Epistola Et Decreta

Pope Boniface II, Letters and Decrees. First Letter (Formerly XI). Boniface, Pope, to Caesarius of Arles. At his request, he confirms what had been defined in the Synod of Orange. To his most beloved brother Caesarius, Boniface. Through our son Armenius, presbyter and abbot, we received the letters of your fraternity, which you, as it appears, still unaware of the priesthood entrusted to me, had directed to us under the charity by which we are bound in God. In these letters you believed it should be requested that what you had sought from our predecessor of blessed memory, Pope Felix, for the firmness of the Catholic faith, might be set forth by my insistence. But because the divine will has so disposed that what you had hoped to obtain from him through us, you would rather obtain from us, we have not delayed in giving a Catholic response to your petition, which you conceived with praiseworthy solicitude. For you indicate that some bishops of the Gauls, while they agree that all other good things come from God by grace, wish to claim that faith alone, by which we believe in Christ, is of nature, not of grace; and that it remained for men from Adam, which it is impious to say, in free will, and not also now (the preposition *ab* is absent here).

Palatino and others) are conferred upon individuals by the bounty of divine mercy: requesting that, to remove ambiguity, we might confirm by the authority of the apostolic see your confession, whereby you, on the other hand, define that right faith in Christ, and the beginning of all good will, according to catholic truth, is inspired in the minds of individuals by the prevenient grace of God. And therefore, since on this matter many Fathers, and especially the bishop of blessed memory Augustine, but also our predecessors, the bishops of the apostolic see, have argued so extensively and rationally that it should no longer be ambiguous to anyone, and that faith itself comes to us from grace, we have deemed it unnecessary to give a lengthy response; especially in light of the passages you cited from the Apostle, where he says: "I have obtained mercy, so that I might be faithful" (1 Cor. 7); and elsewhere: "It is given to you for Christ, not only that you believe in him, but also that you suffer for him" (Phil.

...it may clearly appear that the faith by which we believe in Christ, just as all good things, comes to each individual from the gift of heavenly grace, not from human power of nature: which we also rejoice that your fraternity, after consultation with certain priests of Gaul, has perceived according to the Catholic faith—namely, in those matters in which, as you indicated, they defined with one consent that the faith by which we believe in Christ is conferred by the prevenient grace of the Divinity; also rejecting that there is absolutely any good in the sight of God which, without God’s grace, anyone can will, or begin, or work, or complete, as our Savior Himself says: “Without me you can do nothing.” For it is certain and Catholic that in all good things, whose author is God, divine mercy still prevents us unwilling, or when we are willing, is present in us when we will, and also follows so that we may persevere in the faith, as the prophet David says: “My God, His mercy will go before me” (Psalm 58); and again: “My mercy is with him” (Psalm 88); and elsewhere: “His mercy will follow me” (Psalm 22). Similarly, the blessed Paul says: “Or who first gave to him, and will it be repaid to him? since from him, and through him, and in him are all things” (Romans 11). Hence we greatly wonder at those who think otherwise, that they are still so weighed down by the remnants of ancient error as to... against Christ.

they do not believe it comes by the gift of God, but from nature; and they declare that the good of nature itself, which is known to have been corrupted by the sin of Adam, is rather the author of our faith than Christ, and they do not understand that they are contradicting the Lord's saying: "No one comes to me unless it has been given to him by my Father" (John 6). But they also at the same time oppose the blessed Paul crying out to the Hebrews: "Let us run, looking to the contest set before us, to the author and finisher of faith, Jesus Christ" (Heb. 12). Since these things are so, we cannot find what they assign to human will for believing in Christ without the grace of God, when Christ is the author and finisher of faith. Therefore, greeting you with fitting affection, we approve your above-written confession as consistent with the catholic rules of the Fathers. But those who, as you indicate, wish to attribute the other goods to grace after faith has preceded, we bind by their own profession, so that they are compelled to ascribe faith itself much more to the gift of grace, without which there is no good that anyone can perform according to God, as the blessed apostle says: "Everything that is not from faith is sin" (Rom. 14). Since this is so, either they will attribute no good to grace, if they strive to remove faith from it; or if they say that any good is from grace, faith itself must necessarily be attributed to grace.

