But may God keep you. These same twelve judgments I have set before you, that fearing them you may withdraw from your most crafty novelty, knowing that we ought to follow the revelation of Proclus, the most holy bishop of the church of Constantinople: how, while he was gathered in the Campus together with all his people, that same city being shaken by an earthquake and lamentation being sent up by all, suddenly a boy was lifted into the air by a certain power, and to him it was granted to say the Trisagion in the litany and to say, 'Holy God, holy Mighty, holy Immortal, have mercy on us'; and he was commanded to announce these things to the bishop. And after three hours he stood in the tribunal at the feet of that same bishop and related these things; and when they thus made the litany, the earthquakes ceased.
So therefore do you also make the litany, and the wrath contrived to be brought forth against you will cease; but if not, deposition by the pope will come upon you, [who guards] the world from scandals, to whom be glory now and always and unto all ages of ages. Amen. HERE ENDS THE LETTER OF QUINTIANUS BISHOP OF ASCULUM TO PETER OF ANTIOCH. (73.) HERE BEGINS THE LETTER OF JUSTINUS THE BISHOP TO THE SAME PETER OF ANTIOCH ON THE SAME MATTER. A soldier must be armed against enemies, and an athlete against his adversaries. Our contest therefore is not carnal, nor upon the surface of the body with anointings; nor will anyone who stands aloof from this contest possess the rewards of the divine, if he neglects through weariness to lay hold of the contest of truth.
For an athlete is not crowned unless he has striven lawfully; and our weapons are not carnal, but mighty before God for the destruction of strongholds, casting down reasonings and every height that is lifted up against the knowledge of God. Whence, as a brother, in this admonition I rouse you, since it is good to obey the fathers and to renounce one's own novelty. Obey, most dear one, the exhortations of Felix. I rouse a brother by this reminder, that it is good to yield to the fathers and to renounce one's own innovation; be persuaded, O beloved Felix, in these matters, that you add not two sons in the Trisagion.
Obey also the Seraphim, who in like manner glorify the Trinity, and do not besides these languish in a most wicked novelty by devising fabrications: for by adding the cross to this hymn you have become blind to many. Why then do you dig out the eyes of the ignorant by exalting the assaults of the impious, arming Manichaeus and Valentinus and Eutyches, when you say that the divinity is passible—or rather Paul of Samosata and Nestorius, since you add a fourth to the Trinity? For in whatever way you turn this impious notion, in no way does it carry piety, but it displays the forms of many heresies. For Arius says that the Son is lesser, and Eutyches likewise, in that he brings passion upon the Son of the divine nature. Whence he does not call the Son consubstantial, like Eunomius.
For if with them the Father is impassible, but the Son passible in his deity, how is he consubstantial? Macedonius, moreover, cuts off the Holy Spirit from the Father; and equally Nestorius divides the one Son into a duality of sons, and delights, as you say, to name a fourth in the Trisagion, impiously adding the cross after the confession of the Trinity. Cease therefore from this most savage impiety; add not scandal to scandal, and you will not be the cause of the destruction of simple men, lest perhaps our pontiff Felix condemn you according to the canons; and it will profit you nothing to say, 'I added this well, since I confessed the Crucified in the voice of the Trisagion.'
Take away iniquity from the whole world, lest perchance it swiftly run about everywhere, since impiety is quickly received, but what is better is by no means received. And [why do you go on] arming Valentinus and Eutyches to assert that the divine is passible—or rather Paul of Samosata and Nestorius, because in the Trisagion you add a fourth? For, however you may be turned about, the impious notion has no piety but shows the forms of very many heresies. For Arius diminishes the Son, and Eutyches likewise, through applying the passion to the divine nature of the Son. Therefore he would not call the Son consubstantial, like Eunomius. For if with them the Father is impassible but the Son passible in his deity, how is he consubstantial?
But Macedonius cuts off the Holy Spirit from the Father, and Nestorius likewise splits the one Son into a duality of sons, and delights, as you said, to name a fourth in the Trisagion, impiously adding the cross after confessing the Trinity. Cease therefore from such impious prating of yours; add not scandal to scandal, and be not the cause of the destruction of the simpler men, lest our pontiff Felix pronounce against you according to the canons; and it will profit you nothing to say, 'I usefully appended this, so as to confess the Crucified in the Trisagion.'
