For after the death of the archbishop and patriarch John of the city of Constantinople, of holy memory, God, who founded His own holy church incorrupt upon the rock of the right faith and decreed that the gates of hell should not prevail against it, gave us a holy shepherd and patriarch, Epiphanius, flourishing in virtues and in disciplines and in the meditation of the divine scriptures, holding also the right faith and exercising a paternal solicitude over the bereaved, and—what more shall I say?—surpassing every fountain of praises.
Excelling therefore in these virtues, he is known, not undeservedly, to have wisely and honourably conducted the greatest cares of the church, his own and those entrusted to him, holding in mind that which was uttered by the author of the sacred canticle: My mouth shall speak wisdom, and the meditation of my heart understanding. Whence, according to the right and approvable judgment of our most faithful and most Christian prince and most pious queen and of the most glorious nobles of the common commonwealth, and by our testimony also and indeed that of all who dwell in this city, the judgment of the wondrous Paul, the common teacher of the church, was not defrauded in him—Paul who declares that a bishop ought to be blameless: so we too see that our pontiff is crowned on every side with virtues.
Therefore, fulfilling the ecclesiastical law and rendering to your apostolate the due office of greeting, we hope that your charity may deign to guard yet more fully the bond of charity and paternal affection toward us, and that you may accomplish these things with wise governance and with the humility that befits a Christian and with the meekness that pertains to the salvation of the reasonable flock delivered to you, reckoning it a common gain that through you and your brother and fellow-minister—but our lord and patriarch—the peace of the churches of the whole world has been provided. For it is to be received from the divine scriptures that a brother helped by a brother is like impregnable walls and a fortified city.
For if indeed, through the intercessions of your blessedness, a general tranquility should be restored to the churches of the orthodox, then glory shall be rendered with joy through the angels in the highest to God the Saviour of all, peace shall be confirmed on earth, and good will shall be established among the faithful, the servants of the common Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ our God.
To our supplications, therefore, John, most holy bishop of the city of Claudiopolis, our fellow-minister, and Heraclianus, most reverend presbyter of the holy greater church and house-companion of the aforesaid most holy archbishop and patriarch Epiphanius, and Constantine, most reverend man, deacon of the same holy church, will add what has been said too little; men who are known to have given proof of their right faith and good will formerly to those who had been directed from your apostolic see, and who will be shown worthy both of your holiness and of the ministry of peace and of the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ our God and of the union of the holy churches.
Whom we hope you may deign to send back to us more quickly, rejoicing in the Lord and announcing the longed-for peace, instructed by your God-beloved corrections. All the brotherhood in Christ, we too and those who are with us most heartily greet. AND THE SUBSCRIPTIONS: Theophilus, by the mercy of God bishop and metropolitan of the city of Heraclea, subscribing among the synodical acts, greet you in the Lord, my lord. Basiliscus, by the mercy of God bishop and metropolitan of the city of Cyzicus, as above. Stephanus, by the mercy of God bishop and metropolitan of the city of Nicomedia, as above. Isaias, by the mercy of God bishop and metropolitan of the city of Rhodes, as above.
Anastasius, by the mercy of God bishop and metropolitan of the city of Nicaea, as above. John, by the mercy of God bishop of the city of Claudiopolis in the province of Isauria, as above. Paternus, by the mercy of God bishop of the city of Tomi in the province of Scythia, metropolitan, as above. Marcianus, by the mercy of God bishop and metropolitan of the city of Chalcedon, as above. Polydeuces, by the mercy of God bishop and metropolitan of the city of Antioch, as above. Patricius, by the mercy of God bishop and metropolitan of the city of Eudoxiopolis, as above. Eulogius, by the mercy of God bishop and metropolitan of the city of Miletus, as above.
Stephanus, by the mercy of God bishop of the city of Philomelium in the province of Pisidia, as above. Christodulus, by the mercy of God bishop of the city of Methymna, as above. Palmatius, least of bishops of the city of Oenoanda in the province of Lycia, as above. John, by the mercy of God bishop of the city of Attalia, as above. John, by the mercy of God bishop of the city of Olympus, in the province of Lycia, as above. Marcianus, least of bishops of the city of Marciana in the province of Lycia, as above. Phocas, least of bishops of the city of Dardanus in the province of the Hellespont, as above. Zoticus, by the mercy of God bishop of the city of Carpathus in the province of the Islands, as above.
