Epistola ad Galliae Atque Hispaniae Episcopos

Appendix. The Only Letter and Decrees Ascribed to St. Lucius. Letter of Pope Lucius I To the Bishops of Gaul and Spain. ARGUMENT.— That two presbyters and three deacons should attend the bishop in every place for ecclesiastical testimony; and concerning the accusation of bishops; and concerning unanimity and concord between the metropolitan and the other bishops; and that plunderers and those who take away, invade, or alienate ecclesiastical property should be anathematized as thieves and sacrilegious persons. I. That a bishop should always have presbyters and deacons with him as witnesses. II. Concerning accusations against bishops, or against elders, and that a hearing should not be denied to those appealing to higher authorities. III. That a metropolitan should do nothing without the counsel of the bishops, nor they without his, except in matters pertaining to their own churches. IV. That a metropolitan should not hear a case concerning them without the bishops. V. That later bishops should not set themselves before earlier ones, nor do anything without consulting them.

VI. Concerning those who take away the property of the Church or the offerings of the faithful, and those who consent to them. To all our most beloved brothers dwelling in the western regions, both in Gaul and in Spain, Lucius the bishop sends greetings in the Lord: We have gladly received the letter of your love (S. Leo, Epistle 28), which you sent to the See of the blessed apostle Peter on behalf of your cause and business; but we are not a little saddened by your afflictions. For you have indicated that you are persecuted and defamed both by certain persons who do not hold the right faith but are entangled in errors, and by others who imitate them, and that your churches are being despoiled of their endowments and the offerings of the faithful, and your ministers are excessively harassed; and therefore many are departing from you and from the right faith, because you are unable to provide them with defense, nor to minister those things which are necessary. Do not be surprised, brothers, if the malevolent and impious persecute you, since they have persecuted Christ Himself, our head. Whence you have the very consolation of the Truth, which says: If they called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more his household? (Matthew 10.) Again, consoling us, it speaks, saying: If you were of the world, the world would love what is its own; but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, for that reason the world hates you (John 16).

I. For such reasons, brothers, we exhort you, as we have also established in this holy Church (De consec. dist. I. We command by apostolic authority), always to have priests and deacons with you as witnesses. And although one's own conscience may suffice, yet on account of the malevolent, according to the Apostle, you ought also to have good testimony from those who are outside (I Tim. III). For we have also established in this holy See that two presbyters or three deacons should not abandon the bishop in any place, for the sake of ecclesiastical testimony. II. Bishops, therefore, are not to be lightly accused or slandered, because injury to them (Greg. Epist. 32, lib. XII) pertains to Christ, whose vice and legation they fulfill in the Church. Hence it has pleased us and all who are with us in our consolation, as we also find was done formerly, to establish that accusations against elders are not to be made through others (2, q. 7), except by those who bring the charges (Anianus, 25, tit. I libri IX, Cod. Theod.), if, however, they themselves appear worthy and irreproachable, and have shown by public acts (Conc. Arelat. c. 13) that they are free from all suspicion and enmity, and lead an irreproachable faith and conduct (Hard. Coll. cap. 9). Hence it has pleased us that from whatever ecclesiastical judges (Conc. Carthag. III, cap. 10) to other ecclesiastical judges, where there is greater authority, if an appeal has been made, a hearing is not to be denied.

III. We likewise decree (3, q. 3; but no primate is placed there under the name of Callistus), as we have found decreed by the holy Apostles and their successors, that if any metropolitan bishop, except only insofar as pertains to his own parish, without the counsel and will of his fellow provincial bishops (Hard. coll. c. 46), should attempt to do anything extra, he shall incur the peril of his rank; and what he has done shall be held as invalid and void. But whatever concerning the causes of his fellow provincial co-bishops, and of their churches and clerics, and the necessities of laymen, or concerning any common causes, it is necessary to do or arrange, this shall be done with the consent of all the provincial bishops, not with any haughtiness of domination, but with harmonious and most humble administration, as the Lord says: "I came not to be ministered to, but to minister" (Matt. XX; Mark X); and elsewhere: "He who is greater among you shall be the servant of you" (Matt. XXIII), and so forth. Likewise, the fellow provincial bishops themselves shall do everything with his counsel, except insofar as pertains to their own parishes, according to the constitutions of the holy Fathers, so that with one mind, with one voice, the holy Trinity may be glorified harmoniously throughout the ages.

