Letter 20: Gelasius touches in passing on how much consolation he draws from Rusticus's affection for the apostolic see, and...

[Editorial heading:] No. 49. Of Pope Gelasius, to Rusticus. 25 January. [Editorial summary, partly garbled:] [...] recalling [...] how much both consolation he receives from that man's love toward the Apostolic See, and how much persecution he endures on account of the case of Acacius, he commends Epiphanius the bishop [...] to him, and asks that he keep himself the better informed concerning the disposition of the Gauls in this matter. A.D. 494. [Editorial textual note, partly garbled:] [We have followed] ... and then he continues the rest thus: "I have taken offense that [things] are not corrected by divine authority, as the matter demands" (in the margin: "are not dashed together") ... [...]. And indeed there is here no discourse concerning divine authorities, but concerning the sacred tablets which pertained to the divine mysteries, and which the business of the Church demanded should be corrected by striking out the name of Acacius. [Manuscript variants:] "F¹ F" by divine [authority] as the matter demands ... ought ... we may be able." Thus c, d, and the better manuscripts (F¹, F", N¹); others read "and d": "Thus to us also and the rest." LETTERS 12, 13. 359 To my most beloved brother Rusticus, Gelasius. 1. Amid the whirlwinds of the evils pressing upon us and of the various temptations by which we are nearly engulfed, your love, most loving brother, has supplied great solace to our afflictions. For what could happen more full of consolation than to see most dear brothers suffering together with one another and bearing part of the burden, brothers upon whom no small portion of blessing has been conferred? Blessed be God, who has so disposed your heart toward us that you not only feel in your soul the things which we suffer, but also show, in displaying the mercy of holy bestowal, what charity you have in your compassionate heart, and add to the words of sweetest consolation those acts of help which are foremost among friends! But we will not weary your love by writing of how confined a strait we have been in. Our brother and fellow bishop Aeonius knows how useful was the support, both that which he sent and that which you sent to us. Moreover our brother Epiphanius, who is being dispatched to your regions to relieve his own people and to ransom captives, will make your brotherliness the more certain of how great a persecution we are enduring on account of the case of the most impious Acacius. But we do not fail, and amid so many pressures our spirit does not yield, nor is our zeal slackened, nor does fear overturn us. But although perplexed and straitened, we trust in him who will grant a way out together with the temptation, and who, if he allows us to be pressed down for a time, will not suffer us to be overwhelmed. 2. See to it, most dear brother, that the affection of you and your people toward us, or rather toward the Apostolic See, does not cease. For those who stand firm upon the rock will be exalted together with the rock. Help our brother Epiphanius, and let him perceive that you love me; and when he has returned to his own home, let your love write both what is owed to himself and what is owed to our brothers and fellow bishops established throughout the Gauls concerning the case of the most impious Acacius. May God keep you safe, most dear brother! Given on the eighth day before the Kalends of February, in the consulship of Asterius and Praesidius, most illustrious men. [Editorial footnote:] Concerning this prelate Ennodius writes thus in the Life of Epiphanius: "Epiphanius is of Lyon" [Lugdunum], where Rusticus (there Rusticius) then held the episcopal chair, a man who both in secular affairs always showed himself a priest under the prefiguration of his title, and under the pretext of the forum carried on the governance of the Church. [Editorial footnote, partly garbled:] That those of Lyon were sent back in [...] to return to Italy, and that more than six thousand souls were restored to their own lands, Ennodius attests in the passage cited. [...] the cleverness of the reply would find [...].

^•49^d. Oelasii papae ad Rusticum. 25Jan. Obiier commemorans , quantum et comolationis ex illius erga sedem apoiioUeam caritate percipiat et persecutionis oh Acacii causam sustineat, Epiphanium episeO' Bubticeri observavimus) ac deinde cetera sic prosequitur: offendi^ ne dimnme «nc» toritateSj ut res postulat, corrigantur (ad marg. coHidantur) ... unUterei cnitanM piam, Et vero de diviniB auctoritatibus hic nullus est Bermo, sed de saciia ta- bulis, quae ad divim^ mystoria pertinorent, quacque ut ezpiuicto Acacii nomine corrigerentur, res Ecclesiae postulabat. F^ F"* ditfine ui ret posiuiani ... debei ... possimus, *^ Ita c d« ot meliores mss. (F^ F™ N'); alii et d* Sie noe et ceieri, EPISTOLAE 12. 13. ^ 359 » pum ei commendai , et ul de GaUorum circa hanc rausam animis sese ceftiorem a. 494. reddat petit. Dilectissimo fratri Rustico*) Gelasius. 1. Inter ingruentiuin malorum turbines et variarum tentatio- num^ quibus pene mergimur; afflictationes tua nobis caritas, aman- tissime frater^ grande solatium propinavit. Quid enim consolatius posset accidere, quam videre fratres carissimos invicem compatientes et partem oueris ferentes, quibus non minima ,benedictionis portio collata est? Benedictus Deus, qui tua erga nos taliter aflfecit prae- cordia, ut non tantum quae patimur animo sentias, sed et monstres in sanctae tributionis exhibendo misericordiam, qualem habeas in compassivo corde caritatem, et adjungas ad dulcissimae consolationis sennones, quae sunt praecipuae inter amicos opitidationes ! Venmi dilectionem tuam non fatigabimus scribentes, quam in arcto fueri- mus, Scit frater noster et coepiscopus Aeonius, quam utile fuerit, et quod misit et quod ad nos misisti, subsidium. Ceterum frater noster Epiphanius, qui ad gentis suae relevandos et redimendos captivos ad partes vestras destinatur^), fraternitatem tuam certiorem fadet, quantam ob impiissimi Acacii causam persecutionem sustine- mus. Sed non deficimus, et inter tot pressuras nec cedit animus nec relaxatur zelus nec subv^rtit metus. Sed licet aporiantes et angustiati, confidimus in eimi, qui dabit cum tentatione proventum, et si ad tempus sinit deprimi, non patietur opprimi. 2. Fac, carissime frater, ut tuus tuorumque in uos vel potius m sedem apostolicam non cesset aflfectus. Qui enim in petra soli- (labuntur, cum petra exaltabimtur. Adjuva fratrem nostrum Epi- phanimn, et sentiat quia me amas^); et quum redierit ad propria, scribat dilectio tua, tam quae sibi quam quae fratribus nostris et coepiscopis per Gallias constitutis circa impiissimi Acacii causam ndebuntur. Deus te praestet incolumem, frater carissime! Datum VIII Calendas Februarias Asterio et Praesidio viris clarissimis con- sulibus. *') De hoc praesulo Ennodius in vita Epiphanii sic acribit: Epiphanius Lug- ingrema est^ ubi Rusticus (ibi Rusticius) tunc episcopalem cathedram possidebat, kamo, qvi et in saeadaris tituli praefiguratione sacerdotem semper exhibuit, et sub praetexta fori gubemationem gessit' ecclesiae, Luffdunensi Mtate redituros ad Italiam fuisse dimissos, et plus quam sex millia ani- wtarum proprOs terris reddita esse Ennodius 1. c. testetur. Uanum mU responsionis calliditas inveniret.