Epistolae Et Decreta

LETTERS AND DECREES. LETTER OF SAINT ATHANASIUS AND THE BISHOPS OF EGYPT TO POPE FELIX II. Concerning the Harassments of the Arians. To the most blessed and honorable lord, holy father Felix, pope of the holy apostolic see of the city of Rome, Athanasius and all the bishops of the Egyptians, Thebans, and Libyans, gathered in the holy synod of Alexandria by the grace of God. We suggest to your holy apostolate (Maurus, bishop of Cesena, to Saint Martin; session of the Lateran Council, year 649) that you deign, as is your custom, to exercise care for us, according to your most prudent wisdom, which is clearer than light to all: because your beatitude, moved in your apostolic heart (Deusdedit, bishop of Cagliari, to Saint Martin) over our tribulation, has exhorted us all to come together for the defense of the catholic and apostolic Church and to treat canonically and unanimously concerning our oppression, since it is evident that you, together with the blessed apostle Paul, say with the same compassion: “Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I am not burned (2 Cor. 11:29)?” striving that none of the rational sheep entrusted to you be seized by beasts.

Therefore, most blessed father, because our predecessors and we have always drawn help from your apostolic holy see, and we have recognized that you have care for us, we seek the aforementioned apostolic and supreme see according to the decrees of the canons, so that we may take aid from the source from which our predecessors received ordinations, dogmas, and relief. We also have recourse to it as to a mother, so that we may be nourished at her breasts, for a mother cannot forget her infant. Thus, do not forget us entrusted to you, since our enemies have entangled us in no light afflictions, and daily they strive to do so, and threaten to seize us or bind us with irons (Stephen of Dora to the same pope, with the consent of the same synod), unless we consent to their errors—which we by no means presume to do without consulting you. For the canons command that, without the Roman pontiff, we ought to decide nothing concerning major causes. Therefore, returning to our purpose and hastening toward the prize, we implore the help of your apostolic see. For, as we believe, God has not despised the prayers offered to him with tears by his servants, but for this reason he has placed you and your predecessors, that is, the apostolic prelates, in the ark of the summit, and has commanded them to have care of all churches, so that you may assist us, and, protecting us, to whom the judgment of all bishops is entrusted, you may not neglect to free us from our enemies.

For we know that in the great Nicene Synod of three hundred and eighteen bishops, it was unanimously confirmed that councils ought not to be celebrated without the judgment of the Roman Pontiff (Socr., bk. II, ch. 17; Soz., bk. III, ch. 9), nor bishops condemned, although these and many other necessary things have been burned by heretics, who daily infest us and strive to destroy us, so that they might more easily ensnare us—the synodal chapters having been set on fire and taken from us. For this reason, having seized this opportunity indiscriminately, setting aside all canonical and apostolic authority, they unlawfully expel us six from our own sees, without consulting you; they invade the sheep entrusted to us by Christ the Lord through apostolic grace, deprive us of our ranks, and—what is worst and hostile to all Christian laws—they strive to kill us. Therefore do you (as has always been the custom of your holy see) come to the aid of those in peril, strengthen the oppressed, extend a hand to the afflicted, forbid such things, and impose laws, so that apostolic doctrine, which is in God, may quickly bring our judgment to a victorious conclusion, and free us (with the intercession of the prince of the apostles, Peter) from the imminent dangers. For we know that in the aforementioned Nicene Synod (and it is found in the decretal letter of Julius against the Orientals on behalf of Athanasius, ch.

7) It was generally decreed that no one should rashly and indiscriminately tear apart, accuse, or defame bishops, or those who are not of right faith, good life, or clear conversation, or presume to slander them: but first, if anyone has a case against bishops or authorities of the Church, he should approach them with charity and gentleness, so that the wound in question may be properly healed by them: or if he acts otherwise, the accuser himself should be excommunicated. But if he is unable to obtain anything rightly from them, then he should first approach the highest primates, and they, at a suitable time, ought to convoke them canonically (Ibid., ch. 17). If they have been despoiled of their goods, or driven from their own sees, or are in exile, or oppressed, or unjustly treated, they should first be freed and canonically restored (Ibid., ch. 8), and all things taken from them should be returned to them most fully by the laws (Hadr. coll. 35): since before these things are done (as was established in the aforesaid council), they can neither be canonically convoked nor judged by anyone, because even the laws of the world do not permit these things to be done, how much less the ecclesiastical! Similarly, it was defined concordantly by the aforesaid fathers that if any bishop, or metropolitan, or comprovincial, or judge is held suspect, he should appeal to your holy Roman see, to which by the Lord Himself the power of binding and loosing (Matt. XVI) was granted by special privilege over others. For it (Sergius, to Cyprian of

To Theodorus, consul of the Lateran Council: it received a firmament fixed and immovable from God, because the Lord Jesus Christ established your apostolic see as the most luminous form of all titles. For it is the sacred vertex, on which all Churches turn, are sustained, and are raised up. (??) And just as Christians are in Christ, and in the rock, that is Christ, Peter, so the Churches of Peter are renewed. For you are (as divine eloquence truly testifies) Peter, and upon your foundation the columns of the Church, that is, the bishops, who ought to sustain the Church and carry it on their own shoulders, are confirmed to you, and to you he entrusted the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and he promulgated that you may bind and loose authoritatively what is on earth and in the heavens (Matthew 16). You exist as the depositor of profane heresies, and of attackers, and of all who infest, as prince and doctor, and head of all orthodox doctrine and immaculate faith. Therefore, father, do not despise the piety and good intention of your fathers. And just as they, our fathers and predecessors, freed many from oppressions and distresses, so deign to free us.