IV. Similarly (Hardouin, coll. c. 14), supported by apostolic authority, we decree that no metropolitan bishop, without the insistence of all the other bishops of his province, may hear the cases of any of them; for such acts will be void, and he himself will answer for the deed. V. Bishops in each province, moreover, shall take care not to prefer those who come after them to their predecessors; nor, without consulting them (Council of Milevis, cap. 13; Codex of Africa, cap. 86), shall they do anything except insofar as it pertains to their own parish: but all shall put forth and determine a unanimous judgment concerning their common causes, since otherwise the acts will have no force, nor will they be considered ecclesiastical (Hardouin, Coll. cap. 3). It would be good, brothers, and very necessary for those who fear God and wish to live piously, if within the Catholic Church no shoot of evil or of any persecution against the Lord’s priests, or against those wishing to live justly and piously, should arise. But because, with envy prevailing, what is worse arises and grows, and extends itself too far in all directions, therefore it is necessary to cut it off with the ecclesiastical and apostolic sword, lest it be able to harm or destroy the servants of God and the priests of the Lord. For the Lord has dishonored, as is read in the book of Ecclesiasticus, the assemblies of the wicked, and God has destroyed them utterly. God has destroyed the seats of proud rulers, and has caused the meek to sit in their place.

The roots of proud nations God has dried up, and He has raised up the humble from among those nations. The Lord has overturned the lands of nations and destroyed them to their foundations. He has dried them up and scattered them, and caused their memory to cease from the earth. God has destroyed the memory of the proud and preserved the memory of the humble in spirit. Pride was not created for men, nor wrath for the race of women. The seed of men that fears God will be honored; but the seed of men that transgresses the Lord's commandments will be dishonored. Among brothers, their ruler is in honor: and those who fear the Lord will be in his eyes. The glory of the rich, the honored, and the poor is the fear of God. Do not despise a just poor man, and do not magnify a sinful rich man. A great man, a judge, and a powerful man is in honor: but there is none greater than he who fears God. Free men will serve a sensible slave, and a prudent and disciplined man will not murmur when corrected, and an ignorant man will not be honored. Do not exalt yourself in doing your works, and do not delay in time of distress. Better is he who works and abounds in all things than he who boasts and lacks bread. Son, in meekness keep your soul, and give it honor according to its merit. Who will justify one sinning against his own soul? And who will honor one dishonoring his own soul? A poor man glories through his discipline and fear: and there is a man who is honored on account of his wealth.

But he who glories in poverty, how much more in substance? And he who glories in substance, let him fear poverty. The wisdom of the humbled will exalt his head, and will make him sit in the midst of the great. Do not praise a man for his appearance, nor despise a man for his looks. The bee is short in its flights, and its fruit has the beginning of sweetness. Never glory in clothing, nor be puffed up in the honor of your day; for the works of the Most High alone are wonderful, and glorious, and hidden, and uninvited. Many tyrants have sat on the throne, and the unsuspected has worn the diadem. Many powerful have been greatly oppressed, and the glorious have been handed over into the hands of others. Before you inquire, do not reproach anyone; and when you have inquired, correct justly. Before you hear, do not answer a word, and in the midst of elders do not add to speak. About a matter that does not trouble you, do not contend, and in the judgment of sinners do not stand. My son, let not your acts be in many things, and if you are rich, you will not be free from fault. For if you have followed, you will not overtake; and you will not escape, if you have run ahead. There is a man laboring and hastening, and grieving in impiety; and all the more he will not abound. There is a man withered, in need of recovery, more lacking in strength, and abounding in poverty; and the eye of God has looked upon him for good, and has raised him from his humility, and will exalt his head: and many have marveled at him, and have honored God.

