Opera Apocrypha

THE APOCRYPHAL WORKS OF SAINT DAMASUS. TO THE READER. I had resolved to set aside the Apocrypha; but since some fruit and occasional use might come from certain of the Epistles, and the bookseller desired this of me, I have allowed them to be added to the genuine works of Damasus. For those inscribed to Stephen and the bishops of Mauretania, to Prosper and the bishops of Numidia, to Aurelius of Carthage, and to the bishops of Italy, have already been shown to have issued from the workshop of Isidore Mercator, as others, whom I omit, have demonstrated—Labbeus in his Collection of Councils, and Coustantius in his Preface to the Letters of the Roman Pontiffs, no. 145. As for those to Jerome, Erasmus rightly complains that a man could have been so shameless as to dare to attribute them to Damasus, on which matter Schelestratus, Dissertation 2, chapter 3, may be consulted. Yet I could not be induced to retain the decrees that circulate under his name; for since Coustantius, after Sarazanius and Crabbeus, diligently collected all of them again in that work which he entitled *Censure of the Decrees Ascribed to Damasus*, and brought forward very serious reasons why those writings falsely bear the name and authority of that pontiff, the Reader would better employ his labor by consulting that learned man than by playing games with me.

FIRST EPISTLE. To the most reverend brother and fellow bishop Aurelius, Damasus. We have received the writings of Your Holiness with due veneration, in which we recognized your thirst for veneration and prudence regarding the Apostolic institutes (as was fitting). For this reason, we have sent some of the things you requested; and we wish to send some things still, when you send again. Yet we have omitted nothing from the decree of the blessed Peter, chief of the apostles, and of our predecessors, concerning whose statutes we would not send something to you through the presbyter Ammonius and the deacon Felix, under certain seals. We desire that you both observe these, and command them to be preached and published to others, so that they may be preserved with due veneration by all, inviolate, and diligently venerated for all future times; because voluntary violators of the canons are gravely judged by the holy Fathers, and are condemned by the Holy Spirit (by whose inspiration and gift they were dictated); since they seem not incongruously to blaspheme the Holy Spirit, who, not compelled by necessity but willingly (as previously stated), either act or presume to speak something insolently against these same holy canons, or spontaneously consent to those wishing to do so. For such presumption is manifestly one of the types of those blaspheming the Holy Spirit; because (as has already been touched upon) it acts against him by whose impulse and grace these same holy canons were issued.

The devil’s malice, however, is accustomed to deceive many in a subtle manner; and it so often mocks the imprudence of some through a semblance of piety that it persuades them to accept what is harmful instead of what is salutary. Therefore, the norm of the holy canons, which were established by the Spirit of God and consecrated by the reverence of the whole world, must be faithfully known and diligently handled by us; so that we may in no way transgress the statutes of the holy Fathers without unavoidable necessity—which God forbid—but, walking most faithfully through them, together with those who established them by divine inspiration, we may merit, with the Lord’s help, the glory of reward and the crown of labor through their merits. Thus, with these matters duly deliberated and brought to the notice of your Churches by deliberation, it is most fitting that you obey the rules of those same holy canons, lest the negligence of some cause you to oppose them in any respect; but may your wise and sound teaching, which desires you to please God in all things, show you to be co-heirs and co-participants of the heavenly kingdom, and faithful co-workers in the sees. Given on the sixteenth day before the Kalends of June, under the consulship of Gratian and Cyricius, the most illustrious consuls.

LETTER II. Damasus, servant of the servants of God, and by his grace bishop of the holy catholic Church of the city of Rome, to Stephen, archbishop of the council of Mauretania, and to all the bishops of the African province. Having read the letter of your fraternity, I first give thanks that I have merited the enjoyment of the blessing of so many brothers; then, that I have found you solicitous concerning the brothers, and bearing with them the cross of the Lord, who says: He who wishes to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me, and other things pertaining to this manner. Therefore, since at the present time, by the consultation of the acts, your beatitude, moved in apostolic bowels, has exhorted us to extend the protection of the brothers by apostolic authority, and to come to the aid of their injuries, while it is certain that you, with the Apostle, say compassionately: Who is infirm, and I am not infirm? who is scandalized, and I am not burned?

striving that none of those who are entrusted to you be torn apart or captured by savage beasts: for which reason it is necessary, according to your prudent admonition, but rather according to the Lord's divine precept, that we, who have undertaken the episcopal ministry over his house, that is, the universal Catholic Church, watch diligently; lest any of his sacred offices, that is, the apostolic men, the successors of the apostles, and their ministers, be suppressed while we sleep, and unjustly, without consulting us, be condemned. I. You know, dearest brothers, that the firmament fixed and immovable by God, and the most luminous title of his priests, that is, of all bishops, is established as the apostolic see, and the summit of the Churches. For you are (as the divine Word truly pronounces) Peter, and upon your firmament the columns of the Church, who are understood to be the bishops, are confirmed: and to you I entrusted the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and I promulgated the power to bind and to loose, which is in heaven and on earth. You stand forth as the prince and teacher of the orthodox and immaculate faith, against profane men and my members, and especially my disciples, in whose stead today, by the grace of God, we act as legates for Christ, and all the presidents of this holy see have acted, act, and will act in his stead.

