Letter 14: Simplicius urges Acacius to press the emperor to expel Timothy Aelurus from the see of Alexandria, to maintain the...

Of Pope Simplicius, to Acacius of Constantinople. 9 January. [Summary: That the emperor should drive Timothy Aelurus from the see of Alexandria, keep whole the faith of his predecessors, and altogether deny a new general council to him who seeks it.] Simplicius the pope, to Acacius, bishop of Constantinople. 1. Inasmuch as it has been made plain by the report of presbyters and of monks from various monasteries serving the Lord, the devil is once again disturbing the churches of the Lord, so that, the bishop of Alexandria having been shut out, a heretic, one condemned by the whole body, is said to have seized the very place from which he had been expelled; and moreover, with certain persons favoring him, he has dared to strive at Constantinople, so that the city which excels in devotion toward the truth of the catholic faith among Christian princes, and the Christian people who are attentive in the defense of religion, should be thrown into turmoil by the depravity of heretics, which had already been put to rest. But the mercy of God, whose cause this is, was not wanting, so that Timothy, who has been justly separated by the whole Church through priestly sentences and imperial constitutions, should not be permitted to approach the church of your love nor the thresholds of the houses of the faithful. We have learned that he threatens new assemblies on his own behalf: thinking that to be undone which the universal authority decreed concerning him. 2. Wherefore, since the doctrine of our predecessors of holy memory is in existence, against which it is impious to dispute, whoever seems to be rightly wise has no need to be taught by new assertions, but all things are plain and complete by which one deceived by heretics can either be instructed or be prepared to be planted in the vineyard of the Lord; having implored the faith of the most merciful prince, see that the proposal for making a synod is rejected, and let there not be before the ears of the Christian emperor any sluggish suggestion, since his salvation and the strength of his kingdom is Christ himself. Therefore, together with the aforesaid presbyters and monks, supplicate his piety opportunely in our name also, and on behalf of us also make known this embassy to his clemency, lest anything be stolen away by stealth. Let him be instructed by the prayers of all alike, lest through public occupations the enemy contrive any snares against ecclesiastical peace: let him grant that the church of Alexandria be restored to its own integrity, and let him drive the enemy and parricide from the see of the blessed evangelist Mark, and let him deign to inquire, within the inner chambers of his court, in what manner the integrity of the catholic faith is to be held. And lest these things perchance be corrupted by any fraud of those who emulate faithlessness, although they can be found in the archives of your church, nevertheless we have sent copies, which you will hasten to offer to his piety. For let them recognize what is known and celebrated among all the authorities there, the things which my predecessor Leo of holy memory wrote in response to the consultation of Leo of august memory, and how reverently they were received: let him appear, as we trust, an imitator of his faith, of whose imperial rule, by the favor of God, he is the worthier successor, and let him reckon as written for himself whatever has been handed down by pious reading to the princes before him. For that is the perpetuity, and the posterity to be propagated of the kingdom through succession, if in the successor is found that which has descended from the predecessor. 3. I exhort therefore, dearest brother, that by all means the attempts of perverse men at making a synod be resisted, which was never otherwise proclaimed except when something new in depraved minds, or something ambiguous in the assertion of doctrines, arose: so that, with men deliberating in common, if there were any obscurity, the authority of priestly deliberation might illuminate it; just as first the impiety of Arius, then of Nestorius, and last of Dioscorus and Eutyches compelled it to be done. And—which may the mercy of Christ our God and Savior avert!