Epistola Orientalium ad SS Julium I Papam

Letter of the Eastern Bishops to Pope Julius I. (Conc. t. II, col. 481.) They complain that he has received Athanasius and the others whom they had condemned into communion. To the most blessed and honorable father Julius, venerable bishop of the apostolic see; Eusebius, Theognius, Theodorus, and Berinthus together with the rest of our brothers and fellow bishops, assembled at Antioch. Although we know the Roman church to be munificent towards all, and to have apostolic care, and always to be a mother of piety, even though preachers of piety came to her from the East, nevertheless we would wish you to agree with us, and that those whom we have suspended from communion should be suspended by you: and those whom we confirm in the order of bishops should be confirmed by you: and that we should not be considered second, since from these parts apostles who taught doctrine reached as far as you. For we have not opposed you, although we could have done this when Novatian was expelled from the Roman church, because (to speak according to common custom) everyone who wishes to withdraw from a friend seeks enmities (Prov. XXVIII). Nor can one be free from fault who receives into communion one excommunicated by another, without the permission of the one by whom he was deprived of communion, the canons indeed commanding that one excommunicated by some should not be received by others, while those by whom he is known to have been deprived of communion are still living.

Nor do you only heap insult upon us in these matters, but also in that you dissolve our councils and refuse to let them stand. For there have been condemned by us, and especially by the bishops of the entire East, Athanasius of Alexandria, Paul of Constantinople, Marcellus of Ancyra, Asclepius of Gaza, and Lucianus of Hadrianople, for certain crimes with which they have been charged before us, all of which we do not fail to make known to your Holiness through the present bearers of this letter, in a certain report. Having learned these things, if you choose to assent to our decrees rather than to their machinations, and to confirm the bishops ordained in the place of the condemned, we wish to have peace and communion with you. But if you act otherwise, and judge it better to assent to them rather than to us, we will do the contrary, and from now on we wish neither to assemble with you, nor to obey you, nor to favor you and yours, but we will endeavor to do whatever we choose better on our own. For there is no one in this part of the world of mature age who is ignorant of the machinations of the aforementioned deceivers; because of them many evils have been perpetrated, many councils have been held at various and harsh times, many seditions, many machinations, many insults have been inflicted upon us, and many other things which it would be too long to enumerate. For if you choose to consent to them, it is clear that you wish to destroy us, and not, as a father, to cherish your sons.

They say and affirm that both the citizens of those men and also their priests wish you to favor these murderers, destroyers of sacred temples, defilers of virgins, burners of sacred books, and plunderers of sacred vessels and other sacred ministries, neglecters of duties, traitors to emperors, betrayers of their people and country, and those who generate the greatest discord among priests, because they placed the word "consubstantiality," which is not found in Scripture, in the teaching of the faith. Why is it necessary to enumerate more, when because of them, as we and all the inhabitants of this region know, such a great slaughter of men has been perpetrated that more than a thousand men have been laid low? To favor such men is nothing other than to consent to their crimes, since sacred Scripture forbids this, saying: "Not only those who commit the deeds are guilty, but also those who consent to those who commit them" (Romans 1). For you must oppose such men with all your strength, lest you become entangled in their sins, and do not receive their excommunication. Cast such men far from you, lest because of the animosity of such men, weak souls and ignorant peoples perish in sacrilegious dissension. Therefore, it is fitting that you resist the wicked with probity. Wherefore, if you neglect to cast down the perverse, it is clear that you protect their error.

Nor is it free from the suspicion of secret association, he who manifestly fails to oppose manifest crimes (Felix III, in a letter to Acacius). For it befits you to sharpen your tongue to rebuke their insolence, and to repel them from you as if they were venomous, lest you and yours be wounded in any way by their poison. Therefore (the same Martinus) the complaints brought against them suffice for us, since time will fail us, as the Apostle says, if we should wish to produce all the complaints brought against them by all who speak ill; especially since those things which have been said above suffice for us. Nor is it necessary for us to again publicize their evils, since they themselves come forth on their own, and especially all the Easterners stand as witnesses to their evils. For on the word (according to what is written) of two or three witnesses every word will stand (Matthew 18): how much more in the multitude of so many priests and peoples, abbots or monks, who daily cry out with voice, in writing and without writing, against the depravity of these men? But we have long awaited them with great patience, that they might produce grapes, but on the contrary they have produced wild grapes. Therefore you ought no longer to neglect and defer such men, lest (which God forbid) you be subjected to their aforementioned crimes, irrationally appointing them as bishops.

For they themselves, unless they are quickly corrected, according to what the blessed apostle testifies, by reason of their hardness and impenitent heart, are storing up wrath for you on the day of wrath and revelation of the just judgment of God, who will render to each according to his works (Rom. II). Those who are to be corrected, lest through temporal pleasure (S. Greg.), and through their lies and fabrications, with you giving them assent, they should lose the eternal rewards which they could have obtained through true penitence. Nor do we impute these things, which have been foretold, solely to Athanasius and his followers, but also that he acted against the rule which we had decreed, because he received the priesthood not by decree of a common council (Trip. hist. IV, et 16, X, 17, ex Socr, a Soz.) of bishops, but by arrogating to himself he had entered the church and sat in the see, when it had long been decreed that no one ought to be restored by a smaller number than that by which he was known to have been deposed. Then, because by his arrival a crowd was stirred up, and very many died in the sedition, and not only were these things done by him and on his account, but also some, already beaten by the said Athanasius, are said to have been handed over to the judges. These and countless other things have been shamelessly perpetrated by him and his followers, whom you, excommunicated, have (as we have heard) joined to communion against the rule, to the insult of all the Easterners. To the aforementioned, therefore, of the due salutation (Ep.

of the Africans to Pope Coelestine I) by reason of the office rendered to the honor of blessed Peter, we request that henceforth you do not so readily admit to your ears those coming from here, nor should you any longer wish to receive those excommunicated by us, lest you be found transgressors of the canons; but rather, with fraternal charity preserved, you should in no way permit this error in the future. And the subscription: (The letter of Tarragona to Pope Hilary) Praying for us, may the Lord preserve your apostolate for a longer time, most blessed father. Amen.