Take away iniquity from the inhabited world, lest perchance it swiftly run about, since the impious [is quickly received]. Receive therefore, as it were, the admonition of your brother, and quench the roaring of the heretics, and be a shepherd of the sheep and not a wolf. Follow also the most blessed Proclus and his revelation in the Campus, when there were terrors, and simply chant the Trisagion, that the wrath may cease, and do not again raise up strong indignations. Otherwise you shall see; but my brotherhood will be innocent, both I and those with me who write to you concerning these things. Fortify yourself, most dear one, against scandals. You learned from Isaiah to say: Holy, holy, holy. Did he bid you to say 'the cross'? But you say, 'Then the Son was not yet crucified, and therefore then it was not handed down:
'who wast crucified.' What then? Have the Seraphim now added to the Trisagion 'who wast crucified,' as you say? And you say, 'I do not think so,' and yet you do not know. How then do you act impiously? For even then the prophet spoke of the passions of the flesh of the Word, and that the hymn was to be said by glorifying the Trisagion. Yet how do you say that you receive the Council of Chalcedon, and, in the way it itself handed down to you, do not glorify the Trinity, but are disobedient to it, nor did you fear it when it said, 'Whoever thinks not thus, let him be anathema'? Glorify wholly, and you shall be whole; otherwise you alone shall drain the evils. HERE ENDS THE LETTER OF JUSTINUS BISHOP OF THE PROVINCE OF SICILY TO PETER OF ANTIOCH.
[Receive] the admonition, and take away the arrogance of the heretics, and become a shepherd of the sheep and not a wolf; and become a follower of the blessed Proclus and of his revelation in the Campus, when there were terrors, simply to chant the Trisagion for the ceasing of wrath, and not to raise up further strong anger. But if not, you shall see; and my brotherhood will be innocent, both I and those with me who write to you concerning these things. Guard yourself, beloved, against scandals. You learned from Isaiah to say, 'Holy, holy, holy.' Did he bid you say 'the cross'? But you say, 'Then the Son was not crucified, and therefore it was not handed down, O thou who wast crucified.' What then?
Have the Seraphim now added the cross to the Trisagion, as you say? And you say—even though you do not know—how are you not impious? For even then the prophet spoke of the sufferings of the flesh of the Word, and reverently hymns the Trisagion. But how do you say that you have received the synod at Chalcedon, and, as it hands down, you do not glorify the Trisagion but disobey it, and did not fear it when it said, 'Whoever thinks not thus, let him be anathema'? Glorify soundly, and you shall be sound; but if not, you alone shall draw up the evils. (74.) HERE BEGINS THE LETTER OF ANTONINUS BISHOP OF ARSENOE TO THE SAME PETER OF ANTIOCH.
They are greatly saddened over you, most dear brother, since through you a great scandal has grown, whereas you ought rather to have cut off scandals. And indeed on this account I wish to hold back my tears, and I am hindered by your heresy, so maliciously brought forth, since by you the Gospels have been wounded, and the Acts of the Apostles too, and the Apostle: since beyond them you have seemed deceitfully to contrive, that Christ crucified should not be confessed absolutely for our sake, but that the cross should be fitted into the Trisagion, as your earlier letters to Acacius, pastor of the church of Constantinople, intimate, in which it is written—that, because you have fallen into impiety, you frequently turn about the opinion put forth by you, if in some way you might affirm it to all as permanent and solid;
but while you were blamed for it by the metropolitans, you did not come to the examination of satisfaction, nor did you take care to be one who glorifies well. But you are refuted on every side. For neither do we say that the divinity is passible, as you say, nor do we say that the bare Word was crucified, but Christ Jesus. For where the cross is spoken of, there must necessarily be a lifting up of the body; but in the Trisagion, what does the manifestation of the body require, so that you may confirm it to all? For neither do we say that the divine is passible, as you say, nor do we say that the bare Word was crucified, but Christ Jesus. But in the Trisagion, where is there a showing forth of the body, that the appellation of the cross may have a place? For you say, 'Holy God':
And who does not know that the first Father is, according to the order of the customary glorification, before all—though not by the excellence of divine dignity? Then you say 'Holy Mighty': and who does not know, according to the prophet Isaiah, that a child is born to us, Christ Jesus, whose government was made upon his shoulders, and who is called, and is, the Angel of great counsel, God, Mighty? For although he was crucified out of weakness, yet, taking up our weak body, he suffered this; but being God the Mighty, confidently he handed over his own body to the cross, whence also he was saying: 'the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.' For from this the prophet himself says, 'He took up our weaknesses.'
But all confess Christ to be both God and man; you, however, saying only the mightiness of Christ's divinity, and passing through this too, have come to the Holy Spirit and confessed him, as truly he is, immortal. Whom then do you afterward bring in as crucified for us? Do you say Christ? Then you are manifestly thinking a quaternity, naming another Christ besides the mighty God. But do you say that the Holy Spirit was crucified? And what could be more impious than this? Do you assert that the dispensation of the passion is a phantasm? Then, according to the impious Manichaeans, our salvation is a phantasm. Do you see how on every side you are cast headlong? And are you ignorant, or, even knowing, do you willingly do evil?
