Documenta / Graecorum Concilia

III. That bishops who have not been invited are not to go beyond their own dioceses.

Bishops who have not been invited ought not to go beyond their diocese to ordain anyone or to settle any ecclesiastical causes whatsoever, the rule which is written above concerning each diocese being preserved; for it is manifest that in each several province the provincial synod ought to administer and govern all things according to what was defined at Nicaea.

IV. Concerning the churches situated in barbarian territory.

But the churches of God which are established among the barbarian peoples ought to be ruled and administered according to the custom which is known to have prevailed from the Fathers.

V. Concerning the honor of the bishop of Constantinople.

The bishop of the city of Constantinople ought to have the honor of primacy after the bishop of Rome, because it is New Rome.

VI. Concerning Maximus the Cynic philosopher.

Concerning Maximus the Cynic philosopher and all his disorderly conduct which arose at Constantinople, it has been decreed that neither Maximus is to be considered to have been or to be [bishop] any longer, nor are those who were ordained by him to obtain any degree of the clergy whatsoever, all things, namely, which were done concerning him or by him being revoked to nothing.

VII. The Symbol of the same holy hundred and fifty Fathers established at Constantinople.

We believe in one God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, creator of all things visible and invisible: and in one Lord Jesus Christ our God, the only-begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, born, not made, consubstantial with the Father, that is, of the same substance with the Father, through whom all things were made, who for us and for our salvation descended and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit from the virgin Mary, was made man, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was buried, on the third day rose again, ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of God the Father, from there he will come with glory to judge the living and the dead, of whose kingdom there will be no end: and in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, proceeding from the Father and the Son, to be adored and glorified with the Father and the Son, who spoke through the prophets: in one catholic and apostolic Church: we confess one baptism for the remission of sins: we await the resurrection of the dead, the life of the world to come. Amen.

The names of the bishops. Nectarius of Constantinople. Timotheus of Alexandria. Dorotheus of Oxyrhynchus. Cyrillus of Jerusalem. Galasius of Caesarea. Macher of Jericho. Dionysius of Diospolis. Priscianus of Nicopolis. Saturninus Sebastianus. Ausentius of Ascalon. Helianus of Tamnis. Zenon of Tyre. Paulus of Sidon. Nestabus of Ptolemais. Philippus of Damascus. Beracus of Paliadensis. Timotheus of Berytus. Basilides of Ibbus. Mocimus of Arad. And the other one hundred and thirty.

IX. THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANTINOPLE.

Of one hundred and sixty-three bishops, besides eleven vicars, who subscribed in place of their prelates, in the times of the Emperor Constantine, in the year 720.

63-64. The holy, great, and universal synod, which by the grace of God and the most pious sanction of the most clement and most faithful great Emperor Constantine was assembled in this God-preserved royal Constantinople, New Rome, in the secretarium of the divine palace, which is surnamed Trullus, decreed what is contained below. The Only-begotten Son of God and of the Father, and the Word, who in all things was made like us, without sin alone, man, Christ our true God, through the evangelical voices proclaimed clearly: I am the light of the world; he who follows me does not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life; and again: I give you my peace, I leave you my peace.

Walking in this divinely uttered doctrine of peace, our most gentle emperor, who has also proved to be a propagator of the right faith and a vanquisher of false doctrine, gathering this holy universal council from among us, united the whole body of the Church.

Hence this our holy and universal synod, casting far away the error of impiety which has been introduced by certain persons at various times and persists even now, and following without offense the path of the holy and approved Fathers, has piously agreed in all things with the five holy and universal synods: with the three hundred and eighteen holy Fathers who assembled at Nicaea against the madness of Arius; and afterward with the one hundred and fifty God-inspired men at Constantinople against Macedonius, the fighter against the Spirit, and the impious Apollinaris; likewise with the synod gathered at Ephesus, of two hundred venerable men, against Nestorius and his Jewish understanding; and with that at Chalcedon, of six hundred and thirty God-inspired Fathers, against Eutyches and the God-hated Dioscorus; and beyond these, with the last of these, the fifth holy synod, which was gathered here against Theodore of Mopsuestia, Origen, Didymus, and Evagrius, and against the writings of Theodoret against the twelve chapters of the praiseworthy Cyril, and the letter said to have been written by Ibas to Maris the Persian—restoring in all things the unblemished sanctions of piety, and casting out the profane dogmas of impiety; and that which was set forth by the three hundred and eighteen Fathers, and likewise that which was confirmed by the one hundred and fifty God-inspired men, which the other holy synods also readily received and ratified for the destruction of every pestilential heresy—the symbol, and this our holy and

The universal, God-inspired synod has sealed this.

The Symbol of the Council of Nicaea of the three hundred and eighteen Fathers.

We believe in one God the Father almighty, creator [maker] of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God, who was born of the Father, only-begotten, that is, of the essence of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, born, not made, consubstantial with the Father, through whom all things were made, both in heaven and on earth, who for us men and for our salvation descended, and was incarnate and made man, suffered and rose on the third day, and ascended into heaven, and will come to judge the living and the dead; and in the Holy Spirit. But those who say that there was once when he was not, and that he was made from nothing, or from another substance or essence, and who say that the Son of God is either changeable or mutable, these the catholic and apostolic Church anathematizes.

The Symbol of the one hundred and fifty holy Fathers assembled at Constantinople.

We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, creator of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, who was born of the Father before all ages, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father, through whom all things were made, who for us men and for our salvation came down from the heavens, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became man, and was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered, and was buried, and rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures, and ascended into the heavens, and sits at the right hand of the Father, and will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, of whose kingdom there will be no end; and in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father, who with the Father and the Son is together adored and together glorified, who spoke through the prophets; and in one holy catholic and apostolic Church; we confess one baptism for the remission of sins, we hope for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Indeed, this pious and orthodox symbol of divine grace was sufficient for the perfect knowledge and confirmation of the orthodox faith; but since the inventor of ancient malice did not cease, having found the serpent as his co-worker, through whom he brought in the poisonous death of human nature, so now also finding instruments suited to his own will — we mean Theodore the Pharanitan bishop, Sergius, Paul, Pyrrhus, Peter, who were prelates of this royal city, and moreover Honorius who was pope of old Rome, and Cyrus who held the bishopric of Alexandria, and also Macarius who was recently prelate of Antioch, and Stephen his disciple — he did not rest from stirring up through them scandals of error for the fullness of the Church, spreading in concord among the orthodox people the heresy of one will and one operation in the two natures of the one Christ, our true God from the holy Trinity, a heresy consonant with the insane and malicious sect of the impious Apollinarius, Severus, and Themistius, which attempted to extinguish the perfection of the humanity of the one and same Lord Jesus Christ our God through a certain cunning device, in that by blaspheming it introduced his flesh as intellectually animated without will and without operation.

Therefore Christ our God stirred up the most faithful emperor, a new David, a man found according to his own heart, who did not give, as it is written, sleep to his eyes nor slumber to his eyelids, until through this our sacred assembly gathered by God he found the perfect preaching of the right faith itself; for according to the voice uttered by God, where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them.

This present holy and universal synod, faithfully receiving and embracing with outstretched hands both the suggestion made by the most holy and most blessed Pope Agatho of ancient Rome to our most pious and most faithful emperor Constantine—which specifically refutes those who taught or preached, as was said above, one will and one operation in the dispensation of the incarnation of Christ our true God—has also embraced the second synodal suggestion sent by the sacred council of one hundred and twenty-five God-beloved bishops under the same most holy pope to his God-instructed tranquility, as being in agreement with the holy Council of Chalcedon and with the tome of the most sacred and most blessed Pope Leo of the same ancient Rome, which was directed to Saint Flavian, and which this synod called the title of the right faith; and in addition the synodal letters that were written by the blessed Cyril against the impious Nestorius and to the Eastern bishops.

Following the five holy universal councils and the holy and approved Fathers, and defining in agreement that our Lord Jesus Christ is true God, one of the holy and consubstantial Trinity that is the source of life, perfect in divinity and the same perfect in humanity, truly God and truly man, the same composed of a rational soul and a body, consubstantial with the Father according to divinity and consubstantial with us according to humanity, in all things like us without sin, begotten of the Father before the ages according to divinity, but in the last days the same, for us and for our salvation, of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, who is properly and truly the God-bearer according to humanity, one and the same Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, to be acknowledged in two natures, without confusion, without change, without separation, without division, the difference of these natures being in no way abolished because of the union, but rather the property of each nature being preserved and concurring into one person and one substance, not parted or divided into two persons, but one and the same only-begotten Son, God the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ, according as the prophets once taught concerning him and the Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us, and the creed of the holy Fathers handed down to us.

And we proclaim equally, according to the teaching of the holy Fathers, two natural wills in him and two natural operations, undivided, unchangeable, inseparable, unconfused; and we proclaim the two natural wills not as contrary—far be it—as the impious heretics assert; but his human will follows and is not resistant or reluctant, but rather is subject to his divine and almighty will. For it was fitting that the will of the flesh be moved, but be subject to the divine will, according to the most wise Athanasius; for just as his flesh is called and is the flesh of God the Word, so also the natural will of his flesh is called and is the proper will of God the Word, as he himself says: Because I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me, calling his own will that which was of his flesh, for his flesh also has become his own. For just as his most holy and immaculate animate flesh was deified and not destroyed, but remained in its own proper state and reason, so also the will of his humanity was deified and not destroyed, but was rather saved, according to Gregory the theologian, who says: For his willing, which is understood in the Savior, was not contrary to God, being wholly deified.

But we glorify two natural operations in the same Lord Jesus Christ, our true God, undividedly, unchangeably, unconfusedly, inseparably: that is, a divine operation and a human operation, according to the most clear statement of Leo, the preacher of divine things; for he says: Each form, in communion with the other, accomplishes what is proper to it—the Word, that is, working what is of the Word, and the flesh carrying out what is of the flesh. For we will not grant in anyone one natural operation of God and of the creature, so that we neither raise what has been created to the divine essence, nor cast down what is excellent in the divine nature to the place that befits creatures. For we recognize that both the miracles and the sufferings belong to one and the same one, according to one and another of those things from which he consists and in which he has his being—the natures, as the admirable Cyril says.

Therefore, preserving everywhere what is unconfused and undivided, we proclaim all things with swift voice, believing that our Lord Jesus Christ, the true God, is one of the holy Trinity even after the incarnation. We say that there are two natures in him, shining forth in one subsistence of his, in which he demonstrated both miracles and sufferings through the whole course of his dispensation, not according to fantasy but truly, since the natural difference is recognized in that same one substance, in that each nature, in communion with the other, wills and operates its own properties undividedly and unconfusedly. According to this reasoning we also confess two natural wills and operations, coming together fittingly for the salvation of the human race. Having therefore defined these things with all diligence and care from every side, we decree that it is permitted to no one to bring forward, write, or compose another faith, or to think or even teach otherwise. But those who have presumed either to compose another faith, or to bring forward, or to teach, or to hand over another creed to those wishing to be converted from paganism to the knowledge of the truth, or from Judaism or from any heresy whatsoever, or to introduce a novelty of word or an invention of speech for the subversion of those things which have now been determined by us: these, if indeed they are bishops or clerics, are to be alienated—bishops from their episcopate, and clerics from their clergy; but if they are monks or laypeople, they are to be anathematized.

And the subscriptions.

Theodore, humble priest of the holy Church of Rome, representing the place of Agatho, the most blessed universal pope of the city of Rome, I have subscribed.

George, humble priest of the holy Church of Rome, as above.

John, humble deacon of the holy Church of Rome, as above.

