Deeming it necessary that, if any delay should arise whereby the unity of the holy Churches is hindered, at that glorious coming of our Lord Jesus Christ from heaven, when He shall come to judge the living and the dead, before His tribunal, where there is no respect of persons, we may stand with this document to refute those who have neglected the unity of the holy Churches. HERE IT ENDS. TRANSLATED FROM THE GREEK AT ROME BY DIONYSIUS EXIGUUS. (103.) A COPY OF THE PROCEEDINGS CONCERNING THE ABSOLUTION OF MISENUS, IN THE CONSULSHIP OF FLAVIUS VIATOR, MOST DISTINGUISHED MAN, ON THE THIRD DAY BEFORE THE IDES OF MAY, IN THE BASILICA OF BLESSED PETER.
Paschasius, Laurentius, Calixtus, Iohannes, Valentinus, Sebastianus, Martinus, Epiphanius, Andreas, Servodei, Apellio, Petrus, Servandus, Romanus, Marcellinus, Domninus, Agapitus, Abundantius, Marcellinus, Litorius, Laurentius, Agatho, Sebastianus, Valentinus, Anastasius, Genesius, Dionysius, Epiphanius, Acontius, Paulinus, Agapitus, Adeodatus, Benedictus, Dominicus, Redemptus, Severus, Iulianus, Stephanus, Crescentio, Septiminus, Cyprianus, and Epiphanius, presbyters, together with Amandianus, an illustrious man, and Diogenianus, a man of high rank, there being present also the deacons—Gelasius, bishop of the Catholic Church of the city of Rome, said:
'Your charity remembers that at the previous assembly the petition offered to us by Misenus was recited in your sight; and this same petition, if it please your charity, is to be reviewed anew, that our acts may contain it. He professes that he has in hand yet another petition; so that by it we may be able to recognize what is also contained in this one.' And he added: 'Let the petition of Misenus be recited again.' Anastasius the deacon recited: 'Given by your servant Misenus on the eighth day before the Ides of March, in the consulship of Viator, most distinguished man. As for what pertains to the ruin of my wretchedness, I judge that my error, contracted by whatever reasoning, is not to be spared; since for this very reason I ought not to lack punishment, in that I have deserved to be brought to a penal cause by whatever lot.'
'But as regards a remedial aid, there are two things which constrain me to come and humbly implore this: lest I, out of despair, be worthy rather to be consigned to perpetual torments after the example of Judas the betrayer; and because so great is that ineffable clemency which through the apostolic power is able to absolve every crime. This alone, therefore, in my affair, venerable pope, do I, pitiable, pour forth as my cry: spare me who lie prostrate, stretch forth your hand to one fallen! I lean on no excuses of ignorance, I hold out no snares of circumvention, nor do I strive to transfer the peril of my calamity onto anyone, because I who beg to be mercifully absolved ought not to accuse others.'
'It suffices me that, although I bring nothing forward in my own defense, I nonetheless do not doubt that all these things are to be dealt with by your judgment. This only I ask: that, following the heavenly mercy which declares through the prophet, "I do not desire the death of the dying, but that he should turn back and live," you rather, weighing with kindly consideration all that has been done against my person, not deny provision for the journey to an old man consumed by continual sickness and wasting, lest I be snatched away without ecclesiastical office. Considering, from another man's case, the proof of my dread—one who could not obtain help even when you were willing to confer it upon him,'
'and this very thing has graciously shown that I, entangled in this disaster rather through inexperience, was able to survive and to arrive at the grace of ecclesiastical reception.' When this had been read, Gelasius the bishop said: 'Let the acts retain the petition,' and he added: 'Let Misenus himself now come forward, and let the petition which he offered be recited in his own presence.' And when he had entered, Misenus, prostrate on the ground, offered another petition and asked that it be received. And when it had been received, Gelasius the bishop said: 'Let both petitions which he has offered be read, he too being present.' Again Anastasius the deacon recited: 'Given by your servant Misenus on the eighth day before the Ides of March, in the consulship of Flavius Viator, most distinguished man.'
'As for what pertains to the ruin of my wretchedness, I judge that my error, contracted by whatever reasoning, is not to be spared; since for this very reason I ought not to lack punishment, in that I have deserved to be brought to a penal cause by whatever lot. But as regards a remedial aid, there are two things which constrain me to come and humbly implore this: lest I, out of despair, be worthy rather to be consigned to perpetual torments after the example of Judas the betrayer'—and the rest which are contained above. Likewise another petition: 'Given by your servant Misenus on the third day before the Ides of March, in the consulship of Flavius Viator, most distinguished man.'
