Letter 229: Part of the papal correspondence surrounding the Acacian Schism (484-519), the major breach between Rome and...

[Summary] Justin recalls what he has done out of zeal for piety, and testifies that he has not changed in spirit (n. 1). That many churches cannot be deterred, even by punishments, from reciting the names of their bishops (n. 2). For these he begs pardon, with those things being preserved which have already been done (n. 3). He now sends, through Bishop John, a petition of these same churches, in which they detest all heretics, set forth their faith in so far as they believe Christ to be one of the Trinity, and ask that by the emperor's good offices they be admitted to catholic unity (nn. 4-7). Justin Augustus to Pope Hormisdas. 1. With what zeal we have always been, and still are, for the reconciling of the opinions of those who cherish the catholic faith, so that all might venerate with one and the same mind the undivided light of the Trinity, we are recognized to have made plain: now directing of our own accord to your Beatitude, for this very purpose, the eminent man Gratus, master of the bureau, so that at last a remedy may be found for the discords of those who contend in various ways; now receiving with eager and willing affection the most religious men whom your apostolic see judged should be sent as mediators of unity. For truly we have looked upon them as upon peace itself, both with joyful eyes, and with outstretched hands we have judged them to be embraced. Indeed we have even ordained, with all our intention, that the venerable church of Constantinople, and many others as well, should undertake your wishes not only in other matters, but also in removing even from the sacred diptychs the names which you most especially demanded should be removed. 2. But there have been certain cities and churches, Pontic as well as Asian and especially Eastern, whose clergy or peoples, though assailed by all threats and persuasions, could by no means be bent to take away and reject the names of the prelates whose reputation flourished among them; but they reckon a life harsher than death, if they should condemn the dead, in whose surviving life they used to glory. What then are we to do with obstinacy of this kind, which neither shows itself obedient to a command, and so despises torments that it judges it ample and festive for itself, if it should fail in body sooner than in its religious resolve? To us indeed it seems there is need of acting more gently and more clemently: which qualities, if they could not be found in your Sanctity, could now be found in no other. For we have received the petition neither as men greedy for blood and punishments-which is even a grievous thing to say-nor that the desires for concord should remain unfulfilled at little risk; but in order to prolong, by what order we can, the joining together of the members of the Church. Which therefore will be more excellent: that for the sake of lesser persons such great multitudes should be wholly torn away from us, or that, with small things conceded and remitted, greater things and those to be sought by every consideration should be set right, so that what was not permitted in all respects might at least in the necessary parts be brought together? 3. We therefore ask pardon of the names-not of Acacius, not of either Peter, not of Dioscorus or Timothy, whose appellations the letters of your Sanctity given to us contained, but of those whom episcopal reverence has celebrated in other cities, and this with the exception of the cities where the petition of your Beatitude has already been admitted in full, unless your benevolence should determine that this part too is to be corrected more gently. But the matter does not lack the judgment of the apostolic see, so that it should be called not so much a pardon to be granted, as a definition already deliberated and clearly perceived. For Anastasius indeed, of most religious memory, the summit of your church, plainly and openly established-when he wrote concerning this same business to our predecessor-that it was enough for those striving after peace, if only the name of Acacius were passed over in silence. Therefore it follows the earlier ordinances of your see; for he does not judge that all the memorials of the dead are to be despised, so that it should be held unworthy and unfitting, if your leniency, more peaceable toward all not only the dead but even the living, should not be published in every end of the earth. And this indeed we do not doubt will be so gracious to you that the world will at once be rendered more joyful by a peaceful reply. 