—it must be intimated that it is abominable to restore those condemned against the sentences of the priests and princes, the rulers of both [orders], throughout the whole world of the Lord, to bring back the exiled, to absolve those relegated in cases of wicked conduct. Therefore, which must often be repeated, intimate suppliantly all these things to his most merciful ears. God will come without doubt to our aid, in whose hand, keeping the king's heart appointed, the power of his sovereignty knows no beginning from elsewhere. Given on the fifth of the Ides of January. Letter 3. Of Pope Simplicius, to the emperor Basiliscus. 10 January. [Summary: Having performed the office of greeting, Simplicius recounts the wicked machinations of Timothy Aelurus both in the city of Alexandria and in the imperial city. Then, setting before his eyes the examples of Marcian and Leo, he exhorts the emperor to review the letters of his predecessor, and not to suffer those things which were so deliberately established in the synod of Chalcedon to be retracted. But before all things to take counsel for the peace of the Alexandrian church, restoring to it its own bishop, and sending Aelurus away into his former exile.] To Basiliscus Augustus, Simplicius the bishop. 1. I should indeed wish, so far as it pertains to the judgment of my devotion, by which I look up to Christian princes with continual veneration, to render to your piety the offices due to it in continuous conversations. But since to the increase of this intention there is added also the care of sacred religion, the reckoning of a weightier business presses upon me, so that I may at once both discharge to you with prone mind the honor due, and confidently insinuate the causes of the faith: because the affection, ever devoted to your clemency, draws me to both, or the regard for my order and the solicitude of apostolic governance compels me. 2. Having therefore performed, most glorious and most merciful son, emperor Augustus, the duty of greeting, the scandals which are said to be stirred up afresh, recurring through the brigandage of heretics in the churches of the East, I neither ought nor am able to keep silent. For just as the writings of monks fervent for the catholic faith have brought to my notice, I have learned that Timothy the parricide, who long ago, as a devastator of the Egyptian church after the manner of Cain—as the divine reading testifies, cast out from the face of God, that is, excluded from the dignity of the Church—and already a wanderer through the deserts, destined long to suffer the torments of a guilty conscience, was led away into the exile of his own error; that having resumed the fires of his former fury, he has nonetheless gathered together bands of the lost and has invaded the church of the city of Alexandria—which he had previously stained with priestly blood—he himself now again bloody, by the expulsion of the legitimate pontiff: so that, although that lowliness of relegation ought to have driven into him, out of those things which he had impiously done, the sting of repenting, it is seen rather to have granted leisure for nourishing a more atrocious madness. By which without doubt he is proved far more detestable than Cain himself. For that one, once condemned from his crime, refrained; this one advances to greater crimes after his punishment. 3. Nor yet content with that limit of crime, he is reported to have audaciously entered the city of Constantinople besides, glowing ever with love of right doctrine, so that the ravager of human salvation might omit nothing unviolated, and to have willingly heard from the partners of his depravity the voice owed to Christ alone, by which plainly he was shown to be, not blessed coming in the name of the Lord, but evidently an Antichrist, a usurper of the divine summit: who, although he had been so laudably excluded from catholic communion, through the private houses of certain persons, with human blood sprinkled on his hands, is recorded to have celebrated not divine sacrifices but sacrileges. In which assuredly his reception was not confirmed, but the betrayal of the conscious accomplices was divulged together with him concerning that seat of iniquity, who, unless they come to their senses, will in every way fall—a seat which, like the devil his father, making himself like to the Most High, the faithless man does not cease to construct for himself unto eternal ruin. 4. These things, venerable emperor, although the mind shudders that they were even attempted by so great a gladiator, yet with the greatest