Behold therefore, being admonished, turn back from your want of discipline, and follow, as you received from the prophet, to glorify the Trisagion, that is, thrice-holy. The Father is first, according to the order of the glorification customary to all, even if not by an excellence of divine dignity. Then you say 'Holy Mighty': and who does not know, according to the prophet Isaiah, that the child born to us is Christ Jesus, whose government came upon his shoulder, and who is called, and is, the Angel of great counsel, God, Mighty?
For if he was crucified out of weakness, yet, taking up our weak body, he suffered this; but being God the Mighty, he willingly gave over his own [body] to the cross, so that the prophet, so to speak, says: 'He himself took up our weaknesses.' But Christ is confessed by all to be both God and man; you, however, having said only the mightiness of Christ's divinity, and having run past this too, have come to the Holy Spirit and confessed him, as truly he is, immortal. Whom then do you afterward bring in as crucified for us? Christ, you say; therefore you have manifestly become one who thinks a quaternity, naming as the Christ another besides the mighty God.
But do you say that the Holy Spirit was crucified? And what could be more impious than this? But you say that the dispensation of the passion is a phantasm; therefore, according to the impious Manichaeans, our salvation too is a phantasm. Do you see how from the very beginning you are hurled over the precipice? And are you ignorant, or, even knowing, do you willingly do evil? Behold now, being reminded, be ashamed concerning your lack of instruction, and yield, as you received from the prophet, to glorify the Trisagion; for it is named incorporeally—for when it is named incorporeally, with no riddle of the incarnation of the Only-begotten set forth, it ought to be glorified purely, no addition of the cross being brought in; for in whatever way anyone may contrive, he is cast headlong from the right faith.
For since you have received Christ crucified for us, the Son of God, according to the blessed Paul who says, 'But we preach Christ Jesus, and him crucified,' do not deny his name and his passion. But if you do, then that same one, going before, says: 'If anyone shall preach to you beyond what you received, let him be anathema.' For, he says, 'I judged not myself to know anything among you except Christ Jesus, and him crucified.' But if you deny this Crucified, and in the Trisagion join the passion, how will you not be subject to the anathema? It is Paul who anathematizes, the vessel of election. Set forth Christ, and do not deny the cross, nor say the one instead of the other; for many were crucified, but one for us.
Bear therefore his name upon the cross, lest you be believed to say that another was crucified; for you know the many snares of the deceitful one. Therefore also the three hundred and eighteen and the one hundred and fifty-one handed down the one Lord Jesus Christ crucified, and not the Trisagion; but those who judge themselves to be more learned in the law than these fathers, how do they not rather show themselves to be strangers to them? Whence the blessed congregation of the Chalcedonians, following these, confessed one Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. But when they came from another quarter, of necessity to expound the divinity of the Trinity, they said, 'Holy God, holy Mighty, holy Immortal, have mercy on us.' Do you attach passion to the Trisagion? How then will you not undergo the anathematism?
It is Paul who anathematizes, the vessel of election. Set forth Christ, and do not deny the cross; not one instead of another; for very many are those who were crucified, but one for us. Bear therefore upon the cross his name, lest you be suspected of saying that another was crucified; for you know that many are the ambushes of the deceitful one. Therefore also the three hundred and eighteen and the one hundred and fifty-one hand down one Lord Jesus Christ crucified, and not the Trisagion; but those who judge themselves to be more learned in the law than these fathers, how do they not show themselves to be strangers to them? Did they add in the Trinity, 'who wast crucified for us'? If therefore neither they nor those before them added it, how do you introduce a novelty of impiety?
For he who says that he receives these councils, and yet does not think as it says, what does it profit him? Nothing: for they themselves have spoken. But as for those who presume to compose another faith—if indeed they be bishops or clerics, [the decree is] that the bishops be estranged from the episcopate and the clerics from the clergy; but if they be monks or laymen, that they be anathematized. HERE ENDS THE LETTER OF ANTONINUS THE BISHOP TO PETER OF ANTIOCH. (75.) HERE BEGINS THE LETTER OF FAUSTUS BISHOP OF APOLLONIAS TO THE SAME PETER.