For if there is no good without faith, and faith itself is denied to come from grace, then no good—which God forbid—will be attributed to grace. For the Apostle James says: "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, descending from the Father of lights" (James 1). But even they themselves confess, as you say, that other gifts are given through grace; yet they do not doubt that all goods subsist through faith itself. Therefore faith itself must necessarily be attributed to grace, from which they cannot separate the good that they attribute to grace. Having thus briefly set these matters forth, we have not thought it necessary to respond to the remaining absurdities of the Pelagian error, which that letter seems to contain, that you said was sent to you by a certain priest; because we hope from divine mercy that through the ministry of your fraternity and teaching, it will deign to work in the hearts of all whom you said dissent, so that from this they may believe that every good will proceeds not from themselves but from divine grace, when they perceive that they now wish to defend what they were stubbornly striving to attack. For it is written: "The will is prepared by the Lord" (Prov. 19, according to the LXX), and elsewhere: "I know that I cannot be continent unless God gives it, and this very thing was of wisdom, to know whose gift this was" (Wis. 8). May God keep you safe, dearest brother. Given on the eighth day before the Kalends of February, under the consuls Lampadius and Orestes, most illustrious men (in the year of Christ 530).

THREE BOOKLETS OF STEPHEN TO BONIFACE. FIRST BOOKLET. To my lord, holy and through all things most blessed, and truly venerable father of fathers, universal patriarch Boniface, Stephen, a lowly bishop. Not using an irrational confidence, nor being ignorant of my own mediocrity, but with a contrite heart and a humble spirit, and with many tears, I offer this my supplication to you, which I consider to be acceptable before you, most blessed father, because both before and now those who supplicated God with tears, as if with whole burnt offerings and with rams and bulls, but with ten thousand fat lambs, prayed confidently: for a contrite and humbled heart God will not despise (Psalm 50). Therefore neither will you yourself, most holy father, hold in contempt me, surrounded by many evils, and looking only to God and to your paternal customary piety. Since no ecclesiastical order can surpass that power of yours, which was conferred upon you by the Savior of all and the first shepherd, there is nothing so small or humble that your providence does not regard. As much as you surpass all before God, so much must you consider that this is the test of those loving God, as after God, Peter, the father and leader of the holy Church, bears witness for you and for the whole world. Because the Lord says a third time: Do you love me? Feed my sheep (John).

...he first delivered to you the mandates, showing them, and through you then granted them to all the holy Churches throughout the whole world. Finally, because of this, those who became venerable before you, and however many merited to hold that holy see, while dwelling in body indeed in the glorious Roman city, in spirit adorned all things that were rightly done and passed on, and very many from the body of the Church were freed from the violence of calumniating enemies by God and the venerable apostolic see. Wherefore I beseech you, judge the humble and the poor, as it is written (Psalm 81), justify me. For in secular life I had previously the provincial order of military service, and I was passing my life humbly, as it was, in a mediocre way. But because when Proclus of blessed memory, who had been made bishop of the Church of Larissa, fell asleep, it was necessary for a bishop to be ordained for that same Church, a decree was made commonly by both clergy and people, the metropolitan, and those whose assent was necessary for the action, and according to ancient custom, with three elected—Alexander, priest of Sciatus, and... priest, and myself, the lowly one—by a better testimony of the lot I merited the palm of election. But I, conscious of myself, judged myself unworthy of such a great matter; I freely assented, however, to the whole thing by the grace and clemency of God, to a robber and a publican and...

...looking at many other examples of this kind; I was encouraged by how God suddenly snatched some from the worst evils and, so to speak, from the very depths of wickedness, and some hope of good purpose was given to me. Therefore, from all, they conferred the election on that day, subscribing likewise to the decree. And because the ordination, according to ancient custom, had to take place not elsewhere but in the same city, the holy synod of the province assembled, together with the landowners of the entire city and the whole body of the Church, and with the common testimony of all, detracting nothing from custom, I was ordained bishop in the Church. For Probianus, the God-loving bishop of the city of Demetrias, had such eagerness for this matter and embraced the deed that he even called forth praise of God in the Church to exercise the person of my humility. And so that nothing may be understood from my own words, from those who wished and chose me, it is given to understand that this ordination came about according to God. Therefore, I beseech you, most blessed father, that you deign to hear these things calmly; for I do not suggest these things out of love for the praise of my lips, as it is written, since he who glories in himself cannot be approved before God, but so that, with you knowing these things, the calumny that has been stirred up against me may clearly appear. How much, moreover, the provincial bishops and the holy clergy of the Church then said, showing that they rejoiced over my election, I judged superfluous for your ears.

