Letter 14: Innocent offers John the consolation of patience before his eyes as an example and commends him.

Innocent, Pope, to John Chrysostom, Bishop of Constantinople. He consoles John by setting before his eyes a commendation of patience. To his beloved brother John, Innocent. Although an innocent man ought to expect all prosperous things and to seek mercy from God, nevertheless from us also, who urge patience upon you, suitable letters have been sent by the deacon Cyriacus, lest the insult should prevail more for crushing you than a good conscience for lifting you up to hope. For you have no need to be taught—you, the teacher and shepherd of so many peoples—that all the best men are always and continually tested, whether they remain in the vigor of patience and do not give way to any toil or trouble. And indeed a good conscience is a defense for a man against all things that befall him unjustly; and unless a man overcomes these by patience, he offers an argument of an evil suspicion concerning himself. For he ought to endure all things who relies first upon God, and then upon his own conscience. For a good and upright man can indeed be exercised toward patience, but he cannot be overcome; since the teachings of the divine Scripture fortify and guard his mind. For the sacred readings, which we hand on to the peoples, abound in examples, which testify that almost all the Saints were harassed in various ways, and were proved as though by a certain trial, and so came through to the crown of patience. Therefore let that very conscience console your charity, brother most worthy of veneration—the conscience which in calamities possesses the consolation of virtue. For while the Lord Christ looks on, a pure conscience stands firm in the harbor of peace. [Editorial apparatus:] [...] he had withdrawn. Certainly the Council of Carthage, celebrated in the year 407 on the 15th day of June, and recorded in the Code of the Canons of the African Church, chapter 101, decreed that one be written to Innocent, by which peace might be composed between the Roman and the Alexandrian church. Nor is it less certain that Aurelius, about the same time, had professed his zeal toward John; for which matter, in a letter written to him, he gives thanks. It has been repeated by the editors of the pontifical letters or of the councils, but by us it has been reviewed against the old Hamburg exemplar. For Chrysostom testifies that it was written by him in the third year of his exile, and thus in the year 407. From this it also follows that it was written before the month of July, if Chrysostom reckons the first year of his exile from that day on which he was conducted to Cucusus, up to the corresponding day of the following year, not counting the third by the common method of computation. * In the unpublished Council 28. But what 1-2 it was, it is Isidore('s). Menard. We owe this letter, just as the preceding one, received from Sozomen. Concerning each he thus prefaces, book viii, chapter 24: "When Innocent was striving to convene an ecumenical synod, he wrote to John, and separately to the clergy of the city of Constantinople." By which words he seems to signify either that both letters were sent at the same time, or at least that this one is not later than the seventh. But it is not unusual for this writer to put together and confound at the same time things that were done at different times. Indeed, since concerning the synod to be convened—in which Innocent had placed his ecumenical hope—there is deep silence in this letter, this is no slight argument that it was written when he had fallen away from this hope. This does not run contrary to the truth, that Innocent, moved by John's most recent letter, wrote this one, in order to console the holy prelate amid the evils by which he had learned he was being afflicted. But if this is so, it could scarcely have been delivered to John while he yet survived. The orator had declared somewhat more timidly: "Punishments have in themselves some consolation when they are undertaken with virtue." But by the name of "this thing" Innocent understands chiefly patience, concerning which in letter 7, to the clergy and people of Constantinople, having set forth their calamity, he writes: "Which thing indeed the consolation of patience alone can heal." 515 S. INNOCENT

