THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS WRITINGS - VOLUME 65
The Latin West in the Fifth Century
c. AD 430 – 496

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Texts are public domain except where marked in Sources and Credits.

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INTRODUCTION TO THIS VOLUME
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HOW THIS BOOK IS ARRANGED

This is the sixty-fifth volume of a series that gathers the writings of the early Church
in order of date, from the generation after the apostles down to the eighth century. This
volume holds The Latin West in the Fifth Century, from the period about AD 430 – 496.

Within each work the text is divided into chapters and numbered sections, so that any
passage can be found again and cited. The small bold figures in the text are the section
numbers.

THE TRANSLATIONS

The text is in English only. Wherever a modern English version has been prepared for
SermonIndex it is used here; otherwise the book prints an older public-domain translation.
In both cases the wording is the translator’s own: older translations have not been
altered beyond dividing them into sections. The sources for every work are listed at the
back of the book, together with the licence under which each text is released. All the
works in this volume are printed in older public-domain translations.

IN THIS VOLUME

John Cassian was born about AD 360, probably in Scythia Minor on the lower Danube. He
became a monk at Bethlehem and then spent years among the monks of the Egyptian desert,
whose sayings he later set down. He was ordained deacon at Constantinople by John
Chrysostom, and about AD 415 he settled at Marseilles, where he founded two monasteries.
He wrote the Institutes and the Conferences for the monks of Gaul, and in AD 430 he wrote
On the Incarnation against Nestorius. He died about AD 435.

Vincent was a monk of Lérins, the island monastery off the south coast of Gaul. He wrote
the Commonitory in AD 434 under the name Peregrinus, as a guide for telling the faith of
the Church from novelty. He died before AD 450.

Possidius was a monk at Hippo under Augustine and later bishop of Calama in Numidia. He
was with Augustine at his death in AD 430, was driven from his see by the Vandals, and
wrote the Life of Augustine a few years afterwards.

Leo was bishop of Rome from AD 440 until his death in AD 461. His letter to Flavian of
Constantinople, known as the Tome, was read at the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451 and
became the Western statement of the faith in the two natures of Christ. He met Attila in
AD 452 and spoke with the Vandal king Gaiseric in AD 455. His letters deal with the whole
range of Church business in the West and in the East.

Patrick was born in Roman Britain and was seized as a boy by Irish raiders and kept as a
slave in Ireland. After his escape he returned to preach the Gospel there as a bishop. Two
short writings are certainly his, the Confession and the Letter to Coroticus. The
traditional date of his death is AD 461.

Gennadius was a priest of Marseilles in the later fifth century. His Lives of Illustrious
Men continues the work of Jerome of the same name and gives short notices of writers from
Jerome’s day to his own. He died about AD 496.

This volume gathers writers of the Latin West after the death of Augustine. Cassian’s
books On the Incarnation and Vincent’s Commonitory belong to the years AD 430–434, when
the West was learning how to answer Nestorius and how to judge new teaching by the faith
received from the beginning. Leo’s letters run from AD 440 to 461. The Life of Augustine
by Possidius is the earliest account of his last years. The Confession of Patrick and the
catalogue of Gennadius close the volume. Leo’s sermons are not included in this volume.

DATES AND AUTHORSHIP

Dates are approximate and are debated by scholars. Each work begins with a short
introduction that states what is known about its author and its date, and what is
uncertain.


THE SEVEN BOOKS ON THE INCARNATION OF THE LORD
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THE SEVEN BOOKS ON THE INCARNATION OF THE LORD John Cassian

c. AD 360–435

Cassian wrote these seven books in AD 430 at the request of Leo, then an archdeacon at
Rome, to answer the teaching of Nestorius that Mary should not be called the Mother of
God. He argues from Scripture and from the earlier Fathers that Christ is one person, God
and man.

PREFACE

When I had now finished the books of Spiritual Conferences, the merit of which consists in
the thoughts expressed rather than in the language used (since my rude utterances were
unequal to the deep thoughts of the saints), I had contemplated and almost determined on
taking refuge in silence (as I was ashamed of having exposed my ignorance) that I might as
far as possible make up for my audacity in speaking by modestly holding my tongue for the
future. But you have overcome my determination and purpose by your commendable earnestness
and most urgent affection, my dear Leo, my esteemed and highly regarded friend, ornament
that you are of the Roman Church and sacred ministry, as you drag me forth from the
obscurity of the silence on which I had determined, into a public court which I may well
dread, and oblige me to undertake new labours while I am still blushing for my past ones.
And though I was unequal to lesser tasks, you compel me to match myself with greater ones.
For even in those trilling works, in which of our small ability we offered some small
offering to the Lord, I would never have attempted to do or apply myself to anything
unless I had been led to it by Episcopal command. And so through you there has been an
increase of importance both of our subject and of our language.

For whereas before we spoke, when bidden, of the business of the Lord, you now require us
to speak of the actual Incarnation and glory of the Lord Himself. And so we who were
formerly brought as it were into the holy place of the temple by priestly hands, now
penetrate under your guidance and protection, so to speak, into the holy of holiest Great
is the honour but most perilous the undertaking, because the prize of the holy sanctuary
and the divine reward can only be secured by a Victory over our foe. And so you require
and charge us to raise our feeble hands against a fresh heresy and a new enemy of the
faith, and that we should take our stand, so to speak, against the awful open-mouthed
gapings of the deadly serpent, that at my summons the power of prophecy and the divine
force of the gospel word may destroy the dragon now rising up with sinuous course against
the Churches of God. I obey your intreaty: I yield to your command: for I had rather trust
in my own matters to you than to myself, especially as the love of Jesus Christ my Lord
commands me this as well as you, for He Himself gives me this charge in your person. For
in this matter you are more concerned than I am, as your judgment stands in peril rather
than my duty.

For in my case, whether I prove equal to what you have commanded me or no, the very fact
of my obedience and humility will be in some degree an excuse for me; if indeed I might
not urge that there is more value in my obedience, if there is less that I can do. For we
easily comply with any one's orders, out of our abundance: but his is a great and
wonderful work, whose desires exceed his powers. Yours then is this work and business, and
yours it is to be ashamed of it. Pray and intreat that your choice may not be discredited
by my clumsiness; and that, supposing we do not answer the expectations which you have
formed of us, you may not seem to have been wrong in commanding out of an ill-considered
determination, while I was right in yielding, owing to the claims of obedience.

BOOK I: THE HERESY OF NESTORIUS

Chapter I.

The heresy compared to the hydra of the poets. The tales of poets tell us that of old the
hydra when its heads were cut off gained by its injuries, and sprang up more abundantly:
so that owing to a miracle of a strange and unheard-of kind, its loss proved a kind of
gain to the monster which was thus increased by death, while that extraordinary fecundity
doubled everything which the knife of the executioner cut off, until the man who was
eagerly seeking its destruction, toiling and sweating, and finding his efforts so often
baffled by useless labours, added to the courage of battle the arts of craft, and by the
application of fire, as they tell us, cut off with a fiery sword the manifold offspring of
that monstrous body; and so when the inward parts were thus burnt, by cauterizing the
rebellious throbbings of that ghastly fecundity, at length those prodigious births were
brought to an end. Thus also heresies in the churches bear some likeness to that hydra
which the poets' imagination invented; for they too hiss against us with deadly tongues;
and they too cast forth their deadly poison, and spring up again when their heads are cut
off. But because the medicine should not be wanting when the disease revives, and because
the remedy should be the more speedy as the sickness is the more dangerous, our Lord God
is able to bring to pass that that may be a truth in the church's warfare, which Gentile
fictions imagined of the death of the hydra, and that the fiery sword of the Holy Spirit
may cauterize the inward parts of that most dangerous birth, in the new heresy to be put
down, so that at last its monstrous fecundity may cease to answer to its dying throbs.

Chapter II.

Description of the different heretical monsters which spring from one another. For these
shoots of an unnatural seed are no new thing in the churches. The harvest I of the Lord's
field has always had to put up I with burrs and briars, and in it the shoots of choking
tares have constantly sprung up. For hence have arisen the Ebionites, Sabellians, Arians,
as well as Eunomians and Macedonians, and Photinians and Apollinarians, and all the other
tares of the churches, and thistles which destroy the fruits of good faith. And of these
the earliest was Ebion, who while over-anxious about asserting our Lord's humanity robbed
it of its union with Divinity. But after him the schism of Sabellius burst forth out of
reaction against the above mentioned heresy, and as he declared that there was no
distinction between the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, he impiously confounded, as far as was
possible, the Persons, and failed to distinguish the holy and ineffable Trinity. Next
after him whom we have mentioned there followed the blasphemy of Arian perversity, which,
in order to avoid the appearance of confounding the Sacred Persons, declared that there
were different and dissimilar substances in the Trinity. But after him in time though like
him in wickedness came Eunomius, who, though allowing that the Persons of the Holy Trinity
were divine and like each other, yet insisted that they were separate from each other; and
so while admitting their likeness denied their equality.

Macedonius also blaspheming against the Holy Ghost with unpardonable wickedness, while
allowing that the Father and the Son were of one substance, termed the Holy Ghost a
creature, and so sinned against the entire Divinity, because no injury can be offered to
anything in the Trinity without affecting the entire Trinity. But Photinus, though
allowing that Jesus who was born of the Virgin was God, yet erred in his notion that His
Godhead began with the beginning of His manhood; while Apollinaris through inaccurately
conceiving the union of God and man wrongly believed that He was without a human soul For
it is as bad an error to add to our Lord Jesus Christ what does not belong to Him as to
rob Him of that which is His. For where He is spoken of otherwise than as He is -even
though it seems to add to His glory - yet it is an offence. And so one after another out
of reaction against heresies they give rise to heresies, and all teach things different
from each other, but equally opposed to the faith. And just lately also, i.e., in our own
days, we saw a most poisonous heresy spring up from the greatest city of the Belgae, and
though there was no doubt about its error, yet there was a doubt about its name, because
it arose with a fresh head from the old stock of the Ebionites, and so it is still a
question whether it ought to be called old or new.

For it was new as far as its upholders were concerned; but old in the character of its
errors. Indeed it blasphemously taught that our Lord Jesus Christ was born as a mere man,
and maintained that the fact that He afterwards obtained the glory and power of the
Godhead resulted from His human worth and not from His Divine nature; and by this it
taught that He had not always His Divinity by the right of His very own Divine nature
which belonged to Him, but that He obtained it afterwards as a reward for His labours and
sufferings. Whereas then it blasphemously taught that our Lord and Saviour was not God at
His birth, but was subsequently taken into the Godhead, it was indeed bordering on this
heresy which has now sprung up, and is as it were its first cousin and akin to it, and,
harmonizing both with Ebionism and these new ones, came in point of time between them, and
was linked with them both in point of wickedness. And although there are some others like
those which we have mentioned yet it would take too long to describe them all. Nor have we
now undertaken to enumerate those that are dead and gone, but to refute those which are
novel.

Chapter III.

He describes the pestilent error of the Pelagian. AT any rate we think that this fact
ought not to be omitted, which was special and peculiar to that heresy mentioned above
which sprang from the error of Pelagius; viz., that in saying that Jesus Christ had lived
as a mere man without any stain of sin, they actually went so far as to declare that men
could also be without sin if they liked. For they imagined that it followed that if Jesus
Christ being a mere man was without sin, all men also could without the help of God be
whatever He as a mere man without participating in the Godhead, could be. And so they made
out that there was no difference between any man and our Lord Jesus Christ, as any man
could by effort and striving obtain just the same as Christ had obtained by His
earnestness and efforts. Whence it resulted that they broke out into a more grievous and
unnatural madness, and said that our Lord Jesus Christ had come into this world not to
bring redemption to mankind but to give an example of good works, to wit, that men, by
following His teaching, and by walking along the same path of virtue, might arrive at the
same reward of virtue: thus destroying, as far as they could, all the good of His sacred
advent and all the grace of Divine redemption, as they declared that men could by their
own lives obtain just that which God had wrought by dying for man's salvation.

They added as well that our Lord and Say-four became the Christ after His Baptism, and God
after His Resurrection, tracing the former to the mystery of His anointing, the latter to
the merits of His Passion. Whence this new author of a heresy that is not new, who
declares that our Lord and Saviour was born a mere man, observes that he says exactly the
same thing which the Pelagians said before him, and allows that it follows from his error
that as he asserts that our Lord Jesus Christ lived as a mere man entirely without sin, so
he must maintain in his blasphemy that all men can of themselves be without sin, nor would
he admit that our Lord's redemption was a thing needful for His example, since men can (as
they say) reach the heavenly kingdom by their own exertions. Nor is there any doubt about
this, as the thing itself shows us. For hence it comes that he encourages the complaints
of the Pelagians by his intervention, and introduces their case into his writings, because
he cleverly or (to speak more truly) cunningly patronizes them and by his wicked liking
for them recommends their mischievous teaching which is akin to his own, for he is well
aware that he is of the same opinion and of the same spirit, and therefore is distressed
that a heresy akin to his own has been cast out of the church, as he knows that it is
entirely allied to his own in wickedness.

Chapter IV.

Leporius together with some others recants Iris Pelagianism. But still as those who were
the outcome of this stock of pestilent thorns have already by the Divine help and goodness
been healed, we should also now pray to our Lord God that as in some points that older
heresy and this new one are akin to each other, He would grant a like happy ending to
thosewhich had a like bad beginning. For Leporius, then a monk, now a presbyter, who
followed the teaching or rather the evil deeds ofPelagius, as we said above, and was among
the earliest and greatest champions of the aforesaid heresy in Gaul, was admonished by us
and corrected by God, and so nobly condemned his former erroneous persuasion that his
amendment was almost as much a matter for congratulation as is the unimpaired faith of
many. For it is the best thing never to fall into error: the second best thing to make a
good repudiation of it. He then coming to himself confessed his mistake with grief but
without shame not only in Africa, where he was then and is now, but also gave to all the
cities of Gaul penitent letters containing his confession and grief; in order that his
return to the faith might be made known where his deviation from it had been first
published, and that those who had formerly been witnesses of his error might also
afterwards be witnesses of his amendment.

Chapter V.

By the case of Leporius he establishes the fact that an open sin ought to be expiated by
an open confession; and also teaches from his words what is the right view to be held on
the Incarnation. And from his confession or rather lamentation we have thought it well to
quote some part, for two reasons: that their recantation might be a testimony to us, and
an example to those who are weak, and that they might not be ashamed to follow in their
amendment, the men whom they were not ashamed to follow in their error; and that they
might be cured by a like remedy as they suffered from a like disease. He then
acknowledging the perverseness of his views, and seeing the light of faith, wrote to the
Gallican Bishops, and thus began: "I scarcely know, O my most venerable lords and blessed
priests, what first to accuse myself of, and what first to excuse myself for. Clumsiness
and pride and foolish ignorance together with wrong notions, zeal combined with
indiscretion, and (to speak truly) a weak faith which was gradually failing, all these
were admitted by me and flourished to such an extent that I am ashamed of having yielded
to such and so many sins, while at the same time I am profoundly thankful for having been
able to cast them out of my soul. And after a little he adds:

"If then, not understanding this power of God, and wise in our conceits and opinions, from
fear lest God should seem to act a part that was beneath Him, we suppose that a man was
born in conjunction with God, in such a way that we ascribe to God alone what belongs to
God separately, and attribute to man alone what belongs to man separately, we clearly add
a fourth Person to the Trinity and out of the one God the Son begin to make not one but
two Christs; from which may our Lord and God Jesus Christ Himself preserve us. Therefore
we confess that our Lord and God Jesus Christ the only Son of God, who for His own sake
was begotten of the Father before all worlds, when in time He was for our sakes made man
of the Holy Ghost and the ever-virgin Mary, was God at His birth; and while we confess the
two substances of the flesh and the Word, we always acknowledge with pious belief and
faith one and the same Person to be indivisibly God and man; and we say that from the time
when He took upon Him flesh all that belonged to God was given to man, as all that
belonged to man was joined to God.

And in this sense `the Word was made flesh:' not that He began by any conversion or change
to be what He was not, but that by the Divine `economy' the Word of the Father never left
the Father, and yet vouchsafed to become truly man, and the Only Begotten was incarnate
through that hidden mystery which He alone understands (for it is ours to believe: His to
understand). And thus God `the Word' Himself receiving everything that belongs to man, is
made man, and the manhood which is assumed, receiving everything that belongs to God
cannot but be God; but whereas He is said to be incarnate and unmixed, we must not hold
that there is any diminution of His substance: for God knows how to communicate Himself
without suffering any corruption, and yet truly to communicate Himself. He knows how to
receive into Himself without Himself being increased thereby, just as He knows how to
impart Himself in such a way as Himself to suffer no loss. We should not then in our
feeble minds make guesses, in accordance with visible proofs and experiments, from the
case of creatures which are equal, and which mutually enter into each other, nor think
that God and man are mixed together, and that out of such a fusion of flesh and the Word
(i.e., the Godhead and manhood) some sort of body is produced. God forbid that we should
imagine that the two natures being in a way moulded together should become one substance.

For a mixture of this sort is destructive of both parts. For God, who contains and is not
Himself contained, who enters into things and is not Himself entered into, who fills
things and is not Himself filled, who is everywhere at once in His completeness and is
diffused everywhere, communicates Himself graciously to human nature by the infusion of
His power. And after a little: "Therefore the God-man, Jesus Christ, tho Son of God, is
truly born for us of the Holy Ghost and the ever-virgin Mary. And so in the two natures
the Word and Flesh become one, so that while each substance continues naturally perfect in
itself, what is Divine imparteth without suffering any loss, to the humanity, and what is
human participates in the Divine; nor is there one person God, and another person man, but
the same person is God who is also man: and again the man who is also God is called and
indeed is Jesus Christ the only Son of God; and so we must always take care and believe so
as not to deny that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Very God (whom we confess as
existing ever with the Father and equal to the Father before all worlds) became from the
moment when He took flesh the God-man. Nor may we imagine that gradually as time went on
He became God, and that He was in one condition before the resurrection and in another
after it, but that He was always of the same fulness and power.

And again a little later on: "But because the Word of God vouchsafed to come down upon
manhood by assuming manhood, and manhood was taken up into the Word by being assumed by
God, God the Word in His completeness became complete man. For it was not God the Father
who was made man, nor the Holy Ghost, but the Only Be-555gotten of the Father; and so we
must hold that there is one Person of the Flesh and the Word: so as faithfully and without
any doubt to believe that one and the same Son of God, who can never be divided, existing
in two natures (who was also spoken of as a "giant" ) in the days of His Flesh truly took
upon Him all that belongs to man, and ever truly had as His own what belongs to God: since
even though He was crucified in weakness, yet He liveth by the power of God."

Chapter VI.

The united doctrine of the Catholics is to be received as the orthodox faith. This
confession of his therefore, which was the faith of all Catholics was approved of by all
the Bishops of Africa, whence he wrote, and by all those of Gaul, to whom he wrote. Nor
has there ever been anyone who quarrelled with this faith, without being guilty of
unbelief: for to deny what is right and proved is to confess what is wrong. The agreement
of all ought then to be in itself already sufficient to confute heresy: for the authority
of all shows undoubted truth, and a perfect reason results where no one disputes it: so
that if a man endeavours to hold opinions contrary to these, we should in the first
instance rather condemn his perverseness than listen to his assertions, for one who
impugns the judgment of all announces beforehand his own condemnation, and a man who
disturbs what has been determined by all, is not even given a hearing. For when the truth
has once for all been established by all men, whatever arises contrary to it is by this
very fact to be recognized at once as falsehood, because it differs from the truth. And
thus it is agreed that this alone is sufficient to condemn a man; viz., that he differs
from the judgment of truth.

But still as an explanation of a system does no harm to the system, and truth always
shines brighter when thoroughly ventilated, and as it is better that those who are wrong
should be set right by discussion rather than condemned by severe censures, we should
cure, as far as we can with the Divine assistance, this old heresy appearing in the
persons of new heretics, that when through God's mercy they have recovered their health,
their cure may bear testimony to our holy faith instead of their condemnation proving an
instance of just severity. Only may the Truth indeed be present at our discussion and
discourse concerning it, and assist our human weakness with that goodness with which God
vouchsafed to come to men, as for this purpose above all He willed to be born on earth and
among men; viz., that there might be no more room for falsehood.

BOOK II: THE EARLIER HERESIES CONDEMNED

Chapter I.

How the errors of later heretics have been condemned and refuted in the persons of their
authors and originators. AS we began by setting down in the first book some things by
which we showed that our new heretic is but an offshoot from ancient stocks of heresy, the
due condemnation of the earlier heretics ought to be enough to secure a sentence of due
condemnation for him. For as he has the same roots and grows up out of the same fallow he
has already been amply condemned in the persons of his predecessors, especially as those
who went wrong immediately before these men very properly condemned the very thing which
these men are now asserting, so that the examples of their own party ought to be amply
sufficient for them in both directions; viz., that of those who were restored and that of
those who were condemned. For if they are capable of amendment they have their remedy set
forth in the correction of their own party. If they are incapable of it they receive their
sentence in the condemna-556tion of their own folk. But that we may not be thought to have
prejudged the case against them instead of fairly judging it, we will produce theiractual
pestilent assertions, or rather I should say their blasphemous folly: taking "above all
the shield of faith, and the swordof the Spirit which is the Word of God," that when the
head of the old serpent rises once more, the same sword of the Divine Word which formerly
severed it in the case of those ancient dragons may even now cut it off in the persons of
these new serpents.

For since the error of these is the same as that of those former ones, the decapitation of
those ought to be counted as the decapitation of these; and as the serpents revive and
emit pestilent blasts against the Lord's church, and cause some to fail through their
hissing, we must on account of these new diseases add a fresh remedy to those older cures,
so that even if what has already been done prove insufficient to heal the malady, what we
are now doing may be adequate to restore those who are suffering from it.

Chapter II.

Proof that the Virgin Mother of God was not only Christotocos but also Theotocos, and that
Christ is truly God. And so you say, O heretic, whoever you may be, who deny that God was
born of the Virgin, that Mary the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ ought not to be called
Theotocos, i.e., Mother of God, but Christotocos, i.e., only the Mother of Christ, not of
God. For no one, you say, brings forth what is anterior in time. And of this utterly
foolish argument whereby you think that the birth of God can be understood by carnal
minds, and fancy that the mystery of His Majesty can be accounted for by human reasoning,
we will, if God permits, say something later on. In the meanwhile we will now prove by
Divine testimonies that Christ is God, and that Mary is the Mother of God. Hear then how
the angel of God speaks to the Shepherds of the birth of God. "There is born," he says,
"to you this day in the city of David a Saviour who is Christ the Lord. In order that you
may not take Christ for a mere man, he adds the name of Lord and Saviour, on purpose that
you may have no doubt that He whom you acknowledge as Saviour is God, and that (as the
office of saving belongs only to Divine power) you may not question that He is of Divine
power, in whom you have learnt that the power to save resides.

But perhaps this is not enough to convince your unbelief, as the angel of the Lord termed
Him Lord and Saviour rather than God or the Son of God, as you certainly most wickedly
deny Him to be God, whom you acknowledge to be Saviour. Hear then what the archangel
Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary. "The Holy Ghost," he says, "shall come upon thee,
and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which
shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Do you see how, when he is going to
point out the nativity of God, he first speaks of a work of Divinity. For "the Holy
Ghost," he says, "shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow
thee. Admirably did the angel speak, and explain the majesty of the Divine work by the
Divine character of his words. For the Holy Ghost sanctified the Virgin's womb, and
breathed into it by the power of His Divinity, and thus imparted and communicated Himself
to human nature; and made His own what was before foreign to Him, taking it to Himself by
His own power and majesty.

And lest the weakness of human nature should not be able to bear the entrance of Divinity
the power of the Most High strengthened the ever to be honoured Virgin, so that it
supported her bodily weakness by embracing it with overshadowing protection, and human
weakness was not insufficient for the consummation of the ineffable mystery of the holy
conception, since it was supported by the Divine overshadowing. "Therefore," he says, "the
Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee. If
only a mere man was to be born of a pure virgin why should there be such careful mention
of the Divine Advent? Why such intervention of Divinity itself? Certainly if only a man
was to be born from man, and flesh from flesh, a command alone might have done it, or the
Divine will. For if the will of God alone, and His command sufficed to fashion the
heavens, form the earth, create the sea, thrones, and seats, and angels, and archangels,
and principalities, and powers, and in a word to create all the armies of heaven, and
those countless thousands of thousands of the Divine hosts ("For He spake and they were
made, He commanded and they were created" ), why was it that that was insufficient for the
creation of (according to you) a single man, which was sufficient for the production of
all things divine, and that the power and majesty of God did not entrust that with the
birth of a single infant, which had availed to fashion all things earthly and heavenly?
But certainly the reason why all those works were performed by the command of God, but the
nativity was only accomplished by His coming was because God could not be conceived by man
unless He allowed it, nor be born unless He Himself entered in; and therefore the
archangel pointed out that the sacred majesty would come upon the Virgin, I mean that as
so great an event could not be brought about by human appointment, he announced that there
would be present at the conception the glory of Him who was to be born. And so the Word,
the Son, descended: the majesty of the Holy Ghost was present: the power of the Father was
overshadowing; that in the mystery of the holy conception the whole Trinity might
cooperate.

"Therefore," he says, "also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called
the Son of God. Admirably does he add "Therefore," in order to show that this would
therefore follow because that had gone before; and that because God had come upon her at
the conception therefore God would be present at the birth. And when the maiden understood
not, he gave a reason for this great thing, saying: "Because the Holy Spirit shall come
upon thee, and because the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee, therefore also
that holy thing which shall be born shall be called the Son of God; that is to say: That
thou mayest not be ignorant of the provision for so great a work, and the mystery of this
great secret, the majesty of God shall therefore come upon thee completely; because the
Son of God shall be born of thee. What further doubt can there be about this? or what is
there further to be said? He said that God would come upon her; that the Son of God would
be born. Ask now, if you like, how the Son of God can help being God, or how she who
brought forth God can fail to be Theotocos, i.e., the Mother of God? This alone ought to
be enough for you; aye this ought to be amply sufficient for you.

Chapter III.

Follows up the same argument with passages from the Old Testament. But as there is an
abundant supply of witnesses to the holy nativity; viz., all that has been on this account
written, to hear witness to it, let us examine in some slight degree an announcement about
God even in the Old Testament, that you may know that the fact that the birth of God was
to be from a virgin was not only then announced when it actually came to pass, but had
been foretold from the very beginning of the world, that, as the event to be brought about
was ineffable, incredulity of the fact when actually present might be removed by its
having been previously announced while still future. And so the prophet Isaiah says:
"Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel,
which is interpreted God with us. What room is there here for doubt, you incredulous
person? The prophet said that a virgin should conceive: a virgin has conceived: that a Son
should be born: a Son has been born: that He Should be called God: He is called God. For
He is called by that name as being of that nature. Therefore when the Spirit of God said
that He should be called God, He proved that He is without the Spirit of God who makes
himself a stranger to all fellowship with the Divine title. "Behold then," he says, "a
virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which is
interpreted God with us.

But here is a point on which it is possible that your shuffling incredulity may fasten;
viz., by saying that this which the prophet declared He should be called referred not to
the glory of His Divinity, but to the name by which He should be addressed. But what are
we to do because Christ is never spoken of by this name in the gospels, though the Spirit
of God cannot be said to have spoken falsely through the prophet? How is it then? Surely
that we should understand that that prophecy then foretold the name of His Divine nature
and not of His humanity. For since in His manhood united to the Godhead He received
another name in the gospel, it is certainly clear that this name belonged to His humanity,
that to His Divinity. But let us proceed further and summon other true witnesses to
establish the truth: For where we are speaking about the Godhead, the Divinity cannot be
better established than by His own witnesses. So then the same prophet says elsewhere:
"For unto us a Son is born: unto us a child is given; and the government shall be upon His
shoulder; and His name shall be called the angel of great counsel, God the mighty, the
Father of the world to come, the Prince of peace.