4. But let your Sanctity retain what we wrote some time ago: that supplications have been directed to us from the East, containing their own will and judgment, in which they show they will firmly endure, and from which they think there is by no reason any desisting. This document, therefore, according to our promises, we have deservedly judged should be directed to you at present through John, the most reverend bishop, so that, its tenor being also admitted by your see, it may avail for gathering together and uniting everywhere the venerable churches, and especially that of Jerusalem, on which all bestow so great a favor as upon the mother of the Christian name, so that no one dares to separate himself from her. It is fitting, therefore, that your Sanctity declare your favorable consent also by an epistolary page: so that, it being known and made plain to all that the tenor of this same document is praised by you also and tenaciously preserved, the world may exist more joyful. Given on the fifth day before the Ides of September at Chalcedon, in the consulship of Rusticus, most illustrious man. Received on the day before the Kalends of December, the consul written above. Copy of the petition. To the God-beloved and most pious emperor, Augustus and prince from God, Justin the most Christian: an entreaty and supplication from the clergy and abbots of Jerusalem and Antioch and of Second Syria, and from the landholders of the province of Syria. 5. "Draw water with joy from the fountain of salvation," the prophet Isaiah cries aloud, manifestly showing the fountains of salvation to be the preachings of the evangelical truth, from which the blessed apostles, and those who in due order were their disciples, and the wise teachers of the Church, drawing the saving water of faith, watered all the holy Church of God; which, supported upon the rock of the chief of the apostles, keeping the right and inflexible confession, confidently cries out with him at all times to the only-begotten Son of God, saying: "Thou art Christ the Son of the living God." Receiving this saving confession from the four holy synods, which have been honored by the evangelical precepts, we have never, through the grace of Christ, deviated from the right doctrines handed down to us; as the proof of facts testifies, and the constancy of faith demonstrates in time of necessity. If therefore, as Christians, we are partakers of the reasonable faith, most pious lord; and if we hasten both to the common peace and to unity, we make manifest to your piety our faith, which from the beginning we have received, through this our satisfaction, so that it may be known: that we both run together toward peace, and do not turn aside from the right faith with God's help, but on equal terms execrate every heresy-not only the Eutychianists and the Acephali, but also the Nestorians and the man-worshippers, hating them with our whole soul, we anathematize them. 6. But we, most Christian lord emperor, as was said above, baptized also from the beginning into the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and believing, adore one essence of God in three subsistences: according to the teaching and creed of the holy fathers, believing in one God the Father almighty, and in one our Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten God the Word, and likewise in one Holy Spirit. And according to this divine teaching we also understand and receive the definition promulgated by the holy synod of Chalcedon, confessing and believing that the same holy synod preached one substance or person-which is the same thing-God the Word, in two natures, that is, in deity and humanity, undividedly and unconfusedly; and our Lord Jesus Christ is one of the holy Trinity of one essence. For if we receive one God in three subsistences, as has been said, but the Father is not incarnate, nor the Holy Spirit: God the Word was incarnate, and was made man, one of the holy Trinity of one essence, according to the property of sonship. Thus believing according to the aforesaid holy four synods, we do not refuse to confess also the second nativity of God the Word according to the flesh (whence the holy Virgin