Therefore, I would not command that all the things you have made known are not permitted, were I not aware that you are so fully instructed that you do not doubt that all matters about which you consult are unlawful. II. For it is permitted to discuss bishops and the highest causes of ecclesiastical affairs with the metropolitan, together with all his suffragans, so that none of them is absent, and all agree in the individual matters; but to define them, and the highest complaints of ecclesiastical causes, or to condemn bishops, without the authority of this holy see, is by no means permitted; which all must appeal to, if necessary, and be supported by its aid. For (as you know) it is not Catholic for a synod to be held without its authority; nor can a bishop be definitively condemned except in a legitimate synod, convened at its proper time by apostolic summons; nor are any councils ever considered valid which are not supported by apostolic authority.

III. Moreover, accusers of bishops, and witnesses, concerning whom you have inquired, must be without any infamy, or suspicion, or manifest stain, and fully instructed in the true faith, and such as divine authority commands to be chosen for the priesthood: since priests (as ancient authority hands down) cannot be accused, nor can those testify against them who ought not and cannot be advanced to the same honor. IV. For the summons to a synod (according to the decrees of the Fathers) of the one who is accused must be made canonically, both by his own presence, and by writings and representatives, over a suitable and canonical period of time: because unless he has been canonically summoned in his own time and by canonical order, even if he has come to the assembly, by whatever necessity, unless he has willingly done so, he will in no way answer to his accusers, since even the laws of the world do not permit this to happen, how much less the divine laws.

V. Concerning those who have been expelled and despoiled of their possessions, I can signify nothing more true to you than what the holy Fathers have defined and our predecessors have confirmed by apostolic authority. For these matters stand thus: the sacred canons have decreed that bishops who have been expelled and despoiled of their possessions are first to receive back their own churches, and all their goods are to be lawfully restored to them; and afterwards, if anyone wishes to accuse them, they have ordained that he do so at equal risk, determining that the judges of bishops be bishops who are rightly wise and justly willing, for a time and at length, after they have regained their strength and are enjoying their own possessions with authority; and with friends and wise servants of God as advising men, convening in the church, where there would be witnesses of each one who appears to have been oppressed. And the rest pertaining to this order, which, avoiding prolixity, we have not inserted here, because we believe these things suffice. For if anyone is not content with these, let him read them, and he will be satisfied. For we know that unarmed men cannot rightly fight with armed men; so too those who have been expelled or despoiled of their goods cannot rightly litigate with those who stand in their own rank and enjoy their friends and goods.

Nor do the laws of the age permit these things to be done to laymen: but they order that those who have been expelled or oppressed, or despoiled of all their possessions, be first restored, and afterwards, in their own time, as their law provides, they are commanded to come to the hearings, nor is any appellant allowed to be barred by imprisonment. For earthly laws teach in part (as you know) what is heavenly. VI. As for accusers and accusations which the laws of the age do not admit, they are by no means to be allowed in the cases of these men, because the Catholic Church defends everything that is irreprehensible. And it is not doubted that this was defined by our predecessors because of the plots of wicked men. For it is fitting that the priests of the Lord handle the cases of brothers piously, and attend to them reverently, and order their judgments above sacrifices; nor should they act insolently or with tyrannical domination, as is reported concerning some, but do everything charitably for God and with brotherly love: and what one does not wish done to himself, according to the Lord's word, he should not presume to inflict on another: and in the measure you have been measured, it will be measured back to you. But we must always hold to those things which we have received through the preaching of the Apostles and the instruction of the Fathers; lest we seem to coin something new, or to aim at the harm of brothers: but let us bear one another's burdens, so that, according to the Apostle, we may be able to fulfill the Lord's law.

VII. For a suitable time must be foreseen when the case of each accused person may be most rightly brought forth, so that its gravity and its consistency with the decrees of the Fathers or the confession of synods may not be found to be betrayed. Let all attend in an orderly manner, so that they may respond to it in all things reasonably, and manifestly show that they wish to act justly. Let no one be brought in personally: but accusers and accused shall be heard with equal reason, according to what the order of proceedings requires. Accusers and judges shall not be the same, but separately accusers, separately judges, separately witnesses, separately accused, each in his own orderly order. For an indictment shall always be made first, so that the calumniator may receive retaliation; because before indictment no one ought to be judged or condemned, since the laws of the age also retain these same things. Concerning all these things, true equity shall always be observed, so that they may obtain the reward of accusation, judgment, and testimony through the truth of the proceedings. For it is written: The Lord will abhor lying lips, and a false witness uttering lies, and one sowing scandals and quarrels among brothers, as He Himself warns and says: Do not do calumny to your neighbor, nor oppress him by force. Do not do what is unjust, nor judge unjustly. You shall not consider the person of the poor, nor honor the face of the powerful. Judge your neighbor justly. And do not do to another what you do not wish done to yourself: and the rest.