Just as above the prophet had expressly said that He should be called Emmanuel, so here he
says that He should be called "the angel of great counsel, and God the mighty, and the
Father of the world to come and the prince of peace" (although we certainly never read
that He was called by these names in the gospel): of course that we may understand that
these are not terms belonging to His human, but to His Divine nature; and that the name
used in the gospel belonged to the manhood which He took upon Him, and this one to His
innate power. And because God was to be born in human form, these names were so
distributed in the sacred economy, that to the manhood a human name was given and to the
Divinity a Divine one. Therefore he says: "He shall be cat led the angel of great counsel,
God the mighty, the Father of the world to come, the prince of peace. Not, O heretic,
whoever you may be, not that here the prophet, full as he was of the Holy Spirit, followed
your example and compared Him who was born to a molten image and a figure fashioned
without sense. For "a Son," he says, "is born to us, a Child is given to us; and the
government shall be upon his shoulder;

and His name shall be called the angel of great counsel, God the mighty."And that you may
not imagine Him whom He announced as God to be other than Him who was born in the flesh,
he adds a term referring to His birth, saying: "A child is born to us: a son is given to
us. Do you see how many titles the prophet used to make clear the reality of His birth in
the body? for he called Him both Son and child on purpose that the manner of the child
which was born might be more clearly shown by a name referring to His infancy; and the
Holy Spirit foreseeing without doubt this perversity of blasphemous heretics, showed to
the whole world that it was God who was born, by the very terms and words used; that even
if a heretic was determined to utter blashemy, he might not find any loophole for his
blasphemy. Therefore he says: "A Son is born to us; a child is given to us; and the
government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called the angel of great
counsel, God the mighty, the Father of the world to come, the prince of peace. He teaches
that this child which was born is both prince of peace and Father of the world to come and
God the mighty. What room is there then for shuffling?

This child which is born cannot be severed from God who is born in Him, for he called Him,
whom he spoke of as born, Father of the world to come; Him whom he called a child, he
foretold as God the mighty. What is it, O heretic? Whither will you betake yourself? Every
place is hedged and shut in: there is no possibility of getting out of it. There is
nothing for it but that you should at length be obliged to confess the mistake which you
would not understand. But not content with these passages which are indeed enough let us
inquire what the Holy Ghost said through another prophet. "Shall a man," says he, "pierce
his God, for you are piercing me? In order that the subject of the prophecy might be still
clearer the prophet foretells what he proclaimed of the Lord's passion as if from the
mouth of Him of whom he was speaking. "Shall a man pierce his God, for you are piercing
me? Does not our Lord God, I ask, seem to have said this when He was led to the Cross? Why
indeed do you not acknowledge Me as your Redeemer? Why are ye ignorant of God clothed in
flesh for you? Are you preparing death for your Saviour? Are yon leading forth to death
the Author of life? I am your God whom ye are lifting up: your God whom ye are crucifying.
What mistake, I ask, is here or what madness is it?

"Shall a man pierce his God, for you are piercing me? Do you see how exactly the words
describe what was actually done? Could you ask for anything more express or clearer? Do
you see how sacred testimonies follow our Incarnate Lord Jesus Christ from the very cradle
to the Cross which He bore, as here you can see that He whom elsewhere you read of as God
when born in the flesh was God when pierced on the cross? And so there, where His birth
was treated of, He is spoken of by the prophet as God: and here where His crucifixion is
concerned, He is most clearly named God; that the taking upon Him of manhood might not in
any point prejudice dignity of His Divinity, nor the humiliation of His body and the shame
of the passion affect the glory of His majesty; for His condescension to so lowly a birth
and His generous goodness in enduring his passion ought to increase our love and devotion
to Him; since it is certainly a great and monstrous sin if, the more He lavishes love upon
us, the less He is honoured by us.

Chapter IV.

He produces testimonies to the same doctrine from the Apostle Paul. But passing over these
things which cannot possibly be unfolded because there would be no limit to the telling of
them, as the blessings which he gives are without stint, it is time for us to consult the
Apostle Paul, the stoutest and clearest witness to Him, for he can tell us everything
about God in the most trustworthy way because God always spoke from his breast. He then,
the chosen teacher of the nations, who was sent to destroy the errors of Gentile
superstition, bears his witness in the following way to the grace and coming of our Lord
God: "The grace," he says, "of God and our Saviour appeared unto all men, instructing us
that denying ungodliness and worldly desires we should live soberly and justly and godly
in this world, looking for the blessed hope and coming of the glory of the great God and
our Saviour Jesus Christ. He says that "there appeared the grace of God our Saviour.
Admirably does he use a word suited to show the arrival of a new grace and birth; for by
saying "there appeared," he indicated the approach of a new grace and birth, for
thenceforward the gift of a new grace began to appear, from the moment when God appeared
as born in the world. Thus by using the right word, and one exactly suitable, he shows the
light of this new grace almost as if he pointed to it with his finger.

For that is most properly said to appear, which is shown by sudden light manifesting it.
Just as we read in the gospel that the star appeared to the wise men in the East: and in
Exodus: "There appeared," he says, "to Moses an angel in a flame of fire in the bush: for
in all these and in the case of other visions in the Holy Scripture, Scripture determined
that this word in particular should be used, that it might speak of that as "appearing,"
which shone forth with unwonted light. So then the Apostle also, well knowing the coming
of the heavenly grace, which appeared at the approach of the holy nativity, indicated it
by using a term applied to a bright appearance; expressly in order to say that it
appeared, as it shone with the splendour of a new light. "There appeared" then "the grace
of God our Saviour. Surely you cannot raise any quibble about the ambiguity of the names
in this place, so as to say that "Christ"is one and "God" another, or to divide "the
Saviour" from the glory of His name, and separate "the Lord" from the Divinity? Lo, here
the vessel of God speaks from God, and testifies by the clearest statement that the grace
of God appeared from Mary.

And in order that you may not deny that God appeared from Mary, he at once adds the name
of Saviour, on purpose that you may believe that He who is born of Mary is God, whom you
cannot deny to have been born a Saviour, in accordance with this passage: "For to you is
born to-day a Saviour. O excellent teacher of the Gentiles truly given by God to them, for
he knew that this wild heretical folly would arise, which would turn to controversial uses
the names of God, and would not hesitate to slander God from His own titles; and so just
in order that the heretic might not separate the title of Saviour from the Divinity he put
first the name of God, that the name of God standing first might claim as His all the
names which followed, and that no one might imagine that in what followed Christ was
spoken of as a mere man, as by the very first word used he had taught that He was God.
"Looking," says the same Apostle, "for the blessed hope and coming of the glory of the
great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. Certainly that teacher of divine wisdom saw that
plain and simple teaching would not in itself be sufficient to meet the crafty wiles of
the devil's cunning, unless he fortified the holy preaching of the faith with a protection
of extreme care.

And so although he had used the name of God the Saviour up above, he here adds "Jesus
Christ," in case you might think that the mere name of Saviour was not enough to indicate
to you our Lord Jesus Christ, and might fail to understand that the God, whom you
acknowledge as God the Saviour, is the same Jesus Christ. What then does he say? He says:
"Looking for the blessed hope and coming of the glory of the great God and our Saviour
Jesus Christ. Nothing is here wanting as regards the titles of our Lord and you see here
God, and the Saviour, and Jesus, and Christ. But when you see all these, you see that they
all belong to God. For you have heard of Him as God, but as Saviour as well. You have
heard of Him as God, but as Jesus as well. You have heard of Him as God, but as Christ as
well. That which the Divinity has joined and united together cannot be separated by this
diversity of titles; for whichever you may seek for of them, all, you will find it there.
The Saviour is God, Jesus is God, Christ is God. In all of this which you hear, though the
titles used are many, yet they belong to one Person in power. For whereas the Saviour is
God, and Jesus is God, and Christ is God, it is easy to see that all these, though
different appellations, are united as regards the Majesty.

And when you hear quite plainly that one and the same Person is called God in each case,
you can surely clearly see that in all these cases there is but one God spoken of. And so
you cannot any longer seek to make out a distinction of power from the different names
given to the Lord, or to make a difference of Person owing to variety of titles. You
cannot say: Christ was born of Mary, but God was not; for an Apostle declares that God
was. You cannot say that Jesus was born of Mary, but God was not; for an Apostle testifies
that God was. You cannot say: the Saviour was born, but God was not; for an Apostle
supports the fact that God was. There is no way of escape for you. Whichever of the titles
of the Lord you may take, He is God, of whom you speak. You have nothing to say: nothing
to assert: nothing to invent in your wicked falsehood. You can in impious un belief refuse
to believe: you have nothing to deny in the matter of your blasphemy.

Chapter V.

From the gifts of Divine grace which we receive through Christ he infers that He is truly
God. Although we began to speak some time back on this Divine grace of our Lord and
Saviour, I want to say somewhat more on the same subject from the Holy Scriptures. We read
in the Acts of the Apostles that the Apostle James thus refuted those who thought that
when they received the gospel they ought still to bear the yoke of the old Law: "Why,"
said he, "do ye tempt God, to put a yoke upon the necks of the disciples which neither our
fathers nor we have been able to bear. But by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we
believe to be saved in like manner as they also. The Apostle certainly speaks of the gift
of this grace as given by Jesus Christ. Answer me now, if you please: do you think that
this grace which is given for the salvation of all men, is given by man or by God? If you
say, By man, Paul, God's own vessel, will cry out against you, saying: "There appeared the
grace of God our Saviour. He teaches that this grace is the result of a Divine gift, and
not of human weakness. And even if the sacred testimony was not sufficient, the truth of
the matter itself would bear its witness, because fragile earthly things cannot possibly
furnish a thing of lasting and immortal value; nor can anyone give to another that in
which he himself is lacking, nor supply a sufficiency of that, from the want of which he
admits that he himself is suffering.

You cannot then help admitting that the grace comes from God. It is God then who has given
it. But it has been given by our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore the Lord Jesus Christ is
God. But if He be, as He certainly is, God: then she who bore God is Theotocos, i.e., the
mother of God. Unless perhaps you want to take refuge in so utterly absurd and blasphemous
a contradiction as to deny that she from whom God was born is the mother of God, while you
cannot deny that He who was born is God. But, however, let us see what the gospel of God
thinks about this same grace of our Lord: "Grace and truth," it says, "came by Jesus
Christ. If Christ is a mere man, how did these come by Christ? Whence was there in Him
Divine power if, as you say,there was in Him only the nature of man? Whence comes heavenly
largesse, if His is earthly poverty? For no one can give what he has not already. As then
Christ gave Divine grace, He already had that which He gave. Nor can anyone endure a
diversity of things that are so utterly different from each other, as at one and the same
time to suffer the wants of a poor man, and also to show the munificence of a bounteous
one. And so the Apostle Paul, knowing that all the treasures of heavenly riches are found
in Christ, rightly writes to the Churches:

"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. For though he had already often enough
taught that God is the same as Christ, and that all the glory of Deity resides in Him, and
that all the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth in Him bodily, yet here he is certainly right
in praying for the grace of Christ alone, without adding the word God: for while he had
often taught that the grace of God is the same as the grace of Christ, he now most
perfectly prays only for the grace of Christ, for he knows that in the grace of Christ is
contained the whole grace of God. Therefore he says: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you. If Jesus Christ was a mere man, then in his wish that the grace of Christ
might be given to the Churches he was wishing that the grace of a man might be given; and
by saying: "The grace of Christ be with you" he meant: the grace of a man be with you, the
grace of flesh be with you, the grace of bodily weakness, the grace of human frailty! Or
why did he ever even mention the word grace, if his wish was for the grace of a man? For
there was no reason for wishing, if that was not in existence which was wished for;

nor ought he to have prayed that there might be bestowed on themthe grace of one who,
according to you, did not possess the reality of that grace for which he was wishing. And
so you see that it is utterly absurd and ridiculous - or rather not a thing to laugh at
but to cry over, for what is a matter for laughter to some frivolous persons becomes a
matter for crying to pious and faithful souls, for they shed tears of charity for the
folly of your unbelief, and weep pious tears at thefolly of another's impiety. Let us then
recover ourselves for a while and take our breath, for this idea is not only without
wisdom but also without the Spirit, as it is certainly wanting in spiritual wisdom and has
nothing to do with the Spirit of salvation.

Chapter VI.

That the power of bestowing Divine grace did not come to Christ in the course of time, but
was innate in Him from His very birth. But perhaps you will say that this grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, of which the Apostle writes, was not born with Him, but was afterwards
infused into Him by the descent of Divinity upon Him, since you say that the man Jesus
Christ our Lord (whom you call a mere man) was not born with God, but afterwards was
assumed by God: and that through this grace was given to the man at the same time that
Divinity was given to Him. Nor do we say anything else than that Divine grace descended
with the Divinity, for the Divine grace of God is in a way a bestowal of actual Divinity
and a gift of a liberal supply of graces. Perhaps then it may be thought that the
difference between us is one of time rather than of what is essential, since the Divinity
which we say was born with Jesus Christ you say was afterwards infused into Him. But the
fact is that if you deny that Divinity was born with the Lord you cannot afterwards make a
confession according to the faith; for it is an impossibility for one and the same thing
to be partly impious and also to turn out partly pious, and for the same thing partly to
belong to faith and partly to misbelief. To begin with then I ask you this: Do you say
that our Lord Jesus Christ, who was born of the Virgin Mary is only the Son of man, or
that He is the Son of God as well?

For we, I mean all who hold the Catholic faith, all of us, I say, believe and are sure and
know and confess that He is both, i.e., that He is Son of man because born of a woman and
Son of God because conceived of Divinity. Do you then admit that He is both, i.e., Son of
God and Son of man, or do you say that He is Son of man only? If Son of man only then
there cry out against you apostles and prophets, aye and the Holy Ghost Himself, by whom
the conception was brought about. That most shameless mouth of yours is stopped by all the
witnesses of the Divine decrees: it is stopped by sacred writings and holy witnesses: aye
and it is stopped by the very gospel of God as if by a Divine hand. And that mighty
Gabriel who in the case of Zacharias restrained the voice of unbelief by the power of his
word, much more strongly condemned in your case the voice of blasphemy and sin, by his own
lips, saying to the Virgin Mary, the mother of God: "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee,
and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which
shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Do you see how Jesus Christ is first
proclaimed to be the Son of God that according to the flesh He might become the Son of
man?

For when the Virgin Mary was to bring forth the Lord she conceived owing to the descent of
the Holy Spirit upon her and the cooperation of the power of the Most High. And from this
you can see that the origin of our Lord and Saviour must come from thence, whence His
conception came; and since He was born owing to the descent of the fulness of Divinity in
Its completeness upon the Virgin, He could not be the Son of man unless He had first been
the Son of God; and so the angel when sent to announce His nativity and sacred birth, when
he had already spoken of the mystery of His conception added a word expressive of His
birth, saying: "Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called
the Son of God [i.e., He shall be called the Son of Him from whom He was begotten]. Jesus
Christ is therefore the Son of God, because He was begotten of God and conceived of God.
But if He is the Son of God, then most certainly He is God: but if He is God, then He is
not lacking in the grace of God. Nor indeed was He ever lacking in that of which He is
Himself the maker. For grace and truth were made by Jesus Christ."

Chapter VII.

How in Christ the Divinity, Majesty, Might and Power have existed in perfection from
eternity, and will continue. Therefore all grace, power, might, Divinity, aye, and the
fulness of actual Divinity and glory have ever existed together with Him and in Him,
whether in heaven or in earth or in the womb or at His birth. Nothing that is proper to
God was ever wanting to God. For the Godhead was ever present with God, no where and at no
time severed from Him. For everywhere God is present in His completeness and in His
perfection. He suffers no division or change or diminution; for nothing can be either
added to God or taken away from Him, for He is subject to no diminution of Divinity, as to
no increase of It. He was the same Person then on earth who was also in heaven: the same
Person in His low estate who was also in the highest: the same Person in the littleness of
manhood as in the glory of the Godhead. And so the Apostle was right in speaking of the
grace of Christ when He meant the grace of God. For Christ was everything that God is. At
the very time of His conception as man there came all the power of God, all the fulness of
the Godhead; for thence came all the perfection of the Godhead, whence was His origin. Nor
was that Human nature of His ever without the Deity as it received from Deity the very
fact of its existence. And so, to begin with, whether you like it or no, you cannot deny
this;

viz., that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God, especially as the archangel declares
in the gospels: "That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of
God. But when this is established then remember that whatever you read of Christ you read
of the Son of God: whatever you read of the Lord or Jesus belongs to the Son of God. And
so when you recognize a title of Divinity in all these terms which you hear uttered, as
you see that in each case you ought to understand that the Son of God is meant, prove to
me, if you like, how youcan separate the Godhead from the Son ofGod.


THE SEVEN BOOKS ON THE INCARNATION OF THE LORD
==============================================

THE SEVEN BOOKS ON THE INCARNATION OF THE LORD continued

BOOK III: CHRIST, GOD AND MAN IN ONE PERSON

Chapter I.

That Christ, who is God and man in the unity of Person, sprang from Israel and the Virgin
Mary according to the flesh. That divine teacher of the Churches when in writing to the
Romans he was reproving or rather lamenting the unbelief of the Jews, i.e., of his own
brethren, made use of these words: "I wished myself," said he, "to be accursed from
Christ, for my brethren, who are my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to
whom belongeth the adoption as of children, and the glory, and the testaments, and the
giving of the law, and the ser vice of God, and the promises: whose are the fathers, of
whom is Christ according to the flesh, who is over all things, God blessed for ever. O,
the love of that most faithful Apostle, and most kindly kinsman! who in his infinite
charity wished to die-as a kinsman for his relations, and as a master for his disciples.
And what then was the reason why he wished to die? Only one; viz., that they might live.
But in what did their life consist? Simply in this, as he himself says, that they might
recognize a Divine Christ born according to the flesh, of their own flesh. And therefore
the Apostle grieved the more, because those who ought to have loved Him the more as sprung
from their own stock, failed to understand that He was born of lsrael. "Of whom," said he,
"is Christ according to the flesh, who is over all things, God blessed for ever.

Clearly he lays down that from them according to the flesh, was born that Christ who is
over all, God blessed for ever. You certainly cannot deny that Christ was born from them
according to the flesh. But the same Person, who was born from them, is God. How can you
get round this? How can you shuffle out of it? The Apostle says that Christ who was born
of Israel according to the flesh, is God. Teach us, if you can, at what time He did not
exist. "Of whom," he says, "is Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God. You
see that because the Apostle has united and joined together these, "God" cannot possibly
be separated from "Christ. For just as the Apostle declares that Christ is of them, so he
asserts that God is in Christ. You must either deny both of these statements, or you must
accept both. Christ is said to be born of them according to the flesh: but the same Person
is declared by the Apostle to be "God in Christ. Whence also he says elsewhere: "For God
was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself. It is absolutely impossible to separate
one from the other. Either deny that Christ sprang from them, or admit that there was born
of the virgin God in Christ, "who is," as he says, "over all, God blessed for ever."

Chapter II.

The title of God is given in one sense to Christ, and in another to men. The name of God
would for the faithful be amply sufficient to denote the glory of His Divinity, but by
adding "over all, God blessed," he excludes a blasphemous and perverse interpretation of
it, for fear that some evil-disposed person to depreciate His absolute Divinity might
quote the fact that the word God is sometimes applied by grace in the Divine economy
temporarily to men, and thus apply it to God by unworthy comparisons, as where God says to
Moses: "I have given thee as a God to Pharaoh," or in this passage: "I said ye are Gods,"
where it clearly has the force of a title given by condescension. For as it says "I said,"
it is not a name showing power, so much as a title given by the speaker. But that passage
also, where it says: "I have given thee as a God to Pharaoh," shows the power of the giver
rather than the Divinity of him who receives the title. For when it says: "I have given,"
it thereby certainly indicates the power of God, who gave, and not the Divine nature, in
the person of the recipient. But when it is said of our God and Lord Jesus Christ, "who is
over all, God blessed for ever," the fact is at once proved by the words, and the meaning
of the words shown by the name given: because in the case of the Son of God the name of
God does not denote an adoption by favour, but what is truly and really His nature.

Chapter III.

He explains the apostle's saying: "If from henceforth we know no man according to the
flesh," etc. And so the same Apostle says: "From henceforth we know no man according to
the flesh, and if we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him so no
longer. Admirably consistent are all the writings of the sacred word with each other, and
in every portion of them: even where they do not correspond in the form of the words, yet
they agree in the drift and substance. As where he says: "And if we have known Christ
according to the flesh, yet now we know Him so no longer. For the witness of the passage
before us confirms that quoted above, in which he said: "Of whom is Christ according to
the flesh, who is over all, God blessed for ever. For there he writes: "Of whom is Christ
according to the flesh; and here: "if we have known Christ according to the flesh. There:
"who is over all, God blessed for ever; and here: "yet now we no longer know Christ
according to the flesh. The look of the words is different, but their force and drift is
the same. For it is the same Person whom he there declares to be God over all born
according to the flesh, whom he here asserts that he no longer knows according to the
flesh. And plainly for this reason; viz., because Him whom he had known as born in the
flesh, he acknowledges as God for ever;

and therefore says that he knows him not after the flesh, because He is over all, God
blessed for ever; and the phrase there: "who is over all God," answers to this: "we no
longer know Christ according to the flesh; and this phrase: "we no longer know Christ
according to the flesh" implies this: "who is God blessed for ever. The declaration of
Apostolic teaching then somehow rises, as it were to greater heights, and though it is
self-consistent throughout, yet it supports the mystery of the perfect faith, with a still
more express statement, and says: "And though we have known Christ according to the flesh,
yet now we know Him so no longer," i.e., as formerly we knew Him as man as well as God,
yet now only as God. For when the frailty of flesh comes to an end, we no longer know
anything in Him except the power of Divinity, for all that is in Him is the power of
Divine Majesty, where the weakness of human infirmity has ceased to exist. In this passage
then he has thoroughly expounded the whole mystery of the Incarnation, and of His perfect
Divinity. For where he says: "And if we have known Christ according to the flesh," he
speaks of the mystery of God born in flesh. But by adding "yet now we know Him so no
longer," he manifests His power when weakness is laid aside.

And thus that knowledge of the flesh has to do with His humanity, and that ignorance, with
the glory of His Divinity. For to say "we have known Christ according to the flesh: means
"as long as that which was known, existed. Now we no longer know it, after it has ceased
to exist. For the nature of flesh has been transformed into a spiritual substance: and
that which formerly belonged to the manhood, has all become God's. And therefore we no
longer know Christ according to the flesh, because when bodily infirmity has been absorbed
by Divine Majesty, nothing remains in that Sacred Body, from which weakness of the flesh
can be known in it. And thus whatever had formerly belonged to a twofold substance, has
become attached to a single Power. Since there is no sort of doubt that Christ, who was
crucified through human weakness lives entirely through the glory of His Divinity.

Chapter IV.

From the Epistle to the Galatians he brings forward a passage to show that the weakness of
the flesh in Christ was absorbed by His Divinity. The Apostle indeed declares this in the
whole body of his writings, and admirably says in writing to the Galatians: "Paul an
Apostle not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father." You see how
thoroughly consistent he is with himself in the former and the present passage. For there
he says: "Now we no longer know Christ according to the flesh." Here he says: "Not of men,
neither by man, but by Jesus Christ." It is clear that his doctrine is the same here as in
the former passage. For where he says that he is not sent by man, he implies: "We have not
known Christ according to the flesh:" and so I am "not sent by man" but "by Christ;" for
if I am sent by Christ, I am not sent by man but by God. For there is no longer room for
the name ofman, in Him whom Divinity claims entirely for itself. And so when he had said
that he was sent "not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ," he rightly added: "And
God the Father," thus showing that he was sent by God the Father and God the Son; in whom
owing to the mystery of the sacred and ineffable generation there are two Persons (He who
begets, and He who is begotten), but there is but one single Power of God who is the
sender. And so in saying that he was sent by God the Father and God the Son, he shows that
the Persons are two in number, but he also teaches that their Power is One in sending.

Chapter V.

As it is blasphemy to pare away the Divinity of Christ, so also is it blasphemous to deny
that He is true man. But he says "by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised Him from
the dead." That renowned and admirable teacher, knowing that our Lord Jesus Christ must be
preached as true man, as well as true God, always declares the glory of the Divine in Him,
in such a way as not to lose hold of the confession of the Incarnation: plainly excluding
the phantasm of Marcion, by a real Incarnation, and the poverty of the Ebionite, by
Divinity: lest through one or other of these wicked blasphemies it might be believed that
our Lord Jesus Christ was either altogether man without God, or God without man.
Excellently then did the Apostle, when declaring that He was sent by God the Son as well
as by God the Father, add at once a confession of the Lord's Incarnation, by saying: "Who
raised Him from the dead:" clearly teaching that it was a real body of the Incarnate God,
which was raised from the dead: in accordance with this: "And though we have known Christ
according to the flesh," excellently adding: "Yet now we know Him so no longer." For he
says that he knows this in Him according to the flesh; viz., that He was raised from the
dead; but that he knows Him no longer according to the flesh inasmuch as when the weakness
of the flesh is at an end, he knows that He exists in the Power of God only. Surely he is
a faithful and satisfactory witness of our Lord's Divinity which had to be proclaimed, who
at his first call was smitten from heaven itself, and did not merely believe in his heart
the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was raised from the dead, but actually established
its truth by the evidence of his bodily eyes.

Chapter VI.

He shows from the appearance of Christ vouchsafed to the Apostle when persecuting the
Church, the existence of both natures in Him. Wherefore also, when arguing before King
Agrippa and others of the world's judges, he speaks as follows: "When I was going to
Damascus with authority and permission of the chief priests, at midday, O king, I saw in
the way a light from heaven above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and
all those that were with me. And when we were all fallen down to the ground, I heard a
voice saying unto me in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? It is hard
for thee to kick against the goad. And I said, Who art Thou, Lord? And the Lord said to
me: I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. You see how truly the Apostle said that
he no longer knew according to the flesh one whom he had seen in such splendour and
majesty. For when as he lay prostrate he saw the splendour of that divine light which he
was unable to endure, there followed this voice: "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? And
when he asked who it might be, the Lord answers and clearly points out His Personality: "I
am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. Now then, you heretic, I ask you, I summon
you. Do you believe what the Apostle says of himself, or do you not believe it? Or if you
think that unimportant, do you believe what the Lord says of Himself or do you not believe
it? If you do believe it, there is an end of the matter:

for you cannot help believing what we believe. For we, like the Apostle, even if we have
known Christ according to the flesh, yet know Him so no longer. We do not heap insults on
Christ. We do not separate the flesh from the Divinity; and all that is in Christ we
believe is in God. If then you believe the same that we believe you must acknowledge the
same mysteries of the faith. But if you differ from us, if you refuse to believe the
Churches, the Apostle, aye and God's own testimony about Himself, show us in this vision
which the Apostle saw, how much is flesh, and how much God. For I cannot here separate one
from the other. I see the ineffable light, I see the inexpressible splendour, I see the
radiance that human weakness cannot endure, and beyond what mortal eyes can bear, the
glory of God shining with inconceivable light. What room is there here for division and
separation? In the voice we hear Jesus, in the majesty we see God. How can we help
believing that in one and the same (Personal) substance God and Jesus exist. But I should
like to have a few more words with you on this subject.