amazement, I confess, I am held, that they could have been committed under the gaze of your piety. For who would be ignorant of, or doubt, the mind of your clemency, ever devoted to God and given over to orthodox rules? Inasmuch as you, by the disposition of supernal providence, just as for the public benefit you were instructed in the virtues of Marcian and Leo of august memory, so likewise were established in their dispositions also toward catholic truth, and let it be doubtful to no one at all that your piety is a follower of the faith of those of whose imperial rule you are the successor. Since these things are held certain and fixed by all concerning the mind of your tranquillity, far be it that in your times the integrity of divine worship and the sincerity of the catholic faith, strengthened of old, should be thought to be interfered with. Look back, I beseech, to the divine benefits, and weigh well what things have been conferred upon you, and, that these prosperous things may be able to remain, judge that the author of the gift is to be propitiated, not injured. For amid whatsoever public occupations, it must be greatly procured by a religious prince—that which protects his principate—and the rectitude of heavenly observance is to be preferred to all things, without which nothing rightly stands. 5. There are abundantly at hand for your clemency, if you should order them to be sought in the archives of your palace, copious documents agreeing with the definition of our greater forefathers. For it must not be believed that what has been diffused through all the provinces of the East from the citadel of your empire is hidden from your conscience: namely those things which my predecessor Leo, of blessed remembrance, directed as counsels either to Marcian of august memory and to Leo no less, or to the council of Chalcedon: in which he so fully and lucidly expounded the sacrament of the Lord's incarnation, that not only as catholic, but not even as Christian, can he be styled, whosoever there does not evidently acknowledge also the causes of his own redemption. Certainly, that necessary instruction may not be wanting to you more easily, I sent copies of those same letters to my brother and fellow-bishop Acacius to be offered to your understanding. If therefore your piety should deign to review these, or what the bishops of the whole East have written back concerning the agreement of this preaching, it will assuredly perceive things diligently examined and truly promulgated, and therefore by no means to be assailed by the ambiguities of pestiferous falsehood. For in truth, those things which flowed sincere and clear from the purest fountain of the Scriptures could be agitated by no arguments of cloudy cunning. For there persists in its successors this same standard of apostolic doctrine, to which the Lord enjoined the care of the whole fold, to which he promised that he himself would by no means be wanting even unto the end of the age, against which he promised that the gates of hell would never prevail, by whose sentence those things which are bound on earth he testified cannot be loosed even in heaven. 6. Wherefore I pray and beseech your clemency—to whom in my stead my brother and fellow-bishop Acacius will more earnestly supplicate—that, becoming imitators of the deeds of such and so great predecessors, repelling with catholic breast the workers of nefarious presumption, you would decree that they be restrained by royal power. Whosoever, as the apostle foretold, attempts to sow anything other than what we have received, let him be anathema. Let no access be opened to your ears for those who would steal in with pernicious minds, let no confidence be granted of retracting anything of the old constitutions: because, as must be repeated again and again, that which, by apostolic hands with the assent of the universal Church, has deserved to be cut off by the edge of the evangelic sickle, cannot take up the vigor of being reborn, nor can it return as a fruitful shoot into the Lord's vine, that which is established as appointed to eternal fire. Thus finally let the contrivances of all heresies, laid low by ecclesiastical decrees, never be allowed to renew the contests of their shattered assault. 