And especially having the apostolic command to attend to ourselves and to the flock, in which the Holy Spirit placed us as bishops, to rule the Church of God, which He acquired through His own blood, it is fitting. And again: To watch for wolves, to watch for evil workers, who do perverse things and speak contrary things, so that they may always be able to detract from and defame the disciples of the Lord: whom it is necessary for you and all the Lord's priests to correct with the utmost zeal: because there is no worse evil than that citizens envy citizens, and that priests or clerics plot against priests or pontiffs, as the voice of truth also testifies: "He who touches you, touches the pupil of my eye; and he who scandalizes one of these little ones, it is better that a millstone be hung around his neck and he be sunk into the depths of the sea." And likewise: "Blessed is he who has not been scandalized in me." That one without doubt has been scandalized against God, who scandalizes His bishop or priest. And many such things, which are not inserted here, lest the Letter become too lengthy. Also, you ought to instruct the aforementioned neighbors of yours, warning them, to withdraw from such persons, and to quickly correct what they have done unlawfully against the previously mentioned brothers. And those whom they have harmed without consulting us, let them heal with full satisfaction, and quickly reconcile them to themselves, if they do not wish to receive the censure of the apostolic see.

For if perhaps something had arisen against them or concerning them, our examination was to be awaited, so that by our authority (as this privilege has always been granted to this see) they might be condemned or supported with aid. For they ought not to have invaded our rights according to their own will, without the mandate of the apostolic see. From such actions let all priests henceforth abstain, who do not wish to be excluded from the censure and priestly honor of the Apostolic Rock (upon which, as was said, Christ built the universal Church, to which the supreme judgments and greater causes of bishops, as was briefly mentioned above, are reserved and confirmed). VIII. For truces are to be granted to accused bishops in criminal cases of six months, or even longer if necessary, since even laymen are permitted this, as no one ignorant of secular disciplines is unaware; how much more so for priests, who are not doubted to be superior to them. It is also established in the decrees of the holy Fathers that it is not canonical to judge or condemn any priest before he has accusers, canonically examined, present, and receives a place for defense, that is, ecclesiastical truces for purging crimes and offenses.

IX. Let an accusation not be made outside its own province for initial investigation, without apostolic instruction, to which reverence must be preserved in all cases, since both the ancient rule of the Fathers teaches this, and imperial statutes likewise concur. The investigation of crimes, they say, is to be conducted where the crime was committed. For elsewhere the accused of a crime is forbidden to be heard. And elsewhere in the canons it is prescribed: Whatever matters are to be concluded in their own places, where they arose; and other such things and similar to these: yet saving in all things the apostolic authority, so that nothing in these matters is defined before it is known to be pleasing to him, by whom all must be supported. And if anything grave and intolerable should befall them, his judgment is always to be awaited. For let no one, out of insolence or driven by the goad of his own thought, and (as we have often known to happen) presume to disparage or accuse any priest: because injury to them pertains to Christ, in whose stead they serve as legates for the people redeemed by Christ's blood. For their cause, because they are the causes of God, we know must be reserved for the judgment of him who is able to kill the body and send the soul into gehenna. He who says: Vengeance to me, and I will repay. Before him conscience is naked, to whom hidden things are not concealed. All are also to be instructed that through us Christ has thundered to them, that it is not for the sheep to foresee the snares of the wolf, but for the shepherd.

The blessed apostle Paul therefore warns us not to rashly and lightly presume to pass judgment on matters concerning which no one can judge more truly or better than God: "But you," he says, "why do you judge your brother? Or why do you spurn him? For we shall all stand before the tribunal of Christ." For it is written: "I live," says the Lord, "for every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess the Lord." Thus each one of us will render an account for himself to God. Therefore, in this matter, let no one usurp for himself rash audacity, so as to do anything other than what pertains to concord, whereby the unity of the Church is dissolved. Let no one lightly give assent to the detraction, judgment, or condemnation of brothers, and especially of priests, who are closer to God and who with their own mouth confect the body of Christ. For because of this, the wrath of God comes upon sons of discord, who persecute Christ in his members. Do not, brothers, do not become participants of them, nor communicate with the sins of such men, or with their unfruitful words. Rather, rebuke the gatherings of such men, who strive to stretch out their tongues, like a bow, against their brothers. Therefore defend your brothers, and warn all to arm themselves against the persecutors of brothers.

We trust, however, that you will choose better things and those closer to salvation: because neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor Virtues, nor the present, nor the future, nor strength, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, with the teacher of the gentiles instructing, will be able to separate us from the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is most fully perfected in priests and his other members. Do not, therefore, lose your confidence, which has a great reward; for behold, the judge stands before the door, cheerfully promising crowns to those who bring aid to brothers for his sake, and who succor the oppressed and collaborate in love. But if anyone withdraws himself, he will not please God, but falls, because he did not lift up the one falling, but withered away. Let us not, however, be given to withdrawal into oppression, but to assistance for acquisition and for the support of brothers. For this reason, take up the armor of God, so that you may be able to resist all who presume in such a way: and put on the breastplate of justice, your feet shod in preparation for the Gospel of peace; in all things taking up the shield of faith, with which you may extinguish all the fiery darts of the Evil One. And take up the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God, rooted and founded in every prayer and supplication, so that you may all say the same thing, and there be no schisms among you, dividing the good and whole body of the Church into twisted novelties.