is properly believed to be the bearer of God, inasmuch as by nature and in truth she brought forth the Son, God the Word, consubstantial with the Father, through an unchangeable nature, made man from her own self): and confessing two natures in Christ united through essence or substance, as in one person or substance, we neither take away their diversity or property after the union, nor have we been taught to divide them into two persons and substances through the union. And we know the same only-begotten Son of God, both before his incarnation and after, that is: God and man together, passible in flesh, impassible in deity, circumscribed in body, not circumscribed in spirit, that is, earthly and heavenly, whom the world received as man and could not contain as God, mortal and immortal, the diversity of natures being nowhere taken away, nor dividing the union through essence. For this is truly the great mystery of piety: that one of the holy Trinity of one essence, incarnate and made man, God the Word, is acknowledged and adored in each nature, of deity and of humanity, undividedly and unconfusedly, undergoing no conversion or change, but preserving in himself the property of each nature in one person. 7. For the sake of this faith, therefore, receiving and keeping the aforesaid holy synods, we anathematize all who have written anything against them at any time or in any manner, especially John the Aegeate, who poured forth, like a Nestorian, many blasphemies against the said holy synod of Chalcedon; condemning likewise also Timothy surnamed Aelurus, as a Eutychianist barking against it together with his followers. Thus therefore, with God's help, we have always thought, and even now think. Wherefore we have offered this satisfaction to your piety; for it has deigned to command that we set forth our own understanding and how we think concerning the sound faith: because certain heretics, while they hasten to conceal their own evil faith, attempt to disparage our liberty in Christ and our right faith. We supplicate, therefore, that your clemency ought to have concern for the perfect unity of the holy churches: so that the unity, which shall have been made with God's help, may not thereafter be able to be disturbed by any occasion-reasonable or unreasonable-as by a kindling-fuel of its peace. And may God fulfill the pious desire of you all, to His glory and the good order of the commonwealth!

Justini imperatoris ad Hormi^am papam. ^- l^o d. 9 Sept. .20. Recolit Justinus, quae pietatis studio fecerit^ iestaturque, se animo non mutO' tum esse (n. 1). Multas ecclesias a recitandis episcoporum suorum nominibus nec suppliciis deterreri posse (n. 2). Quibus veniam flagitat, saivis iis quae Jam gesta sunt (n. 3). Eanundem nunc ecclesiarum liheUum per Johannem episcopum mitiit, in quo haereticos omnes detestantur , fidem suam quatenus Christum unum ex Trinitate credant exponunt, utque imperatoris opera ad umtatem catholicam admittantur rogant (n. 4 — 7). Justinus Augustus Hormisdae papae^). 1. Quo fuimus semper et quo sumus studio pro conciliandis sententiis catbolicam fidem colentium^ ut eodem animo cuncti vene- rentur lumen^) individuum Trinitatis, palam fecisse dignoscimur: nunc legatum ad vestram beatitudinem ultro ob**) boc ipsum diri- gentes Gratum virum sublimem^) magistrum scrinii, quo remedium ep. 42. tandem reperiatur discordiis varia certantium, riunc prono^) libentique suscipientes affectu viros religiosissimos^), quos interventores unitatis vestra') sedes apostolica credidit destinandos. Profecto enim tam- quam ipsam pacem et jucundis eos oculis adspeximus, et extensis manibus duximus amplectendos. Quin etiam omni inteutione ordi- navimus, ut venerabilis ecclesia Constantinopolitana nec non com- plures aliae vota suscipiant vestra non solum in ceteris^ sed iu aufe- '*) H'* vestrae sedis apostoiicne credi ... Profecio eienim. a. 520. rendis etiom nominibus ex sacris diptychis^ quae removenda maxime postulastis. 