For it has always been permitted to your holy and apostolic see, by its own authoritative power, to restore those unjustly condemned or excommunicated, and to return to them all their rights, and to punish those who condemned or excommunicated them by apostolic privilege, as we have known to have been done also in our own and in earlier times. Moreover, even the primates themselves, who ought to undertake the causes of bishops and of the highest ecclesiastical affairs, are enumerated in the fixed Nicene synod, so that no contention might arise from this in the future. O most holy father of fathers (the same Sergius, bishop, soon to be cited), cut off the blasphemies and the boastfulness of vain talkers, and the attacks of those who lie in wait, oppressing our brothers and us, and wishing to destroy us, who flee to you as to a head, so that, supported by your aid, we may be freed, and that the sheep of Christ entrusted to you and to us may be snatched from the wolves’ mouths, with the Lord’s help, before they are devoured. For it is not lawful (S.

Pope Martin (in the same place) that supplications offered to the apostolic see, whether by written document or without writing, be spurned, but (as is fitting, as is the privilege of your see) both we and they be convoked canonically, and before you we contend canonically with all integrity concerning our objections, just as our predecessors did before your predecessors, and as the canonical institutes in the aforementioned holy synod teach, and as the palliated word through the winnowing fan of canonical examination; we obtain full purgation, standing together in a common audience, of the mature and nourishing dogmas of the Catholic Church, which confirm the heart of man, through participation in the paternal institutions. For it has been established by ancient rules (the African Fathers in their letter to Pope Theodorus, confirmed by the Lateran Council, celebrated in the year) that whatever might be transacted, even in remote or far-off provinces, concerning the complaints or accusations of bishops, it was not to be treated or accepted until it had been brought to the notice of your nourishing see, so that by its authority the pronouncement, according to what had been done, might be invalidated or confirmed; and from there they would take the norm whence the Churches took the beginning of their preaching, nor would the columns of the Church be overthrown indiscriminately by plotters.

For it is certain that the same holy see of yours, in honor of the most blessed Peter, the decrees of the fathers have decreed a special reverence of God, for matters to be investigated and determined, which it befits to be diligently and justly examined by the apostolic summit of bishops itself, whose concern always was and is both to condemn evils and to approve what is praiseworthy. Therefore, rendering the humblest obedience to your apostolic height, as the Lord himself commanded and the decrees of the holy fathers established, we suggest with tears what we cannot pass over in silence without grief of heart. For we are so persecuted by the persecutors of the holy Church of God and by our enemies that we are more weary of living than of dying. Hence, before all else, we confess that our heart is so wounded (Victor of Carthage, in his letter to Pope Theodore) that we long for that prophetic lament, saying: Who will give water to our head, or a fountain of tears to our eyes, so that, sitting, we may weep day and night (Jeremiah 9)? For behold, the Church of God is not lightly disturbed, and its pillars are too greatly harassed, and they strive to be removed by wicked men. Indeed, the voices of Christians and the groans of bishops resound far and wide; novelties arise, calumnies grow, persecution rages, destruction of peoples occurs. For it is yours to reach out a hand to us, because we have been entrusted to you.

It is yours to defend and liberate us; and it is ours to seek help from you and to obey your commands. On account of excessive grief and lamentation, we are unable to recall and signify to you all the things that press upon us and assail us. Therefore we beseech your gracious apostolate that you restore the law which was promulgated in the aforementioned Nicene Synod, although it has been suffocated by the depravity of the aforementioned plotters and other evil men (so that they may more easily ensnare bishops and ministers of God); and that you inform us and all the brethren, by the authority of your holy see, of those things which you recognize to be necessary, so that, supported by your authority, we may be able, with the Lord’s help, to escape unharmed the snares of evil men: for it is not for sheep to foresee the snares of wolves (Conc. III Rom. sub Symmacho), but for shepherds. For we know (as the prelates of your see have always done, first the apostles, then their successors) that you must bear care for the universal Church, and especially for the bishops, who are called the eyes of the Lord on account of contemplation and speculation, and must constantly meditate on our revelation and law, as it is written: Blessed is the man who meditates on the law of the Lord day and night (Psal. I): which meditation (Victor Carthag. epist.

