Avitus the bishop to the most illustrious man Senarius.
Having frequently experienced the kindness of Your Magnificence, since you receive it graciously, I have directed to you the dutiful service of a greeting by means of this attendant page. And since you know that it belongs to the synodal laws that, in matters which pertain to the condition of the Church, if any doubt should arise, we should have recourse to the supreme priest of the Roman Church as the limbs that follow have recourse to our head, by the consent of the bishops of the province of Vienne I have dispatched with solicitude to the holy Hormisdas, or whoever that pope now is, the homage of due reverence, desiring to hear from the authority of the aforesaid see what it has learned concerning the outcome of the embassy sent by it to the East. Since therefore, as I have said, I am consulted by the men of my province, I myself do not presume to answer unless I first consult the prior one. There is need, then, of the support of your office, so that this matter may be carried through in due order on both sides, so that either an inquiry may reach there from us, or a response may come back to us from the one who sets it forth. The condition of the Church does not pertain to the priests alone: this solicitude is common to all the faithful. Whoever we are, or in whatever place we seem to govern the Church, we conduct your business in the catholic religion. When something concerning the rule of faith is either ailing or being healed, it behooves you, together with us, either to rejoice or to groan. Whence it must not be believed that anything of the cause about which I am consulting should be hidden from you either. If I were acting for myself alone, your knowledge would suffice well enough for my inquiry: we can hear no more of the truth from the pope than from you. But the advantage of the churches demands that the things which you know, the teacher should convey. I, however, being especially your own, will await a reply from you, if you deign it, in a more especial manner, by which in truth, as I have said, only so much of the truth will be able to become known to me as the bishop of the city of Rome will rejoice to have answered to those who await it by the privilege of his authority.
Avitus episcopus viro illustrissimo Senario.
Magnificentiae vestrae gratiam frequenter expertus, quia dignanter accipitis, salu-
tationis officium pagina famulante direxi. Et quia scitis synodalium legum esse, ut
in rebus, quae ad ecclesiae statum pertinent, si quid fuerit dubitationis exortum, ad
Romanae ecclesiae maximum sacerdotem quasi ad caput nostrum membra sequentia
recurramus, ex consensu antistitum provinciae Viennensis ad sanctum Hormisdam, seu
quicumque nunc ille est, papam debitae venerationis obsequium cum sollicitudine desti-
navi, audire a praefatae sedis auctoritate desiderans, quid de effectu directae a se ad
Orientem legationis agnoverit. Cum ergo, ut dixi, a provincialibus meis consulor,
respondere etiam ego, nisi priorem consulam, non praesumo. Adminiculo igitur ordi-
nationis vestrae opus est, ut istud ab utraque parte per ordinem compleatur, ut vel
a nobis interrogatio perveniat, vel ad nos redeat ab exponente responsio. Non ad
solos sacerdotes ecclesiae pertinet status: cunctis fidelibus sollicitudo ista communis
est. Quicumque vel quocumque videmur ecclesiam regere, vestram in catholica re-
ligione rem gerimus. Cum de fidei regula vel aegrotat aliquid vel sanatur, nobis-
cum vos aut gaudere oportet, aut gemere. Vnde nec vos aliquid de causa, quam
consulo, latere credendum est. Si mihi soli agerem, satis interrogationi meae notitia
vestra sufficeret: nihil plus a papa quam a vobis possumus veritatis audire. Sed
ecclesiarum poscit utilitas, ut, quae vos nostis, doctor insinuet. Ego tamen peculiaris
vester rescriptum, si dignamini, a vobis peculiarius praestolabor, quo revera, ut dixi,
tantum mihi veritas innotescere poterit, quantum se Romanae urbis antistes auctori-
tatis privilegio expectantibus respondisse gaudebit.
◆
Avitus the bishop to the most illustrious man Senarius. Having frequently experienced the kindness of Your Magnificence, since you receive it graciously, I have directed to you the dutiful service of a greeting by means of this attendant page. And since you know that it belongs to the synodal laws that, in matters which pertain to the condition of the Church, if any doubt should arise, we should have recourse to the supreme priest of the Roman Church as the limbs that follow have recourse to our head, by the consent of the bishops of the province of Vienne I have dispatched with solicitude to the holy Hormisdas, or whoever that pope now is, the homage of due reverence, desiring to hear from the authority of the aforesaid see what it has learned concerning the outcome of the embassy sent by it to the East. Since therefore, as I have said, I am consulted by the men of my province, I myself do not presume to answer unless I first consult the prior one. There is need, then, of the support of your office, so that this matter may be carried through in due order on both sides, so that either an inquiry may reach there from us, or a response may come back to us from the one who sets it forth. The condition of the Church does not pertain to the priests alone: this solicitude is common to all the faithful. Whoever we are, or in whatever place we seem to govern the Church, we conduct your business in the catholic religion. When something concerning the rule of faith is either ailing or being healed, it behooves you, together with us, either to rejoice or to groan. Whence it must not be believed that anything of the cause about which I am consulting should be hidden from you either. If I were acting for myself alone, your knowledge would suffice well enough for my inquiry: we can hear no more of the truth from the pope than from you. But the advantage of the churches demands that the things which you know, the teacher should convey. I, however, being especially your own, will await a reply from you, if you deign it, in a more especial manner, by which in truth, as I have said, only so much of the truth will be able to become known to me as the bishop of the city of Rome will rejoice to have answered to those who await it by the privilege of his authority.
AI-assisted translation - This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
Avitus episcopus viro illustrissimo Senario. Magnificentiae vestrae gratiam frequenter expertus, quia dignanter accipitis, salu- tationis officium pagina famulante direxi. Et quia scitis synodalium legum esse, ut in rebus, quae ad ecclesiae statum pertinent, si quid fuerit dubitationis exortum, ad Romanae ecclesiae maximum sacerdotem quasi ad caput nostrum membra sequentia recurramus, ex consensu antistitum provinciae Viennensis ad sanctum Hormisdam, seu quicumque nunc ille est, papam debitae venerationis obsequium cum sollicitudine desti- navi, audire a praefatae sedis auctoritate desiderans, quid de effectu directae a se ad Orientem legationis agnoverit. Cum ergo, ut dixi, a provincialibus meis consulor, respondere etiam ego, nisi priorem consulam, non praesumo. Adminiculo igitur ordi- nationis vestrae opus est, ut istud ab utraque parte per ordinem compleatur, ut vel a nobis interrogatio perveniat, vel ad nos redeat ab exponente responsio. Non ad solos sacerdotes ecclesiae pertinet status: cunctis fidelibus sollicitudo ista communis est. Quicumque vel quocumque videmur ecclesiam regere, vestram in catholica re- ligione rem gerimus. Cum de fidei regula vel aegrotat aliquid vel sanatur, nobis- cum vos aut gaudere oportet, aut gemere. Vnde nec vos aliquid de causa, quam consulo, latere credendum est. Si mihi soli agerem, satis interrogationi meae notitia vestra sufficeret: nihil plus a papa quam a vobis possumus veritatis audire. Sed ecclesiarum poscit utilitas, ut, quae vos nostis, doctor insinuet. Ego tamen peculiaris vester rescriptum, si dignamini, a vobis peculiarius praestolabor, quo revera, ut dixi, tantum mihi veritas innotescere poterit, quantum se Romanae urbis antistes auctori- tatis privilegio expectantibus respondisse gaudebit.