Likewise George, by the mercy of God bishop of Constantinople, the new Rome, defining, I have subscribed.

And the others likewise we have read and consented.

The holy synod exclaimed: Many years to the emperor; to Christ's beloved emperor, many years. We all believe orthodoxly. Lord, preserve the enlightener of peace. To Marcian, the new Constantine, eternal memory; likewise to the new Justinian Constantine, eternal memory, who deposed the heretics: Lord, preserve. Let anathema be to Nestorius, Eutyches, and Severus; anathema to those who think like them: anathema to Theodore of Pharan; anathema to Sergius and Honorius; anathema to Pyrrhus and Paul; anathema to Cyrus and Paul [U., G., Peter]; anathema to Macarius and Stephen; anathema to Polycronius, the new Simon: anathema to all heretics: to those who have preached or preach and hope to teach one will and one operation in the incarnation of the dispensation of Christ our true God, anathema.

Leo, to all the most beloved brothers, the prelates of the Churches of Christ established throughout Spain.

Although the pursuits of men, by which human life is believed to be governed, are diverse, there is nevertheless one office of piety that can lead to the gain and merit of eternal life, in which it is fitting for every sharer of the Christian faith to strive, since indeed the condescension of the Holy Spirit inspires in him the affection of His grace and shows forth the blameless effect of good works, because the Spirit, as the Lord teaches, blows where He wills, and you hear His voice, and because His grace is incomprehensible, He connects and gives evidence, and you do not know where He comes from or where He goes. Knowing therefore and being satisfied that the zeal of the Christian religion burns also in you, and that you embrace the seeds of heavenly teaching with spiritual arms, and that the fervor and purity of the evangelical and apostolic tradition bear fruit in you, for which this holy mother of the Churches, the apostolic see, has always labored and labors even to the point of sacrifice, and first, if the divine majesty so decrees, she loves her soul [to be separated] from the body for a time [T.

...to be separated than by sacrilegious betrayal to be severed from the truthful confession for the sake of temporal delight or affliction, because without this, just as the reward of eternal blessedness, which the Lord has prepared for his saints, cannot be obtained, so—which must be lamented with mournful wailing—it comes about that one made an outcast from the living and true God through the error of false doctrine is handed over to eternal torments. But since now, by the grace of God, with our most Christian and most pious son the emperor Constantine reigning—whom the supernal clemency chose and fore-chose for this office of piety—the splendor of the right confession and apostolic tradition, with the darkness of heretical depravity driven out, has shone forth like a bright radiance throughout the whole world, and the peace and concord of truth reigns among all the prelates of the Churches of Christ, descending from the peaceful confession in Christ, who is true and salutary peace, through whom we are reconciled to God—let your sincerity know, and let the wondrous mighty works of God almighty be made known to all Christians, that in the city of Constantinople our most clement emperor, nay rather the son of the blessed apostle Peter, armed with zeal for God and inflamed with desire for piety, having gathered bishops from the parts of the whole world, fulfilled what for a long time he had faithfully desired, when the supernal majesty decreed it, through the newly elapsed new indiction.

Therefore the holy sixth universal council was convened, and to convene it there were sent, from the person of our predecessor of apostolic memory, the lord Pope Agatho, presbyters and deacons. Moreover, for the various councils subject to this holy apostolic see, whose ministry we discharge, archbishops were dispatched by us, who, presiding and sitting together with the pious prince and with all the prelates of the churches who had assembled by his command, first of all read through and reviewed the holy five universal councils and the venerable Fathers of the church, whose books and testimonies had been sent hither together with the dogmatic tome of our predecessor of apostolic memory, the lord Pope Agatho, and with the responses of our whole synod for the confirmation of the two natures and the two natural wills and operations in our one Lord Jesus Christ, and for the condemnation of those who taught or believed otherwise, and each of these things individually. And because they searched out the things of God with fear and love of him, by his nod the sincerity of the true confession was demonstrated and confirmed through them: to which the synodal definition, in agreement with the sayings of the apostolic men, bears witness; from which we trust that your love is satisfied.

But those who stood out as rebels against the purity of the apostolic tradition, departing from it, were punished with eternal condemnation—namely Theodore of Pharan, Cyrus of Alexandria, Sergius, Pyrrhus, Paul, and Peter of Constantinople, together with Honorius, who did not extinguish the flame of heretical dogma at its beginning by apostolic authority, as he ought, but fostered it by neglect. Those, however, who survived and refused to be converted to the confession of truth through the remedy of penitence, or to return, were struck from the episcopal and sacerdotal rank—namely Macarius, former bishop of Antioch, together with Stephen, a presbyter from among the abbots, his disciple—or rather, an instigator of heretical error—and a certain old man, Polycronius, a presbyter from among the abbots, a new Simon; who were rightly expelled from the Churches of Christ as faithless hirelings, since they had been harmful occupants and perverters of them, and were deported hither as exiles, so that they might recognize the guilt of their offenses and the reproaches of their blasphemies against God, being placed under the contempt and condemnation of all the faithful.

And because the proceedings of the universal council held in the city of Constantinople, for the diversity of tongue—since they were written in Greek—have not yet been carefully translated into our language, we have sent to your belovedness, translated from Greek into Latin, by the bearer of these presents, Peter the notary regional of our holy Church, the definition of the same holy sixth council for the time being, and the acclamation of the whole council made to the most pious prince, which is called the prophoneticus, and likewise the edict of the most clement emperor directed everywhere for the knowledge of all; and we will also send the acts of the whole venerable council, when they have been carefully translated, if your charity, fervent in good studies, is delighted by this.

We therefore exhort your concord, dedicated to divine ministries in the truth of the faith, that you apply the utmost diligence and effort and gird yourselves for equal labors, for the love and fear of God and for the advancement of the Christian religion and the purity of the apostolic preaching, so that through all the prelates, priests, and peoples of your province it may become known through our religious zeal and be wholesomely spread abroad, and that by all the reverend bishops, together with you, subscriptions may be attached to that same definition of the venerable council, and so that each bishop of the Churches of Christ, hastening as it were into the book of life, may inscribe his own name and, in the harmony of the one evangelical and apostolic faith, may join with us and with the universal holy synod through the confession of his subscription as though present in spirit, so that when our Lord Jesus Christ comes in glorious and terrible power to judge, meeting him with the title of the orthodox confession, he may show himself a sharer in the apostolic tradition by the seal of his own hand, so that with the blessed fellowship of the apostles of Christ, whose confession he embraces with the zeal of true piety, he may fully enjoy, ever revolving in the secret places of his heart the sentence of the Lord who preaches: Whoever confesses me before men, I also will confess him before my Father who is in heaven.

For we too, though unequal to the task, nevertheless act in the place of the prince of the apostles; when, with God's protection, we have received the pages of your subscriptions through the bearer of these presents, we deposit them at the confession of the blessed Peter, prince of the apostles, so that through his mediation and intercession, from whom the true tradition of the Christian faith descends, there may be offered to the Lord Jesus Christ, to his testimony and glory, the mystery of those who faithfully confess and subscribe—he who has granted the proclamation of the true confession concerning himself, which through the lapse of so many ages was oppressed by the snares of heretics, to shine forth everywhere clearly with the rays of truth, inspired through the diligent zeal of the pious prince. Therefore, since the opportunity of salvation has been offered, we exhort you to show yourselves truly a divine gift made fruitful by effective diligence, so that glory may increase for you before God from the purity of your conscience. May God keep you safe, most beloved brothers.

To his most beloved brother Quiricus, Leo.

We bring to the knowledge of your love that we have hastened to send there Peter, notary regional of our holy Church, the bearer of these presents, with a letter of instruction to all the bishops of Christ's churches together with you, and likewise also to our most excellent and most Christian son the king, and to the glorious count, causing to be delivered to him also the replies written on linen cloth, the definition of the venerable synod which, in the new indiction just past, was celebrated in the city of Constantinople with God's protection for the stability of our orthodox faith, as well as the acclamation of the most reverend bishops assembled in it, and the edict of our most pious son and most clement emperor; and to this, for God's ministry which we have undertaken, and for the uprightness of the apostolic faith through which we hope to save both ourselves and the souls committed to us, let your love in Christ show all its provision and concurrence, so that by your burning zeal for the evangelical and apostolic faith you may deserve to have fellowship of eternal blessedness with the blessed princes of Christ's apostles. May God keep you safe, most beloved brother.

Therefore, by the grace of blessing, we have sent to your love a cross containing a nail from the sacred chains of our author, the blessed apostle Peter, so that the charity of God and of neighbor may bind together the foremost merit, and through the banner of the life-giving cross Christ, who was suspended on it, may bind the members of the whole body with the nail of the divine commandments, so that, fortified by such a seal, with the doors of the heavenly kingdom opened, the prince of the apostles may receive him to the eternal blessedness to be attained with him.

To the glorious lord and son, Count Simplicius, Leo, bishop, servant of the servants of God.

Since the one remedy of our salvation is true confession in God, descending from apostolic tradition, with which the blessed martyrs strove for a time and merited the rewards of eternal life, for which the most approved Fathers and teachers of the holy Church, having endured various contests and immense afflictions, chose to give up their soul rather than betray the true faith—from whose regular doctrine, which this holy Church of Christ is known to preach, preserved and built up even now from the prince of his apostles, and through apostolic successors the saving institution has reached even to us by the grace of God, and also the urgency of our predecessors labored exceedingly for its stability—yet after so many contests and countless afflictions brought about at various times by those hostile to the true faith, at last heavenly clemency, setting the imperial heart aflame with heavenly grace and kindling it with the fervor of its grace to investigate the integrity of true piety, has recently arranged for a universal council to be gathered from different parts of the world, in which also the legates of this holy apostolic Church, which we have undertaken to administer by divine condescension, and the representatives of the councils subject to it, coming together with our most serene son the emperor, adorned with the insignia and fillets of piety, in that same sacred council, strengthened by pontifical writings and the testimonies of the holy Fathers, of the apostolic

they have proved with all their might that this holy Church, supported by divine aid, fully preaches and observes the rule of tradition. For the tome of the lord Agatho, of apostolic memory, the great pontiff and our predecessor, which he had sent to the most tranquil emperor, was so furnished from the definitions of the holy councils and from the testimonies and assertions of truth of the blessed Fathers that it both most clearly laid open the integrity of the apostolic faith and revealed the hiding-places of heretical error, and from his invincible utterances, by the grace of God, the darkness of heretical dogma having been removed from the hearts of men, the light of true confession shone forth. In this the labor of the most gentle prince for the piety of the right faith shone forth, to be praised in all ages, so that, with him favoring it and with God's protection, the truth of the apostolic faith might take the prize of victory, and the divinely granted empire might be adorned with the insignia of piety. And therefore you also, most glorious sons of the Church of Christ, in whom the desire of piety is strong, stretch out your hand in support of the evangelical and apostolic preaching, so that the brightness of the sincere faith, which you love, may also irradiate your most Christian regions, so that, favoring and laboring together with the apostolic preaching, you may deserve to have a fellowship of the faithful with God, to whom the integrity of true confession concerning him is directed.