7. But before all things I beseech that the see of the blessed evangelist Mark—I speak of the Alexandrian church—being freed from the brooding occupation of a most bloody robber, be reformed under a catholic prelate and recover alike its own liberty and its peace. But truly let the wicked parricide, who is guilty at once of divine and human laws, being brought back to the same place from which by right he had before been thrust down, be drawn back from the slaughter of innocent souls: let the poisons of that deadly head depart far from the kingdom of your piety, which, since with stopped ears they could not receive the healing words of saving preaching, being drawn away from human assembly unto destruction, may waste away in a solitude befitting their virulence. By which the more and more I adjure your piety by the voice of the blessed apostle Peter, as whatever minister of his see, that you would not suffer the enemies of the ancient faith to range unpunished, you who desire to have your enemies subjected: that you would decree that all the churches of the Lord preserve the peace of true confession, you who desire to hold the world of your empire pacified, and that you would suffer the one hope of salvation—which leads the human race to the heavenly kingdoms and to eternal life—to be violated in no part, you who desire God to be appeased toward either your kingdom or your salvation. Given on the fourth of the Ides of January, Basiliscus Augustus being consul.

Slmplieii papae ad Acacium Constantinopolitanuni. ^9.jan. p.6. l/i imperator Timoiheum Aelurum ah Alexandrina sede propeUal, decessorum fidem servet integram, et n&vum conciiium generale ambienti prorsus deneget. Simplicius papa Acacio episcopo Constantino- politano. 1. • Qoantimi presbyterorum et ex diversis monasteriis Domino servientium monachorum relatione patefactum est, ecclesias Domini nirsus diabolus inquietat^ ita ut excluso Alexandrino sacerdote^) baereticus atque ab universitate damnatus eumdem locum^ de quo polsus fuerat, occupasse dicatur; insuper quibusdara faventibus^) Constantinopolim ausum fuisse contendere, ut civitas Christianorum principum circa fidei catholicae veritatem devotione praecellens, et Christiana plebs in defensione religionis attenta haereticonim pra- vitate, quae jam fuerat sopita, turbetur. Sed misericordia Dei, cujus est causa, non defuit, ut Timotheus, qui ab universali Ecclesia sa- cerdotalibus sententiis et imperialibus constitutis^) jure^) est segrega- *} Verba et quod abstulit restituere cogatur in vtdgatis ac phirimiR mss. omissa O» revocantur, eoque pacto aptius cohaeret oratio. Nam non Ronagro^ ut priua Tulgata lectio referebat, sed Gaudentio jubetur immineri. 1^} Ita inss. et h'. Editi etiam hoc ... inuninere. <) sciL Timotheo Salophakiolo, quo exiduso TimotheuH Aelurus ab univcrsiiate priciem damnatua a BasiHsco, simul ac imperium occupavit, ut tradit Evagrius h. c. III» *f revocatus eat, postulauto hoc legatioue ab iis destinata, qui Alexan- driae Dioscori et ipsiuB Aeluri asseclae sup^rerant. Quod idem jam Marciano Tix mortuo tentaverunt sed irrito conatu; cf. Leon. epist. 147 et 150. Leo episit. 157, 161 et 1C3. Mox Gi adtonita^ haereticorum. s) Eccleaiarum videlicet eucyclicis litteris et Leonis Augusti odictiH, quorum meminitLeo papa epiat. 170etl73, uude et eidem principi gratias agit epist. 109. Quum aatem haec Leonis epistohi statim post ejectum Aebirum script^i mense Jimio 'a. 460 coDsignetur, isque ab exsilio redierit a. 475, sequitur, ut non annos o€todecim^ ut scribit Evagrius h. e. III, 4 , sed dumtaxat quindecim exsid excge- rit. Leo autem velut cx alto prospiciens quod futurum erat, Gcmiadium solLi- cite epist. 170 praemonuerat, ut omni studio contenderet, ne cum tam nefario komine sermo aUquis privatim vel publice misceretur^ neve sub specie corrcctionis ejus ^ mmarMmdam cofwentui praeheretur occasio: ne redcundi integram caperet libertaiem, de gtto jam edictis suis prificeps Christianissimus Judicaverat. *') Ita G' G*a*; c^aeqq. juste fuerat, et mox secundum grammaticae leges ejtisiimantem. EPI8TOI«AB mOMAV. PORTIF. I. VI ai.47G.tudy ad ecclesiam tuae dilectioiiis vel ad fidelium domorum limina nou permitteretur accedere. Quem couventus novos pro se didid- mus comminari: resolvi existimans, quod de se universalis decrevit auctoritas. 