...not by reading through the mere sight of letters, but by the abundant grace of Christ in you, it is known to be immovably implanted in your conscience, and the sacrosanct law of Christ, our Lord God, in no way receding from your heart, as the prophet says in the psalm: The mouth of the just will meditate wisdom, and his tongue will speak judgment; the law of his God is in his heart (Ps. 36): not written with ink, but by the spirit of the living God in your secret places; nor on stone tablets, but on the fleshly tablets of the heart (2 Cor. 3), as the most blessed apostle Paul's letter sent to the Corinthians teaches us. With these things set forth, we signify to your God-pleasing paternity that on the 2nd day of the Kalends of August, of the fourth indiction, our humility, by divine grace, with its gift (as it commanded) preceding, through your holy and God-worthy prayers, received the consecration and stole of pontifical honor in the holy Roman Church: in which pinnacle of dignity, that we may be governed by the most high almighty God, and be freed from all evils, that we may not have only the priestly name, but also, with the protecting help of Christ our Lord God, the merit, commending ourselves to your holy and God-acceptable prayers, we ask that, fortified by your supplications poured forth to God for us, and instructed by good teachings, we may be rendered worthy, with all the Christian people entrusted to us, to be protected unharmed by divine shelter.

Therefore, for the salutation of your holy and honorable paternity in our stead, we have sent Benedict, your humble brother, our bishop, and Alexander, a presbyter, and also Crispinus, a deacon, your servants, whom we request to be returned to us more quickly by your beatitude, so that, strengthened by your exhortations and informed by your rules, with the enemies suppressed, we may be able, prudently consoled, to return to our own churches before winter, with God’s favor. For it is yours, most holy father, by canonical strictness, to diligently oppose those who resist ecclesiastical rule and the betrayers of brothers, and not to permit what the authority of the venerable fathers never decreed to be newly asserted. For we, humble in heart, wise in what is right with the Lord’s help, are bound together with you by one bond of charity, stoutly defending the true faith and catholic religion in all things. Therefore, it must be striven more zealously by catholics to resist the wicked, lest, oppressed by sluggish idleness, we be held liable for the guilt of silence and be judged as if we were granting favor, while we neglect to repel what is adverse to the catholic faith. Whence it is said: For to neglect, when you can overthrow the perverse, is nothing other than to foster them. Nor is one free from the scruple of secret association, who ceases to oppose manifest wrongdoing.

It is clear, most holy teacher, that the venomous cunning of serpents, without any simplicity, is manifest in the deceitful treachery of our enemies. Come to our aid, we beseech you, free us from the hand of our persecutors, so that with blessed Job you may sing: "The blessing of the dying came upon me, and I consoled the heart of the widow. I was clothed with justice, and I arrayed myself, as with a garment and a diadem, in my own judgment. I was an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame. I was a father to the poor, and a case which I did not know I investigated most diligently. I crushed the jaws of the wicked, and from their teeth I snatched the prey" (Job XXVII), and so forth. For we, whom your greatest care awaits (Innocent, epistle to Alexander of Antioch), that is, all bishops, ought especially to merit your judgment, and not to be devoured by others. Rightly, therefore, does the Lord's cause regard us priests, if we favor error by our silence (Celestine, epistle to the Gauls). Indeed, if such men are rebuked, and it is not free for them to pass judgment according to their will, let novelty cease to assail antiquity, let disturbance cease to trouble the peace of the Churches. For so that no metropolitan or other bishop may be able to exercise his hatreds or vengeances against other bishops, the primates who ought to hear and judge the other bishops were expressly named in the Nicene Synod, so that no fraud may be able to intrude into the judgment of bishops.

Therefore, you who are placed on the highest watchtower by the grace of God, it is necessary to attend to and suppress those who stir up seditions and scandals among the brethren (Stephen of Dora to the Lateran Synod of 619). And so we beseech you, that you not at all despise the afflictions of our humility and of all the orthodox priests and peoples of the East, and the supplications offered with tears, but that, as luminaries to the whole world, holding fast to the word of life, you extinguish the darkness of the most nefarious plotters, which has insolently sprouted even in our times, so that, with such darkness utterly extinguished, the morning star may shine for us through you, most holy father, and the dogmatic definition, everywhere gladdening all, which the glorious fathers of the holy Church are known to have proclaimed through their own most pious teachings as a firm inheritance of eternal life. May the Lord keep you safe and well-pleasing to God (Sergius of Cyprus, epistle to Pope Theodore, cited above), most holy father of fathers, praying for us, forever. Amen.

LETTER I OF POPE FELIX II. A RESCRIPT TO THE BISHOPS GATHERED IN THE SYNOD OF ALEXANDRIA. I. That no one should accuse a bishop before secular judges. — II. If anyone has a case against a bishop. — III. On the same matter. — IV. On bishops despoiled of their property or driven from their see. — V. That infamous and sacrilegious persons are not to be admitted to testimony. — VI. If a bishop summoned to a council is unable to go. — VII. On cases which are not contained in the laws, or are known to be prohibited. — VIII. On accusations of bishops and the restitution of their stolen property. — IX. Who is not permitted to accuse or to testify. — X. On the same matter. — XI. On the persons of the accused. — XII. On primates and metropolitans. — XIII. On accusations of bishops and the unfitness of accusers. — XIV. Who ought not to be admitted to an accusation. — XV. On the same matter. — XVI. That in ecclesiastical matters it is permitted, after the case has been stated and concluded, to withdraw, which is not allowed in secular matters. — XVII. On accusations of bishops. — XVIII. On not concluding the cases of bishops without the authority of the Roman pontiff. — XIX. If a bishop feels himself oppressed by his suffragans or by the metropolitan. — XX. On the judgments of bishops, and on the time granted for preparing and appearing. — XXI. On what sort of judges and accusers there ought to be.