For it belonged to our office, to whom the dispensation of souls has been entrusted, to make known also to your provinces, with fatherly affection, the definition of the holy sixth council celebrated in the city of Constantinople in the new indiction, and the acclamation of all the most reverend bishops, which is also called the prosphoneticus, and also the edict of faith sent hither by our most pious Augustus, our most serene son, and we have hastened to direct thither the bearer of the present letter, Peter, notary regional of our holy Church, so that concerning the progress of the evangelical and apostolic preaching, as true partners in the faith, you may rejoice with us in unanimity. Moreover, we have exhorted the reverend presidents of all the Churches to attach their subscriptions to the same apostolic and synodal definition, and, as fathers for their sons and with their sons, to inscribe their names in this book of life, to the praise of those faithfully running together and laboring with the Gospel of Christ, and for commendation before God, whom we then deserve to have propitious when we preserve the truth of his faith inviolate to the end. May supernal grace keep your glory safe.

Therefore, for the perpetual protection of your glorious Christianity, we have sent by the present bearer the venerable cross containing a key from the saving chains of our author Peter, the prince of the apostles of Christ, so that you may be continually saved by his apostolic protection, since you bear sincere love for him, faithfully provide for his lights, and truly embrace the uprightness of his tradition. Amen.

Benedict the priest, and in the name of God elected to the holy apostolic see, to Peter the notary of the region.

In accordance with the fact that the lord Pope Leo, of apostolic memory, arranged for your diligence to go to the province of Spain, to the most excellent and most Christian king and the most holy archbishops and prelates of all the churches established there, and also to the glorious count, to make known the definition of the venerable sixth synod, and also the acclamation which is called the prosphoneticus of the most reverend bishops who assembled in that council gathered by God, addressed to the most clement prince, and the edict of the same most pious prince sent generally everywhere, perform the entrusted ministry with the utmost zeal of piety for the strengthening of our apostolic faith.

Take care with the utmost diligence and vigilance that the subscriptions of the most reverend bishops be appended after that same synodal definition, so that both those most reverend bishops and every religious province through them may be approved as sharers with us of the catholic and apostolic tradition and faith, and so that before God, to whose glory the praise and stability of the Christian faith are directed, their commendation and reception may redound to the salvation of souls. Therefore, adorning the office of piety you have undertaken with vigilance and diligence, hasten to complete it, because you store up for yourself the fruit of a good work, and you provide for those who receive it to obtain the blessedness of the heavenly kingdom and the perfect confession of the apostolic faith. I, Benedict, by the grace of God priest and elect of the holy apostolic see, have subscribed.

To the lord and most excellent son Ervig, king, Leo.

Since there exists one God, the king of all things, who created all things and from nothing rules and sustains what he created, who is truly the King of kings and Lord of lords, he himself, by the balance of his incomprehensible providence, ordains that different rulers hold sway on earth, both in time and in place; and although their kingdoms are divided, he nevertheless requires from each an equal account of their stewardship, and he expects from them one sacrifice of praise of his true confession; and the immensity of his majesty is pleased with this alone in regard to the human race, that the true confession concerning him be proclaimed by all, so that even if there seems to be a diversity of temporal arrangements, a harmony of unity may be maintained regarding the uprightness of his faith.

This also the Savior of the world, the Son of God, established in his holy disciples, who appointed blessed Peter as prince of his disciples in his own stead; by his saving preaching and tradition, proceeding as it were from the fountain of preaching from this holy apostolic Church of Christ, all the regions over which your highness also presides have been led to the knowledge of the truth and the way of life, and it illuminates the summit of your kingdom, and while you reign in piety through the grace of God, from a temporal kingdom you acquire the kingdom of eternal blessedness. To obtain this more perfectly, as we earnestly pray, while by God's favor we discharge the office of fathers in succession, and, though unequal, fill the place of blessed Peter, prince of the apostles, by the ministry entrusted to us with divine aid, so by preaching and admonishing we strive to advance you toward the reward of blessed life. For the beginning of obtaining eternal blessedness is the right rule of apostolic preaching, which although certain men once attempted to undermine, striving to introduce heretical errors into the Church of Christ, yet the evangelical truth prevails. For the preservation of it inviolate, this apostolic Church of Christ has always endured and still endures various snares of afflictions, and by the support of heavenly grace it persists unharmed. But now, which with thanksgiving we pour forth, exulting in God, through a new (T.

In the ninth indiction just elapsed, our most pious and most Christian emperor, indeed a son of the Church of God, sent imperial letters to our predecessor of apostolic memory, Pope Agatho, and earnestly exhorted him that from this holy Church of the apostolic see he should send legates to all the reverend councils adjacent to it, furnished with dogmatic letters and with the books and testimonies of the venerable Fathers, chosen both from the prelates of the Churches and from the other ecclesiastical orders, to the royal city of Constantinople; and this was brought about and accomplished by the will of God. When these had arrived there for this purpose, his Piety gathered a council from diverse parts of the world, and, with the cares of the commonwealth committed to him set aside but little by himself, in the venerable assembly of the bishops and Fathers

sitting in council with the brothers, he caused to be examined carefully and attentively the truth of the apostolic tradition and the rectitude of the faith through the holy synods and the testimonies of the venerable Fathers, and the assertions of our predecessors the apostolic pontiffs, and that the sincerity of the true faith be shown by the legates of this holy apostolic see, which by the grace of God, with the support of the empire assisting, was begun and accomplished; and most perfectly it became clear that the truthfulness of our true faith is in accordance with the venerable councils and the teachings of approved Fathers, and that in our one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the same true and perfect God, and the same true and perfect man, just as we confess two natures inseparably and without confusion, that is divine and human, so we all proclaim that he has two natural wills and two natural operations, according to the qualities and properties of the natures concurring in him; because we believe him to be so one Christ and one person of the holy Trinity, that we proclaim that he has both the divine and the human nature and the properties of these natures without confusion, without division, and without diminution.

But the most pious emperor, animated by the grace of the Holy Spirit and having willingly endured toil for the purity of the Christian faith, strove with utmost effort to purify the catholic Church of God from the stain of heretical error, and whatever could generate offense for the Christian peoples he caused to be removed from the midst of God's Church, and all the authors of heretical assertion, with the venerable council judging, were condemned and cast out from the proclamation of the catholic Church, namely Theodore bishop of Pharan, Cyrus of Alexandria, Sergius, Paul, Pyrrhus, and Peter, once prelates of Constantinople, and together with them Honorius of Rome, who consented that the immaculate little wrinkle of the apostolic tradition, which he received from his predecessors, be stained. But also Macarius of Antioch with Stephen his disciple—rather, the teacher of heretical depravity—and a certain Polycronius, a mad old man, a new Simon, who through confidence in heretical preaching promised to accomplish it and did not again turn back to the way of true confession even when confounded, was punished with eternal condemnation.

And all of them together with Arius, Apollinaris, Nestorius, Eutyches, Severus, Theodosius, and Themistius, preaching one will and one operation in the divinity and humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, were shamelessly attempting to defend heretical doctrine; for they were not demonstrating this, as it behooved the priests of God, by the testimonies of the holy Scriptures and the Fathers, but were cunningly contriving to pervert the Gospel of Christ by worldly sophisms. All of these, together with their errors, the divine judgment has cast out of his holy Church, and now, with heavenly favor and protection, all the prelates of God's Churches everywhere are in concord in one harmony of the true faith, and there has been made one mouth and one lip, and one flock and one shepherd, Christ the Son of God, who is proclaimed with one accord and sincerely by all his priests. Therefore let the summit of your Christian kingdom also take up zeal for piety, so that this may be proclaimed to all God's Churches, prelates, priests, clerics, and peoples, to the praise of God and for the stability of your kingdom and the salvation of all, so that God almighty may be glorified and praised with one accord by all peoples.

Accordingly, we have seen fit to send there, by the bearer of the present letter, Peter the notary of the region of our holy Church, the definition of the holy council and the acclamation of the most reverend bishops, which is called the prosphoneticus, addressed to the most pious emperor, and the edict of the most clement emperor written for the confession of the true faith and dispatched everywhere, so that in the same definition of the sacred synod, like fathers for their spiritual sons, all the bishops of the Churches of your most religious kingdom may, according to the tenor sent there by us, each append their subscriptions, to be inscribed as in the book of life by the seal of their confession; so that peace and concord in the Churches of God may increase and remain in the times of your sublime kingdom, with God granting it and your Christian majesty favoring it; and so that he who has ordained your highness to reign may grant that, supported by the stability of his faith, you may for many years prosperously and pleasingly to him dispense the people committed to you. May supernal grace keep your excellency safe. Amen.

Concerning those who with insolent speech attempt to bark against the prelates of the churches of God.

It has pleased this holy synod, in accordance with the sanction of earlier canons, that those who persist as despisers of the Church of Christ or of its bishops be excommunicated from the assembly of the faithful for three years, until perhaps, repenting and with the satisfaction of penance, they may at last be admitted to communion. But if their still abominable insolence should persevere and, having begun, continue ceaselessly to disparage, it has pleased the synod not even at the end to give them viaticum, so that even by punishments they may feel what here, dull in understanding, they neglected, as the Holy Spirit says through the prophet: Only vexation alone will give understanding to hearing; and as a certain distinguished teacher attests, who in a voice consonant with this prophecy says: Every wicked man does not know the evil that he does, except when he has already begun to be punished for those same evils.

THE COUNCIL OF EPHESUS.

Held by two hundred bishops, against Nestorius, bishop of Constantinople, who asserted that a mere man was born of the holy Virgin Mary, so as to make one person of the flesh and another of the Godhead, and did not perceive one Christ in the Word of God and the flesh, but proclaimed separately and apart one Son of God and another of man.

This synod convened in the consulship of Theodosius the Younger, for the thirteenth time, and Valentinian for the third, in the year 469; and it was presided over by the most blessed Cyril, at that time bishop of Alexandria, who together with the whole council sent these synodal decrees to the same Nestorius.

Cyril, and the synod that convened at Ephesus, to the religious and God-beloved fellow priest Nestorius.

Since our Savior openly declares: He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; what are we to endure, who are demanded by your religiosity to love you more than Christ the Savior of all? For what will it profit us on the day of judgment, or what satisfaction will we be able to find, on account of so long a silence concerning the blasphemies uttered by you against him?

And indeed, if you were harming only yourself by teaching or holding these things, our concern would be less; but since you have scandalized the whole Church, and have mixed the leaven of an unusual depravity and a new heresy among the peoples, not only those situated there but those everywhere, for the books of your expositions have been spread abroad through all places—what account could suffice for our silence beyond this, or what word of excuse, or how would it not be necessary to remember Christ the Lord speaking thus: Do not think that I came to send peace upon the earth, but a sword; for I came to separate a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother? For when the faith is harmed, reverence for parents is despised as useless and dangerous, and love toward sons and brothers is avoided. Finally, even above life itself, death is rather chosen by pious men, so that they may obtain a better resurrection, as it is written. Behold, therefore, we have convened you a third time by this synodal writing, together with the holy synod gathered at the great city of Rome, with our most holy and most venerable brother and fellow priest Coelestinus, bishop, presiding, giving counsel that you abstain from such depraved and distorted doctrines, which you are known both to hold and to teach; and that you receive the right faith handed down to the Churches from the beginning through the most blessed apostles and evangelists, who both saw with their eyes and are shown to have been ministers of the word.