'Since I now feel the hope of this already shining forth through the immense mercy of God by which it is governed, declaring my conscience more and more free and purged from the defilements of the faithless—into which I had fallen through being unhappily circumvented rather than out of zeal—I testify with my whole heart and mouth, under the gaze of the divine contemplation, that I with a willing mind reject indeed all heresies and whatever is hostile to the catholic and apostolic faith and to sincere communion, and then especially the Eutychian heresy, together namely with its author Eutyches and his follower Dioscorus, or his successors and communicants Timothy Aelurus, Peter of Alexandria, Acacius of Constantinople, Peter of Antioch, and all their accomplices and communicants—that I spurn, condemn, and anathematize them forever, and horribly execrate all these men and such as they; and I profess that I shall never at all in any way have any fellowship with such men, but shall be henceforth entirely alien from them all.'
'Although I never received their depravity by my own will, yet because, driven by the assault of my calamity, I seem to have fallen in through being less cautious, under the gaze of God and of blessed Peter the apostle and of his vicar and of the whole Church, by my confession and voice, as I have said, I condemn, detest, and abhor them, affirming that I shall abide forever in the catholic and apostolic faith and communion alone. To this my petition I have subscribed with my own hand on the third day before the Ides of March, in the consulship of Viator, most distinguished man, and I have entrusted it to be offered by my own hands to your beatitude in the assembly of the venerable ones.' And in another hand: 'I, Misenus, have subscribed to this my petition offered by me, on the day and in the consulship written above.' Gelasius the bishop said: 'Let what has been read be transcribed,' and he added:
'We desire to learn, by the participation of your counsel also, what seems to your fraternity ought to be decreed.' All the bishops and presbyters rose up, entreating and saying: 'Hear us, O Christ: life to Gelasius!'—said twenty times. 'What God has given you in your power, grant!'—said twelve times. 'Do this which lord Peter does!'—said ten times. 'We ask that you show indulgence.'—said nine times. When they had sat down again, Gelasius the bishop said: 'The Apostolic See indeed, which by the delegation of Christ the Lord holds the primacy of the whole Church, out of a general dispensation and care,'
'which it always dispenses with necessary circumspection whether for the catholic faith or for the paternal canons and rules of the elders, had some while ago, under my predecessor the prelate of holy memory, appointed Misenus and Vitalis—supported by a legation of its own authority—to the East against the followers of the Eutychian pestilence, and against those who had polluted themselves by communion with such men; and because they, declining the apostolic precepts, had in whatever way fallen back into the fellowship of those against whom they had been sent, it, when the matter was laid open by discussion in the synodal acts, deservedly and by right removed them alike from communion and honor.'
'Nevertheless, mindful of the heavenly mercy, it reserved for them a place of pity according to its own moderation; and while it laid down the condition of the penalty, it did not wish the hope of propitiation to be cut off, and so tempered its sentence that it preferred the pardon of these men to come about together with the salvation of those by whose participation they had been deceived, and that they should rather offer to those whom they had confirmed in their depravity by their consent both a salutary fear of correction and the fellowship of an amendment to be imitated. Finally, the very words of the animadversion were so weighed that those men might perceive themselves stricken along with these too, and might not despair that they could be saved on the same condition as they.'
'In this, at any rate, both to these men the way of returning is not wholly barred, and to those others, if they should prefer it, correction is offered through these men, and zeal held out, whereby they might with a better effort make amends for their past lapses, if they would rather convert the favor which they showed to the transgressors with easy will into the reformation of catholic priests. For it was said that these men would be suspended for so long, until, with God as author and by the striving of the catholic princes or of the Christian people, the Church of Alexandria should have received a catholic priest. It was believed, of course, a thing to be rejoiced at, that the Greeks could by no means refuse what they saw had been condemned by the Apostolic See, and that they could easily be moved by the punishment of these men, so that they might know'
'what they should avoid and what they should consequently seek after, and that they might be thought to wish, by coming to their senses, rather to hold with the orthodox than continually to err with the faithless; and it was long awaited that, incited by these reasons, they might lay aside their abominable defilements by holding the same opinion together with the Apostolic See—just as had been hoped concerning their will—striving rather to lend their zeal to the recalling of the catholic priests, so that both they themselves might return to orthodox unity, and might minister to these men, who had been partakers of their error, the effect of the reception appointed for them.'