2. Unde quia sanctae memoriae praedecessorum nostromm *) ex- stante doctrina, contra quam nefas est disputare^ quisquis recte sa- pere videtur novis assertionibus non indiget edoceri, sed plauA atque perfecta sunt omnia^ quibus potest vel deceptus ab haereticis erudiri vel in vinea Domini plantandus institui; implorata fide de- mentissimi principis vocem faciendae synodi fac respui, nec sit apud aures imperatoris Christiani pigra suggestio, quia salus ejus et r^ni ipsius Christus est fortitudo. Ergo cum praedictis presbyteris ac monachis opportune pietati ejus nostro quoque nomine supplica, et legationem hani^ pro nobis quoque clementiae ipsius, ne qnid sub- ripiatur®), insinua. Omnium pariter precibus instruatur, ne per occupationes publieas quieti ecclesiasticae aliquas inimicus moliatur insidias: integritati suae Alexandrinam reddi praestet ecclesiam, et beati Marci evangelistae sede hostem parricidamque^) propellat, et qualiter catholicae fidei teneatur integritas, in penetralibus aulae suae dignanter inquirat. Quae ne aliqua forsitan fidei aemrdorum fraude vitietur®), licet in ecclesiae tuae possint scriniis inveniri, ta- men exemplaria misimus, quae pietati ipsius properabis®) offerre. Nota namque et omnibas illic potestatibus celebrata, quae sanctae memoriae praedecessor meus Leo ad cousultationem augustae reeor- datiouis Leonis scripserit *^), et quam veneranter accepta sint, reco- gnoscant: appareat sic, ut confidimus, ejus imitator fidei, cujus pro- pitiante Deo dignior est successor imperii, sibique scriptum aestimet, Quod apostoHcis (h. e. apostolicae ' sedis) manibus cum uniuersalis Ecctesiae migemtm acie meruit evangelicae falcis ahscidi^ vigorem non potest sumere remucendt, Qua ratione finnatur, nefas esse discex^tari aut retractari, quod totiuB Ekiclesiae judi- cio seu, ut cum ipso loquar pontificef universcdis Ecclesiae assensu definitum eit. ') Ita vocabatur Timotheus Aehinis propter caedeiu episcopi sui Proterii, ci\ju8 sedem postea invasit. ^o) Praesertim iu epistola 165, in qua accuratissima et elimatisfiima fidei ex- positio habetur. EPISTOLAE 2. 3. 179 quidquid ante se principibus pia est traditum lectione. Illa esta.476. namqae perennitas regnique per seriem propaganda posteritas^'), si in sucGessore reperitur^ quod a praedecessore descendit. 3. Hortor ergo, frater carissime, ut modis omnibus faciendae synodi penrersorum conatibus resistatur, quae non alias semper in- dicta esty nLsi qnum aliquid in pravis sensibus novum aut in asser- iioiie dogmatum emersit ambiguum : ut in commune tractantibus, si quae esset obscuritas, sacerdotalis deliberationis illuminaret aucto- ritas; sicut primum Arii ac deinde Nestorii, postremum Dioscori atque Eutychetis fieri coegit impietas. Et — quod misericordia Cbristi Dei nostri salvatoris aivertat! — intimandum est, abominabile esse^ . contra sententias totius orbis Domini sacerdotum et principum utriusqae rectorum damnatos^^) restituere, reduci exsules, relegatos iu*') causis nefariae conversationis absolvi. Itaque, quod saepe re- petendum est, haec omnia clementissimis auribus suppliciter inti- mato. Veniet procul dubio Deus in adjutorium nostnmi^*), iu cujus gj^j' manu wgis cor esse retinens constitutum potestatis suae nescit aliunde principium. Data quinto^^) Idus Januarii. . Epistola 3. Simplicii papae ad Basiliscum Augustuni. a.476d. * lO.Jan. Saliti4tiiom9 officio functus Timothei Aeluri tam in Alexandrina quam in regia chriiaie impiat moliliones SimpHcius enarrat. Deinde Marciani ac Leonis exempHs ob oculos positis imperatorem hortatur, ut decessoris sui epistoias recenseaty neve ea^ quae in Oalchedonensi synodo tam considerate constituta, retractari patiatur. Sed anie omnia Alexandrinae ecctesiae paci consulaty proprium ei restituens episcopum et Aelurum in pristinum exsiHum amandans. Basilisco^) Augusto Simplicius episcopus. 1. Cuperem quidem, quantum ad meae spectat devotionis arbi- triiim, qua principes Christianos jugi veneratione suspicio, debita pietati vestrae continuis officia deferre. colloquiis. Sed quum ad hujas intentionis augmentum etiam sacrae cura religionis accedat, •') G* oorropte posierilatis in successore reppererit. ■') Ita G* G*; alii in causa nefariae conjurationis. TaliH qiiideni Timothei et «ociorani conjuratio describitur in Aegyptiorum episcoporum et Alexandrinonun dericorum epistolis quum ad Leonem AuguBtum tum ad Anatoliinn acriptis, quae babeDtur conc. Calched. part. HI cap. 22 et 23. ■**) Ita G* G*. Editi vestrum . . . cor regis . . . nesciat. •*) c^ ad marg. Alii VI Kalendas Februarias. Sed ex duabus sequentibus epi- tftolis manifeste patebit, hanc una cum illie missam fuisae, neque adeo immerito pTimogeDiam lectionem retineri. •) Ita N', cni concinit hifitorica fides. G^ a* Zenoni Augusio, moxque editi suscipio. 