To the most reverend and most beloved brothers, Athanasius and all the bishops of Egypt, the Thebaid, and Libya, gathered in the holy synod of Alexandria. Felix, bishop of the venerable city of Rome and of the universal Church, and the holy synod which has assembled in the city of Rome, send greetings in the Lord. We have gladly received your sacred synodical letter, written through the grace of the Holy Spirit and with a zeal pleasing to God, by the grace of your sanctity, which is to be honored by God; and we have earnestly ordered it to be recited point by point in the synod, and we have commanded that all its words be carefully gathered. While we had hoped and desired to rejoice over these matters, our lyre has been turned to mourning, our song to weeping, and all the joy of the entire synod has been transformed into grief (Job 30), because it was not fitting that those who daily consecrate the body of Christ with their own mouth (St. Jerome, Letter to Nepotian) should suffer such persecution, since our Lord God, providing for the salvation of the human race, commanded that persecutions not occur, that disturbances not be inflicted, that those laboring in the Lord’s field not be envied, and that the stewards of the great king not be harassed or expelled. “Cease,” says the holy great Nicene Synod (Canon 6, Question 1), “and do not persecute those who minister perfectly to God, who with sincere will keep the commands of the supreme God, and who are subject to our laws; for it is neither fitting nor does order permit that the wicked and carnal should persecute the spiritual.

For whoever resists someone, now by distorting, now by concealing the truth, lies against the one with whom he contends. And whoever is hostile to someone acts in all things as an enemy, and moreover strives to speak. For we admonish you, brothers, that you ought to be on watch, so that as far as you are able, and as the Lord has given aid, you resist such persons by our apostolic and your own authority, and that none of you withdraws from helping a brother, but rather provides assistance to the best of his ability. For although you are few, if you are of one mind, you will by no means be overcome, with justice supporting you and the Lord also lending aid, because a threefold cord is hard to break (Eccles. 4). For if human law comes to the aid of secular offices (St. Gregory, ep. lib. VII), how much more must divine and catholic law support ecclesiastical offices and the Lord's priests, and especially the pontiffs, who are called the pupils of the Lord's eyes! For divine scripture says of bishops: "Whoever touches you, touches the pupil of my eye" (Zech. 2). And if secular men are extensively examined by human law, and its inquiries and delays of many months are granted, lest they be unjustly condemned, how much more must much longer periods of time be granted to bishops, who are closer to God and set above these, and placed in heavenly service, which must be more earnestly weighed, lest they be burdened, oppressed, or suddenly condemned by certain persons! Let us therefore begin (Innocent, ep.

With God’s help, and that of the holy apostle Peter, through whom the apostolate and episcopate took their beginning in Christ, since many causes have often arisen which in some cases were not causes but crimes—because, as we have learned, they were imposed upon the brethren more out of iniquity than charity—and so that in future there may be care lest such things occur, let us set down certain chapters established by the holy fathers both in the Nicene Synod and in this See, by which our brethren and fellow bishops, supported, may be able to escape the snares of enemies, with the Lord’s help, and, as the Lord shall grant the ability, let us imitate the compendium of such great evils with fewer words (the same pope, ep. 7), and let us briefly review what we have found in the volume of your letters, and let us set down some other things necessary for the present time, as you request. I. For it is decreed by synodal institutes (Carth. III, c. 9; Milev. 19, Agath. Aur., etc.) that no one should accuse a bishop before secular judges, but before the highest primates.

II. If anyone has a cause against a bishop, he should not approach other bishops to accuse him before first familiarly presenting his complaint to him, and receiving from him either a just correction or a reasonable excuse. The truth itself instructs us: "If your brother sins against you, go and rebuke him between you and him alone" (Matthew 18). If he hears you, you have gained your brother. If he does not hear you, bring two or three with you; and if he does not hear them, tell the Church (Luke 17), that is, accuse him publicly, and not before, and so forth. III. If anyone after this chooses to accuse a bishop, he should present his cause to the highest primates of the bishops, and not to secular authorities, who would rather recall them to peace than to judgment (Carthage IV, canon 26), so that charity may be preserved in all and by all. If the primates (5, question 2) are unable to familiarly reconcile the accusers of bishops with them, then at a lawful time they should canonically convoke them to a synod canonically summoned, not within narrow timeframes, and not before they signify to them in writing what is charged against them, so that they may come prepared for a response. For if they have been expelled by force (Roman Council V, under Symmachus) or fear, or despoiled of their goods, they cannot be canonically summoned to a synod, nor ought they to respond to adversaries, before they are canonically restored and all their possessions are legally returned to them.

IV. If any bishop has been despoiled of his property, or driven from his church by force or fear—which is hostile to every Christian name—it is fitting and proper that the bishop’s office should always yield at the first encounter, so that all things taken from him may be lawfully restored to his authority, and the prelate be first reinstated; and afterwards, not immediately, but after a long interval and spacious periods, with his own affairs arranged by his authority and prepared for his necessity, he may come in time to the case; and if it seems just, he may answer his accusers. V. No infamous or sacrilegious person, of whatever station, is permitted to give testimony against a religious Christian, however humble or servile a person he may be, nor to impeach a Christian in any matter, action, or accusation. VI. If any bishop, lawfully accused and canonically summoned to a council in the aforesaid manner, shall be required to go without any hesitation; and if he cannot go, he shall send a legate to the synod on his behalf.