Therefore, with the enemy of all good men at rest, and with God not regarding my sins, the Church suffered no disturbance, and there was a charity that concealed everyone’s fault, as it is written. But, incited by some unknown cause, Antonius, the timoratus presbyter and steward, and Probianus, the defamer, bishop of the city of Demetrias—that Probianus, most blessed one, who, repelling others hastening to speak my praises, himself in the Church of God performed the titles of my praise—together with Demetrius, the God-loving bishop of the city of Sciatis, and others of his faction, persuading them to be participants, neither blushing at the subscriptions contained in the decree, nor Probianus at his own praise and the testimony of the whole Church, nor at those things which they said or did—how they embraced my ordination, how even before ordination my person was pleasing to them, how they gladly bore the celebrated ordination—suddenly set out for the royal city, and, composing some accusation, laid complaints before the most holy archbishop of that city, Epiphanius, saying that my ordination was in no way in accordance with the holy canons, hoping that another bishop would be substituted in my place. Therefore, as I begin to speak of these things, distress certainly holds me.

If I should speak of what they have wrought against me, or of the storm that now threatens my life, or of those things which threaten, because they are more severe, lest anyone judge me insolent or audacious for saying something about such a great and such a prelate of the Church. But if I should be silent about these things, as it is for me (read: woe is me), whence do I have help? But, committing myself to the judgment of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, and of your blessedness, and of the piety of the most serene emperor, I could not be silent. Therefore, when my accusation reached the most holy Archbishop Epiphanius (again and again I beg pardon for what I am about to say; may you, most holy fathers, judge these things not to be of insolence or audacity, but of necessity), he made a memorandum, as they themselves call it, addressed to the name of Andrew, a most religious man, deacon and notary of his holy Church, and sent it to the province of Thessaly; ordering me to withdraw from the sacred ministry, as one not ordained according to the canons; using no proof of accusations, nor canonical summons, he suspended other bishops of the same province and the clergy of our holy Church from my communion, and, what is most extreme, he did not permit me to have food or necessities from ecclesiastical properties: but those things which are usually done in insults, these he is known to have exercised against me before any judicial examination took place. For in the case of those who truly offend, many mercies are established by the Churches.

Therefore, this religious man Andrew, whom I mentioned above, was ordered to carry out these actions against me. And so that he might present my presence to respond to the judgment of the one who suspended me from communion, he was ordered to produce also Eustathius, bishop of the city of Gomphi, and Elpidius of Thebes, and also Stephen of Lamia, as if they were accomplices in my illicit ordination. Moreover, Demetrius and Probianus, religious men who had previously been a great part of my election and ordination, were kept by the one who was compelling me to trial, and he entirely fostered them for my destruction. The aforementioned religious man Andrew did not find me there, because I had set out shortly before for the great city of Thessalonica; but having gathered together the clergy and as many others as he could find, he read to them the memorandum and the letter addressed to them. Now, such a letter had been written to the clergy by that same most holy man; and he drew up official acts before the defender of the city, copies of which I have not omitted to append to my small booklets. Moreover, an inventory was made of the sacred vessels and ecclesiastical property; and some were removed from the care of ecclesiastical matters by the religious man Antony, who was conniving everywhere with the religious man Andrew. The aforementioned Andrew, coming to the great city of Thessalonica, showed to me and to the aforementioned God-loving bishops Elpidius and Stephen what had been ordered and threatened.

I, however, fearing neither accusers nor the attempts of any, but looking only to God, and to the laws of the holy Church, and to the primacy of the holy Churches handed down to you, immediately said among the proceedings that if it were necessary for me to respond to any accuser, or if it were deemed fit to judge anything concerning my ordination, it is necessary for me to state my case; but elsewhere, where the law of the sacred canons is preserved, and the custom has been observed up to now, making mention of your holy head and the apostolic see, saying that you are the lords of this examination, begging that nothing new should be done concerning me, or that which could disturb what is well settled. For what place of remedy would have remained for me to you, the most blessed lords of judgment, if I had not said these things? But I did not say only this, but I also showed some documents beneficial to the case. Moreover, these proceedings which were done, which I have attached to my small books, and the decree made against me and the titles of praise, signify this. I indeed thought that this faith of the demand of the case could have been mine, if the incompetent person, named by you, to whom it is given by God to judge, should withdraw himself. For God is not of disturbance, but of peace (1 Cor. 14:33). But neither these nor other things were able to suffice for my peace: but I was led unwillingly to the royal city.