Tell me, I pray you, if there appeared to you in your present persecution of the Catholic
faith that same vision which then appeared to the Apostle in his ignorance, if when you
were not expecting it and were off your guard, that radiance shone round about you, and
the glory of that boundless light smote you in your terror and confusion, and you lay
prostrate in darkness of body and soul; which the unlimited and indescribable terror of
your heart increased, -tell me, I intreat you; When the dread of immediate death was
pressing on you, and the terror of the glory that threatened you from above, weighed you
down, and you heard as well in your bewilderment of mind those words which your sin so
well deserves: "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? and to your inquiry who it was the
answer was given from heaven: "I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest," what would
you say? "I do not know, I do not yet fully believe. I want to think over it with myself a
little longer, who I think that Thou art, who speakest from heaven, who overwhelmest me
with the brightness of Thy Divinity: whose voice I hear and whose splendour I cannot bear.
I must consider of this matter, whether I ought to believe Thee or not: whether Thou art
Christ or God. If Thou art God alone whether it is in Christ. If Thou art Christ alone,
whether it is in God.

I want this distinction to be carefully observed, and thoroughly considered what we should
believe that Thou art, and what we should judge Thee to be. For I don't want any of my
offices to be wasted. As if I were to regard Thee as a man, and yet pay to Thee some
Divine honours. If then you were lying on the ground, as the Apostle Paul was then lying,
and overwhelmed with the brightness of the Divine light, were at your last gasp, perhaps
you would say this, and prate with all this silly chattering. But what shall we make of
the fact that another course commended itself to the Apostle; and when he had fallen down,
trembling and half dead, he did not think that he ought any longer to conceal his belief,
or to deliberate it was enough for him that he was taught by inexpressible arguments to
know that He whom he had ignorantly fancied to be a man, was God. He did not conceal his
belief, he made no delay. He did not any longer protract his erroneous ideas by
deliberating and disbelieving, but as soon as he heard from heaven the name of Jesus his
Lord, he replied in a voice, subdued like that of a servant, tremulous like that of one
scourged, and full of fervour like that of one converted, "What shall I do, Lord?

And so at once for his ready and earnest faith, it was granted to him that He should never
be without His presence whom he had faithfully believed: and that He, to whom he had
passed in heart, should Himself pass into his heart: as the Apostle himself says of
himself: "Do you seek a proof of Christ that speaketh in me?"

Chapter VII.

He shows once more by other passages of the Apostle that Christ is God. I want you to tell
me, you heretic, whether in this passage He who, as the Apostle tells us, speaks in him,
is man or God. If He is man, how can another's body speak in his heart? If God, then
Christ is not a man but God; for since Christ spoke in the Apostle, and only God could
speak in him, therefore a Divine Christ spoke in him. And so you see that there is nothing
to be said here, that no division or separation can be made between Christ and God:
because complete Divinity was in Christ, and Christ was completely in God. No division or
severing of the two can here be admitted. There is only one simple, pious, and sound
confession to be made; viz., to adore, love, and worship Christ as God. But do you want to
understand more fully and thoroughly that there is no separation to be made between God
and Christ, and that we must hold that God is altogether one with Christ? Hear what the
Apostle says to the Corinthians: "For we must all be manifested before the judgment seat
of Christ, that every one may receive the proper things of the body, according as he hath
done, whether it be good or evil. But in another passage, in writing to the Romans he
says: "We shall all stand before the judgment seat of God: for it is written: As I live,
saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

You see then that the judgment seat of God is the same as that of Christ; understand then
without any doubt that Christ is God; and when you see that the substance of God and
Christ is altogether inseparable, admit also that the Person cannot be severed. Unless
forsooth because the Apostle in one Epistle said that we should be manifested before the
judgment seat of Christ, and in another before that of God, you invent two judgment seats,
and fancy that some will be judged by Christ and others by God. But this is foolish and
wild, and madder than a madman's utterances. Acknowledge then the Lord of all, the God of
the universe, acknowledge the judgment seat of God in the judgment seat of Christ. Love
life, love your salvation, love Him by whom you were created. Fear Him by whom you are to
be judged. For whether you will or no, you have to be manifested before the judgment seat
of Christ, and laying aside wicked blasphemy and the childish talk of unbelieving words,
though you think that the judgment seat of God is different from that of Christ, you will
come before the judgment seat of Christ, and will find by evidence that there is no
gainsaying, that the judgment seat of God is indeed the same as that of Christ, and that
in Christ the Son of God, there is all the glory of God the Son, and the power of God the
Father.

"For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son, that all men
may honour the Son as they honour the Father. For whoever denies the Father denies the Son
also. "Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: he that confesseth the
Son, hath the Father also. And so you should learn that the glory of the Father and the
Son is inseparable, and their majesty is inseparable also and that the Son cannot be
honoured without the Father, nor the Father without the Son. But no man can honour God and
the Son of God except in Christ the only-begotten Son of God. For it is impossible for a
man to have the Spirit of God who is to be honoured except in the Spirit of Christ, as the
Apostle says: "But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of
God dwell in you. But if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. And
again: "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.
Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ Jesus who died, yea rather who rose again. You see
then now, even against your will, that there is absolutely no difference between the
Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ, or between the judgment of God and the judgment of
Christ.

Choose then which you will -for one of the two must happen-either acknowledge in faith
that Christ is God, or admit that God is in Christ at your condemnation.

Chapter VIII.

When confessing the Divinity of Christ we ought not to pass over in silence the confession
of the cross. But let us see what else follows. In writing to the church of Corinth, he
whom we spoke of above, the instructor of all the churches viz. Paul, speaks thus: "The
Jews," says he, "seek signs, and the Greeks ask for wisdom. But we preach Christ
crucified, to the Jews a stumbling-block, to the Gentiles foolishness: but to them that
are saved, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. O most
powerful teacher of the faith, who even in this passage, when teaching the Church thought
it not enough to speak of Christ as God without adding that He was crucified on purpose
that for the sake of the open and solid teaching of the faith he might proclaim Him, whom
he called the crucified, to be the wisdom of God. He then employed no subtilty or
circumlocution, nor did he when he preached the gospel of the Lord blush at the mention of
the cross of Christ. And though it was a stumbling-block to the Jews, and foolishness to
the Gentiles to hear of God as born, God in bodily form, God suffering, God crucified, yet
he did not weaken the force of his pious utterance because of the wickedness of the
offence of the Jews: nor did he lessen the vigour of his faith because of the unbelief and
the foolishness of others:

but openly, persistently, and boldly proclaimed that He, whom a mother had borne, whom men
had slain, the spear had pierced, the cross had stretched-was "the power and wisdom of
God, to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Gentiles foolishness. But still that which
was to some a stumbling-block and foolishness, was to others the power and wisdom of God.
For as the persons differed, so was there a difference of their thoughts: and what a man
who was void of sound understanding, and incapable of true good, foolishly denied in
unbelief, that a wise faith could feel in its inmost soul to be holy and life giving.

Chapter IX.

How the Apostle's preaching was rejected by Jews and Gentiles because it confessed that
the crucified Christ was God. Tell me then, you heretic, you enemy of all men, but of
yourself above all-to whom the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is an offence as with the
Jews, and foolishness as with the Gentiles, you who reject the mysteries of true
salvation, with the stumbling of the former, and are foolish with the stubbornness of the
others, why was the preaching of the Apostle Paul foolishness to the pagans, and a
stumbling-block to the Jews? Surely it would never have offended men, if he had taught
that Christ was, as you maintain He is, a mere man? For who would think that His birth,
passion, cross, and death were incredible or a difficulty? Or what would there have been
novel or strange about the preaching of Paul, if he had said that a merely human Christ
suffered that which human nature daily endures among men everywhere? But it was surely
this that the foolishness of the Gentiles could not receive, and the unbelief of the Jews
rejected; viz., that the Apostle declared that Christ whom they, like you, fancied to be a
mere man, was God. This it certainly was which the thoughts of these wicked men rejected,
which the ears of the faithless could not endure; viz., that the birth of God should be
proclaimed in the man Jesus Christ, that the passion of God should be asserted, and the
cross of God proclaimed. This it was which was a difficulty: this was what was incredible;

for that was incredible to the hearing of men, which had never been heard of as happening
to the Divine nature. And so you are quite secure, with such an announcement and teaching
as yours, that your preaching will never be either foolishness to the Gentiles or a
stumbling-block to the Jews. You will never be crucified with Peter by Jews and Gentiles,
nor stoned with James, nor beheaded with Paul. For there is nothing in your preaching to
offend them. You maintain that a mere man was born, a mere man suffered. You need not be
afraid of their troubling you with persecution, for you are helping them by your
preaching.

Chapter X.

How the apostle maintains that Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. But let
us see something more on the subject. Christ then, according to the Apostle, is the power
of God and the wisdom of God. What have you to say to this? How can you get out of it?
There is no place for yOu to escape and fly to. Christ is the wisdom of God and the power
of God. He, I say, whom the Jews attacked, the Gentiles mocked, whom you yourself together
with them are persecuting,-He, I say, who is foolishness to the heathen, and a stumbling-
block to the Jews, and both to you, He, I say, is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
What is there that you can do? Shut your ears, forsooth, so as not to hear? This the Jews
did also when the Apostle was preaching. Do what you will, Christ is in heaven, and in
God, and with Him, and in Him in the heavens above in whom also He was here below: you can
no longer persecute Him with the Jews. But you do the one thing that you can. You
persecute Him in the faith, you persecute Him in the church, you persecute Him with the
arms of a wicked belief, you persecute Him with the sword of false doctrine. Perhaps you
do rather more than the Jews of old did. You now persecute Christ, after ever those who
did persecute Him, have believed. But perhaps you think that the sin is less because you
can no longer lay hands on Him.

No less grievous, I tell you, no less grievous to Him is that persecution, in which sinful
men persecute Him in the persons of His followers. But the mention of the Lord's cross
offends you. It always offended the Jews as well. You shudder at hearing that God
suffered: the Gentiles in their error mocked at this also. I ask you then, in what point
do you differ from them, since you both agree in this frowardness? But for my part I not
only do not water down this preaching of the holy cross, this preaching of the Lord's
passion, but as far as my wishes and powers go I emphasise it. For I will declare that He
who was crucified is not only the power and wisdom of God, than which there is nothing
greater, but actually Lord of absolute Divinity and glory. And this the rather, because
this assertion of mine is the doctrine of God, as the Apostle says: "We speak wisdom among
them that are perfect: but the wisdom not of this world, nor of the rulers of this world
who are brought to nought: but we speak the hidden wisdom of God in a mystery, which God
ordained before the world, unto our glory: which none of the princes of this world knew:
for if they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is
written:

that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what
God hath prepared for them that love Him. You see what great matters the Apostle's
discourse comprises in how small a compass. He says that he speaks wisdom, but a wisdom
which only those that are perfect can know, and which the prudent of this world cannot
know. For he says that this is the wisdom of God, which is hidden in a Divine mystery, and
predestined before all worlds for the glory of the saints: and that therefore it is only
known to those who savour of God; while the princes of this world are utterly ignorant of
it. But he adds the reason, to establish both points that he had mentioned, saying: "For
if they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory. But it is
written, that eye hath not seen, nor ear hath heard, neither hath it entered into the
heart of man, what God hath prepared for them that love Him. You see then how the wisdom
of God, hidden in a mystery, and predestined before all worlds, was unknown to those who
crucified the Lord of glory, and known by those who received it. And well does he say that
the wisdom of God was hidden in a mystery, for never yet could the eye of any man see, or
the ear hear, or the heart imagine this;

viz., that the Lord of glory should be born of a virgin and come in the flesh, and suffer
all kinds of punishment, and shameful passion. But with regard to these gifts of God, as
there is no one who-since they were hidden in a mystery-could ever of himself understand
them, so blessed is he who has grasped them when they are revealed. Thus all who have
failed to grasp them must be reckoned among the princes of this world, and those who have
grasped them among God's wise ones. He then does not grasp it who denies God born in the
flesh; therefore you also do not grasp it, as you deny this. But do what you will, deny as
impiously as you like, we the rather believe the Apostle. But why should I say the
Apostle? the rather do we believe God. For through the Apostle we believe Him, whom we
know to have spoken by the Apostle. The Divine word says that the ord of glory was
crucified by the princes of the world. You deny it. They also who crucified Him denied
that it was God whom they were crucifying. They then who confess Him have their portion
with the Apostle who confessed Him. You are sure to have your lot with His persecutors.
What is there then that can be replied to this? The Apostle says that the Lord of glory
was chief-fled. Alter this if you can. Separate now, if you please, Jesus from God.

At least you cannot deny that Christ was crucified by the Jews. But it was the Lord of
glory who was crucified. Therefore you must either deny that Christ was nailed to the
cross, or you must admit that God was nailed to it.

Chapter XI.

He supports the same doctrine by proofs from the gospel. But perhaps it is a difficulty to
you that all this time I am chiefly using the witness of the Apostle Paul alone. He is
good enough for me, whom God chose, nor do I blush to call as the witness to my faith, the
man whom God willed to be the teacher of the whole world. But to yield to your wishes, as
perhaps you fancy that I have no other proofs to use, hear the perfect mystery of man's
salvation and eternal bliss, which Martha proclaims in the gospel. For what does she say?
"Of a truth, Lord, I have believed that Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,
who art come into this world." Learn the true faith from a woman. Learn the confession of
eternal hope. Yet you have a splendid consolation: you need not blush to be taught the
mystery of salvation by her, whose testimony God did not refuse to accept.

Chapter XII.

He proves from the renowned confession of the blessed Peter that Christ is God. But if you
prefer the authority of a greater person (although you ought not to slight the authority
of any one of either sex, on whom the confession of the mystery confers weight-for
whatever may be a person's condition, or however humble his position, yet the value of his
faith is not thereby diminished) let us interrogate no beginner or untaught schoolboy, nor
a woman whose faith might perhaps appear to be but rudimentary; but that greatest of
disciples among disciples, and of teachers among teachers, who presided and ruled over the
Roman Church, and held the chief place in the priesthood as he did in the faith. Tell us
then, tell us, we pray, O Peter, thou chief of Apostles, tell us how the Churches ought to
believe in God. For it is right that you should teach us, as you were taught by the Lord,
and that you should open to us the gate, of which you received the key. Shut out all those
who try to overthrow the heavenly house: and those who are endeavouring to enter by secret
holes and unlawful approaches: as it is clear that none can enter the gate of the kingdom
save one to whom the key bestowed on the Churches is revealed by you. Tell us then how we
ought to believe in Jesus Christ and to confess our common Lord. You will surely reply
without hesitation:

"Why do you consult me as to the way in which the Lord should be confessed, when you have
before you my own confession of Him? Read the gospel, and you will not want me myself,
when you have got my confession. Nay, you have got me myself when you have my confession;
for though I have no weight apart from my confession, yet the actual confession adds
weight to my person. Tell us then, O Evangelist, tell us the confession: tell us the faith
of the chief Apostle: did he confess that Jesus was only a man, or God? did he say that
there was nothing but flesh in Him, or did he proclaim Him the Son of God? When then the
Lord Jesus Christ asked whom the disciples believed and confessed Him to be, Peter, the
first of the Apostles, replied-one in the name of all-for the answer of one was to the
same effect as the faith of them all. But it was fitting that he should first give the
answer, that the order of the answer might correspond to the degree of honour: and that he
might outstrip them in confession, as he outstripped them in age. What then does he say?
"Thou art," he says, "the Christ the Son of the living God. I am obliged, you heretic, to
make use of a plain and simple question to confute you. Tell me, I pray, who was He, to
whom Peter gave that answer? You cannot deny that it was the Christ.

I ask then, what do you call Christ? man or God? Man certainly without any doubt: for
hence springs the whole of your heresy, because you deny that Christ is the Son of God.
And so too you say that Mary is Christotocos, but not Theotocos, because she was the
mother of Christ, not of God. Therefore you maintain, that Christ is only a man, and not
God, and so that He is the Son of man not of God. What then does Peter reply to this?
"Thou art," he says, "the Christ, the Son of the living God. That Christ whom you declare
to be only the Son of man, he testifies to be the Son of God. Whom would you like us to
believe? you or Peter? I imagine that you are not so shameless as to venture to prefer
your own opinion to that of the first of the Apostles. And yet what is there that you
would not venture on? or how can you help scorning the Apostle, if you can deny God? "Thou
art then," he says, "the Christ, the Son of the living God. Is there anything puzzling or
obscure in this? It is nothing but a plain and open confession: he proclaims Christ to be
the Son of God. Perhaps you will deny that the words were spoken: but the Evangelist
testifies that they were. Or do you say that the Apostle told a lie? But it is an awful
lie to accuse an Apostle of lying.

Or perhaps you will maintain that the words were spoken of some other Christ? But this is
a novel kind of monstrous fabrication. What then is left for you? One thing indeed; viz.,
that since what is written is read, and what is read is true, you should finally be driven
by force and compulsion (as you cannot assert its falsehood) to desist from impugning its
truth.

Chapter XIII.

The confession of the blessed Peter receives a testimony to its truth from Christ Himself.
But still, as I have made use of the testimony of the chief Apostle, in which he openly
confessed the Lord Jesus Christ as God, let us see how He whom he confessed approved of
his confession; for of far more value than the Apostle's words is the fact that God
Himself commended his utterance. When then the Apostle said: "Thou art the Christ the Son
of the living God," what was the answer of our Lord and Saviour? "Blessed art thou," said
He, "Simon Barjonah, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee but the Spirit of
My Father which is in heaven. If you do not like to use the testimony of the Apostle use
that of God. For by commending what was said God added His own authority to the Apostle's
utterance, so that although the utterance came from the lips of the Apostle, yet God who
approved of it made it His own. "Blessed art thou," said He, "Simon Barjonah, for flesh
and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but the Spirit of My Father which is in heaven.
Thus in the words of the Apostle you have the testimony of the Holy Spirit and of the Son
who was present and of God the Father. What more can you want, or what comes up to this?
The Son commended: the Father was present: the Holy Ghost revealed. The utterance of the
Apostle thus gives the testimony of the entire Godhead:

for this utterance must necessarily have the authority of Him from whose prompting it
proceeds. "Blessed then art thou," said He, "Simon Barjonah, for flesh and blood hath not
revealed it unto thee, but the Spirit of My Father which is in heaven. If then flesh and
blood did not reveal this to Peter or inspire him, you must at last see who inspires you.
If the Spirit of God taught him who confessed that Christ was God, you see how you are
taught by the spirit of the devil if you can deny it.

Chapter XIV.

How the confession of the blessed Peter is the faith of the whole Church. But what are the
other words which follow that saying of the Lord's, with which He commends Peter? "And I,"
said He, "say unto thee, that thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build My Church."
Do you see how the saying of Peter is the faith of the Church? He then must of course be
outside the Church, who does not hold the faith of the Church. "And to thee," saith the
Lord, "I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven." This faith deserved heaven: this
faith received the keys of the heavenly kingdom. See what awaits you. You cannot enter the
gate to which this key belongs, if you have denied the faith of this key. "And the gate,"
He adds, "of hell shall not prevail against thee." The gates of hell are the belief or
rather the misbelief of heretics. For widely as hell is separated from heaven, so widely
is he who denies from him who confessed that Christ is God. "Whatsoever," He proceeds,
"thou shalt bind on earth, shalt be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on
earth, shalt be loosed also in heaven." The perfect faith of the Apostle somehow is given
the power of Deity, that what it should bind or loose on earth, might be bound or loosed
in heaven. For you then, who come against the Apostle's faith, as you see that already you
are bound on earth, it only remains that you should know that you are bound also in
heaven. But it would take too long to go into details which are so numerous as to make a
long and wearisome story, even if they are related with brevity and conciseness.

Chapter XV.

St. Thomas also confessed the same faith as Peter after the Lord's resurrection. But I
want still to add one more testimony from an Apostle for you: that you may see how what
followed after the passion corresponded with what went before it. When then the Lord
appeared in the midst of His disciples when the doors were shut, and wished to make clear
to the Apostles the reality of His body, when the Apostle Thomas felt His flesh and
handled His side and examined His wounds-what was it that he declared, when he was
convinced of the reality of the body shown to him? "My Lord," he said, "and my God. Did he
say what you say, that it was a man and not God? Christ and not Divinity? He surely
touched the body of his Lord and answered that He was God. Did he make any separation
between man and God? or did he call that flesh Theotocos, to use your expression, i.e.,
that which received Divinity? or did he, after the fashion of your blasphemy, declare that
He whom he touched was to be honoured not for His own sake, but for the sake of Him whom
He had received into Himself? But perhaps God's Apostle knew nothing of that subtle
separation of yours, and had no experience of the fine distinctions of your judgment, as
he was a rude countryman, ignorant of the dialectic art, and of the method of philosophic
disputation; for whom the Lord's teaching was amply sufficient, and as he was one who knew
nothing whatever except what he learnt from the instruction of the Lord!

And so his words contain heavenly doctrine; his faith is a Divine lesson. He had never
learnt to separate, as you do, the Lord from His body: and had no idea how to rend God
asunder from Himself. He was holy, straightforward, upright: filled with practical
innocence, unalloyed faith, and pure knowledge: having a simple understanding joined with
prudence, a wisdom entirely free from all evil, together with perfect simplicity: ignorant
of any corruption, and free from all heretical perversity, and as one who had experienced
in himself the force of the Divine lesson, he held fast everything which he had learnt.
And so he-countryman and ignorant fellow as you fancy him-shuts you up with a brief
answer, and destroys your position with a few words of his. What then did the Apostle
Thomas touch when he drew near to handle his God? Certainly it was Christ without any
doubt. But what did he exclaim? "My Lord," he said, "and my God. Now, if you can, separate
Christ from God, and change this Saying, if you are able to. Make use of all dialectic
art-all the prudence of this world, and that foolish wisdom which consists in wordy
subtlety. Turn yourself about in every direction, and draw in your horns. Do whatever you
can with ingenuity and art. Say what you like, and do what you like; you cannot possibly
get out of this without confessing that what the Apostle touched was God.

And indeed, if the thing can, possibly be done, perhaps you will want to alter the
statement of the gospel story, so that we may not read that the Apostle Thomas touched the
body of the Lord, or that he called Christ Lord and God. But it is absolutely impossible
to alter what is written in the gospel of God. For "heaven and earth shall pass away, but
the words" of God "shall not pass away. For lo, even now he who then bore his witness, the
Apostle Thomas, proclaims to you: "Jesus whom I touched is God. It is God whose limbs I
handled. I did not feel what was incorporeal, not handle what was intangible: I touched
not a Spirit with my hand, so that it might be believed that I said of it alone `It is
God.' For `a spirit,' as my Lord Himself said, `hath not flesh and bones.' I touched the
body of my Lord. I handled flesh and bones. I put my fingers into the prints of the
wounds: and I declared of Christ my Lord, whom I had handled: 'My Lord and my God.' For I
know not how to make a separation between Christ and God, and I cannot insert blasphemous
distinctions between Jesus and God, or rend my Lord asunder from Himself. Away from me,
whoever is of a different opinion, and whoever says anything different. I know not that
Christ is other than God. This faith I held together with my fellow apostles: this I
delivered to the Churches:

this I preached to the Gentiles: this I proclaim to thee also, Christ is God, Christ is
God. A sound mind imagines nothing else: a sound faith says nothing else. The Deity cannot
be parted from Itself. And since whatever is Christ is God, there can be found in God none
other but God."

Chapter XVI.

He brings forward the witness of God the Father to the Divinity of the Son. What do you
say now, you heretic? Are these evidences of the faith, aye and of all your unbelief,
enough for you: or would you like some more to be added to them? but what can be added
after Prophets and Apostles? unless perhaps-as the Jews once demanded-you too might ask
for a sign to be given you from heaven? But if you ask this; we must give you the same
answer which was formerly given to them: "An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after
a sign. And no sign shall be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah. And indeed
this sign would be enough for you as for the Jews who crucified Him, that you might be
taught to believe in the Lord God by this alone, through which even those who had
persecuted Him, came to believe. But as we have mentioned a sign from heaven, I will show
you a sign from heaven: and one of such a character that even the devils have never
gainsaid it: while, constrained by the demands of truth, though they saw Jesus in bodily
form, they yet cried out that He was God, as indeed He was. What then does the Evangelist
say of the Lord Jesus Christ? "When He was baptized," he says, "straightway He went up out
of the water. And lo, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit descending
like a dove, and coming upon Him. And behold, a voice from heaven, saying:

This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. What do you say to this, you heretic?Do
you dislike the words spoken, or the Person of the Speaker? The meaning of the utterance
at any rate needs no explanation: nor does the worth of the Speaker need the commendation
of words. It is God the Father who spoke. What He said is clear enough. Surely you cannot
make so shameless and blasphemous an assertion as to say that God the Father is not to be
believed concerning the only begotten Son of God? "This," He then says, "is My beloved Son
in whom I am well pleased. But perhaps you will try to maintain that this is madness, and
that this was said of the Word and not of Christ. Tell me then who was it who was
baptized? The Word or Christ? Flesh or Spirit? You cannot possibly deny that it was
Christ. That man then, born of man and of God, conceived by the descentOf the Holy Spirit
upon the Virgin, and by the overshadowing of the Power of the Most High, and thus the Son
of man and of God, He it was, as you cannot deny, who was baptized. If then it was He who
was baptized, it was He also who was named, for certainly the Person who was baptized was
the one named. "This," said He, "is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Could
anything be said with greater significance or clearness? Christ was baptized.

Christ went up out of the water. When Christ was baptized the heavens were opened. For
Christ's sake the dove descended upon Christ, the Holy Spirit was present in a bodily
form. The Father addressed Christ. If you venture to deny that this was spoken of Christ,
the only thing is for you to maintain that Christ was not baptized, that the Spirit did
not descend, and that the Father did not speak. But the truth itself is urgent and weighs
you down so that even if you will not confess it, yet you cannot deny it. For what says
the Evangelist? "When He was baptized, straightway He went up out of the water. Who was
baptized? Most certainly Christ. "And behold," he says, "the heavens were opened to Him.
To where, forsooth, save to Him who was baptized? Most certainly to Christ. "And He saw
the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon Him. Who saw? Christ indeed. Upon
whom did It descend? Most certainly upon Christ. "And a voice came from heaven. saying"-of
whom? Of Christ indeed: for what follows? "This is My beloved Sen, in whom I am well
pleased. In order that it might be made clear on whose account all this happened, there
followed the voice, saying: "This is My beloved Son," as if to say: This is He on whose
account all this took place. For this is My Son: on His account the heavens were opened:
on His account My Spirit came: on His account My voice was heard.

For this is My Son. In saying then "This is My Son" whom did He so designate? Certainly
Him whom the dove touched. And whom did the dove touch? Christ indeed. Therefore Christ is
the Son of God. My promise is fulfilled, I fancy. Do you see then now, O heretic, a sign
given you from heaven; and not one only, but many and special ones?For there iS one in the
opening of heaven, another in the descent of the Spirit, a third in the voice of the
Father. All of which most clearly show that Christ is God, for the laying open of the
heavens indicates that He is God, and the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Him supports His
Divinity, and the address of the Father confirms it. For heaven would not have been opened
except in honour of its Lord: nor would the Holy Ghost have descended in a bodily form
except upon the Son of God: nor would the Father have declared Him to be the Son, had he
not been truly such; especially with such tokens of a Divine birth, as not merely to
confirm the truth Of the right faith, but also to exclude the wickedness of guilty and
erroneous belief. For when the Father had expressly and pointedly said with the
inexpressible majesty of a Divine utterance, "This is My Son," He added also what
follows-I mean, "My beloved, in whom I am well pleased.

