice, so that even now you might be made a partaker of the common joys, and in the tranquility of the aforesaid Church (as we have said) you might with us pluck the fruit of your labor, and offering our letters to the most Christian and most clement prince, concerning this matter also, so that he himself too may rejoice, with God protecting him, in the gifts of his own devotion and faith, and with your love urging him on, he may deign to fortify with more eager zeal by sending the salutary writings of the catholic religion.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":32,"ref":"p32","source":"Ecclesias, nc (sicut experti sumus) in aliqua religione ( forte regione] antiquus ille serpens toties excisi capitis viras effundat, et inliciendi aliquos occasionem (quod absit) rursus inveniat, provida præceptorum suae pietatis ordinatione disponat religiosis, et sicut evidentius approbavit Deo, se commendantibus legibus sanciat, ne vel in tenebris delitescant, ct improvisi ambulantes in luce percutiant, et his quos in tide pouperes esse repererint (quod propheta testatur) insidietur ut rapiat. Petrum maxime, qui nonnullarum domorum, suique similium latebris confovetur; et quem zelo fiei ab episcopatu constituit submoveri, in exteriores terras abjici, sicut et nos pietati ejus scripsimus, ad ecclesiasticam pacem speciali praeceptione dccernat: quia rursus asseritur aliqua contra dispositionem fidel ipsius sine cessatione moliri. Quia igitur ha'c opportunitate perlatoris fidissimi nos oportuit indicare, et specialius admonere, hortamur ut cum internuntius remeare cœperit, vel si qua forsit altera occasio reperietnr, quamprimum nos facias certiores, et curam nostram sublevare deproperes.","english":"Let him, by the provident ordinance of the precepts of his own piety, arrange for the religious that the churches—lest (as we have experienced) that ancient serpent in some matter of religion, or perhaps in some region, pour out the poisons of his head so often cut off, and (which God forbid) find once more an occasion to entice some—and, as he has more evidently approved himself to God, let him sanction by laws commended to God, lest they either lurk in the shadows and, walking unawares, strike those in the light, and lie in wait for those whom they find to be poor in faith (as the prophet testifies) in order to snatch them. Especially concerning Peter, who is fostered in the hiding places of certain houses and of those like himself; and whom, out of zeal of faith, he determined should be removed from the episcopate and cast out into foreign lands, as we too have written to his piety, let him decree by a special precept for the peace of the church: because it is again asserted that he is ceaselessly attempting certain things against the disposition of his faith. Therefore, since on this occasion of a most faithful bearer we ought to have indicated these things and to admonish more particularly, we exhort you that when the messenger begins to return, or if perhaps some other occasion is found, you make us as soon as possible more certain, and hasten to relieve our concern.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":33,"ref":"p33","source":"Ut autem perfecto gaudio gauderemus, idem frater et coepiscopus noster Timotheus exemplum libelli satisfactionis eorum quos a catholica, lidei veritate Timotheus et Petrus utrique damnati, damnationis terrore traduxerant, veniam postulantes, ad nos pariter destinavit, sacerdotali pietate lapsis subvenire desiderans: quod divinæ miserationis intuitu, quæ neminem vult perire, refutabile non putamus.\n\nEPISTOLA XIII.\n\nSIMPLICII PAPÆ AD ZENONEM IMPERATOREM.\n\nHortatur ut Timotheum Alexandrinæ Ecclesia sua opera restitutum protegat, et ut Petrum ejusdem Ecclesiæ perturbatorem longius expelli jubeat.\n\nSimplicius episcopus Zenoni Angusto.\n\nProxime quidem cum ad Urbem frater et coepiscopus mediocritatis mere Timotheus Alexandrinae urbis antistes novato more misisset, victoriam vestrae fidei in e;us restitutione cognovi. Pietate cnim vestra fulta Divinitatis auxilio, et imperii tranquillitas, et catholicæ religionis splendorem suum, scandalornm nubo discussa, recepit integritas: de quo me gratias post Deum clementiæ vestrae egisse reminiscor, et nunc quoque cultum vestro regno debitum silere non potui, ne quodammodo viderer ingratus, si vobis qualibet opportunitate vel imperii vel Ecclesiarum laudare desisterem tot triumphos.","english":"But so that we might rejoice with perfect joy, our same brother and fellow bishop Timotheus also sent to us a copy of the written declaration of satisfaction of those whom Timotheus and Petrus, both condemned, had led over from the catholic truth of the faith by the terror of condemnation, seeking pardon, desiring with priestly piety to come to the aid of the fallen; and this, in view of the divine mercy, which wills that no one perish, we do not think should be rejected.\n\nLETTER XIII.\n\nOF POPE SIMPLICIUS TO THE EMPEROR ZENO.\n\nHe exhorts him to protect Timotheus, restored to the Church of Alexandria by his efforts, and to order Petrus, the disturber of the same Church, to be driven far away.\n\nSimplicius, bishop, to Zeno Augustus.\n\nIndeed, recently, when our brother and fellow bishop Timotheus, bishop of the city of Alexandria, had sent to the City in an unusual manner, I recognized in his restoration the victory of your faith. For, supported by your piety with the aid of the Divinity, both the tranquility of the empire and the splendor of the catholic religion, with the cloud of scandals dispelled, recovered its integrity; concerning which I remember that I gave thanks to your clemency after God, and now too I could not keep silent about the devotion owed to your reign, lest in some way I should seem ungrateful if, on any occasion, I should cease to praise before you so many triumphs of the empire or of the Churches.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":34,"ref":"p34","source":"Exhibens ergo debitae venerationis officium, precor ut studiosius circa universas rectæ fidei sacerdotes, et maxime circa Alexandrinum episcopum, cujus certaminis et testes fuistis et judices, protectionis impendatis auxilium, et decernatis piissimis constitutis Petrum sedis ipsius pervasorem (cui nec in diaconatu suus potuit ordo constare) longius a tam præclara Civitate relegari, ne infirmiores [forte infirmioris] fidei aliquos forte seducat, et In eadem Ecclesia (quod absit) quæ sopistis scandala rursus exagitct. Probastis in corporo illum vobis dexteræ suae dedisse præsidium, qui ad totius orbis gaudium et in Ecclesiæ universalis exsultationem in vestra clementia Romanum servat imperium. Data calendas Novembris (anno Chr. 478), viro charissimo consule.\n\nEPISTOLA XIII.\n\nSIMPLICII PAPÆ AD ACACIUM.\n\nEadem quæ in superiori epistola.","english":"Displaying therefore the office of due veneration, I pray that you more earnestly extend the aid of your protection to all the priests of the right faith, and especially to the bishop of Alexandria, of whose struggle you have been both witnesses and judges, and that by your most pious decrees you determine that Petrus, the usurper of that see (whose own order could not stand firm even in the diaconate), be relegated far from so illustrious a City, lest he perhaps seduce some of the weaker faith, and (which God forbid) stir up again in the same Church the scandals you have put to rest. You have proved in your own person that he who preserves the Roman empire in your clemency, to the joy of the whole world and the exultation of the universal Church, has given him as a protection of his right hand. Given on the Kalends of November (in the year of Christ 478), in the consulship of a most dear man.\n\nEPISTLE XIII.\n\nOF POPE SIMPLICIUS TO ACACIUS.\n\nThe same as in the preceding letter.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[{"kind":"lacuna","severity":"caution","text":"The source is fragmentary here: the edition marks a break or an editorial bracket, and the English carries across it. Treat the bridge as supplied, not translated."}]},{"i":35,"ref":"p35","source":"Simplicius episcopus, Acacio et iscopo Constanlino politano.