And unless certain God-fearing men, foreseeing and awaiting the promised intervention through a visitation of the prisons, had promised that my presence would be forthcoming, I would certainly have been bound, a man harming no one, as I believe, except that I consented to those who chose me, and, entrusting myself to the hope of God, I deserved to be ordained; and because I said confidently that if any examination had to be conducted, it ought to be conducted by him who is established as the lord of this examination; and other things that were done to me, and which I do not doubt are being carried out. But I am compelled, and I have no time for respite; nor will I be able to find anyone who thinks for me in such great calamities. I confess that I endure worse things from those who threaten me—condemnation, exile, and all the vicissitudes of crimes, undeservedly I await. Therefore, I now seek from you a single remedy, trusting in your apostolic see: for hope, as divine scripture says, does not confound (Rom. 5). But if there were someone who presided, whom the sacred canons would decree to be the judge in this matter, it would be necessary, as I think, for him first to judge and examine the life of the accusers; because those cannot be accusers of a man who, however humble, has merited the honor of the episcopate. But because, on account of my trust in you, as I said, I have given offense, these things have been set forth on my behalf, and I am placed in the evils I have named above; therefore.

I implore you, if there is any mercy of God, any piety, any love, pass over, and here in the Holy Spirit, according to the blessed apostle, bringing me aid, remembering you and your predecessors of that blessed see, because they never allowed anyone to be unjustly harmed by anyone. For if you quickly come to the aid of the oppressed, I trust that I will be saved from my evils with that same speed. But if, which God forbid, my sins should delay your piety, at least if something is swiftly done by those lying in wait, then it is fitting for you to be present according to the sacred canons, and to carry out what has been omitted. For this is your work, most blessed one, day and night to guard the laws and constitutions of the holy Fathers and of your venerable and apostolic see in all churches, but especially in your Illyrican province. And in another hand. I, Stephanus Exiguus, bishop of the holy Church of Larissa, have subscribed with my own hand to this libellus made by me, and have sent it to my lord, most holy and through all things most blessed, also most venerable father of fathers and universal patriarch, Boniface.

Abundantius, bishop of the city of Demetrias, rising from the assembly, said: I could not pass over hearing the name of Probianus. This Probianus, about whom the matter is, is the one who invaded my church, and, as I was coming to your blessedness with letters from the bishop, seizing upon my absence, he usurped my place through temerity, and according to the sacred canons he ought not to be called a bishop; against him I beg your blessedness that the discipline of the apostolic see may come to my aid. Boniface the bishop said: Let both the reading of the presented petition and the statement of our brother and fellow bishop Abundantius be entered into the acts; and if there are any other matters, we wish to learn them. Theodosius, bishop of the city of Echinus in the province of Thessaly, said through an interpreter: And the same most holy Stephen, the metropolitan bishop, sent another petition to your blessedness through my service; I ask that you deem it worthy to be read aloud to your minds. Boniface the bishop said: Let the petition which he offers, once received by the notaries, be read. And when it had been received, Menas the notary read it.

LIBEL II. To my lord, holy and most blessed and truly venerable father of fathers, archbishop and patriarch Boniface, a supplication given by Stephen, the humble. Those things which formerly were in hope, and which made me fear and tremble and invoke your holy apostolic see, now that they have seized and constricted my wretched life, compel me all the more to appeal to your beatitude. Behold the acceptable time, behold now the day of salvation (1 Cor. 6). Free me from my enemies, and snatch me from my persecutors: for water has been sprinkled around me up to my soul, venerable father, and the deepest abyss has surrounded me: let my life rise from corruption, as it is written. For if the mercies of God had not come before, I would indeed have become the work that my enemies themselves wished. But I weep and mourn, because at that time even the ecclesiastical order is in peril. For since, according to the great mercy of Him who scarcely imputes sins to men, in the city of Larissa, which is in the province of Thessaly, I was elected and ordained bishop; some of those who elected me, and who often confirmed their election by their own writings, so that I might be judged worthy of the priesthood, seeing that it was my zeal to recall the ancient custom in our holy Churches, separated me and accused me before the most blessed prelate of the holy Church of the royal city.