As He had already declared Him by the prophet to be God the Mighty and God the Great, so
when He says here, "My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased," He adds further to the name
of His own Son the title also of His beloved Son, in whom He is well pleased: that the
addition of the titles might denote the special properties of the Divine nature; and that
that might specially redound to the glory of the Son of God, which had never happened to
any man. And so just as in the case of our Lord Jesus Christ these special and unique
things happened; viz., that the heavens were opened, that in the sight of all God the
Father touched Him in a sort of way, through the coming and presence of the dove, and
pointed almost with His finger to Him saying, "This is My Son; so this too is special and
unique in His case; viz., that He is specially beloved, and is specially named as well-
pleasing to the Father, in order that these special accompaniments might mark the special
import of His nature, and that the special character of His names might support the
special position of the only begotten Son, which the honour of the signs previously given
had already confirmed. But here comes the end of this book. For this saying of God the
Father can neither be added to, nor equalled by any words of men.

For us God the Father Himself is a sufficiently satisfactory witness concerning our Lord
Jesus Christ, when He says "This is My Son. If you think that it is possible for these
utterances of God the Father to be gainsaid, then you are forced to contradict Him, who by
the clearest possible announcement caused Him to be acknowledged as His Son by the whole
world.

BOOK IV: CHRIST BEFORE THE INCARNATION

Chapter I.

That Christ was before the Incarnation God from everlasting. AS we have finished three
books with the most certain and the most valuable witnesses, whose truth is substantiated
not only by human but also by Divine evidences, they would abundantly suffice to prove our
case by Divine authority, especially as the Divine authority of the case itself would be
enough for this. But still as the whole mass of the sacred Scriptures is full of these
evidences, and where there are so many witnesses, there are so many opinions to be urged-
nay where Holy Scripture itself gives its witness so to speak with one Divine mouth-we
have thought it well to add some others still, not from any need of confirmation, but
because of the supply of material at our disposal; so that anything which might be
unnecessary for purposes of defence, might be useful by way of ornamentation. Therefore
since in the earlier books we proved the Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ while He was in
the flesh by the evidence not only of prophets and apostles, but of evangelists and angels
as well, let us now show that He who was born in the flesh was God even before His
Incarnation;

that you may understand by the harmony and concord of the evidences from the sacred
Scriptures, that you ought to believe that at His birth in the body He was both God and
man, who before His birth was only God, and that He who after He had been brought forth by
the Virgin in the body was God, was before His birth from the Virgin, God the Word. Learn
then first of all from the Apostle the teacher of the whole world, that He who is without
beginning, God, the Son of God, became the Son of man at the end of the world, i.e., in
the fulness of the times. For he says: "But when the fulness of the times was come, God
sent His Son, made of a woman, made under the law. Tell me then, before the Lord Jesus
Christ was born of His mother Mary, had God a Son or had He not? You cannot deny that He
had, for never yet was there either a son without a father, or a father without a son:
because as a son is so called with reference to a father, so is a father so named with
reference to a son.

Chapter II.

He infers from what he has said that the Virgin Mary gave birth to a Son who had pre-
existed and was greater than she herself was. You see then that when the Apostle says that
God sent. His Son, it was His own Son to use the actual words of the Apostle, "His own
Son" that God sent. For, since He sent His own Son, it was not some one else's Son that He
sent, nor could He send Him at all if He who was sent had no existence. He sent then, he
says, "His own Son, made of a woman. Therefore because He sent Him, He sent one who
existed: and because He sent His own, it certainly was not another's but His own whom He
sent. What then becomes of that argument of yours drawn from this world's subtleties? No
one ever yet gave birth to one who had already existed before. For had not the Lord a pro-
existence before Mary? Was not the Son of God existent before the daughter of man? In a
word did not God Himself exist before man-since certainly there is no man who is not from
God. You see then that I do not merely say that Mary gave birth to one who had existed
before her, not only, I say, one who had existed before her, but one who was the author of
her being, and that in giving birth to her Creator, she became the mother of Him who gave
her being:

because it was as simple for God to bring about birth for Himself as for man and as easy
for Him to arrange that He Himself should be born of mankind, as that a man should be
born. For the power of God is not limited in regard to His own Person, as if what was
allowable to Him in the case of all others, was not allowable in His own case, and as if
He who in the Divine nature could do all things as God, was yet unable in His own Person
to become God in man. Setting aside thenand rejecting your foolish and feeble and dull
arguments from earthly things, we ought merelyto put credence in straightforward
evidenceand the naked truth, and to adapt our faith tothose witnesses of God alone, whom
God sent, and in whose person He Himself, so to speak, preached. For it is fight to
believe Him in a matter concerning knowledge of Himself, as everything that we know of Him
comes from Him Himself, for God could not possibly be known of men, unless He Himself gave
us the knowledge of Himself. And so it is right that we should believe everything of Him
that we know, from whom comes everything that we know, for if we do not believe Him from
whom our knowledge comes, the result will be that we shall know nothing at all, since we
refuse to believe Him, through whom our knowledge comes.

Chapter III.

He proves from the Epistle to the Romans the eternal Divinity of Christ. And so as it is
clear from the above testimony that God sent His own Son, and that He who was ever the Son
of God became the Son of man, let us see whether the same Apostle gives any Other
testimony of the same sort elsewhere, that the truth which is already clear enough in
itself, may be rendered still more clear by the light of a twofold testimony. So then the
same Apostle says: "God sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. You see that the
Apostle certainly did not use these words by chance or at random, as he repeated what he
had already said once-for indeed there could not be found in him chance or want of
consideration as the fulness of Divine counsel and speech had taken up its abode in him.
What then does he say? "God sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. He says the
same thing again and repeats it, saying, "God sent His own Son. Oh renowned and excellent
teacher! for knowing that in this is contained the whole mystery of the Catholic faith, in
order that it might be believed that the Lord was born in the flesh and that the Son of
God was sent into this world, again and again he makes the same proclamation saying, "God
sent His own Son.

Nor need we wonder that he who was specially sent to preach the coming of God, made this
announcement, since even before the law, the giver of the law himself proclaimed it,
saying: "I beseech Thee, 0 Lord, provide another whom Thou mayest send," or as it stands
still more clearly in the Hebrew text: "I beseech Thee, O Lord, send whom Thou wilt send.
It is clear that the holy prophet, feeling in himself a yearning for the whole human race,
prayed as it were with the voices of all mankind to God the Father that He would send as
speedily as possible Him who was to be sent by the Father for the redemption and salvation
of all men, when he said, "I beseech Thee, O Lord, send whom Thou wilt send. "God," he
therefore says, "sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. Full well, when he says
that He was sent in the flesh, does he exclude for Him sin of the flesh: for he says "God
sent His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin," in order that we may know that
though the flesh was truly taken, yet there was no true sin, and that, as far as the body
is concerned, we should understand that there was reality; as far as sin is concerned,
only the likeness of sin.

Forthough all flesh is sinful, yet He had flesh without sin, and had in Himself the
likeness of sinful flesh, while He was in the flesh but He was free from what was truly
sin, because He was without sin: and therefore he says: "God sent His own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh."

Chapter IV.

He brings forward other testimonies to the same view. IF you would know how admirably the
Apostle preached this, hear how this utterance was put into his mouth; as if from the
mouth of God Himself, as the Lord says: "For God sent not His Son into the world to judge
the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. For lo, as you see, the Lord
Himself affirms that He was sent by God the Father to save mankind. But if you think that
it ought to be shown still more clearly, what Son God sent to save men,-though God's own
and only begotten can only be one, and when God is said to have sent His Son, He is
certainly shown to have sent His only begotten Son,-yet hear the prophet David pointing
out with the utmost clearness Him who was sent for the salvation of Men. "He sent," said
he, "His Word and healed them. Can you twist this so as to refer it to the flesh as if you
could say that a mere man was sent by God to heal mankind? You certainly cannot, for the
prophet David and all the holy Scriptures would cry out against you, saying, "He sent His
Word and healed them. You see then, that the Word was sent to heal men, for though healing
was given through Christ, yet the Word of God was in Christ, and healed all things through
Christ:

and so since Christ and the Word were united in the mystery of the Incarnation, Christ and
the Word of God became one Son of God in either substance. And when the Apostle John was
anxious to state this clearly, he said "God sent His Son to be the Saviour of the world.
Do you see how he joined together God and man in an union that cannot be severed? For
Christ who was born of Mary is without the slightest doubt called Saviour, as it is said,
"For to you is born this day a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. But here he calls the
very Word of God, which was sent, a Saviour, saying: "God sent his Son to be the Saviour
of the world."

Chapter V.

How in virtue of the hypostatic union of the two natures in Christ the Word is rightly
termed the Saviour, or incarnate man, and the Son of God. And so it is clear that through
the mystery of the Word of God joined to man, the Word, which was sent to save men, can be
termed Saviour, and the Saviour, who was born in the flesh, can through union with the
Word be called the Son of God; and so through the indifferent use of either title, since
God is joined to man, whatever is God and man, canbe termed altogether God. And so the
same Apostle well adds the words: "Whoever believeth that Jesus is the Son of God, God
abideth in him, and the love of God is perfected in him." He tells us that he believes,
and declares that he is filled with divine love, who believes that Jesus is the Son of
God. But he testifies that the Word of God is the Son of God, and thus means us fully to
understand that the only begotten Word of God, and Jesus Christ the Son of God are one and
the same Person. But do you want to be toldmore fully that,-though Christ according to the
flesh was truly born as man of man,-yet in virtue of the ineffable unity of the mystery,
by which man was joined to God, there is no separation between Christ and the Word? Hear
the gospel of the Lord, or rather hear the Lord Himself saying of Himself: "This," says
He, "is life eternal, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom
Thou hast sent." You heard above that the Word of God was sent to heal mankind: here you
are told that He who was sent is Jesus Christ. Separate this, if you can,-though you see
that so great is the unity of Christ and the Word, that it was not merely that Christ was
united with the Word, but that in virtue of the actual unity [of Person] Christ may even
be said to be the Word.

Chapter VI.

That there is in Christ but one Hypostasis (i.e., Personal self). But perhaps you think it
a trifle to make this clear: not because it fails in clearness, but because the obscurity
of unbelief always causes obscurity even in what is clear. Hear then how the Apostle sums
up in a few words this whole mystery of the Lord's unity Person]. "Our one Lord Jesus
Christ," he says, "by whom are all things. O good Jesus, what weight there is in Thy
words! For Thine they are, when spoken of Thee by Thine own. See how much is embraced in
the few words of this saying of the Apostle's. "One Lord," says he, "Jesus Christ, by whom
are all things. Did he make use of any circumlocution in order to proclaim the truth of
this great mystery? or did he make a long story of that which he wanted us to grasp? "Our
one Lord," he says, "Jesus Christ, by whom are all things. In a plain and short phrase he
taught the secret of this great mystery, through this confidence by which he realized that
in what refers to God his statements had no need of lengthened arguments, and that the
Divinity added faith to his utterances. For the demonstration of facts is enough to
confirm what is said, whenever the proof rests on the authority of the speaker. There is
then, he says, "one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things. Notice how you read the
same thing of the Word of the Father, which you read of Christ.

For the gospel tells us that "All things were made by Him, and without Him was not
anything made. The Apostle says, "By Christ are all things: the gospel says, "By the Word
are all things. Do these sacred utterances contradict each other? Most certainly not. But
by Christ, by whom the Apostle said that all things were created, and by the Word, by whom
the Evangelist relates that all things were made, we are meant to understand one and the
same Person. Hear, I tell you, what the Word of God, Himself God, has said of Himself. "No
man," he saith, "hath ascended into heaven, save He who came down from heaven, even the
Son of man, who is in heaven. And again He says: "If ye shall see the Son of man ascending
where He was before. He said that the Son of man was in heaven: He asserted that the Son
of man had come down from heaven. What does it mean? Why are you muttering? Deny it, if
you can. But do you ask the reason of what is said? However I do not give it you. God has
said this. God has spoken this to me: His Word is the best reason. I get rid of arguments
and discussions. The Person of the Speaker alone is enough to make me believe. I may not
debate about the trustworthiness of what is said, nor discuss it.

Why should I question whether what God has said is true, since I ought not to doubt that
what God says is true. "No man," He says, "hath ascended into heaven, save He who came
down from heaven, even the Son of man, who is in heaven. Certainly the Word of the Father
was ever in heaven: and how did He assert that the Son ofman was ever in heaven? You are
then to understand that He showed that He who was ever the Son of God was also the Son of
man: when lie asserted that He, who had but recently appeared as the Son of man, was ever
in heaven. To this points still mere that other passage in which He testifies that the
same Son of man; viz., the Word of God who, as He said, came down from heaven, even at the
time when He was speaking on earth, was in heaven. For "no man," He said, "hath ascended
into heaven, save He who came down from heaven, even the Son of man who is in heaven. Who,
I pray you, is this who is speaking? Assuredly it is Christ. But where was He at the
moment when He spoke? Assuredly on earth.

And how can He assert that He came down from heaven when He was born, and that He was in
heaven when He was speaking, or say that He is the same Son of man, when certainly no one
but God can come down from heaven, and when He speaks on earth, and certainly cannot be in
heaven except through the Infinite nature of God? Consider then this at last, and note
that the Son of man is the same Person as the Word of God: for He is the Son of man since
He is truly born of man, and the Word of God, since He who speaks on earth abideth ever in
heaven. And so when He truly terms Himself the Son of man, it refers to His human birth,
while the fact that He never departs from heaven, refers to the Infinite character of His
Divine nature. And so the Apostle's teaching is admirably in accordance with those sacred
words:("for He that descended," says He, "is the same that ascended also above all
heavens, that He might fill all things," ) when He says that He that descended is the same
that ascended. But none can descend from heaven except the Word of God: who certainly
"being in the form of God, emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in
the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross. Thus the Word of God descended from
heaven:

but the Son of man ascended. But He says that the same Person ascended and descended. Thus
you see that the Son of man is the same Person as the Word of God.

Chapter VII.

He returns to the former subject, in order to show against the Nestorians that those
things are said of the man, which belong to the Divine nature as it were of a Person of
Divine nature, and conversely that those things are said of God, which belong to the human
nature as it were of a Person of human nature, because there is in Christ but one and a
single Personal self. And so following the guidance of the sacred word we may now say
fearlessly and unhesitatingly that the Son of man came down from heaven, and that the Lord
of Glory was crucified: because in virtue of the mystery of the Incarnation, the Son of
God became Son of man, and the Lord of Glory was crucified in(the nature of) the Son of
man. What more is there need of? It would take too long to go into details: for time would
fail me, were I to try to examine and explain everything which could be brought to bear on
this subject. For one who wished to do this would have to study and read the whole Bible.
For what is there which does not bear on this, when all Scripture was written with
reference to this? We must then say-as far as can be said-some things briefly and
cursorily, and enumerate rather than explain them, and sacrifice some to save the rest, as
for this reason it would certainly be well hurriedly to run through some points, lest one
should be obliged to pass over almost everything in silence. The Saviour then in the
gospel says that "the Son of man is come to save what was lost. And the Apostle says:
"This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation; that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners, of whom I am chid. But the Evangelist John also says: "He came unto
his own, and His own received Him not.

You see then that Scripture says in one place that the Son of man, in another Jesus
Christ, in another the Word of God came into the world. And so we must hold that the
difference is one of title not of fact, and that under the appearance of different names
there is but one Power [or Person]. For though at one time we are told that the Son of
man, and at another that the Son of God came into the world, but one Person is meant under
both names.

Chapter VIII.

How this interchange of titles does not interfere with HisDivine power. For certainly when
the evangelist says that He came into the world by whom the world itself was made, and
that He was made the Son of man, who is as God the creator of the world, it makes no
difference what particular title is used, as God in all cases is meant. For His
condescension and will do not interfere with His Divinity, since they the rather prove His
Divinity, because whatever He willed came to pass. Therefore also because He willed it, He
came into the world; and because He willed it, He was born a man; and because He willed
it, He was termed the Son of man. For just as there are so many words, so are they powers
belonging to God. The variety of names in Him does not take anything away from the
efficacy of His power. Whatever may be the names given Him, in all eases it is one and the
same Person. Though there may be some variety in the appearance of His titles, yet there
is but a single Divine Person(Majestas) meant by all the names.

Chapter IX.

He corroborates this statement by the authority of the oldprophets. But since up to this
point we have made use more particularly of the witness, comparatively new, of evangelists
and apostles, now let us bring forward the testimony of the old prophets, intermingling at
times new things with old, that everybody may see that the holy Scriptures proclaim as it
were with one mouth that Christ was to come in the flesh, with a body of His own complete.
And so that far-famed and renowned prophet as richly endowed with God's gifts as with his
testimony, to whom alone it was given to be sanctified before His birth, Jeremiah, says,
"This is our Lord, and there shall no other be accounted of in comparison with Him. He
found out all the way of knowledge and gave it to Jacob His servant and Israel His
beloved. Afterwards He was seen upon earth and conversed with men. "This is," then, he
says, "our God. You see how the prophet points to God as it were with his hand, and
indicates Him as it were with his finger. "This is," he says, "our God. Tell me then, who
was it that the prophet showed by these signs and tokens to be God? Surely it was not the
Father? For what need was there that He should be pointed out, whom all believed that they
knew? For even then the Jews were not ignorant of God, for they were living under God's
law. But he was clearly aiming at this, that they might come to know the Son of God as
God.

And so excellently did the Prophet say that He who had found out all knowledge, i.e., had
given the law, was to be seen upon earth, i.e., was to come in the flesh, in order that,
as the Jews did not doubt that He who had given the law was God, they might recognize that
He who was to come in the flesh was God, especially since they heard that He, in whom they
believed as God the giver of the law, was to be seen among men by taking upon Him manhood,
as He Himself promises His own advent by the prophet: "For I myself that spoke, behold I
am here. "There shall then," says the Scriptures, "be no other accounted ofin comparison
of Him. Beautifully does the prophet here foresee false teaching, and so exclude the
interpretations of heretical perverseness. "There shall no other be accounted of in
comparison of Him. For He is alone begotten to be God of God: at whose bidding the
completion of the universe followed: whose will is the beginning of things: whose empire
is the fabric of the world: who spake all things, and they came to pass: commanded all
things, and they were created.

He then alone it is who spake to the patriarchs, dwelt in the prophets, was conceived by
the Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, appeared in the world, lived among men, fastened to
the wood of the cross the handwriting of our offences, triumphed in Himself, slew by His
death the powers that were at enmity and hostile to us; and gave to all men belief in the
resurrection, and by the glory of His body put an end to the corruption of man's flesh.
You see then that all these belong to the Lord Jesus Christ alone: and therefore no other
shall be accounted of in comparison with Him, for He alone is God begotten of God in this
glory and unique blessedness. This then is what the prophet's teaching was aiming at;
viz., that He might be known by all men to be the only begotten Son of God the Father, and
that when they heard that no other was accounted of as God in comparison with the Son,
they might confess that there was but one God in the Persons of the Father and the Son.
"After this," he said, "He was seen upon earth and conversed with men. You see how plainly
this points to the advent and nativity of the Lord. For surely the Father-of whom we read
that He can only be seen in the Son-was not seen upon earth, nor born in the flesh, nor
conversed with men? Most certainly not.

You see then that all this is spoken of the Son of God. For since the prophet said that
God should be seen upon earth, and no other but the Son was seen upon earth, it is clear
that the prophet said this only of Him, of whom facts afterwards proved that it was
spoken. For when He said that God should be seen, He could not say this truly, except of
Him who was indeed afterwards seen. But enough of this. Now let us turn to another point.
"The labour of Egypt," says the prophet Isaiah, "and the merchandise of Ethiopia and of
the Sabaeans, men of stature, shall come over to thee and shall be thy servants. They
shall walk after thee, bound with manacles, and they shall worship thee, and they shall
make supplication to thee: for in thee is God, and there is no God beside thee. For thou
art our God and we knew thee not, O God of lsrael the Saviour. How wonderfully consistent
the Holy Scriptures always are! For the first mentioned prophet said, "This is our God,"
and this one says, "Thou art our God. In the one there is the teaching of Divinity, in the
other the confession of men. The one exhibits the character of the Master teaching, the
other that of the people confessing.

For consider now the prophet Jeremiah daily teaching, as he does, in the church, and
saying of the Lord Jesus Christ, "This is our God," what else could the whole Church
reply, as it does, than what the other prophet said to the Lord Jesus, "Thou art our God.
So that full well could the mention of their past ignorance be joined to their present
acknowledgment, in the words of the people: "Thou art our God, and we knew thee not. For
well can these who, in times past being taken up with the superstitions of devils did not
know God, yet when now converted to the faith say, "Thou art our God, and we knew thee
not."

Chapter X.

He proves Christ's Divinity from the blasphemy of Judaizing Jews as well as from the
confession of converts to the faith of Christ. But if you would like to have this proved
to you rather from representatives of the Jews, consider the Jewish people when after
their unhappy ignorance and wicked persecution they were converted, and acknowledged God
here and there, and see whether they could not rightly say, "Thou art our God, and we knew
Thee not." But I will add something else, to prove it to you not only from those Jews who
confess Him, but also from those who deny Him. For ask those Jews who still continue in
their state of unbelief whether they know or believe in God. They will certainly confess
that they both know and believe in Him. But on the other band ask them whether they
believe in the Son of God. They will at once deny and begin to blaspheme. against Him. You
see then that the Prophet said this of Him of whom the Jews have always been ignorant, and
whom now they know not; and not of Him whom they imagine that they believe in and confess.
And so full well can those, who after having been in ignorance come out of Judaism to the
faith, say, "Thou art our God, and we knew Thee not." For rightly do those, who after
having been ignorant come to believe, say that they knew not Him in whom up to this time
they have not believed, and whom they strive not to know. For it is clear that those who
after their previous ignorance come to confess Him, say that formerly they knew Him not,
whom up to this time they have ignorantly denied.

Chapter XI.

He returns to the prophecy of Isaiah. "The labour," says he, "of Egypt, and the
merchandize of Ethiopia, and the Sabaeans, men of stature shall come over to thee. No one
can doubt that in these names of different nations is signified the coming of the nations
who were to believe. But you cannot deny that the nations have come over to Christ, for
since the name of Christianity has arisen, they have come over to the Lord Jesus Christ
not only in faith but actually in name. For since they are called what they really are,
that which was the work of faith becomes the token by which they are named. "They shall,"
he says, "come over to thee and shall be thine: they shall walk after thee bound with
manacles. As there are chains of coercion, so too there are chains of love, as the Lord
says: "I drew them with chains of love. For indeed great are these chains, and chains of
ineffable love, for those who are bound with them rejoice in their fetters. Do you want to
know whether this is true? Hear how the Apostle Paul exults and rejoices in his chains,
when he says: "I therefore a prisoner in the Lord beseech you. And again: "I beseech thee,
whereas thou art such an one as Paul the aged, and now a prisoner also of Jesus Christ.
You see how he rejoiced in the dignity of his chains, by the example of which he actually
stirred up others.

But there can be no doubt that where there is single-minded love of the Lord, there is
also single-minded delight in chains worn for the Lord's sake: as it is written: "But the
multitude of the believers was of one heart and one soul. "And they shall worship thee,"
he says, "and shall make supplication to thee: for in thee is God, and there is no God
beside thee. The Apostle clearly explains the prophet's words, when he says that "God was
in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. "In Thee then," he says, "is God and there is
no God beside thee. When the prophet says "In Thee is God," most admirably does he point
not merely to Him who was visible, but to Him who was in what was visible, distinguishing
the indweller from Him in whom He dwelt, by pointing out the two natures, not by denying
the unity(of Person).

Chapter XII.

How the title of Saviour is given to Christ in one sense, andto men in another. "Thou," he
says, "art our God, and we knew Thee not, O God of Israel the Saviour." Although holy
Scripture has already shown by many and clear tokens, who is here spoken of, yet it has
most plainly pointed to the name of Christ by using the name of Saviour: for surely the
Saviour is the same as Christ, as the angel says: "For to you is born this day a Saviour
who is Christ the Lord." For everybody knows that in Hebrew" Jesus" means "Saviour," as
the angel announced to the holy Virgin Mary, saying: "And thou shall call His name Jesus,
for He it is that shall save His people from their sins." And that you may not say that He
is termed Saviour in the same sense as the title is given to others("And the Lord raised
up to them a Saviour, Othniel the Son of Kenaz," and again, "the Lord raised up to them a
Saviour, Ehud the son of Gera" ), he added: "for He it is that shall save His people from
their sins." But it does not lie in the power of a man to redeem his people from the
captivity of sin,-a thing which is only possible for Him of whom it is said, "Behold the
Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." For the others saved a people not
their own but God's, and not from their sins, but from their enemies.

Chapter XIII.

He explains who are those in whose person the Prophet Isaiah says: "Thou art our God, and
we knew Thee not." "Thou art then," he says, "our God, and we knew Thee not, O God of
lsrael the Saviour. Who do you imagine chiefly say this; and in whose mouths are such
words specially suitable, Jews or Gentiles? If you say Jews: certainly the Jews did not
know Christ, as it is said, "But Israel hath not known Me, My people have not considered;
and, "The world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. He came unto His own, and His
own received Him not. But if you say Gentiles, it is clear that the Gentile world was
given over to idols, and knew not Christ, though it knew not the Father any more; but
still if it has now come to know Him, it is only through Christ. You see then that whether
the believing people belong to the Jews or the Gentiles, in either case they can truly say
for themselves: "Thou art our God; and we knew Thee not, O God of Israel the Saviour. For
the Gentiles who formerly worshipped idols knew not God; and the Jews who denied the Lord,
knew not the Son of God. And thus both truly say of Christ: "Thou art our God and we knew
Thee not. For those who did not believe in God were as ignorant of Him as those who denied
the Son of God.

If therefore Christ is to be believed in, as the truth declares, as the Deity asserts, as
indeed Christ Himself declares, who is both, why are you miserably trying in your madness
to interpose between God and Christ? Why do you seek to divide His body from the Son of
God, and try to separate God from Himself? You are severing what is one, and dividing what
is joined together. Believe the Word of God concerning God: for you cannot possibly make a
better confession of God's Divinity than by confessing with your voice that which God
teaches about Himself. For you must knew that, as the Prophet says, "the Lord Himself is
God, who found out all the way of knowledge; who was seen upon earth and conversed with
men. He brought the light of faith into the world. He showed the light of salvation. "For
God is the Lord, and hath given us light. Then believe Him, and love Him, and confess Him.
For since, as it is written, "Every knee shall bow to Him, of things in heaven, and things
on earth, and things under the earth, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord in the glory of God the Father," whether you will or no, you cannot deny that Jesus
Christ is Lord in the glory of God the Father. For this is the crowning virtue of a
perfect confession, to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is ever Lord and God in the glory of
God the Father.


THE SEVEN BOOKS ON THE INCARNATION OF THE LORD
==============================================

THE SEVEN BOOKS ON THE INCARNATION OF THE LORD continued

BOOK V: AGAINST THE PELAGIAN ERROR

Chapter I.

He vehemently inveighs against the error of the Pelagians, who declared that Christ was a
mere man. WE said in the first book that that heresy which copies and follows the lead of
Pelagianism, strives and contends in every way to make it believed that the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, when born of the Virgin was only a mere man; and that having
afterwards taken the path of virtue He merited by His holy and pious life to be counted
worthy for this holiness of His life that the Divine Majesty should unite Itself to Him:
and thus by cutting off altogether from Him the honour of His sacred origin, it only left
to Him the selection on account of His merits. And theiraim and endeavour was this; viz.,
that, by bringing Him down to the level of common men, and making Him one of the common
herd, they might assert that all men could by their good life and deeds secure whatever He
had secured by His good life. A most dangerous and deadly assertion indeed, which takes
away what truly belongs to God, and holds out false promises to men; and which should be
condemned for abominable lies on both sides, since it attacks God with wicked blasphemy,
and gives to men the hope of a false assurance. A most perverse and wicked assertion as it
gives to men what does not belong to them, and takes away from God what is His.