12* i a. 476. ratio milii iiegotii potioris inciimbit, ut simul honorificentiam vobis prona mente persolvam, et causas^) fidei fidenter insinuem: quia me ad utramqne vel dicata trahit clementiae vestrae semper affectio, vel respectus ordinis mei et apostolici moderaminis soUicitudo compellit. 2. Functus igitur^ gloriosissime ac clementissdme fili imperator Auguste, munere sahitandi, quae in ecclesiis Orientis per haeretico- rum latrocinia recidiva rursus dicuntur scandala concitari, nec debeo silere nec possum. Nam sicut in meam notitiam ferventium pro fide catholica detulerunt scripta monachorum, comperi, Timotheum par- Gen. ricidam, qui Aegyptiae pridem vastator ecclesiae in morem Cain, at ^'^** lectio divina testatur, ejectus a facie Dei, hoc est ab Ecclesiae digni- tate seclusus, et^) jam per deserta vagus, sceleratae conscientiae diu tormenta passurus, in exsilium proprii erroris abductus est, resumptis pristini furoris incendiis conflasse nihilominus agmina perditorum et Alexandrinae urbis ecclesiam, quam sacerdotali prius sanguine cruentavit, ipsum denuo nunc crueiitum depidsione legitimi per- vasisse pontificis: ut cui illa relegationis humilitas injicere debuerit ex iis, quae impie gesserat, aculeum poenitendi, *nutriendae potius otia tribuisse videatur atrocioris insaniae. Quo procul dubio Cain ipso longe detestabilior approbatur. Ille siquidem a perpetrato semel facinore damnatus abstinuit, hic profacit ad crimina majora post poenam. 3. Nec eo tamen scelenmi fine contentus, Constantinopolitanam insuper urbem, recti semper dogmatis amore fiagrantem, ne quid intemeratum populator humanae salutis omitteret, fertur audacter ingressus, et a suae consortibus pravitatis libenter audisse soli Christo debitam vocem, qua plane^) non in nomine Domini venirebe- nedicius, sed divini culminis usurpator evidenter est monstratus Anti- christus: qui quum etiam a communione catholica tam laudabiliter esset exclusas, per quonimdam privatas domos respersis humano ') c^ causas fideUter iminuem. Hoc prooemio it^i salutationis oificiain novo imperatori persolvit, iit satis prudentibus insinuet, se haud sua sponte eo mor nere perfungi. ') G* G* etiam quam per. Deinde editi nutriendi, BasHisci supplicans ad ecclesiam processit, ipse asino vectus, Ut igitur hac oeca- sionc ipsum Domini triumphum plenius imitarctur, a circumstante tiirba concim jussit benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. Ncc vero impune ausus est taiitain ncfas impudens parricida, quum graviter prolapsus non sine ignominia rtcedert coactus sit, ut addit Thcodorus, Simoni Mago quam Christo similior. Qiiod Tel ignoravit Simplicius vel disaimulaudum duxit. At diserte uotavit, ei domum Dei intrare non licuisso monachis obsistentibvs .(cpist. 4 n. 3). sanguine mauibus^) non divina sacrificia sed sacrilegia celebrasse a. 476. memoratur. In quo utique non ejus est firmata susceptio^ sed con- sciomm divulgata proditio cum eodem de illa iniquitatis sede^ uisi resipiscanty omnimodo*) casurorum, quam sicut diabolus pater ejus^ Aliissimo similem se faciens, aetemam sibi perfidus construere non desinit ad ruinam. 4. Haee venerabilis imperator, quum horreat animus vel a tanto gladiatore fuisse tentata, maximo tamen, fateor, stupore detineor, sub vestrae pietatis adspectibus potuisse committi. Quis enim devo- tam semper Deo clementiae vestrae mentem et orthodoxis deditam') regulis aut ignoret aut ambigat? Quippe qui supemae dispositione proTidentiae sicut pro utilitate publica augustae memoriae Marciani pariter et Leonis emditi virtutibus, sic eorum sitis etiam ad catho- lieam veritatem sensibus instituti, nec cuiquam omnino sit dubium, pietatem tuam illomm esse fidei sequacem, (^uonun es successor im- perii. Quae quum de vestrae tranquillitatis animo certa ab omnibus ieneantor et fixa, absit, ut temporibus vestris divini cultus integritas et antiquitus roborata fidei catholicae putetur interpellanda sinc^ritas. Respicite, quaeso, ad divina beneficia, et quae sint vobis coUata perpendite, atque ut haec prospera valeant permanere, propitiandum esse censete auctorem muneris, non laedendiun. Inter quaslibet enim occupationes publicas a religioso principe magnopere procu- randum est, quod ejus protegit principatum, et praeferenda cunctis rebns est coelestis observantiae rectitudo, sine qua recte nulla con- ' sistunt. 