Letters

Severus praises Misael's help to the church but tells him that his public role is now a form of ascetic obedience.

Severus tells Constantine not to let a reconciliation formula be diluted into vague or polluted language.

Severus tells Solon that unusual ordination procedure should not undo a ministry rooted in orthodox faith and the church's good.

Severus tells Solon that the Callistus case was handled by evidence and process, not by theft from Solon's jurisdiction.

Severus urges Solon to act against Musonius and Paul, saying mercy has a time and cutting off has a time.

Severus tells Peter that no canon confines laypeople to one city for ordination.

Severus orders Nicias to strip unauthorized clergy of rank after they sought ordination from Nestorian bishops outside their jurisdiction.

Severus tells Castor to preserve church order by ranking subdeacons ahead of readers and singers.

Severus resists treating priestly ordination as a stipend or trade despite pressure from petitioners.

Severus answers Stephen that a forced ordination by non-orthodox clergy does not require the usual dismissal letter.

Severus accepts the Paltus proceedings but insists that Firminus receive a proper hearing before canonical sentence.

Severus admits the pain of Cosmas' failed episcopate while warning against staying away from the mysteries under plausible pretexts.

Severus tells three presbyters that even obvious matters require both sides to be heard before judgment.

Severus orders a careful canonical investigation into charges involving gifts at ordinations and Adelphian associations.

Severus warns Antoninus not to support irregular ordinations and requests transcripts before deciding the case.

Severus tells Antoninus that just anger must still be governed by prudence and the rule that each person bears his own sin.

Severus says the resurrection greeting should have begun with Antoninus and turns the exchange into a prayer for renewed affection.

Severus defends his episcopal conduct by describing inherited church debts and his fear of careless ordination.

Severus requires Rhosus to present a three-name psephisma and accept Entrechius' final judgment.

Severus tells Solon to halt disputed ministries until forged documents and irregular actions are investigated.

Severus gives the Apamene bishops time to answer and repent before canonical penalties fall.

Severus asks the Master of the Offices to report the truth to the emperor and protect the Antiochene bishops from slander.

Severus rebukes the fathers for not sending Stephen and denounces Musonius for disturbing Isauria and seeking gifts.

Severus instructs Solon to replace shepherds who deserted Meloe and Olba, while avoiding reckless or schismatic action.

Severus tells Theotecnus how bishops in the royal city handled Chalcedon, Second Syria, and the scandal at Tarsus.

Severus combines pastoral sympathy with a firm ban on allowing an afflicted presbyter to perform the bloodless sacrifice.

Severus rules that Paul's long absence should not keep disputed clergy from ministry while the monastery question waits.

Severus sends one affectionate letter to two Anazarbus officials and explains why a repentant monk must stay away from Antioch.

Severus refuses to let Romulus lead prayers at Antioch until Philoxenus formally releases him from inhibition.

Severus presses the monks of Isaac to accept Stephen's episcopal election and threatens excommunication if they resist.

Severus tells Apamea's clergy to choose a bishop by Scripture, virtue, and canonical order rather than rhetoric, pressure, or faction.

Severus rules that John's subdeacons should not lose an old exemption from weekly household service without compensation.

Severus tells Dionysius that a priestly ordination compelled by fear has no lawful force.

Severus tells the Apamene bishops to gather canonically and sends a reader with the formal summons.

Severus wants to ordain John but says the canons require manumission before an enslaved man can enter the clergy.

Severus tells Eusebius to persuade Libanius to give up clerical usury before canonical penalties become necessary.

Severus tells Simeon that the monk carrying the letter has not committed the charged offenses and should be released from inhibition.

Severus urges Simeon to combine confidence, discipline, and avoidance of hostile pretexts.

Severus asks Apamea to move from factional division to a united episcopal election.

Severus warns Hypatius that Julian is trying to move a settled church-property case into civil court.

Severus distinguishes forgiveness and communion from restoration to priestly service.

Severus allows Philip communion in the oblation but suspends his diaconal ministry until repentance bears fruit.

Severus says Nonnus has ignored summonses and must answer openly for his conduct.

Severus tells Eutychian that civil rank cannot excuse communion with a deposed bishop.

Severus tells Conon that a woman claiming to be a deaconess has been deprived and that Conon has official authority to support the church.

Severus urges the clergy of Antaradus to nominate three suitable episcopal candidates without factional pressure.

Severus reports the Bostra ordination dispute to his representatives and recommends moderate canonical correction for Agapius.

Severus asks Philoxenus to help decide whether mercy can be given to men who bought ordination while claiming ignorance.

Severus tells John and John to preserve peace by limiting Epimachus without turning discipline into an incurable wound.

Severus tells Philip to trust the testimony that admitted him to ordination and not overrule it by anxiety.

Severus tells John and John to be friendly toward orthodox outside clergy but not admit them to ministry without proper communion.

Severus tells exiled Syrian bishops in Alexandria that canon law permits merciful restoration when the original judges themselves choose leniency.

A fragment-like letter in which Severus asks for names to remember in prayer and recalls Eustochius, deacon of Alexandria.

Severus tells Theodore not to divide the exiled confessors from the bishops in Egypt.

Severus grants Froclus' weakness but calls him back to courage and Pauline teaching.

Severus tells Didymus to shepherd through public disaster while avoiding separation disguised as zeal.

Severus argues that Sannus should be received and healed rather than abandoned after one fault.

Severus authorizes bishops in shared communion to meet the monastery of Bassus' need for clergy during persecution.

Severus praises Photius and Andrew's zeal, then distinguishes lawful reception from anxious re-anointing.

A damaged letter in which Severus urges restraint, witness-based judgment, and canonical procedure in a dispute involving clergy and monastic women.

