Letter 60: Severus praises Photius and Andrew's zeal, then distinguishes lawful reception from anxious re-anointing.

Severus praises Photius and Andrew because their ascetic practice has produced knowledge rather than mere reputation. They have learned zeal, but zeal restrained by understanding. That distinction governs the whole letter. Paul says that Israel had zeal for God but not according to knowledge; Severus does not want the archimandrites to make the same mistake. Their discipline gives them fire, but that fire must be tied with the cords of reverence and discernment. The case they raise concerns a man received into communion from the teaching Severus rejects. The man had said that he had received ordination from the other side, and the question is how to treat him. Severus answers from a larger controversy about the Re-anointers, people who tried to anoint again those who came from the opposing communion. He had already faced such people at the beginning of his episcopate in Antioch, when followers of Theodotus handed him an uncanonical petition in the street. He wrote against them then, and now he draws on that earlier work for Photius and Andrew. His main rule is that the church must not repeat sacred acts as though Christ's gift had failed. Reception requires confession, repentance, and lawful correction; it does not require inventing a second sacramental action whenever the minister came from a polluted side. To do that would make the church's unity depend on the anxiety of the strictest people rather than on the truth of the confession. Severus sees re-anointing as a wound to the church's confidence in God's action. At the same time, he does not erase discipline. Canonical restrictions exist to preserve the visible order of the church. They keep the church's public face blameless and stop the careless from treating communion as if it had no moral or doctrinal boundaries. Severus therefore distinguishes hidden spiritual sickness from public canonical impediment. Secret wounds belong to God and to pastoral care; visible disorders require visible discipline. He illustrates the point through people afflicted by demons and through Judas at the supper. John of Constantinople had preached that Judas received the oblation and then was attacked by the devil, not because the Lord's body lacked power, but because Judas received presumptuously. The mysteries benefit those who receive worthily and become judgment to those who approach without repentance. Severus wants Photius and Andrew to preserve that seriousness without turning seriousness into a denial of grace. The result is a disciplined middle path. Do not re-anoint as if Christ's gift must be repaired by human suspicion. Do not receive without confession as if doctrine did not matter. Do not turn canons into private severity, but do not dissolve them into sentiment. Severus trusts the archimandrites because their ascetic life has trained them to understand this balance. Their zeal is real, but its value depends on knowledge, fear of God, and careful obedience to the church's received order. The appeal to the Re-anointers explains the emotional pressure behind the question. People who love strictness often think that repeating a rite makes the church safer. Severus thinks it makes the church less safe because it teaches believers to distrust what Christ has done. Once that distrust begins, there is no stable stopping point. Someone will always demand one more guarantee, one more purification, one more visible proof that anxiety has been satisfied. Severus wants Photius and Andrew to resist that spiral. His treatment of ordination follows the same logic. The church may judge whether a man can minister publicly, especially if his ordination came through a corrupted communion or his life creates scandal. But that judgment is not the same as saying God is powerless to receive the repentant. Severus separates reception into the church from permission to exercise clerical office, and he uses the canons to keep those questions clear. The convert is to be healed and instructed, not handled as a trophy for either laxity or rigor. The discussion of demon-possession and secret affliction gives the canons their proper scope. Public order must be guarded, because the church is visible and people learn from what they see. But invisible conditions cannot be administered as if every inner wound were a public offense. Severus' discipline is therefore not mechanical. He does not turn canons into machines. He reads them as pastoral rules aimed at preserving the church's blameless appearance while leaving hidden griefs to God's knowledge and wise care. For Photius and Andrew, this becomes a test of mature ascetic leadership. Their monasteries are not to become laboratories of suspicion. They are to be places where zeal is taught to obey knowledge. If they receive the man lawfully, reject re-anointing, require true confession, and respect canonical limits, they will show that strictness and mercy can belong to the same ordered life. Severus trusts them to do this because their practice has already trained their judgment. The letter's practical wisdom lies in refusing to let one fear dominate every other truth. Fear of heresy is legitimate; fear of laxity is legitimate; fear of scandal is legitimate. But fear must not teach the church to repeat mysteries, despise repentance, or ignore the canons' actual purpose. Photius and Andrew are being trained to govern fear rather than be governed by it.