The apostle therefore warns us not to judge one another rashly any longer. For one judges rashly if he condemns a bishop without the authority of the apostolic see, since to him (as was briefly mentioned above) this special privilege has been reserved. "But judge this rather," he says, "lest you place an obstacle or scandal before a brother." For it is clearly evident from these and countless other testimonies of the decrees to all that a bishop ought not to be condemned, even if his opinion is examined, until the judgment of our apostolic authority concerning him—that is, of the prince of the apostles, Peter—is known; inasmuch as he alone and before all others was entrusted, and merited to receive from the King of kings, Christ God, the keys of the kingdom of heaven, to open for the faithful and well-disposed men in our same Lord, and to close for the unfaithful and ill-disposed, and for the attackers or wrongdoers against his priests and the holy Church, redeemed by his precious blood. Which indeed he demanded that we also do. Not that anything new is now commanded, but that which through the negligence of some, whether knowingly or carelessly, is transgressed, should henceforth be observed by all: so that those things always, which have been established by apostolic and patristic tradition, may be held under the fear of irrefragable authority.

For it is written in the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians and in the Epistle to Timothy, with the apostle admonishing: "Stand fast and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word or by epistle." Likewise elsewhere through the prophet: "I also waited," as the blessed Isaiah thundered, "that they might do justice; but they wrought iniquity, and not justice, but clamor, disturbing all the pious." And those who act thus should know this, that the judgment of God is according to truth against them, even though they despise the riches of God's goodness, forbearance, and patience, not knowing that God's kindness leads them to repentance, but according to their hardness and impenitent heart, they store up for themselves wrath on the day of wrath and revelation of the just judgment of God, who will render to each according to his works. And elsewhere it is written: "I am the Lord your God: you shall not commit iniquity in judgment. You shall not regard a man's person, nor admire the face of the powerful. You shall withdraw from every unjust word. You shall not oppress nor kill the innocent and the just." Without doubt, he commits iniquity in judgment who claims for himself what he is not permitted to claim. Therefore, let no one who does not wish to be judged unworthy of ecclesiastical honor, as a contemner, presume to usurp, without consulting this holy see, those things which have been granted to it.

Therefore it is necessary to repel the negligent, but in such a way that the guilty are not strengthened, and that the good resist the wicked or the betrayers of brothers, lest, oppressed by the torpor of idleness, they be held liable for silence. Therefore, whoever is able to oppose and disturb the perverse, and does not do so, is nothing other than one who favors their impiety. For one who ceases to oppose a manifest crime is not free from the scruple of secret complicity. But be perfect and whole in the same mind, and confirmed in the same knowledge: so that, directing your ways through it inflexibly toward the same end, you may come to the aid of all the oppressed, because the Lord has entrusted to you, to whom, approaching the living stone, rejected indeed by men on account of the impiety of such ones, but chosen and honored by God, upon which you, as living stones, are built into a spiritual Lord, into a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices to Him in an odor of sweetness. For it is a very pleasing sacrifice to the Lord to come to the aid of all the oppressed: how much more so for those of whom He says: "He who hears you, hears me; and he who scorns you, scorns me," and so forth. Indeed, one who drives away adversity from the afflicted and oppressed offers favorable things to the Lord. But now, brothers, we commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to perfect and give an inheritance among all the sanctified.

But God Himself, the God of peace and consolation, grant that you think the same thing towards one another, and in Him always and in all things, so that with one mind, one voice, and one heart you may honor Him in concord and for the aid of brothers, who is able to confirm all and to console according to His Gospel, and according to the revelation of the mystery, silent in eternal times, but revealed through the Holy Scriptures and the teachings of the orthodox Fathers, according to the precept of the eternal God, for obedience to the faith, in all things known to us, to the only wise God, our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom to the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory, honor, and dominion and power for ever and ever. Amen. May the Lord keep you, most beloved brothers, always safe. Given on the eighth day before the Kalends of November, in the consulship of the most illustrious men, Flavianus and Stilicho. EPISTLE III. Concerning Chorepiscopi, and whether they are the same, or if they are something, or nothing.

To the venerable lord brothers Prosper, bishop of the first see of Numidia, Leo, Reparatus, Alexander, Benedictus, Rufus, and all the others, orthodox bishops everywhere abiding in the right, holy, and apostolic faith, Damasus the bishop. Although, dearest brothers, the decrees of the fathers are known to you, we cannot but admire your diligence concerning the institutions of the ancestors, that you do not cease to refer to us, as to the head, as has always been the custom, all things which can admit any doubt, so that you may receive responses from the same source from which you received instruction and the norm of right living. Hence we recall that you are not unmindful of the canons, which also command this very thing. Not that any of the rules of ecclesiastical knowledge is lacking to you, but that, supported by the authority of the apostolic see, you may deviate in nothing from its rules. Therefore, concerning the chorepiscopi, about whom you wished to consult us—what their ministry is, or what it is permitted for them to do, or what authority they have, or whether it is lawful for them to be created or not, because we have heard that they have already been prohibited, or what ought to be done about those who are found already ordained—nothing seems to us more certain to respond than what we find was decreed long ago by our predecessors: that for them nothing else whatsoever is reserved for pardon except the deprivation of the sacred ministry, which they unlawfully assumed, because they had been prohibited both by this holy see and by the bishops of the whole world.