Since it is permitted that the earlier be roused by the later, to whom the mystery of Christ is revealed, but that those keep the silence of evil doctrine, being the worst of dogmatists—and since I have heard from many fellow bishops, O most dear one, that you have strayed from the right faith, and this has resounded discordantly everywhere—therefore I judged it necessary to inquire of you whether these things are so. For it seemed good to me to show that you ought not so to think, that the cross should be joined to the Trisagion, and the divinity subjected to passion and death, but that you should glorify purely, as the Seraphim do. For how will the nations be Christian, if the name of the Savior is not brought upon Christ? And how will they themselves exist as faithful Christians, not applying the name of Christ to the cross?
For the unbelievers, hearing that the immortal God was crucified for us, will say it is a scandal to believe in Christ, turning themselves away and saying: 'Our gods, who among the Christians are counted false, are yet proclaimed by us as immortal. And how did their God, being immortal, die? It is plain, therefore, that this saying is false; for if he died, he is no longer immortal nor mighty, but weak, turned aside from immortality.' And not only these, but even the religious and those who are of one faith with us will say: 'These are deipassians and not Christians, Manichaeans and not right-preachers, worshippers of a quaternity and not of a trinity, Eutychianists and not orthodox, Nestorians and not lovers of Christ.'
But if anyone hears that he who was suspended on the cross is Christ Jesus—who, mercifully anointed in our mortal flesh, is rightly called Christ (whence also they crucified him, whom we hope to be the one who is to redeem Israel)—then, falling on his face, he will say: 'I too am a Christian; I believe in him in whom these also believed,' and the passions and death of his body will be believed. For on this account the right faith of the six hundred and thirty fathers of Chalcedon was assailed with very many revilings of the unbelievers, because they said there are two natures in Christ: one passible, mortal, visible, and palpable, which is our flesh; and one impassible, immortal, invisible, and impalpable, which is the inviolable nature of God.
Both, therefore, we ought to confess in Christ; to their unity give no distance, nor divide God from the flesh, and you will not be found to be a Nestorian; nor deny the difference of the natures of Christ, and you will not give occasion for suspicion of being a Eutychian; nor confound God with the passions of the flesh. But also the God-fearing and those of one faith with us will say: 'These are theopaschites and not Christians, Manichaeans and not orthodox, quaternitarians and not trinitarians, Eutychianists and not orthodox, Nestorians and not lovers of Christ.' But if anyone hears that he who was hung upon the cross is Christ Jesus—who, having been anointed in our mortal flesh out of love for mankind, [is] Christ—
he is fittingly called [Christ] (for they also crucified him whom we hope to be the one about to redeem Israel); then, falling on his face, he will say, 'I too am a Christian; I believe in him in whom these also believed,' and the sufferings and the death of his body will also be believed. For on this account the orthodox faith of the six hundred and thirty fathers at Chalcedon was assailed with very many revilings by the unbelievers, because they said there are two natures in Christ: one passible, mortal, visible, and tangible, which is our flesh; and one impassible, immortal, invisible, and intangible, which is the undefiled nature of God.
Both, therefore, we ought to confess in Christ; to their union give no separation, nor cut off God from the flesh, and you will not be detected as a Nestorian; nor deny the difference of the natures of Christ, and you will not be suspected of being a Eutychianist; and do not confound God with the passions of the flesh, and you will not be called an Apollinarist; nor say that the impassible and immortal God was changed, and you will not be despised as a Manichaean; nor in the Trisagion, after God the Father and his mighty Son and the immortal Spirit, add Christ crucified, and you will not hold the heresy of the Samosatene, nor be convicted of thinking a quaternity and not a trinity; nor fashion a trinity in Christ by thinking the same one to be Father and Son and Spirit, and you will not sustain the condemnation of Sabellius; nor, wishing to be called a teacher and not a follower of Christ's doctrine, introduce a heresy by novelty, and you will not pollute your own soul, since you know that the apostles were not teachers of novelty, but sought out only the one teacher and lawgiver, Christ.
See, most dear one, that you do not bring to its end what is rumored about you, nor think to invoke the same one twice in the Trisagion, but once the Father and [once] the Holy Spirit; and you will not be an Arian by glorifying the Son the more abundantly in like manner. Do not become a laughingstock with those who say that God suffered, or who think a quaternity; but if you have been caught in some loftiness of these words or in [their supposed] wisdom, quickly turn away from evil and do good, that, as we pray, you may rightly preach the word of truth, confessing Christ to have suffered in the flesh for us, the Son of the living God, and confess it absolutely thus, lest you be tripped up by heresies; for many seducers have gone out into the world who do not confess Christ Jesus to have come in the flesh.