'Nor was any occasion by which it could be done neglected, whereby they, being suitably admonished and sufficiently instructed, might alike recognize the perils to be avoided and perceive that the door of apostolic communion lay open to them, if with sincere minds they should seek it. But since it has come to this, that even to the medicinal exhortations—while they had nothing contrary to allege in reply—they have nonetheless up to now deferred to give their consent, we indeed owe to their difficulties the affection of a fatherly and pious grief, beseeching the omnipotence of our God, which alone can turn even wayward wills into the path of truth, that He may deign to pour into these same men, by the marvelous working of His propitiation, the spirit of repentance and the efficacy of correction.'
'Until these things, as we trust concerning His power, come to pass by divine appeasement, in the meantime let us by no means suffer this man, who supplicates and longingly entreats, to perish; so that, since the Easterners have not been terrified from persisting in error by his casting-down, he may at least be aroused by his healing that they may return to salvation—especially since the very tenor of the words accompanies the clemency of the Apostolic See's disposition, and the constitution set forth is not judged to be repugnant to itself. For it was indeed defined, as was already stated above, that those with whom we are concerned ought to be suspended for so long, until, with God as author and with the aforesaid men striving, the Church of Alexandria should receive a catholic priest.'
'It was not proposed abruptly and without exception, but was brought forth on this ratio, that the sentence should not seem to have been fixed indifferently, whether they strove for it or did not strive for it; and therefore, under whatever tenor the condition was weighed, that same thing not existing, it absolves the necessity of one's profession. For that which was pronounced ought to be done with the striving of the aforesaid, this same thing not succeeding, it is manifest that it cannot be done; but, since it is mentioned that it must be done also with their striving, it is shown sufficiently plainly that without this it cannot be fulfilled.'
'Although, therefore, those men, whose striving is proved to be lacking, are to be pitied for their obstinacy, yet because it is lacking—just as that which was presumed possible to be effected together with it cannot be effected without it—so, the causes ceasing through which this article would come to its term, it does not indissolubly retain the man bound. Wherefore, the sentence having been passed, the things not existing through which it could retain the measure assigned it up to its very end, it grants liberty to those who consult for these men who were formerly held by it.'
'And the Apostolic See indeed—as must often be repeated—judging that the Easterners could in no way fail to spurn what the Apostolic See had refuted, and that they could prefer no person's cause to their own salvation and to apostolic communion, had thought better than this of their minds. But—which again must not be passed over in silence—the lamentable ruin cannot rather accuse the opinion of the Apostolic See, as though improvident in thinking well of the Easterners, than rather charge it to its own obstinacy, in that it did not follow the path of its own reintegration offered to it; nor for that reason ought it, through its own obstinacy, to hinder the faculty for others who desire the medicinal remedy.'
'For then the things concerning the Greeks' consent were said confidently, because they seemed both to be able to prefer the fellowship of blessed Peter to any persons whatever, and those who had formerly been catholics were reckoned as likely to consent easily to the truth, and therefore not to be able to prefer any man's affection to the desires of apostolic communion. But since they have not yet taken up the wills through which that order was to run its course, that which was presumed possible to be done through them is seen to be dissolved, since, when those who should effect it are lacking, no effect can come about—nay rather, when these very men, through whom it was judged that it should be done, stand in the way lest it be effected.'
'If they are to remain in this obstinacy—which God forbid—the condition of that matter, which was confidently reckoned to be fulfilled by their efforts, is dissolved; but if, as we rather desire, they should be converted to better things, lest meanwhile, in this interval, he who begs for mercy be cut off either by age or by the disease with which he is frequently assailed, provision must be made for him while he yet survives, lest, when he is already dead, no remedy can be substituted. Since indeed it was not said, whether with them striving or perhaps even unwilling, but rather that what had been promulgated could stand with their striving, so therefore with them striving the things prefixed in no way endure. In this same tenor also blessed Paul'
the apostle is not to be believed—God forbid—to have deceived on this account, or to have proved contrary to himself, in that, when he had promised that he would go to Spain, being occupied by divine dispensation with greater matters, he could not for those causes fulfill what he had promised. For as far as pertained to his own will, he declared this which he had in very truth wished to accomplish; but as regards the secrets of the divine counsel, which as a man he could not fully recognize, though he was full of the Spirit of God, he passed them over, being forestalled by the heavenly dispensation. Nor because blessed Peter the apostle, out of the affection of divine reverence, answered the Lord Himself:
'You shall never wash my feet': he is not therefore to be thought—far be it—to have deceived, nor to have failed in the least to stand by his own opinion, because he soon gave way to that same divine will, so that what he had said he would not do, being constrained by the causes of human salvation, he sought with a ready will to have done.