2. Verum nonnullae fuerunt urbes et ecclesiae tam^) Ponticae quam Asianae ac praecipue Orientales^ quarum clerici yel popoli omnibus pertentat minis et persuasionibus^ tamen nequaquam fleii sunt^ ut tollaiit antistitum et repellant nomina^ quorum apud eos opinio floruit; sed morte vitam duriorem aestimant, si mortuos con- denmaverint, quorum gloriabantur vita superstitiun. Quid igitur fa- ciamus hujusmodi pertinaciae, quae nec dicto audiens exsistit, et tormenta in tantum despicit, ut amplum sibi ac festivum judicet, si corpore prius quam religioso desistat consilio? Nobis quidem videtur opus esse mollius agendi et clementius: quae si^) nou iu tua san- ctitate, jam nec in alio potuerunt inveniri. Nam neque sangninis et suppliciorum cupidi, quod dictum etiam grave est, libellum susce- pimus, neque ut parvo discrimine remaneant imperfecta concordiae desideria; sed ad prorogandam ^^) quo possumus ordine conjunctionem membrorum Ecclesiae. Utrum itaque praestantius erit, minorum gratia in totum esse nobis abreptas*^) tantas multitudines, an con- cessis exiguis et remissis majora et omni ratione quaerenda corrigi, ut quae non licuit per onmia, saltem ex necessariis partibus alle- gantur^^)? 3. Yeniam itaque nominum postuIamuS; non Acacii, non utriusque Petri, non Dioscori, vel Timothei, quorum vocabula ad nos datae sanctitatis tuae epistolae*^) continebant, sed quos in aliis celebravit civitatibus episcopalis reverentia, et hoc exceptis urbibus, ubi vestrae beatitudinis libellus jam in plenum admissus est, nisi hanc quoque partem benevolentia statuerit vestra mitius corrigendam. Verum nec judicio res **) caret sedis apostolicae, ut non magis venia diceuda Anast. n 8it, quam deliberata jam ac perspecta defiLnitio. Anastasius siquidem'^) '^) Ed. tum Ponticae tum Asianae praecipiiae. Mox H* H^ atque suasioM^MS, et PP condemnaverit ... ghriabuntitr. ") c' c* acccpias, et c* in marg. ahsentes seu adversas. a' seq. a^ectas, G' adsectas^ H^ H'^ nbseptas, al. mss. a^ ahreptas. Antea minoi^um gratim id est: dum levioris momenti rea exigimtur. '•) In vulg. allegentur. Verius iu mss. allegantur a verbo allegere, quod e«t aliquem alicui societati adjungere aut in novum ordinem admittere. — Paulo ante ir*^ sec. manu Hruit missis majora per omnia saltem, Constautinopolitanus epist. 61 suscipore sc professus est. J4J (j7 q\q omitt. res. H*' resecaret . . . venia discenda. ^■') a' seq. quidcm. Particula siquidem restituitur nexus orationis, qna pio- bare vult .Justinus, rein a se quaori, quao nec a ratione nec ab apostolicae sedif l religiosissimae memoriae, yestrae culmen ecclesiae^ palam aperteque a. 620. constituit; quum ob *^) hoc idem scriberet negotium decessori nostro, satis esse pacem affectantibuS; si nomen tantum reticeatur Acacii. Ergo priora vestrae sedis constituta sequitur; qui non onmes memo- rias mortuorum judicat contemnendas, ut indignum habeatur et in- congruum*'), si non placidior omnibus non solum defunctis sed etiam superstitibus vestra divulgetur in onmi fine terrarum lenitas. Et hoc quidem non dubitaverimus ita gratiosum vobis futurum, ut pacifico statim responso laetior mundus reddatur. 4. Retineat autem vestra sanctitas, quod dudimi scripsimus, ep. lOS. ex Oriente supplicationes nobis esse destinatas, voluntatem ipso- rum continentes et arbitrium, in quo sese*^) duraturos ostendunt firmiter, et quo nulla ratione desistendum existimant. Hanc itaque chartulam secundum nostra promissa^*) per Johannem virum reve- judicio abhorreat; siquidem nihil petit, nisi quod ab Anastasio jam definitum atque constitutum arbitratur. ^®) Ed. omitt. oh; iidem praedecessori. Quemadmodum Justiniauus in epist. 120, ita etiam in hac Jnstinus loco verbi speciaiUery quo Anastasius usus est, substituto iantumj hunc papam aliud, quam quod revera voluit, et voluisse et constituisBe sibi persuaserunt. ") H' incognitum, Bimol et Justinianus epist. 127 testatur in hunc modum: Vir namque reiigiosm Johannes episcopus, qui venturus est Romam, detinetur aegritudine. Kunc igitur Justinus hunc miitens Johannem promissa exsotvit: sed ideo quis ille sit Johannes, isne, qui ab Hormisda cimi Germano ac sociis in Orientem legatus cum iis Romam rediisse minime legitur, an alius, nunc expendendum. Si ipse est, id quod de illo Baronius ad annum 520 n. 72 scribit: De susceptis pro fidei defen- gione vuinerihus insignihus meruit coronari mariyrii, non ita intelligendum est, ut vitam ei vubiera illa abstulerint. Et ipse quidem Johannes quum epist. 102 ex urbe Thessalonicensi scribens petit, ut si sui ipsius adversarii Constantino- polim vcnerint, nonnisi se praesente audiantur, sua se vulnera lethalia non pu- tare, immo ab iis convaluisse se non obscure significat. Immo eum ubi con- valuit, cum ceteris legatis Romam revertisse, Baronius ad eumdem annum di- serte, haud Bcio qua auctoritate, scribit. Censet igitur doctus ille cardinalis, hunc Johannnem, de quo agimus, ab Hormisdae legato aliom esse. Re ipsa Ju- stinus epist. 