HERE ENDS THE LETTER OF FAUSTUS BISHOP OF APOLLONIAS TO PETER OF ANTIOCH. [confessing the Father] and the Holy Spirit, and you will not undergo the punishment of Sabellius; nor, wishing to be called a teacher and not a follower of Christ's teaching, will you innovate a heresy of vainglory, and you will not defile your own soul, since you know that the apostles were not teachers set over innovations, but tracked out the one teacher and lawgiver, Christ. See, beloved, that you not bring to its end what is being rumored concerning you * * * lest you become a laughingstock as a theopaschite or a quaternitarian; but if you have laid hold of these words—
—of understanding in boldness, quickly turn away from evil and do good, that, as we pray, you may rightly preach the word of truth, confessing Christ as having suffered in the flesh for us, the Son of the living God, and once for all so to confess, that you be not tripped up by the heresies; for many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Christ Jesus to have come in the flesh. (76.) HERE BEGINS THE LETTER OF PAMPHILUS BISHOP OF ABYDOS TO THE SAME PETER OF ANTIOCH. Much contrition, O most beloved of my sons, stirs me to cry out lamentation. For you know that in whatever house someone dies, there also mourning is engendered. How therefore shall I not grieve over the death of my sons, poured out into error by your vessels?
Whom you ought, as another brother, to have striven together with me to gather to God; but you have done the opposite, O beloved of God: for you have become their perdition and not their life, bitterness and not sweetness, harshness and not ripe food, tares and not wheat, stubble and not gold, thorn and not flower, tumult and not tranquility. For why do you not attend to the symbols of our predecessors, that you add not a quaternity to the Trinity, when you say the Trisagion under an augmentation of the cross? For you wrote, saying: 'In no way will I remove this designation of the cross; for I know God to have been crucified, and I always bring his invocation onto the cross.'
For this is the voice of dragons and of venomous heresies, and the gate of hell, and the eternal doorkeeper of death, the snare of Christians, the hunting of the innocent, the blemish of the orthodox, the ruin of the faithful, the depravity of the chaste, the scandal of ascetics. By these you suppose yourself to be sweet, with the exposition brought forth by you that hurls beyond the apostolic boundary and the Gospels and the symbol of the three hundred and eighteen—who knew no addition in the Trisagion—that is, this intelligible poison. Tell me therefore: who said that the divinity endured the cross? Why [do you strip] God the Word— [being a destroyer] and not life, bitterness and not sweetness, an unripe and not a ripe cluster, straw and not gold, thorn and not flower, a downpour and not calm.
For why, attending to the symbols of our presidents and bishops, did you yield to add a quaternity to the Trinity, in your saying the Trisagion with an addition of the cross? * * * For this is the dragon-like voice of venomous heresies, and the gate of hell, and the eternal doorkeeper of death, the snare of Christians, the hunting of the innocent, the blemish of the orthodox, the downfall of the faithful, the crookedness of the chaste, the scandal of ascetics; by which you have been suspected to be sweet, with the exposition uttered by you which hurls beyond the apostolic boundary and the Gospels and the symbol of the three hundred and eighteen—who knew not the addition in the Trisagion—the intelligible poison. Tell me therefore: who said that the divinity underwent the cross? Why do you strip God the Word of his robe?
Why by your own power do you divide the undivided? Why do you wound the truth? Why, by the division of Nestorius and Eutyches, do you subject yourself to the dominion of Christ, and from the Samosatene have you learned to wrench the divine essence of Christ away from the flesh, and wickedly, with Valentinus, have you vomited forth, speaking in like manner of the immortal one as crucified, and setting the divine nature as subject to passions? What shall I keep silent, or what shall I speak? Shall I not call you a Paulianist, since in your writings you have said, after the voice of the Trinity, 'Christ crucified for us'? Shall I not call you a Manichaean, since you convict your very self by saying that God—and not Christ—was crucified? Shall I not name you a Nestorian, when you have shown that after the Father he ought not to be confessed—he to whom the faithful say a hymn—the mighty Son of God, crucified in the flesh?
Shall I not denounce you as a Eutychianist, since you have taught yourself to be a preacher of a God who suffered? Shall I not call you an Apollinarist, since in your own invention you have confounded God with the sufferings of the flesh? And so, worn out with great sorrow, I add these words to you together with Acacius, who invited me to establish these things (him indeed the Roman pontiff invited, but Christ, the bishop of all men, invited all): Why do you lay waste the Church? Why do you scatter the sheepfolds of Christ? If I speak amiss, do you tell me; for I ask you, since you surpass me and very many others in the most correct doctrine. What then shall we say? As Paul preached Christ crucified, or as you preach the Immortal crucified? As the Lord taught, that Christ had to suffer these things, or as you, who say that the Trisagion is passible? What do we say?