Sabbatius, by the mercy of God bishop of the city of Stratonicea in the province of Lydia, as above. (235.) COPY OF THE LETTER OF JUSTINIAN. To the lord, most blessed man and holy father Hormisdas, pontiff of the city of Rome, Justinian. How great a veneration for religion we hold, and how solicitous we have always been for the uniting of the holy churches, your blessedness too is witness. For after our illustrious lord the emperor came to reign, we directed letters through all who came to Italy, entreating your apostolate as was fitting.
Now also, lest anything of the things which it is fitting to be done should be passed over, John, most reverend prelate, Heraclianus the presbyter, and Constantine the deacon of the most sacred church of this illustrious city, have been dispatched happily to the city, that they may receive a full answer concerning all the matters which your son the most serene emperor has written. May your holiness therefore deign to receive the aforesaid most religious men gladly, and, having offered prayers and God being appeased, so ought you to order all things venerably, that nothing further may remain in doubt.
For it seems to us that, since the Son of the living God, our Lord Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary—whom the chief of the apostles proclaims to have suffered in the flesh—is rightly said to be one in the Trinity, reigning with the Father and the Holy Spirit; and we believe not unfaithfully that the person of His majesty is in the Trinity and of the Trinity. But concerning the names of the deceased bishops, dispose the matter clemently and as befits a peaceable father; since your predecessor also, of blessed memory, wrote to Anastasius of imperial memory that, if only the name of Acacius were removed, there would be one communion for us. It is therefore not a grievous thing that your see urged, that it should be granted.
For you ought to imitate the most holy Leo, pontiff of Rome, and, just as he wrote to Leo, so should you too, with all doubts cut away, write back perfect and peaceable pages to the most invincible prince your son ... of the church, that before the tribunal of the coming Judge you may be partakers of those whose see you hold by priestly right. Let your apostolate therefore show that it has deservedly succeeded the apostle Peter, since the Lord will exact from you, as from the chief shepherds, the salvation of all who shall be able to be saved once concord is established.
For we, once the chapters concerning which you have received our writings are settled, will no longer suffer any controversy of religion to be stirred up by anyone in our commonwealth, nor does it befit your holiness to listen to those who contend about superfluous things. (236.) HORMISDAS TO THE EMPEROR JUSTIN.
Among those things pertaining to the unity of the church—on account of which God chose the empire for your clemency—which you have set down in your letters, this too, venerable emperor, the care of the faith, to which you declare yourselves to be devoted in manifold ways, has added: that the prayers of certain persons should be joined to be brought to the knowledge of my humility, by which I might either recognize what question was arising, or, for removing the ambiguity of the consultation proposed, might render an answer befitting religious knowledge.
I read everything with the solicitude that was fitting, and although it might have sufficed for the fullness of a reply if I were to write back only those things which were defined by the ancients, yet, that I might requite the affection of your religious purpose, I judged that the compliance of my own discourse should not be withheld. For what is there that paternal instruction has omitted concerning the emerging poisons of Nestorius and Eutyches? The synodical decrees pressed together into one almost all impieties, agreeing with the inventors of such abominable dogmas, nor did any place further remain, those most dire seeds of perfidy being cut away, either to believe Christ our Lord to have been without the truth of the flesh, or that the same did not come forth both God and man from the undefiled fecundity of a maternal womb:
since the one of them, by denying the dispensation by which we were saved, would, so far as in him lies, make it void, while the other, by an opinion contrary but by an impiety alike, would exclude the divine power from the true humanity in the same our Lord Jesus Christ; the one not remembering that Christ showed His flesh to be handled, the other not mindful of the Gospel which says the Word was made flesh—for whom the voice of the Lord ought to have sounded unceasingly, whereby He said and taught: No one has ascended into heaven except Him who descended from heaven, the Son of man, who is in heaven. Often these things have been comprised also in the sentences of many predecessors;
but neither will your clemency, although these things have already been said, be able with disdain to recognize them repeated, nor is it any shame to us to unroll again those things which were proclaimed by our predecessors. For it is not possible that there should be diversity of proclamation where there is one form of the truth, nor will it be judged foreign to the matter if with those with whom we agree in faith we should also be congruent in doctrine. Let the synodical decrees and the constitutions of blessed Pope Leo, agreeing with the sacred faith, be unrolled to the pious ears of your mildness: you will find the same things in those which you review in ours. What then is there, after that fountain of the faithful statutes, that any curious searcher, however diligent, should inquire further—provided, however, that he keep the bounds of the faith?