But if your religiosity has deferred to do this according to the delay fixed in the letters of our most holy and most venerable fellow priest Coelestinus, bishop of the Roman Church, know that you have no part with us, nor do you obtain a place or conversation with God's priests and bishops. For it is not right to despise us, the Churches so disturbed and the peoples so scandalized, and the most upright faith violated, and even the flock scattered which you ought to have guarded, since you would have stood as a lover of right doctrine according to us, piously following the footsteps of the holy Fathers. Therefore all whom your religiosity has removed from communion or deposed from their order on account of the faith, whether laity or clerics, we receive into our communion; for it is not just that those be oppressed by your decrees who have known how to think rightly, who even by doing well have most prudently resisted you; for you took care to signify this same thing in the letter which you sent to the holy Coelestinus, bishop of great Rome and our fellow bishop. But it is not enough for your religiosity merely to confess the symbol of faith which was set forth at that same time by the holy.

by the generosity of the Spirit from the venerable and great council assembled at Nicaea; for you have neither understood this nor interpreted it correctly, but rather perversely, although you brought forth the same words in the sound of your voice. But it follows, and you must confess on oath, that you anathematize your own polluted and profane doctrines, and that you hold and teach what we all, the bishops throughout the East and the West, and the teachers and prelates of the peoples, believe and teach. Moreover, the Church has given its consent to the letters sent from Alexandria to your religiosity, both the holy synod that convened in the city of Rome and all of us, as to writings rightly and blamelessly composed. We have moreover subjoined to this our letter the things that you ought to hold and teach, and from which it is fitting to abstain; for this is the faith of the catholic Church, to which all orthodox pontiffs throughout the East and the West consent.

We believe in one God, the Father almighty, creator of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, born of the Father, only-begotten, that is, from the substance of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, homoousion with the Father, that is, of one substance with the Father, through whom all things were made in heaven and on earth, who for us men and for our salvation descended and was incarnate, and became man, suffered, and rising on the third day ascended into the heavens; from there he is to come to judge the living and the dead; and in the Holy Spirit. But those who say: there was a time when he was not, and before he was begotten he was not, and that he was made from nothing, or from another substance or essence, or that the Son of God is convertible or changeable: the catholic and apostolic Church anathematizes.

Following therefore in all things the confessions of the holy Fathers, which they set forth when the Holy Spirit spoke in them, and adhering with even steps to the intention that is in their understandings, and walking in the royal way, we profess that the only-begotten Word of God, born of God from the very essence of the Father, true God from true God, light from light, through whom all things were made whether in heaven or on earth, for the sake of our salvation, descending, deigned to lower himself to emptiness. But having been incarnate and made man, that is, taking flesh from the holy Virgin and making it his own, he underwent our birth from the womb, coming forth as man from a woman, not casting aside what he was. For although he was made in the assumption of flesh and blood, nevertheless even so he persisted as what he was, God by nature and in truth. And so we do not say that the flesh was converted into the nature of the Godhead, nor that the substance of the flesh was changed into the ineffable essence of God the Word, for he is unchangeable and immutable, and the same himself continually remaining according to the Scriptures. But he was seen even as a little child, still placed in the cradle and established in the bosom of his mother the Virgin, yet as God he was filling all creation, existing indivisible from his begetter; for what is divine is known without quantity and without bulk, nor is it contained by any boundaries.

Confessing therefore that the Word of God is united to the flesh according to subsistence, we adore one Son and Lord Jesus Christ, not setting apart and defining separately the man and the God as if joined to one another by a unity of dignity and authority—for this is the novelty of a phrase and nothing else—nor again naming Christ specifically as God the Word who is from God, nor similarly another Christ specifically who was born of the woman; but we acknowledge only one Christ, the Word of God the Father, with his own flesh. For then he was anointed according to us, although he himself conferred the Spirit upon the worthy and not by measure, as the blessed evangelist John asserted. But neither do we say that the Word of God dwelt as in a common man, who was born of the holy Virgin, lest Christ the man be believed to possess God as an inhabitant. For although the Word dwelt in us, and it was said that in Christ all the fullness of the deity dwells bodily, nevertheless we understand him, because he was made flesh, not as being said to dwell in the saints, nor have we attempted to define that such an indwelling was made in him; but united according to nature and not entirely changed into flesh, he made for himself such an indwelling as the soul of a man is believed to have in relation to its own body.

One therefore is Christ, the Son and Lord, not as if there were any mere conjunction in unity of dignity and authority of a man with God; for the mere equality of dignity cannot unite natures. Finally, Peter and John are equal to each other in dignity, for which reason they are shown to be both apostles and holy disciples; yet each of them is not one, nor do we regard the manner of conjunction according to a comparison or connection; for this does not suffice for a natural unity, nor according to the effect of participation, as we also, adhering to the Lord, are one spirit with him; indeed rather we avoid the name of conjunction as not being suitable to signify the mystery of unity. But neither do we assert the Word of God the Father to be God or Lord of Christ, lest again we more manifestly divide the one Christ, the Son and Lord, into two, and fall back into the crime of sacrilege, making God himself both God and Lord to him; for being united, as we said above, God the Word to the flesh according to subsistence, he is indeed God of all and rules over the universe.

Nevertheless, he is neither his own servant nor his own lord, because it is absurd, or rather impious, to think or say this. For although he called God his Father, since he is himself also God by nature and of his essence, yet we are in no way ignorant that he who remained God was also made man, who would exist under God according to the due law of the nature of humanity. But how could he himself be either God or lord to himself? Therefore, as man, insofar as it befits the measure of his emptying, he declared himself to be with us under God, and in this way he was also made under the law, although he himself promulgated the law and existed as lawgiver as God. But we take care not to say of Christ: because of the one who assumed, I venerate the one assumed; and because of the invisible one, I adore the visible one. It is truly dreadful also to teach this concerning him: he who was received is not named God together with the one who received him. For whoever says these things divides again into two Christs the one who is one, setting man apart in one part and God likewise in another part. For he evidently denies the unity according to which the one is not co-adored or co-named God with the other; but Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, is understood as one, to be venerated with his own flesh in one servitude.

We also confess that the same only-begotten God, the Son who was born of God the Father, although according to his own nature he was incapable of suffering, nevertheless for us suffered in the flesh according to the Scriptures, and in the crucified body he was impassibly referring to himself the passion of his own flesh; but by the grace of God he tasted death for all, handing over his own body as well, although by nature he himself is life and the resurrection of the dead. For in order to trample down death by his ineffable power, and first to become in his own flesh the firstborn from the dead and the firstfruits of those who sleep, and to make a way for human nature to the course of incorruption, by the grace of God, as was said above, he tasted death for all, and rising on the third day he despoiled hell. Therefore, although it is said that the resurrection of the dead was accomplished through a man, nevertheless we understand that the Word which is from God became man, and that through him the dominion of death was destroyed. But he will come at the appointed times, as the one Son and Lord, in the glory of the Father, to judge the world in equity, as the Scripture testifies. Necessarily, then, we add this also: for proclaiming the death according to the flesh of the only-begotten Son of God, that is, Jesus Christ, and likewise confessing his resurrection and ascension into heaven, we celebrate in the churches the unbloody service of sacrifice.

Thus we also approach the mystical blessings, and we are sanctified, having become partakers of the holy body and precious blood of Christ, the redeemer of us all—not as receiving common flesh (which be far from us), nor as [receiving it] as a sanctified man joined to the Word according to a unity of dignity, or as one possessing a divine indwelling, but as truly life-giving and made the very own [flesh] of the Word himself. For since he is by nature life, as God, because he is united to his own flesh, he has declared it to be life-giving. And therefore, although he says to us: Amen, amen I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood—nevertheless we must not think of it as the flesh of one man from among us; for how could the flesh of a man be life-giving according to its own nature? But [we must think of it] as truly made his own, who for our sake both was made and was called the Son of Man. But the utterances which our Savior brought forth in the Gospels we do not at all divide between two subsistences or persons—for the one and only Christ is not twofold, although he is known to have come together into an indivisible unity from two diverse things, just as a man also, consisting of soul and body, is not twofold but one from both. Therefore, observing that both human and, moreover, divine utterances were spoken by the one Christ, we hold the right opinion.

For the care concerning God speaks most worthily of himself: "He who sees me sees also the Father," and "I and the Father are one"—we understand his divine and ineffable nature, according to which he is one with his Father because of one and the same substance, existing as the image and character and splendor of his glory. But when, in no way ignorant of the measure of human nature, he addresses the Jews: "Now you seek to kill me, a man who has spoken the truth to you," likewise we recognize him, no less, who is in the likeness and equality of the Father, as true God—[the Word] also—even in the measures of his humanity. If, however, it is necessarily believed that he who exists as God by nature was made flesh, or rather a man animated by a rational soul, what cause is there that anyone should blush at any of his utterances, if he spoke them as worthy of a man? But if he rejects words befitting a man, who compelled him to become a man according to us? When, moreover, he mercifully inclined himself for our sake to a voluntary emptying, for what reason would he shun words worthy of that emptying? Therefore we ascribe all his utterances in the Gospel to one person, namely to the one subsistence of the incarnate Word, because there is one Lord Jesus Christ, as it is written; but he was called apostle and high priest of our confession, as one who sacrifices to God and the Father the confession of our faith, which is ceaselessly offered by us ourselves and through him to God and the Father.

Again we say that he is the only-begotten Son from God according to nature, and we assign the name and office of priesthood to no other man besides him; for he was made mediator between God and men and reconciler unto peace, offering himself to God and the Father for us as a sweet odor, and therefore he said: Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, burnt offerings for sin did not please you, but a body you have prepared for me. Then I said: Behold, I come. In the head of the book it is written of me, that I should do your will, O God: for he offered his own body not for himself, but for us as a sweet odor. For of what offering or sacrifice for himself would he have need, being free from all sin as God? But if all have sinned and need the glory of God, inasmuch as we have been made more prone to the excess of mutability and human nature has grown sick with sins; but he is not so, and therefore we are overcome by his glory; why will it be doubtful any longer that the true lamb was immolated for us? But he who says that he offered himself both for himself and for us will by no means escape the charge of impiety, since he himself committed nothing at all nor did any sin whatsoever: of what offering, then, would he have need, when no crime of his stood forth, for which, if it existed, he would most fittingly offer?

Concerning the Spirit also, when he says, "He will glorify me," we, understanding this most correctly, confess one Christ and Son, not as though he needed glory from another, to have received glory from the Holy Spirit, because his Spirit is neither better nor superior to him; but because, performing wondrous works for the demonstration of his divinity, he used the power of his own Spirit, he is said to be glorified by him, just as if someone were to assert concerning men that one's own virtue or any discipline whatsoever makes each one illustrious. For although the Spirit is in his own subsistence, and his property is understood in his person according to that which he is, namely Spirit and not Son, nevertheless he is not alien from him, for he was called the Spirit of truth, and Christ is the truth; whence also he proceeds from him similarly as from God the Father. Finally, this same Spirit also, accomplishing glorious miracles through the hands of the holy apostles, glorified the Lord Jesus Christ after he ascended into heaven; for Christ was believed, existing as God by nature, working mighty deeds through his Spirit, and therefore he said: "He will receive from what is mine and will announce it to you." In no way, indeed, is the same Spirit called wise or powerful by participation in another, because he is perfect in all things and altogether lacking no good; for he is believed to be the Spirit of the Father's virtue and wisdom, that is, of the Son, and therefore he is proved to be virtue and wisdom in his very reality and subsistence.

Therefore, because the holy Virgin gave birth in the flesh to God united with flesh according to subsistence, for this reason we profess her to be the Mother of God: not that the nature of the Word received from the flesh a beginning of existence—for the Word was in the beginning, and the Word was God, and the Word was with God, and he himself is the founder of the ages, coeternal with the Father, and the creator of the universe—but, as we said above, according to subsistence uniting human nature to himself, he underwent birth from that bodily womb; not that he needed this birth necessarily or on account of his own nature, which was accomplished in the last times of the age, but so that he might bless the very firstfruits of our substance, and so that, when a woman had brought him forth united to flesh, that curse which had been pronounced against the whole human race might cease, and it might no longer consign our bodies to death, and he himself, dissolving also that which was said, "In sorrow you shall bear children," might show to be true what he had foretold by the voice of the prophet: "Death is swallowed up in victory," and again: "The Lord has taken away every tear from every face." For indeed for this reason we say that he also blessedly attended that marriage by dispensation, when, having been invited with his holy apostles in Cana of Galilee, he deigned to be present. We have been taught to understand these things by the holy apostles and evangelists and by all divinely inspired Scripture, and also by the blessed confessions of the Fathers supported by truth.