He, however, accepting the accusation, without first examining any of those things which ought to be inquired concerning a bishop, immediately separated me from all ecclesiastical ministry, sending some religious cleric of his holy Church with letters, which they call a memorandum, to the province of Thessaly. And since this is consistent neither with civil nor with worldly laws, nor does the order of canons evidently permit this to happen, that punishment should proceed before the examination of the trial—for Scripture, divinely proclaiming long ago, says: Do not admit a vain hearing—yet when the most religious man, who carried the order and wished to engage in some contention with me, had come to Thessalonica, I immediately said to him: It is fitting that the Apostolic See, that is, your Beatitude, both hear and determine the causes of our province. But the most holy archbishop of the royal city, not resting, also ordered me to be produced contrary to the canons. And when I had come, holding a council of the bishops who were staying there, I did not delay to allege this again, imploring the apostolic see of your holy and blessed head, and that the custom which has prevailed in our province up to now ought not to be overturned; and I begged that the authority of the apostolic see, which was given as by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the sacred canons, and so has been preserved by ancient custom, should not be violated in any way.

But he was unwilling to withdraw from his intention; rather, taking up the hearing, he had but one aim: to appear as lord and judge in the holy churches of the Thessalonian province. Therefore, looking upon the stormy tempest, I fled to your most safe and holy harbor, and making a petition, I sent these same suggestions to your blessedness, beseeching that you show in me the mercy of God and of the holy Church, which always comes to the aid of those in peril. But those who, I think, lie in wait for my life, perceiving that you do not disregard what has been done but pursue it, as is the custom of your holiness, and vindicate the order of the holy churches, have used every effort to accomplish their will before any ordinance from you arrives. Since nothing had been proven against me, nor had any fault been found worthy of canonical punishment, they pronounced sentence and, condemning me, suspended me from priestly office—though it is established that I was not allowed to plead my case more fully on my own behalf, nor, when I asked, was I permitted to show anything that might benefit my cause. For this reason I begged that sentence not be pronounced until what had been done was referred to you, most blessed ones, so that the discussion of the case might be reserved for you. This statement incited them even more against me, as they thought that something was being diminished from the right of the sacred churches of the royal city because I had seemed to name your apostolic see.

For I have said that the authority of the apostolic see, which was given by God and our Savior to the chief of the apostles, surpasses all privileges of the holy churches, in whose confession all the churches of the world rest. Therefore, after the sentence was read, I again implored your just hearing, before which no dispute of anyone can disturb your justice; but the fear of God that is in you itself restores to each his own rights through you. I think, however, venerable ones, that those who once attacked me, despising that, will again in a second matter do the same; and I suspect that they will not acquiesce even to this, but will also exercise their enmities against my wretched body, so that when I die no accuser may exist. For when the sentence had been left behind, I was soon given into the custody of the lovers of God, the defenders of the sacred church. But some who fear God, pitying my misery, since I was destitute on all sides, took me into their trust, promising a large sum of money for me, that I would not withdraw, but would remain under observation in the royal city; all those who contrived these things against me having this great design, that I might not be able to hasten to the footsteps of your blessedness and receive some mercy from you for the sake of God's command. Therefore I beseech you, have mercy on a man humble and with a terrified spirit, help me through the grace that has been conferred upon you by the Lord.

If indeed you have received from the Word of God the power to absolve even other sins, the divine Scripture saying that what you have loosed on earth is also loosed in heaven (Matt. 16), how much more will you have power in those things which have been done and decreed against me? For to you is left the poor man, the orphan, and you are the helper (Ps. 9); because I am known to be abandoned by all human hope. And another, Stephanus Exiguus, has subscribed to this supplication of mine. Boniface the bishop said: Let what has been read be placed in the ecclesiastical annals. And he added: Since the greater part of the day has passed, if you believe anything else remains, do not delay to make it known at the future session. SECOND SESSION. After the consulship of Lampadius and Orestes, most illustrious men, on the fifth day before the Ides of December, in the consistory of the blessed apostle Andrew, with the venerable man Pope Boniface presiding, together with Sabinus of the city of Canusium, Abundantius of the city of Demetrias, Carosus of the city of Centumcellae, Felix of the city of Nomentum, bishops; and with Sanctulus, Mercurius, Vivulus, Peter, Eventius, Albinus, Ursus, Peter, Epiphanius, Benedictus, Servus Dei, Gaudiosus, Peter, Valentinus, Renatus, Florentius, Hilarius, Paulus, Bacauda, Innocentius, Andreas, Gaudiosus, Philippus, Crescentio, Libertinus, Januarius, Sebastianus, Cyriacus, Vivulus, Dulcitius also sitting.