There is no need either of addition for things that are full, or of establishment for things that are perfect—unless perhaps someone would rather doubt than believe, contend than know, follow uncertainties than keep the decrees. For if the Trinity is God, that is, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, yet God is one—the Lawgiver saying specifically: Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one God—whoever holds otherwise must of necessity either divide the Godhead into many, or specifically fasten passion upon the very essence of the Trinity; and this—far be it from the minds of the faithful—is either to introduce many gods after the manner of profane heathenism, or to transfer sensible punishment to that nature which is alien from all passion. The holy Trinity is one.
It is not multiplied by number, it does not grow by increase, nor can it be comprehended by understanding, nor can that which is God be sundered by division. Who then would attempt to thrust a profane division upon that secret of the eternal and impenetrable substance, which no nature even of invisible creatures could investigate, and to recall the hidden things of the divine mystery to the reckoning of human custom? Let us adore the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, the indistinct-yet-distinct, incomprehensible and ineffable substance of the Trinity, where, even if the reckoning of persons admits number, the unity nevertheless of the essence does not admit it—yet in such wise:
that we may preserve what is proper to the divine nature and preserve what is proper to each person, so that neither may singularity of Godhead be denied to the persons, nor may this, which is proper to the names, be transferred to the essence. Great and incomprehensible is the holy mystery of the Trinity: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, the undivided Trinity; and yet it is known that it is proper to the Father to beget the Son, proper to the Son of God to be born from the Father equal to the Father, and known also what is proper to the Holy Spirit. But it is proper to the Son of God, according to that
which is written, that in the last times the Word should be made flesh and dwell among us, it is proper to the Son of God that thus, within the womb of the holy Virgin Mary, Mother of God, both natures being united without any confusion, He who before the ages was the Son of God should become the Son of man and be born in time after the manner of man, opening the womb of His mother yet not dissolving the virginity of His mother by the power of the Godhead. A mystery plainly worthy of God being born: that He should preserve the birth without corruption, who made the conception to be without seed, preserving what was from the Father and representing what He received from the mother.
For whence was it that He was seen lying in a manger yet [reigning] in heaven, wrapped in swaddling clothes yet adored by the Magi, brought forth among the animals yet announced by angels, scarcely emerged from infancy yet proclaiming a mystical doctrine with none to teach Him, and amid the rudiments of His boyhood years bringing forth heavenly signs of divine powers? For the same One is both God and man — not, as is said by the unfaithful, under the introduction of a fourth person, but the very Son of God is God and man, the same both power and weakness, humility and majesty, redeeming and sold, set upon the cross and bestowing the kingdoms of heaven; so far partaking of our weakness that He could be slain, so far of His innate power that He could not be consumed by death. He was buried according to that whereby, as man, He willed to be born, and according to that whereby He was like the Father, He rose again:
suffering wounds yet the Saviour of the sick; one among the dead yet the Giver of life to the dying; descending to the lower regions yet not departing from the Father's bosom. Whence also the soul which He laid down according to the common condition [of mankind], He soon took up again by His singular power and admirable might. That these things are so, and that no doubt ought to be admitted — namely, lest our Lord Jesus Christ be believed not to be God amid the sufferings of the body, or be believed to be God only and not also man amid the stupendous works of His wondrous powers — He instructed us by the deliberate example of two apostles, declaring Christ our Lord to be God by the faith of Peter, and man by the doubt of Thomas.
For what did it profit that He willed to inquire whom men said His disciples [held Him] to be, save that, when Peter answered 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,' He might make known that this had been disclosed not by flesh and blood but revealed by the inspiration of God the Father, and that through the testimony of that praised answer the faith of the truth laid open might be made manifest? What did it profit that, when the Lord appeared after the resurrection, Thomas alone was either absent from the rest or alone doubted, save that the world might believe what the doubting disciple had explored — so that, while He suffered Himself to be touched by the hands of one, it might be recognized by the whole company of the faithful what He was? Not therefore was the doubt interposed to reprove the disciple, but the instruction of posterity was sought.
Or does it look to anything else, that the same Lord joined Himself to Cleopas together with another disciple, while, as they journeyed toward Emmaus, they were speaking of Him — and although, through the women who had first gathered at the tomb, they had learned of the Lord's resurrection, nevertheless, that through their doubt He might give to the ages to come firmness of believing, He, beginning from Moses and all the prophets, showed by interpretation that it behoved Christ to suffer and thus to enter into His glory, and showed that through the passion the human nature and through the glory the divine nature were in Him? By manifold examples of the holy Scriptures are these things intimated, nor are they set forth as though unknown before your religious conscience, venerable emperor.