Since you loyally fulfil the active part of the ascetic and philosophic life, therefore you also gather the p- i99- fruits of knowledge from your labours, which are sound faith and zeal on its behalf which raises itself to God, and devoutness and a spirit of understanding and of discretion........ [You ^ also therefore, who through practice in asceti- cism are pure in your minds, in the same manner burn in the spirit, and carry the flame of zeal blazing in you: knowing as you do that all zeal is not praise- worthy, but that which is according to knowledge. ' V. 15. - Mt. X. 8. •'' The bracketed portion is supplied from another version: see text note I 6o. For you listen to Paul accusing the Jews and saying, " For I bear record of them that there is a zeal of God in them: but not according to knowledge ": ^ and you have restrained the ardour of zeal with the cords of devoutness: for " blessed is the man that feareth all things on account of devoutness." " The case of the man who was received by you to communion and was converted from the heresy of the Nestorians and the Diphysites and the believers in two persons to the orthodox faith and said that he- had received ordination to the diaconate vou have thought fit to brino- to the knowledge of my meanness, and learn whether you received this man lawfully and in accordance with the strictness of the canons or not. We say therefore that, in so far as you required him to anathematize on oath and in writing the heresy of the Nestorians and of the Diphysites, and renounce communion with them, the transaction was good and lawful: and he should not otherwise have shared in the reception of the divine mysteries, unless he had after this model done something to satisfy the mind. But neither \ should he have been presented for the ministry of the diaconate at all, nor on the other hand should he / have proclaimed in writing the diaconal rank. For no canon or precept orders that those who have been converted from the heresy of the Nestorians shall receive ordination afresh. If they received ordi- nation afresh, those also besides who were bap- ' Ro. X. 2. ' Pr. xxviii. 14. I. 60. SELECT LETTKRS OF TIIH HOLY SEVERUS. 181 tized by the same heresy would always be baptized afresh. For, when men who have received ordination from particular heresies receive the laying on of hands afresh, those also who have been baptized by those very same heresies are baptized afresh: as the synod of the three hundred and eighteen holy fathers ordered in the case of the heresy of Paul of Samosata, and the heresies of those who are like them in impiety.^ And no one has ever been shown to have perfected by a second baptism those who tiee from] the Nestorian and Diphysite heresy, and have taken refuge in the church of the orthodox. Timothy also of saintly memory, archbishop of the city of the Alexandrines, who wrote in more severe terms from exile owing to the extreme ardour of the people, which would not consent even to cast a glance at those who derived ordination from the Diphysite error, which Proterius introduced there, after his return both communicated with Paul of God-loving memory, high-priest of the city of the Ephesians and head of the holy churches in Asia, in the Encyclical formula, upon his anathe- matizing with the bishops under him the Chalcedonian impiety: and also, after he had reached Alexandria, received those who came from the heresy of the Diphysites in the rank in which they were,^ bishops I mean and presbyters and deacons, upon their anathematizing the heresy itself in writing, and accepting such a period of separation for peni- 1 Mansi ii. 676.. - Cf. v. 6. o. tence only as he judged and determined to be good. In such cases in fact it is in the discretion of high-priests to shorten and to extend the spaces of time according to the consciousness of the penitents with regard to the sins committed by them. But he has not been shown to have done anything else what- ever as to these men which impairs or disturbs the strictness of the canons in any point whatsoever; no second ordination, no second baptism, no chrism; as some from unreasonable fervour and inconsiderate zeal dared to do, at the beginning immediately after the synod at Chalcedon had been held, and became a cause of schisms and of divisions. For this reason also, after the holy Timothy of whom we are now speaking had thus received those who came from the error of Proterius and of the Diphysite heresy in accordance with the laws of the apostolic church, many men, fired as it were by some disorderly madness and self-willed ardour, separated from communion with him, while they did their best to intiame others also among those who were more than ordinarily weak,, like those who said, "We have no part in David, neither inheritance in the son of Jesse," ^ and divided Israel into two. Hence also they ascribed to them the name of the Novatians - who do not accept penitence for sins committed; and for a long time they disturbed the church, although they gradually melted away, and as the book of the Acts says "were scattered and ' 3 R. xii. 24 t. ' Cf. Zach. Rh. v. 4. came to naught," ^ like the rebellious band and seditious tlock of Theudas and of Judas the Galilaean. These things we have related, not because we would reckon acts done by heretics valid (they are in fact invalid and without foundation and unsubstantial), but because we would explain that healing is not applied to converts from heresy in one way only, but accord- ing to the nature of the error: perfection and the cure of the disease being granted to some through baptism and ordination, to others through chrism, to others through their anathematizing the heresy in writing, / and repudiating it and showing fruits of penitence. It — ' is in fact absolutely necessary for us to follow the canonical precepts and regulations of the saintly bishops as medical directions given with understand- ing, and from them to apply to each man the cure, suited to him. Therefore he also who has been received to communion by your love of God, if he scrupulously fulfil the prescribed time in the reforming practice of penitence and you bear witness to it, will be allowed the position of deacon by the orthodox bishops, upon presenting to them a written petition containing a confession of his sin and an anathema of the heresy. For the voice of a high-priest and bishop and his permission is a law of the Spirit, and full of power to turn the convert into another man, as is written about Saul when he heard the voice of the prophet Samuel, and went in the way that he ordered 1 Ac. V.?6 ^ o. him to go: and the sacred scripture speaks thus: " And it was so that, when he turned his shoulder to go from Samuel, God gave him a changed heart, and all these signs came upon him that day." ^ Those also who are in P- 205- the rank of laymen, if they repudiate by anathema the Nestorian and Jewish heresy of the Diphysites, and by sincerely repenting place themselves within the bounds of the orthodox apostolic church, and are included among the sheep of the great God and chief shepherd Christ, will immediately cast from them everyone soever who is an alien, and will be invisibly adorned with the manifestations of the Holy Spirit. If a man on entering by night a house full of torches^ is completely pervaded by the flashing light, who doubts that the church of the orthodox, which is full' of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, causes the man who opens the eyes of a repentant heart to be pervaded by the light that is suprasensual and divine? The power of the true church assembled in a pure fashion in the Lord's name is so great that it even constitutes men who come to it prophets, men who have not joined the congregation in order to share in any divine gift, but in order to carry out a royal order. For in the first book of Kingdoms it is written thus: " x-\nd Saul sent messengers to take David. And they saw the church of the prophets, and Samuel was standing at their head. And the Spirit of God came upon the mes- sengers of Saul, and they prophesy. And it was told * I R. X. 9. - XafiTrdSa. Saul and he sent other messen(j;ers and they also prophesy. And Saul again sent a third set of messengers, and they also prophesied." ^ If there- fore at a time when the practices of the legal shadowy service prevailed the Holy Spirit granted such things to the assembly and the name of a church, what oreat and wonderful thine will it not do in the church that was bought by the divine blood of the Lamb and God, and has nothing shadowy in it, but the whole sun of righteousness flashing upon all the acts that are performed in it? For many other instances might have been added to those mentioned. At the very beginning when I was set over the Christ-loving city of the Antiochenes, and immediately, so to speak, upon my being raised to the episcopal throne (unworthily indeed, but still by God's mercy), certain men who were infected with the self- created relitrion' of the Re-anointers, followinof a certain. deceiver named Theodotus,^ who unlawfully re-anointed converts from the Nestorian heresy to the orthodox faith, composed a petition consisting of uncanonical propositions,'' and had this given to me as I was going out into the street by a certain man who was himself also a victim of their disease; and I have composed a certain short treatise against it. Accordingly out of respect for the love of teaching and the strictness of your religiousnesses I have thought it necessary to look 1 I R. xix. 20, 21. - I.e. iUe\oti[)i]rrK€ia (Col. i. 23). " C/. Zach. Rh. V. 5. •* 7ri}0Tii.(T€L<;. <e o. for this and copy it out and send it you, in order that nothing bearing upon this subject ^ may remain unknown to you, so far as the power and the Hmited capacity that has fallen to the lot of my meanness extends. For we must " walk in the royal road," as it is written,^ and " not turn aside to the right or to the left." For many, start- ing from considerations that are rather upon the right side than otherwise, have been led into excess, and so fallen into the very pit of destruction. For this reason also the text of the law commands that he that pursues alter justice shall pursue it justly: ^ that is, know the principles of justice and be instructed in them when you pursue that which is just: and be free from all passion, and be in this respect a just seeker of justice, and restrain yourself on all sides, and stand within the bounds of justice. Many by the very fact of wishing to be just have become mentally drunk, and have injured justice through their justice which had the appearance of being strict. Whence also the wise Koheleth, or rather the teacher of wisdom (for the true Koheleth is Christ, the head of the church and the wisdom and the sublime and substantial power of God and the Father), checking" excess, even if directed to the riorht side, gives admonition, saying, " Be not very righteous nor contrive superfluous wisdom, lest thou be astonied."* On all points therefore I praise your religiousnesses for having informed us of this present question, in order that you may wisely follow the precepts of the Holy ^ v7ro^€o-i9. ' Nu. XX. 17. De. xvi. 20 * Ec. vii. 17. Spirit: for it is written, " The wise turn not aside from the mouth of the Lord: but they reason in assem- bhes."^ Accordingly, when a man is not so minded, but, making his will law, does what comes into his mind, death is the penalty "". For he that said these things said also this: " Death lights upon the uninstructed."