Works & Councils of Toledo 48

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ our God, the Emperor Caesar Flavius Justinianus, Alemannicus, Gothicus, Francicus, Germanicus, Anticus, Alanicus, Vandalicus, Africanus, Pious, Fortunate, Glorious, Victor, Triumpher, ever Augustus, to Mennas the patriarch. And this too we hold, and corroborate it by imperial laws, just as though it had proceeded from the imperial majesty itself. But if any of them be caught transgressing against these statutes, let him know that he will fall under the civil laws, which cast into greater indignation and chastisement those who evade the lighter penalties.

Furthermore, to all who attempt to tear apart the catholic Church of God—whether according to the doctrine of the demented Nestorius, or according to the foolish tradition of Eutyches, or according to the blasphemy of Severus, who holds the same opinion as they, or of those who follow them—we forbid that they stir up tumults in the churches, or discourse anything concerning the faith. But we ordain that each one of them keep silence, and that they neither convoke any into one assembly, nor receive those who come, nor dare to baptize after a disapproved manner, nor to defile holy communion and distribute it to any, nor to expound forbidden doctrines, whether in this our royal city or in another, but let them fear every peril if they perpetrate any such thing.

We forbid all men besides that anyone receive him. Rather we ordain that they cast them out even from the cities which are being seduced by them: knowing the penalties already comprehended in our sacred constitutions, which assign to the most holy churches the very houses in which any such thing is done, and the estates from which sustenance is supplied, to be taken away from their possessors, because they furnish to the simpler folk a cause of evil; and by the best right bringing these under the dominion of the most holy churches. These things we ordain for the common peace of the most holy churches, these we decree, following the decrees of the holy Fathers, that all priests henceforth may abide in tranquillity and quiet;

and when these are preserved in peace, the remaining portion of the commonwealth too will grow for us, as peace flourishes from above—peace which to all that great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, one of the Trinity, the only-begotten Word of God, both proclaims and supplies to those who are deemed worthy to glorify and adore Him truly and from the heart. Therefore the things that have rightly pleased us, let Your Beatitude preserve and carry into effect, transmitting them through your God-loving letters to all the most religious metropolitans subject to you.

The care of each of these will be to make these things manifest to the most holy churches subject to him, so that none of all may be unaware of what the supreme priesthood has decreed and what the imperial majesty has corroborated. Given on the seventeenth day before the Kalends of August, at Constantinople, in the consulship of Belisarius, most illustrious man. CHAPTER ONE.—Doing a thing not unusual for the empire, we also have come to the present law. For as often as the sentence of the bishops deposed certain men unworthy of the priesthood from the sacred sees (such as Nestorius, Eutyches, Arius, Macedonius, and Eunomius, and certain others no less than they in iniquity), so often was the empire of one mind with the sentence and ordination of the bishops, along with the authority of the bishops.

And thus things divine and human, concurring alike, made a single harmony with right verdicts: just as we know happened lately concerning Anthimus, who was indeed cast down from the see of this royal city by Agapetus of holy and glorious memory, the pontiff of the most holy ancient Church of Rome; because he had intruded himself (against all the sacred canons) into a see in no way befitting him, and was condemned and deposed both by the common sentence of that man of holy memory first, and also of the sacred synod celebrated here, because he had departed from the right doctrines; and the things which before he seemed many times to love, these at last by various pretenses [frauds] he fled;

pretending to follow the four holy synods (namely of the three hundred and eighteen Fathers at Nicaea, and of the one hundred and fifty in this happy city; and of the two hundred first gathered at Ephesus, and of the six hundred and thirty venerable Fathers at Chalcedon). Yet in fact he was willing neither to follow the doctrines of these, nor to receive our clemency and the condescension which we had for the sake of his salvation; nor was he himself willing to renounce the authors of the impious doctrines, who had previously been expelled by the holy synods; but he thought it fitting, according to his own view, to hold both the condemned and the condemners as equal.

For once he had been enslaved to understandings foreign to the most holy Church, and alienated from the right doctrines, he was deservedly unable to return to their rectitude, even when invited and directed to this by us, who used every zeal for his salvation. On account of all these things therefore, our empire renders firm the sentence of deposition made against him by the holy synod—on the occasion of the unlawful and not canonically approved seizure of the sacred sees of this royal city, and of his turning away from the right and true doctrines—and writes the present law against this man.

We forbid him also to dwell in this happy city and its district, and in any other notable city whatever, ordaining that he be in quiet and content with those things to which he has deservedly made himself liable; and that he communicate with no one, nor imbue them unto the perdition of the forbidden doctrines. Nor indeed do we leave outside the imperial confirmation the sentence justly pronounced against Severus, proceeding from all (so to speak) the pontifical and patriarchal sees (together with the monastic consents) and inflicting the anathema upon him:

who, having first against the sacred sanctions received the see of the most holy Church of the Theopolitans, so threw all into confusion, and so heaped up turbulences, that he sent forth among the most holy churches a kind of common and abominable war one against another. And this too had been written against him by the scepters that were before us—that he had used various deceits, devices, and blasphemies belonging to doctrines alienated from rectitude, and had thrown all into confusion, and received whatever error of the abominable heresiarchs and of iniquitous doctrines, of Nestorius, we say, and of Eutyches;

and although both of these doctrines seem in a manner contrary to one another, yet they tend toward one end of impiety, and he formed into one even the divulged discourses of those men. For since there are two doctrines mutually repugnant, each of which likewise leads to the perdition of the soul—namely of Nestorius and of Eutyches (as we have related in our account)—which consist of the contagion of the Arians and of Apollinaris; he himself, suffering something paradoxical, fell alike into both: and there, by setting forth that doctrine, he is seen to have constituted himself and his discourses a common receptacle of so great offenses.