Good and evil, life and death, poverty and honor are from God. The gift of God endures for the just; and its progress will have success in eternity. There is one who grows rich by acting sparingly, and this part of his reward is in that which he says: "I have found rest for myself," and, "Now I will eat of my goods alone." And he does not know that time passes him by, and he will leave everything to others, and he will die. Stand in your testament, and converse in it, and grow old in the works of your commandments. Do not remain in the works of sinners. Trust, however, in God, and remain in your place. For it is easy in the eyes of God for poverty to be suddenly honored. The blessing of God hastens to the reward of the just, and the swift progress of that one in honor justifies him. Do not say: "What need have I?" and "What good things will come to me from this?" Do not say: "I am sufficient for myself," and "What will I suffer from this?" In the day of good things, do not be unmindful of evil things, and in the day of evil things, do not be unmindful of good things; since it is easy before God on the day of death to repay each one according to his ways. The malice of the hour makes forgetfulness of the luxuries of the magician(?); and at the end of a man, the laying bare of his works. Before death, praise no man whatsoever, since a man is known by his sons. Do not lead every man into your house; for many are the snares of the deceitful. For just as the entrails of those who are fetid belch forth, and just as the partridge is led into a cage, and as the roe deer into a snare; so also is the heart of the proud, and like a spectator seeing the fall of his neighbor.

The insidious one turns good into evil, and places a stain upon the elect. From a single spark a fire grows, and from one deceitful man bloodshed increases. Truly, a sinful man lies in wait for blood. Beware of the pestilent one, for he fabricates evils, lest he bring upon you mockery forever. Admit a foreigner to yourself, and he will overturn you in a whirlwind, and will alienate you from your own. Such men, dearest ones, are greatly to be avoided, until either they are converted or cut off by the divine word. Blessed, moreover, is he who has not slipped in a word from his mouth, and has not been goaded by the sadness of a fault. Fortunate is he who has no sadness of his own spirit, and does not depart from his hope. For it is written: Better is one man who fears God than a thousand impious men. Truly, a wise man is not every one who harms.

VI. Moreover, the state of your churches (Sixti Sent. 292) and the offerings of the faithful, which you have indicated are being harassed by certain intruders and taken away from you and your churches, is without doubt a great sin: as Scripture itself bears witness (S. Bonif. Epist. 19), which says: "He who takes away (12, q. 2, Qui abstulerit) something from his father or mother, and says this is not a sin, is a partaker of homicide" (Prov. XXVIII). Therefore, our father without doubt is God, who created us; and our mother is the Church, which spiritually gave birth to us in Baptism. And so, he who takes away the monies of Christ and the Church, defrauds and plunders (17, q. 4, Qui rapit), will be deemed a homicide in the sight (S. Greg. epist. 36, lib. II) of the just Judge. Whence it is written: "He who seizes the money of his neighbor commits iniquity" (Joan. XII); but he who takes away the monies or goods of the Church commits sacrilege (Hier, epist. 2). Whence also Judas, who defrauded the money which was distributed for the uses of the Church, that is, for the poor whom the Church ought to feed, by order of the Savior (whose place the bishops hold), became not only a thief, but a thief and (S. Aug. Tract. L, in Joannem) a sacrilegious man. For concerning such men, that is, those who seize, defraud, or take away the properties of the Church, the Lord, threatening all, speaks through the Prophet, saying: "God, do not be silent for yourself, do not be still, and do not rest, O God: For behold, your enemies have made a tumult, and those who hate you have lifted up their head.