It is fitting that your religiousness agree with all these things and consent without any deceit; but the things which it is necessary for your religiousness to anathematize are subjoined to this our letter.

I. If anyone does not confess that God is truly Emmanuel, and that on this account the holy Virgin is the Mother of God—for she gave birth in the flesh to the Word of God made flesh, according to what is written, "The Word was made flesh"—let him be anathema.

II. If anyone does not confess that the Word of God the Father is united to the flesh according to subsistence, and that Christ is one with his own flesh, that is, the same one who is both God and man—let him be anathema.

III. If anyone divides the substances in the one Christ after the union, joining them together only by a connection consisting in dignity, or even in authority or power, and not rather by a coming-together which was made by a natural union—let him be anathema.

IV. If anyone divides between two persons or two subsistences those utterances which are contained in the apostolic and evangelical writings, or those which are said of Christ by the saints or by himself even concerning himself, and applies some of them as if to a man who is understood specially apart from the Word of God, but assigns others as worthy of God to the Word of God the Father alone; let him be anathema.

V. If anyone dares to say that Christ is a God-bearing man, that is, one who bears God, and does not rather say that he is truly God, as the Son by nature according to the fact that the Word was made flesh, and shared in flesh and blood similarly as we do; let him be anathema.

VI. If anyone says that the Word of God the Father is God or Lord of Christ, and does not rather confess that the same one is both God and man, because the Word was made flesh according to the Scriptures; let him be anathema.

VII. If anyone says that Jesus was aided as a man by the operation of the Word of God, and attributes the glory of the Only-begotten as to another existing besides him; let him be anathema.

VIII. If anyone dares to say that the man assumed is to be worshiped together with God the Word, and glorified together, and jointly named God as one alongside another—for the syllable always added compels this to be understood—and does not rather with one supplication venerate Emmanuel, and render one glorification to him, inasmuch as the Word was made flesh, let him be anathema.

IX. If anyone says that the one Lord Jesus Christ was glorified by the Holy Spirit as though he had used another's power through him and received from him efficacy against unclean spirits, and could also perform divine signs for men, and does not rather confess that his own Spirit is the one through whom he accomplished divine signs, let him be anathema.

X. Divine Scripture records that Christ was made high priest and apostle of our confession; but he offered himself for us to God and the Father as a sweet-smelling savor. If anyone therefore says that our high priest and apostle was made not the very Word of God, when he was made flesh and, according to us, man, but as another man besides him, specifically born of a woman; or if anyone says that he offered himself as an offering also for himself, and not rather for us alone—for he had no need of an offering who knew no sin at all—let him be anathema.

XI. If anyone does not confess that the flesh of the Lord is life-giving and is the proper flesh of the very Word of God the Father, but holds it to be as it were of another besides himself, joined to him by dignity, or as having a divine indwelling, and does not rather confess, as we have said, that it is life-giving because it has been made the proper flesh of the Word who is able to give life to all things: let him be anathema.

XII. If anyone does not confess that the Word of God suffered in the flesh, was crucified in the flesh, and tasted death in the flesh, and was made the firstborn from the dead, inasmuch as he is life and the giver of life as God: let him be anathema.

Another decretal letter to the same Nestorius.

Therefore the holy and great synod says: That he who is naturally born of God the Father, the only-begotten Son, true God from true God, light from light, through whom and with whom the Father made all things—this one descended, was incarnate, and became man, suffered, rose again on the third day, and ascended again into the heavens. These words we ought to follow, these doctrines it befits us to obey, considering what it means that the Word of God was incarnate and became man.

For we do not say that the nature of God was turned or changed into flesh, nor that it was transformed into the whole man, who is of soul and body, but rather that the Word united to himself a flesh animated by a rational soul; substantially, ineffably, and blamelessly he became man, and was also called Son of man, not by bare will alone, nor by the mere assumption of a person, but because the diverse natures truly came together into one; yet one Christ and Son from both, the diversity of the natures not emptied out or removed by the conjunctions, but because together they made for us one God and Christ and Son, that is, divinity and humanity, through that arcane and ineffable copulation into unity. Therefore he who before all ages was born of the Father is also said to have been carnally begotten of a woman, not because his divine nature itself took its beginning from the sacred Virgin, nor because it had need, for its own sake, to be born a second time after that nativity which it had from the Father—for it is absurd and foolish to say this, that he who before all ages is coeternal with the Father needed a second generation in order to begin to exist—but because for our salvation he united human nature to himself and came forth from a woman, for that reason he is said to have been born carnally.

For the man was not first born in the ordinary way from the holy Virgin, and only then did the Word dwell in him; rather, in the very womb and virginal uterus he united himself with flesh and endured a carnal generation, making the birth of his own flesh his own. Thus we say that he both suffered and rose again, not because God the Word in his own nature suffered either blows or the piercings of nails or other wounds—for God is incorporeal and beyond suffering—but because that body which had become his own proper body suffered, and therefore he himself is said to have suffered all these things for us; for God, who cannot suffer, was present in that body which was suffering. In like manner we understand his death also, for the Word of God is by nature immortal and incorruptible, both life and life-giving; but because his own proper body, by the grace of God, according to Paul's word, tasted death for all, therefore he himself is said to have suffered death for us, not because he himself experienced death as far as pertains to his own nature—for it is madness either to think or to say this—but because, as we said above, his true flesh tasted death; so too, when the flesh rose again, we speak again of his resurrection, not because it had fallen into corruption—far be it—but because his body rose.

Thus we confess Christ to be one and Lord, not as though we were worshipping a man together with the Word—lest some appearance of division be introduced—but we worship one and the same, because his body is not alien to the Word, with which he even sits at the Father's side. Nor do we say this as though two sons were sitting there, but one through unity with the flesh; for if we were unwilling to accept such a union as having been made through substance—either as though it were incapable of suffering, or as though it were somewhat unseemly—we fall into the error of saying that there are two sons. For it is necessary to distinguish and to say that the man was separately honored with the title of Son alone, and again the Word, who is from God and is Son of God in name and in truth; but we must not, by distinguishing, divide our one Lord Jesus Christ into two sons, for neither does that serve the right account of the faith, although some assert some kind of union of persons. For Scripture did not say that the Word of God assumed to himself the person of a man, but that he was made flesh; and that means to show that the Word of God, just as we do, shared in flesh and blood, and made our body properly his own, and that a man came forth from a woman, without his deity being cast off or laid aside, or that generation which he had from the Father; but he remained, even in the assumption of flesh, God, which he was.

The reasoning of right faith protests this everywhere; we have found that the holy Fathers were of such a mind; therefore they did not hesitate to call the holy Virgin Theotokos, not because the nature and divinity of the Word took their beginning in the holy Virgin, but because that sacred body, animated by a rational soul, was born from her, and the Word of God, substantially united to it, is said to have been born carnally. Therefore I write these things out of love in Christ, seeking you as a brother, and testifying before God and the elect angels, that you may both think and teach these things together with us, so that the peace of the churches may be preserved safe, and the bond of concord and love may remain indissoluble among the priests.

THE ELEVENTH COUNCIL OF CHALCEDON.

Of six hundred and thirty bishops, held against all heresies, and especially against Eutyches and Dioscorus, in the consulship of Valentinian for the seventh time and Abienus, in the year 489.

By the decision of the most pious and Christ-loving emperor Flavius Marcian, perpetual Augustus, on the day of the Ides of October, a synod was held in the city of Chalcedon, metropolis of the province of Bithynia, by the decree of the most pious and most faithful emperors Valentinian and Marcian, with the most glorious princes assembled in the church of the holy and triumphant martyr Euphemia, that is, the most magnificent and most glorious Anatolius, master of the soldiers, former prefect and former consul, patrician; and the most magnificent and most glorious Palladius, prefect of the sacred praetorium of the prefecture; and the most magnificent and most glorious Tatian, prefect of the city; and the most magnificent and most glorious Vincomalus, master of the divine office; and the most magnificent and most glorious Martialius, count of the largesses; and the most glorious and most magnificent Sparocius, count of the domestics; and the most magnificent Genetholius, count of the private revenues; with the glorious senate also present, that is, the most magnificent and most glorious Florentius, former prefect and former consul and patrician; and the most magnificent and most glorious Senator, former consul and patrician; and the most magnificent and most glorious Nomus, former master and former consul, patrician; and the most magnificent and most glorious Protogenes, former prefect and former consul, patrician; and the most magnificent and most glorious Zolius, former prefect; and the most magnificent and most glorious Theodore, former prefect of the city; and

with the most magnificent and most glorious former prefect of the city Apollonius, and the most magnificent and most glorious former praepositus Artaxerxes; when also the holy council of the whole world had assembled according to the divine command in the city of Chalcedon, that is, Paschasius and Lucentius, bishops, and Boniface, presbyter, holding the place of the venerable and holy archbishop of old Rome, Leo, and Anatolius the holy archbishop of the most magnificent Constantinople, new Rome, and the remaining six hundred and thirty most holy and most reverent bishops; and when all were seated before the rails of the holy altar with the most magnificent princes and the most glorious and eminent men of the senate; when also the most pious emperor Marcian had arrived in the aforementioned most holy basilica, and when also the most pious and most faithful queen augusta Pulcheria was present, inflamed with divine zeal and the warmth of faith, he addressed the holy synod thus: Since by the election of God we first came to the kingdom by decree, among so many public advantages no business has so constrained us as to declare to all, beyond doubt, the right and true faith of the Christians, which stands holy and true.

For it is manifest that from avarice or vain zeal those who in former times held and taught various opinions to the people according to what suited them, not as was fitting nor as the truth or the doctrine of the Fathers requires, many have been led away into error: therefore we have approved that a holy synod be held for this very perfection, and we have thought it right to impose the labor upon you, so that, with all the darkness of error wiped away, according as the Godhead itself willed to make itself manifest to men and the doctrine of the Fathers has shown, so our faith, which consists pure and holy, entering into the souls of all, may shine forth with the light of its own truth. For the rest, let no one dare to dispute concerning the nativity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ otherwise than as the proclamation of the apostles and the three hundred and eighteen holy Fathers are known to have handed down in agreement with this doctrine, as also the letters of the most holy Pope Leo, who governs the apostolic throne, to Flavian, of holy memory, formerly bishop of the royal city of Constantinople, testify.

Therefore, with such pretexts removed and cut away, and with all avarice ceasing, let all truth be made manifest. For we have devised to be present at the synod to confirm the faith, not to display virtue, and following the example of the emperor Constantine, but so that in the future the multitude of the people may not be found dissenting from the teachings; for the simplicity of certain people has easily been deluded until now by the fabrications of the talkative: it is manifest that discord and heresies have arisen from the depraved doctrines of various persons. But by us every effort must be applied to attach the people, who, on account of the true and holy doctrine, think this same thing, to the one right Church, and therefore let your reverence, with your minds in agreement, hasten also to set forth the true catholic faith according to the doctrine of the Fathers, so that just as from the Council of Nicaea up to this time, with error cut off, the true faith has been known to all, so also now, through this holy synod, with the cloud removed which in these few years, as we said above, has appeared to arise from the depravity and avarice of certain persons, if what has been decreed is always observed, it will indeed be [a work] of divine providence, which we wish to be done piously, to preserve this most firmly in the Church for ages.

