Sermons & Letters 115

CHAPTER I. — By all the letters of your piety, amid those anxieties which we endure for the faith, you have afforded us the greatest hope of security, by commending the Nicene Council—so much so that, as you often now write, you would not suffer the Lord's priests to deviate from it. But lest I should seem to have done anything to the prejudice of the catholic defense, concerning the ordination of him who has begun to preside over the Church of Constantinople, I have thought fit meanwhile to write back nothing rashly one way or the other, not denying charity, but awaiting the manifestation of catholic truth. This, I beseech, let your clemency bear with equanimity:

so that, when he has shown himself toward the catholic faith to be such as we desire, we may rejoice over his sincerity both more copiously and more securely. But that no sinister suspicion concerning our disposition may gnaw at him, I remove the occasion of all difficulty, and I demand nothing that might seem either arduous or doubtful; but I invite him to that which no catholic would reject. For they are known throughout the whole world and are manifest, who before us, whether in the Greek or the Latin tongue, shone in the preaching of catholic truth; to whose knowledge and doctrine certain men even of our own age attain, from whose writings an ample and manifold instruction is set forth.

And as this instruction destroyed the Nestorian heresy, so also it has cut off this error which now sprouts up again. Let him therefore carefully read over what faith concerning the Lord's incarnation was guarded by the holy Fathers, and always likewise preached; and let him perceive that the letter of Cyril of Alexandria, bishop of holy memory (by which he wished to correct and heal Nestorius, refuting his depraved preachings, and more evidently expounding the faith of the Nicene definition, which letter, sent by him, the archives of the apostolic see received), is consonant with the meaning of those who went before;

let him also review the acts of the Ephesine synod, in which, against the impiety of Nestorius, the testimonies of the catholic priests concerning the Lord's incarnation were inserted and cited by Cyril of holy memory. Let him not disdain to review also my own letter, which he will find to agree in all things with the piety of the Fathers. And when he has recognized that this, which will profit him, is sought and desired of him, let him consent with his whole heart to the judgments of the catholics: so that he may declare a sincere profession of the common faith, with a most complete subscription, before all the clergy and the whole people, to be made known to the apostolic see and to all the Lord's priests and Churches:

so that, the world being pacified through one faith, we may all be able to say what the angels sang when the Savior was born of the Virgin Mary: 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will' (Luke 2:14). CHAPTER

II. — But since both we and our blessed Fathers, whose doctrine we venerate and follow, are in the concord of one faith, as the prelates of all the provinces attest, let the most devoted faith of your clemency take action, that as soon as possible there may reach us from the bishop of Constantinople the writings, such as they ought to be, of a proven and catholic priest, plainly and lucidly attesting that, if anyone should believe or assert concerning the incarnation of the Word of God anything other than what the profession of all catholics and my own attests, he separates such a one from his communion, so that we may deservedly be able to bestow upon him fraternal charity in Christ. And that, with the Lord's help, a swifter and fuller effect may be granted to these salutary cares through the faith of your clemency, I have directed to your piety my brethren and fellow-bishops, Abundius and Asterius, and also Basil and Senator, presbyters, whose devotion has been proven to me; through whom you may deign to recognize, by the instructions we have set forth, what the form of our faith is:

so that, if the bishop of Constantinople consents with his whole heart to this same confession, we may rejoice, as is fitting, secure in ecclesiastical peace, and nothing ambiguous may seem to remain, from which perhaps we might labor under superfluous suspicions. But if any dissent from the purity of our faith and from the authority of the Fathers, let your clemency grant that a universal council be held within Italy—as the synod which had convened at Rome for this cause seeks together with me—so that, all coming together into one, those who have fallen either through ignorance or through terror may be provided for by the remedies of correction, and no one may henceforth be free so to make mention of the Nicene synod as to be found contrary to its faith:

since it will profit both the universal Church and your empire, if one God, one faith, and one sacrament of human salvation be held by the one accord of the whole world. Given on the seventeenth day before the Kalends of August, in the consulship of Valentinian for the seventh time and of Avienus, most illustrious. I rejoice at the faith of your clemency, in that you graciously bestow religious zeal that ecclesiastical peace may be renewed, which seems to have been disturbed by the dissensions of certain men. For this is owed especially to your glory, that, all the scandals being removed which the enemy had stirred up against the catholic faith, there may be throughout the whole world one and the same confession of the truth, which will be the more easily and surely restored if no seeds, no traces of perverse notions be left behind.

Yet what pertains to my part I ought not to pass over, namely, that I may learn what is held by the bishop of Constantinople concerning the incarnation of the Son of God, especially since harsh things preceded his ordination, and he ought to have directed to us such writings as would evidently show him a stranger to the contagion of this error which has lately emerged. Desiring therefore to have a secure concord with him, and to bestow upon him the grace of fraternal charity, I have meanwhile deferred writing to him;

not denying charity, but awaiting the manifestation of catholic truth. For what I ask is simple and absolute: that, the labor of long disputations being removed, he acquiesce in the letter of Cyril of Alexandria, bishop of holy memory, which he himself had sent to Nestorius; in which he both refuted the error of Nestorius and set forth the faith of the Nicene definition; or that he consent to my own letter, which was directed to Flavian, bishop of holy remembrance. Having vigilantly examined these, let the bishop of Constantinople acknowledge without delay that what unskilled folly dared to define against the pure and singular faith must be repudiated by him:

since concerning the Lord's incarnation my confession and that of the holy Fathers is in all things concordant and one. And if anyone shall think this ought not to be followed, he himself cuts himself off from the framework of catholic unity; while we nevertheless desire that all things be recalled to their integrity. But that the effect of these salutary dispositions may be more swiftly obtained, I have sent my brethren and fellow-bishops Abundius and Asterius, and also Basil and Senator, presbyters, most approved men, who would offer to your clemency the form of the faith which we preach according to the doctrine of the venerable Fathers, and who, all circumlocutions being removed by which the truth is wont to be obscured, would show what had been defended by the approved priests of the whole world concerning the incarnation of the Son of God:

whom, after the divine grace, it is fitting that they be aided by the holy help of your piety, lest an imprudent design proceed to the disturbance of the whole Church: since, with correction applied, all ought to return to the concord of one confession. And if perchance any dissent from it, let your clemency, lending your effort, command that a universal council of priests be held within Italy; so that, the art of deceiving being removed, it may at length be made plain what ought either to be restrained or to be healed by deeper treatment. Given on the seventeenth day before the Kalends of August, in the consulship of Valentinian Augustus for the seventh time and of Avienus, most illustrious.