For the faith itself, which is constantly affirmed by you, renders to you this gift: that it both instils into your understanding an affection for itself and infuses the knowledge whereby it may be the more diligently maintained. And yet it pertains to the stewardship entrusted to me that I too should not, even among those who know, keep silent about things well known, so that, by the preaching of catholic understandings succeeding one another through the vicissitudes of the times, what is unfailingly affirmed may be believed without end. More amply could I have discoursed on these matters which pertain to the deity and the humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the two natures united in Him without confusion, according to the definitions of the ancients, were it a matter of disputing against those who dissent from these things.
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sedcuminmanibusomniumsintetsynodicaconstitutaetbeatipapaeLeonisdogmata, perstrinxissepotiuspaucaquameuoluerecredidiconuenientiusuniuersa. nuncueroagnosceresatisestetcauereitaproprietatemetessentiamcogitandam, utsciaturquidpersonae, quidnosoporteatdeferresubstantiae. quaequiindecenterignorantautcallidaimpietatedissimulant, dumomittuntquidsitpropriumfilii, trinaetenduntinsidiasunitati. sedsiquaepraedictasuntualidisteneanturfixaradicibus, necapaternatraditionerecedituretconstanterquaestionibusobuiatur. DataVII. Kal. Apr. Ualeriou. c. cons. (237.) HORMISDAEPIPHANIOEPISCOPOCONSTANTINOPOLITNO.
But since both the synodical enactments and the doctrines of blessed Pope Leo are in the hands of all, I judged it more fitting to touch upon a few things rather than to unfold them all. Now indeed it is enough to recognize and to take heed that property and essence be so considered that it may be known what pertains to the person and what we ought to attribute to the substance. Those who unbecomingly are ignorant of these things, or dissemble them by crafty impiety, while they omit what is proper to the Son, lay snares against the threefold Unity. But if the aforesaid things be held fixed by strong roots, neither is there any departure from the paternal tradition, and objections are steadfastly met. Given on the seventh day before the Kalends of April, in the consulship of Valerius, most illustrious man. (237.) HORMISDAS TO EPIPHANIUS, BISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE.
I have been filled with much joy, because I have learned — both from the letters you indicated and from the affirmation of my legates as well — of such zeal on the part both of the most holy emperor and of your dilection concerning the peace of the Church. For hence are brought forth manifest proofs of the mercy from on high, when worldly princes join the causes of the faith together with the ordering of the commonwealth, and the prelates of the churches, mindful of their office, carry out what pertains to their stewardship.
Of such rulers did the Christian religion have need after the storms of discord — rulers who, the whirlwinds being suppressed by provident disposition and the tempest driven away, might bring back the peace long exiled, and, extending into the ages to come the examples of their purpose, might show that beyond doubt there is to be ascribed to themselves whatever their posterity, in imitation of them, should do that is pleasing to God. Let us bless God, dearest brother, that this has been granted to be in our days, and let us strive with all the strength of our prayers and cares, that what has been well begun by the help of our God may, with His aid, be brought to completion in all things. For it is to be hoped that the remaining members also, which as yet are divided, may hasten to the frame of His body, and that the lesser may not differ from the greater.
To this, since your dilection exhorts me by the zeal of Christian charity, it ought to follow what it stirs up and to embrace what it counsels to be loved. For now, bearing a like care for the faith, through religious patience we hope for an equal reward as well from the effect of the good work. Nor must we yield to difficulties: faith is not wearied by hardships, nor is the steep of heaven scaled by an easy downward path, nor does anyone merit the recompense apart from the exertion of toil. Let us therefore lean upon this with all the powers of our prayers and cares, that whatsoever has been well begun by the cooperation of our God may, with His help, be fulfilled; for there is hope that...
...[may hasten] to the harmony of His sacred body, and that the remaining members, even now divided, may hasten to it, and that the lesser may not disagree from the greater. As the disposition of the zeal of Christian love exhorts, one ought to follow what it rouses and to embrace what it counsels to be loved. For, henceforth bearing a like care for the faith, through pious patience we hope for the reward from the effect of the good work; wherefore difficulties must not be yielded to; faith is not worn down by hardships, nor unto the heights of heaven does one press by a downward-sloping path, nor...