Therefore, their institution is utterly improper, utterly depraved: because for them to presume anything concerning the highest ministry of the priesthood lacks all authority, is found to be contrary to the sacred canons, and tends toward a proud and superfluous arrogance that disturbs the whole Church; and whatever they have done in the aforementioned highest ministry of the priesthood is empty and void. That these same individuals are 11, who are also sufficiently found to be presbyters: because they are found to have been instituted earlier according to the form and example of the seventy. But because (thanks be to God) they are no longer necessary, as in the primitive Church, on account of the zeal that they demanded for the poor; and because they presumed unlawful things; and what they did was not done; and therefore many, having fallen into complacency, were cheated and defrauded of ecclesiastical ministry; and so they have been removed from pontifical offices both by this Holy See, as we have mentioned above, and by all the bishops of the whole world. For (as has been reported to us) some bishops, for the sake of their own peace, did not fear to entrust their congregations to them: and so that they may do unlawful and forbidden things, these same individuals usurp for themselves those things that are owed only to pontiffs; and they themselves slumber in their own peace, and neglect the care committed to them by God, since the Lord says: The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep, and calls them by name, and knows his own, and his own know him.

And the same: As the Father knows me, so I acknowledge the Father, and I lay down my life for my sheep. But what he says about the hireling, you know well: because he sees the wolf coming, and abandons the sheep, and flees, and the wolf seizes and scatters the sheep, and so forth. For such men, the care of the Church is neglected, and its state is disturbed. And therefore they are prohibited; to such an extent that if any of these are found, they fall from their own rank. For those bishops who presume such things for themselves seem to me to be like prostitutes, who as soon as they give birth, hand over their infants to other nurses to be raised, so that they may more quickly satisfy their own lust. Thus also these men hand over their infants, that is, the peoples entrusted to them, to be raised by others, so that they may satisfy their lusts, that is, so that they may eagerly pursue secular cares according to their own whim, and act more freely as each sees fit. For such men, souls are neglected, sheep perish, diseases grow, heresies and schisms arise, Churches are destroyed, priests are corrupted, and other evils ensue. Not in this way did the Lord teach, nor did the Apostles establish; but those who undertake the care should themselves carry it out, and themselves present their own sheaves to the Lord. For he himself diligently sought the lost sheep, he himself found it, he himself carried it back on his own shoulders, and he taught us to do the same.

If he himself had such great care for the sheep—he himself taught, he himself tended, he himself healed, he himself carried them on his own shoulders, and he loved them so much that he even gave his own life (enduring many injuries, many insults, and many sufferings) for us—what are we, wretched and slothful, to say, who neglect to devote care even to the sheep entrusted to us, and hand them over to others to be raised? These things must be corrected, brothers, of necessity: because he who labors more will receive a greater reward. For we know that there are no more than two orders among the Lord’s disciples, that is, the twelve Apostles and the seventy Disciples: whence this third order has arisen, we are utterly ignorant. And what lacks reason must be rooted out. For that those who have been ordained by fewer than three bishops are not bishops is clear to all: since (as you well know) it has been forbidden by the holy Fathers that those who have been ordained by one or two bishops should not even be called bishops. If they do not have the name, how will they have the office?

For whatever they do among bishops, or concerning matters that pertain only to them, must necessarily (as has already been intimated above) be rendered void: because what they do not have, they can by no means give; especially since none of the seventy Disciples, whose semblance these men bore in the Church before they were prohibited (as has been mentioned above), is recorded to have assumed anything of what was specially owed to the Apostles and their successors. Nor in the law of the Lord, which is recorded to have been dictated by the Lord Himself to Moses, did the sons of Aaron presume anything concerning those things that were specially granted to the high priests, that is, to Moses and Aaron. For there is no doubt that Moses and Aaron alone, at the Lord's command, erected the altar in the Tabernacle of God, alone anointed, alone instituted priests by sacred unction, and performed other things that pertained to the high priesthood, concerning which enough is read in the divine Scriptures: because they were the high priests of the Lord, as it is written of them: "Moses and Aaron among his priests." And so now, because the shadow of the law has passed, and the light of the Gospel shines clearly upon us by the grace of God, concerning those things that belong to the high priests, that is, the bishops, whose figure Moses and Aaron held, those who bear the form of the seventy Disciples—in whose type, evidently, the sons of Aaron were—ought to presume nothing, just as they touched nothing of the ministry of the high priesthood.

For what the chorepiscopi, before they were prohibited by the aforementioned tenor, were established according to the form of the Seventy, the canon sufficiently makes manifest, where it says: "The chorepiscopi also, according to the example and form of the Seventy, seem to be 3·" and the rest. Nor does it seem to us that that should be passed over, which elsewhere is expressed in the canons: "Those who in villages and possessions are named chorepiscopi, although they have received the imposition of hands of bishops, and have been consecrated as bishops," and the rest. Nor do I consider it said without reason, "although they have received the imposition of hands of bishops"; since the name "bishops" contains a plural number in itself, and among grammarians it is a plural genitive: for it seems to me that then they were ordained not by one, but by several; because it would by no means say "of bishops" if the ordination of such were done by one, since "of bishops" is said plurally, but when it said "chorepiscopus," it certainly intended a village bishop to be understood, and if a village bishop, what is he doing in a city, when in one city two bishops are altogether forbidden to be? And if in a village and in that place where previously there were no bishops, since it is forbidden for a bishop to be made even in a small city, or in a village, or a castle, and in all places whatsoever where previously there were no bishops, lest the authority and name of bishop be debased, they have been constituted, what, I ask, will they be?