Therefore, since that way by which the reconciliation of the guilty had been appointed does not succeed, it is permitted to attempt another, by which help may be given to those whom it has been decreed ought to be helped—especially since for Misenus a penalty for any transgression or any prevarication suffices, one that has been prolonged to the point that it is relaxed only by the final consideration of the human condition, and the punishment must be remitted which has no further degree to which it can grow; for since Almighty and merciful God has not willed that a remedy be denied to any soul that seeks it through the Church's mercy, there is no doubt that it proceeds from God Himself as author and from divine compunction, that his reception should then be dealt with, when a necessity not to be deferred compels that it be granted;
Moreover, since our Saviour delegated to the blessed apostle Peter above all others: 'Whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth shall be bound also in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth shall be loosed also in heaven'—just as by these words nothing is established to be excepted, so through the office of the apostolic dispensation the whole may generally be bound and the whole consequently loosed, especially since from this an example of apostolic mercy ought all the more to be offered to all, so that by the absolution of the condemned, if all repent and withdraw themselves from error and return to the sincere purity of apostolic communion, they may not doubt that they are to be stripped of the bonds of that condemnation which they had universally incurred by the desert of their prevarication.
For we who strive to heal those set afar off unto the whole faith ought not to reject those who now return as suppliants. Herein must we carefully take heed, lest by denying to one who begs for mercy to the very end we in any way—far be it—fall into harm of conscience, and lest the severity of censure, persisting without end even toward suppliants, should pass over into guilt. Accordingly, let us, as far as the Lord permits, offer to the one who desires them the remedies of human possibility, leaving to the divine judgment all that is beyond the measure of our power.
But they will not be able to reproach us for why we remit the offense of prevarication to the living—which is possible for the Church, God bestowing it—those who demand that we grant pardon even to the dead, which is plainly not possible for us. For since it was said, 'What thou shalt bind upon earth,' those therefore who are established to be no longer upon the earth He has reserved to His own judgment, not to human judgment; nor does the Church dare to claim for herself what she perceives was not granted even to the blessed apostles themselves, since the case of the surviving is one thing, that of the deceased another. Let Vitalis bear the lot of the divine judgment, one to whom, even though we greatly wished it, help could not be given:
Let at least the examples of the other, suddenly taken away, profit this man, while the opportunity of the living permits, in obtaining remedies. And since we know it is written, 'One shall be taken and one shall be left,' the peril of the one intercepted urges us not to defer to the survivor the aids of healing—one who by this very fact is shown by God to be received, since he outlives one who did not merit to attain to these things; and a certain examination of the heavenly judgment shines forth concerning both, and it is shown to us more evidently in the two, in whom was a case without pardon and in whom is one that ought not to lack indulgence. And therefore, that which he too, if surviving, Acacius might have obtained had he duly sought it (indeed of whom it was thus laid down that he would be unloosable, so that it might not be said:
even if perchance he should correct himself), so much the more is it of apostolic mercy not to deny to this man, who was infected by communion with him and who implores weeping. Misenus therefore, having duly professed that he detests all heresies, especially the Eutychian with Eutyches, Dioscorus, Timothy Aelurus and Peter of Alexandria, Acacius of Constantinople and Peter of Antioch, or all their successors, followers, and communicants, and that he strikes them with perpetual anathema, shall receive the grace of the apostolic and priestly communion of his dignity, which he received by catholic tradition. All the bishops and presbyters, rising in the synod, acclaimed, 'Hear, O Christ: life to Gelasius!'—said fifteen times.
'Lord Peter, do thou preserve him!'—said twelve times. 'His see, and long years to him!'—said seven times. 'We see thee as the vicar of Christ!'—said eleven times. 'We see thee as the apostle Peter!'—said six times. 'His see, and long years to him!'—said thirty-seven times. I, Sixtus, notary of the holy Roman Church, by command of my lord the most blessed Pope Gelasius, issued this from the archive on the third day before the Ides of May, in the consulship of Flavius Viator, vir clarissimus. (104.) To the most beloved brethren, all the bishops, presbyters, deacons, archimandrites, and to every order and people throughout Illyricum, Dardania, and both Dacias—Symmachus. Which we desire to be fully accomplished!