\n\nProxtme quiilem dilectioni tuae, petentibus his qui ad nos a fratre et coepiscopo nostro Timotheo Alexandrinae Ecclesiæ antistite directi fuerant, commune gaudium litteris indicavi, et de fructu piissimi operis, quod catholicus memoratæEcclesiæ sacerdos est restitutus, pariter nos gaudere memoravi: quod nunc quoque significare properavimus, ut agnosceres gaudia silentium non amare. Unde semper exsultans, et orationum communium cupiens vota sociari, hortor, frater carissime, ut rebus per clementissimum et Christianissimum principem Deo auctore compositis, diligentiae sollicitudo non desit: sed Petrus ab indebito sibi honore dejectus, in Alexandrina regione non sinatur habitare, sed procul extra terminos patriæ, sicut etiam nos poposcimus, frequenti eum postules suggestione releguri; ne quos imperitorum pravitatis sux persuasione seducat, et a catholicæ tramite veritatis avertat. Quidquid autem de religiosissimo impetrabis imperio, cura tuædilectionis ad mram notitiam faciat pervenire, et nos actuum ad custodiam evangelicæ doctrinae pertinentium det esse consortes. Data xvi calendas Novembris (anno Chr. 478), Illo viro clarissimo consule.","english":"Simplicius bishop, to Acacius bishop of Constantinople.\n\nRecently, indeed, to your belovedness, at the request of those who had been sent to us by our brother and fellow bishop Timothy, prelate of the Alexandrian Church, I indicated our common joy in a letter, and I recorded that we rejoice together over the fruit of the most pious work, namely that the catholic priest of the aforementioned Church has been restored; and now too we have hastened to make this known, so that you may recognize that joys do not love silence. Therefore, always exulting and desiring that the vows of our common prayers be joined together, I exhort you, dearest brother, that, with matters settled by the most clement and most Christian prince, with God as author, the solicitude of diligence not be lacking; but let not Peter, cast down from the honor undeservedly given him, be allowed to dwell in the Alexandrian region, but far outside the bounds of his homeland, as we too have requested, ask by frequent suggestion that he be relegated; lest by his persuasion he seduce the ignorant into depravity and turn them away from the path of catholic truth. Whatever, moreover, you shall obtain from the most religious emperor, let the care of your belovedness bring to our notice, and grant that we be sharers in the actions pertaining to the guardianship of evangelical doctrine. Given on the sixteenth day before the Kalends of November, in the consulship of the most illustrious man Illus.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":36,"ref":"p36","source":"EPISTOLA XIV.\n\nSIMPLICII PARÆ AD ZENONEM IMPERATOREM.\n\nLaudat imperatoris sollicitudinem in his puniendis qui Antiochiæ in episcoporum cædes conspiraverunt. Dolet suas ad Acacium litteras exsecutioni non fuisse mandatas, et Antiochenæ Ecclesiæ antistitis electionem, Nicæni concilii non observato decreto, factam approbat.\n\nSimplicius episcopus, Zenoni Augusto.\n\nDc Ecclesia Antiochena venerandos mihi semper vestræ pietatis apices gavisus accepi, quibus ingenito vobis studio catholicæ religionis post defensioneni fidei, quæ vos servat ac custodit, impietatis audaciam et facinora apud Antiochiam perpetrata coercita rcperimus. Exsultantes vobis inesse:'ninum fidelissimi sacerdotis et principis, ut imperialis auctoritas et junrta Christianæ devotioni acceptabilior Deo fieret, et appareret integritas, cum hi qui in episcoporum neces sacrilega cæde versati sunt, dignis jubentur perire suppliciis: in quo et quieti Ecclesiæ et vestro consuletis imperio, quia vindicata Dei contumelia ulciscentis est gratia, et conciliatur his divini favoris auxilium, quorum cura sacrilegium non reliquerit impunitum. Sed ut loquar fiducialiter principi Christiano, si praeteritarum litterarum quas de Petri aliorumque nomine jamdudum ad fratrem et coepiscopum meum Acacium scripsisse memini, ordo teneretur, ad hoc non potuit pervenire; quod jure nunc meruit vindicare.","english":"EPISTLE XIV.\n\nOF SIMPLICIUS, POPE, TO THE EMPEROR ZENO.\n\nHe praises the emperor's diligence in punishing those who at Antioch conspired against the lives of bishops. He grieves that his letters to Acacius were not carried into execution, and approves the election of the bishop of the Church of Antioch, made without observing the decree of the Council of Nicaea.\n\nSimplicius bishop, to Zeno Augustus.\n\nConcerning the Church of Antioch, I have received with joy the venerable letters of your Piety, which I have always esteemed, whereby I have learned that, by the zeal for the catholic religion innate in you, after the defense of the faith which preserves and guards you, the audacity of impiety and the crimes committed at Antioch have been restrained. Rejoicing that there is in you the mind of a most faithful priest and prince, so that imperial authority, joined to Christian devotion, might become more acceptable to God, and integrity might appear, when those who have been engaged in the sacrilegious slaughter of bishops are ordered to perish by worthy punishments: in this you will consult both for the peace of the Church and for your own empire, because the avenging of contempt against God is the grace of one who takes vengeance, and the aid of divine favor is conciliated to those whose care has not left sacrilege unpunished. But that I may speak with confidence to a Christian prince, if the order of the earlier letters, which I remember I long ago wrote in the name of Peter and others to my brother and fellow bishop Acacius, had been kept, it could not have come to this; which it has now deserved to avenge by right.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":37,"ref":"p37","source":"Mandaveram namque ut facta suggestione pietati vestrae, praedictus, ut et caeteri qui per occasionem lyrannicae dominationis invaserant Ecclesias Dei, extra metas vestri pellerentur imperii, ne pestiferis sensibus quibusque simplicioribus ore sacrilego virus infunderent, et verbis impiis contra fidem orthodoxam innocentiores animas sauciarent; quod tum apparet, cum minus ista curantur, et levia esse creduntur; actum est, ut (quemadmodum perhibetis) inter altaria, non jam plebs persuasionibus eorum, sed ipsi quoque præsules et prædicatores fidei perirent funestis gladiis sacerdotes. Unde si quae aliae reliquiæ sub vestro reperiuntur imperio, eas vel nunc in exteriores terras jubete propelli, ne qua deinceps in eo sit necessitas et causa supplicii; quia melius est aditum obstruxisse quam poenam exegisse peccati. Et quoniam seditiones Antiochenas religiosissimo proposito sedandas non aliter existimastis, nisi praeter præjudicium vencrandi illius concilii Nicacni apud Constantinopolim iisdem petentibus ordinaretur antistes, quod in ejus tantummodo persona sic memorastis assumptum, ut deinceps secundum definitiones Patrum Orientali synodo creatio Antiocheni pontificis reservetur, nec haberi loco vultis injuriæ, quod dissensionis gratia factum est auferendæ.","english":"For I had commanded that, after a report had been made to your Piety, the aforesaid man, as well as the others who had invaded the Churches of God on the occasion of the tyranny of the Lyre, should be driven beyond the bounds of your empire, lest with their pestilential ideas they pour poison through sacrilegious mouths into any of the simpler folk, and with impious words against the orthodox faith wound more innocent souls; which becomes evident precisely when such matters are cared for too little and are believed to be trivial. The result has been that (as you report) among the altars, no longer the people only by their persuasions, but even the very prelates and preachers of the faith, priests, perished by deadly swords. Wherefore, if any other remnants are found within your empire, command that even now they be driven out into foreign lands, lest hereafter there be any necessity and cause for punishment on that account; for it is better to have blocked the approach than to have exacted the penalty of sin. And since you judged that the seditions at Antioch were to be calmed by your most religious purpose in no other way than by ordaining a bishop at Constantinople for those same petitioners, without prejudice to that revered Council of Nicaea, you stated that this was assumed in his person only, so that hereafter, according to the definitions of the Fathers, the creation of the bishop of Antioch should be reserved to the Eastern synod, and you do not wish it to be regarded as a wrong that what was done was done for the sake of removing dissension.