And so of this dangerous and deadly evil this new heresy which has recently sprung up, is
in a way stirring and reviving the embers, and raising a fresh flame from its ancient
ashes by asserting that our Lord Jesus Christ was born a mere man. And so why is there any
need for us to ask whether its consequences are dangerous, as in its fountain head it is
utterly wrong. It is unnecessary to examine what it is like in its issues, as in its
commencement it leaves us no reason for examination. For what object is there in inquiring
whether like the earlier heresy, it holds out the same promises to man, if(which is the
most awful sin) it takes away the same things from God? So that it would be almost wrong,
when we see what it begins like, to ask what there is to follow; as if some possible way
might appear in the sequel, in which a man who denies God, could prove that he was not
irreligious. The new heresy then, as we have already many times declared, says that the
Lord Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, only a mere man: and so that Mary should be
called Christotocos not Theotocos, because she was the mother of Christ, not of God.

And further to this blasphemous statement it adds arguments that are as wicked as they are
foolish, saying, "No one ever gave birth to one who was before her."As if the birth of the
only begotten of God, predicted by prophets, announced since the beginning of the world,
could be dealt with or measured by human reasons. Or did the Virgin Mary, O you heretic,
whoever you are, who slander her for her childbearing-bring about and consummate that
which came to pass, by her own strength, so that in a matter and event of so great
importance, human weakness can be brought as an objection? And so if there was anything in
this great event which was the work of man, look for human arguments. But if everything,
which was done, was due to the power of God, why should you consider what is impossible
with men, whenyou see that it is the work of Divine power? But of this more anon. Now let
us follow up the subject we began to treat of some little way back; that everybody may
know that you are trying to fan the flame in the ashes of Pelagianism, and to revive the
embers by breathing out fresh blasphemy.

Chapter II.

That the doctrine of Nestorius is closely connected with theerror of the Pelagians. You
say then that Christ was born a mere man. But certainly this was asserted by that wicked
heresy of Pelagius, as we clearly showed in the first book; viz., that Christ was born a
mere man. You add besides, that Jesus Christ the Lord of all should be termed a form that
received God (Qeodo/xoj, i.e., not God, but the receiver of God, so that your view is that
He is to be honoured not for His own sake because He is God, but because He receives God
into Himself. But clearly this also was asserted by that heresy of which I spoke before;
viz., that Christ was not to be worshipped for His own sake because He was God, but
because owing to His good and pious actions He won this; viz., to have God dwelling in
Him. You see then that you are belching out the poison of Pelagianism, and hissing with
the very spirit of Pelagianism. Whence it comes that you seem rather to have been already
judged, than to have now to undergo judgment, for since your error is one and the same,
you must be believed to fall under the same condemnation: not to mention for the present
that you compare the Lord to a statue of the Emperor, and break out into such wicked and
blasphemous impieties that you seem in this madness of yours to surpass even Pelagius
himself, who surpassed almost every one else in impiety.

Chapter III.

How this participation in Divinity which the Pelagians and Nestorians attribute to Christ,
is common to all holy men. You say then that Christ should be termed a form which received
God (qeodo/xoj), i.e., that He should be revered not for His own sake because He is God,
but because He received God within Him. And so in this way you make out that there is no
difference between Him and all other holy men: for all holy men have certainly had God
within them. For we know well that God was in the patriarchs, and that He spoke in the
prophets. In a word we believe that, I do not say apostles and martyrs, but, all the
saints and servants of God have within them the Spirit of God, according to this: "Ye are
the temple of the living God: as God said, For I will dwell in them." And again: "Know ye
not that ye are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" And thus we are
all receivers of God (qeodo/xoi); and in this way you say that all the saints are only
like Christ, and equal to God. But away with such a wicked and abominable heresy as that
the Creator should be compared to His creatures, the Lord to His servants, the God of
things earthly and heavenly, to earthly frailty: and out of His very kindnesses this wrong
be done to Him; viz., that He who honours man by dwelling in him should therefore be said
to be only the same as man.

Chapter IV.

What the difference is between Christ and the saints. Moreover there is between Him and
all the saints the same difference that there is between a dwelling and one who dwells in
it, for certainly it is the doing of the dweller not the dwelling, if it is inhabited, for
on him it depends both to build the house and to occupy it. I mean, that he can choose, if
he will, to make it a dwelling, and when he has made it, to live in it. "Or do you seek a
proof," says the Apostle, "of Christ speaking in me? And elsewhere, "Know ye not that
Jesus Christ is in you except ye be reprobate? And again: "in the inner man, that Christ
may dwell in your hearts by faith. Do you not see what a difference there is between the
Apostle's doctrine and your blasphemies? You say that God dwells in Christ as in a man. He
testifies that Christ Himself dwells in men: which certainly, as you admit,flesh and blood
cannot do; so that He is shown to be God, from the very fact from which you deny Him to be
God. For since you cannot deny that He who dwells in man is God, it follows that we must
believe that He, whom we know to dwell in men, is most decidedly God. All, then, whether
patriarchs, or prophets, or apostles, or martyrs, or saints, had every one of them God
within him, and were all made sons of God and were all receivers of God qeodo/xoi, but in
a very different and distinct way.

For all who believe in God are sons of God by adoption: but the only begotten alone is Son
by nature: who was begotten of His Father, not of any material substance, for all things,
and the substance of all things exist through the only begotten Son of God-and not out of
nothing, because He is from the Father: not like a birth, for there is nothing in God that
is void or mutable, but in an ineffable and incomprehensible manner God the Father,
wherein He Himself was regenerate, begat his only begotten Son; and so from the Most High,
Ingenerate, and Eternal Father proceeds the Most High, Only Begotten, and Eternal Son. Who
must be considered the same Person in the flesh as He is in the Spirit: and must be held
to be the same Person in the body as He is in glory, for when He was about to be born in
the flesh, He made no division or separation within Himself, as if some portion of Him was
born while another portion was not born: or as if some portion of Divinity afterwards came
upon Him, which had not been in Him at His birth from the Virgin. For according to the
Apostle, "all the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth in Christ bodily. Not that It dwells in
Him at times, and at times dwells not; nor that It was there at a later date, and not an
earlier one:

otherwise we are entangled in that impious heresy of Pelagius, so as to say that from a
fixed moment God dwelt in Christ, and that He then came upon Him; when He had won by His
life and conversation this; viz., that the power of the Godhead should dwell in Him. These
things then belong to men, to men, I say, not to God,-that as far as human weakness can,
they should humble themselves to God, be subject to God, make themselves dwellings for
God, and by their faith and piety win this, to have God as their guest and indweller. For
in proportion as anyone is fit for God's gift, so does the Divine grace rewardhim: in
proportion as a man seems worthy of him: in proportion as a man seems worthy of God, so
does he enjoy God's presence, according to the Lord's promise: "if any man love Me, he
will keep My word; and I and My Father will come to him and make Our abode with Him. But
very different is the case as regards Christ; in whom all the fulness of the Godhead
dwelleth bodily:

for He has within Him the fulness of the Godhead so that He gives to all of His fulness,
and He-as the fulness of the Godhead dwells in Him-Himself dwells in each of the saints in
proportion as He deems them worthy of His Presence, and gives of His fulness to all, yet
in such a way that He Himself continues in all that fulness,-who even when He was on earth
in the flesh, yet was present in the hearts of all the saints, and filled the heaven, the
earth, the sea, aye and the whole universe with His infinite power and majesty; and yet
was so complete in Himself that the whole world could not contain Him. For however great
and inexpressible whatever is made may be, yet there are no things so boundless and
infinite as to be able to contain the Creator Himself.

Chapter V.

That before His birth in time Christ was always called God by the prophets. HE it is then
of whom the Prophet says: "For in Thee is God, and there is no God beside Thee. For Thou
art our God and we knew Thee not, O God of Israel the Saviour? Who "afterwards appeared on
earth and conversed with men. Of whom and in whose Person the Prophet David also speaks:
"From my mother's womb Thou art my God: showing clearly that He who was Lord and man was
never separate from God: in whom even in the Virgin's womb the fulness of the Godhead
dwelt. As elsewhere the same Prophet says: "Truth has sprung from the earth and
righteousness hath looked down from heaven," that we may know that when the Son of God
looked down from heaven (i.e., came and descended), righteousness was born of the flesh of
the Virgin, no phantasm of a body, but the Truth: for He is the Truth, according to His
own witness of Truth: "I am the Truth and the life. And so as we have proved in the
earlier books that this Truth; viz., the Lord Jesus Christ, was God when born of the
Virgin, let us now do as we determined to do in the book before this, and show that He who
was to be born of the Virgin, was always declared to be God beforehand. And so the prophet
Isaiah says, "Cease ye from the man whose breath is in his nostrils, for it is He in whom
he is reputed to be;

or as it is more exactly and clearly in the Hebrew: "for he is reputed high. But by saying
"cease ye," a term which deprecates violence, he admirably denotes the disturbance of
persecution. "Cease ye," he says, "from the man whose breath is in his nostrils, for he is
reputed high. Does he not in one and the same sentence speak of the taking upon Him of the
manhood, and the truth of His Godhead? "Cease ye," he says, "from the man whose breath is
in his nostrils, for he is reputed high. Does he not, I ask you, seem plainly to address
the Lord's persecutors, and to say, "Cease ye from the man" whom ye are persecuting, for
this man is God: and though He appears in the lowliness of human flesh, yet He still
continues in the high estate of Divine glory? But by saying "Cease ye from the man whose
breath is in his nostrils," he admirably showed His manhood, by the clearest tokens of a
human body, and this fearlessly and confidently, as one who would as urgently assert the
truth of His humanity as that of His Godhead, for this is the true and Catholic faith, to
believe that the Lord Jesus Christ possessed the substance of a true body just as He
possessed a true and perfect Divinity. Unless possibly you think that anything can be made
out of the fact that he uses the word "High" instead of "God";

whereas it is the habit of holy Scripture to put "High" for "God," as where the prophet
says: "the Most High uttered His voice and the earth was moved," and "Thou alone art Most
High over all the earth. Isaiah too, who says this: "The High and lofty one who inhabit
eth eternity": where we are clearly to understand that as he there puts Most High without
adding the name of God, so here too he speaks of God by the name of Most High. So then,
since the Divine word spoken by the prophet clearly announced beforehand that the Lord
jesus Christ would be both God and man, let us now see whether the New Testament
corresponds to and harmonizes with the testimony of the Old.

Chapter VI.

He illustrates the same doctrine by passages from the New Testament. "That," says the
Apostle John, "which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with
our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the word of the life:
for the life was manifested: and we have seen, and do bear witness, and declare unto you
the life eternal which was with the Father, and hath appeared unto us. You see how the old
testimonies are confirmed by fresh ones, and the support of the new preaching is given to
the ancient prophecy. Isaiah said: "Cease ye from the man whose breath is in his nostrils
for he is reputed high. But John says: "That which was from the beginning, which we have
seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled. The former said
that as man He would be persecuted by the Jews: the latter declared that as man He was
handled by men's hands. The one predicted that He whom he announced as man, would be God
Most High: the other asserts that He whom he showed to have been handled by men, was ever
God in the beginning. It is then as clear as possible that they both showed the Lord Jesus
Christ to be both God ant man; and that the same Person was afterwards man who had always
been God, and thus He was God and man, because God Himself became man.

That then, he says, "which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen
with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life;
and the life was manifested, and we have seen, and do bear witness, and declare unto you
the life eternal which was with the Father, and hath appeared unto us. You see the number
of proofs and ways, very different and numerous, in which that Apostle so well beloved and
so devoted to God, indicates the mystery of the Divine Incarnation. In the first instance
he testifies that He, who ever was in the beginning, was seen in the flesh. Lest in case
it might not seem sufficient for unbelievers that he had spoken of Him as seen and heard,
he supports it by saying that He was handled, i.e., touched and felt by his own hands and
by those of others. Admirably indeed by showing how He took flesh, does he shut out the
view of the Marcionites and the error of the Manichees, so that no one may think that a
phantom appeared to men, since an apostle has declared that a true body was handled by
him. Then he adds "the word of life: and the life was manifested; and that he saw it,
announced it, and proclaimed it:

thus at the same time carrying out the duties of the faith and striking the unbelievers
with terror, that while he declares that he proclaims Him, he may bring home the danger in
which he stands, to the man who will not listen. "We declare to you," he says, "the life
eternal which was with the Father, and hath appeared to us. He teaches that that which was
ever with the Father appeared to men: and that which was ever in the beginning, was seen
of men: and that which was the Word of life without beginning, was handled by men's hands.
You see the number and variety, the particularity and the clearness of the ways in which
he unfolds the mystery of the flesh joined to God, in such a way that no one could speak
at all of either without acknowledging both. As the Apostle himself clearly says
elsewhere: "For Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever. This is what
he said in the passage given above: "That which was from the beginning, our hands have
handled. Not that a spirit can in its own nature be handled: but that the Word made flesh
was in a sense handled in the manhood with which it was joined. And so Jesus is "the same
yesterday and to-day": i.e., the same Person before the commencement of the world, as in
the flesh;

the same in the past as in the present, the same also for ever, for He is the same through
all the ages, as before all the ages. And all this is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Chapter VII.

He shows again from the union in Christ of two natures in one Person that what belongs to
the Divine nature may rightly be ascribed to man, and what belongs to the human nature to
God. And how was it the same Person before the origin of the world, who was but recently
born? Because it was the same Person, who was recently born in human nature, who was God
before the rise of all things. And so the name of Christ includes everything that the name
of God does; for so close is the union between Christ and God that no one, when he uses
the name of Christ can help speaking of God un- der the name of Christ, nor, when he
speaks of God, can he help speaking of Christ under the name of God. And as through the
glory of His holy nativity the mystery of each substance is joined together in Him,
whatever was in existence-I mean both human and Divine-all is regarded as God. And hence
the Apostle Paul seeing with unveiled eyes of faith the whole mystery of the ineffable
glory in Christ, spoke as follows, in inviting the peoples who were ignorant of God's
goodness to give thanksgiving to God: "Giving thanks to the Father, who hath made us
worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the
power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom
we have redemption through His blood, the remission of sins; who is the image of the
invisible God, the first-born of every creature:

for in Him were all things created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether
thrones or dominations, or powers: all things were created by Him and in Him. And He is
before all, and by Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body the Church, who
is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; that in all things He may hold the
primacy. Because it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell; and through
Him to reconcile all things unto Himself, making peace through the blood of His cross,
both as to the things on earth, and the things that are in heaven. Surely this does not
need the aid of any further explanation, as it is so fully and clearly expressed that in
itself it contains not merely the substance of the faith, but a clear exposition of it.
For he bids us give thanks to the Father: and adds a weighty reason for thus giving
thanks; viz., because He hath made us worthy to be partakers with the saints, and hath
delivered us from the power of darkness, hath translated us unto the kingdom of the Son of
His love, in whom we have redemption and remission of sins: who is the image of the
invisible God, the first-born of every creature; for in Him and through Him were all
things created; of which He is both the Creator and the ruler: and what follows after
this? "He is" he says, "the head of the body the Church:

who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead."Scripture speaks of the resurrection
as a birth: because as birth is the beginning of life, so resurrection gives birth unto
life. Whence also the resurrection is actually spoken of as regeneration, according to the
words of the Lord: "Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me, in the
regeneration when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit
upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Therefore he calls Him the
first-born from the dead, whom he had previously declared to be the invisible Son and
image of God. But who is the image of the invisible God, except the only-begotten, the
Word of God? And how can we say that He rose from the dead, who is termed the image and
word of the invisible God? And what is it that follows afterwards? "That in all things He
may hold the primacy: for it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell, and
by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, making peace through the blood of His cross,
both as to things on earth and the things that are in heaven. Surely the Creator of all
things has no need of the primacy in all things? Nor He who made them, of the primacy of
those things which were made by Him?

And how can we say of the Word, that it pleased God that all fulness should dwell in Him
who was the first-born from the dead, when He was Himself the only-begotten Son of God and
the Word of God, before the origin of all things, and had within Him the invisible Father,
and so first had within Him all fulness, that He might Himself be the fulness of all
things? And what next? "Bringing all things to peace through the blood of His cross, both
things on earth, and the things which are in heaven. Certainly he has made it as clear as
possible of whom he was speaking, when he called Him the first-born from the dead. For are
all things reconciled and brought into peace through the blood of the Word or Spirit? Most
certainly not. For no sort of passion can happen to nature that is impassible, nor can the
blood of any but a man be shed, nor any but a man die: and yet the same Person who is
spoken of in the following verses as dead, was above called the image of the invisible
God. How then can this be?

Because the apostles took every possible precaution that it might not be thought that
there was any division in Christ, or that the Son of God being joined to a Son of man,
might come by wild interpretations to be made into two Persons, and thus He who is in
Himself but one might by wrongful and wicked notions of ours, be made into a double Person
in one nature. And so most excellently and admirably does the apostle's preaching pass
from the only begotten Son of God to the Son of man united to the Son of God, that the
exposition of the doctrine might follow the actual course of the things that happened. And
so he continues with an unbroken connexion, and makes as it were a sort of bridge, that
without any gap or separation you might find at the end of time Him whom we read of as in
the beginning of the world; and that you might not by admitting. some division and
erroneous separation imagine that the Son of God was one person in the flesh and another
in the Spirit; When the teaching of the apostle had so linked together God and man through
the mystery of His birth in the body, so as to show that it was the same Person
reconciling to Himself all things on the Cross, who had been proclaimed the image of the
invisible God before the foundation of the world.

Chapter VIII.

He confirms the judgment of the Apostle by the authority of the Lord. And though this is
the saying of an Apostle, yet it is the very doctrine of the Lord For the same Person says
this to Christians by His Apostle, who had Himself said something very like it to Jews in
the gospel, when He said: "But now ye seek to kill me, a man, who have spoken the truth to
you, which I heard of God: for I am not come of Myself, but He sent me. He clearly shows
that He is both God and man: man, in that He says that He is a man: God, in that He
affirms that He was sent. For He must have been with Him from whom He came: andHe came
from Him, from whom He said that He was sent. Whence it comes that when the Jews said to
Him, "Thou art not yet fifty years old and hast Thou seen Abraham? He replied in words
that exactly suit His eternity and glory, saying, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before
Abraham came into being, I am. I ask then, whose saying do you think this is? Certainly it
is Christ's without any doubt. And how could He who had been but recently born, say that
He was before Abraham? Simply owing to the Word of God, with which He was entirely united,
so that all might understand the closeness of the union of Christ and God: since whatever
God said in Christ, that in its fulness the unity of the Divinity claimed for Himself.

But conscious of His own eternity, He rightly then when in the body, replied to the Jews,
with the very words which He had formerly spoken to Moses in the Spirit. For here He says,
"Before Abraham came into being, I am. But to Moses He says, "I am that I am. He certainly
announced the eternity of His Divine nature with marvellous grandeur of language, for
nothing can be spoken so worthily of God, as that He should be said ever to be. For "to
be" admits of no beginning in the past or end in the future. And so this is very clearly
spoken of the nature of the eternal God, as it exactly describes His eternity. And this
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, when He was speaking of Abraham, showed by the difference
of terms used, saying, "Before Abraham came into being I am. Of Abraham he said, "Before
he came into being: Of Himself, "I am," for it belongs to things temporal to come into
being: to be belongs to eternity. And so "to come into being" He assigns to human
transitoriness: but "to be" to His own nature. And all this was found in Christ who, by
virtue of the mystery of the manhood and Divinity joined together in Him who ever "was,"
could say that He already "was."

Chapter IX.

Since those marvellous works which from the days of Moses were shown to the children of
Israel are attributed to Christ, it follows that He must have existed long before His
birth in time. And when the Apostle wanted to make this clear and patent to everybody he
spoke as follows, saying that, "Jesus having saved the people out of the land of Egypt
afterward destroyed them that believed not. But elsewhere too we read: "Neither let us
temptChrist, as some of them tempted, and were destroyed by serpents. Peter also the chief
of the apostles says: "And now why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the
disciples, which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear. But we believe that we
shall be saved by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ even as they were. We know most
certainly that the people of God were delivered from Egypt, and led dryshod through mighty
tracts of water, and preserved in the vast desert wastes, by none but God alone; as it is
written: "The Lord alone did lead them, and there was no strange God among them. And how
can an Apostle declare in so many and such clear passages that the people of the Jews were
delivered from Egypt by Jesus, and that Christ was at that time tempted by the Jews in the
wilderness, saying, "Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them tempted, and were
destroyed of the serpents? And further the blessed Apostle Peter says of all the saints
who lived under the law of the Old Covenant that they were saved by the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ.

Get out then, and wriggle out of this if you can-whoever you are-you who rage with vapid
mouth and a spirit of blasphemy, and think that there is no difference at all between Adam
and Christ; and you who deny that He was God before His birth of the Virgin, show clearly
how you can prove that He was not God before His body came into existence. For lo, an
Apostle says that the people were saved out of the land of Egypt by Jesus: and that Christ
was tempted by unbelievers in the wilderness: andthat our fathers, i.e., the patriarchs
and prophets, were saved by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Deny it if you can. I
shall not be surprised if you manage to deny what we all read, as you have already denied
what we all believe. Know then that even then it was Christ in God who led the people out
of Egypt, and it was Christ in God who was tempted by the people who tempted, and it was
Christ in God who saved all the righteous men by His lavish grace: for through the oneness
of the mystery (of the Incarnation) the terms God and Christ so pass into each other, that
whatever God did, that we may say that Christ did; and whatever afterwards Christ bore, we
may say that God bore.

And so when the prophet said, "There shall no new God be in thee, neither shalt thou
worship any other God," he announced it with the same meaning and in the same spirit as
that with which the Apostle said that Christ was the leader of the people of Israel out of
Egypt; to show that He who was born of the Virgin as man, was even through the unity of
the mystery still in God. Otherwise, unless we believe this, we must either believe with
the heretics that Christ is not God, or against the teaching of the prophet hold that He
is a new God. But may it be far from the Catholic people of God, to seem either to differ
from the prophet or to agree with heretics: or perchance the people who should be blessed
may be involved in a curse, and be charged with putting their hope in man. For whoever
declares that the Lord Jesus Christ was at His birth a mere man, is doubly liable to the
curse, whether he believes in Him or not. For if he believes, "Cursed is he who puts his
hope in man. But if he does not believe, none theless is he still cursed, because though
not believing in man, he still has altogether deniedGod.

Chapter X.

He explains what it means to confess, and what it means to dissolve Jesus. For this it is
which John, the man so dear to God, foresaw from the Lord's own revelation to him and so
spoke of Him, who was speaking in him. "Every spirit," he says, "which confesseth Jesus
come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that dissolveth Jesus is not of God: and
this is the spirit of Antichrist, of whom you have heard already, and he is now already in
the world. O the marvellous and singular goodness of God, who like a most careful and
skilful physician, foretold beforehand the diseases that should come upon His Church, and
when He showed the mischief beforehand, gave in showing it, a remedy for it: that all men
when they saw the evil approaching, might at once flee as far as possible from that which
they already knew to be imminent. And so Saint John says, "Every spirit that dissolveth
Jesus is not of God; and this is the spirit of Antichrist. Do you recognize him, O you
heretic? Do you recognize that it is plainly and markedly spoken of you? For no one thus
dissolves Jesus but he who does not confess that He is God. For since in this consists all
the faith and all the worship of the Church; viz., to confess that Jesus is very God; who
can more dissolve His glory and worship than one who denies the existence in Him of all
that we all worship? Take then, I beseech you, take care lest any one may even term you
Antichrist.

Do you think that I am reviling and Cursing? What I am saying is not my own idea: for lo,
the Evangelist says, "Every one that dissolveth Jesus is not of God; and this is
Antichrist. If you do not dissolve Jesus, and deny God, no one may call you Antichrist.
But if you deny it why do you accuse any one for calling you Antichrist? While you are
denying it, I declare you have said it of yourself. Would you like to know whether this is
true? Tell me, when Jesus was born of a Virgin, what do you make Him to be-man or God? If
God only, you certainly dissolve Jesus, as you deny that in Him manhood was joined to
Divinity. But if you say He was man, none the less do you dissolve Him, as you
blasphemously say that a mere man (as you will have it) was born. Unless perhaps you think
that you do not dissolve Jesus, you who deny Him to be God, you who would certainly
dissolve Him even if you did not deny that man was born together with God. But possibly
you would like this to be made clearer by examples. You shall have them in both
directions. The Manichees are outside the Church, who declare that Jesus was God alone:
and the Ebionites, who say that he was a mere man. For both of them deny and dissolve
Jesus: the one by saying that He is only man, the other by saying that He is only God.

For though their opinions were the opposite of each other, yet the blasphemy of these
diverse opinions is much the same, except that if any distinction can be drawn between the
magnitude of the evils, your blasphemy which asserts that He is a mere man is worse than
that which says that He is only God: for though both are wrong, yet it is more insulting
to take away from the Lord what is Divine than what is human. This then alone is the
Catholic and the true faith; viz., to believe that as the Lord Jesus Christ is God so also
is He man; and that as He is man so also is He God. "Every one who dissolves Jesus is not
of God. But to dissolve Him is to try to rend asunder what is united in Jesus; and to
sever what is but one and indivisible. But what is it in Jesus that is united and but one?
Certainly the manhood and the Godhead. He then dissolves Jesus who severs these and rends
them asunder. Otherwise, if he does not rend them asunder and sever them, he does not
dissolve Jesus: But if he rends them asunder he certainly dissolves Him.

Chapter XI.

The mystery of the Lord's Incarnation clearly implies the Divinity of Christ. And so to
every man who breaks out into this mad blasphemy, the Lord Jesus in the gospel Himself
repeats what He said to the Pharisees, and declares: "What God hath joined together, let
not man put asunder. For although where it was originally spoken by God it seems to be in
answer to another matter, yet the deep wisdom of God which was speaking not more of carnal
than of spiritual things, would have this to be taken of that subject indeed, but even
more of this: for when the Jews of that day believed with you that Jesus was only a man
without Divinity, and the Lord was asked a question about the union in marriage, in His
teaching He not only referred to it, but to this also: though consulted about matters of
less importance His answer applied to greater and deeper matters, when he said, "What God
hath joined together, let not man put asunder," i.e., Do not sever what God hath joined
together in My Person. Let not human wickedness sever that which the Divine Glory hath
united in Me. But if you want to be told more fully that this is so, hear the Apostle
talking about these very subjects of which the Saviour was then teaching, for he, as a
teacher sent fromGod that his weak-minded hearers might be able to take in his teaching,
expounded those very subjects which God had proclaimed in a mystery.

For when he was discussing the subject of carnal union, on which the Saviour had been
asked a question in the gospel, he repeated those very passages from the old Law on which
He had dwelt, on purpose that they might see that as he was using the same authorities he
was expounding the same subject: besides which, that nothing may seem to be wanting to his
case, he adds the mention of carnal union, and puts in the names of husband and wife whom
he exhorts to love one another: "Husbands, love your wives even as Christ also loved the
Church. And again: "So also ought men to love their wives even as their own bodies. He
that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourisheth
and cherisheth it, as Christ also doth the Church, for we are members of His body. You see
how by adding to the mention of man and wife the mention of Christ and the Church, he
leads all from taking it carnally to understand it in a spiritual sense. For when he had
said all this, he added those passages which the Lord had applied in the Gospel, saying:
"For this cause shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his
wife, and they twain shall be one flesh. And after this with special emphasis he adds:
"This is a great mystery.

He certainly altogether cuts off and gets rid of any carnal interpretation, by saying that
it is a Divine mystery. And what did he add after this? "But I am speaking of Christ and
the Church. That is to say: "But that is a great mystery. But I am speaking of Christ and
the Church," i.e., since perhaps at the present time all cannot grasp that, they may at
least grasp this, which is not at variance with it, nor different from it, Because both
refer to Christ. But because they cannot grasp those more profound truths let them at
least take in these easier ones that by making a commencement by grasping what lies on the
surface, they may come to the deeper truths, and that the acquisition of a somewhat simple
matter may open the way in time to what is more profound.