116 capitula missurum se esse promiserat per legatum nostrum, non per legatum Hormisdae. Deinde si per aliquem Hormisdae legatum ea desti- nare voluiBset, cur per aegrum, cur uou per eos, qui jam paulo ante reg^ressi essent, maxime quum timeret, ne dilatio illa afFectata atque suspecta papae videretur? Neque vero alium hic designari existimamus, nm Johannem Claudio- a. 520. rentissimum episcopum dirigendam vobis in praesenti merito credi- dimuSy ut a vestra sede etiam tenor ejus admissus ad colligendas proficiat et adunandas ubique venerabiles ecclesias^ et leroeoljmita- nam praecipue, cui tantum^^) omnes fayorem impendunt qnasi matri Christiani nominis, ut nemo audeat ab ea sese discemere. Gonsen- sum itaque propitium tuam sanctitudinem epistolari quoque pagina convenit declarare: ut cognito omnibus atque patefacto, tenorem^\) ejusdem chartulae a vobis etiam laudari et tenaciter custodiri, lae- tior mundus exsistat. Data*^^) V Idus Septembris Calchedone, Ru- stico viro clarissimo consule. Accepta pridie Calendas Decembris, consule suprascripto. Exemplar precimL Deo amabili ac piissimo imperatori ex Deo Augu- sto et principi Justino^^) Christianissimo de- precatio et supplicatio ab lerosolymitanis et Antiochenis et secundae Syriae clericis et abbatibus et possessoribus Syriae provinciae. Jes. 12, 3. 5. Haurite aquam cum laetitia ex fonie salutis, vociferator Esaias propheta exclamat^ fontes salutis evangelicae veritatis praedicationes manifeste ostendens, ex quibus beati apostoli et eorum qui per or- dinem fuenmt discipuli et sapientes Ecclesiae doctores, salutarem aquam fidei haurientes; omnem sanctam Dei^^) £cclesiam irrigave- runt; quae in petra summi apostolorum subnixa rectam et inflexibilem confessionem custodiens, fiducialiter cum eo ad unigenitum Filium ™**^*Dei omni tempore exclamat, dicens: Tu es Christus Fiiius Dei viti, Hanc salutarem confessionem^^) a sanctis quatuor synodis^ qoae evangelicis praeceptis sunt honoratae, suscipientes ^ nunquam per Christi gratiam a traditis nobis rectis dogmatibus deviavimus; sicut rerum testatur probatio^ et tempore necessitatis fidei constantia de- raonstrat. Si igitur ut Christiani rationis^^) fidei sumus partidpes, poHtanae civitatis episcopum, qui legationis ab Epiphauio et synodo ^us desti- natae, ut ipBius Epiphanii ordinatiouem sollenmiter nuntiaret, dux et princepa fuit (ep. 131 n. 3, conf. ep. 130 n. 2). Ejus porro aegritudo haud dubie in caosa fiiit, cur Epiphanius huic officio, quod ab illo Hormisda exegerat, tardius satb fecerit. •°) a' seq. cui tamen omnes. H^ civitatwH omnes fav. imp. et quasi ... pro- prium, *'') H® gloriosissimo. Mox H^ fontibus salvatoris. 2s) jjio j^^jj custodiens fiducialiler. 2fi^ 116 pfjtiQfff, ^fffyj ^ domn**. domine piissime; et ad communem pacem et ad unitatem festinamnS; &• ^^0. nostram fidem^ quam ab initio suscepimus, per lianc satisfactionem nostram mauifestam vestrae facimus pietatit ut notum sit; quia et paci concurrimuS; et a recta cum Dei juvamine non divertimus fide, sed omnem ex aequo haeresim exsecramur, non solum Eutycliiani- stas^') et Acephalos, sed et Nestorianos et hominem colentes toto animo odientes^^) anathematizamus. 6. Nos autem, domine Christianissime^®) imperator, sicut supe- rius dictum est, in Patrem et Filium et Spiritum sanctum ab initio baptizati quoque et credentes, unam^^) essentiam Dei in tribus sub- sistentiis adoramus: secundum sanctorum patrum mathema^^) et symbolum credentes in unum Deum Patrem omnipotentem, et in unum Dominum nostrum JesumChristum unigenitum Deimi Verbum, similiter et in unum Spiritum sanctum. Et secundum hoc divinum mathema definitionem a sancta Calchedonensi synodo promulgatam intelligimus quoque et suscipimus, confitentes ^^) et credentes, quia unam sub- stantiam vel personam, quod idem est, ipsa sancta synodus in dua- bus naturis, id est in deitate et humanitate, indivise et inconfuse *^ Quidnam Eutychianos iuter et Acephalos sit discnmen, Facundus pro defend. trium capit. I c. 5. sic ezplicat: Entychianorwn duae sunt partesy una quae per totum sequitur Eutychis principis stti sententiam^ alia vero quae in quibusdam ab eo dissentiens per superbiam tamen dedignatur ad Ecclesiam poenilendo reverti. Jili qui licei recedentes in quibusdam ab ipsius Eutychis auctoris et capitis sui sen- .tentiay sequi tamen dedignantur Ecclesiamy cujus capui est Christus, ... tamquam sine capite remanentes Acephali vocantur a Graeds, quos significanlius nos Semieutychia- nos possumus appeUare. «8) a* seq. audentes: rectius vetustiores ac mss. odientes ceu exsecrantes. Qoi hominem in Christo a divina persona secundum Nestorium separabant, graece uno verbo av&Qam6Xax(^cti (hominem colentes) vocitabantur. Aperta est ea de re Justiniani 1. 