Behold, neither does the place agree with the ordination, nor the ordination with the place: since if they received the imposition of hands of bishops and were consecrated as bishops, where were they consecrated? In a village, for "village" is the term among the Greeks. And how can it be in a village, if it is not permitted even in a fort or a small city? I ask that you set forth the reason; and if you cannot set it forth, who (I know) can by reason or full authority least of all, place your finger on your mouth, and do not doubt that they lack all authority, namely because three things stand in the way, by which their action or institution is invalidated. One, that they are accustomed to be ordained by a single bishop, in which their ordination disagrees with the canons, which order that they be instituted by the hands of bishops. Another, if they were ordained by several bishops, and either in a village, or in a fort, or in a small city, or not at all in that place prescribed where bishops ought rightly to be made, or they were not formerly there, where the authority and name of bishop might be debased, or if in a city with another bishop: since (as was said before) two bishops ought not to exist in one city. Third, if they were instituted absolutely, as we have heard concerning some, all of which things entirely lack episcopal authority: and that still remains, that their order has no authority in divine letters: because (as was set forth above) there are only two first orders in the Church, that is, of the Apostles and of the Seventy Disciples.

Certainly, if they are not bishops, because for the aforementioned reasons they cannot be bishops, and they do not wish to be called presbyters, since they aspire to be something more; and since more than seventy disciples would have done (in whose pattern, as we mentioned a little above, these men, before they were prohibited, were being instituted by certain foolish men seeking their own interests and not those of Christ Jesus), they attempt to presume, and they presume to do unlawful and forbidden things; and they do not wish to be called what they are; I ask that you openly declare what they are: for either they are something, or they are nothing. For it is manifestly clear that they are not bishops. And if they are not bishops, and they disdain to be presbyters, what will they be? Either they will be something, or nothing: because nothing can exist unless it has a source from which it exists. And if it has no source from which it exists, or from which it derives its origin, it has no authority, nor can it stand rightly, because it is empty, and it must necessarily be destroyed and fall, since it is nothing, and will be accounted as nothing.

If, however, they are none of those things which we have mentioned above, then it is necessary that they be nothing of what is owed to priests. And therefore they are not to be considered in the priestly catalogue, except only (as we first noted) that out of mercy, for those who have been willing to bear this humbly and have not sought more, and have confirmed the same by a document corroborated by their own hand, this alone is granted: that they have a place among the priests, that they be content with the ministry of presbyters, and that they be only partakers of the Lord’s table. But those who have wished to aspire further shall not retain even this, that they be priests, but shall be utterly deprived of every ecclesiastical honor.

But that they are not permitted to consecrate priests, nor deacons or subdeacons, nor virgins, nor to erect an altar, nor to anoint or consecrate, nor to dedicate churches, nor to make chrism, nor to sign the foreheads of the baptized with chrism, nor publicly in the Mass to reconcile anyone as a penitent, nor to send formal letters, nor to bless the people, nor to enter the baptistery or the sacristy before the bishop, nor, in the presence of the bishop, to immerse or sign an infant, nor to reconcile a penitent without the command of their own bishop; nor, with him present, unless he orders it, to confect the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ, nor, with him placed before them, to teach or greet the people, nor to exhort the congregation—all of which are owed to pontiffs alone, as you have been taught both from the foregoing and from other constitutions of the Fathers or sacred canons. And if it is necessary for some who are less knowledgeable, they can be more fully taught and instructed, so that by this both the distinction of grades and the summit of dignity of the highest pontiffs may be demonstrated. Similarly, the same is to be held concerning presbyters, that they do nothing without the command of their own bishop: because what is rare is also seen to be more beautiful. And if the name of pontiffs becomes cheapened, the entire status of the Church is disturbed.

There is therefore a threefold guilt in this matter: because they do what is forbidden, because the sacred ministry is polluted by the baseness of the association, and because the rights of bishops (insofar as pertains to the temerity of unlawful usurpation) are dissolved. That it is the proper office of the Apostles alone and their successors to confer the Holy Spirit, the book of the Acts of the Apostles teaches; especially since none of the seventy Disciples, whose likeness these men bear in the Church, is recorded to have conferred the gift of the Holy Spirit through the imposition of hands (as has been said). Therefore, because these things are wholly devoid of reason, let no priest henceforth usurp or consent to them, unless he wishes to be separated from our priestly college. And let what is extinguished by us, and has already been extinguished by our predecessors and the rest, as has been said, of the bishops of the whole world, not be sown among any with dark roots; but let those things which are known to have sprouted forth badly be plucked out by the roots, lest any tares corrupt the Lord's harvest. For the Lord's priests will produce abundant fruit only if those things which are accustomed to kill the growing crop are cut away by the roots. Therefore let the presumption, so often forbidden and condemned, cease, let it cease; and let not the high priests imitate harlots, who give their infants to others to nurse for the sake of the aforementioned pleasure; but let them themselves nurse, let them themselves render the fruit with interest to their Lord, and let them present fruitful sheaves to him with glory.