Chapter XII.

He explains more fully what the mystery is which is signified under the name of the man
and wife. What then is that great mystery which is signified under the name of the man and
his wife? Let us ask the Apostle himself, who elsewhere to teach the same thing uses words
of the same force, saying: "And evidently great is the mystery of godliness, which was
manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached to the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory. What then is that great mystery
which was manifested in the flesh? Clearly it was God born of the flesh, God seen in
bodily form: who was openly received up in glory just as He was openly manifested in the
flesh. This then is the great mystery, of which he says: "For this cause shall a man leave
his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they two shall be one flesh. Who
then were the two in one flesh? God and the soul, for in the one flesh of man which is
joined to God are present God and the soul, as the Lord Himself says: "No man can take My
life (anima) away from Me. But I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I
have power to take it again. You see then in this, three; viz., God, the flesh, and the
soul. He is God who speaks: the flesh in which He speaks: the soul of which He speaks. Is
He therefore that man of whom the prophet says:

"A brother cannot redeem, nor shall a man redeem"? Who, as it was said, "ascended up where
He was before," and of whom we read: "No man hath ascended into heaven, but He who came
down from heaven, even the Son of man who is in heaven. For this cause, I say, He has left
his father and mother, i.e., God from whom He was begotten and that "Jerusalem which is
the mother of us all," and has cleaved to human flesh, as to his wife. And therefore he
expressly says in the case of the father "a man shall leave his father," butin the case of
the mother he does not say "his," but simply says "mother: because she was not so much his
mother, as the mother of all believers, i.e., of all of us. And He was joined to his wife,
for just as man and wife make but one body, so the glory of Divinity and the flesh of man
are united and the two, viz., God and the soul, become one flesh. For just as that flesh
had God as an indweller in it, so also had it the soul within it dwelling with God. This
then is that great mystery, to search out which our admiration for the Apostle summons us,
and God's own exhortation bids us: and it is one not foreign to Christ and His Church, as
he says, "But I am speaking of Christ and the Church.

Because the flesh of the Church is the flesh of Christ, and in the flesh of Christ there
is present God and the soul: and so the same person is present in Christ as in the Church,
because the mystery which we believe in the flesh of Christ, is contained also by faith in
the Church.

Chapter XIII.

Of the longing with which the old patriarchs desired to see the revelation of that
mystery. This mystery then, which was manifested in the flesh and appeared in the world,
and was preached to the Gentiles, many of the saints of old longed to see in the flesh, as
they foresaw it in the spirit. For "Verily," saith the Lord, "I say unto you that many
prophets and righteous men have desired to see the things which ye see, and have not seen
them; and to hear the things which ye hear and have not heard them." And so the prophet
Isaiah says: "O that Thou, Lord, would rend the heavens and come down," and David too: "O
Lord, bow the heavens and come down." Moses also says: "Show me Thyself that I may see
Thee plainly." No one ever approached nearer to God speaking out of the clouds, and to the
very presence of His glory than Moses who received the law. And if no one ever saw more
closely into God than he did, why did he ask for a still clearer vision, saying, "Show me
Thyself that I may see Thee plainly"? Simply because he prayed that this might happen
which the apostle tells us in almost the same words actually did happen; viz., that the
Lord might be openly manifested in the flesh, might openly appear to the world, openly be
received up in glory; and that at last the saints might with their very bodily eyes see
all those things which with spiritual sight they had foreseen.

Chapter XIV.

He refutes the wicked and blasphemous notion of the heretics who said that God dwelt and
spoke in Christ as in an instrument or a statue. Otherwise, as the heretics say, God would
i be in the Lord Jesus Christ as in a statue or in an instrument, i.e., He would dwell as
it were in a man and speak as it were through a man, and it would not be He who dwelt and
spoke as God of Himself and in His own body: and certainly He had already thus dwelt in
the saints and spoken in the persons of the saints. In those men too, of whom I spoke
above, who had prayed for His advent, He had thus dwelt and spoken. And what need was
there for all these to ask for what they already possessed, if they were seeking for what
they had previously received? Or why should they long to see with their eyes what they
were keeping in their hearts, especially as it is better for a man to have the same thing
within himself than to see it outside? Or if God was to dwell in Christ in the same way as
in all the saints, why should all the saints long to see Christ rather than themselves?
And if they were only to see the same thing in Jesus Christ, which they themselves
possessed, why should they not much rather prefer to have this in themselves than to see
it in another? But you are wrong, you wretched madman, "not understanding," as the Apostle
says, "what you say and whereof you affirm": for all the prophets and all the saints
received from God some portion of the Divine Spirit as they were able to bear it. But in
Christ "all the fulness of the Godhead" dwelt and "dwells bodily." And therefore they all
fall far short of His fulness, from whose fulness they receive something: for the fact
that they are filled is the gift of Christ: because they would all certainly be empty,
were He not the fulness of all.

Chapter XV.

What the prayers of the saints for the coming of Messiah contained; and what was the
nature of that longing of theirs. This then all the saints wished for: for this they
prayed. This they longed to see with their eyes in proportion as they were wise in heart
and mind. And so the prophet Isaiah says: "O that Thou wouldst rend the heavens and come
down. But Habakkuk too declaring the same thing which the other was wishing for, says:
"When the years draw nigh, Thou wilt show Thyself: at the coming of the times Thou wilt be
manifested: God will come from Teman," or "God will come from the south. David also: "God
will clearly come: and again: "Thou that sittest above the Cherubim, show Thyself. Some
declared His advent which He presented to the world: others prayed for it. Some in
different forms but all with equal longing: understanding up to a certain point how great
a thing they were praying for, that God dwelling in God, and continuing in the form and
bosom of God, might "empty Himself," and take the form of a servant and submit Himself to
endure all the bitterness and insults of the passion, and undergo punishment for His
goodness, and what is hardest, and the most disgraceful thing of all, meet with death at
the hands of those very persons for whom He would die. All the saints then understanding
this up to a certain point-up to a certain point, I say, for how vast it is none can
understand-with concordant voice and (so to speak) by mutual consent all prayed for the
advent of God:

for indeed they knew that the hope of all men lay therein, and that the salvation of all
was bound up in this, because no one could loose the prisoners except one who was Himself
free from chains: no one could release sinners, save one Himself without sin: for no one
can in any case set free anyone, unless he is himself free in that particular, in which
another is freed by him. And so when death had passed on all, all were wanting in life,
that, dying in Adam, they might live in Christ. For though there were many saints, many
elect and even friends of God, yet none could ever of themselves be saved, had they not
been saved by the advent of the Lord and His redemption.


THE SEVEN BOOKS ON THE INCARNATION OF THE LORD
==============================================

THE SEVEN BOOKS ON THE INCARNATION OF THE LORD continued

BOOK VI: THE MIRACLES OF CHRIST

Chapter I.

From the miracle of the feeding of the multitude from five barley loaves and two fishes he
shows the majesty of Divine Power. We read in the gospel that when five loaves were at the
Lord's bidding brought to Him an immense number of God's people were fed with them. But
how this was done it is impossible to explain, or to understand or to imagine. So great
and so incomprehensible is the, might of Divine Power, that though we are perfectly
assured of the fact, yet we are unable to understand the manner of the fact. For first one
would have to comprehend how so small a number of loaves could be sufficient, I will not
say for them to eat and be filled, but even to be divided and set before them, when there
were many more thousands of men than there were loaves; and almost more companies than
there could be fragments of the whole number of loaves. The plentiful supply then was the
creation of the word of the Lord. The work grew in the doing of it. And though what was
visible was but little; yet what was given to them became more than could be reckoned.
There is then no room for conjecture, for human speculation, or imagination. The only
thing in such a case is that like faithful and wise men we should acknowledge that,
however great and incomprehensible are the things which are done by God, even if they are
altogether beyond our comprehension, we must recognize that nothing is impossible with
God. But of these unspeakable acts of Divine Power, we will, as the subject demands it,
speaks more fully later on, because it exactly corresponds to the ineffable miracles of
His Holy Nativity.

Chapter II.

The author adapts the mystery of the number seven (made up of the five loaves and two
fishes) to his own work. Meanwhile as we have alluded to the five loaves, I think it will
not be out of place to make a comparison of the five books which we have already composed.
For as they are equal in number, so they are not dissimilar in character. For as the
loaves were of barley, so these books may (as far as my ability is concerned) be fairly
termed "of barley," although they are enriched with passages from Holy Scripture, and
contain life-giving treasures in contemptible surroundings. And even in this point they
are not unlike those loaves, for though they were poor things to look at, yet they proved
to be rich in blessing: and so these books, though, as far as my powers are concerned,
they are worthless, yet they are valuable from the sacred matter which is mingled with
them: and though they appear outwardly worthless like barley owing to my words, yet within
they have the savour of the bread of life owing to the testimonies from the Lord Himself.
It remains that, after His example, they may, by the gift of Divine grace, furnish life-
giving food from countless seeds. And as those loaves supplied bodily strength to those
who ate them, so may these give spiritual vigour to those who read them.

But as then the Lord, from whom this gift comes as did that, by means of that food
provided that they might be filled and so should not faint by the way, so now is He able
to bring it about that by means of this men may be filled and not err (from the faith).
But still because there, where a countless host of God's people was fed with a mighty
gift, though there was very little for them to eat, we read that to those five loaves
there were added two fishes, it is fitting that we too, who are anxious to give to all
God's people who are following, the nourishment of a spiritual repast, should add to those
five books corresponding to the five loaves, two more books corresponding to the two
fishes: praying and beseeching Thee, O Lord, that Thou wilt look on our efforts and
prayers, and grant a prosperous issue to our pious undertaking. And since we, out of our
love and obedience, desire to make the number of our books correspond to the number of
loaves and fishes, do Thou grant the virtue of Thy Benediction upon them; and, as Thou
dost bless this little work of ours with a gospel number, so mayest Thou fill up the
number with the fruit of the gospel, and grant that this may be for holy and saving food
to all the people of Thy Church, of every age and sex.

And if there are some who are affected by the deadly breath of that poisonous serpent, and
in an unhealthy state of soul and spirit have caught a pestilential disease in their
feeble dispositions, give to them all the vigour of health, and entire soundness of faith,
that by granting to them all, by means of these writings of ours, the saving care of Thy
gift-just as that food in the gospel was completely sanctified by Thee, so that by eating
it those hungry souls were strengthened,-so mayest Thou bid languid souls to be healed by
these.

Chapter III.

He refutes his opponent by the testimony of the Council of Antioch. Therefore since we
have, as I fancy, already in all the former books with the weight of sacred testimonies,
given a complete answer to the heretic who denies God, now let us come to the faith of the
Creed of Antioch and its value. For as he was himself baptized and regenerated in this, he
ought to be confuted by his own profession, and (so to speak) to be crushed beneath the
weight of his own arms, for this is the method, that as he is already convicted by the
evidence of holy Scripture, so now he may be convicted by evidence out of his own mouth.
Nor will there be any need to bring anything else to bear against him when he has clearly
and plainly convicted himself. The text then and the faith of the Creed of Antioch is
this. "I believe in one and the only true God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things
visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, and the first-
born of every creature, begotten of Him before all worlds, and not made: Very God of Very
God, Being of one substance. with the Father: By whom both the worlds were framed, and all
things were made. Who for us came, andwas born of the Virgin Mary,and was crucified under
Pontius Pilate and was buried: and the third day He rose again according to the Scripture:
and ascended into heaven, and shall come again to judge the quick and the dead," etc.

In the Creed which gives the faith of all the Churches, I should like to know which you
would rather follow, the authority of men or of God? ThoUgh I would not press hardly or
unkindly upon you, but give the opportunity of choosing whichever alternative you please,
that accepting one, I may deny the other: for I will grant you and yield to you either of
them. And what do I grant, I ask? I will force you to one or other even against your will.
For you ought, if you like, to understand of your own free will that one or other of these
is in the Creed: if you don't like it, you must be forced against your will to see it.
For, as you know, a Creed Symbolum) gets its name from being a "collection. For what is
called in Greek su/mboloj is termed in Latin "Collatio. But it is therefore a collection
(collatio) because when the faith of the whole Catholic law was collected together by the
apostles of the Lord, all those matters which are spread over the whole body of the sacred
writings with immense fulness of detail, were collected together in sum in the matchless
brevity of the Creed, according to to the Apostle's words: "Completing His word, and
cutting it short in righteousness: because a short word shall the Lord make upon the
earth.

This then is the "short word" which the Lord made, collecting together in few words the
faith of both of His Testaments, and including in a few briefclauses the drift of all the
Scriptures, building up His own out of His own, and giving the force of the whole law in a
most compen- dious and brief formula. Providing in this, like a most tender father, for
the carelessness and ignorance of some of his children, that no mind however simple and
ignorant might have any trouble over what could so easily be retained in the memory.

Chapter IV.

How the Creed has authority Divine as well as human. You see then that the Creed has the
authority of God: for "a short word will the Lord make upon the earth." But perhaps you
want the authority of men: nor is that wanting, for God made it by means of men. For as He
fashioned the whole body of the sacred Scriptures by means of the patriarchs and more
particularly his own prophets, so He formed the Creed by means of His apostles and
priests. And whatever He enlarged on in these (in Scripture) with copious and abundant
material, He here embraced in a most complete and compendious form by means of His own
servants. There is nothing wanting then in the Creed; because as it was formed from the
Scriptures of God by the apostles of God, it has in it all the authority it can possibly
have, whether of men or of God: Although too that which was made by men, must be accounted
God's work, for we should not look on it so much as their work, by whose instrumentality
it was made, but rather as His, who was the actual maker. "I believe," then, says the
Creed, "in one true and only God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and
invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son and the first-born of every
creature; Begotten of Him before all worlds, and not made; Very God of Very God, being of
one substance with the Father; by whom both the worlds were framed and all things were
made; who for us came, and was born of the Virgin Mary; and was crucified under Pontius
Pilate, and was buried. And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures; and
ascended into heaven: and shall come again to judge the quick and the dead," etc.

Chapter V.

He proceeds against his opponent with the choicest arguments, and shows that we ought to
hold fast to the religion which we have received from our fathers. IF you were an assertor
of the Arian or Sabellian heresy, and did not use your own creed, I would still confute
you by the authority of the holy Scriptures; I would confute you by the words of the law
itself; I would refute you by the truth of the Creed which has been approved throughout
the whole world. I would say that, even if you were void of sense and understanding, yet
still you ought at least to follow universal consent: and not to make more of the perverse
view of a few wicked men than of the faith of all the Churches: which as it was
established by Christ, and handed down by the apostles ought to be regarded as nothing but
the voice of the authority of God, which is certainly in possession of the voice and mind
of God. And what then if I were to deal with you in this way? What would you say? What
would you answer? Would it not, I adjure you, be this: viz., that you had not been trained
up and taught in this way: that something different had been delivered to you by your
parents, and masters, and teachers. That you did not hear this in the meeting place of
your father's teaching, nor in the Church of your Baptism: finally that the text and words
of the Creed delivered and taught to you contained something different. That in it you
were baptized and regenerated.

You would say that you would hold fast this which you had received, and that you would
live in that Creed in which you learnt that you were regenerated. When you said this,
would you not, I pray, fancy that you were using a very strong shield even against the
truth? And indeed it would be no unreasonable defence, even in a bad business, and one
which would give no bad excuse for error, if it did not unite obstinacy with error. For if
you held this, which you had received from your childhood, we should try to amend and
correct your present error, rather than be severe in punishing your past fault: Whereas
now, as you were born in a Catholic city, instructed in the Catholic faith, and
regenerated with Catholic Baptism, how can I deal with you as with an Arian or Sabellian?
Would that you were one! I should grieve less had you been brought up in what was wrong,
instead of having fallen away from what was right: had you never received the faith,
instead of having lost it: had you been an old heretic instead of a fresh apostate, for
you would have brought less scandal and harm on the whole Church; finally it would have
been a less bitter sorrow, and less injurious example had you been able to try the Church
as a layman rather than a priest.

Therefore, as I said above, if you had been a follower and assertor of Sabellianism or
Arianism or any heresy you please, you might shelter yourself under the example of your
parents, the teaching of your instructors, the company of those about you, the faith of
your creed. I ask, O you heretic, nothing unfair, and nothing hard. As you have been
brought up in the Catholic faith, do that which you would do fora wrong belief. Hold fast
to the teaching of your parents. Hold fast the faith of the Church: hold fast the truth of
the Creed: hold fast the salvation of baptism. What sort of a wonder-what sort of a
monster are you? You will not do for yourself what others have done for their errors. But
we have launched out far enough: and out of love for a city that is connected with us,
have yielded to our grief as to a strong wind, and while we were anxious to make way, have
overshot the mark of our proper course.

Chapter VI.

Once more he challenges him to the profession of the Creed of Antioch. The Creed then, O
you heretic, of which we gave the text above, though it is that of all the churches (for
the faith of all is but one) is yet specially that of the city and Church of Antioch,
i.e., of that Church in which you were brought up, instructed, and regenerated. The faith
of this Creed brought you to the fountain of life, to saving regeneration, to the grace of
the Eucharist, to the Communion of the Lord: And what more!Alas for the grievous and
mournful complaint! Even to the ministerial office, the height of the presbyterate, the
dignity of the priesthood. Do you, you wretchedmadman, think that this is a light or
trivial matter? Do you not see what you have done? Into what a depth you have plunged
yourself? In losing the faith of the Creed, you have lost everything that you were. For
the mysteries of the priesthood and of your salvation rested on the truth of the Creed.
Can you possibly deny that? I say that you have denied your very self. But perhaps you
think that you cannot deny yourself. Let us look at the text of the Creed; that if you say
what you used to do, you may not be refuted, but if you say things widely different and
contrary, you may not look to be confuted by me, as you have condemned yourself already.

For if you now maintain something else than what is in the Creed and what you formerly
maintained yourself, how can you help ascribing your punishment to nobody but yourself,
when you see that the opinion of everybody else about you is the same as your own? "I
believe," the Creed says, "in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible
and invisible; and in the Lord Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, the first-born of
every creature; Begotten of Him before all worlds, and not made. It is well that you
should first reply to this: Do you confess this of Jesus Christ the Son of God, or do you
deny it? If you confess it, everything is right enough. But if not, how do you now deny
what you yourself formerly confessed? Choose then which you will: Of two things one must
follow; viz., that that same confession of yours, if it still holds good, should alone set
you free, or if you deny it, be the first to condemn you. For you said in the Creed: "I
believe in one Lord Jesus Christ His only begotten Son, and the first-born of every
creature. If the Lord Jesus Christ is the only begotten, and the first-born of every
creature, then by our own confession He is certainly God. For no other is the only
begotten and first-born of every creature but the only begotten Son of God: as He is the
first-born of the creatures, so He is also God the Creator of all.

And how can you say that He was a mere man at His birth from the Virgin, whom you
confessed to be God before the world. Next the Creed says: "Begotten of the Father before
all worlds, and not made. This Creed was uttered by you. You said by your Creed, that
Jesus Christ was begotten before the worlds of God the Father, and not made. Does the
Creed say anything about those phantasms, of which you now rave? Did you yourself say
anything about them? Where is the statue? Where that instrument of yours, I pray? For God
forbid that this should be another's and not yours. Where is it that you assert that the
Lord Jesus Christ is like a statue, and so you think that He ought to be worshipped not
because He is God, but because He is the image of God; and out of the Lord of glory you
make an instrument, and blasphemously say that He ought to be adored not for His own sake,
but for the sake of Him who (as it were) breathes in Him and sounds through Him? You said
in the Creed that the Lord Jesus Christ was begotten of the Father before all worlds, and
not made: and this certainly belongs to none but the only begotten Son of God: that His
birth should not be a creation, and that He could be said simply to be begotten, not made:

for it is contrary to the nature of things and to His honour that the Creator of all
should be believed to be a creature: and that He, the author of all things that have a
commencement, should Himself have a beginning, as all things began from Him. And so we say
that He was begotten not made: for His generation was unique and no ordinary creation. And
since He is God, begotten of God, the Godhead of Him who is begotten must have everything
complete which the majesty of Him who begat has.

Chapter VII.

He continues the same line of argument drawn from the Creed of Antioch. But there follows
in the Creed: "Very God of Very God; Being of one substance with the Father; by whom both
the worlds were framed, and all things were made. And when you said all this, remember
that you said it all of the Lord Jesus Christ. For you find stated in the Creed: that you
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, and the first-born of
every creature: and after this and other clauses: "Very God of Very God, Being of one
substance with the Father; by whom also the worlds were framed. How then can the same
Person be God and not God; God and a statue; God and an instrument? These do not
harmonize, you heretic, in any one Person, nor do they fit together, so that you can, when
you like, call Him God; and when you like, consider the same Person a creation. You said
in the Creed, "Very God. Now you say: "a mere man. How can these things fit together and
harmonize so that one and the same Person may be the greatest Power, and utter weakness:
the Highest glory, and mere mortality? These things do not meet together in one and the
same Lord. So that severing Him for worship and for degradation, on one side, you may do
Him honour as you like, and on the other, you may injure Him as you like. You said in the
Creed when you received the Sacrament of true Salvation:

"the Lord Jesus Christ, Very God of Very God, Being of one substance with the Father,
Creator of the worlds, Maker of all things. Where are you alas! Where is your former self?
Where is that faith of yours? Where that confession? How have you fallen back and become a
monstrosity and a prodigy? What folly, what madness was your ruin? You turned the God of
all power and might into inanimate material and a lifeless creation: Your faith has
certainly grown in time, in age, and in the priesthood. You are worse as an old man than
formerly as a child: worse now as a veteran than as a tyro: worse as a Bishop than you
were as a novice: nor were you ever a learner after you had begun to be a teacher.

Chapter VIII.

How it can be said that Christ came and was born of a Virgin. But let us look at the
remainder which follows. As then the Creed says: "The Lord Jesus Christ, Very God of Very
God, Being of one substance with the Father; By whom both the worlds were framed, and all
things were made," it immediately subjoins in closest connexion the following, and says:
"Who for us came and was born of the Virgin Mary. He then, who is Very God, who is of one
substance with the Father, who is the Maker of all things, He, I repeat, came into the
world and was born of the Virgin Mary; as the Apostle Paul says: "But when the fulness of
the times was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law. You see
how the mysteries of the Creed correspond with the Holy Scriptures. The Apostle declares
that the Son of God was "sent from the Father: The Creed affirms that He "came. For it
certainly follows that our faith should confess that He has "come," whom the Apostle had
taught us to be sent. Then the Apostle says: "Made of a woman: The Creed, "born of Mary.
And so you see that there speaks through the Creed the Scripture itself, from which the
Creed acknowledges that it is itself derived. But when the Apostle says, "made of a
woman," he rightly enough uses "made" for "born," after the manner of Holy Scripture in
which "made" stands for "born: as in this passage: "Instead of thy fathers there are made
to thee sons: or this:

"Before Abraham was made, I am; where we certainly see clearly that He meant "Before he
was born, I am: alluding to the fact of his birth under the term "was made," because
whatever does not need to be made has the very reality of creation. "Who," it then says,
"for us came and was born of the Virgin Mary. If a mere man was born of Mary, how can it
be said that He "came"? For no one "comes" but He who has it in Him to be able to come.
But in the case of one who had not yet received His existence, how could He have it in Him
to come. You see then how by the word "coming" it is shown that He who came was already in
existence: for He only had the power to come, to whom there could be the opportunity of
coming, from the fact that He was already existing. But a mere man was certainly not in
existence before he was conceived, and so had not in himself the power to come. It is
clear then that it was God who came: to whom it belongs in each case both to be, and to
come. For certainly He came because He was, and He ever was, because He could ever come.

Chapter IX.

Again he convicts his opponent of deadly heresy by his own confession.But why are we
arguing about words, when the facts are clear enough? and seeking for a determination of
the matter from the terms of the Creed, when the Creed itself deals with the question. Let
us repeat the confession of the Creed, and of you yourself (for yours it is as well as the
Creed's, for you made it yours by confessing it), that you may see that you have departed
not only from the Creed but from yourself. "I believe" then, says the Creed, "In one only
true God, the FatherAlmighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible: And in the Lord
Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, and the first-born of every creature: Begotten of Him
before all worlds and not made; Very God of Very God; Being of one substance with the
Father; By whom both the worlds were framed, and allthings were made. Who for us came, and
was born of the Virgin Mary. "For us" then the Creed says, our Lord Jesus Christ "came and
was born of the Virgin Mary, and was crucified under Pontius Pilate; and was buried, and
rose again according to the Scriptures. The Churches are not ashamed to confess this: the
Apostles were not ashamed to preach it. You yourself, you, I say, whose every utterance is
now blasphemy, you who now deny everything, you did not deny all these truths: that God
was born; that God suffered, that God rose again. And what next?

Whither have you fallen? What have you become? To what are you reduced? What do you say?
What are you vomiting forth? What, as one says, even mad Orestes himself would swear to be
the words of a madman. For what is it that you say? "Who then is the Son of God who was
born of the Christotocos? As for instance if we were to say I believe in God the Word, the
only Son of God, begotten of His Father, Being of one substance with the Father, who came
down and was buried, would not our ears be shocked at the sound? God dead? And again: "Can
it possibly be, you say, that He who was begotten before all worlds, should be born a
second time, and be God? If all these things cannot possibly be, how is it that the Creed
of the Churches says that they did happen? How is it that you yourself said that they did?
For let us compare what you now say with what you formerly said. Once you said: "I believe
in God the Father Almighty; and in Jesus Christ His Son, Very God of Very God; Being of
one substance with the Father; who for us came and was born of the Virgin Mary; and was
crucified under Pontius Pilate; and was buried. But now what is it that you say? "If we
should say: I believe in God the Word, the only Son of God, Begotten of His Father;

Being of one substance with the Father, who came down and was buried, would not our ears
be shocked at the sound? The bitterness indeed and blasphemy of your words might drive us
to a furious and ferocious attack in answer; but we must somewhat curb the reins of our
pious sorrow.

Chapter X.

He inveighs against him because though he has forsaken the Catholic religion, he
nevertheless presumes to teach in the Church, to sacrifice, and to give decisions. I
Appeal then to you, to you yourself, I say. Tell me, I pray, if any Jew or pagan denied
the Creed of the Catholic faith, should you think that we ought to listen to him? Most
certainly not. What if a heretic or an apostate does the same? Still less should we listen
to him, for it is worse for a man to forsake the truth which he has known, than to deny it
without ever having known it. We see then two men in you: a Catholic and an apostate:
first a Catholic, afterwards an apostate. Determine for yourself which you think we ought
to follow: for you cannot press the claims of the one in yourself without condemning the
other. Do you say then that it is your former self which is to be condemned: and that you
condemn the Catholic Creed, and the confession and faith of all men? And what then? O
shameful deed! O wretched grief! What are you doing in the Catholic Church, you preventer
of Catholics? Why is it that you, who have denied the faith of the people, are still
polluting the meetings of the people: And above all venture to stand at the altar, to
mount the pulpit, and show your impudent and treacherous face to God's people-to occupy
the Bishop's throne, to exercise the priesthood, to set yourself up as a teacher? To teach
the Christians what? Not to believe in Christ: to deny that He in whose Divine temple they
are, is God.

And after all this, O folly! O madness! you fancy that you are a teacher and a Bishop,
while (O wretched blindness) you are denying His Divinity, His Divinity (I repeat it)
whose priest you claim to be. But we are carried away by our grief. What then says the
Creed? or what did you yourself say in the Creed? Surely "the Lord Jesus Christ, Very God
of Very God; Being of one substance with the Father; By whom the worlds were created and
all things made: and that this same Person "for us came and was born of the Virgin Mary.
Since then you said that God was born of Mary, how can you deny that Mary was the mother
of God? Since you said that God came, how can you deny that He is God who has come? You
said in the Creed: "I believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God: I believe in Very God of
Very God, of one substance with the Father: who for us came and was born of the
VirginMary; and was crucified under Pontius Pilate; and was buried. But now you say: "If
we should say, I believe in God the Word, theonly Son of God, Begotten of the Father, of
one substance with the Father; who cameand was buried, would not our ears be shocked at
the sound? Do you see then how you areutterly destroying and stamping out the whole faith
of the Catholic Creed and the Catholic mystery?