VII. No cases shall be heard by ecclesiastical judges which are not contained in the laws, or which are known to be prohibited. VIII. If anyone will not acquiesce otherwise, unless he accuses a bishop, he must proceed in the manner set forth above, because otherwise the accusation cannot be valid. Then first the accuser shall formally bring the case of the accused before the primates, according to the canons. Nor shall the accused be prohibited from communion, unless, having been canonically summoned to the judgment of the elected, he has delayed for three, six, or more months to come to render account for his actions. But if he can prove that he was not unwilling but unable to come, this shall not harm him. However, he who has been driven from his see by force or fear, or despoiled of his property, shall not be summoned to a synod until all things have been restored to him according to the laws. And he shall remain in his own see, peacefully and with full authority arranging all things, for as long as he is seen to have been deprived of his property as an expelled or despoiled person. But when he comes to judgment, if he wishes and it is necessary, the delays established by the fathers, which he requests, shall be granted without hindrance, and judges chosen by him shall be assigned, so that in the place from which the accused comes, or if elsewhere he fears the violence of some reckless multitude, he may choose a suitable place for himself, where without fear he may have his witnesses, if necessity demands.

30), and may conclude his sentence canonically without hindrance, because many things are wont to happen through surreptition. IX. That the license to testify or to accuse shall be denied to those who have neglected the dignity of the Christian religion and name, and the norm of their own law or profession, or things regularly prohibited (Anianus in c. tit. 7, I. XVI Cod. Theod.). X. Derogation prevails greatly when the derogator is believed (Trip. III, 8; ex Socr. I, 31). Therefore it is not fitting that a primate be weakened by various detractions and accusations, but rather strengthened by the rules of the fathers (Dem. ep. ad Illyricos apud Theodor., II, 22). Nor should he presume to receive accusations easily or indifferently, the Lord saying: Do not hearken to the voice of falsehood (Exod. XXIV); but he ought first to prove the suspicion and the cause, or with what intention this is done, and only afterward to receive it: because the profession of truth (An. in lib. V Sent. Pauli, tit. 15, sent. 2), the intention of kinship, enmity, fear, love, hatred, and covetousness is wont to hinder and to inflict harm upon brothers.

XI. The persons of the accusers ought to be such whose faith, conduct, and life are credible and beyond reproach, and who are free from all suspicion: because this also, with you present, as you well know, was defined by all in the Nicene Synod, on account of the harassment of evil men, although through the plots of depraved men these and many other things have been deleted. XII. Those are primates, and no others, who were established as such in the Nicene Synod. The rest, however, who hold metropolitan sees, are called archbishops, and not primates, saving in all things the dignity of the apostolic see, which was granted to it by the Lord Himself, and afterwards confirmed by the holy fathers. XIII. First, always, in every accusation of a bishop, the life, person, and conduct of the accusers shall be examined in detail: and afterwards, those things which are objected shall be faithfully dealt with: since nothing ought to be done otherwise, unless the faith, person, life, and actions of the accusers are first scrutinized: because the life of the innocent ought not to be torn apart by the ruinous behavior of depraved or scheming men. Indeed, very often the good are persecuted by the wicked, who do not cease to disparage the high with their own calamities. Therefore, it must be greatly provided for that these things not happen.

XIV. No slave, no freedman, no faithless person, no one entangled in crimes, no slanderer, no one given to enmities, no one who frequently litigates and is quick to accuse or defame, no infamous person, nor any whom public laws do not admit to accuse of public crimes, shall be permitted to accuse bishops; for I cannot find by what reason the priestly order ought to receive accusers and accusations which the laws of the world do not accept, since these things are also prohibited in the Nicene Synod, and they ought rather to be judged by these men, not these men by them; and the Apostle says: The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is judged by no one. XV. Heretics, by whom we are greatly oppressed, and excommunicated persons, murderers, sorcerers, thieves, sacrilegious persons, plunderers, poisoners, adulterers, and those who have committed abduction or given false testimony, or who have resorted to soothsayers and magicians, shall in no way be admitted to accusation or to testimony.

XVI. Ecclesiastical matters are not to be conducted as secular ones are (S. Leo, ep. 54). For in secular affairs, once someone has been summoned by law and has begun to contend in court, he is not permitted to withdraw before the case is concluded; in ecclesiastical matters, however, after the case has been stated, it is permitted to withdraw, if necessary, or if one sees that he is being unduly burdened. XVII. Whenever a bishop (Hadr. 27) is accused of specific crimes, if the accusers are such as ought justly and canonically to be received, he shall be heard canonically by all the bishops of the provinces in a legitimate synod assembled in due time. But if the accusers are not legitimate, the bishop shall not be troubled; for priests ought to be free for offering sacrifice, not for litigating. Nor should those who are called the thrones of God (Council of Toledo XI, c. 5) be disturbed by the machinations of wicked men, but should freely serve Christ the Lord.

