Appendix I. Epistola ad Salomonem Episcopum

Appendices to the Writings of the Holy Roman Pontiffs Marcellinus, Marcellus, Eusebius, and Miltiades, Who Are Mentioned in Volume VI. First Appendix, to Saint Marcellinus, Pope. First Letter, of Pope Marcellinus to Bishop Salomon. The error of those who say that the Father is greater than the Son is refuted, etc. Marcellinus, bishop of the holy catholic church of the city of Rome, to Salomon, fellow bishop, greeting in the Lord. How laudably you are moved for the truth of the catholic faith, and how diligently you devote yourself to the pastoral office for the Lord’s flock, the writings of your fraternity, delivered to us through your deacon, demonstrate; by these you have seen fit to bring to our attention what diseases of error have now arisen in your regions. For the language of the letter, the series of the memorandum, and the text of your little book declare that some, deceived by error, say that the Father is greater than the Son for this reason: because sacrifice is offered to Him alone, and that the Son has no share in the work of communion with the Father, and that the prophetic saying is spoken of the Father alone: “Let the nations know that your name is God, you alone are the highest over all the earth” (Psalm 82). Or that the Son is lesser because He, hanging on the cross, said: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27). To these things, a fitting and suitable [response] (Ithacius against Varimadus, ch.

A response should be given, because just as to the Father, so also to the Son, not only in Christian times but even in ancient times, we prove by various and many ways from the priests that sacrifice was offered, as the prophet Daniel says: "There is no place," say the three youths, "to sacrifice to your name and to find your mercy, but let us be received with a contrite soul and in a spirit of humility. And just as holocausts of rams and bulls and fat lambs, so let our sacrifice be made in your sight today, that it may please you" (Daniel 3). And that you may recognize that it was the Son to whom these three youths confessed they had offered sacrifice, learn from the confession of the king and tyrant himself, who had ordered them to be cast into the fiery furnace, and who revealed that he had seen a fourth with the three, joined with them in the blazing inferno. "Did we not," he says, "cast three bound men into the furnace?" And they said to him: "Truly, king." And he said: "Behold, I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire; and the appearance of the fourth is like the Son of God" (Ibid.). The same Son of God speaks through the prophet, saying: "Kings will offer gifts to you" (Psalm 67). And to show that he had said these things about the Son of God, he said: "Kings of Tarshish and the island will offer gifts, kings of the Arabs and Saba will bring presents: and all kings will adore him: all nations will serve him" (Psalm 71).

And so that we may teach that all these things, designated above, were offered to Christ the Son of God, we prove that they were fulfilled in the nativity of the same Son of God, which was made in the flesh, as the Gospel attests: When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, behold, Magi came from the East to Jerusalem, saying: Where is he who is born king of the Jews? And further: And entering the house, they found the child with Mary his mother, and falling down, they worshipped him; and opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Matthew 2). Therefore the sacrifice which is brought to the sacred altars by Christians is offered with common devotion not only to God the Father but also to the Son, since it can be offered neither to the Father without the Son, nor consecrated to the Son without the Father. That the Father and the Son have a common operation (of the same Ithacius, chapter 52) is taught in this way, while the first man's formation is said to have been made by God to the image of God by the power of common operation, as Scripture says: Let us make man in our image and likeness (Genesis 1). Likewise there: Let us go down and confound their language there (Genesis 11). And, The Lord rained down from the Lord fire and sulphur upon Sodom (Genesis 19). And in the Gospel: My Father works until now, and I work (John 5). Similarly: and the works which I do are not mine, but those of him who sent me, the Father (John 8).

All these things do not show a separate power of the Father and the Son, but announce one operation of the divinity. And he who carries out the Father's work is not believed to be alien from the Father's works. But if from the Gospel you had known the Son of God called the Most High (Ithacius, ch. 53), you would never, detracting from the Son, have placed this testimony as spoken only of God the Father, since it is written: "You, boy, will be called the prophet of the Most High" (Luke 1). And that the Son is believed to have dwelt with the Father without distinction in the highest places is proved by the testimony of Solomon: "I, Wisdom," he says, "dwelt in the highest places, and my throne in a pillar of cloud" (Ecclesiasticus 24). And in Psalm 91: "But you, Lord, are the Most High forever, for behold, your enemies will perish." For when the devil placed his throne against the throne of his creator in the highest places, puffed up with pride, he dared to utter these things with his accursed mouth: "I will set my seat in the north; I will ascend," he says, "above the stars of heaven; I will sit upon the high mountains and will be like the Most High" (Isaiah 14). Likewise in Solomon: "Do not say, 'I have sinned, and what sad thing has happened to me?' For the Most High is a patient avenger" (Ecclesiastes 5). If you do not wish to lend the ear of your heart to the divine Scriptures, which teach that the Son is called the Most High, at least believe the devil, who wished to place his seat against the throne of his maker.

So that you may recognize that the Son was not completely abandoned by the Father (as you suspect), He placed this testimony about Himself in the Gospel: "The Father, who sent me, is with me, and has not left me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to Him" (John 8). Hence, by way of correction, we command that all care and vigilance be applied, lest the faith be violated or profaned. There is now no place for ignorance; let no one use the excuse of past simplicity. For one who knowingly sins, confusion is necessary; and what the mouth has contracted, knowledge should reform. Hold to these things, brother, and teach them (Hormisdas, ep. 24). Would that the joys of your presence had befallen us for the fullness of a more ample discourse, so that we might rejoice in enjoying both conversation and your presence, whom we have already embraced in writing. Nevertheless, most beloved brother, you have proven with what affection you venerate the Christian faith, since you desire to preserve without any transgression those things that pertain to the rules of the Fathers and to catholic mandates; and, having spurned erroneous and harmful teaching, to hold to catholic and apostolic precepts, and to teach and preserve the rules of right faith. These things, dearest brother, and others (from the same epistle).

), which are contained in the rules of the Fathers, let us meditate with undivided reflection upon our lips and in our hearts, and as it is written, let us recount them to our children, so that they may meditate upon them in their hearts, sitting at home, walking on the road, sleeping and rising: for blessed in the Lord is he who will meditate upon His law day and night (Ps. 77). For the teacher of the Gentiles, following this, instructing his disciple, admonishes: Meditate upon these things, be in these (1 Tim. 4), adding the fullness (so also the manuscript codex of Justin). Attend to yourself and to doctrine: since if we apply ourselves without interruption to the faithful institutions, we are separated from vices, while the care devoted to divine work leaves no place for human error. For (Hormisdas, ep. 79) if those things which have been foretold are held by strong roots, and one does not depart from paternal tradition, and one steadfastly meets questions, and the intention of the wicked is nullified, and the faith and constancy of the good is strengthened. Given on the eighth day before the Ides of September, in the sixth consulship of Diocletian and the second of Constantius, most distinguished men (year 296).