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":38,"ref":"p38","source":"Tenet hanc pietatis vestrae beatus Petrus apostolus sponsionem, et Cbristianissimi fidelissimiqne principis mentem in hæc verba jurasse, quod posthac in Antiochena urbe veteri more servato a comprovincialibus suis episcopis ordinetur, ne quod nunc frater et coepiscopus meus Acacius vobis est jubentibus exsecutus, in usum posteritatis veniat et statuta Patrum, quae praecipue præstastis illæsa, confundat. Unde quae a vobis amore quietis sancte et religiose sunt ordinata, repro bare non possumus. ne status Antiochenæ Ecclesiae suh nostra dubitatione videatur ambiguus, præcipuecum is qui legitur ordinatus, testimonio clementiæ vestræ, et tanta sit prædicatione subnixus, ut in eo praeter horum vulnerum dolorem posito possimus et Ecclesiæ quae illum meruit, gloriari. Hæc repcn is sermonibus et venerationis officio respondere curavi, ut tantushæreticorum fraudes et facinora divinis el sæcularibus legibus persequenda, quae saepius probatis esse tam notia, de memoria et conversatione hominum jubeatis auferri, quorum impietatis nulla, quantum videtis, potest auctoritate compesci. Data calendas Julias (anno Chr. 479) post consulatum Illo viri clarissinii.","english":"The blessed apostle Peter holds this pledge of your Piety, and the mind of the most Christian and most faithful prince has sworn to these words: that hereafter in the city of Antioch, the ancient custom being preserved, he shall be ordained by his fellow provincial bishops, so that what my brother and fellow bishop Acacius has now carried out at your command may not pass into the usage of posterity and confound the statutes of the Fathers, which you have especially kept inviolate. Wherefore we cannot reprove what has been holily and religiously ordained by you out of love of peace, lest the state of the Church of Antioch should seem doubtful under our hesitation, especially since he who is reported to have been ordained is supported by the testimony of your Clemency and by such great proclamation, that in him, apart from the grief of these wounds, we can even glory on behalf of the Church which deserved him. I have taken care to respond with these words and with the office of veneration, that you should command the frauds and crimes of the heretics, to be pursued by divine and secular laws, which you have often proved to be so well known, to be removed from the memory and conversation of men, whose impiety, as you see, can be restrained by no authority. Given on the Kalends of July, after the consulship of Illus, a most illustrious man.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":39,"ref":"p39","source":"EPISTOLA XV.\n\nSIMPLICIIPAPÆ AD ACACIUM.\n\nEadem quæ et in superiori.\n\nSimplicius episcopus Acacio ePiscopo Constantino politano.\n\nClementissimi principis litteris, tuæque dilectionis, de sacrilega et funestissima caede, quae apud Antiochiam facta est, sauciatus et nimium affectus mœrore, respondeo, astruens, si quae jamdudum de Petro et aliis complicibus eorum scripseram, et ut pietati ejus cum cæteris, qui aderant, fratribus suggerere postularam, ut optaverat, ordinatum fuisset, hæreticorum temeritas ad tantum facinus non veniret; ne [forte nec]aliquid necessitatis existeret, ut non aliter praedictae subveniretur Ecclesiae, nisi ut aliquid de jure ejus curatio ipsa minueret. Quamvis enim profecerit ad quietem, quod Christianissimi principis jussione, vel sine præjudicio canonum a tua caritate fuerit Antiochenus episcopus ordinatus: tainen non est sine invidia factum, cujus cavendum deinceps etiam ille testatur, qui praecepit, exemplum. In quo pietatis ejus gratias dignum est nos rel. rre: quoniam ita glorias suae moderatus est potestatem, ut fidelissima devotione Patrum regulis submittere quæ juberet, nec in aucto ritatem recipi quod sequenti constituit ætate prohiberi; ut scilicet in hac tantummodo persona, quam jussu ejus et studio quietis Antiochensibns, non tua usurpatione, antistitem consecrasti, quod factum est necessitate, sufficeret.","english":"LETTER XV.\n\nOF POPE SIMPLICIUS TO ACACIUS.\n\nThe same as in the preceding.\n\nSimplicius, bishop, to Acacius, bishop of Constantinople.\n\nWounded and deeply affected with grief by the letters of the most clement prince and by your affection, concerning the sacrilegious and most baleful slaughter which was committed at Antioch, I reply, affirming that if what I had already long since written concerning Peter and the other accomplices of their crimes, and what I had asked to be suggested to his Piety together with the other brethren who were present, had been arranged as he had desired, the rashness of the heretics would not have come to so great a crime; nor would there have been any necessity that aid should be given to the aforesaid Church in no other way than by that very remedy diminishing something of its right. For although it has contributed to peace that, by the command of the most Christian prince, or without prejudice to the canons, the bishop of Antioch was ordained by your charity, nevertheless it was not done without envy, whose example he also testifies must hereafter be guarded against, who gave the command. In which matter it is fitting that we render thanks to his Piety, because he has so moderated the power of his glory as to submit by most faithful devotion what he commanded to the rules of the Fathers, and not to allow to be received into authority what he established to be forbidden in a following age; so that, namely, in this one person only, whom by his command and zeal for the peace of the Antiochenes, not by your usurpation, you consecrated as bishop, what was done of necessity should suffice.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[{"kind":"lacuna","severity":"caution","text":"The source is fragmentary here: the edition marks a break or an editorial bracket, and the English carries across it. Treat the bridge as supplied, not translated."}]},{"i":40,"ref":"p40","source":"In quo tuae dilectionis non irrationabilem cognoscimus fuisse famulatum: quia Ecclesiarum jura respiciens, diu te non immerito suspendisse testaris, ne videreris ambire quod tanto principi, et in tam gravi causa non poteras abnegarc. Quapropter, frater carissime, institutorum veterum, quae in te sunt probata, non immemor, sicut veniale judicare non pervides quod tibi certum est imperatum, ita ipse dans honorem patrihus, labora ne necessitas sit ulla faciendi quod optas nunc satisfactione purgari.\n\nOBSERVATIO P. ANTONII PAGI.\n\nAd an. Christi 479, num. i et seqq.\n\nHæ duæ proxime allatae epistolae Baronio omnibusque suasere Stephanum seniorem episcopum Antiochenum, anno 479, ab hæreticis interfectum fuisse, et iu ejus locum imperatoris jussu Stephanum juniorem Constantinopoliab Acacio ordinatum. Vcrum vulgaris haec opinio falsa est, et In subscriptione prior epistolae Simplicii papæ ad Zenonem loco, post consulatum illi V. C. legendum est. post consulatum Placidi V. C., ideoque ea epist' la data anno 482, cum Placidius aD. consulatumgesserit. De. tritis enim prioribus nominis Placidi litteris facile fuit lihrario crrare, et loco Placidi legere Illi; eo magisquoepistolae iict quæ eam præcedunt, datæ sunt Illo V. C. consule, anno sc. 473. Hæ du;e igitur epistolae Simplicii, in quibus mentio de caede episcopi Antiocheni, ejus nomine suppresso, pertinent, ad an.","english":"In this we recognize that the service of your love was not unreasonable, because, having regard to the rights of the Churches, you testify that you long and not undeservedly held back, lest you should seem to court what you could not have denied to so great a prince and in so grave a cause. Wherefore, dearest brother, not unmindful of the ancient institutions which have been approved in you, just as you do not fail to see that what is certainly commanded you is to be judged venial, so do you yourself, giving honor to the fathers, labor that there be no necessity of doing what you now desire to be cleansed by satisfaction.\n\nOBSERVATION OF FATHER ANTONIUS PAGI.\n\nAt the year of Christ 479, numbers 1 and following.