"O Sin, O monstrosity, to bedriven away," as one says, "to the utmost parts of the earth:
for this is more truly saidof you, that you may forsooth go into that solitude where you
will not be able to find anyone to ruin. You think then that the faith of our salvation,
and the mystery of the Church's hope is a shock to your ears and hearing. And how was it
that formerly when you were hastening to be baptized, you heard thesemysteries with
unharmed ears? How was it that when the teachers of the church were in-strutting you your
ears were not damaged? You certainly at that time did your duty without any double shock
to your mouth and ears; when you repeated what you heard from others, and as the speaker
yourself heard yourself speaking. Where then were these injuries to your ears? Where these
shocks to your hearing? Why did you not contradict and cry out against it? But indeed you
are at your will and fancy, when you please, a disciple; and when you please, the Church's
enemy: when you please a Catholic, and when you please an apostate. A worthy leader
indeed, to draw Churches after you, to whatever side you attach yourself; to make your
will the law of our life, and to change mankind as you yourself change, that, as you will
not be what all others are, they may be what you want!

A splendid authority indeed, that because you are not now what you used to be, the world
must cease to be what it formerly was!

Chapter XI.

He removes the silent objection of heretics who want to recant the profession of their
faith made in childhood. But perhaps you say that you were a baby when you were
regenerated, and so were not then able to think or to contradict. It is true: that your
infancy did prevent you from contradicting, when if you had been a man you would have died
for contradicting. For what if when in that most faithful and devout Church of Christ the
priest delivered the Creed to the Catechumen and the attesting people, you had tried to
hold your tongue at any point, or to contradict? Perhaps you would have been heard, and
not sent forth at once like some new kind of monster or prodigy as a plague to be
expelled. Not because that most earnest and religious people of God has any wish to be
stained with the blood of even the worst of men: but because especially in great cities
the people inflamed with the love of God cannot restrain the ardour of their faith when
they see anyone rise up against their God. But be it so. As a baby, if it be so, you could
not contradict and deny the Creed. Why did you hold your tongue when you were older and
stronger. At any rate you grew up, and became a man, and were placed in the ministry of
the Church. Through all these years, through all the steps of office and dignity, did you
never understand the faith which you taught so long before? At any rate you knew that you
were His deacon and priest. If the rule of salvation was a difficulty to you, why did you
undertake the honour of that, of which you disliked the faith? But indeed you were a far
sighted and simply devout man, who wished so to balance yourself between the two, as to
maintain both your wicked blasphemy, and the honour of Catholicity!

Chapter XII.

Christ crucified is an offence and foolishness to those who declare that He was a mere
man. The shock then to your hearing and ears is that God was born, and God suffered. And
where is that saying of yours, O Apostle Paul: "But we preach Christ crucified, to the
Jews indeed a stumbling block, but to the Gentiles foolishness: but to them that are
called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the Power of God and the Wisdom of God. What is the
Wisdom and Power of God? Certainly it is God. But he preaches Christ who was crucified, as
the Power and Wisdom of God. If then Christ is without any doubt the Wisdom of God, He is
therefore without any doubt God. "We," then, he says, "preach Christ crucified, to the
Jews indeed a stumbling block, but to the Gentiles foolishness. And so the Lord's cross,
which was foolishness to the Gentiles and a stumbling block to the Jews is both together
to you. Nor indeed is there any greater foolishness than not to believe, or any greater
stumbling block than to refuse to listen. Their ears were wounded then by the preaching
and the passion of God, just as yours are wounded now. They thought as you think that this
shocked their ears. And hence it was that when the Apostle was preaching Christ as God, at
the name of our God and Lord Jesus Christ, they stopped the ears in their head, as you
stop the ears of your understanding.

The sin of both of you in this matter might seem to be equal, were it not that your fault
is the greater, because they denied Him, in whom the passion still showed the manhood,
while you deny Him, whom the resurrection has already proved to be God. And so they were
persecuting Him on the earth, whom you are persecuting even in heaven. And not only so,
but this is more cruel and wicked, because they denied Him in ignorance, you deny Him
after having received the faith: they not knowing the Lord, you when you have confessed
Him as God: they under cover of zeal for the law, you under the cloke of your Bishopric:
they denied Him to whom they thought that they were strangers, you deny Him whose priest
you are. O unworthy act, and one never heard of before! You persecute and attack the very
One, whose office you are still holding.

Chapter XIII.

He replies to the objection in which they say that the child born ought to be of one
substance with the mother. But indeed in your deceit and blasphemy you use a grand
argument for denying and attacking the Lord God, when you say that "the child born ought
to be of one substance with the mother." I do not entirely admit it, and maintain that in
the matter of the birth of God it would not be observed; for the birth was not so much the
work of her who bore Him as of her Son, and He was born as He willed, whose doing it was
that He was born. Next, if you say that the child born ought to be of one substance with
the parent, I affirm that the Lord Jesus Christ was of one substance with His Father, and
also with His mother. For in accordance with the difference of the Persons He showed a
likeness to each parent. For according to His Divinity He was of one substance with the
Father: but according to the flesh He was of one substance with His mother. Not that it
was one Person who was of one substance with the Father, and another who was of one
substance with His mother, but because the same Lord Jesus Christ, both born as man, and
also being God, had in Him the properties of each parent, and in that He was man He showed
a likeness to His human mother, and in that He was God He possessed the very nature of God
the Father.

Chapter XIV.

He compares this erroneous view with the teaching of the Pelagians. Otherwise if Christ
who was born of Mary is not the same Person as He who is of God, you certainly make two
Christs; after the manner of that abominable error of Pelagius, which in asserting that a
mere man was born of the Virgin, said that He was the teacher rather than the redeemer of
mankind; for He did not bring to men redemption of life but only an example of how to
live, i.e., that by following Him men should do the same sort of things and so come to a
similar state. Your blasphemy then has but one source, and the root of the errors is one
and the same. They maintain that a mere man was born of Mary: you maintain the same. They
sever the Son of man from the Son of God: you do the same. They say that the Saviour was
made the Christ by His baptism: you say that in baptism He became the Temple of God. They
do not deny that He became God after His Passion: you deny Him even after His ascension.
In one point only therefore your perverseness goes beyond theirs, for they seem to
blaspheme the Lord on earth, and you even in heaven. We do not deny that you have beaten
and outstripped those whom you are copying. They at last cease to deny God; you never do.

Although theirs must not altogether be deemed a true confession, as they only allow the
glory of Divinity to the Saviour after His Passion, and while they deny that He was God
before this, only confess it afterwards: for, as it seems to me, one who denies some part
in regard to God, denies Him altogether: and one who does not confess that He ever
existed, denies Him forever. Just as you also, even if you were to admit that nowin the
heavens the Lord Jesus Christ, who was born of the Virgin Mary, is God, would not truly
confess Him unless you admitted that He was always God. But indeed you do not want in any
point to change or vary your opinion. For you assert that He whom you speak of as born a
mere man, is still at the present time not God. O novel and marvellous blasphemy, though
with the heretics you assert Him to be man, you do not with the heretics confess Him to be
God!

Chapter XV.

He shows that those who patronize this false teaching acknowledge two Christs. But still,
I had begun to say, that as you certainly make out two Christs this very matter must be
illustrated and made clear. Tell me, I pray you, you who sever Christ from the Son of God,
how can you confess in the Creed that Christ was begotten of God? For you say: "I believe
in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ His Son." Here then you have Jesus Christ the Son
of God: but you say that it was not the same Son of God who was born of Mary. Therefore
there is one Christ of God, and another of Mary. In your view then there are two Christs.
For, though in the Creed you do not deny Christ, you say that the Christ of Mary is
another than the one whom you confess in the Creed. But perhaps you say that Christ was
not begotten of God: how then do you say in the Creed: "I believe in Jesus Christ the Son
of God?" You must then either deny the Creed or confess that Christ is the Son of God. But
if you confess in the Creed that Christ is the Son of God, you must also confess that the
same Christ, the Son of God, is of Mary. Or if you make out another Christ of Mary, you
certainly make the blasphemous assertion that there are two Christs.

Chapter XVI.

He shows further that this teaching is destructive of the confession of the Trinity. But
still even if your obstinacy and dishonesty are not restrained by this faith of the Creed,
are you not, I ask you, overwhelmed by an appeal to reason and the light of truth? Tell
me, I ask, whoever you are, O you heretic-At least there is a Trinity, in which we
believe, and which we confess: Father and Son and Holy Ghost. Of the Glory of the Father
and the Spirit there is no question. You are slandering the Son, because you say that it
was not the same Person who was born of Mary, as He who was begotten of God the Father.
Tell me then: if you do not deny that the only Son of God was begotten of God, whom do you
make out that He is who was born of Mary? You say "a mere man," according to that which He
Himself said: "That which is born of the flesh, is flesh. But He cannot be called a mere
man who was begotten not after the law of human creation alone. "For that which is
conceived in her," said the angel, "is of the Holy Ghost. And this even you dare not deny,
though you deny almost all the mysteries of salvation.

Since then He was born of the Holy Ghost, and cannot be termed a mere man, as He was
conceived by the inspiration of God, if it is not He who, as the Apostle says, "emptied
Himself by taking the form of a servant," and "the word was made flesh," and "humbled
Himself by becoming obedient unto death," and "who for our sakes, though He was rich,
became poor," tell me, then, who He is, who was born of the Holy Ghost, and was conceived
by the overshadowing of God? You say that He is certainly a different Person. Then there
are two Persons; viz., the one, who was begotten of God the Father in heaven; and the
other who was conceived of Mary, by the inspiration of God. And thus there is a fourth
Person whom you introduce, and whom (though in words you term Him a mere man) you assert
actually not to have been a mere man, since you allow (not however as you ought) that He
is to be honoured, worshipped, and adored. Since then the Son of God who was begotten of
the Father is certainly to be worshipped, and He who was conceived of Mary by the Holy
Ghost is to be worshipped, you make two Persons to be honoured and venerated, whom you so
far sever from each other, as to venerate each with an honour special and peculiar to Him.

And thus you see that by denying and by severing from Himself the Son of God, you destroy,
as far as you can, the whole mystery of the divinity. For while you are endeavouring to
introduce a fourth Person into the Trinity, you see that you have utterly denied the whole
Trinity.

Chapter XVII.

Those who are under an error in one point of the Catholic religion, lose the whole faith,
and all the value of the faith. And since this is so, in denying that Jesus Christ the Son
of God is one, you have denied everything. For the scheme of the mysteries of the Church
and the Catholic faith is such that one who denies one portion of the Sacred Mystery
cannot confess the other. For all parts of it are so bound up and united together that one
cannot stand without the other and if a man denies one point out of the whole number, it
is of no use for him to believe all the others. And so if you deny that the Lord Jesus
Christ is God, the result is that in denying the Son of God you deny the Father also. For
as St. John says: "He who hath not the Son hath not the Father; but he who hath the Son
hath the Father also. By denying then Him who was begotten you deny also Him who begat. By
denying also that the Son of God was born in the flesh, you are led also to deny that He
was born in the Spirit, for it is the same Person who was born in the flesh who was first
born in the Spirit. If you do not believe that He was born in the flesh, the result is
that you do not believe that He suffered. If you do not believe in His Passion what
remains for you but to deny His resurrection? For faith in one raised springs out of faith
in one dead.

Nor can the reference to the resurrection keep its place, unless belief in His death has
first preceded it. By denying then his Passion and Death, you deny also his resurrection
from hell. It follows certainly that you deny His ascension also, for there cannot be the
ascension without the resurrection. And if we do not believe that He rose again, we cannot
either believe that He ascended: as the Apostle says, "For He that descended is the same
also that ascended. Thus, so far as you are concerned, the Lord Jesus Christ did not rise
from hell, nor ascend into heaven, nor sit at the right hand of God the Father, nor will
He come at that day of judgment which we look for, norwill He judge the quick and the
dead.

Chapter XVIII.

He directs his discourse upon his antagonist with whom he is disputing, and begs him to
return to his senses. The sacrament of reconciliation is necessary for the lapsed for
their salvation. And so, you wretched, insane, obstinate creature, you see that you have
utterly upset the whole faith of the Creed, and all that is valuable in our hope and the
mysteries. And yet you still dare to remain in the Church: and imagine that you are a
priest, though you have denied everything by which you came to be a priest. Return then to
the right way, and recover your former mind, return to your senses if you ever had any.
Come to your self, if there ever was in you a self to which you can come back. Acknowledge
the sacraments of your salvation, by which you were initiated and regenerated. They are of
no less use to you now than they were then; for they can now regenerate you by penance, as
they then gave you birth through the Font. Hold fast the full scheme of the Creed. Hold
the entire truth of the faith. Believe in God the Father: believe in God the Son: in one
who begat and one who was begotten, the Lord of all, Jesus Christ; Being of one substance
with the Father; Begotten in His divinity; born in the flesh: of twofold birth, yet of but
one glory; who Himself creator of all things, was begotten of the Father, and was
afterwards born of the Virgin.

Chapter XIX.

That the birth of Christ in time diminished nothing of the glory and power of His Deity.
For the fact that He came of the flesh and in the flesh, has reference to His birth, and
involves no diminution in Him: and He was simply born, not changed for the worse. For
though, still remaining in the form of God, He took upon Him the form of a servant, yet
the weakness of His human constitution had no effect on His nature as God: but while the
power of His Deity remained whole and unimpaired, all that took place in His human flesh
was an advancement of His manhood and no diminution of His glory. For when God was born in
human flesh, He was not born in human flesh in such a way as not to remain Divine in
Himself, but so that, while the Godhead remained as before, God might become man. And so
Martha while she saw with her bodily eyes the man, confessed Him by spiritual sight to be
God, saying, "Yea, Lord, I have believed that Thou art the Christ the Son of the living
God, who art come into the world. So Peter, owing to the Holy Spirit's revelation, while
externally he beheld the Son of man, yet proclaimed Him to be the Son of God,saying, "Thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God. So Thomas when he touched the flesh, believed
that he had touched God saying, "My Lord and my God. For they all confessed but one
Christ, so as not to make Him two. Do you therefore believe Him;

and so believe that Jesus Christ the Lord of all, both only Begotten and first-born, is
both Creator of all things and Preserver of men and that the same Person is first the
framer of the whole world, and afterwards redeemer of mankind? Who still remaining with
the Father and in the Father, Being of one substance with the Father, did (as the Apostle
says), "Take the form of a servant, and humble Himself even unto death, the death of the
Cross: and (as the Creed says) "was born of the Virgin Mary, crucified under Pontius
Pilate, and was buried. And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures; and
ascended into heaven; and shall come again to judge both the quick and the dead. This is
our faith; this is our salvation: to believe that our God and Lord Jesus Christ is one and
the same before all things and after all things. For, as it is written, "Jesus Christ is
yesterday and today and the same for ever. For "yesterday" signifies all time past,
wherein, before the beginning, He was begotten of the Father. "Today" covers the time of
this world, in which He was again born of the Virgin, suffered, and rose again. But by the
expression the same "for ever" is denoted the whole boundless eternity to come.

Chapter XX.

He shows from what has been said that we do not mean that God was mortal or of flesh
before the worlds, although Christ, who is God from eternity and was made man in time, is
but one Person. But perhaps you will say: If I admit that the same Person was in the end
of time born of a Virgin, who was begotten before all things of God the Father, I shall
imply that before the beginning of the world God was in the flesh, as I say that He was
afterwards man, who was always God: and so I shall say that that man who was afterwards
born, had always existed. I do not want you to be confused by this blind ignorance, and
these obscure misconceptions, so as to fancy that I am maintaining that the manhood which
was born of Mary had existed before the beginning of things, or asserting that God was
always in a bodily form before the commencement of the world. I do not say, I repeat it, I
do not say that the manhood was in God before it was born: but that God was afterwards
born in the manhood. For that flesh which was born of the flesh of the Virgin had not
always existed: but God who always was, came in the flesh of man of the flesh of the
Virgin. For "the Word was made flesh," and did not manifest flesh together with Himself:
but in the glory of Divinity joined Himself to human flesh.

For tell me when or where the Word was made flesh, or where He emptied Himself by taking
the form of a servant: or where He became poor, though He was rich? Where but in the holy
womb of the Virgin, where at His Incarnation, the Word of God is said to have been made
flesh, at His birth He truly took the form of a servant; and when He is in human nature
nailed to the Cross, He became poor, and was made poor in His sufferings in the flesh,
though He was rich in His Divine glory? Otherwise if, as you say, at some later period the
Deity entered into Him as into one of the Prophets and saints, then "the Word was made
flesh" in those men also in whom He vouch-soled to dwell: then in each one of them He
emptied Himself and took upon Him the form of a servant. And thus there is nothing new or
unique in Christ. Neither His conception, nor His birth nor His death had anything special
or miraculous about it.

Chapter XXI.

The authority of Holy Scripture teaches that Christ existedfrom all eternity. And yet to
return to what we said before, though all these things are so, as we have stated: how do
we read that Jesus Christ (whom you assert to be a mere man) was ever existing even before
His birth of a Virgin, and how is He proclaimed by prophets and apostles as God even
before the worlds? As Paul says: "One Lord Jesus, through whom are all things." And
elsewhere he says: "For in Christ were created all things in heaven and on earth, both
visible and invisible." The Creed too, which is framed both by human and Divine authority,
says: "I believe in God the Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ, His Son." And after
other clauses: "Very God of Very God; by whom both the worlds were framed and all things
were made." And further: "Who for us came and was born of the Virgin Mary, and was
crucified, and was buried."

Chapter XXII.

The hypostatic union enables us to ascribe to God whatbelongs to the flesh in Christ. How
then is Christ (whom you term a mere man) proclaimed in Holy Scripture to be God without
beginning, if by our own confession the Lord's manhood did not exist before His birth and
conception of a Virgin? And how can we read of so close a union of man and God, as to make
it appear that man was ever co-eternal with God, and that afterwards God suffered with
man: whereas we cannot believe that man can be without beginning or that God can suffer?
It is this which we established in our previous writings; viz., that God being joined to
manhood, i.e., to His own body, does not allow any separation to be made in men's thoughts
between man and God. Nor will He permit anyone to hold that there is one Person of the Son
of man, and another Person of the Son of God. But in all the holy Scriptures He joins
together and as it were incorporates in the Godhead, the Lord's manhood, so that no one
can sever man from God in time, nor God from man at His Passion. For if you regard Him in
time, you will find that the Son of man is ever with the Son of God.

If you take note of His Passion, you will find that the Son of God is ever with the Son of
man, and that Christ theSon of man and the Son of God is so one and indivisible, that, in
the language of holy Scripture, the man cannot be severed in time from God, nor God from
man at His Passion. Hence comes this: "No man hath ascended into heaven, but He who came
down from heaven, even the Son of man who is in heaven. Where the Son of God while He was
speaking on earth testified that the Son of man was in heaven: and testified that the same
Son of man, who, He said, would ascend into heaven, had previously come down from heaven.
And this: "What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where He was before," where
He gives the name of Him who was born of man, but affirms that He ever was up on high. And
the Apostle also, when considering what happened in time, says that all things were made
by Christ. For he says, "There is one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things. But when
speaking of His Passion, he shows that the Lord of glory was crucified. "For if," he says,
"they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.

And so too the Creed speaking of the only and first-begotten Lord Jesus Christ, "Very God
of Very God, Being of one substance with the Father, and the Maker of all things," affirms
that He was born of the Virgin and crucified and afterwards buried. Thus joining in one
body (as it were) the Son of God and of man, and uniting God and man, so that there can be
no severance either in time or at the Passion, since the Lord Jesus Christ is shown to be
one and the same Person, both as God through all eternity, and as man through the
endurance of His Passion; and though we cannot say that man is without beginning orthat
God is passible, yet in the one Person of the Lord Jesus Christ we can speak of man as
eternal, and of God as dead. You see then that Christ means the whole Person, and that the
name represents both natures, for both man and God are born, and so it takes in the whole
Person so that when this name is used we see that no part is left out. There was not then
before the birth of a Virgin the same eternity belonging in the past to the manhood as to
the Divinity, but because Divinity was united to manhood in the womb of the Virgin, it
follows that when we use the name of Christ one cannot be spoken of without the other.

Chapter XXIII.

That the figure Synecdoche, in which the part stands for the whole, is very familiar to
the Holy Scripture. Whatever then you say of the Lord Jesus Christ, you say of the whole
person, and in mentioning the Son of God you mention the Son of man, and in mentioning the
Son of man you mention the Son of God: by the grammatical trope synecdoche in which you
understand the whole from the parts, and a part is put for the whole: and the holy
Scriptures certainly show this, as in them the Lord often uses this trope, and teaches in
this way about others and would have us understand about Himself in the same way. For
sometimes days, and things, and men, and times are de- noted in holy Scripture in no other
fashion. As in this case where God declares that Israel shall serve the Egyptians for four
hundred years, and says to Abraham: "Know thou that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land
not theirs, and they shall bring them under bondage and afflict them four hundred years.
Whereas if you take into account the whole time after that God spoke, they are more than
four hundred: but if you only reckon the time in which they were in slavery, they are
less. And in giving this period indeed, unless you understand it in this way, we must
think that the Word of God lied (and away with such a thought from Christian minds!).

But since from the time of the Divine utterance, the whole period of their lives amounted
to more than four hundred years, and their bondage endured for not nearly four hundred,
you must understand that the part is to be taken for the whole, or the whole for the part.
There is also a similar way of representing days and nights, where, when in the case of
either division of time one day is meant, either period is shown by a portion of a single
period. And indeed in this way the difficulty about the time of ourLord's Passion is
cleared up: for whereas the Lord prophesied that after the model of the prophet Jonah, the
Son of man would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, and whereas
after the sixth day of the week on which He was crucified, He was only in hell for one day
and two nights, how can we show the truth of the Divine words? Surely by the trope of
Synecdoche, i.e., because to the day on which He was crucified the previous night belongs,
and to the night on which He rose again, the coming day; and so when there is added the
night which preceded the day belonging to it, and the day which followed the night
belonging to it, we see thatthere is nothing lacking to the whole period of time, which is
made up of its portions. Theholy Scriptures abound in such instances of ways of speaking:

but it would take too longto relate them all. For so when the Psalm says, "What is a man
that Thou art mindfulof Him," from the hart we understand thewhole, as while only one man
is mentioned the whole human race is meant. So also where Ahab sinned we are told that the
people sinned. Where - though all are mentioned, a part is to be understood from the
whole. John also the Lord's forerunner says: "After me cometh a man who is preferred
before me for He was before me. How then does He mean that He would come after Him, whom
He shows to be before Him? For if this is understood of a man who was afterwards born, how
was he before him? But if it is taken of the Word how is it, "a man cometh after me?
Except that in the one Lord Jesus Christ is shown both the posteriority of the manhood and
the precedence of the Godhead. And so the result is that one and the same Lord was before
him and came after him: for according to the flesh He was posterior in time to John; and
according to His Deity was before all men. And so he, when he named that man, denoted both
the manhood and the Word, for as the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God was complete in both
manhood and Divinity in mentioning one of these natures in Him hedenoted the whole person.
And what need is there of anything further?

I think that the day would fail me if I were to try to collect or to tell everything that
could be said on this subject. And what we have already said is enough, at any rate on
this part of the subject, both for the exposition of the Creed, and for the requirements
of our case, and for the limits of our book.


THE SEVEN BOOKS ON THE INCARNATION OF THE LORD
==============================================

THE SEVEN BOOKS ON THE INCARNATION OF THE LORD continued

BOOK VII: THE ANSWER TO HIS OPPONENTS

Chapter I.

As he is going to reply to the slanders of his opponents he implores the aid of Divine
grace to teach a prayer to be used by those who undertake to dispute with heretics. As it
happens to those who having escaped the perils of the sea, are in terror of the sands that
stretch before the harbour, or the rocks that line the shore, so it is in my case that,
-as I have kept to the last some of the slandersof the heretics, - although I have reached
the limit of the work which I set myself, yet I am beginning to dread the close, which I
had longed to reach. But, as the Prophet says,"The Lord is my helper; I will not fear what
man can do to me," so we will not fear the pitfalls which crafty heretics have dug in
front of us, nor the paths thickly strewn with horrid thorns. For as they make our road
difficult but do not close it, there is before us the trouble of clearing them away,
rather than the fear of not being able to do so. For when, as we are walking feebly along
the right road, they come in our way, and frighten the walkers rather than hurt them, our
work and business has more to do in clearing them away, than to fear from the difficulty
of this:

And so, laying our hands upon that monstrous head of the deadly serpent, and longing to
lay hold of all the limbs that are entangled in the huge folds and coils of his body,
again and again do we pray to Thee, O Lord Jesus, to whom we have ever prayed, that Thou
wouldst give us words by opening our mouth "to the pulling down of strongholds, destroying
counsels, and every height that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing
into captivity every understanding unto Thine obedience: for he is indeed free, who has
begun to be led captive by Thee. Do Thou then be present to this work of thine, and to
those of Thine who are striving for Thee above the measure of their strength. Grant us to
bruise the gaping mouths of this new serpent, and its neck that swells with deadly poison,
O Thou who makest the feet of believers to tread unharmed on serpents and scorpions, and
to go upon the adder and basilisk, to tread under foot the lion and the dragon. And grant
that through the fearless boldness of steadfast innocence, the sucking child may play on
the hole of the asp, and the weaned child thrust his hand into the den of the basilisk.
Grant then to us also that we may thrust our hands unharmed into the den of this monstrous
and most wicked basilisk;

and if it has in any holes, i.e., in the human heart, a lurking or resting place, or has
laid its eggs there, or left a trace of its slimy course, do Thou remove from them all the
foul and deadly pollution of this most noxious serpent. Take away the uncleanness their
blasphemy has brought on them, and purify with the fan of Thy sacred cleansing the souls
that are plunged in stinking mud, so that the "dens of thieves" may become "houses of
prayer: and that in those which are now, as is written, the dwellings where hedgehogs and
monsters, and satyrs, and all kinds of strange creatures dwell, there the gifts of Thy
Holy Spirit, namely the beauty of faith and holiness may shine forth. And as once Thou
didst destroy idolatry and cast out images, and make shrines of virtue out of the temples
of devils, and let into the dens of serpents and scorpions the rays of shining light, and
make out of the dens of error and shame the homes of beauty and splendour, so do Thou pour
upon all whose eyes the darkness of heretical obstinacy has blinded, the light of Thy
compassion and truth, that they may at length with clear and unveiled sight behold the
great and life-giving mystery of Thine Incarnation, and so come to know Thee to have been
born as Very man of that sacred womb of a pure Virgin, and yet to acknowledge that Thou
wast always Very God.

Chapter II.

He meets the objection taken from these words: No one gave birth to one who had existed
before her. And before I begin to speak of those things of which I have given no foretaste
in the earlier books, I think it right to try to carry out what I have already promised,
that when I have thoroughly redeemed my pledge, I may begin to speak more freely of what
has not been touched upon, after having satisfied my promise. So then that new serpent, in
order to destroy the faith of the holy nativity, hisses out against the Church of God and
says: "No one ever gives birth to one older than herself. To begin with then I think that
you know neither what you say nor where you get it from. For if you knew or understood
where you got it from, you would never regard the nativity of the only begotten of God in
the light of human fancies, nor would you try to settle by merely human propositions,
about Him who was born without His conception originating from man: nor would you bring
human impossibilities as objections against Divine Omnipotence if you knew that with God
nothing was impossible. No one then, you say, gives birth to one older than herself. Tell
me then, I pray, of what cases are you speaking, for the nature of what creatures do you
think that you can lay down rules? Do you suppose that you can fix laws for men or beasts
or birds or cattle? Those (and others of the same kind) are the things of which such
assertions can be made.