Against your people they have acted wickedly, and they entered into a conspiracy against your sanctuary. They said: Come, let us crush them from the nation, and let the memory of Israel’s name be no more: for they were silent in heart, and together against you they made a covenant—the tents of the Idumeans and Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagarenes, Gebal and Ammon, and Amalek. Palestine with the inhabitants of Tyre. And Asshur also joined with them; they became the arm of the sons of Lot. Do to them as to Midian, as to Sisera, as to Jabin at the brook Kishon. They were crushed at Endor; they were like dung upon the earth. Set their leaders as Oreb and Zeeb, as Zebah and Zalmunna. All their princes who said: Let us take for ourselves the beauty of God—my God, set them like a wheel, like chaff before the face of the wind. As fire consumes the forest and as flame devours mountains, so shall you pursue them in your storm, and in your whirlwind you shall confound them. Fill their faces with shame, and let them seek your name, O Lord. Let them be confounded and troubled forever, and let them blush and perish; and let them know that your name is Lord: you alone are exalted over all the earth (Psalm 82, from the translation of St. Jerome, differing from the Vulgate). The Prophets forbid these things to happen, the Apostles forbid them, their successors and the decrees of all Catholic Fathers forbid them, and they judge such presumptions to be sacrilege. Following their examples, we judge all such presumers and the Church (17, q. 4).

All breakers (plunderers) (Hinc. epistle VIII, Mog. editions, Council of Carisiacum in the letter to the bishops of Gaul) and alienators of their own goods, together with you, we drive away, anathematized from the thresholds of holy mother Church, and we condemn, and we judge them to be sacrilegious. And not only them, but all who consent to them: because not only those who commit the deed are judged guilty, but also those who consent to those who commit it (Romans I). For equal punishment encompasses both the agents and those who consent. Therefore, brothers, watch and pray. Act manfully, and be strengthened in the Lord, and let all your deeds, according to the Apostle, be done in charity (1 Corinthians 16). Therefore, from the right faith and apostolic path, on account of any persecution, do not withdraw, knowing that, according to the Savior’s saying, blessed are those who suffer persecution for the sake of justice (Matthew 5). This is the living tradition of the Apostles (Agatho to the Emperor Constantine, act VI of the Council of Constantinople against the Monothelites), this is the true charity which is to be preached, and especially to be loved and fostered, and confidently held by all.

This holy and apostolic mother of all the churches of Christ, the Church, which by the grace of almighty God is proven never to have erred from the apostolic path of tradition, nor to have succumbed to heretical novelties by corrupting it; but, as at the beginning it received the norm of apostolic faith from its authors, the princes of the apostles of Christ, it remains unblemished to the end, according to the divine promise of the Lord and Saviour Himself, who spoke to the prince of His disciples in His Gospels: Peter, He says, behold, Satan has sought to sift you, as one who sifts wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, once converted, confirm your brothers (Luke 22). Let your excellent prudence therefore consider how good it is to persevere in the dispensation entrusted to you and in right faith, and to resist heretics and rivals of Christ, and never to depart from the path of truth; since the Lord and Saviour of all, whose faith it is, who did not hesitate to die for us and redeemed us with His own blood, promised that the faith of blessed Peter would not fail, and admonished him to confirm his brothers: which the apostolic pontiffs, my humble predecessors, are known to all to have always done confidently. And my own littleness, though unequal and least, yet for the ministry undertaken by divine condescension, desires to follow in their footsteps.

Woe indeed will be to us, who have taken up the burden of this ministry, if we neglect to preach the truth of our Savior Jesus Christ, which the apostles preached (1 Cor. 9). Woe will be to us, if we suppress the truth by silence, which we are commanded to dispense to the money-changers, that is, to imbue and teach the Christian peoples (Matt. 25). What shall we say in the future examination of Christ Himself, if we are confounded to preach the truth of His word? What will become of us when the just judge, Christ our Lord, exacts a strict account concerning the souls entrusted to us and the office we have undertaken (Luke 16)? Therefore, brothers, I exhort (St. Leo, Epistle 1 against the Manichaeans) your love, I implore and admonish you that with the diligence you ought and are able, you watch to investigate heretics and enemies of the holy Church of God, and from sound minds, lest this pestilence spread more widely, you eradicate them with whatever severity you can to the best of your ability; since, just as he who has carried out the diligence that benefits the salvation of the people committed to him will have from God the reward of a worthy recompense, so before the tribunal of the Lord, whoever has been unwilling to guard his people against the authors of sacrilegious persuasion will not be able to excuse himself from the guilt of negligence. Given on the Kalends of April in the year 252, while Cornelius, Gallus, and Volusianus, most distinguished men, were consuls.