Letter 3: Quantum of the priests and from diuersis monasteriis to the Lord serujentium of the monks relatione patefactum is,...

Simplicius the bishop to Acacius, bishop of Constantinople. As has been made plain by the report of presbyters and of monks serving the Lord from various monasteries, the devil is once again troubling the churches of the Lord, so that, the bishop of Alexandria having been driven out, a heretic, a man condemned by the universal Church, is said to have seized that same place from which he himself had been expelled; and moreover, with certain persons abetting him at Constantinople, he is said to have dared to contend that the city which excels by the devotion of Christian emperors toward the truth of the catholic faith, and a Christian people aroused in defense of religion, should be thrown into turmoil by the depravity of the heretics, a depravity which had already been laid to rest. But the mercy of God, whose cause this is, was not lacking, so that Timothy, who has been rightly separated from the universal Church by priestly judgments and by imperial decrees, was not permitted to approach the church of your Charity, nor the thresholds of the houses of the faithful. We have learned that he, judging that what the universal authority has decreed concerning him can be undone, threatens to hold new assemblies on his own behalf. Therefore, since, the teaching of our predecessors of holy memory standing fast - against which it is impious to dispute - whoever appears to think rightly has no need to be instructed by new assertions, but all things are full and complete by which one deceived by heretics may either be set right or, to be planted in the vineyard of the Lord, may be trained: having implored the faith of the most merciful prince, see to it that the call for the holding of a synod is rejected, and let no sluggish suggestion be present at the Christian ears of the empire, since his salvation and the strength of the kingdom itself is Christ. Therefore, together with the aforesaid presbyters and monks, in season and out of season, in our name also entreat his Piety, and, that nothing be stealthily obtained, set before his Clemency this embassy on our behalf as well. Let it likewise be impressed by the prayers of all, that the enemy may not, through public preoccupations, contrive any plots against the peace of the Church; let him grant that the church of Alexandria be restored to its integrity, and drive from the seat of the blessed evangelist Mark the foe and parricide, and let him deign to inquire how the integrity of the catholic faith is maintained in the inner chambers of his own court. And lest these things perhaps be vitiated by some fraud of the rivals of the faith - though they may be found in the archives of your church - we have nonetheless sent copies, which you will hasten to offer to his Piety. For let him acknowledge what is well known and celebrated among all the powers there, namely what my predecessor of holy memory, Leo, wrote in answer to the consultation of Leo of august remembrance, and how reverently they were received; let him appear, as we trust, an imitator of the faith of him whose worthier successor in empire he is, God showing favor, and let him reckon as written to himself whatever was handed down in pious reading to the princes before him. For that is the perpetuity of the kingdom which, through the series of a posterity to be propagated, finds again in the successor what has descended from the predecessor. I exhort you therefore, most dear brother, that by all means resistance be made to the efforts of the perverse for the holding of a synod, which has never been proclaimed at any other time except when something new arose in depraved minds, or something ambiguous in the assertion of doctrines, so that, with men discussing it in common, if there were any obscurity, the authority of priestly deliberation might illuminate it - just as first the impiety of Arius, and then of Nestorius, and finally of Dioscorus and Eutyches compelled to be done. And - which may the mercy of Christ our God and Savior avert - this must be made known: that it is abominable that those condemned be restored against the judgments of the bishops of the whole world of the Lord and of the princes who rule both spheres, that exiles be brought back, that men banished in cases of wicked conduct be absolved. And so, what must often be repeated, impress all these things suppliantly upon his most clement ears. Beyond doubt God will come to our aid, in whose hand, holding established the heart of the king, his power knows of no source from elsewhere. Given on the fourth day before the Ides of January, the consul above written.