Let him therefore also be under the aforesaid anathema, which the whole patriarchal, pontifical, and monastic assembly of our commonwealth, so to speak, justly imposed upon him: cast out indeed from the Theopolitan Church, because its throne removed him, in that he had not rightly received its headship, but while he was still living and commemorated in the most holy churches—he who held the priesthood before him—and on account of him who came after him, he had fallen from the priesthood. Nor indeed did he stop at this point, but, having been placed also under the common anathema of the orthodox and catholic Church, he filled our commonwealth with many books, blasphemies, and abominations.

Wherefore we forbid all men to possess anything of his books. And just as it is not lawful to write or possess the books of Nestorius (because to our predecessor emperors it seemed good in their constitutions to enact things similar to those concerning what was said and written by Porphyry against the Christians), so neither let the sayings and writings of Severus remain in the keeping of any Christian, but let them be profane and alien from the catholic Church, and burned with fire by their possessors, unless those who have them wish to suffer peril. Let them therefore be written by no one, neither for beauty nor for speed of the writers, knowing that the cutting off of the hand will be the penalty for those who write his writings.

For we do not wish that in time to come blasphemy should be drawn forth from them. Likewise we forbid this man too altogether to enter the royal city, or its district, nor any other of the notable cities, but to sit in some solitude and in silence, and not to corrupt the rest, nor to lead them into blasphemy, and not always to invent something new against the true doctrines, whereby he might hasten again to throw our most holy churches into confusion. CHAPTER II.—But neither does the empire admit Peter, bishop of Apamea, placed under the aforesaid anathema together with, and for the same causes as, those for whom Severus was; rather let the things that were decreed against him be valid. And let him who has been placed under the common anathema be under it;

and let the sentence of the most holy pontiffs, which preceded him, remain firm. Nor indeed do we permit him to inhabit this royal city, or its district, or any of the notable cities; but let him imitate the manner of life of those whose error he followed, withdrawing as far as possible and hiding himself; for it is more useful for such men to be hidden than to be seen. For while unknown, they harm themselves alone: but in publishing their doctrines, they afford to many of the simpler folk an occasion of perdition; which it is in no way just should come to pass in the Christian sheepfold of God and among an orthodox people, nor is it permitted by the empire. CHAPTER III.

—And since the most reverend bishops, who judge justly, deemed Zooras also wholly worthy to be under anathema (since there is a small interposition of such evils), and in the things wherein he was dishonored, comprehending all, namely from a certain abundant memory; let Zooras too be a certain small interposition of this evil party (we mean of Anthimus and Severus and Peter), and let him too be numbered among the anathematized, the sacred sentence casting him down: which sentence, firm and existing of itself, the empire renders yet firmer; and it casts this man out of this royal city and its district, and altogether forbids him habitation in other cities;

so that he may dwell and take counsel only with those alone whom we have mentioned before: who blaspheme in like manner, suffer in like manner, and are sent into exile in like manner. And if anything else is contained in the sentence of the most holy bishops, which deposes and anathematizes the aforesaid men, this we render firmer and more lasting, and corroborate it by our imperial laws, as though it had proceeded from the empire itself. But if any of them be caught henceforth doing anything contrary to the statutes, let him know that he has fallen under the imperial laws, which cast those who evade lesser penalties into greater indignations.

Furthermore we forbid all who attempt to tear apart the catholic Church of God (whether according to the doctrine of the heretic Nestorius, or according to the tradition of the senseless Eutyches, or according to the blasphemy of Severus, who also understood things similar to theirs, or of those who follow them) to send sedition into the most holy churches, and to speak anything concerning the faith; but we ordain that any such man be quiet, and not convoke any to himself, nor receive those who approach, or dare to baptize wrongly, or to defile holy communion and deliver it to any, or to expound forbidden doctrines, whether in this our royal city or in another city; but to dread every peril, if he do any such thing.

We forbid all men also that they receive these men. We therefore ordain that they be cast out of the cities stirred up by them, knowing the penalties already contained in our divine constitutions, which assign to the most holy churches the very houses in which any such thing is done, and the fields from which nourishment is supplied, and take them away from their possessors, because the cause of detriment arises for the simpler folk; but justly subject these to the most holy and orthodox churches. These things we establish for the common peace of the most holy churches, these we decree, following the doctrines of the holy Fathers, that all priesthood may henceforth remain for us undisturbed. And when this is preserved in peace, the rest of the commonwealth will overflow for us, having peace from above:

which peace that great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, one of the Trinity, the only-begotten Son of God, proclaims and grants [variant: may He furnish and grant] to all those who have been deemed worthy sincerely and truly to glorify and adore Him. Therefore let Your Beatitude preserve the right things that have been noted down; and let it send them through your letters beloved of God to all the most holy metropolitans existing under it: the care of each of whom will be to make these things manifest to the most holy churches subject to him, so that what has seemed good to the priesthood and been confirmed by the empire may be hidden from no one of all.