INNOCENTII PAP/E AD JOANNEM CHRVSOSTOMUM CONSTANTINOP0L1TANUM EPISCOPCM. Joannem ob ocutos posita patienliw commendatione eonsolaliir. Dileclo fratri Joanni Innocentics. T« u.yuT.r,ro> a.St/\-fu> 'iwavv» 'Ivvoxevreof. Etsi innocens prospera oninia exspeciare et a Ei v.ui nuvra Sti tov «vaiT.v Tzpoo-Sov.uv ri ypno-ra Deo misericordiain petercdehet, lamen eiiam a xai napa toO QeoO tov tktov uhtiv, op.a>; x«i -xup f,uo>v nobi<, i|ui patientiam suademus, compelentes lil- T/jv «v££tx«xi«v o-vu&ovktvivro>v,ra.y.a%y.ovraypauuarx terae per d Cyriacum diaconum sunt Iransmissse, ne St- Kvptuxov toO Staxovou e?a7rco-Ta)Tal• „o-te ufi r)e'of contumelia plus valeat ad opprimenduin , quani -uvn8rjv«t t>iv vSptv iv toj o-uvTpi?£tv, [Add. 0] To xyu- bona conscieniia ad spem relevandam. Neque enim 96v o-uveiSif h t« ilizii^uv. OvSi yap iytiht; St8uy6f,vut tu docendus es , lot pnpiilornm doctnr ct pastor, o too-oOtmv )a_v 5t5ao-xa)of y.ui 7rotj_>iv , toO,- apio-rov; oplimos quosque Seinper et assidue probari, utrum ati xai 7ro))aztf 5oxtfia?eo-0at , et iv rij uv.ufj rfj; Ott»- in vigore patientise permaneant, nec ulli labori ac ftovijf irupuuivovo-t, v.ai o05evi tt6v_ xazo7ra6Eiaf 07ro- molestiic SUCClimhaiit. Et vero conscientia linniini 7ri7rrouo-t. K«t e'o-tiv i>; a)»8_f ^iSatov ixpv.yua to o-uvst- est prxsidium adveisiis.otnnia qua: iiijuste accidunt: S6f £t'f 7r«vT« Ta a3tx_f o-uft7ri7rTovT«. , uiztp ti ufi quse nisi quis patientia superaveril , mal;e suspicin- vtxjio-ets Ttf vizouivuv, rtxunptov auvkn; vrzokf,iito>; nis de se argumentum prrebel. Cuncta enim lolerare txyipzt. Uuvru yup v-Kouivttv oytd.ti, 6 rS> ©ew 7tb_tov, debet , qui Dei primuni, ac deinde conscienlix lidll- £tra xui ro> tSiw 7re7rot6_f avvttSort. 'OTzort uuhara cia nitilur. Quippe vir bonus ac probus exerceri qui- yvuva&aQxt tl; 07roftov>iv 6 xa)6f xui uyxBi; 30- deni poiest ad patientiam,superari vero non polest; vsctki, vtxuaSut Se ou- iirttoimep aOTw t»v St«votav ai cum divinse Scriptnrse menlem ejlis muniailt atque Qziatypufui fvlurrovat. Kai iztptrrtvovaiv jKoStiyua- CUSlodiant. Ahundant enim exemplis lecliones sa- o-tv ui Otiut uvuyvi>azt;, u; Totf )aotf nupuSiSoutv «*- crae,quas populis tradinius, qiuc universos fere _ ftvsf 7r«vT«f o-^e5ovTo0f et^touf zaTa7r£7rov>jaeat Sta»6- Sanctos variis niodis vexalos, et tnmquam exaniine po>; y.ui o-uve^-f etko-tmo-kvto, zai 5oztftateo-9at za?a- qimdam probatos esse lestanlur, alqne iia ad pa- irtp iv rtvt Stuyvi>o-tt , out_ t£ etf tov aritpuvov rH: tienti:^ coronam pervenisse. Cousoleltir ergo cbari- u7roftovijf HnAvOivut. nupuuvBtiro rr,v uyuirnv o-ou «.Oto tatem tuam, frater admodum veneiande, ipsa con- to o-uv£tS6f, i.Stkfi rtuti>rure , orztp iv rui; 8'Mto-tv scientia, e quse in calamitatihus babet consolatio- i"/ji rr,v TtupupvVtuv rn; uptrf,;. 'Enotzrtvovro; yup nem virlutis. Inspectanle enini Doinino Christo, in toO Szor.orov Xptarov, iv ro> liuivt rni cipfivr,; xuQu- porlu pacis conscientia pura consistit. pto-Qtio-a f> o-uv6iS»o-t,- o-T»jo-£Tat. cessisset. Certc concilium Cartliaginense anno 407 Junii 15 die celebralum, atque Cod. can. Afiic. eccl. c. 101 relaiuin, ad Innocentium sibi scriben- (lnni dcreiuii, quo liomauam imei ei Alex nidrinam ecclesiam pa\ componalur. Neque niinus cerlum est Auieliuui, circa idem lempiis, suum erga Joannem siinliuin p itelecisse ; qua de re ille scripta ad eum episi"la gratias agit. Poniiliriiiruin epistolaruin aul conciliorum ediio- ribus repctiia, a nobis autein ad vrtus exeinplar ll.iniliuigrnse recngnita esi. liani a se teriio exsitii tinno, adeoque anno 407 scriplam esse Chryso- sto s n 4 lesiificatur, Exinde eliarn sequitur, ut ame mciisein Jnlium scripla sii, si Chrysosiomus priiuuiiKxsiliisui aiinumabeodie, quoCucusum per- diiciii- est.ad eumdeui anni sequentis revnliniinidiein recenseat, non tertium vulgnli compulandi latione • lnedit. Concil. 28. Quas autem 1-2 erat, cst Isid. Menat Kpi-tolam hanc, sicul ei superiorem vh , uni Snzomeno aece|itam debemus. De u raipie sic ille lib. viii, c. 24, praifalur : Cum Innocentius cecumenicam sytwdum eonareijnre sluderel, scripnt ad Jounnem, et stoisum ad clericvs urbis Constantinop. Quibus \erbis signilicare videiur , vel utramque episiolam simul missam, vcl certe islam scpiima posieriorem non esse. Verum buic scriplnri in^o- lens noii cst , ea quic dissiiis temporibus gesia sunt simnl componere atque confundere. Sane cuin dc congreganda synodo, in qua Innocentius oumeni spem posuerat, altum sit in bac epistola sileniium , hoc non levi argumenlo est, eam sciipiam esse ctin! ab hacspe excidisset. Isiud non abhorrel a vero Innoceiuium proxima Joannis epislola motum, hanc scripsisse, ut sanctum prxsulem in malis, quibus euui allligi didicerat, consolaretur. Quod si iia csi Joanni supersiili vix reddi poiuit. Orator pauln limidius edixerat : Habent nonnullam in se consvtationtin pwna- qno? virtute suscipiuniur. Nomine aiiiem liiliiiis inaxiine inielligil lnnocentius patienliam, de qua in epistola 7, ad cleium el po- piiluni Consiannnop. , exposiia eoium calan.iiate iiiiiii. 1 scribil . Qttam quidem rem sota patientice con- solntio sanare potest. 515 S. INNOCENT