\n\nThese two letters just cited persuaded Baronius and all others that Stephen the elder, bishop of Antioch, was killed by heretics in the year 479, and that in his place Stephen the younger was ordained at Constantinople by Acacius at the emperor's command. But this common opinion is false, and in the subscription of the prior letter of Pope Simplicius to Zeno, in the place where \"after the consulate of the illustrious man Illus\" is read, \"after the consulate of the illustrious man Placidus\" should be read, and therefore that letter was dated in the year 482, since Placidius held the consulate. For with the first three letters of the name Placidus worn away, it was easy for the copyist to err and, in place of Placidus, to read Illi; all the more since the letters which precede it were dated in the consulate of Illus, namely the year 473. These two letters of Simplicius, therefore, in which mention is made of the slaughter of the bishop of Antioch, his name being suppressed, pertain to the year.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":41,"ref":"p41","source":"482, eæque non de Stephano scniori, sed de Stephano juniori intelligendæ.Hic enim ab hæreticis interfectus, et neuter ab Acacio ordinatus, sed Calendio, qui Stephano juniori successit, ut ad an. monstrabo. Quod vero ex Baronio ait Biniu novo et inusitato exemplo episcopum Antiochenum Constantinopoli ordinatum fuisse, corruit ex iis quæ ad an. diximus. Ibi enim ostendimus Maximum ep. Antiochenum Constu inopoli ab Anatolio consecratum. In Evagrii verbis a Bin o post Baronium relatis illa, quam triennio in hunc usque annum tenuit, neque in editione Christophorsoni, neque in editione Valesii leguntur. Ea igitur errore typographi Baronii verba ab Evagrii textu diverso charactere non distinguenlis, ita edita. Evagrius enim durationem sedis Ste phani non memorat, et tamen hic Binius, aliiquc locum illum integrum Evagrio ascribunt, quod monendum duxi, ne in posterum locus ille fucum faciat. (Lege Pagium ad an. Christi 482, num. et seqq. ubi plura de his Simplicii epistolis, de cæde Stephani non senioris, sed junioris; et de solo Calendione ab Acacio Constantinopoli ordinato.)","english":"These [letters] are to be understood as concerning not Stephen the elder but Stephen the younger. For he was killed by heretics, and neither of them was ordained by Acacius, but by Calendio, who succeeded Stephen the younger, as I will show at the year. But what Binius says from Baronius, that a bishop of Antioch was ordained at Constantinople by a new and unusual example, collapses from those things which I have said at the year. For there I showed that Maximus, bishop of Antioch, was consecrated at Constantinople by Anatolius. In the words of Evagrius cited by Binius after Baronius, those words, which he held for three years down to this year, are found neither in the edition of Christophorson nor in the edition of Valesius. They were therefore published by an error of the printer of Baronius, who did not distinguish the words from the text of Evagrius by a different typeface. For Evagrius does not mention the duration of the see of Stephen, and yet here Binius and others ascribe that whole passage to Evagrius, which I have thought should be noted, lest that passage deceive anyone in the future. (Read Pagius at the year of Christ 482, number and following, where there is more about these letters of Simplicius, about the killing of Stephen, not the elder but the younger; and about Calendio alone ordained by Acacius at Constantinople.)","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":42,"ref":"p42","source":"I EPISTOLA XVI.\n\nSIMPLICiI PAPÆ AD EUMDEM.\n\nCalendionis Antiocheni episcopi electionem confirmat.\n\nSimplicius episcopus Acacio episcopo Constanti nopolitano.\n\nAntiocheni exordium sacerdotis qua ratione fuerit serius indicatum, quamvis minime nos latere potuerit, tamen et ipse vel synodus ipsius indicavit. Quod sicut non optavimus fieri, itu faciles excusationi, quam necessitas fecit, exstitimus: quia quod voluntarium non est vocari non potest in reatum. Et ideo per fratrem et coepiscopum nostrum Anastasium, qui ex predicta regione directus est, litteris quoque tuæ dilectionis acceptis, alterni vicissitudinem sermonis tuæ reddidimus charitati, necessario fratris et cocpiscopi nostri Calendionis sacerdotium gremio apostolicæ sedis amplexi, in consortium nostrum per gratiam Christi Dei nostri tantae urbis antistitcm collegii unione numeramus. Miramur autem nihil nos de statu Autiochenæ Ecclesiæ te instruente didicisse, quem nunc ita haberd se comperimus, ut improbi per uceasionem obitus ' sanctae memoriæ Timotbei eamdem Ecclesiam conentur habere captivam. Unde agendum est dilectioni tuae cum clementissimo principe, ne convellatur sub ejus imperio, quod tyranni temporibus potuit obtineri. Data idibus Julii ( anno Cbr. 482], Severino viro clarissimo consule.","english":"LETTER XVI OF POPE SIMPLICIUS.\n\nTO THE SAME.\n\nHe confirms the election of Calendio, bishop of Antioch.\n\nSimplicius, bishop, to Acacius, bishop of Constantinople.\n\nThe reason why the beginning of the bishopric of the man of Antioch was reported rather late, although it could by no means have escaped our notice, yet he himself or his synod has indicated. And as we did not desire it to happen, so we have been ready to accept the excuse which necessity made: because what is not voluntary cannot be called into fault. And therefore through our brother and fellow bishop Anastasius, who has been sent from the aforesaid region, and having also received the letters of your belovedness, we have returned to your charity the exchange of mutual speech, necessarily embracing in the bosom of the apostolic see the priesthood of our brother and fellow bishop Calendio, and by the grace of Christ our God we number the bishop of so great a city in our fellowship by the union of the college. But we wonder that we have learned nothing from you concerning the state of the Church of Antioch, which we now find to be in such a condition that wicked men, on the occasion of the death of Timothy of holy memory, are attempting to hold that same Church captive. Wherefore your belovedness must act with the most clement prince, lest under his rule be torn asunder what could be obtained in the times of tyrants. Given on the ides of July, in the year of Christ 482, with Severinus, a most illustrious man, as consul.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":43,"ref":"p43","source":"3EPISTOLA XVII.\n\nSIMPLICII PAPÆ AD EUMDEM.\n\nConqueritur una cum imperaloris litteris ab eo litteras non accepisse, et imperatorem, Petrum hæreticum in Alexandriæ episcopum petere, dum ipse paratus esset Joannem confirmare: demitm precatur ut imperatorem moneat, ne haretico jam damnato favere velit.\n\nSimplicius episcopus Acacio episcopo Constantino politano.\n\nMiramur pariter et dolemus, ita in tuae dilectionis animo dissimulatam lacerare [latitare] curam caritatis et fidei, ut eum christianissimus imperator pietalis et religionis instinctu affandi me, et de causis ecclesiasticis consulendi, fideles atque solertes internuntios destinaret, Ipse et alternae gratiæ et vigilantiæ pastoralis oblitus, nec alloqui nos volueris, nec de bis quæ ad catholicæ veritis custodiam periinebant duxeris instruendos: atque ideo, frater carissime, quae non immerito cernis libera aflectlone culpari, potiore diligentia repensando, cognosce proinde delegatum tibi munus impendens, sensus tuos prudenter attolle, et pro tuendis Chalcedonensis synodi constitutis vehementer invigila, ne per negligentiam desidiamque nostram subrepatur gregibus Domini lethale dispendium.","english":"LETTER XVII.\n\nOF POPE SIMPLICIUS TO THE SAME.\n\nHe complains that together with the emperor's letters he has not received letters from him, and that the emperor seeks Peter the heretic as bishop of Alexandria, while he himself was prepared to confirm John: he earnestly begs him to warn the emperor not to wish to favor a heretic already condemned.\n\nSimplicius, bishop, to Acacius, bishop of Constantinople.\n\nWe wonder equally and grieve that in the mind of your belovedness the care of charity and faith has been so concealed as to lie hidden, such that the most Christian emperor, by the instinct of piety and religion, sent faithful and diligent messengers to address me and to consult me concerning ecclesiastical causes, while you, forgetful both of mutual gratitude and of pastoral vigilance, neither wished to address us nor deigned to instruct us concerning those matters which pertained to the guardianship of the catholic truth. And therefore, dearest brother, reflecting with greater diligence upon those things which you not unjustly perceive to be blamed with free affection, recognize accordingly the office entrusted to you, prudently lift up your senses, and watch vehemently for the defense of the decrees of the synod of Chalcedon, lest through our negligence and sloth a deadly loss creep into the flocks of the Lord.