John, Pullio, Andrew, Bonus, Laurentius, Seleucus, Rusticus, Coelestinus, Barbarus, Laurentius, and Redemptus, presbyters, and also Tribune, Agapitus, Donatus, and Probus, deacons, being present; Tribune the archdeacon said: Theodosius, bishop of the city of Echinus in the province of Thessaly, as you established in the previous session, is waiting; what do you command? Boniface, bishop of the Catholic Church of the city of Rome, said: Let him come. When he had entered, Boniface the bishop said: Having entered, let him proceed with what he desires. Theodosius, bishop of the city of Echinus in the province of Thessaly, said through an interpreter: Elpidius, Stephen, and Timothy, venerable bishops, my brothers of the province of Thessaly, are known to have sent, through me, supplications to be offered to your sacred beatitude; order that these also, as I present them, be recited to you. Boniface the bishop said: Let this little document also be disclosed by the reading of the notary. When it had been received, Menas the notary recited it.

To our holy and most blessed, and truly venerable father of fathers and archbishop, Boniface the patriarch, Elpidius, Stephen, and Timothy, humble bishops. Your blessedness has long known the necessities that constrain us; and composing a small libellus, most holy father, we have long since declared and signified the evils we have endured and the more savage ones we expect; and because, serving the will and threats of those who contrive these things against us, they have one aim, that Stephen, the lover of God, be deprived of the episcopal office. But while he was still speaking, another messenger came, announcing worse things. For after the earlier events, the most holy president of the royal city’s Church, and the holy synod that was with him, persisting in their former will, tore from us Stephen, the lover of God, our pastor and that of the holy Church of Larissa, which is the metropolitan city of the province of Thessaly; composing a sentence of condemnation as pleased them, they added that it was not permitted for him to proceed to the province of Thessaly. But the aforesaid man, the lover of God, often testified during the proceedings to the most holy president of the royal city and the synod that had convened with him, that it was not lawful for them to assume this hearing, and especially to decree anything, but that this pertains to the blessedness of the apostolic see. They, however, despising his testimony, and especially incited all the more by it, pronounced a merciless sentence.

They indeed thought that he should be removed from our holy Church; but they were preparing to create a right for themselves in our province: so that by this example no one would dare to say anything concerning the right of our holy Churches, nor to make mention of antiquity or of those things which they have held up to now. For it is their aim to make us wretched under the ordination and right of the holy Church of the royal city. For all these things, weeping day and night, we pour forth tears to our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of all, our God, and we display our wretched gray hair, beseeching that you not allow us to be handed over into their hands. For these reasons we also appeal to your blessedness and to the apostolic see; and through it we believe that we hear and adore the thrice-blessed Peter and Christ our Lord, the first shepherd of the holy Church: hoping that you will by no means despise the petition of wretched men, which we have presented with a soul full of tribulation and sorrows; but that, correcting these things with a suitable amendment, and succoring these matters, you may deign to give a remedy, because our spirit has failed (Psalm 142), as it is said in the Psalms by one who was supplicating in anguish of soul: so that the God-loving man, who, striving to guard the right of the apostolic see, is seen to have endured such great dangers, may be restored to his office by apostolic authority, providing for the future that the custom of the holy Churches of our province be in no way overthrown.

Because if the mercy of God and your assistance had not come to our aid, a third or fourth messenger bearing similar things would come, for their intention does not rest with Stephen the lover of God, but they will do this to many others, and they will not rest until they bring their desires to effect. And in another hand. Elpidius, humble bishop of the holy Theban Church, supplicating through John my presbyter, because due to the pain of my hand I could not subscribe, subscribed at my command. Timothy, humble bishop of the holy Church of Dicaesarea, supplicating, subscribed. Patricius, humble presbyter of the holy Church of God of Laminum, coming to the royal city on behalf of the person of Stephen, holy bishop of mine, at his command supplicating, subscribed. Boniface the bishop said: Let what has been read be transcribed. And he added: If there is anything else, let it be suggested. Theodosius, bishop of the city of Echinium in the province of Thessaly, said through an interpreter: From the reading of the libelli, your Beatitude has learned what acts were committed against the holy canons and the ordination of your predecessors. For it is established that the venerable pontiffs of your see, although the apostolic see claims for itself the primacy over the whole world by right and it is necessary to appeal to it in all ecclesiastical causes, have nevertheless specially claimed for their governance the churches of Illyricum.

And the writings of all preceding pontiffs are known to you; nevertheless, I present copies of certain letters, whose authenticity I request be established from your archive now. Bishop Boniface said: Let the letters that have been presented be read aloud, and let the trustworthiness of the writings be sought from the archive of the Apostolic See. And when the copies had been received and freed, the notary Menas read them aloud.