And after these royal words all the bishops cried out: Many years to Marcian, the new Constantine; many years to the king, many years to the queen of the orthodox; for many years may the kingdom of Marcian, lover of Christ, endure forever; worthy of the orthodox faith, lovers of Christ, let envy be far from you. And after these acclamations Aetius, archdeacon of Constantinople, the new Rome, and chief of the notaries, said: Since by the nod of supernal grace and the divine zeal of your Serenity, most pious emperors, to whom it has been granted by God to rule all things, this holy and great synod of the whole world has been gathered concerning your sanction, and with the greatest leisure of many days and divine diligence it has put to flight every discord that arose in the past against our right and inviolable catholic faith, by the word of truth, driving away all innovation, as the acts also demonstrate in writing through each point that follows; but it has established a simple term fortified by the power of the divine Scriptures, and preserving in it the judgment of the holy and most blessed Fathers for the true knowledge of those who seek sincerely. But the long-lived crown of your empire—I have it here in my hands, and if it seems good to the nod of your Serenity, I will read it through. The most pious and most faithful emperor said: Read it through; and the same archdeacon read it through.

The holy and great universal synod, which by the grace of God and by the decree of the most pious emperors Valentinian and Marcian, the augusts, was assembled in the city of Chalcedon, the metropolis of the province of Bithynia, in the basilica of the holy and triumphant martyr Euphemia, has decreed the things contained below. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, confirming his own disciples in the knowledge of the faith, said: Peace I give you, my peace I leave you; so that no disagreement of faith may arise among neighbors, but the preaching of the truth may be shown forth equally. But because the evil one does not cease to sow his tares even among the very seeds of piety, and always to devise something new against the truth, therefore our Lord, desiring in his accustomed way to provide for the human race, raised up this most pious and most faithful emperor to heaven, who gathered to himself from every side the pontiffs of the priests, so that, with the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ cooperating, he might remove every pestilence of falsehood from the sheep of Christ and restore them with the shoots of truth. This we have accomplished also by common decree, casting out the sects of error and renewing the right faith of the Fathers, preaching to all the symbol of the three hundred and eighteen, and, as it were, we have noted the other hundred and fifty Fathers, the household of these, consenting to this most pious title, who, coming together afterward in this most ample city of Constantinople, themselves also confirmed the same faith.

We therefore establish the order and, preserving all the formulas of the faith, both our own and also the holy synod formerly held at Ephesus, whose authors were the priests of venerable memory Celestine of the city of Rome and Cyril of the church of Alexandria, so that there may shine forth the exposition of the right and blameless faith of the three hundred and eighteen holy and most blessed men who assembled at Nicaea under Constantine, emperor of pious memory. There is contained also the decree of the hundred and fifty holy Fathers in the city of Constantinople, for the destruction indeed of the sects then springing up, but for the confirmation of our own catholic and apostolic faith.

The symbol of the three hundred and eighteen holy Fathers who assembled at Nicaea.

We believe in one God the Father almighty, creator of all things visible and invisible, and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, born of the Father, only-begotten, that is, of the substance of the Father, God of God, light of light, true God of true God, born, not made, homoousion with the Father, that is, of the same substance with the Father, through whom all things were made that are in heaven and that are on earth, who for us and for our salvation descended, and was incarnate, was made man, suffered, and rose again on the third day, and ascended into the heavens; from there he is to come to judge the living and the dead: and in the Holy Spirit.

But those who say: "There was when he was not," and "Before he was begotten he was not," and that he was made out of nothing, or who say that the Son of God is from another subsistence or substance, or is convertible or mutable, the catholic and apostolic Church anathematizes.

And the same is [affirmed] by the one hundred and fifty holy Fathers.

We believe in one God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, creator of all things visible and invisible: and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, homoousion with the Father, that is, of the same substance with the Father, through whom all things were made, both in heaven and on earth, who for us and for our salvation descended, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, was made man, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was buried, on the third day he rose, ascended into the heavens, sits at the right hand of the Father, is to come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end: and in the Holy Spirit, the lord and giver of life, proceeding from the Father, to be adored and glorified with the Father and the Son, who spoke through the prophets: in one catholic and apostolic Church: we confess one baptism for the remission of sins: we await the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.

This most careful and salutary symbol of divine grace was indeed sufficient for the fullest knowledge and confirmation of piety; for it teaches the perfect doctrine concerning the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and it makes manifest the Lord's incarnation to those who faithfully receive it. But since those who strive to destroy the preaching of the truth give birth to certain novelties of their own heresy—for some dare to corrupt the mystery of the divine dispensation accomplished for us, and deny that utterance of the divine birth which was spoken to the Virgin, while others, introducing a blending and confusion, and senselessly composing one nature of flesh and deity, proclaim by such confusion, monstrously, that the divine nature of the Only-begotten is passible—therefore [T.

And therefore, wishing to exclude from them every machination that must be opposed against the truth, the holy and great universal synod, teaching the ancient preaching immovably, decreed above all that the untainted faith of the three hundred and eighteen holy Fathers remain; and on account of those who oppose the Holy Spirit, it confirms the doctrine handed down concerning the substance of the Holy Spirit by the one hundred and fifty Fathers who assembled a little later in time in the city of Constantinople, which they also impressed upon all; not adding anything as though something were lacking in the preceding, but more fully manifesting by the testimonies of the Scriptures their understanding concerning the Holy Spirit against those who strive to take away the dominion of his deity. And indeed on account of those who attempt to corrupt the mystery of the dispensation, and shamelessly proclaim that he who was born of the holy virgin Mary is a mere man, it received the synodal letters of the most blessed Cyril, formerly priest of the church of Alexandria, both to Nestorius and to the others throughout the East, fitting and agreeing with themselves, for the confutation indeed of the Nestorian madness, but for the interpretation of those who with religious zeal desire the understanding of the saving symbol; and with these also the letter of the holy and most blessed archbishop of the first see, Leo, written to Flavian, archbishop of holy memory, for the destruction of the malice of Eutyches, and which is in agreement with the confession of the great Peter

it agrees, and, being a kind of common document, it evidently appended [this] against those who do not glorify rightly, for the confirmation of the catholic religion. For it execrates those who attempt to split the mystery of the Lord's dispensation into two sons, and it drives away from the council of priests those who dare to assert that the divinity of the only-begotten Son is passible, and it opposes those who argue for a mixture or confusion into two natures of Christ, and it casts far away those who in their madness assert that the form of a servant which he assumed from us exists as a heavenly substance or that of any other kind, and it makes anathema those who rave that there were indeed two natures of the Lord before the union, but contrive one after the union.

Therefore, consenting to the holy Fathers, we are likewise taught with one voice to confess one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ: the same perfect in divinity, the same perfect in humanity, true God and true man, the same from a rational soul and body, according to divinity of one nature with the Father, according to humanity the same of one nature with us, in all things like us without sin, before the ages indeed begotten from the Father according to divinity, but in the last days the same for us and for our salvation from Mary the virgin, the God-bearer, according to humanity, one and the same Christ, the Son and Lord, the only-begotten, to be known in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; in no way are the differences of the natures to be destroyed on account of the unity, but rather with the property of each nature preserved, and concurring in one person and one state; not to be divided or parted into two persons, but one and the same only-begotten Son, God the Word, our Lord Jesus Christ, as from the beginning the prophets [taught] concerning him, and as he himself instructed us and the symbol of the Fathers handed down to us.

Since these things have been arranged by us with all subtlety and diligence from every side, the holy and universal synod has decreed that it is lawful for no one to bring forward, write, publish, hold, or teach any other faith; but those who dare either to set forth another faith, or to bring forward, teach, or hand on another creed to those wishing to be converted to the knowledge of the truth from the Gentiles, from the Jews, or from any heretics whatsoever: if indeed they are bishops or clerics, let them be alien bishops from the episcopate and clerics from the clergy; but if they are monks or laymen, let them become anathema.

Rules of ecclesiastical order established by the council written above.

I. Concerning the canons of each council to be preserved.

We decree that the rules brought forward by the holy Fathers in each synod up to now be held.

II. That it is not fitting for bishops or any of the clergy to be ordained through money.

If any of the bishops, having received money, has performed an ordination and has brought the priceless grace into trafficking, and has ordained a bishop or a chorepiscopus, or a presbyter, or a deacon, or any other of those who are numbered among the clergy, or has ordained for money an oeconomus, a defensor, or a paramonarius—whoever therefore has attempted these things, or has been convicted, shall himself indeed undergo the peril of his own rank; and he who is thus ordained shall have no profit from this kind of trafficking and shameful appointment, but shall be deprived both of the dignity and of the office which he obtained through money. But also he who has appeared as an intermediary in these so shameful and unlawful gains, if indeed he was a cleric, shall fall from his own rank; but if he was a layman or a monk, let him be anathema.

III. That bishops, clerics, and monks ought not to take up secular estates or lawsuits.

It has come to the holy synod that some of those numbered among the clergy, for the sake of shameful gain, undertake the leases of others' properties and secular lawsuits, and indeed separate themselves from the sacred ministries through sloth, while they run to the houses of secular persons and, for the sake of avarice, take up the management of their substance. Therefore the holy and great synod has decreed that from now on none of these, that is, a bishop, or a cleric, or a monk, may lease properties or involve himself in secular procurations, unless perhaps one is drawn by the laws to the tutelages or unavoidable curations of minors, or the bishop of the city himself has entrusted to him the governance of ecclesiastical affairs, or of orphans or widows who are undefended, or of those persons who especially need ecclesiastical assistance, for the fear of God. But if anyone has transgressed these statutes, let him be subject to ecclesiastical correction.

IV. On the honor due to monks, and that none of them should attempt to disturb ecclesiastical or secular affairs, nor receive another's slave without the knowledge of his master.

Those who truly and purely choose the solitary life are worthy of fitting honor. Yet because certain persons wearing the monastic habit disturb ecclesiastical and civil matters, going about indiscriminately through cities and also monasteries, commending themselves to their own presumption, it has pleased the synod that no one should build or establish monasteries for himself, or a house of prayer, without the knowledge of the bishop of that city. But those who are in monasteries throughout the individual cities or estates are to be subject to the bishops, and to devote themselves to quiet work and to observe fasts and prayers, remaining in the places in which they have once devoted themselves to God, and neither to communicate nor to handle any ecclesiastical or secular actions, abandoning their own monasteries—unless perhaps they are ordered to do so by the bishop of that city on account of urgent necessities. And no one's slaves are to be received into a monastery so as to be a monk with them, except with the knowledge of their own master. But we have decreed that the one who transgresses these things is outside communion, lest the name of the Lord be blasphemed. It is fitting, moreover, for the bishop of the city to show necessary care and solicitude for the monasteries.

V. That it is not permitted for a bishop or any cleric to migrate from one city to another.

On account of those bishops or clerics who pass from city to city, it has pleased us that the definitions given by the holy Fathers have their own firmness.

VI. That no one ought to be ordained absolutely, unless in his own place.

Let no one ordain a presbyter or deacon, or anyone else established in ecclesiastical ordination, absolutely, unless manifestly in the church of a city or of a possession, or in a martyrium, or in a monastery, and he who is ordained deserves the name of a published ordination; but those who are ordained absolutely, the holy synod has decreed to have an empty imposition of hands, and no such act of his is to be valid to the injury of him who ordained him.