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[{"kind":"lacuna","severity":"caution","text":"The source is fragmentary here: the edition marks a break or an editorial bracket, and the English carries across it. Treat the bridge as supplied, not translated."}]},{"i":44,"ref":"p44","source":"Nuper ab Ægyptia synodo, quæ et numero plurima, et fidei catholicæ esset communione suffulta, atque ah ipso omni propemodum clero Alexandrinæ srdis ad nos ex more relatio missa patefecit, sanctæ memoriæfratrem qucmdam [quondam] et coepiscopum nostrum obiisseTimotheum, inque ejus vicem consona fidelium voluntate Joannem, cui ad sacerdotium constare crederentur omnia, subrogatum, ut nihil omnino restare videbatur, nisi ut Deo nostro gratias agentibus nobis atque gaudentibus, ut sine strepitu, quod catholicus in defuncti ministerium successisset antistes, apostolicx quoque moderationis assensu votivam sumcret firmitatem: cum ecce secundum consuetudinem mihi tal a disponenti tranquillissimi principis scripta sunt reddita, quibus memoratum tanquam perjurii reum, quod fraternitati quoque tuae non esse diceretur incognitum, sacerdotio perhihcret indignum. lllico retraxi pedem, et meam revocavi super ejus confirmatione sententiam, ne quid contra tantum ac lale testimonium praepropere fecisse judicarer.","english":"Recently the report sent to us, according to custom, from the Egyptian synod—which was very large in number and supported by communion with the catholic faith, and which came from almost the entire clergy of the church of Alexandria—made clear that a certain brother and fellow bishop of ours, Timotheus, of holy memory, had died, and that in his place, by the concordant will of the faithful, John had been substituted, to whose priesthood all things were believed to be assured, so that nothing at all seemed to remain except that, as we gave thanks and rejoiced to our God, without disturbance—since a catholic bishop had succeeded to the ministry of the deceased—he should also receive, by the assent of apostolic moderation, the confirmation he desired. But behold, while I was arranging such matters, the writings of the most tranquil prince were delivered to me according to custom, in which the aforementioned man was declared unworthy of the priesthood as one guilty of perjury—something said not to be unknown to your brotherhood either. I immediately drew back my foot and revoked my judgment concerning his confirmation, lest I be judged to have acted too hastily against so great and such a testimony.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[{"kind":"lacuna","severity":"caution","text":"The source is fragmentary here: the edition marks a break or an editorial bracket, and the English carries across it. Treat the bridge as supplied, not translated."}]},{"i":45,"ref":"p45","source":"Sed illud me non mediocriter fecit attonitum, quod iisdem litteris suis Petrum, qui hæreticorum sociusdudum exstitisse probetur et princeps, quod conscientiam dHectionis tuae meminimus non latere, instruclionesque ipsas quibus fuerit confutatus, nosse confidimus, quemque etiam dubium non sit adbuc extra communionem durare catholicam, saepeque nos de eodem ex illa urbe pellendo scripsisse sit certum, ad præfatæ Ecclesiæregimen existimet provehendum: cumque promittat rectæ fidei definitionibus convenire, a cujus utique (sicut superius dixi) consortio tam degit extraneus, quam ab ejus communione discretus est, ad quam si nunc redire coutendit, nisi per satisfactionem Christianis regulis competentem non potest introire, ac perinde [proinde] non ad fastigium sacerdotalis dignitatis accedere; sed medelæ, quae post pœnitudinem praestanda est, consequenter aptari animae suae cupiens reconciliatus auxilium, non gradum summi honoris affectans, qui diu convincitur fuisse perversus, ne per speciem remeantis non remedium sinceræ salvationis inquirat, sed facultatem propagandæ pravitatis inveniat. Quo facio non hunc magis ab errore detrahimus, quam perniciem fidelibus irrogamus, eoque modo Chalcedonensis synodi statuta violantes, aditum sæva copulatione grassandi in Ecclesiam lupis rapacibus aperimus.","english":"But this made me not a little astonished: that in those same letters of theirs they think Peter—who is proven to have long been a companion and leader of heretics, whose conscience, we remember, is not hidden from your Beloved's awareness, and who, we are confident, knew those very instructions by which he was refuted, and who, it is beyond doubt, still remains outside catholic communion, and concerning whom it is certain that we have often written that he should be expelled from that city—should be advanced to the governance of the aforesaid Church. And although he promises to agree with the definitions of right faith, yet he lives as much a stranger to its fellowship (as I said above) as he is separated from its communion; and if he now strives to return to it, he cannot enter except through a satisfaction befitting Christian rules, and accordingly he should not approach the height of priestly dignity, but, desiring to be joined to the remedy that must be provided after repentance, he should seek reconciliation as a help for his soul, not affect the rank of the highest honor—he who is for a long time proven to have been perverse—lest under the appearance of one returning he seek not the remedy of sincere salvation but find the opportunity of spreading his depravity. By doing this we do not so much draw this man back from error as inflict destruction on the faithful, and in that way, violating the statutes of the Synod of Chalcedon, we open the way for savage wolves to prowl into the Church through a cruel union.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[{"kind":"lacuna","severity":"caution","text":"The source is fragmentary here: the edition marks a break or an editorial bracket, and the English carries across it. Treat the bridge as supplied, not translated."}]},{"i":46,"ref":"p46","source":"Deniqne ab eisdem ipsis, cum quibus olim a catbolica participatione divisus est, pontifex dicilur postulari: ut satis evidenter appareat non eos rectam fidem velle, sed in praesule proprio nefandi dogmatis quaerere potestatem; neque inter ipsos et - veraciter sentientes pax inde possit foeda generari, unde hæreticarum mentium crescit funesta damnatio, et catholicorum succedit miseranda captivitas. Tantis igitur malis atque periculis pro sacerdotii qualitate, et catholicæ pracdicationis intuitu, ut qua potes ratione sapienter obsistas, maximis undique rebus astringeris: nec dilectioni tuæ fas est id segnius eperari, quod ad animae tuae causam, bononis aestimationisque respectum non dubitas pertinere.","english":"Finally, it is said that the pontiff is being demanded by those very same men with whom he was once divided from catholic communion, so that it may appear clearly enough that they do not want the right faith, but seek in their own prelate the power of an abominable doctrine; nor can peace be foully generated between them and those who truly believe from that source from which the deadly condemnation of heretical minds grows and the wretched captivity of catholics succeeds. Therefore, by reason of the dignity of the priesthood and with a view to catholic preaching, you are bound on every side by the greatest matters, so that you may wisely resist such great evils and dangers by whatever means you can: nor is it right for your love to perform this too sluggishly, since you do not doubt that it pertains to the cause of your soul and to the respect of honor and reputation.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":47,"ref":"p47","source":"Opportunitatibus ergo repertis, clementissimi principis voluntatem incessabiliter pro fide catholica supplicando, tt ab bis sedulo revocare quæ nociva sunt dogmati Christiano, et secandum hæc quae mandamus, informare crebro, iuque eam partem quae amica sit veritati, potius instare non desinas, et (ut sanctum Timotheum venerandus apostolus Paulus instituit) opportune, importune, obsecrando, insinuando exponendoque nullatenus allegare cessabis, et nobis subinde quæ gerantur, quæve gcrenda sint, veraciter indicare, ut creditorum tibimet dispensatione dominica talentorum in hac multiplicatione fidelis servus ostendaris, si non tantum in Ecclesia cui præsides, sed ubicunque potueris, pro unitate catholica et pro paternis definitionibus suadere non renuas. Data idu bus Juliis (anno Chr. 482), Severino viro clarissimo consule.