Appendix I. Epistola ad Orientales Episcopos

LETTER II, Pope Marcellinus to the Eastern Bishops. That a layman may not accuse a cleric. I. Concerning disputes arising among Christians, that they be referred to the Church and be finally determined by ecclesiastical persons. II. That a superior ought not to be judged by an inferior, nor that bishops should bring any prejudice against the pontiff by whom they are proven to be consecrated. III. That a cleric, without the permission of his own bishop, should not presume to drag anyone to a secular court, nor may a layman accuse any cleric. IV. That an unjust judgment made by judges out of fear of the king, or by his command, is not valid; and that the statutes of unbelievers shall be abolished. To the most beloved brothers, all bishops established throughout the Eastern provinces, Marcellinus, bishop. What is so sweet to an anxious mind as that which I learn of you concerning those things I desire? What is so fitting for religious institutions as that priests preserve among themselves the peace which they must, by their office, announce to others? I have received (I confess) with full congratulation that you have indicated to me in your letters, as a votive offering, concerning the charity (which exists among you) of the churches and peace, spontaneously whatever I could exhort, whatever I could admonish, has been conveyed. May God confirm this, which He has wrought in us (Psalm 67); and may He, who commanded what is to be done for the salvation of souls, Himself, by the piety with which He redeemed us, bring it about. And in return for such good news, we also render the religious office of holy messengers.

Whatever we have communicated to the Easterners, who have been recalled to the unity and body of the Churches, by the help of our God, as we indicated in the letters sent long ago, we now share with you, when it is fitting, by repeated indications. Soon after our edict, a legation was sent by the Easterners: they hoped for certain things, they consulted on certain things. But we, rather than making summaries of what was to be said, send to you for the instruction of your knowledge the responses that were given to us, lest anything, over a longer span of lands, be claimed by opinion or assumed by error, since for the truth of the matter, it suffices to hold to the truth itself. Moreover, as pertains to the content of our letters, it was indeed necessary to set forth the desires more fully. Therefore, know that you must abstain from persecution of the brethren and from all litigation, as Scripture says: "A servant of God ought not to litigate" (2 Tim. 2); nor harm anyone, but correct all persecutors of the Church and of its servants by your reproofs, as the Apostle testifies: "Reprove, beseech, rebuke" (2 Tim. 4).

Therefore, whatever disputes arise among Christians shall be brought to the Church and be settled by ecclesiastical men. II. A greater authority cannot be judged by a lesser, nor can bishops bring any prejudice against the pontiff by whom they are proven to be consecrated. But if something is known to have been presumed, it is beyond doubt that it lacks force and cannot in any way be considered among ecclesiastical statutes. III. A cleric of any order, without the permission of his own pontiff, shall presume to summon no one to a secular court. Nor shall a layman be permitted to accuse any cleric. Nevertheless, detractions, accusations, and persecutions among Christians are to be utterly avoided: for although we are few in comparison to others, if we are nevertheless of one mind, we will more easily resist adversaries. For the holy protomartyr Stephen was stoned, but Jesus received the wounds. Therefore, each one must take care not to judge or punish anyone unjustly. And the Lord says in the Gospel: Do not judge, so that you may not be judged; for by the judgment with which you judge, you will be judged (Matthew 7).

Hence the Doctor of the Gentiles speaks, saying: Therefore I say this, and I testify in the Lord, that you no longer walk as the Gentiles walk in the vanity of their own sense, having their understanding darkened by shadows, alienated from the life of God through the ignorance which is in them because of the blindness of their own hearts, who, despairing, have delivered themselves over to unchastity, to the working of impurity, and to every avarice. But you have not learned Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard him, and have been instructed in him, so that, as the truth is in Jesus, you may put off, according to your former way of life, the old man, who is corrupted according to the desires of error. Renew yourselves, however, in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, who is created according to God in justice and the sanctity of truth. For this reason, laying aside falsehood, speak the truth each one with his neighbor, since we are members of one another. Be angry, and do not sin. Let not the sun set upon your anger. Give no place to the devil. He who used to steal, let him steal no more. Rather, let him labor, working with his hands at what is good, so that he may have something to give to one suffering need. Let no evil speech proceed from your mouth; but if any speech is good for the edification of opportunity, so that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you are sealed unto the day of redemption.

Let all bitterness and anger, and indignation, and outcry, and blasphemy be taken away from you, along with all malice. But be mutually kind and merciful, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be imitators of God, as most beloved children, and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God in an odor of sweetness. But fornication, and every impurity, or avarice, let it not even be named among you, as befits saints, nor baseness, nor foolish talk, nor scurrility which does not pertain to the matter, but rather thanksgiving. For know this, understanding, that every fornicator, or impure person, or avaricious person—which is servitude to idols—has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one seduce you with empty words. For because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of faithlessness. Therefore do not become participants with them. For you were once darkness, but now light in the Lord. As sons of light, walk (for the fruit of light is in all goodness and justice and truth), testing what is pleasing to God. And do not share in the unfruitful works of darkness; rather, rebuke them. For what is done by them in secret is shameful even to speak of. But all things that are rebuked are made manifest by light. For everything that is made manifest is light. On account of which it says: Arise, you who sleep, and rise from the dead, and Christ will illuminate you.

See to it, therefore, brothers, how cautiously you walk, not as foolish persons, but as wise ones, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Therefore, do not become imprudent, but understand what the will of God is. And do not become drunk with wine, in which lust dwells, but be filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking among yourselves in psalms, hymns, and spiritual canticles, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks for all things, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God the Father. Be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. For everything that is irreproachable, the Catholic Church defends (Canon IX of Nicaea, cited in the Sixth Roman Council under Symmachus). Therefore, it is not lawful for an emperor, or for anyone who guards piety, to presume anything against the divine commands, nor to do anything that opposes the evangelical, prophetic, and apostolic rules.

IV. For an unjust judgment and an unjust definition, ordered by judges out of fear of the king or by his command, shall have no force; nor shall anything that has been done contrary to the constitution of evangelical, or prophetic, or apostolic doctrine, or of their successors, or of the holy Fathers, stand. And whatever has been done by unbelievers or heretics shall be entirely annulled (Thus far the sixth council under Symmachus). But you, stand fast in the faith, act manfully, and let all your deeds be done with charity. For this reason, as the Apostle says (1 Cor. 16; Eph. 5), I bend my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom all paternity in heaven and on earth is named, that He may give you, according to the riches of His glory, strength, to be strengthened through His Spirit, to have Christ dwell in the inner man through faith in your hearts, rooted and grounded in charity, so that you may be able to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth, length, and depth (height), and also to know the supereminent charity of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of the Lord. And to Him who is able to do all things more abundantly than we ask or understand, according to the power that works in us, glory be in the Church, and in Christ Jesus, in all generations of ages of ages. Amen. Given on the fifth day before the Ides of September, in the seventh consulship of Diocletian and the sixth of Maximian, most illustrious men (in the year 299).