...merit the recompense without the exercise of toil. Wherefore we are specially admonished not to grow faint in doing good; blessed too, as the psalmist testifies, are they who keep judgment and do righteousness in every time, since it is not the beginning of labor but its end that is wont to find the recompense of the reward. Therefore, taking up an equal zeal of solicitude — we who have one fellowship in communion and in belief — even as we rejoice together in the Lord over the church of Constantinople now united to the apostolic see, so let us take care also, as you affectionately admonish, for the reintegration of the rest: first, that we may keep our faith and integrity unstained from all defilement.
For you know, most holy brother, what bonds preserve ecclesiastical concord, what things guard us against the snares of heretics, and through what the authority of the canons is also kept. These being preserved in their full force with all circumspection, let remedies be conferred upon those who hope; for both the order of ecclesiastical rules and the very form of justice provide that reasonable medicine be not denied, kindly and faithfully, to those who hope, nor is anyone so severed from humanity but that unguarded simplicity should incline him away from the rigor of strictness.
But that this may be safely accomplished without complaint or the blemish of any error, most beloved brother, you ought in this to put on my person, knowing in causes of this kind, as has been said before, what is to be done and what is to be guarded against, providing for all things in such a way that you do not doubt that an account of this ordering must be rendered to God — yet in such a way that those who shall have been joined to you in communion, or through you to the apostolic see, your writings should declare to us, into which also should be inserted the contents of the petitions [libelli] which they shall have presented.
...therefore, doing [these things], we are specially reminded; for blessed also, as the psalmist witnesses, are they who keep judgment and do righteousness in every time; since it is not the beginning of labor but the end that is wont to find the recompense of the reward. Therefore, taking up an equal zeal of solicitude — we who have one fellowship in communion and belief — even as we rejoice together in the Lord over the church of Constantinople now united to the apostolic see, so let us take care also for the reintegration of the rest, that we may first keep our faith and perfection unstained from all defilement. For you know, most honored brother, what bonds preserve ecclesiastical concord, what things guard us...
...guard us against the snares of heretics, and through which the authority of the canons is kept. These being preserved with all care in their proper vigor, let remedies be brought to those who hope; for the order of the ecclesiastical canons possesses, and the very form of justice, that reasonable medicine may not be denied to those who hope well and faithfully, nor is anyone so severed from humanity but that unguarded simplicity should incline him away from the rigor of the bond — but that this may safely and without complaint...
...that the blemish of any error may be able to be avoided, beloved brother, in this you ought to put on my person, knowing in causes of this kind, as has been said before, what is to be done and what is to be guarded against, providing for all things in such a way that you do not doubt that an account of this ordering must be rendered to God — yet in such a way that those who shall have been joined to you in communion, or through you to the apostolic see, your writings should declare to us, into which also may be inserted the contents of the petitions which they shall have presented.
For thus we shall be absolved of the error of Severus, or of his accomplices, or of the like, and shall not suffer the losses of those who could have been healed. And this we believed ought to be laid especially upon us, transferring our burdens to your diligence, because you have already produced no small proofs in resisting the heretics, nor ought there to be any doubting concerning one whom it shall have well befallen to be examined. Take up at once the remedies of medicine; gird yourself at once with the authority of justice; and so temper humanity toward suppliants that you may exclude those who persist in the contagion of the heretics, or those who feign innocence and consent with our people by voice alone, from those to whom counsel and provision are made for the reintegration of the Church;
For neither is it expedient to temper ecclesiastical censure with regard to these. For the goods of mercy will no longer be conferred for the necessity of those to whom counsel ought to be given, if they be shared indiscriminately by the good and the bad. And since your dilection judged that mention should be made in your letters of the Jerusalemites also — of whom a certain profession has been brought even to us — we deemed it necessary either to review what has been written or to answer what is fitting. If these keep the enactments of the holy Fathers, if they venerate those foundations of the faith, let them not withdraw from the things which have been defined by them at the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
For either they are perfect, just as they stand, and need no addition, or they are well established and therefore not to be changed, since through them all the poisons of the heretics have been suppressed. Nor did the Council of Chalcedon pass over anything which any diligence could usefully have devised: that Council both set forth more clearly the doctrines of the preceding [councils] and confirmed them with reiterated authority, having engaged in a certain special contest against Nestorius and Eutyches — the one [separating] the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ... [And in the Greek is added:] this therefore we thought fit especially to lay upon your diligence, transferring our burdens, since you have already, in resisting the heretics, given no small proofs, and there ought to be no doubting about one whom it is well...