\n\nFRAGMENTUM EPISTOLÆ","english":"Therefore, when opportunities are found, by ceaselessly entreating the will of the most merciful prince for the catholic faith, you should not cease to recall him diligently from those things that are harmful to the Christian doctrine, and to instruct him frequently according to these things which we command, and rather to press upon that party which is friendly to the truth, and (as the venerable apostle Paul instructed holy Timothy) by entreating, suggesting, and explaining, in season and out of season, you shall in no way cease to plead, and to indicate to us truthfully from time to time what is being done and what ought to be done, so that by the faithful service of multiplying the talents entrusted to you by the Lord's dispensation you may be shown to be a faithful servant, if you do not refuse to persuade for catholic unity and for the definitions of the fathers not only in the Church over which you preside, but wherever you are able. Given on the Ides of July (in the year of Christ 482), in the consulship of the most illustrious man Severinus.\n\nFRAGMENT OF A LETTER","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":48,"ref":"p48","source":"SlMPLlCII PAPÆ AD ZENONEM. I\n\nIncipit epistola sanctæmemoriæ Simplicii papae ad Zenonem imperatorem.\n\nInter cætera et ad locum.\n\nSed jam veniamus ad eos quorum unum a pontifi cio Alexandrinae Ecclesiae secludendum, alterum huic praeficiendum tranquillitatis tuæ scripta pronuntiant, ac primo, si placet persona Petri, meritum expendamus. Nimirum hic est complex parricidae [forte parricidii] Timothei, et exsilio sempiterno vestra quoque jassione dignissimus. Hic contra veritatem militantium socius semper, et doctor. H:c, de quo Alexandrina urbe pellendo sæpe me litteris rogasso non dubium est; qui si esset rectæ fidei, in catholica utique communione mansisset. Quod si ad eam nu. per emendandus accedit hoc ipsum diu retenti contutatur erroris, quam tamen emendationem si vel nunc sincera mente perquireret, satisfactionem consequenter afferret: non expetit ( forte exspectat] dignitatem, qui post pœnitudinem indulgentia dignus est, non honore. Absit ut ejus saluti si resipiscit, invideam; complector, hortor et gaudeo, gloriosissimc imperator; sed diu pravitatis vulnere sauciato medicinae venia competit, non potestatis. Tunc enim religionis poterit nuncupari, si perversitale damnata ad sanam fidem remeare praeelegerit.","english":"Here begins the letter of Simplicius, pope of holy memory, to the emperor Zeno.\n\nAmong other matters, and in its place.\n\nBut now let us come to those of whom the writings of your Tranquillity declare that one is to be excluded from the pontificate of the Church of Alexandria and the other is to be set over it; and first, if it please you, let us weigh the merit of the person of Peter. Without doubt this man is the accomplice of the parricide Timothy, and most worthy of eternal exile by your command as well. This man was always the ally and teacher of those who fight against the truth. This is he whom, as there is no doubt, I have often asked in my letters to be driven from the city of Alexandria; for if he were of right faith, he would surely have remained in the catholic communion. But if he now approaches it to be corrected, let him consider this very thing, that he was long retained in error; yet if even now he should seek that correction with a sincere mind, he would accordingly bring satisfaction: he does not seek the dignity, who after repentance is worthy of indulgence, not of honor. Far be it that I should envy his salvation if he comes to his senses; I embrace, exhort, and rejoice, most glorious emperor; but to one long wounded by the sore of depravity, the pardon of medicine is due, not of power. For then he will be able to be called a man of religion, if, having condemned his perversity, he chooses to return to the sound faith.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[{"kind":"lacuna","severity":"caution","text":"The source is fragmentary here: the edition marks a break or an editorial bracket, and the English carries across it. Treat the bridge as supplied, not translated."}]},{"i":49,"ref":"p49","source":"Alioquin manifestus est eum non curatonem proprii desiderare languoris, sed ambire fastigium, quo perfidiæ suæ virus miseris animantibus confidentius licentiusque diffundat, et de superiore loco multo violentius in servitutem catholicam redigat libertatem. Quæso deinde qui ejus provectui suffragentur, et eos audio esse archimandritas, et monachos, vel si qui sunt alii qui sese a communione catholica separaverunt. Horum ergo testimonium comprobandum est, quorum admittenda persona, quibus sanæ fidei est conscientiae causa non suppetit, et qui cum eundem [eodem] pari tenentur errore. Finis.\n\nEPISTOLA XVIII.\n\nSIMPLICII AD EOMDEM.\n\nMirari se ait Atacium de Alexandrinas Ecclesiæ vexationibus nequaquam te monuisse; hortatur autem ut imperatori insinuet ut eidem Ecclesiæ pax optata reddatur.\n\nDilectissimo fratri Acacio Simplicius.\n\nCogitationum ferias non habemus: nec enim quiescere nos causa permittit, quam si relinquamus, apud Christum Dominum nostrum, cujus interest, excusabiles [forte inexcusabiles] sumas.","english":"Otherwise it is manifest that he does not desire the healing of his own sickness, but seeks the high office, so that from it he may spread the poison of his perfidy upon wretched souls with greater confidence and license, and from a higher position drag freedom far more violently into the slavery of the catholic Church. Then I ask who are the supporters of his advancement, and I hear that they are archimandrites and monks, or whoever else have separated themselves from the catholic communion. Therefore the testimony of these men must be approved, whose persons are to be admitted, men for whom there is no support of a conscience of sound faith, and who are held together with him in the same error. The end.\n\nLETTER XVIII.\n\nOf Simplicius to the same.\n\nHe says that he marvels that Acacius by no means warned him concerning the vexations of the Church of Alexandria; but he urges him to suggest to the emperor that the peace so desired be restored to the same Church.\n\nSimplicius to his most beloved brother Acacius.\n\nWe have no holidays of thought: for the cause does not permit us to rest, which if we abandon, we shall be excusable before Christ our Lord, whose interest it is.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[{"kind":"lacuna","severity":"caution","text":"The source is fragmentary here: the edition marks a break or an editorial bracket, and the English carries across it. Treat the bridge as supplied, not translated."}]},{"i":50,"ref":"p50","source":"Et mirum est dilectionem tuam tot emensis temporibus, et tot opportunitatibus indt venientibus, nil nos de Alexandrina Ecclesia, quae tam graviter quatitur, instruere voluisse; cum moncre te nec increpatio nostra destiterit, ut participata sollicitudine, litteras meas apud Christianissimum et clementissimum principem præsentibus tuae dilectionis prosequereris alloquiis, et instituti veteris memur, in orthodoxorum defension nobiscum sic semper incumberes, ne quisquam nostrum, Christiana plebe pereunte, reatum deditionis incurrat, et mercenarius potius videatur esse quam pastor. Unde hortamur dilectionem tuam ut opportune atque importune piis auribus insinuare non desinat, quatenus remotis scandalis quae in Alexandrinam Ecclesiam recidivis ausibus irruerunt, pax optata reddatur, et celeriter vigilantiae tuæ profectus, posthabitis difficultatibus, inducatur. Data octavo idus Novembris, Severino consule, directa per Restitutum.","english":"And it is astonishing that your belovedness, after so many times have passed and so many opportunities have come, has wished to inform us of nothing concerning the Church of Alexandria, which is so grievously shaken; although our rebuke has not ceased to warn you, that, sharing in the concern, you should accompany my letters before the most Christian and most clement prince with the present addresses of your belovedness, and, mindful of the ancient institution, you should always so strive with us in the defense of the orthodox, lest anyone of us, while the Christian people perish, incur the guilt of surrender and seem rather to be a hireling than a shepherd. Wherefore we exhort your belovedness that, in season and out of season, you cease not to insinuate into pious ears, so that, with the scandals removed which have rushed upon the Church of Alexandria by repeated daring, the desired peace may be restored, and quickly the progress of your vigilance, difficulties set aside, may be brought about. Given on the eighth day before the Ides of November, in the consulship of Severinus, sent by Restitutus.