Severus says persecution may make presbyteral and diaconal ordination urgent, but deaconesses in monasteries are mainly a matter of honor.

Severus tells Misael not to treat pious spending or court favor as excuses for violating legal, canonical, or doctrinal conscience.

Severus denies that he or his associates officiated without priestly rank or re-ordained clergy, and asks patricians to take the defense to the emperor.

Severus urges John and John to pass over human weakness and focus on faithful struggles, using examples from Basil's successors, Liberius, Hosius, and Athanasius.

A long canonical warning to Emesa: Gregory and Isaiah must not be received as bishops, and their ordinations must not be treated as valid.

Severus tells Anastasius that the communion he sends has one value because the faith is one, regardless of the personal rank of the minister.

Severus praises two benefactors while insisting that gifts support authentic bishops and presbyters.

Severus warns Misael not to rank the mysteries by the virtue or fame of the human minister.

Severus urges Caesaria not to bind herself to one celebrant's oblation and to seek healing through confession and faith.

Severus answers Zacharias' question about whether an impure gift can become pure.

Severus tells Ammonius that liturgical remembrance must not imply false communion.

Severus seeks Dioscorus' judgment before receiving bishops who anathematize Chalcedon and Leo's Tome.

Severus tells Dionysius to correct careless communion practice because silence would endanger the orthodox faith.

Severus distinguishes Julian's ignorant lapse from voluntary heretical communion.

Severus tells John that preserving pure communion is a gift John has given to his own soul.

Severus assures John Canopites that he has warned against communion with adversaries and cannot be blamed for secret offenders.

Severus tells the church in Antioch to hold fast to confession and avoid compromising communion.

Severus tells Andrew that faithful women may pray at a martyr chapel if heretical services are not taking place.

Severus distinguishes ordinary kindness from liturgical communion with people he regards as heretics.

Severus tells John that Timothy's different pastoral actions served one consistent aim: salvation and orthodox faith.

Severus says a heretical or illegal second ordination has no force, so repentant clergy return to their lawful grade.

Severus urges the monks at Tagais to keep the royal road and read his copied letters on reception practice.

Severus uses Arian-era precedents to allow Mark's repentance while requiring written anathemas.

Severus gives Dionysius a rule for receiving Mark without allowing divided communion.

Severus answers a long canonical question about how to receive converts from the two-nature party without repeating baptism, chrism, or ordination.

Severus urges Dionysius to correct Indacus' reception before a small spark becomes a larger separation.

Severus urges Antioch to receive repentant people through lawful penitence without weakening the faith.

Severus tells Simeon that people turning toward orthodox faith need healing guidance, not suspicion.

Severus urges the new leadership of Isaac's monastery to guide repentant sinners with mercy.

Severus rejoices in John and John's letter, then asks them to help Mitras resist false prophecy and deceit.

Severus tells John and John that his silence was not displeasure and that their actions are very pleasing.

Severus rejects the idea that association alone can purify an offender without real renunciation.

Severus tells the bishops on Marde to receive the repentant without second baptism while condemning unlawful statements.

Severus tells Sergius and Marion to combine canonical severity with penitence, careful reception, and disciplined ordination.

Severus tells Eleusinius what he has heard about John Florentinus, Soteric, false rumors of an anathema, and the orthodox response in Constantinople.

Severus cites Cyril against Nestorius to reassure readers that a ban imposed for orthodox resistance does not bind them.

Severus urges Valeriana to govern a women's community through vigilance, discipline, and example.

Severus tells Jannia to restore a repentant sister while protecting the wider community from contagion.

Severus releases Simeon from any rash bond and tells him to govern the monastic flock with his whole mind.

Severus says Pelagius must be disciplined for disturbing the monks and that Nonnus should have handled the case.

Severus tells Victor that love requires sending John back to his monastery rather than indulging disorder.

Severus asks Stephen to examine Marinus' kinsman for clergy and not to ordain John without his archimandrite.

Severus tells Calliopius' wife that even simple wording about Christ and the Trinity must be corrected carefully.

Severus tells Eustace to avoid lawsuits while using a faithful lay agent if a limited claim must be preserved.

Severus tells Isidora that consecrated hope outranks bodily sight, burial anxiety, and attachment to one place.

Severus advises Stephen to read the discourse on Simeon with difficult prefatory matter omitted.

Severus says medical castration caused by illness can be a defense, while self-mutilation remains canonically punishable.

Severus says Thomas may minister if physicians acted because of illness, but not if he mutilated himself.

Severus distinguishes forgiveness from clerical eligibility in a long canonical answer to John of Bostra.

Severus refuses a simple ruling on John the scribe and entrusts judgment to God's mercy.

Severus affirms soundly testified ordinations while treating emergency baptisms with caution.

Severus tells Theodore to take the safe open course rather than leave a doubtful baptism unresolved.

Severus tells Thecla that uncertain baptismal cases require faith and careful ecclesiastical action.

Severus urges Alypius to judge marital suspicion with evidence, mercy, and the gospel rule on separation.

Severus says a wife may seek continence only with due regard for her husband, children, and any vow already made.

Severus tells Theodore that ascetic desire must not endanger wife, children, or household salvation.

Severus refuses to turn ascetics into oracles for Conon's marriage decision.

Severus urges Theodore to keep his monastic vow and not turn back to household claims after entering the battle.

Severus warns the monks of Bassus not to shelter a man whose monastic life may be built on household injustice.

Severus denies a forged treatise, then warns Caesaria against false asceticism that despises marriage, food, or the body.

Severus tells Georgia that God's help is visible in her life and urges patient care for her father.