XVIII. Although it is permitted for the bishops of a province, together with their metropolitan, to handle the cases of bishops charitably and harmoniously, it is not, however (as was established in the aforementioned synod in your presence), permitted to define them without the authority of the Roman Pontiff. But if the contrary should be presumed by some, those who have done this shall suffer the penalty of their presumption; and those who have been wrongly excommunicated or condemned by them shall, by the authority of this holy see and the power of our blessed master, the key-bearer Peter, be absolved and restored. For the Lord Himself says: "Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matt. 16:19). XIX. Whenever bishops consider themselves burdened by their fellow-provincials (Hadrian and Canon 18, from the canons and the Council of Sardica) or by their metropolitan, or hold them suspect, they shall immediately appeal to the Roman see, to which they may go freely without any detention or confiscation of their goods. And when they have appealed to the aforementioned Roman mother Church, or have demanded to be heard by her, no one shall presume to excommunicate them, or to seize their sees, or to take away their goods, or to inflict any violence upon them, before their case is concluded by the authority of the Roman Pontiff. But if otherwise should be presumed by anyone, it shall be null and void.

Nor do we presume this rashly, but it was established in the Nicene Synod, and our predecessors acted accordingly, as you well know, Athanasius: for when you and Paul of Constantinople, Asclepius of Gaza, and Lucianus of Adrianople were condemned by the Eastern bishops, without consulting our predecessor of blessed memory, Julius, and you fled to him as to the head of the whole world (as has always been lawful for this holy see), having learned of their wickedness and your justice, he received you into communion, and, caring for all of you by virtue of the dignity of his own see, restored each of you to your churches. He wrote to the Eastern bishops, blaming them for having unjustly treated blameless men, expelling them from their churches, and for not preserving the decrees of the Council of Nicaea. He ordered some of them to appear before him on a fixed day, to give a clear account of such presumptions, and to show before them that he had issued a just decree concerning them. He also threatened that they would no longer tolerate such things from the brothers, and that unless they ceased from such presumptions, they would be removed from their own ranks. For by such a privilege of this holy see, you and your brothers received back your own churches, with all things pertaining to them.

For it is evident from these and very many other documents that no bishop who has appealed to this holy see, or has summoned it as his defender, ought to be condemned or despoiled of his property, until the judgment of our apostolic authority (Mart. I, session of the Lateran Council), that is, of the prince of the apostles Peter, acknowledges him, because Christ Jesus alone committed to this holy see, that is, the apostolic see, to do this, inasmuch as the aforementioned prince of the apostles 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 (Matt. XVI). XX. Concerning the delays for bishops (In the decrees of Ivo, book IV), about which you have consulted, we find various rules instituted by the fathers. For some have ordered that a year or six months be granted to repel the machinations of accusers, and to prepare their responses, and to confirm witnesses, and to seek the counsel of bishops and friends; others, however, a year, in which the majority agree. Less than six months (See Council of Carthage III, chapter 7) I have not found, because even these are granted to laymen, how much more to the priests of the Lord! For it has been forbidden many times by our predecessors and the other holy fathers that any detractions be cast upon the priests of the Lord; how much more accusations not brought forth from the root of charity!

Cease," they say, "and do not persecute those who minister perfectly to God, by whose prayers earthly wars are calmed and the incursions of angels who have fallen away from God are repelled, and who confound all demons that are corrupted by the constancy of their prayers" (Trip. VII, 9). For truces are to be granted not for a short time, but over a long period, so that the accused may prepare themselves, and gather all their communicants placed in the provinces, prepare witnesses, and be able to arm themselves fully against plotters. XXI. For judges and accusers ought to be those who are free from all suspicion (Hadr., 15), and who desire to pronounce their sentence from the root of charity. Therefore, we demand that all Christians rejoice with reverence in these things, set forth both so legally (Trip. IX, 14, ex Theod. V, 9) and canonically, with spiritual love and the Lord's fear intervening, through which human offense is removed, and the building up of churches is set before all things, so that all may labor more for the edification of brothers than for condemnation; for the Lord says: "By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John XIII). For we have now given the form (Damasus, epist. 2, ex Trip. IX, 15; ex Theod.

V, 10), and we know it was given by our predecessors, that if anyone acknowledges himself a Christian, he should observe that which is known to have been handed down by the apostles, as the apostle Paul says: "If anyone announces to you something other than what you have received, let him be anathema" (Galatians I). For Christ, the Son of God, our Lord, granted the fullest salvation to the human race through his own passion, so that he might free us (Romans VIII). And if God loved us so much that he did not even spare his own son, but handed him over for all of us to free us: why do we not love our brothers, or why do we rashly judge them, when the aforementioned apostle says: "Do not judge one another, but rather judge this, that you place no stumbling block or scandal before a brother" (Romans XIV). For if those who love their brothers are born of God and see God: what then will those be who persecute them, and by slandering, scheming, accusing, harassing, strive to condemn them? If those are sons of God, without doubt these are sons of the devil, who always, like a roaring lion prowls, seeking whom he may devour (I Peter V), so they pursue their brothers in order to destroy them. But those who refuse to help their brothers acquire a greater burden of sins, and are guilty of lacking brotherly solace. "Woe," says the prophet, "to him who gives drink to his friend, putting his own venom into it" (Habakkuk II). And again the most wise Solomon says: "For he who speaks iniquitous things cannot lie hidden, nor will the correcting judgment pass him by.