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":51,"ref":"p51","source":"EPISTOLA\n\nSIMPLICII AD EUMDEM.\n\nA Luca Holsteinio Roma edita.\n\nDilectissimo fratri Acacio Simplicius.\n\nLitteris tuae dilectionis, quas per filium nostrum Epiphanium diaconum probatae fide! direxisti, ea quae strictim religiosissimi viri filii nostri presbyteri, archimandritæ cum monachis vel ante scripserant, latius indicasti, et proliso quidem volumine, sed sermone necessario retulisti; ut quid vel Constantinopoli, vel in aliis regionibus ab haereticis gestum disceremus: ac singula quæ contra ecclesiasticas regulas, et contra ipsam catholicam fidem ubicunque commissa sunt, ante nostros oculos collocasti; quatenus videatur quo etiam remedio subveniretur EcClesiis, quibus vim sub occasione tyrannicae domina. tionis, et per absentiam Christianissimi principis pernici' sus latro et recidivus invasor Alexandrinae Ecclesiæ lapsus exsiliis irrogavit. Unde unicum post Deum, qui Ecclesiam et rempublicam consola ione mirabili visitavit, etiamsi hoc fieri minime postulasses, clementissimi imperatoris auxilium duximus implorandum; ut pro omnibus quæ regno cjus Dominus tribuit, ne alterius in orbe terrarum, quas subdilas suo cognoscit imperio, Ecclesiae Dei ab hæreticorum contagione et pravitate violentur, sed doctrinae diabolicæ praeceptione pietatis ipsius prastentur immunes.","english":"LETTER\n\nOF SIMPLICIUS TO THE SAME.\n\nPublished at Rome by Lucas Holstenius.\n\nSimplicius to his most beloved brother Acacius.\n\nBy the letter of your belovedness, which you sent through our son Epiphanius the deacon, a man of approved faith, you have indicated more fully those things which the most religious man our son the presbyter and archimandrite had written briefly together with the monks, and you have reported them in a lengthy volume indeed, but in necessary language; so that we might learn what was done by the heretics either at Constantinople or in other regions: and you have placed before our eyes each thing that has been committed anywhere against the ecclesiastical rules and against the catholic faith itself; so that it may be seen by what remedy help might also be brought to the Churches, to which, under the occasion of tyrannical domination and through the absence of the most Christian prince, that pernicious thief and repeat offender, the fallen invader of the Church of Alexandria, has inflicted exiles. Whence, after God, who has visited the Church and the state with marvelous consolation, we have deemed it necessary to implore the aid of the most clement emperor, even if you had by no means asked that this be done; so that, in return for all that the Lord has bestowed upon his kingdom, the Churches of God throughout the world, which he knows to be subject to his empire, may not be violated by the contagion and depravity of heretics, but by the precept of his own piety may be rendered immune to the teaching of the devil.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":52,"ref":"p52","source":"Ut ii qui sibi crediderint sacerdotale ministenum damnati hrminis præsomptione conferri, promulgata imperiali constitutione etiam a conventu hominum segregandi jubeantur excludi: quatenus his submotis, atque in solitudinis perpetua relegatione damnatis, antistites catholici deceptis vel reddantur Ecclesiis, vel creentur. In quo nec nostrae preces apud religiosissimum principem, nec dilectionil tiae suggestio, aut tantorum fratrum nostrorum, quos advenisse Constantinopolim reperimus, imploratio sacerdotum, aut supplicatio monachorum laborare poterit. Quin quidquid ad integritatem catholicæ fidei pertinet, in qua Ecclesiarnm est constituta securitas regressu pietatis suae, Domino se ubique prosequente omnium praeveniens vola restituit. Et apud mentem Christianissimam facilis est impetrandi gratia, ubi religionis est causa. Sicut ergo litteris nosiris, ita tuae dilectionis, vel omnium fratrum qui se ad documenta fidei suae Christianissimi principis praesentavere conspectui, suggestione repetendum est, ut Timotheos cum sequacibus suis ad irremeabile dirigatur exsilium. Cum quo Paulus ab Ephesina Ecclesia, et Petrus ab Antiochena civitate depulsus, atque omnes qui ab eo se, vel ab his quos illicite fccerat, aestimant episcopos ordinatos, eadem debent lege percelli. De Antonio autem, qui eorum quos contra Ecclesiam tyrannos miserat, antesignanus existens, sicut scriptum est (Psal.","english":"So that those who have entrusted themselves to be conferred the priestly ministry by the damnable presumption of a man, having been published by imperial constitution, may also be ordered to be segregated from the assembly of men and shut out: to the end that, these being removed and condemned to perpetual relegation in solitude, catholic bishops may either be restored to the deceived Churches, or be appointed. In this matter neither our prayers with the most religious prince, nor the suggestion of your belovedness, nor the entreaty of so many of our brothers, priests whom we have found to have come to Constantinople, nor the supplication of the monks will be able to labor in vain. Nay rather, whatever pertains to the integrity of the catholic faith, in which the security of the Churches has been established, by the return of his piety, with the Lord accompanying him everywhere and anticipating the vows of all, he restores. And with a most Christian mind the grace of obtaining is easy, where the cause is one of religion. Just as therefore by our letters, so by the suggestion of your belovedness, or of all the brothers who have presented themselves to the documents of their faith before the most Christian prince's sight, it must be repeated, that Timotheus with his followers be directed into an irremeable exile. With whom Paulus, driven from the Church of Ephesus, and Petrus from the city of Antioch, and all who reckon themselves to have been ordained bishops by him, or by those whom he had unlawfully made, ought to be struck by the same law. Concerning Antonius, however, who, standing as the standard-bearer of those tyrants whom he had sent against the Church, as it is written (Psal.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":53,"ref":"p53","source":"VIII, 3), inimicns et defensor apparuit. De Joanne quodam Constantinopolitano, qui ab hæreticis Apamenum sacerdotium, quod ei, qui presbyter aliunde fuerat, vel a catholicis sumere non licebat, se hæreticum publicavit, et quod in se perperam factum est improperium retorsit in auctorem; expellens ab Antiochia Petrum pervasorem ipsius, eamdem Ecclesiam ipse pervasit, sub anathemate a Christianorum consortio, vel ipsa appellatione removemus: nec unquam his satisfactionis patefaciendus est locus. Quia sicut Judas inter aposlolos, ita isti inter ministros Dei subdola et diabolici spiritus fraude latuerunt. De Christiani quoque populi fide et devotione gaudentes, profectum ejus et multiplicationem Deo jugiter supplicantes expetimus: ut in timore atque amore Domini perseverans, et numero augeri, et coelesti mereatur proteciione munir. In quo maxime gloriamur, et Deo nostro gratulabimur complacere, quia pastoralem respicit fructum, religiosi ovilis augmentum.","english":"he appeared as an enemy and a defender. Concerning a certain John of Constantinople, who, when the priestly office at Apamea had been conferred on him by heretics—which, since he had been a presbyter from elsewhere, he was not permitted to receive even from catholics—publicly declared himself a heretic, and turned back upon its author the reproach that had been wrongfully done to him; expelling from Antioch Peter, its usurper, he himself usurped the same Church. We remove him under anathema from the fellowship of Christians, even by that very appellation; nor is any place of satisfaction ever to be opened to them. For just as Judas was among the apostles, so these men lay hidden among the ministers of God by the deceitful fraud of the diabolical spirit. Rejoicing also in the faith and devotion of the Christian people, we earnestly beseech God with continual supplication for its progress and increase: that, persevering in the fear and love of the Lord, it may deserve both to be increased in number and to be fortified by heavenly protection. In this we especially glory, and we rejoice that our God is pleased, because he looks upon the pastoral fruit, the increase of the religious flock.