'If what we write be fulfilled, let no one be amazed that we, who have hitherto kept silence, now break it, since that voice of the most prudent Solomon resounds: a time to speak and a time to keep silence. For the present time overpowers reticence: for to be silent amid the things now happening, and not to be roused by the goads of faith, is manifestly a mark of great indifference. Indeed, where the reverence of religion and its highest concerns are shaken, it is fitting, according to divine Scripture, to say that those who are meek ought to become combative. For there is also a certain spiritual contest acceptable to God; and thence all things are laudably endured, lest anyone be separated from divine charity. And to teach you indeed what is fitting is a heavy burden of shame, yet it is necessary to admonish concerning what is profitable.
For it is not fitting to offer the teachings of religious discipline to those from whom the full perfection of that instruction itself is expected. But we shall briefly touch upon what is clear. To whom is it unknown with what contagion of Nestorius the Church of Constantinople labored—Nestorius, I say, who was cut off like a rotten member of the body from the fellowship of catholic communion? Where on earth is not proclaimed the holy assembly of the Council of Chalcedon, which condemned Eutyches and Dioscorus, two names notorious and of great perfidy, with the integrity of a single verdict—accomplices of iniquity, and belching forth with one spirit things contrary to the divine teachings?
Who has been ignorant of Peter and Timothy, the home-bred slaves of the aforesaid, champions of a condemned purpose, surpassing even their own authors and masters in perverse error? That Timothy we speak of as a parricide, who, while Proterius of holy memory yet survived, not only seized the church by irreligious sponsors, but also added the shedding of pious blood to the crime of usurpation. Indeed, the voice of the universal Church pronounced his condemnation, when it stripped him even of the name of Christian honor. And the many sufferings of the orthodox made Peter, his follower, notorious, in which he exulted to display the strength of his spirit.
Ephesus knew this man together with the whole company of Dioscorus, where, together with the author of his own sin, he became known for having wrought the end of holy Flavian. The evils of Antioch must be passed over in silence, where by the abominable mockeries of the other Peter the revered name of the priesthood was derided. Who could bewail with worthy lamentation the groans of Apamea and Tyre, to be compared with tragic crimes—or if he had leisure for these alone? What of Acacius?
He, as though weighed down by his own good deeds through a kind of bewitchment—the things he had sent forth beforehand while Basiliscus reigned—was caught by a new example of punishment, himself pronouncing sentence against himself, defending with changed will those whom he had first thought it glorious to condemn, and laboring to associate with the faithful those whom he had long since shown to be heretics of manifest prevarication: dissolving, for the sake of those most to be shunned and to be equated with the condemned company of those designated above, the very things by which he had been proved faithful, and mingling himself with those through which a general injury to the Church came about.
If reason persuades that the teachings of the Fathers ought to be kept against these men, consider whether they can be trodden underfoot by any greater transgression than now by those who in your regions revive the relapsed teachings of Eutyches. But if, as though sentences weakly established, they are neglected without peril, then the sum of our belief stands without any strength, with new men ever succeeding to dissolve the old decrees. For when the findings of the paternal rules are despised and the firmness of those things that have been well established is not vindicated, impiety of this kind must ever come upon the faith.
For where there is easy dissolution of what is reasonably established, there every form of holiness is corrupted, Christ is assailed, and (what faithful person could bear this patiently?) the revered institutions of the Fathers are trodden underfoot. And (who would not by a just choice prefer death to such a life?) where is the adorable reverence of the catholic faith? Where are the teachings established by the abundant blood of the saints? Where is the faithful authority of the ancient teachers? Where is that astounding patience of religious minds, content to be stripped of their own goods lest they should fall from the hope of eternal inheritance, courting any sufferings whatsoever lest they be judged unworthy of that incorruptible good?
For there are no greater proofs of faith than where the reckoning of the time persuades one to subject life to suffering; and therefore, whoever has been deemed worthy to undergo the peril of persecution for it shows himself worthy of the heavenly warfare. Christ purchased us at the holy price of His blood, the liberty of grace being granted, since human works find nothing worthy to render for so great a reward; and therefore, where there is injury to religion, the love of faith ought to transcend every affection. Let each one, then, regard exiles and pilgrimages as home and fatherland, lest, held back by human desires, he be deprived of the fellowship of Christ. Behold the time in which faith calls back her soldiers and summons to her defense those who have attained the fervor of grace!