For in the thoughts of the impious there will be an interrogation; but the hearing of his words will reach God, for the correction of his iniquities: because the ear of zeal hears all things, and the tumult of murmurers will not be hidden (Wisdom 1). For if they had wished to embrace these things with their own sound judgment, they would by no means have fallen into reprobation, but through the fear of God, taking precaution in the custody of their words, they would surely preserve the pious definition of the holy Fathers without some presumption of harm: since the sacred word says: Good counsel will preserve you, and a good mind will guard you (Proverbs 2). For such accusations and detractions do not proceed spiritually from the life-giving fountains (Maurus of Caesena, epistle in the same council) for the acquisition of eternal life, and therefore the blessed Paul fittingly admonishes us, saying: One ought not to be wiser than it is proper to be wise, but to hasten to sobriety (Romans 12). Let us persevere in the definition of piety. For those who pass beyond it have not themselves washed away, falling from their own strength, but have left behind for all the memory of their own folly, so that in those things in which they sinned, they could by no means remain hidden. For glory and contumely are in speech: and in the tongue of a man is his downfall (Ecclesiasticus 5). Therefore it is fitting that this demonstration of their reproaches be inserted into our acts, so that you may no longer suffer such things, with them sowing tares and scandals, but may merit rejoicing in your offices and doctrines.

Therefore, let them blush at such things and hasten to withdraw from blasphemy of this kind, if they do not wish to be separated from our priestly college and torn away from the fellowship of the Christian people. For although we could have said and written many things about these matters, and indeed necessary things, which are found established in the decrees of the apostolic see and by the apostles and their successors, namely our predecessors, it has nevertheless seemed better to us to close the letter with a prayer (Julius to the Church of Alexandria, Trip. IV, 29). Almighty God, and His only-begotten Son and our Savior Jesus Christ, grant you this incentive, that you may assist with all your strength all our brothers and fellow bishops who labor under any tribulations, and, suffering with them, bear the cross of the same Lord and Savior, so that you may appear before all as His true disciples, and that you and those who are with you may possess here and in the future better things, which the eye has not seen nor have entered into the heart of man, which God has prepared for those who love Him (1 Cor. 2), through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom glory be to Almighty God the Father forever and ever, amen. I wish you well, dearest brothers. Given on the Ides of February, in the consulship of Agarius and Julianus, most illustrious men.

LETTER II OF POPE FELIX II TO THE SAME AND TO THE OTHER PRIESTS OF THE LORD. On the patient endurance of persecutions and tribulations. Felix, pope of the holy universal Church, and by the grace of God bishop of the catholic and apostolic Church of the city of Rome, together with our holy council of the most reverend priests assembled here with us (Pope Martin I in the synodical letter of the Lateran Council), in confirmation of the most pious dogmas of the catholic Church and for the relief of our oppressed brothers, namely our fellow bishops who hold the true faith of the Council of Nicaea and who do not harass their brothers, to all our spiritual brothers and to the others consecrated to the Lord in the priestly college, and to the whole fullness of the catholic Church. May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the strengthening and communion of the Holy Spirit, so that, advancing in Him, from glory to glory, we may proclaim the powers of Him who called us out of darkness into His admirable light (1 Peter 2), with whom there is no change nor shadow of alteration. We exhort you, brothers (James 1), to bear persecutions and tribulations patiently, that you may be found to be sons of Him whom you daily call Father, God in heaven; and in Him who conquered all things for us, may you conquer all things: He who did not even spare His own son, but gave him up for us all (Romans 8).

It is fitting that the imitators of God also imitate God in every word and deed (Maximus of Aquileia, in the same Lateran Council celebrated in that year). Therefore we must say that which the Lord Himself declared about Himself: "The prince of this world will come, and in me he will find nothing" (John 14). Those who persecute you and us have come, and they cannot persecute you without us, because we are members of the one God, and we hold one priesthood of His through His sanctification, and in us they have found nothing of their own: for whatever we are, we are by the grace of God, although they have irrationally striven to slander us on that account, as enemies are accustomed to do, hastening to cover their own madness, so that through falsehood they may be able to overshadow the truth. "For I have written to you," says the blessed apostle, "through many tears, not that you may be saddened, but that you may know how much more abundant love I have for you" (1 Cor. 2). Moreover, to slander those who slander (Deusdedit of Cagliari, bishop, in the same place) is not good, so that we may not, moved by what has been written, engage in a contest of injury. We ought not at all to fear the reproach of men (Martin I, in the same council), nor be overcome by their reproaches, since the Lord commands us this through the prophet Isaiah, saying: "Hear me, you who know judgment, my people, in whose hearts my law is" (Isa. 51). "Do not fear the reproach of men, and do not fear their blasphemies" (Ps. 43).