For if the Lord touched and cleansed lepers, among the other cares for His sheep, why do we disdain to do the same? Or why do we ourselves, who have undertaken the pastoral office, hand over to others those who are to be nourished? Especially since the Lord said to our teacher Peter: "If you love me, feed my sheep," and many other things like these. For the blessing which the aforementioned chorepiscopi gave before their prohibition, through the imposition of hands, seems to us to inflict a wound rather than salvation. And those who did not hold the summit of the pontificate, how could they give what they did not have? Since there was nothing in the giver that the recipient could receive. Or what man, even if we speak in human terms, can give what he does not have? Especially since they were not pontiffs, they could not give those things which are owed only to pontiffs. And therefore they wounded the heads which they touched through the imposition of hands, since they gave through some blessing what had not been conferred upon them. And so, whatever they presumed from the aforementioned pontifical ministries was void, and profited those touched not at all; but rather, according to the prophet, they conferred a curse instead of a blessing (if it is proper to say so). Wherefore, through that illicit imposition of hands, as we touched upon a little above, those who seemed to have received something had a wounded head.

And where a wound has been inflicted, it is necessary to apply medicine, by which the implanted stain may be healed: that is, it is necessary to repeat what has been legitimately done or conferred but is not fully approved, if it is to be perfect. For I cannot find how one can retain an honor who has received it from one who did not legitimately have the power to give it, since he who did not have the pontifical honor cannot confer pontifical rights; nor could they claim for themselves that of which they were not capable because of what stood in their way. Therefore, claiming for ourselves especially the care of this examination, we impose mercy in such a way that if perhaps any of these things have been committed, they may be corrected, lest such things be allowed to be committed further, and lest any excuse of ignorance arise: because just as the state of the churches, attributed or adorned with a salutary arrangement, brings us joy, so it saddens us with no light grief whenever we learn that something has been presumed or committed against the statutes of the canons or ecclesiastical discipline. If we do not cut these things back with the vigilance we ought, we cannot excuse ourselves to Him who wished us to be watchmen, if we do not keep His Church, which has been generally entrusted to us, as far as we are able, pure from such illicit superstitions: because we are not otherwise one flock and one shepherd unless, as the Apostle teaches, we all say the same thing: and let us be perfect in the same understanding and in the same wisdom.

Otherwise we shall not be true disciples of the Lord unless we hasten, each according to his ability, to tear out by the roots the bitterness that is sprouting upward (as, you assert, it now does), lest it be able to do harm or make the episcopal ministry contemptible through the negligence of those—that is, of all priests who have been set over this by Him to pluck out evils and plant better things—and unless he who will render an account to the eternal judge for his sheep strives to cherish and educate them. If we desire to be disciples of the Lord, let us imitate His footsteps, so that it may be said of us: “I am the Good Shepherd, and I know my sheep, and I call them by name, and my sheep know me”; and so forth. And again, at the command of the Lord’s voice, by which the most blessed apostle Peter is instructed with a threefold repetition of mystical sanctification, let him who loves Christ feed Christ’s sheep diligently and with great care; for we are constrained by the love and reverence of that holy see over which, by the abundance of divine grace, we preside, so that we may, as much as we can, avoid the danger of such a superstition, which (as has often been said) is supported by no authority; lest the love of our blessed master Peter and the chief apostle, by which he testified that he was a lover of God, be found vain in us; for anyone who negligently feeds the Lord’s flock so often commended to him is proved not to love the supreme Shepherd, nor to wish to become His disciple, whose examples he neglects to imitate.

For grace is acquired all the more if the shepherd's care offers profit to the Lord from the sheep entrusted to him. For we recall that blessed Jacob, who had served long for his wives, said: "I was with you for twenty years: your sheep and goats were not barren; I did not eat the rams of your flock, nor did I show you any taken by a beast. I made good every loss; and whatever was lost by theft, you exacted from me; day and night I was burned by heat and frozen by cold; sleep fled from my eyes." If, therefore, he who tends Laban's sheep labors and watches thus, with how much labor and how many vigils must he who tends the sheep of God apply himself? But in all these things, let him who gave his life for his sheep instruct us; and may he help us, so that from those who have been entrusted to us, he may grant us to bring back multiplied fruit and overflowing measure to eternal joys. And may such great love of blessed Peter, the prince of the Apostles, inflame you, that in his sheepfold, to which all creatures are entrusted, you may hasten with your holy zeal to restore with the utmost desire all those who are erring and presuming unlawful and forbidden things: so that souls redeemed by the precious blood of Christ may not perish through their deception.

It remains also that they have by no means entered through the door, because they had no door through which to enter: because (as has been said) if they are neither bishops, and they aspire to be more than presbyters, through what door will they enter, since only two orders are read of in the Church, nor is any door open for the pastoral office through which a pastor may enter? Hear, brothers, not me, but Truth herself speaking: "He who does not enter through the door into the sheepfold, but climbs in from elsewhere, is a thief and a robber," and so forth. Since also the distinguished preacher says: "No one can lay another foundation besides the one that has been laid": since the aforesaid two foundations are found laid in the Church alone, whatever additional is found laid upon these will by no means be able to stand. And therefore, with all its foundations, and actions, and roots, it is necessary that it be torn out, so that it may no longer be able to sprout or germinate. Therefore, let it not generate, and let not the so-often repeated discourse, brothers, create weariness for you: because there is the utmost necessity that what is so often, as we have learned from you, illicitly usurped, be more frequently prohibited: and because truth, the more it is agitated, shines forth more into the light: and what is admonished by so much repetition, is less usurped. For concerning these things, many things have already been said by our predecessors: by whom they themselves, just as now by us, so once were condemned and prohibited by them.