VII. Concerning clerics and monks not remaining in their own purpose.

Those who have once been enrolled in the clergy, or in monasteries, we have decreed neither to come to military service nor to secular honors; or those who have dared to do this and have not preferred to repent of it, or return to that same purpose which they had proposed to themselves before by the prompting of God, are to be anathema.

VIII. Concerning clerics who are in poorhouses, monasteries, and martyrs' shrines that exist under the authority of the bishop of each city.

Clerics established in poorhouses and in monasteries or martyrs' shrines are to be under the authority of him who is bishop in that city, according to the tradition of the holy Fathers, and they are not to withdraw from their own bishop through presumption. But those who have dared to overturn an ordinance of this kind in any manner whatever, or who have refused to be subject to their own bishop, if indeed they are clerics, let them be subject to the condemnations of the paternal ordinances; if however they are monks or laymen, let them be excommunicated.

IX. That clerics ought not, having passed over the bishop, to resort to secular courts.

If a cleric has a dispute against a cleric, let him not abandon his bishop and run together to secular courts; but first let the matter itself be conducted before his own bishop, and then, if the judgment of that bishop [is contrary], let the matter be heard before arbitrators chosen by each side. But if anyone acts contrary to these things, let him be subject to the corrections of the canons.

And if a cleric has a case against his own bishop or another bishop, let him bring complaint before the hearing of the synod of his province; but if a bishop or cleric has a dispute against the metropolitan bishop of that same province, let him proceed either to the bishops of that diocese, or certainly to the see of the royal city of Constantinople, and there pursue his own business.

X. That it is not permitted for a cleric to minister in two churches.

It is not permitted for a cleric to be ordained in the churches of two cities, but in that one in which he was ordained from the beginning and to which he had sought refuge beforehand; and if for the desire of vainglory he has fled, as it were, to a greater church, we order that he be restored to his own church, that is, where he was ordained from the outset, and that he minister there only. But if anyone has already been transferred from one church to another church, let him have nothing in common with his former church, whether with martyrs' shrines or poorhouses or guesthouses established under the church, or with their affairs. But those who have dared after the ordination of this great and universal synod to do what has been forbidden, the holy synod decrees shall fall from their own rank.

XI. That letters should be given to the needy, but the more honorable should be approved by commendatory letters.

We decree that all the poor and destitute should set out with the support of the church, with the attestation of a letter, that is, of the pacific letters which are called ecclesiastical irenica, and not with commendatory letters; because it is fitting that those whom we call commendatory letters should be received only by those who are more distinguished in reputation, so that they alone may be provided with them.

XII. That a province should by no means be divided into two metropolitans.

It has come to our notice that certain persons, seeking power beyond the ecclesiastical ordinations, divide one province into two by a sacred pragmatic rescript, and from this two metropolitan bishops are found to be in one and the same province. Therefore the holy synod decrees that hereafter nothing of this kind is to be attempted by any bishop, but that those who have attempted any such thing shall fall from their own rank. But if any cities were previously honored with the name of metropolitan by an imperial pragmatic rescript, let them enjoy the name only, and let the one who governs its church, that is, the bishop, be with the metropolitan privilege reserved by its own right to the metropolitan bishop.

XIII. That foreign clerics should not minister without commendatory letters.

Let it never be permitted at all for a foreign cleric and readers to minister outside their own city without commendatory letters of their own bishop.

XIV. That it is not permitted for a cleric to take a wife of another sect, unless perhaps she has promised to come to the true faith.

Since in certain provinces it is conceded to psalmists and readers to take wives, the holy synod has decreed that it is by no means permitted for them to take a wife of another sect. But if anyone has anticipated this and already has children from such a marriage, if perhaps they have already anticipated baptizing them among the heretics, they ought to offer them to the catholic church so that they may communicate there; but those who have not yet been baptized can by no means be baptized in a heretical church, nor be joined in marriage to a heretic, Jew, or pagan, unless perhaps she has promised to come to the orthodox faith when she is joined to an orthodox person. But if anyone has passed over this definition of the holy synod, let him be subject to the condemnations of the rules.

XV. Concerning women deaconesses, that they may not be ordained unless they are forty years old.

A deaconess must not be ordained before forty years of age, and this with careful examination. But if she has received ordination and has observed the ministry for however long a time, and afterward gives herself to marriage, doing injury to the grace of God, let her be anathema together with him who has come together with her in marriage.

XVI. Concerning monks and girls dedicated to God, that it is not permitted them to be joined in marriage.

If any virgin has dedicated herself to God, similarly also a monk, it is not permitted them to be joined in marriage. But if they shall be found doing this, let them remain excommunicated. We decree, however, that kindness may be shown to them, if the bishop of the place shall so approve.

XVII. Concerning churches in parishes held by the bishop for thirty years, or concerning renewed cities.

Throughout the individual rural churches, parishes, or in possessions, they shall remain undisturbed with those bishops who hold them, and especially those who have governed them without violence, holding them now for thirty years. But if within thirty years a dispute concerning them has been or shall be raised, let those who claim to have been injured on account of them be permitted to bring the case before the synod of the province.

If anyone, however, thinks that he is being burdened by his own metropolitan, let him bring the case to judgment before the ruler of his own diocese or before the see of the city of Constantinople, as has already been said. But if any city has been renewed by imperial authority, or is renewed hereafter by civil and public ordinances, let the ordinance of the churches of the parishes also follow.

XVIII. Concerning the conspiracy of clerics, which the Greeks call brotherhoods.

The crime of conjurations and conspiracies, which among the Greeks is called a brotherhood, is certainly known to be wholly forbidden even by public laws; much more, therefore, does it befit the holy Church of God that it be renounced, lest it be done. But if any clerics or monks are found conjuring or forming brotherhoods or any factions against their bishops or other clerics, let them by all means be deposed from their own rank.

XIX. That a council ought to be held twice a year throughout the provinces.

It has come to our ears that the councils of bishops established in the provinces are scarcely being held, and that on this account many ecclesiastical matters which stand in need of correction are neglected. Therefore this holy synod has decreed, in accordance with the rules of the Fathers, that the bishops of each province assemble together twice a year, where the metropolitan shall approve, and so correct each matter that has arisen. But those bishops established in their own cities who refuse to assemble—especially since they enjoy bodily health and are free from all other pressing and inexcusable business—shall be permitted to be reproved with the admonitions of brotherly love.

XX. That it is by no means permitted for clerics to migrate to another city, except those who have lost their own cities.

Clerics established in individual churches, as we have already decreed, are not permitted to be ordained in the churches of another city, but are to remain at rest in that city in which they first began to minister, except those who have lost their own cities and have migrated to other churches out of necessity. If, however, any bishop after this definition receives a cleric belonging to another bishop, the holy synod has resolved that both the one who received him and the one who was received shall remain excommunicated for as long as that cleric does not return to his own church.

XXI. Concerning what sort of accusers of bishops or clerics ought to be received in an accusation.

A cleric or layman who has accused bishops or clerics ought not to be received in accusation rashly and indiscriminately, unless their reputation has first been carefully examined.

XXII. That it is not permitted for clerics, after the death of their bishop, to plunder the things belonging to him.

That it is not permitted for clerics, after the death of their bishop, to seize the things belonging to him, as has already been established by the preceding rules; but if they do this, let them know that they are in danger in their own rank.

XXIII. Concerning clerics and monks, or the excommunicated, who come to the royal city against the will of their bishop.

It has come to the ears of the holy synod that certain clerics and monks, having nothing enjoined upon them by their own bishop, and sometimes even those who have been excommunicated by him, come to this royal city of Constantinople, and residing in it for long periods, bring disturbances to the tranquility of the Church and corrupt the households of various persons. Therefore the holy synod has decreed that these are first to be admonished through the defender of the Church of Constantinople, that they depart from the royal city; but if they stubbornly persist in the same purpose, that they be ejected even against their will through the same defender, so that they may reach their own places.

XXIV. That it is not permitted for monasteries to be made into secular lodgings.

Monasteries that have once been consecrated with the judgment of their own bishop are to remain forever, and the properties belonging to them are to be preserved for the monastery itself, and they cannot henceforth be made into secular dwellings; but those who permit this to be done shall be subject to the condemnations that have been established by the canons.

XXV. That after the death of a bishop the ordination of another bishop ought not to be long deferred.

Since certain metropolitans, as has been reported to us, neglect the flocks entrusted to them and defer the ordinations of bishops, it has pleased the holy synod that the ordinations of bishops be performed within three months, unless perhaps an inexcusable necessity compels the time of ordination to be extended further; but if any of the bishops does not observe these things, he himself ought to be subject to ecclesiastical condemnation; but the revenues of the same widowed Church are to be preserved intact with the steward of the same church.

XXVI. Concerning stewards, that is, dispensators, to be had for individual churches.

Because in certain churches, as has come to our notice, bishops administer ecclesiastical property without a steward, it has pleased us that all churches having bishops should also have stewards from their own clergy, who are to govern the affairs of the church at the judgment of their own bishop, so that the administration of the same ecclesiastical property may not be without testimony, and from this it may come about that the property of the same church is scattered and contempt for the priestly dignity is generated. But if anyone does not observe these things, let him be subject to the divine rules.

XXVII. Concerning those who seize wives for themselves.

The holy synod has decreed that those who seize wives for themselves, or those who have given them assistance, if indeed they were clerics, are to fall from their own rank; but if they were laymen, they are to be anathema.

I, Paschasius, bishop of the city of Lillibita, acting in the stead of the most blessed bishop Leo, have subscribed as defining.

Lucensius, bishop of the city of Asculum, likewise acting in the place of the most holy bishop Leo, defining, I have subscribed.

Boniface, presbyter of the city of Rome, acting in the place of the apostolic see, defining, I have subscribed.

Anatholius, bishop of the city of Constantinople, New Rome, defining, I have subscribed.

Maximus, bishop of Antioch, defining, I have subscribed.

Juvenalis, bishop of Jerusalem, defining, I have subscribed.

Thalasius, bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, defining, I have subscribed.

Quintilius, bishop of Heraclea in Macedonia, acting in the place of the most holy man bishop Anastasius of the city of Thessalonica, defining, I have subscribed.

Stephen, bishop of Ephesus, defining, I have subscribed.

Lucianus, bishop of Byze, acting in the place of the most holy bishop Cyriacus of Heraclea in Thrace, defining, I have subscribed.

Eusebius, bishop of Ancyra in Galatia, defining, I have subscribed.

Diogenes, bishop of Cyzicus, defining, I have subscribed.

Peter, bishop of Corithes, defining, I have subscribed.

Florus, bishop of Sardis, defining, I have subscribed.

Eunomius, bishop of Nicomedia, defining, I have subscribed.

Anastasius, bishop of Nicaea, defining, I have subscribed.

Eleutherius, bishop of Chalcedon, defining, I have subscribed.

Likewise all six hundred and thirty bishops, defining, subscribed.

And after it had been read out, the most pious emperor said to the holy council: Let the holy council say whether the definition which has now been read was brought forth with the consent of all the bishops. All the most reverend bishops answered: We all so believe; with one faith, one judgment, we all think this same thing; we have all subscribed in agreement; we are all orthodox. This is the faith of the apostles, this is the faith of those who believe rightly, this is the faith which has saved the world. To Marcian, the new Constantine, the new Paul, the new David, emperor, to the most pious lady augusta, life to them.