Considering also what is written in the psalm: "Will not God require these things?" For He Himself knows the hidden things of the heart, and the thoughts of such men, that they are vain. But each one has spoken vainly to his neighbor, and deceitful lips are in the heart, and the hearts are evil places. But the Lord will destroy all deceitful lips and the boastful tongue. Those who have said, "Our lips are our own: who is our lord?" (Psalm 11). For if they kept this in memory, they would least of all leap into wanton iniquity. For they do this (words of the same pope) not through a credible and fatherly teaching, but to exercise their vengeance against the servants of God. For it is written: "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes." And there are ways which seem just to a man, but their last end leads to death (Proverbs 12, 14). We who suffer these things ought to reserve them for the judgment of God (Roman Council III, under Symmachus), who will render to each according to his works (Jeremiah 15). He also thundered through his ministers, saying: "Leave vengeance to me; I will repay" (Romans 12). Do you, therefore, in right faith and pure and good will, help one another in turn, and let no one withdraw his hand from aiding his brother: for in this, says the Lord, all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13). Whence He Himself speaks through the prophet, saying: "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together" (Psalm 132).

I speak of the spiritual dwelling (I refer to Paul, CP. ep. Monothelita to Pope Theodore, in the Lateran Council) and harmony which is in God, and the unity of this delightful faith, according to the truth of the dwelling, which was more adorned in Aaron, and in those assuming the priestly dignity, like ointment upon the head, irrigating the principal understanding and leading it to the very highest knowledge. For in this dwelling the Lord promised blessing and eternal life. Therefore, embracing the merit of this prophetic utterance, we have set forth the present fraternal syllable, seeking or about to seek our own advantage not at all on account of love. For it is not good to detract from detractors, or, according to the common fable, to knock out a stake with a stake. Far be it. These are not our ways: may the divinity avert this. Our habits are not taught to conquer in this way, but in patience of long-suffering and in a spirit of humility: because just as by hardness the blackness is not cleansed (to speak prophetically, Dan. III), so neither is the soporific fruit of peace of understanding expressed by harshness. For this reason we have also borne the blows of words, so that we might little by little be able to imitate him who deigned to humble himself for us, and so that we might avoid the words of that extreme vengeance through this wound. Therefore let us hear and consent to the orator of the Church, who through the tongue of the Holy Spirit cries out with a clear voice, saying: Let all things be done by you in charity (I Cor. XVI).

Therefore, whether we seek, or merely speak, or merely are heard, let charity intercede. Let there exist some art for the composition of good concord and union. For it is necessary, for us who are inquiring about God, counting out the intentions of our mind's rectitude, to dwell peacefully in the temple within Him, on account of the Lord, who spoke through the prophet: "Seeking, seek, and dwell with me" (Isa. 21, according to the LXX). For God has given us as a mirror to His people, and it is necessary that those who are appointed by God to obtain the priesthood should so strive toward one another in the humility of the mind's steps that those who look to us may be built up for the better, rather than (which I am reluctant to say) shake the path of their feet through our discord. Let us incline ourselves toward concord, and let us think as one in charity. Let us venerate humility, through which the height of the spirit is usually grasped. For if we have up to now loved silence more than the garrulity of words, we have judged this to be well, lest by exchanging reciprocal responses to your writings we should arouse the fuel of injury and be judged as faint-hearted by Him who proclaimed that all things be directed toward charity. Indeed, we prayed then that a door of circumstance be placed upon our lips, and that we conceive an unsounded word rather than a sounded word; and yet this is a gift to me from the Lord, and I have become like a man not hearing, and having no reproaches in his mouth (Ps. 17).

But because there is a time for speaking and a time for keeping silent (Eccles. 3), I open the word and close the door through silence, praying fittingly: "Lord, you will open my lips, and I shall answer a word to those who reproach me" (Ps. 50, 118). For although we might have been silent, we shall not always be silent, with the Lord opening for us the keys of the word. Therefore, the apocrisarii sent in the present by the blessedness of your fraternity, after many discordant discussions among us concerning ecclesiastical inquiry, finally arrived at this: admonishing and exhorting us to interpret the understanding of the will of the one true Christ our God, and to send such an interpretation to your most sacred veneration. We, however, having received the admonition of the aforementioned venerable men with a good conscience, and also recognizing what the summit of the apostolic principate teaches (1 Pet.

(III), ready to give satisfaction to anyone seeking a word concerning the hope that is in us, according to the fear of God, and tempering with gentleness toward good knowledge, we set forth our mind through these syllables only upon such a request, avoiding and guarding against superfluous exercise and altercation of words, on account of satiety and the incongruity of the present time, understanding, uttering, or saying nothing at all other than what we have heard and known from the holy and universal great apostles, and their successors, and what our fathers have recounted to us, and what we, hearing, have preached, striving toward the higher calling. It is our endeavor, where the constitution of peace remains for those who are in the stadium of piety, that a single glory is well attributed and a crown given to the intercessor. We are manifest to God, who judges all things and approves. We do not stand in a litigious manner, we do not look to contradiction, nor do we embrace empty favor; but in the word of God set forth, we are seen to have made a resolution of such a request, trusting that the Lord of peace will preserve unity and love between each of us in the glory of His most benign majesty. We greet greatly every brother existing with your blessedness in Christ, both ourselves and those who are with us. Given on the Kalends of November, in the consulship of Philemon and Atticus, most distinguished men.