講道與書信 第 141 章

We rejoice ineffably with your piety that the Catholic faith has been defended against the heretics by the holy studies of your clemency, pleasing to God, and that peace has been restored to the universal Church; giving thanks to the merciful and almighty God, that — except for those who loved darkness rather than light (John 3:19) — He has suffered no one to be cheated of the evangelical truth: so that, the mist of error being wiped away, the purest light might rise in the hearts of all, and that dark enemy might not exult over the weak souls of certain men, whom not only those who stood unharmed, but even those whom he had made to waver, have overcome:

so that, error being abolished, the true faith might reign throughout the whole world, and every tongue confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:11). But now that the whole world has been confirmed in the unity of the Gospel, and the hearts of all the priests have been directed to one and the same mind, it would have been best that, beyond those matters for which the holy synod was gathered and which have been brought to a laudable conclusion according to the zeal of your piety, nothing should be introduced that was contrary to so great a good, nor that by occasion of an episcopal council there be unseasonably sought after that which it was not lawful even to covet.

For my brother and fellow-bishop Anatolius, giving too little consideration to how great a benefit of your piety and by the assent of my favour he obtained the priesthood of the Church of Constantinople, was inflamed — not so much rejoicing over what he had gained, as coveting things immoderate — beyond the measure of his honour;

believing that this so intemperate greed could be furthered by the fact that an extorted subscription is said to have lent him the consent of certain persons; although — the attempts being straightway to be overthrown — the contradiction of my brethren and fellow-bishops acting in my stead faithfully and laudably opposed it. For against the statutes of the paternal canons, which were founded on spiritual decrees in the city of Nicaea very many years of a most ancient age ago, it is granted to no one to dare anything: so that if anyone should wish to decree something different, he rather diminishes himself than corrupts those decrees. And if these are, as they ought, preserved inviolate by all the pontiffs, throughout all the Churches there will be tranquil peace and firm concord:

there will be no dissensions about the measure of honours, no lawsuits about ordinations, no ambiguities about privileges, no contests about the usurpation of another's right; but with the equal right of charity, a reasonable order both of conduct and of offices will be preserved; and he in truth will be great who is a stranger to all ambition, since the Lord says: Whosoever will be greater among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be first among you, he shall be your servant — even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister (Matthew 20:26; Mark 10:43). And yet these things were then instilled into those who wished to grow from little, and to pass from the lowest to the highest.

But what does the prelate of the Church of Constantinople covet beyond what he has already attained? Or what will satisfy him, if the magnificence and renown of so great a city does not suffice?

It is exceedingly proud and immoderate to reach beyond one's own boundaries, and, trampling upon antiquity, to wish to seize another's right, and, in order that the dignity of one may increase, to assail the primacies of so many metropolitans, and to bring the war of a new disturbance upon provinces that are at peace and were long ago arranged by the moderation of the holy synod of Nicaea; and, in order that the decrees of the venerable Fathers may be undone, to bring forward the consent of certain bishops, to which the course of so many years has denied effect. For nearly sixty years is this connivance boasted to have lasted, by which the aforesaid bishop reckons himself to be aided, vainly desiring that to profit him which — even if anyone dared to wish it — yet no one has been able to obtain.

Let him recognize to what man he has succeeded, and, casting off all spirit of arrogance, let him imitate the faith of Flavian, the modesty of Flavian, the humility of Flavian, which advanced him even to the glory of a confessor. If he wishes to shine with his virtues, he will be praiseworthy, and in every place he will acquire very much love — not by ambitiously seeking human things, but by meriting divine ones. And by this observance I promise that my own mind too shall be joined to him, and that the love of the Apostolic See, which it has always bestowed upon the Church of Constantinople, shall be violated by no changeableness. For if immoderate prelates sometimes fall into certain faults, nevertheless the integrity of the Churches of Christ endures.

But the agreements of bishops that are repugnant to the rules of the holy canons established at Nicaea, we — with your faith's piety united to us — render void, and by the authority of the blessed Apostle Peter we annul them by an altogether general definition, obeying in all ecclesiastical causes those laws which, for the peaceful observance of all the priests, the Holy Spirit instituted through three hundred and eighteen prelates: so that even if far more should decree anything other than what those decreed, whatever shall be different from the constitution of the aforesaid is to be held in no reverence.

Therefore, as for the length of my letter, in which I have found it necessary to explain what I feel, I ask that your piety graciously receive it through my brother and fellow-bishop Lucian, who, as far as in him lay, faithfully executed the solicitude of the legation he undertook, and through my son the deacon Basil. And since it is your custom to labour for the peace and unity of the Church, wholesomely hold my brother the bishop Anatolius — dear to me by your recommendation — within the bounds of those things which shall profit him: so that the glory of your clemency, as it is magnified for the faith restored, may likewise be proclaimed for ambition suppressed. Given on the eleventh day before the Kalends of June, in the consulship of the most illustrious Herculanus.