And after these acclamations, the most pious and most faithful emperor said to the holy synod: The venerable catholic faith has been made manifest by the holy universal synod according to the exposition of the Fathers; and if we have caused labor and reproach to your reverence, we give the greatest thanks to almighty God, because, with the discord of many who erred concerning the faith cut off, we all now come together in one and the same faith, hoping that through your prayers a swift and better peace may be granted by God upon us all. The holy synod exclaimed again: These things are worthy of your empire, these things are proper to your empire, this is the correction of your empire, worthy of the faith, worthy of Christ, worthy of the empire, both of the empire and of the faith; therefore the circle of the earth is made peaceful. And after these acclamations, the most pious and most faithful emperor said to the holy synod: Our Tranquility has approved that the venerable catholic faith, made manifest by the holy and universal synod according to the exposition of the Fathers, is in accordance with the law and fitting, so that every occasion of contention concerning its faith may hereafter be cut off. If anyone, therefore, whether a private person or a soldier or a cleric, publicly gathering a crowd concerning the faith under the pretext of disputation, makes a tumult, if indeed he is a private person, let him be expelled from the royal city; but a soldier or a cleric shall sustain the peril of his rank and be subject to other penalties.

Edict of the emperors in confirmation of the Council of Chalcedon.

The emperors Valentinian and Marcian, Augusti, to all peoples. At last, what we had desired with our highest vows and endeavors has come to pass: contention has been removed from the orthodox law of the Christians; at last remedies for culpable error have been found, and the discordant opinion of the peoples has come together into one consent and concord. For from diverse provinces the most religious priests came to Chalcedon according to our commands, and they taught with clear definition what ought to be observed in religion. Therefore profane contention has now departed, for truly he is impious and sacrilegious who, after the judgment of so many priests, leaves anything to his own opinion to be discussed; for it is extreme madness to seek a fabricated light in the middle of the clear day: for whoever, after the truth has been found, disputes anything further, seeks a lie.

Therefore let no one, whether cleric or soldier or of any other condition whatsoever, attempt hereafter to treat publicly of the Christian faith when assemblies are gathered and listeners present, seeking from this an occasion of tumult and treachery. For he does injury to the judgment of the most religious synod, if anyone strives to reopen and publicly dispute matters once judged and rightly settled, since those things which have now been established concerning the Christian faith are known to have been defined in accordance with the apostolic expositions and the institutions of the holy Fathers, the three hundred and eighteen, and the hundred and fifty. For the penalty for contemners of this law shall not be lacking, because they not only come against the well-ordered faith, but also, by a contest of this kind, profane the venerable mysteries before Jews and pagans. Therefore, if it be a cleric who has dared to treat publicly of religion, he shall be removed from the fellowship of clerics; but if he be invested with military service, he shall be stripped of his belt; others also who are guilty of this crime shall be expelled from this most holy city, to be subjected, by the vigor of the judiciary, even to fitting punishments. For it is evident that from this the beginnings and fuel of heretical madness are supplied, while certain persons dispute and contend publicly. Therefore all ought to keep what has been established by the holy synod of Chalcedon, with nothing thereafter to be doubted.

Instructed therefore by this edict of our sincerity, abstain from profane words and cease hereafter to dispute about divine matters, which is a sacrilege; because this sin will not only be punished by divine judgment, as we believe, but will also be restrained by the authority of the laws and of judges. On the seventh day before the Kalends of February at Constantinople, in the consulship of Sporacius.

The sacred edicts of the Augusti Valentinian and Marcian after the Council of Chalcedon, for the affirmation of the same council and the condemnation of heretics.

The Emperors Valentinian and Marcian, Augusti, to Palladius, praetorian prefect.

Thanks are always to be rendered and given to the divine power, because it neither allows the authors of heresy and their hidden deeds to lie concealed, nor permits them to endure unpunished: of these evils, the one has the greatest capacity for harming, the other affords to the rest an example of taking precaution. That the acts of men, and especially the reverence of religion, are a care to the divinity, has recently appeared evidently in the confirming of the catholic faith, when it neither suffered Eutyches, a follower of accursed doctrines, to lie hidden, as he had long lain hidden, nor, once his crime was laid bare, allowed him to escape the penalty of his crime. Condemned therefore by divine and human judgments, he received the synodal decree, as he deserved, guilty before the divinity whom he was injuring, guilty before men whom he was attempting to deceive.

For recently countless most blessed bishops from almost the whole world, gathered at Chalcedon, expelled the wicked fabrications of the aforesaid Eutyches, together with his synod, his case having been heard, following the decrees of the holy fathers, which were either established at Nicaea by three hundred and eighteen, or afterward declared in this nurturing city by one hundred and fifty bishops, or at Ephesus, when the error of Nestorius was shut out, with Celestine of the city of Rome and Cyril of the city of Alexandria presiding as bishops. Therefore we have judged and do judge that those things defined by the venerable synod at Chalcedon according to the ancient discipline must be observed in all respects with that faith by which we worship God; because it is highly fitting to preserve with the utmost veneration the decrees of six hundred and thirty priests worshipping God with a pure mind, which proceeded for the faith of the orthodox as most sacred according to the rules of the Fathers. Since it is the chief part of providence to suppress every evil in its beginnings and to cut away the creeping disease with the medicine of laws, by this law we decree that those who are deceived by the error of Eutyches, after the example of the Apollinarians, whom Eutyches followed, and whom the venerable rules of the Fathers, that is, the ecclesiastical canons, and the most sacred sanctions of the divine princes condemn, shall have no bishop, no presbyter, shall create or call no clerics, and that Eutyches himself shall wholly lack the name of presbyter, of which he is both unworthy and has been stripped.

If, however, any have dared to ordain bishops, presbyters, and other clerics contrary to our definitions, we command that both those ordained and those ordaining, or those presuming to take clerical grades for themselves, be struck with the loss of their goods and held in perpetual exile. We order that they have no license to assemble, gather, or congregate monks or to build monasteries; the places into which they may perhaps at some time have dared to attempt to convene are to be confiscated, if indeed they have convened with the knowledge of the lord of the place; but if with the owner or lessee of the place unaware, we decree that they be beaten with rods and undergo deportation. Moreover, we suffer them to take nothing from anyone's testament, nor to leave anything by testament to those who are of the same error, nor to aspire to any military service, except perhaps to the cohortal or frontier service. If anyone also is found to be serving outside the aforesaid military service, either because his perversity in religion was unknown, or because after obtaining the belt he has come to this error, let him be released from military service and have this as the fruit of his infidelity, that he be deprived of communion with the best men and of the palace, and let him dwell nowhere other than in the village or city in which he was born; but if any of them were born and condemned in this nurturing city, which it is impious to believe, let them be excluded both from this venerable city and from the most sacred comitatus and from every metropolitan city. And these things indeed we have established generally concerning all who have been or shall be polluted by this stain.

But those who were previously clerics of the orthodox faith, and indeed monks, who dwelt in the lodging of Eutyches—for it should not be called a monastery, since it harbored enemies of religion—who have continued in their madness even until now, having abandoned the worship of the venerable religion and the synodal decree which the priests gathered at Chalcedon from almost the whole world defined, follow the ill-omened assertion of Eutyches, because, having deserted the true light, they have believed that darkness should be chosen: we command that they be held liable to all the penalties which have been defined against heretics either by this law or by preceding ones; indeed, that they be expelled from Roman soil, just as the preceding most religious constitutions established concerning the Manichaeans, lest the minds of the innocent or the weak be deceived by their poisonous frauds and accursed inventions. We have learned, moreover, that they have lied about certain things to the insult of religion and to the discredit of the venerable synodal definition, and that in written books and volumes of documents they have fabricated many things which openly mark their madness against the true faith; and therefore we command that wherever writings of this kind are found, they be burned with fire. But those who have either written them or handed them to others to be read with the zeal of teaching or of learning, we decree to be punished by deportation; for this ill-omened heresy must be destroyed, as is contained in the edicts of Our Serenity previously issued. We take away from all the capacity, because he who has attempted to teach unlawful things will be restrained by the ultimate punishment.

But those who, in a desire to follow him, have listened to the man uttering wicked things, we restrain by a fine of ten pounds of gold; for thus the material of error will be removed, if both the teacher and the hearer of sins are absent, Palladius, dearest and most loving father. Therefore let your illustrious and magnificent authority, by posting edicts, make known to all what we have ordered, with the governors of the provinces and their offices, and also the defenders of the cities, being informed; for if they neglect or permit to be rashly violated those things which we have judged must be kept by true faith and holy purpose, struck by a fine of ten pounds of gold, as betrayers of religion and of the laws, they shall also suffer loss of their rank. Given on the fifteenth day before the Kalends of August at Constantinople, in the consulship of Sporacius and of him who shall have been announced.

Another [edict] of the emperor Marcian against the above-mentioned heretics.

The emperor Marcian Augustus to Palladius, praetorian prefect.

Although by the most sacred constitution of my clemency it has already been provided and defined what severity is to be exercised against those who, having followed the heretical perversity of Eutyches or Apollinaris, have deviated from the catholic religion and faith, nevertheless the citizens and inhabitants of the city of Alexandria are so infected by the poisons of Apollinaris that it has been necessary to decree again now, by a repeated law, those things which we already sanctioned before. For severity of sanctions ought to be abundant where there is frequent license of faults to be guarded against; moreover, the care of the orthodox faith ought to be applied by my Serenity with as much greater earnestness as divine matters surpass human affairs. Therefore, whoever either in this sacred city, or in the city of Alexandria, or in the whole diocese of Egypt and in various other provinces follow the profane perversity of Eutyches, and do not so believe as the three hundred and eighteen holy Fathers handed down the catholic faith, founding it in the city of Nicaea, and as the other hundred and fifty venerable bishops who afterwards assembled in this nurturing city of Constantinople, and as Athanasius and Theophilus and Cyril, bishops of holy memory of the city of Alexandria, believed, whom

which the Ephesine synod, over which Cyril of blessed memory presided, in which the error of Nestorius was expelled, followed in all respects; and which the venerable synod of Chalcedon recently followed, with the priests of the earlier councils agreeing on every side, adding nothing to and taking nothing from the sacrosanct symbol, but condemning the deadly dogmas of Eutyches; let them know that they are heretics, Apollinarians. For Eutyches and Dioscorus with sacrilegious mind followed the most criminal sect of Apollinaris. And therefore all these who follow the perversity of Apollinaris or Eutyches, let them know that they are to be punished with those penalties which were decreed by the constitutions of the deified emperors of old against the Apollinarians, or later by the sanction of Our Serenity against the Eutychians, or by this most august law itself against the same.

Therefore the Apollinarists, that is, the Eutychianists—who, though there is a diversity in name, are yet joined in the depravity of heresy, and have indeed a different name but the same sacrilege—whether they are in this venerable city and various provinces, or in the city of Alexandria, or within the Egyptian diocese, since they do not believe as the aforesaid venerable Fathers believed, nor communicate with the most reverend Proterius, bishop of the city of Alexandria, who holds the orthodox faith, according to the most sacred constitutions of the divine emperors of old which were promulgated concerning the Apollinarists, let them have no power to make a testament or to establish a last will, nor let them acquire what has been left to them by anyone's testament, nor let them obtain anything from any donation; but if anything has been conferred upon them by the liberality of a living person or by the will of one dying, let it be immediately assigned to our fisc, and let them themselves transfer nothing from their possessions to anyone by the title and right of donation. But let it not be permitted to them to create and have bishops or presbyters or other clerics, since both these Eutychianists or Apollinarists who have dared to impose the name of bishop or presbyter or cleric on anyone, and those who have attempted to retain the priestly name imposed upon themselves, know that they will undergo the penalty of exile with the loss of their possessions.