^ In answer to your other question I shrink and hesitate to say anything, and I tardily and reluctantly bring myself to answer, lest I be thought to be a cruel and harsh man, when I bring forward the strictness of the church tradition. For indeed this custom has prevailed in the holy churches up to the present day, I mean that after the reading of the holy revered book of the Gospels there should be a petition on behalf of the catechumens, one of the deacons proclaiming the names, and the presbyter thereupon offering a prayer applying to those whose names have been proclaimed, in order that they may receive the laver of regeneration and the communion of the holy mysteries, and that imme- diately afterwards another proclamation and prayer should follow on behalf of those that are possessed, in order that they also may be freed from the possession of evil spirits, and may receive the communion of the all-holy body and blood. Further, when the holy symbols that are consecrated in the mysterious sacrifice are about to be brought out into the church, and to be placed on the holy altar, the first of the deacons, look- ing out of the door of the deacons' chamber, utters the 1 Pr. xxiv. 7, 8. -' ^77/xt'a. 2 Pr. xxiv. 8. o. fearful and awful words, " No catechumen, no possessed person, no one that is incapable \" and so those that consecrate and those that have been consummated begin the ineffable sacred sacrifice, and send upwards the mysterious words. But I have nowhere found in the divine canons that such a distinction as this con- cerning those that are possessed is contained in them, the tenor of which is that if a man fights with a fierce demon, and is in the habit of assailing and attacking- those who come in his way, and rends chains and fetters asunder like the man mentioned [in the Gospels ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ] which" Paul the o-reat also in writino to the Corinthians commands men to do, and to discern what is the power ot the all-holy body, and to consider its greatness, and what the disposition ^ is in the heart of him who is to communicate in it. This is what he says: " But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he that eateth and drinketh when he is unworthy eateth and drinketh condemna- tion to himself, in that he hath not discerned the Lord's body. For this cause the sick and diseased among you are many, and there are many that sleep. For, if we judged ourselves, we should not be judged. jj^ji-^ being judged by the Lord, we are chastised, that we may not be condemned with the world: " ^ even as ' I.e. under penance; (f. Liturgy of Antioch ap. Brightnian Litur- gies, i. 471, 472. ■ The subject of this fragment seems to show that it belongs to this letter. ' Sta^ccn?. ^ i Co. xi. 28-32. He that cares for our souls and is their benion instructor directs everything to this end, that He may not condemn us on the day on which He will judge the world and the earth in righteousness, in the last condemnation to which there is no end. Those that do not judge themseh^es, but communicate without fear in the holy body and blood He judges for a time, chastising them with sicknesses and with diseases that they may come to conversion and penitence. And some, even when they are incorrigible. He removes from life, in order that they may not be afflicted by endless torments of greater severity and greater bitterness in the world to come. Blessed therefore is he who has been visited here and been chastised as by an instructor and been moved to prepare for the better life, and does not "owing to his hardness and impenitent heart," as the Apostle says, " lay up " for himself " a store of wrath for the day of wrath, and for the revelation of the just judgment of God, who will render to every man accordino- to his deeds." ^ Therefore he also who o is possessed by an invasion of evil spirits must submit to the canon of the apostolic church, and endure the chastening with devoutness, and take upon him thoughts and expressions of thanksgiving and make confession to the Lord and say, " I have submitted to the Lord and made supplication to him ": and He will assuredly have pity upon him (for " He is one that loveth mercy," as the prophet Micah says^), and will ' Ro. li. 5, 6. 2 Mi. vii. r8. o. rebuke the operation of the evil spirit, and will deliver His creature. For a man to be contemptuously dis- posed, and to communicate in the sacraments or take part in the sacred ministry contrary to what is com- manded makes the assault of man-hating spirits yet more fierce. This is also confirmed by the wise John who was bishop of Constantinople, in the sermon entitled " On the treason of Judas and on the Pass- over and on the institution of the mysteries, and concerning the principle that we should not retain aneer," in that he wrote as follows: " For then also it was after Judas had received the oblation that the devil assailed him; not that he despised the Lord's body, but that he despised Judas on account of his presumption: in order that you may learn that it is especially those who communicate in the divine mysteries without being worthy that the devil con- stantly assails and attacks, as he attacked Judas then. For privileges benefit those who are worthy: but, when men enjoy them undeservedly, they expose them to greater punishment. And these things I do not say in order to frighten, but in order to secure." ^ As I said before, the intention of the disciplinary regula- tions of the canons is to preserve the visible appear- ance of the church blameless. For this reason they forbade those also who are possessed by an invasion - of demons to communicate in the holy mysteries: but invisible and secret afflictions [they left] to the ^ P.G. xhx. 380.