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":54,"ref":"p54","source":"Bit autem fratres et coepiscopos nostros apud Constantinopolim non convenit demorari: nunc praecipue, cum propter concussionem persecutionis quae mota fuerat, sollicitae atque attonitae sunt in suprascriptis Ecclesiis civitates: no aliquis dubius rationis et trepidus mentis exspectet novi aliquid post Chalcedonense concilium contra definitiones ipsius retractari: quia per universum mundum insolubili observatione retinetur, quod a sacerdotum universitate est constilutum; et sicut apparuit coelestis totiens ultionis assertione firmatum. Unde divino judicio reluctatur quiquis ejusdem vencrabilis definita concilii post tot divinae indignationis exempla non sequitur.\n\nOBSERVATIO P. ANTONII PAGI adoM. Christi, num. et 13.\n\nHolstenius in Collectione Romana publicavit epistolam Simplicii papae ad Acacium Constantinopol. episcopum quae ne die et consule esi, quamque Labb us tom. IV Concil., pag. 1039, post omnes Simplicii epistolas male collocavit. Cum enim eam scripserit Simplicius, paulo postquam accep ab Acacio vim, quæ illata fuerat Ecclesiis, sub occasione tyrannicæ dominationis, el per absentiam Christianissimi principis; et ipso tempore, quo Ælurus adhuc Vivebat, quem cum sequacibus suis ad irremediabile exsilium dirigi, a Zenone imp. petendum esse dicit, apparet eam epistolam in futura Collectione conciliorum immediate collocandam esse post epistolam Simplicii ad Zenonem imp.","english":"But it is not fitting for our brothers and fellow bishops to linger at Constantinople, especially now, when because of the shock of the persecution that had been stirred up, the cities in the aforesaid Churches are anxious and alarmed, lest anyone, doubting in his reasoning and trembling in mind, should expect that something new will be brought up after the Council of Chalcedon against its definitions; because throughout the whole world that which has been established by the whole body of priests is retained with unbreakable observance, and, as has become evident, it has been confirmed by the assertion of heavenly vengeance so many times. Hence whoever does not follow the venerable definitions of that same council, after so many examples of divine indignation, fights against the divine judgment.\n\nOBSERVATION OF P. ANTONIUS PAGI, year of Christ 13.\n\nHolstenius, in the Roman Collection, published a letter of Pope Simplicius to Acacius, bishop of Constantinople, which has neither date nor consul, and which Labbaeus, in volume IV of the Councils, page 1039, wrongly placed after all the letters of Simplicius. For since Simplicius wrote it a little after he had received from Acacius news of the violence that had been inflicted on the Churches under the pretext of tyrannical domination and through the absence of the most Christian emperor, and at the very time when Aelurus was still alive, whom he says must be asked of the emperor Zeno to be sent with his followers into irremediable exile, it is clear that this letter ought to be placed in a future collection of the councils immediately after the letter of Simplicius to the emperor Zeno.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":55,"ref":"p55","source":"datam VIII idus Octob. post consulatum Basilici et Armati, qua Simplicius gratulatur imperatori de recuperato imperio; cum post illam in eadem collectione concil. sequatur epistola Acacii ad Simplicium, qua ei Timothei Æluri mortem significat, quæ adhuc Simplicium latebat, cum Epistolam ab Holsienio editam ad Acacium scripsit. Ex ea intelligimus Acacium monuisse Simplic um de synodo a se apud Constantinopolim indicta. Ait enim Simplicius: Unde unicum post Deum, qui Ecclesiam et rempublicam consolatione mirabili visitavit, etiamsi hoc fieri minime postulasses, clementissimi imperatoris auxilium duximus implorandum. ut pro omnibus quæ regno ejus Dominus tribuit, ne ulterius in orbe terrarum, quas subditas suo cognoscit imperio, Ecclesiæ Dei ab hæreticorum contagione et pravitate violentur, sed doctrinæ diabolicæ præceptione pietatis ipsius præstentur immunes. Ut ii qui sibi crediderint sacerdotalt ministerium damnati hominis præsumptione conferri, promulgata imperiali constitutione, etiam a conventu hominum segregati, jubeantur excludi: quatenus his submotis, atque in solitudinis perpetua relegatione damnatis, antstites catholici deceptis vel reddantur Ecclesiis, vel creentur.","english":"Given on the eighth day before the Ides of October, after the consulate of Basiliscus and Armatus, in which Simplicius congratulates the emperor on the recovery of the empire; since after that letter in the same collection of the council there follows the letter of Acacius to Simplicius, in which he signifies to him the death of Timothy Aelurus, which was still hidden from Simplicius when he wrote the letter to Acacius published by Holsienius. From it we understand that Acacius had advised Simplicius concerning the synod convened by him at Constantinople. For Simplicius says: Hence the one after God, who visited the Church and the state with wondrous consolation—even if you had by no means requested that this be done—we have deemed it necessary to implore the aid of the most clement emperor, so that, in return for all that the Lord has bestowed upon his reign, the Churches of God in the lands which he knows to be subject to his empire may no longer be violated by the contagion and depravity of heretics, but may be rendered immune by the precept of his piety from diabolical doctrine. So that those who have believed that the priestly ministry is conferred upon them by the presumption of a condemned man, once the imperial constitution has been promulgated, may be ordered to be excluded even from the assembly of men; so that, with these removed and condemned to perpetual relegation in solitude, catholic bishops may either be restored to the deceived Churches or appointed.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]},{"i":56,"ref":"p56","source":"In quo nec nostras preces apud religiosissimum principem, nec lectionis tuæ suggestio, aut tantorum fratrum nostrorum, quod advenisse Constantinopolim reperimus, imploratio sacerdotum, aut supplicatio monachorum laborare poterit.\n\nImploraverat autem imperatoris auxilium Simplicius in epistola ad Zenonem VIII idus Octob. post consulatum Basilisci et Armatii, ideoque Holsteniana epistola prioribus mensibus anni insequentis data. In illa cnim, quam an. VIII idus Cctob. scripsit Simplicius, ait. Unde ante omnia precor, x! Alexandrinam Ecclesiam non minus a funesto, quam ab hæretico pervasore clementiæ vestras dispositionibus liberalam, catholico et legitimo restitui censeatis antistiti eisque etiam, quos temeritate diabolica dirersis ordi. nasse perhibetur, ejectis, reclce filei subrogari constituatis episcopos, etc.","english":"In this matter neither our prayers with the most religious emperor, nor the suggestion of your reading, nor the entreaty of so many of our brothers, the priests, whom we have found to have arrived at Constantinople, nor the supplication of the monks will be able to be in difficulty.\n\nBut Simplicius had implored the emperor's aid in his letter to Zeno on the eighth day before the Ides of October, after the consulate of Basiliscus and Armatus, and therefore the Holstenian letter was given in the earlier months of the following year. For in that letter, which Simplicius wrote on the eighth day before the Ides of October, he says: Wherefore, before all things I pray, that you deem the Alexandrian Church, freed by your clemency's arrangements no less from a deadly than from a heretical usurper, to be restored to a catholic and legitimate bishop, and that, with those also whom he is reported to have ordained in various orders by diabolical temerity having been cast out, you establish bishops of the right faith to be substituted in their place, etc.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[],"ambiguities":[],"confidence":"","notes":[]}]}