Epistola Anastasii Romanae Urbis Episcopi Ad Joannem Hierosolymorum Episcopum

First Appendix to the First Part of the Works of Marius Mercator, Containing: The Letter of Pope Anastasius to John of Jerusalem concerning Rufinus of Aquileia, and the Profession of Faith consisting of twelve anathematisms which a certain Rufinus published. a THE LETTER OF ANASTASIUS, BISHOP OF THE CITY OF ROME, TO JOHN, BISHOP OF JERUSALEM, REPLYING CONCERNING THE NAME OF COELESTIUS. Although this letter contains nothing pertaining to the Pelagian heresy, it nevertheless has many things worthy of observation and contributing not a little to history; and therefore it seemed not to be rejected entirely, as extraneous, but to be relegated to this last place, although in the manuscript codices it holds the first. For I do not think that Mercator himself prefixed it to his works, since it pertains to the Pelagian or Nestorian matter; but that it was placed there by some not very learned collector, who, since no Rufinus other than the one of Aquileia was known to him, as soon as the name of Rufinus appeared prefixed to the anathematisms, thought that both works pertained to one and the same Rufinus.

It is indeed a mark of genuine affection that you, a priest, speak so laudably of a fellow priest. For such great praise, which you have most abundantly and undeservedly heaped upon me, I thank your love, even as the favorable speech of our insignificance in some measure follows the splendor of your holiness and the virtues you possess in the Lord. For you, most excellent of men, shine with such a luster of your own praises that speech cannot equal your merits. Moreover, I am so carried away by the incitement of your titles that I do not cease to dare what I cannot fulfill. This itself is part of your praises, that you have praised me so much for the serenity of that heavenly mind of yours. For the illustrious order of your episcopate, radiating throughout the whole world, has also conveyed to us the brightness of your splendor. You attribute everything to friendship in my case, leaving nothing to examination; or if you rightly praise me, you also are to be praised in a similar manner. I therefore beg you, for both reasons, to cease praising me to myself. For a twofold reason binds you, lest false praise bring grief to the feelings of your fellow priest, or true praise kindle shame.

But to return to the matter: Rufinus, about whom you have deigned to consult me, has the divine majesty as the arbiter of his own conscience, before whom he himself shall see how he ought to approve himself with an unimpaired devotion. Origen, however, whose compositions he has translated into our language, both what he was before and into what words he proceeded, my study did not know; but what my intention is, I shall briefly confer with your holiness on this matter. I conceive this, therefore, that he who has made the translated works of Origen known to the peoples of our city by reading has cast a certain cloud of blindness over pure minds, and has wished to dissolve the faith confirmed by the tradition of the apostles and the elders, as if by devious byways. I am inclined to say at this point: What is he doing with this translation into the Roman language? I approve if he accuses the author, and by execrating the deed, exposes him as hateful to the peoples, so that he may be held in just hatred whom rumor had already constrained. But if the interpreter himself lends consent to the errors of such great evils, and brings forth impious teachings to the peoples, he has built nothing else by the labor of his work than to overturn, by the will of his own choice, those things which alone, which first, which among catholic Christians are held as true faith, from the apostles down to this time, under the title of assertion.

Far be it from the catholic discipline of the Roman Church; never indeed will it happen that we admit any such thing, for any reason, which we rightly and deservedly condemn. For this reason, those things which are spread throughout the whole world, which the providence of our Lord Christ will deign to approve, we absolutely cannot accept—things that stain the Church, overturn established morals, wound the ears of those present, and set in motion quarrels, angers, and dissensions. Moved by this, we have condemned the writings and errors of Origen. As for the translator, since he has not sufficiently cleared himself, either in his own preface to the books of Origen or in the apology sent to us—indeed, perhaps he even agrees in fact with those same errors—we have summoned him to Rome for judgment before the apostolic see, and, when he refused to come, we have included him under the same sentence. Moreover, we have written a letter of condemnation to our brothers Venerius and Chromatius. That you may verify from what follows, our lowliness has sent that letter, written with more careful attention, to our brother and fellow bishop Venerius.

Whence, therefore, he who translated it derives this, and keeps for himself this conscience, I am not troubled with superfluous fear, nor am I anxious with empty dread. For my part, care will certainly not be lacking to me to guard the faith of the Gospel among my peoples, and to address the parts of the body scattered through diverse regions of the earth, as far as I can by letters, lest any source of profane interpretation creep in, which might attempt to shake devoted minds by casting its darkness upon them. That also, which I rejoice has come to pass, I could not pass over in silence: the responses of our most blessed princes have been issued, by which each person serving God is recalled from reading Origen; and he whom the profane reading has revealed as guilty has been condemned by the decree of the princes, even though the form of my own sentence had preceded this. But as for the fact that the complaint of the common people concerning Rufinus troubles you, so that you pursue some with vague suspicions, I will constrain this opinion of yours by the example of divine reading. For it is written thus: "Man is not like God; for God sees in the heart, man in the face" (1 Samuel 16).

Therefore, dearest brother, with all suspicion set aside, know that Rufinus, of his own mind, translated and approved the sayings of Origen into Latin, and he is not unlike the guilty party who gives assent to the vices of others. Yet I wish you to hold this: that he is so regarded as an alien in our parts that we desire not to know what he does or where he is. Let him himself finally see where he may be absolved.