SINPLICIUS EPISCOPUS ACACIO EPISCOPO CONSTANTINOPOLITANO. Quantum presbyterorum et ex diuersis monasteriis domino serujentium monachorum relatione patefactum est, ecclesias domini rursus diabolus inquietat, ita ut excluso Alexandriae Sacerdote haereticus atque ab uniuersitate damnatus eundem 1 proximam Β 2 tymotheo V et sic saepius per y, quod on iam monebo ad uniuersalis B 8. seperatum V querella B 5 ne quid V: neque B calchedonensem V, calcedonensem B, corr. o? — 6 karissime B dilec- tioni B 8 memouimus B quoV 9 parridii VB X causam VB, corr. Car. — constantinopolim VB, corr. o? 10 cum monemus uacum V 11 peruenerit B 12 donhaec ueniat B 18 insunuare B utque V 14.statue V uiolenter B 16 ac terporgi congregaturum V . fidei om. B 17 concilium zxeLicrt V 16 Ld 10 15 σι Epist. LVII 1 — LVIII 4. 131 locum, de quo pulsus fuerat, occupasse dicatur: insuper qui- busdam facientibus Constantinopolim ausum fuisse contendere, ut ciuitas Christianorum printipum cirea fidei catholicae ueri- tatem deuotione praecellens et Christiana plebs in defensione religionis adtonita haereticorum prauitate, quae iam fuerat Sopita, turbetur. ^ sed misericordia dei, cuius est causa, non defuit, ut Timotheus, qui ab uniuersali ecclesia sacerdotalibus sententiis et imperialibus constitutis iure est segregatus, ad ecclesiam tuae dilectionis uel ad fidelium domorum limina non permitteretur accedere. quem conuentus nouos pro se didicimus comminari, resolui aestimantem, quod de se uni- "uersalis decreuit auctoritas. unde quia sanctae memoriae praecessorum nostrorum extante doctrina, contra quam nefas est disputari, quisquis recte sapere uidetur, nouis assertionibus non indiget edoceri sed plena atque perfecta sunt omnia, quibus potest uel deceptus ab haereticis erudiri uel in uinea domini plantandus institui, imploràta fide clementissimi prin- cipis uocem faciendae synodi fac respui nec sit apud aures imperii Christianas pigra suggestio, quia salus eius et regni ipsius Christus est fortitudo. —ergo cum praedictis presbyteris ac monachis oportune atque importune pietati eius nostro quoque nomine supplica et legationem hanc pro nobis quoque clementiae ipsius, ne quid subripiatur, insinua. omnium pariter precibus insiruatur, ne per occupationes publicas quieti eccle- siasticae aliquas inimicus moliatur insidias, integritati suae Alexandrinam reddi praestet ecclesiam et ἃ beati Marci euan- 21 Tim. II 4, 2 2 fauentibus o? 8 christianarum V 4 deuotio B 5 adtonita V, atonita B: attenta Car. 6 misericordia V: omnia B caus& V limina om. Β 11 cum minari V aestimantem scripsi: estimans VB. 15 indigete doceri V (corr. o?), indige&e doceri B planaa utque B 16 heticis B 19 imperatoris Car. (imperatoris Christiani Bar.) 20 cum supra linea B 20 sq. presbiteriis as B 21 atque inpor- tune B: om. Y 22 suplica V . quoque om. αὶ 28 subrepatur Bar., fort. subripiat, cf. Indicem 25. in/litegritatis B 26 a om. V 9* 2 3 132 Simplicii papae epistulae gelistae sede hostem parrieidamque propellat et, qualiter catholicae fidei teneatur integritas in penetralibus aulae suae, 5 dignanter inquirat, ^ quae ne aliqua forsitan fidei aemulorum fraude uitientur, licet in ecclesiae tuae possint scriniis inueniri, tamen exemplaria misimus, quae pietati ipsius properabis of- s ferre. nota namque et omnibus illic potestatibus celebrata, quae sanctae memoriae prodecessor meus Leo ad consultationem augustae recordationis Leonis scripserit, οὖ quam ueneranter - accepta sint, recognoscat; appareat, sicut confidimus, eius - imitator fidei, cuius propitiante deo dignior est successor 19 imperii, sibique scriptum aestimet, quicquid ante se principibus pia est traditum lectione. illa est namque perennitas regni, quae per seriem propagandae posteritatis in successore rep- 6 pererit, quod a praecessore descendit. ^ hortor ergo, frater carissime, ut modis omnibus faciendae synodi peruersorum 16 conatibus resistatur, quae non alias semper indicta est, nisi cum aliquid in prauis sensibus nouum aut in assertione dog- matum emersit ambiguum, ut in commune tractantibus, si qua esset obscuritás, sacerdotalis deliberationis inluminaret auctoritas, sicut primum Arrii ac deinde Nestorii, postremum so Dioscori atque Eutychis fieri coegit impietas. et, quod miseri- cordia Christi dei nostri saluatoris auertat, intimandum est: abominabile esse contra sententias totius orbis domini sacer- dotum et principum utriusque rectorum damnatos restitui, reduci exules, relegatos in causis nefariae conuersationis ab- ss 7 solui. itaque, quod saepe repetendum est, haec omnia elementissimis auribus suppliciter intimato. ueniet procul 10 1 Epist. LVIII 5 — LIX 8. 133 dubio deus in adiutorium nostrum, in euius manu regis cor esse retinens constitutum potestatis suae nescit aliunde prin- cipium. ^ Dat. quarto Id, Ian. consule &supra scripto.