Epistola VI Ad Diversos Episcopos

LETTER VI. Pope Siricius to the Various Bishops. I. That no unworthy person be made a bishop. — II. That the priesthood not be given to unknown persons. — III. That neophytes or laymen not become priests. Pope Siricius to the orthodox throughout the various provinces. CHAPTER I. — 1. The care of all churches rests upon Siricius. Considering, dearest brothers, the fear of divine judgment, and that after this life each one will receive according to what he has done, it was not permitted to remain silent about what comes into complaint, but necessity compelled us to speak, as the prophet says: "Raise your voice like a trumpet" (Isa. 58:1). And to whom the care of all churches belongs, if I dissemble, I will hear the Lord saying: "You reject the commandment of God, that you may establish your own traditions" (Mark 7:9). For what else is it to reject the commandment of God than to delight more freely in establishing new things by private judgment and human counsel? The statutes of the elders do not permit violation. Great care must be taken in the ordinations of clerics. Therefore, it has been brought to the awareness of the apostolic see that presumption is made against the ecclesiastical canon, and that things so ordered by the elders that they ought not to be violated even by a slight whisper are being subjected to certain new observations of their own, and that, neglecting the foundation, they wish to build upon sand, as the Lord says: "Do not remove the boundaries which your fathers established" (Prov. 22:28).

And the holy Apostle, preacher of the New and Old Testaments, also warns us, in whom Christ spoke: "Stand," he says, "and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word or by epistle" (2 Thess. 2:15). For this reason, your Sincerity sees with what great care and diligent solicitude the sacred ministries or ordinations of priests ought to be observed. Finally, he speaks to Timothy: "Do not impose hands on anyone quickly, nor share in the sins of others" (1 Tim. 5:22). This is recalled so that, after an examination has been held, and by probity of character and ecclesiastical labor he is more commended, the one who is called into the midst may be able to receive the high priesthood, approved by judgment, not by favor; received by truth, not by grace; supported by apostolic order, not by hasty will. Siricius does not yield to the ambitious. Concerning which, my dearest ones, before your Sincerity, letters of this kind have circulated with the great consensus of many brothers and fellow priests, so that, confirmed by your subscription, the disposition of the ecclesiastical canon which was treated at Nicaea might remain, by its own merit, most firmly established: namely, that only those be permitted to enter the ecclesiastical order whom apostolic authority commands, not those, I say, who were once bound by the belt of secular military service and gloried in it.

After they have exulted in worldly pomp, and have either chosen to serve in the affairs of state or to manage the concerns of the world, supported by the hand of certain men and surrounded by the favor of their neighbors, they frequently thrust themselves upon my ears, so that they might be bishops, who by tradition and evangelical discipline cannot be. With how much effort has this been contended many times? But nothing of the sort could be extracted, which reason does not compel. Even from afar they come to be ordained, so that they may be approved as worthy both by the people and by our judgment. CHAPTER II.—4. Wandering monks are ordained by bishops to spare expenses. How illicit that is cannot be estimated, so that those passing through (whether they pretend or are monks, as they call themselves), whose life we cannot know nor their baptism, whose faith we hold unknown and untested, they are unwilling to assist with expenses, but hasten either to make them deacons or to ordain them presbyters immediately, or, what is more serious, they do not shrink from making them bishops. Among them, expense given to a passerby is dearer than the priesthood. Not restrained, they are then lifted up into pride, then quickly fall into faithlessness; because true faith in ecclesiastical matters is not asserted to be learned by wanderers throughout the whole world.

CHAPTER III.—5. Let it not be taken as law that which necessity has once or twice extorted. Certainly, this also was not to be overlooked: that what the necessity of heretics once or twice introduced against apostolic precepts should not be presumed to be lawful as if by rule, namely, to ordain a neophyte (1 Tim. 3:6) or a layman who has held no ecclesiastical office, inconsiderately as either presbyter or deacon—as if they were better than the Apostles, whose precept they dare to change. And one who has not learned is compelled to teach. Is no one found fit among the clergy? Is there no one among the deacons or among the other clerics who is deemed worthy of the priesthood, but a layman is sought to the condemnation of the Church? I warn that this be done no further. I declare that, having one faith, we ought also to be of one mind in tradition, proving ourselves unanimous and concordant, peaceful in Christ and in apostolic observances, and to have charity. Therefore, with the Mediator Father, and His only-begotten Son, and the Holy Spirit, and the Trinity of one divinity, I agree that the Catholic faith and our discipline may remain in these things. And let no one think that ordinations are done as if earthly, since the priesthood is heavenly, so that the glory of the same dignity may remain for the faithful, and before the tribunal of Christ they may have nothing from this to accuse.

WARNING ON THE FOLLOWING LETTER. I. We have collated this letter against the old exemplars of various collections: namely, the codex published by Quesnel, another no less ancient collection preserved in the Colbertine library, and also the Hispana and the Isidoriana. In none, however, did we find the title which Quesnel gave it in this form: "Of Pope Siricius to all the bishops of Italy concerning the condemnation of Jovinian and the other heretics detracting from virginity." Isidore of Seville, in his book *On Ecclesiastical Writers*, ch. 3, mentions it and transmits it as sent to various bishops; and all our manuscripts agree with him, in which it is prefaced as sent to various bishops. The title which we present was transcribed from the manuscripts of the Hispana collection. Isidore Mercator preserved the same, but added from his own a salutation of this sort: "Siricius the pope to the orthodox bishops throughout the various provinces, greetings." In place of this salutation, in Crabbe and subsequently in other editions, we read substituted: "Siricius to the church of Milan." But that new inscription, I think, rests on no other reason than that it is established that this letter was sent to Milan, and that Ambrose with his associates replied to it. Mabillon, however, in his *Italian Journey*, p.

69, where he warns that this letter in the Roman codex of the Vallicellana library is inscribed not to the bishop of Milan but to all bishops, he wished only to note that it is inscribed not to the church of Milan, as is commonly circulated in the printed editions, but to various bishops. For that codex does not differ from ours, which with great consensus present "to various bishops," not "to all." Such lapses are to be forgiven in those who cursorily examine a foreign library and then, having returned home, note from memory what they observed worthy of attention. Jerome and Augustine seem to indicate this letter: Jerome indeed, when at the beginning of his book Against Vigilantius he teaches that Jovinian was condemned "by the authority of the Roman church"; and at the start of book III Against the Pelagians he repeats that Jovinian's teachings were "condemned long ago at Rome, and recently in Africa"; Augustine, moreover, in book II of the Retractations, chapter 12, after having premised that the heresy of Jovinian had greatly prevailed in the city of Rome, subjoined: "This monster was resisted most faithfully and most bravely by the holy Church which is there." For this reason, indeed, Siricius testifies that he wrote this letter, so that what had been done at Rome in the condemnation of Jovinian would not be unknown to the bishops.

II. The time at which it was written can be inferred from what follows. For in this letter it is not obscurely suggested that Jovinian and his associates, driven from Rome, fled to Milan to the emperor Theodosius. But Theodosius, after he had defeated Maximus—which some wish to have happened in the month of August, others in September—is said to have first arrived at Milan; and historical records attest that he came from there to Rome on the Ides of June, and after celebrating a triumph there, returned to Milan on the Kalends of September. From this it follows that this letter, if placed before Theodosius’ triumph, is not earlier than the end of the year; if postponed, it is to be considered as preceding the year’s end by no great interval.