Letter 6: Severus orders Nicias to strip unauthorized clergy of rank after they sought ordination from Nestorian bishops outside their jurisdiction.

A wicked and unlawful act has been reported to us, one directly opposed to the rules of the catholic and apostolic church. We hear that some people from the hamlets of Minidus and Uaris have dared to sail west and receive an unholy ordination from those who hold the views of Nestorius - people who divide our one Lord and God, Jesus Christ, into two natures after the ineffable union. That ordination is invalid in more than one way. It must be counted as though it never happened. Even if the men who laid their reckless hands on them had been orthodox, they still had no right to ordain in another parish, or rather outside their own boundary, in violation of church order - especially when, by God's grace, no charge of heresy stands against us. The holy canons make this clear, both in their intention and in their words. So let Your God-loving Reverence make the force of the sacred canons known to everyone around their parish. Declare those men stripped of every honor and rank belonging to the priesthood and diaconate. Forbid those who are in communion with us - that is, with the right faith - from associating with them, so that they do not share in their impiety and bring down God's anger on themselves.

A wicked and unlawful action, one that conflicts with the laws of the catholic and apostolic church, has come to our ears. We hear that some of the inhabitants of the hamlet of Minidus and Uaris have presumed to sail westwards, and to receive an unhallowed ordination from those who hold the opinions of Nestorius and cut our one Lord and God Jesus Christ into a duality of natures after the ineffable union, an ordination which is invalid not in one way only but in many, and is reckoned as if it had never taken place. For, even if those who laid the presumptuous hand upon these men had been orthodox, they ought not to have ordained in another parish, or rather in one outside their boundary, in violation of discipline; and that while we by the grace of God are not charged with any heresy. This the holy canons plainly declare both in intention and in words. Therefore let your love of God make the purport of the sacred canons known to all in the neighbourhood of their parish, and proclaim them stripped of all the honour and rank of the priesthood and diaconate, and prohibit those who are in communion with us, or rather with the right faith, from associating with these men, that they may not communicate in the impiety and call down upon themselves the wrath from God.