5. Suppetimt aifatim clementiae tuae, si in palatii sui requiri mandet archivis, cum nostromm coeuntia definitione majonun do- cumenta copiosa. Neque enim conscientiam vestram latere creden- dom est, quae per cunctas provincias Orientis ex imperii vestri arce difiFusa sunt: illa scilicet, quae vel ad augustae memoriae Marciani nihilominus et Leonis vel®) ad Calchedonensis concilii beatae recor- dationis praedecessor meus Leo consulta direxit: quibus ita plene atque dilucide sacramentum dominicae incarnationis exposuit, ut non modo catholicus, sed ne Christianus quidem valeat nuncupari, quisquis iUic et redemptionis suae eausas non evideuter agnoscat. Certe ut facilius") vobis necessaria non desit instmctio, earumdem exemplaria litteramm ad fratrem et coepiscopum meum Acacium •) Ita 6*. Editi omnimode casuros. Mox aeternam refertur ad ntinam. ^ Eum maxime Z^nonide coi\juge sua adversus orthodoxos incilanle bellum contra fidem movere coepisse, Theodorus lector h. e. I (ed. Vales. pag. 666) testatur. ') Ita O' (i*. Editi facUis ... coepiscopum nostrum. a. 476. misi vestris sensibus offerenda. Haec igitur pietas tua si recensere dignetur vel quae totius Orientis episcopi de hujus praedicationis consensioue rescripserint*^, aspiciet profecto examinata diligenter et veraciter promulgata, atque ideo pestiferae falsitaiis ambagibus ne- quaquam debere pulsari. Quia revera quae de Scripturarum fonte purissimo sincera perspicuaque mauarunt, nullis agitari nebuloeae versutiae potenuit argumentis. Perstat**) enim in successoribus suis haec et eadem apostolicae norma doctrinae, cui Dominus curam to* 21^1588. tius ovilis injunxit, cui se usque in finem saeculi minime defuturom^ Matth. cui portas inferi nunquam praevalituras esse promisit, cujus sententia 16 18 B8. q^*® ligarentur in terris, solvi testatus est uon posse nec in coelo. 6. Quapropter clementiam vestram, cui mea vice propensius frater et coepiscopus meus Acacius supplicabit, precor atque obsecro, ut imitatores facti tantorum et talium praedecessorum, nefandae praesumptionis operarios catholico pectore respuentes, regia censeatis potestate cohiberi. Quisquis aliud, sicut praedixit apostolus, praeter- GaLljS.guam quod^'^) acccpimus, seminare moliiur, anathema sit. Nullus ad aures vestras perniciosis meutibus subripiendi pandatur accessus, nulla retractaudi quidpiam de veteribus constitutis fiducia couceda- tur : quia, sicut saepius iterandum est, quod apostolicis manibus cum Ecclesiae imiversalis asseusu acie meruit evangelicae falcis abscidi, vigorem sumere nou potest renasceudi, nec iu dominicae vitis fru- ctivam valet redire propagiuem, quod igni deputatum constat aetemo. Sic*^) haeresum deuique machiuameuta cunctarum ecclesiasticis pro- strata decretis umiquam siuuutur oppuguationis elisae reparare cer-^ tamina. 7. Aute omnia autem quaeso, ut beati Marci evangelistae sedes — Alexandriuam loquor ecclesiam — a cruentissimi praedonis incuba- tione**) liberata, catholico reformetur autistiti libertatemque suam pariter recipiat et quietem. At vero improbus parricida, qui diviuis simul reus est legibus et humaiiis, reductus eodem, quo jure fuerat ante detrusus, ab innoceutium nece retrahatur auimarum: procul a regno pietatis vestrae funesti capitis venena discedant, quae quo- niam salutiferae praedicationis auribus obturatis medicantia yerba '^) Quaequc Lco Augustus in unum codicem, qucm encycUum appellavit, ool- ligi voluit. *') a* praesiat, mcliuB alii pcrsiat k. e. pcrseverat. Mox vocabulom aposioScme perinde accipiendiun, ac si legeretur aposioU Peiri. '') In vulgatis 51 ... oppugnatione elisa reparari, Ex archetypo G' (« ... op- pugnationis elise rcparari) et Vigilii constituto seu epist. 24 n. 144 («c . . . oppugmh tionihus elisa reparare) nostram lcctionom restituimus. '^) h. e. injusta usurpationc\ cf. iufra cpist. 6 n. 2. Mox alii impims (loco improbus). EPISTOLAE 3. 4. 183 capere nequiverunt^ ab humani conventus abducta peruicie, in viru- a. 476. lentiae suae congrua solitudine contabescant. Quo magis ac*^) magis pietatem tuam beati Petri apostoli voce, qualiscunque sedis ejus minister, obtestor^ ut inimicos antiquae iidei non sinas impune gras- sariy qui vestros optatis bostes babere subjectos: ut verae confes- siouis pacem cunctas Domini servare decernatis ecclesias, qui orbem vesiri imperii desideratis tenere pacatum^ et unicam spem salutis^ quae genus hominiun ad regna coelestia vitamque perducit aeter- nam, nulla patiamini parte violari, qui placatum Deum vel regno vestro cupitis vel saluti. Data quarto Idus Januarias Basilisco Angusto^^) consule.