If you would deign to consider these things with a tranquil mind and a better intention — He opening your heart to you, and closing it to the deceits of the impious, who, as it is written, 'is holy and true, and has the key of David; and who opens, and no one closes; and who closes, and no one opens' (Rev. III, 7) — then by the very evidence of the deeds done you will recognize that all these things have been both devised by heretics and established by their abettors for the annulling of the decrees of the Council of Chalcedon and of the letter of Pope Leo, of which Theodoret the bishop was an upholder in that same synod: things which, unless they be rescinded by the correction of a better judgment, then in vain — or if it could be believed — is it denied that the aforesaid synod approved the letter of the venerable Ibas.
For since it is established that there the said bishop was charged by his accusers, without doubt — as we have already said above — if he is now justly condemned, then most of all ought he to have been condemned. But because it is not shown to have been done, that synod seems — not to say to have connived at heresy — at least to have done something less, which these men ought to add and supply. But blessed Leo, the faithful and confident champion of the Church, and no feigned or timid assailant of heretics, says that all things were so defined there that he affirms nothing can be added to their perfection.
For when the Eutychians, with many and various devices — as also now — were striving to weaken or diminish the authority of that synod, and sought to have the things judged there re-discussed, so that under the pretext of a more diligent treatment something might seem either to be emended or supplied in them: he prudently and bravely withstood their snares, writing thus to Leo Augustus (Epist. 88): «We must detest and persistently shun what heretical fraud strives to obtain, and things piously and fully defined must not be recalled into any disputation, lest at the pleasure of the condemned we ourselves should seem to be in doubt concerning those things which are manifestly in all respects consonant with the prophetic, evangelical, and apostolic authorities.
Hence, if there are any who dissent from those things which have been established from heaven, let them be left to their own opinions, and let them depart from the unity of the Church together with that perversity which they have chosen. For it can in no way come to pass that those who dare to contradict the divine sacraments should be associated with us in any communion. Let them flaunt themselves in the vanity of their own eloquence, and glory in the cunning of their argumentations which is hostile to the faith. It pleases us to obey the apostolic precepts, which say: 'See that no one deceive you through philosophy and the vain seduction of men' (Col. II, 8). For according to the same Apostle (Gal.
II, 18), 'if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor,' and I subject myself to those conditions of vengeance, which not only the authority of the prince Marcian of blessed memory, but I too have confirmed by my own confession. Because, as you have holily and truly said, perfection does not admit increase, nor does fullness admit addition.» Your Serenity therefore clearly perceives that, just as nothing can be emended in the decrees of that synod, so neither can anything be added. Hence not only against that synod itself, but also against the judgment of this apostolic man, are those convicted of having acted who rashly condemned the letter of the venerable Ibas.
Since, even if they say that they have presumed to emend nothing in its decrees, they cannot deny that they have judged something to have been lacking to their fullness: namely, that what it did insufficiently in the cause which was there so long handled, these men should as it were supply by a more prudent and diligent consideration. How, then, shall we be able to evade the taunts of the heretics who say: 'Where are those magnificent words of your Leo, by which, too arrogantly, he said of the decrees of the Council of Chalcedon, Perfection does not admit increase, nor does fullness admit addition? Behold, by your own testimony it is proved that he was vainly flinging out windy words.'
For the things which were judged in that synod, even if you do not emend them, you certainly supply and perfect, and you demonstrate that there was not in them that which was called perfection and fullness; nor can you any longer say that we have not deservedly departed from your communion. Or ought we to have communicated with that synod, in which, when the impious and Nestorian letter was objected against Ibas by his accusers — as you yourselves have also confessed — and was read out before all, so that we might say what you in vain denied, that it was pronounced orthodox, which you have so far proved to have deserved condemnation that, returning late to our opinion even after nearly a hundred years, you have seen it necessary to anathematize, in order to clear yourselves of its crime?
And they will not say these things without reason. For since these abettors of theirs judged that we, who were not judges in the cause, ought to be cleared of the Nestorian crime through the condemnation of this letter, consequently they judged that those Fathers, in whose discussion and judgment it was not condemned, ought not to be cleared of the same crime. Behold what a prejudice they have sought to bring upon us: behold how they have wished to strengthen the calumnies of the heretics against the Church — they who oppose not only blessed Leo, but also those councils, by the letters of so many bishops, in which, being questioned about the said synod, they answered the prince Leo, saying:
«Neither can we move nor change one iota or one tittle of the things which were defined at that synod;» and again: «For just as nothing more is needed for the sun in order to demonstrate that it is the sun, so also for the great, holy, and universal Council of Chalcedon nothing whatever of good things is lacking, nor does it need any addition or any subtraction, being seasoned by the Holy Spirit as it were with a certain divine salt. For those who were then condemned in it, judged unworthy of the sacerdotal order, were condemned as impious by the decree and judgment of the great God. But those who were received in it, having before endured an unjust and tyrannical inscription, were immediately and justly received by the decree of the Holy Spirit:
among whom is also the second Abel of our own times, blessed Flavian.» They say also many other things, which it would be too long to recount. How, then, do we receive the accomplices of heretics, decreeing new and contrary things, as though too little consideration had been given to religion in the things which were defined by that synod, when the ancient Fathers declare that they cannot move one iota or one tittle in them? Or what indeed do we suppose to be lacking to the sun that shines upon the whole world, which ought to be supplied by the addition of these men — who, just as they vainly attempt to obscure its unsurpassable splendour, so can add nothing to its fullness?