Therefore, repeating it more frequently, we warn all to avoid such persons and to abstain from those who, unwilling to be separated from the priestly ministry together with them as rebels, are to be made alien. We will be able to prove this only if you strive to root out such men and not to favor them; and thus afterward the complaint about such a matter will cease, because whatever is so often usurped despite being forbidden is done out of a zeal for insult. We command that all these decretals and the constitutions of all our predecessors, which have been promulgated concerning ecclesiastical orders and the disciplines of the canons, be observed by you and all bishops and generally by all priests, so that if anyone commits an offense against them, he shall know that pardon is thereafter denied to him: because truth would come forth if falsehood displeased. And rightly does the cause concern us, who must hold the helm of the highest Church, if we favor error by silence. Given on the Kalends of June, under the consulship of the most illustrious men, Libius and Theodosius.

EPISTLE IV. He orders that no one be judged by them in the future through writings, but through a legitimate accuser; and that all cases to be judged be referred to the apostolic see. To all bishops established throughout the provinces of Italy, Bishop Damasus, greeting in the Lord. I had wished, most beloved, for the sake of the charity of our college, that all the priests of the Lord (as it was in the primitive Church) be one heart and one soul, and persist in one devotion, and that no priest be corrupted by the grace or fear of seculars, or depart in any way from the path of truth. But because many things which can be corrected arise, and the mercy of God surpasses the fault of the delinquents, and therefore punishment is suspended so that correction may have a place. For it has been reported to the apostolic see that you receive written accusations against brothers without a legitimate accuser. This we henceforth forbid by apostolic authority throughout the whole world, and we ask that what has recently been done be corrected without any delay: nor may it ever be permitted to discuss the case of those who are accused through writings before they canonically come to the synod through the vocal institutions of the complainants, and the one present truly recognizes and understands through the one present what is objected to him. This is well said through the wisdom of Solomon: Before you examine, do not reprove: understand first, and then rebuke. Before you hear, do not answer.

And although the reproach of those who act contrary is very clear, nevertheless it is fitting that those who have been assigned to examine them observe the order prescribed by those who are appointed to investigate according to God, so that with cooperating action we may find and confess God, who says: "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in their midst." For our Lord Jesus Christ knew that Judas was a thief, but because he was not accused in person, he was not expelled. Nor should you act in any way that he refused to do. For the secular laws require accusers to be present, and not absent through writings. Hence the canonical constitutions of the fathers cry out not once but very often that neither accusations nor testimonies can be brought by anyone through writings, nor can anyone give testimony about other matters except those known to have been done in their presence. Likewise, whoever chooses to accuse another must do so in person, by himself and not through another, with the inscription of the charge having been made beforehand. Nor should anyone ever be judged before he has legitimate accusers present and receives a place to defend himself in order to clear the charges. For care must be taken lest anger seize anyone and cause him to do more quickly everything that is not permitted.

May Almighty God protect you, who observe these and all divine commands and apostolic precepts, with the extension of His heavenly arm in all your actions, and lead you to the reward of the heavenly homeland with manifold fruit of souls. Amen. Given on the third day before the Ides of April, in the consulship of the most illustrious men Siricius and Ardabur, 15. EPISTLE V. TO JEROME THE PRESBYTER. Bishop Damasus to his brother and fellow presbyter Jerome, greeting in the Lord. When many bodies of books had been brought before me for my judgment, it happened that I quickly recognized that the Book of Psalms was being detained in my mind, and I sought to imbue the memory of my capacity. I reflected, most beloved brother and always a priest in Christ, that according to the Seventy interpreters and the presbyters, that is, Matthias and Ptolemy, Muchius, Sacreus, Hydronius, Pamphilus, Zoastites, Didymus, Sanius, Epiphanius, Ciatres, Simon, and others, as far as our recollection extends, I might find traces of the Seventy. I also ask your charity, that, as you learned from your rector, our bishop Alexander, your fraternity might be pleased to send us the psalmody of the Greeks: for such is the investigation of simplicity among us that only one epistle of the Apostle is recited on the Lord's Day, and one chapter of the Gospel is said; and neither is the custom of psalmody maintained, nor is the beauty of hymns known in our mouth.

I ask therefore, through our brother and fellow presbyter Bonifacius, that Your Fraternity may be pleased to open for us the traces of this matter. Sent on the fifth day before the Kalends of November, through Bonifacius, presbyter of Jerusalem. EPISTLE VI. Damasus, bishop of the city of Rome, to Hieronymus the Presbyter. The Church rejoices, already sated by your spring, and yet the curiosity of priestly times thirsts more, so that what is worthy may be known, what is unworthy may be rejected. Indeed, the acts of the pontiffs which we have been able to discover through the study of our see, we have gladly sent to your Charity. Pray for us at the holy Resurrection, brother and fellow presbyter. Farewell in Christ, God and our Lord. Given on the tenth day before the Kalends of June, and received on the sixth day before the Kalends of October, sent from Rome to Jerusalem. In the name of the Lord begins the series of Roman pontiffs who have sat in the see of the blessed apostle Peter from him up to this time. Blessed Peter, prince of the Apostles, by nation a Galilean, from the village of Bethsaida, son of Jobius, brother of Andrew, etc.