Sermons & Letters 107

When I had come into the city of Rome to appease the Divinity, on the following day I went in procession to the basilica of the apostle Peter, and there, after the venerable night of the Apostle's day, I was asked both by the Roman bishop and by others gathered with him from various provinces to write to your mildness concerning the faith, which, since it is the preserver of the souls of all the faithful, is said to be disturbed: which faith, handed down to us from our forefathers, we ought to defend with all fitting devotion, and to preserve, in our own times as well, undefiled the dignity of the proper veneration due to the blessed apostle Peter:

so that the most blessed bishop of the city of Rome, upon whom antiquity conferred the primacy of the priesthood over all others, may have place and authority to judge concerning the faith and concerning priests, most sacred lord and father, and venerable emperor. For by this grace, according to the solemn custom of councils, the bishop of Constantinople too has appealed to him by written petitions, on account of the contention which has arisen concerning the faith.

To him, therefore, thus petitioning and adjuring our common welfare, I did not refuse to assent, so that I might convey my petition to your mildness, namely that the aforesaid priest, when the remaining priests too from all the world have been gathered within Italy, all prejudice being removed, examining from the beginning the whole cause that is in dispute with careful proof, may pronounce the sentence which the faith and reason of the true Divinity demand. For in our times the petulance of mobs ought not to prevail against religion, so long as the faith has hitherto been preserved unshaken. And for the fuller acknowledgment of your Divinity, we have also directed the acts, through which your piety may recognize the desires and acclamations of all.