5 et 6 §. 2 C. I, 1 professio, ubi anathematizat omnem haeresim, praesertim vero Nestorium anthropolatramy dividentem unum Dominum nostrwn Jesum Christum, Quocirca et hic forsitan legendum Nestorianos hominem colenlesy expuncta media particula et. Nunc primum in his epistolis auditur Acephalorum mentio. ^') a' seq. omitt. mathema ety moxque scribunt divinam majestatem (loco div. math.), H* patrum anathema. H'^ Unigenitum Dei Verbum, H^ deum verum. EPISTOLAE ROMAN. PONTIP. I. GO a.520. praedicavit Deum Verbum, et Dominus noster Jesus Chrisius unns est ex sancta et unius^^) essentiae Trinitate. Si enim onum Deom in tribus subsistentiis, sicut dictum est, accipimus, Pater autem non est incarnatus, nec Spiritus sanctus: Deus Verbum incamatus est, et homo factus est unus ex sancta et unius esseutiae Trinitate se- cundum filiationis proprietatem. Sic ita secundum praedictas sanctas quatuor synodos credentes, et^) secundam Dei Verbi natiTitatem secundum camem confiteri non renuimuS; (unde proprie Dei genitrix sancta Virgo esse creditur, tamquam quae natura et yeritate unios essentiae Patri^*) Filium Deum Verbum per naturam immutabilem, ex ipsa factum hominem, enixa est): et duas naturas in Christo per^^) essentiam vel substantiam unitas confitentes sicut in unius persona vel substantia, neque harum diversitatem vel proprietatem post unitionem auferimus, nec eas dividere in duabus personis et substantiis per unitionem sumus edocti. Eumdemque scimus uni- genitum Klium Dei et ante incamationem ejus et post, id'') est: Deum simul et hominem, passibilem came, impassibilem deitate^ circumscriptum corpore, non circumscriptum spiritu, id est terrenum et coelestem, quem mundus ut hominem cepit et ut Deum continere non potuit, mortalem et immortalem, nusquam naturarum diversitate sublata^), neque dividentes per essentiam imitionem. Hoc enim 3») c* c^ cum mss. Patris, al. Patri. Haud obscurum est, graece ezstitiase ofioovaiov Tcj nazQL Totum hunc locum sic planius reddere licuiBset: utpote quae nnturaliter et vere consubstantialem Patris filium Dettm Verbwn inamdebUem per naturam et ex se factum hominem enixa est. — Mox c^ seq. Verbum natwra mnui* tabilem, H'^ incommutabilem, '7) Ita mss.. At H* a' item Deum quidem simul, et infra idem terrenum: h* idem Dewn simul (c' c* simiUter)\ al. eumdem Deum qnidem simul, "^) Ita h' cum mss. G' a' sequ. ejus abiata ...unionem. H^ corrupte di^er- sitntes suhlatn ... dividendes presentinm in unitione. — Accuratius diceretar: neft dividentcs snhstnnlinlem unitinnem. EPISTOLAE 129. 130. 947 vere magnum pietatis mysterium; qnia unus ex sancta et^^) uniusa. 520. essentiae Trinitate incarnatus, et homo factus Deus Verbum, in utraque natura deitatis et liumanitatis indivise et inconfase cogno- scitur et adoratur^ non conversionem vel mutationem sustinens^ sed proprietatem utriusque naturae in una persona in semetipso con- servans. 7. Ob hanc igitur fidem praedictas sanctas synodos suscipientes et^ custodienteS; anathematizamus omnes^ qui adversus eas quocunque tempore vel modo aliquid conscripserunt, praecipue Johannem Aegeo- tam^®); qui adversus memoratam sanctam Calchedonensem synodum multas ut Nestorianus blasphemias evomuit; similiter condemnantes et Timotheum Aelurum cognominatum, sicut Eutychianistam adver- sus eara cum suis latrantem sequacibus. Ita ergo cum Dei juvaraine semper sensimus et etiam nunc sentimus. Quapropter hanc satis- factionem vestrae obtulimus pietati; jubere^*) enim dignata est, nos proprium intellectum et quemadmodum de sana fide sentiraus exponere: quia quidam haeretici, dum suam malam fidem occultare festinant; nostram in Christo libertatem et rectam fidem detrectare conantur. Supplicamus igitur, vestram clementiam sollicitudinem**) de perfecta ecclesiarum unitione sanctarum habere debere: ut unitas, quae cum Dei facta fuerit juvamine, nec uUo deinceps rationabili aut irrationabili occasionis fomite inquietari pax possit. Deus autem omnium vestrum pium adimpleat desiderium in gloriam sui et rei- publicae disciplinam!