Synodo Ecclesiasticae Vir Spectabilis Anagnosticus Regis

SYNOD OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL MEN, THE SPECTABLE MAN, THE READER OF THE KING. First, the bishops are to be greeted, and the matter at hand is to be stated to them. If it had seemed good to me, or if it had been just, that I ought to have heard the case with the nobles of my palace, I could have arranged how it might have pleased God and not been displeasing to posterity. But because the cause is of God and of the clergy, therefore, at the petition of the senate or the clergy, the bishops have assembled from various cities, as if with God as mediator, according to what you read in the Gospel and in the Apostle to the Corinthians, follow this. For if you seek my opinion, as I said above, follow what God commands in the Gospel. But if it seems good to you to settle the case without discussion, or after it has been discussed, judge as you see fit. Do not fear my person; I will render an account before the sight of God. It is only that you dismiss the senate, the clergy, and the people in peace, and that you write down what you have judged. We, however, approve that you will order this well if you restore complete peace to the people, the senate, and the clergy. But if you do not do this at all, you will show that you have favored one party. Therefore, keep no one’s person before your eyes; although if someone were violently to try to impose unjust things upon you, you ought to guard justice, even at the cost of your possessions. For many bishops, both from your region and from ours, have been cast out from their churches and their possessions because of the causes of God, and yet they live.

I not only impose, but also urge that you do what God has commanded, and what you have read in the Gospel and the Apostle. But if you examine the case, or under some pretext judge the case better. But if you leave it unexamined, you give an example to priests of living altogether wickedly. When he said this, he proposed a simile: Once, when it was said by the senate that he himself should become emperor, Aspar is reported to have given this response: I fear that through me a custom of sinning might arise in the kingdom. I say likewise now, lest our holy Fathers be angered, lest through them, when they have not examined and so have judged, a custom of sinning might generally arise among all priests. Likewise, if he wishes to examine the case, so that he may depart secure, Arigernus, Gudila, and Bedeulphus shall provide him oaths. Concerning the estate or the Lateran house, as shall have been adjudged, the synod shall restore it to him. Concerning the vengeance which awaits examination, if it pleases them, either they themselves shall exact it, or those whom we appoint shall execute the penalties according to the laws.