For none of them is able to produce one older than itself; for what has already been
produced cannot return to it again so as to be born again by a new creation. And so no one
can bear one older than herself, as no one can beget one older than himself: for the
opportunity of bearing only results where there is the possibility of begetting. Do you
then imagine that in reference to the nativity of Almighty God regard must be had to the
same considerations as in the birth of earthly creatures? And do you bring the nature of
man's conditions as a difficulty in the case of Him who is Himself the author of nature?
You see then that, as I said above, you know not whence or of whom you are talking, as you
are comparing creatures to the Creator; and in order to calculate the power of God are
drawing an instance from those things which would never have existed at all, but that the
very fact of their existence comes from God. God then came as He would, when He would, and
of her whom He would. Neither time nor person, nor the manner of men, nor the custom of
creatures was any difficulty with Him; for the law ofthe creatures could not stand in the
way of Him who is Himself the Creator of them all.And whatever He would have possible was
ready to His hand, for the power of willing itwas His.

Do you want to know how far the omnipotence of God extends, and how greatit is? I believe
that the Lord could do that even in the case of His creatures which youdo not believe that
He could do in His own case. For all living creatures which now bearthings younger than
themselves could, if only God gave the word, bear things much olderthan themselves. For
even food and drink, if it were God's will, could be turned into thefoetus and offspring:
and even water, which has been flowing from the beginning of things,and which all living
creatures use, could, if God gave the word, be made a body in the womb, and have birth
given to it. For who can set a limit to divine works, or circumscribe Divine Providence?
or who (to use the words of Scripture) can say to Him "What doest thou? If you deny that
God can do all things, then deny, that, when God was born, one older than Mary could be
born of her. But if there is nothing impossible with God, why do you bring as an objection
against His coming an impossibility, when you know that for Him nothing is impossible in
anything?

Chapter III.

He replies to the cavil that the one who is born must be of onesubstance with the one who
bears. The second blasphemous slander or slanderous blasphemy of your heresy is when you
say that the one who is born must be of one substance with the one who bears. It is not
very different from the previous one, for it differs from it in terms rather than in fact
and reality. For when we are treating of the birth of God, you maintain that one of
greater power could not be born of Mary just as above you maintain than one older could
not be begotten. And so you may take it that the same answer may be given to this as to
what you said before: or you may conceive that the answer given to this assertion, which
you are now making, applies to that also. You say then that the one who is born must be of
one substance with the one who bears. If this refers to earthly creatures, it is most
certainly the case. But if it refers to the birth of God, why in the case of His birth do
you regard precedents from nature? for appointments are subject to Him who appointed them,
and not the appointer to His appointments. But would you like to know more fully how these
slanders of yours are not only wicked but foolish, and the idle talk of one who does not
in the least see the omnipotence of God?

Tell me, I pray, you who think that like things can only be produced from like things,
whence was the origin of that unaccountable host of quails in thewilderness of old time to
feed the children of Israel, for nowhere do we read that they had been previously born of
mother birds, but that they were brought up and came suddenly. Again whence came that
heavenly food which for forty years fell on the camp of the Hebrews? Did manna produce
manna? But these refer to ancient miracles. And what of more recent ones? With a few
loaves and small fishes the Lord Jesus Christ fed countless hosts of thepeople that
followed Him, and not once only. The reason that they were satisfied lay not in the food:
for a secret and unseen cause satisfied the hungry folk, especially as there was much more
left when they were filled than there had been set before them when they were hungry. And
how was all this brought about that when those who ate were satisfied, the food itself was
multiplied by an extraordinary increase? We read that in Galilee wine was produced from
water. Tell me how what was of one nature produced something of an altogether different
substance from its own quality? Especially when (which exactly applies to the birth of the
Lord) it was the production of a nobler substance from what was inferior to it? Tell me
then how from merewater there could be produced rich and splendid wine?

How was it that one thing was drawn out, another poured in? Was the cistern a well of such
a nature as to change the water drawn from it into the best wine? Or did the character of
the vessels or the diligence of the servants effect this? Most certainly neither of these.
And how is it that the manner of the fact is not understood by the thoughts of the heart,
though the truth of the fact is firmly held by the conscience? In the gospel clay was
placed on the eyes of a blind man and when it was washed off eyes were produced. Had water
the power of giving birth to eyes, or clay of creating light? Certainly not, especially as
water could be of no use to a blind man, and clay would actually hinder the sight of those
who could see. And how was it that a thing that itself in its own nature was injurious,
became the means of restoring health; and that what was ordinarily hurtful to sound
people, was then made the instrument of healing? You say that the power of God brought it
about, and the remedy of God caused it, and that all these things of which we have been
speaking were simply brought about by Divine Omnipotence; which is able to fashion new
things from unwonted material, and to make serviceable things out of their opposites, and
to change what belongs to the realm of things impossible and impracticable into
possibilities and actual performances.

Chapter IV.

How God has shown His Omnipotence in His birth in timeas well as in everything else.
Confess then the same truth in respect of the actual nativity of the Lord, as in respect
of everything else. Believe that God was born when He would, for you do not deny that He
could do what He would; unless possibly you think that that power which belonged to Himfor
all other things was deficient as regards Himself, and that His Omnipotence though
proceeding from Him and penetrating all things, was insufficient to bring about His own
nativity. In the case of the Lord's nativity you bring this as an objection against me: No
one gives birth to one who is anterior in time: and in regard of the birth which Almighty
God underwent you say that the one who is born ought to be of one substance with the one
who bears; as if you had to do with human laws as in the case of any ordinary man, to whom
you might bring the impossibility as an objection, as you include him in the weakness of
earthly things. You say that for all men there are common conditions of birth, and but one
law of generation; and that a thing could not possibly happen to one man only out of the
whole of humanity, which God has forbidden to happen to all. You do not understand of whom
you are speaking; nor do you see of whom you are talking; for He is the Author of all
conditions, and the very Law of all natures, through whom exists whatever man can do, and
whatever man cannot do:

for He certainly has laid down the limits of both; viz., how far his powers should extend,
and the bounds beyond which his weakness should not advance. How wildly then do you bring
human impossibilities as an objection in the case of Him, who possesses all powers and
possibilities. If you estimate the Person of the Lord by earthly weaknesses, and measure
God's Omnipotence by human rules, you will most certainly fail to find anything which
seems appropriate to God as concerns the sufferings of His Body. For if it can seem to you
unreasonable that Mary could give birth to God who was anterior to her, how will it seem
reasonable that God was crucified by men? And yet the same God who was crucified Himself
predicted: "Shall a man afflict God, for you afflict Me? If then we cannot think that the
Lord was born of a Virgin because He who was born was anterior to her who bore Him, how
can we believe that God had blood? And yet it was said to the Ephesian elders: "Feed the
Church of God which He has purchased with His own Blood. Finally how can we think that the
Author of life was Himself deprived of life: And yet Peter says: "Ye have killed the
Author of life. No one who is set on earth can be in heaven: and how does the Lord Himself
say: "The Son of man who is in heaven"?

If then you think that God was not born of a Virgin because the one who is born must be of
one substance with the one who bears, how will you believe that different things can be
produced from different natures?Thus according to you the wind did not suddenly bring the
quails, nor did the manna fall, nor was water turned into wine nor were many thousands of
men fed with a few loaves, nor did the blind man receive his sight after the clay had been
put on him. But if all these things seem incredible and contrary to nature, unless we
believe that they were wrought by God, why should you deny in the matter of His nativity,
what you admit in the matter of His works? Or was He unable to contribute to His own
nativity and advent what He did not refuse for the succour and profit of men?

Chapter V.

He shows by proofs drawn from nature itself, that the law which his opponents lay down;
viz., that the one born ought to be of one substance with the one who bears, fails to hold
good in many cases. IT would be tedious and almost childish to speak further on this
subject. But still in order to refute that folly and madness of yours, in which you
maintain that the one born ought to be of one substance with the one who bears, i.e., that
nothing can produce something of a different nature to itself, I will bring forward some
instances of earthly things, to convince you that many creatures are produced from things
of a different nature. Not that it is possible or right to make any comparison in such a
case as this: but that you may not doubt the possibility of that happening in the case of
the holy Nativity, which as you see takes place in these frail earthly things. Bees,
tiniest of creatures though they are, are yet so clever and cunning that we read that they
can be produced and spring from things of an entirely different nature. For as they are
creatures of marvellous intelligence, and well endowed not merely with sense but with
foresight, they are produced from the gathered flowers of plants. What greater instance do
you think can be produced and quoted? Living creatures are produced from inanimate:
sensate from insensate. What artificer, whatarchitect was there? Who formed their bodies?
Who breathed in their souls? Who gave them articulate sounds by which to converse with
each other? Who fashioned and arranged these harmonies of their feet, the cunning of their
mouths, the neatness of their wings?

Their powers, wrath, foresight, movements, calmness, harmony, differences, wars, peace,
arrangements, contrivances, business, government, all those things indeed which they have
in common with men-from whose teaching, or whose gift did they receive them? from whose
implanting or instruction? Did they gain this through generation? or learn it in their
mother's womb or from her flesh? They never were in the womb, and had no experience of
generation. It was only that flowers which they culled were brought into the hive and from
this by a marvellous contrivance bees issued forth. Then the womb of the mother imparted
nothing to the offspring: nor are bees produced from bees. They are but their artificers,
not their authors. From the blossoms of plants living creatures proceed. What is there
akin in plants and animals? I fancy then that you see who is the contriver of those
things. Go now and inquire whether the Lord could bring about that in the case of His own
nativity, which you see that He procured in the case of these tiniest of creatures.
Perhaps it is needless after this to add anything further. But still let us add in support
of the argument what may not be necessary to prove the point. We see how the air is
suddenly darkened, and the earth filled with locusts. Show me their seed-their birth-their
mothers. For, as you see, they proceed thence, whence they have their birth. Assertin all
these cases that the one who is born must be of one substance with the one who bears.

And in these assertions you will be shown to be as silly, as you are wild in your denial
of the Nativity of the Lord. And what next? Do even you think that we must go on any
further? But still we will add something else. There is no doubt that basilisks are
produced from the eggs of the birds which in Egypt they call the Ibis. What is there of
kindred or relationship between a bird and a serpent? Why is the thing born not of one
substance with that which bears it? And yet those who bear are not the authors of all
these things, nor do those who are born understand them: but they result from secret
causes, and from some inexplicable and manifold law of nature which produces them. And you
are bringing as objections to His Nativity your petty assertions from earthly notions,
while you cannot explain the origin of those things, which are produced by His bidding and
command, whose will does everything, whose sway causes everything: whom nothing can oppose
or resist; and whose will is sufficient for everything which can possibly be done.

Chapter VI.

He refutes another argument of Nestorius, in which he tried to make out that Christ was
like Adam in every point. But since we cannot (as we should much prefer) ignore them, it
is now time to expose the rest of your more subtle and insidious blasphemies that at least
they may not deceive ignorant folk. In one of your pestilent treatises you have maintained
and said that "Since man is the image of the Divine nature, and the devil dragged this
down and shattered it, God grieved over His image, as an Emperor over his statue, and
repairs the shattered image: and formed without generation a nature from the Virgin, like
that of Adam who was born without generation; and raises up man's nature by means of man:
for as by man came death, so also by man came the resurrection of the dead. They tell
usthat some poisoners have a custom of mixing honey with the poison in the cups which they
prepare; that the injurious ingredient may be concealed by the sweet: and while a man is
charmed with the sweetness of the honey, he may be destroyed by the deadly poison. So
then, when you say that man is the image of the Divine nature, and that the devil dragged
this down and shattered it, and that God grieved over His image as an Emperor over his
statue, you smear (so to speak) the lips of the cup with something sweet like honey, that
men may drain the cup offered to them, and not perceive its deadliness, while they taste
what is alluring.

You put forward God's name, in order to speak falsehoods in the name of religion. You set
holy things in the front, in order to persuade men of what is untrue: and by means of your
confession of God you contrive to deny Him whom you are confessing. For who is there who
does not see whither you are going? What you are contriving? You say indeed that God
grieved over His image as an Emperor over his statue, and repaired the shattered image,
and formed without generation a nature from the Virgin, like that of Adam who was born
without generation, and raises up man's nature by man, for as by man came death, so also
by man came the resurrection of the dead. So then with all your earnestness, with all your
professions, you crafty plotter, you have managed by your smooth assertions, by naming God
in the forefront, to come down to a (mere) man in the conclusion: and in the end you
degrade Him to the condition of a mere man, from whom under colour of humility you have
already taken away the glory of God. You say then that the Divine goodness has restored
the image of God which the devil shattered and destroyed, for you say that He restores the
shattered image.

Now with what craft you say that He restores the shattered image in order to persuade us
that there was nothing more in Him, in whom the image is restored, than there was in the
actual image, of which the restoration was brought about. And thus you make out that the
Lord is only the same as Adam was: that the restorer of the image is nothing more than the
actual destructible image. Finally in what follows you show what you are aiming and
driving at, when you say that He formed without generation a nature from the Virgin like
that of Adam, who was born without generation, and raises up man's nature by man. You
maintain that the Lord Jesus Christ was in all respects like Adam: that the one was
without generation, and the other without generation: the one a mere man, and the other a
mere man. And thus you see that you have carefully guarded and provided against our
thinking of the Lord Jesus Christ as in any way greater or better than Adam: since you
have compared them together by the same standard, so that you would think that you
detracted something from Adam's perfection, if you added anything more to Christ.

Chapter VII.

Heretics usually cover their doctrines with a cloak of holyScripture. "For as," you say,
"by man came death, so by man came also the resurrection of the dead." Do you actually try
to prove your wrong and impious notion by the witness of the Apostle? And do you bring the
"chosen vessel" into disgrace by mixing him up with your wicked ideas? I mean, that, as
you cannot understand the author of your Salvation, therefore the Apostle must be made out
to have denied God. And yet, if you wanted to make use of Apostolic witnesses, why did you
rest contented with one, and pass over all the others in silence? and why did you not at
once add this: "Paul, an Apostle not of men neither by man, but by Jesus Christ:" or this:
"We speak wisdom among the perfect:" and presently: "Whom none," says he, "of the princes
of this world knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."
Or this: "For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." And: "One Lord Jesus
Christ through whom are all things." Or do you partly agree, and partly disagree with the
Apostle, and only receive him so far as in consequence of the Incarnation he names Christ
man, and repudiate him where he speaks of Him as God? For Paul does not deny that Jesus is
man, but still he confesses that man is God: and declares that to mankind the resurrection
came by man in such a way that he shows that in that man God arose. For see whether he
declares that He who rose was God, as he bears his witness that He who was crucified was
the Lord of glory.

Chapter VIII.

The heretics attribute to Christ only the shadow of Divinity, and so assert that he is to
be worshipped together with God but not as God. But still in order to avoid thinking of
the Lord Jesus as one of the whole mass of people, you have given to Him some glory, by
attributing to Him honour as a saint, but not Deity as true man and true God. For what do
you say? "God brought about the Lord's Incarnation. Let us honour the form of the
Theodochos together with God, as one form of Godhead, as a figure that cannot be severed
from the Divine link, as an image of the un- seen God. Above you said that Adam was the
image of God, here you call Christ the image: the one you speak of as a statue, andthe
other also as a statue. But I suppose we ought for God's honour to be grateful to you,
because you grant that the form of the Theodochos should be worshipped together with God:
in which you wrong Him rather thanhonour Him. For in this you do not attribute to the Lord
Jesus Christ the glory of Deity,but you deny it. By a subtle and wicked art you say that
He is to be worshipped together with God in order that you may not have to confess that He
is God, and by the very statement in which you seem deceitfully to join Him with God, you
really sever Him from God.

For when you blasphemously say that He is certainly not to be adored as God, but to be
worshipped together with God, you thus grant to Him an union of nearness to Divinity, in
order to get rid of the truth of His Divinity. Oh, you most wicked and crafty enemy of
God, you want to perpetrate the crime of denying God under pretext of confessing Him. You
say: Let us worship Him as a figure that cannot be severed from the Divine will, as an
image of the unseen God. It is I suppose, then, owing to His kind acts that our Lord Jesus
Christ has obtained among us honour as Creator and Redeemer. If then we were redeemed by
Him from eternal destruction, in calling our Redeemer a figure we are endeavouring indeed
to respond to His kindness and goodness, by a worthy service and a worthy allegiance, if
we try to get rid of that glory which He did not refuse to bring low for our sakes.

Chapter IX.

How those. are wrong who say that the birth of Christ was a secret, since it was clearly
shown even to the patriarch Jacob. But I suppose you excuse the degradation offered to the
Lord by means of a subordinate honour, by the words "as the image of the secret God. By
the fact that you term Him an image you compare Him to man's estate. In speaking of Him as
the image of the secret God, you detract from the honour plainly due to Him. For "God,"
says David, "shall plainly come; our God, and shall not keep silence. And He surely came
and did not keep silence, who before that He in His own person uttered anything after His
birth, made known His advent by both earthly and heavenly witnesses alike, while the star
points Him out, the magi adore Him, and angels declare Him. What more do you want? His
voice was yet silent on earth, and His glory was already crying aloud in heaven. Do you
say then that God was and is secret in Him? But this was not the announcement of the
Prophets, of the Patriarchs, aye and of the whole Law. For they did not say that He would
be secret, whose coming they all foretold. You err in your wretched blindness, seeking
grounds for blasphemy and not finding them. You say that He was secret even after His
advent. I maintain that He was notsecret even before His advent.

For did the mystery of God to be born of a Virgin escape the knowledge of that celebrated
Patriarch on whom the vision of God present with him conferred a title, whereby from the
name of Supplanter he rose to the name of Israel? Who, when from the struggle with the man
who wrestled with him he understood the mystery of the Incarnation yet to come, said, "I
have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. What, I pray you, had he seen, for
him to believe that he had seen God? Did God manifest Himself to him in the midst of
thunder and lightning? or when the heavens were opened, did the dazzling face of the Deity
show itself to him? Most certainly not: but rather on the contrary he saw a man and
acknowledged a God. O truly worthy of the name he received, as with the eyes of the soul
rather than of the body he earned the honour of a title given by God! He saw a human form
wrestling with him, and declared that he saw God. He certainly knew that human form was
indeed God: for in that form in which God then appeared, in the selfsame form He was in
very truth afterwards to come. Although why should we be surprised that so great a
patriarch unhesitatingly believed what God Himself so plainly showed in His own Person to
him, when he said, "I have seen God face to face and my life is preserved.

How did God show to him so much of the presence of Deity, that he could say that the face
of God was shown to him? For it seems that only a man had appeared to him, whom he had
actually beaten in the struggle. But God was certainly bringing this about by precursory
signs, that there might not be any one to disbelieve that God was born of man, when
already long before the Patriarch had seen God in human form.

Chapter X.

He collects more witnesses of the same fact. But why am I lingering so long over one
instance, as if many were wanting? For even then how could the fact that God was to come
in the flesh escape the knowledge of men, when the Prophet said openly as if to all
mankind of Him: "Behold your God;" and elsewhere: "Behold our God." And this: "God the
mighty, the Father of the world to come, the Prince of Peace;" and: "of His kingdom there
shall be no end." But also when He had already come, could the fact of His having come
escape the knowledge of those who openly confessed that He had come? Was Peter ignorant of
the coming of God, when he said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God?" Did not
Martha know what she was saying or whom she believed in, when she said, "Yea, Lord, I have
believed that Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, who art come into this
world?" And all those men, who sought from Him the cure of their sicknesses, or the
restoration of their limbs, or the life of their dead, did they ask these things from
man's weakness, or from God's omnipotence?

Chapter XI.

How the devil was forced by many reasons to the view thatChrist was God. Finally as for
the devil himself, when he was tempting Him with every show of allurements, and overly art
of his wickedness, what was it that in his ignorance he suspected, or wanted to find out
by tempting Him? Or what so greatly moved him, that he sought God under the humble form of
man? Had he learned that by previous proofs? Or had he known of anyone who came as God in
man's body? Most certainly not. But it was by the mighty evidence of signs, by mighty
results of actions, by the words of the Truth Himself that he was driven to suspect and
examine into this matter: inasmuch as he had already! once heard from John: "Behold the
Lamb of God, behold Him who taketh away the sin of the world. And again from the same
person: "I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me? The dove also which
came down from heaven and stopped over the Lord's head had made itself a clear and open
proof of a God who declared Himself. The voice too which was sent from God not in riddles
or figures had moved him, when it said: "Thou art My beloved Son, in Thee I am well
pleased. And though he saw a man outwardly in Jesus, yet he was searching for the Son of
God, when he said: "If Thou art the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

Did the contemplation of the man drive away the devil's suspicions of His Divinity, so
that owing to the fact that he saw a man, he did not believe that He could be God? Most
certainly not. But what does he say? "If Thou art the Son of God, command that these
stones be made bread. Certainly he had no doubt about the possibility of that, the
existence of which he was examining into. His anxiety was about its truth. There was no
security as to its impossibility.

Chapter XII.

He compares this notion and reasonable suspicion of the devil with the obstinate and
inflexible idea of his opponents, and shows that this last is worse and more blasphemous
than the former. But he certainly knew that the Lord Jesus Christ was born of Mary: he
knew that He was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger: that His childhood was
that of a poor person at the commencement of His human life; and His infancy without the
proper accessories of cradles: further he did not doubt that He had true flesh, and was
born a true man. And why did this seem to him not enough for him to be secure in? Why did
he believe that He could not be God, whom he knew to be very man? Learn then, you wretched
madman, learn, you lunatic, you cruel sinner, learn, I pray, even from the devil, to
lessen your blasphemy. He said: "If Thou art the Son of God." You say: "Thou art not the
Son of God." You deny what he asked about. No one was ever yet found but you, to outdo the
devil in blasphemy. That which he confessed to be possible in the case of the Lord, you do
not believe to have been possible.

Chapter XIII.

How the devil always retained this notion of Christ's Divinity (because of His secret
working which he experienced) even up to His Cross and Death. But perhaps he afterwards
ceased and rested, and when his temptations were van- quished laid aside his suspicion
because he found no result? Nay, it rather remained always in him, and even up to the very
cross of the Lord the suspicion lasted in him and was increased by peculiar terrors. What
need is there of anything further? Not even then did he cease to think of Him as the Son
of God, after that he knew that such licence was granted to His persecutors against Him.
But the crafty foe saw even in the midst of His bodily sufferings the signs of Divinity,
and though he would have much preferred Him to be a (mere) man, was yet forced to suspect
that He was God: for though he would have preferred to believe what he wanted, yet he was
driven by surest proofs to that which he feared. And no wonder: for although he beheld Him
spitted on, and scourged, and disgraced, and led to the Cross, yet he saw Divine powers
abounding even in the midst of the indignities and wrongs; when the veil of the temple is
rent, when the sun hides itself, the day is darkened, and all things feel the effects of
the Passion: all things even, which know not God, acknowledge the work of Deity. And
therefore the devil seeing this, and trembling, tried in every way to arrive at the
knowledge of His Godhead, even at the very death of the manhood, saying in the person of
those who crucified Him:

"If He be the Son of God, let Him come down now from the Cross, and we will believe Him.
He certainty perceived that by His bodily Passion our Lord God was working out the
redemption of man's salvation, and also that by it he was being destroyed and subdued,
while we were being redeemed and saved. And so the enemy of mankind wanted by every means
and every wile to defeat that which he knew was being done for the redemption of all men.
"If," he says, "He be the Son of God, let Him come down now from the Cross and we will
believe Him: on purpose that the Lord might be moved by the reproach of the words, and
destroy the mystery, while He avenged the wrong. You see then that the Lord even when
hanging on the Cross was termed the Son of God. You see that they suspect the fact to
which they refer. And so do you learn, as I said above, even from His persecutors, even
from the devil, to believe on the Son of God. Who ever came up to the unbelief of the
devil? Who went beyond it? He suspected that He was the Son of God even when He endured
death. You deny it even when He has risen. He suspected that He was God, from whom He hid
Himself. You, to whom He has proved it, deny it.

Chapter XIV.

He shows how heretics pervert holy Scripture, by replying to the argument drawn from the
Apostle's words, "Without father, without mother," etc.: Heb. vii. You then make use of
the holy Scriptures against God, and try to bring His own witnesses against Him. But how?
Truly so as to become a false accuser not only of God, butof the evidences themselves. Nor
indeed is it wonderful that, as you cannot do what you want, you only do what you can: as
you cannot turn the sacred witnesses against God, you do what you can, and pervert them.
For yousay: Then Paul tells a lie, when he says of Christ: "Without mother, without
genealogy. I ask you, of whom do you think that Paul said this? Of the Son and Word of
God, or of the Christ, whom you separate from the Son of God, and blasphemously assert to
be a mere man? If of the Christ, whom you maintain to be a mere man, how could a man be
born without a mother and without a genealogy on the mother's side? But if of the Word of
God and Son of God-what can we make of it, when the same Apostle, your own witness, as you
impiously imagine, testifies in the same place and by the same witness, that He whom you
assert to be without mother, was also without father; saying, "Without father, without
mother, without genealogy"? It follows then that if you use the Apostle's witness, since
you assert that the Son of God was "without mother," you must also be guilty of the
blasphemy that He was "without father.

You see then in what a downfall of impiety you have landed yourself, in your eagerness for
your perversity and wickedness, so that, while you say that the Son of God had not a
mother, you must also deny Him a Father-a thing which no one yet since the world began,
except perhaps a madman, ever did. And this, whether with greater wickedness or folly, I
hardly know; for what is more foolish and silly than to give the name of Son and to try to
keep back the name of Father? But you say I don't keep it back, I don't deny it. And what
madness then drove you to quote that passage, where, while you say that He had no mother,
you must seem also to deny to Him a Father? For as in the same passage He is said to be
without mother and also without father, it follows that if it can be understood that there
He is without mother, in the same way in which we understand that He is without mother, we
must also believe that He is without father. But that hasty craze for deny- ing God did
not see this; and when it quoted mutilated, what was written entire, it failed to see that
the shameless and palpable lie could be refuted by laying open the contents of the sacred
volume. O foolish blasphemy, and madness! which, while it failed to see what it ought to
follow, had not the wit to see even what could be read:

as if, because it could get rid of its own intelligence, it could get rid of the power of
reading from everybody else, or as if everybody would lose their eyes in their heads for
reading, because it had lost the eyes of the mind. Hear then, you heretic the passage you
have garbled: hear in full and completely, what you quoted mutilated and hacked about. The
Apostle wants to make clear to every one the twofold birth of God-and in order to show how
the Lord was born in the Godhead and in flesh, he says, "Without father, without mother:
for the one belongs to the birth of Divinity, the other to that of the flesh. For as He
was begotten in His Divine nature "without mother," so He is in the body "without father:
and so though He is neither without father nor without mother, we must believe in Him
"without father and without mother. For if you regard Him as He is begotten of the Father,
He is without mother: if, as born of His mother, He is without father. And so in each of
these births He has one: in both together He is without each: for the birth of Divinity
had no need of mother, and for the birth of His body, He was Himself sufficient, without a
father. Therefore says the Apostle "Without mother, without genealogy."

Chapter XV.

How Christ could be said by the Apostle to be withoutgenealogy. How does he say that the
Lord was "without genealogy," when the Gospel of the Evangelist Matthew begins with the
Saviour's genealogy, saying: "The book of the generations of Jesus Christ, the Son of
David, the Son of Abraham"? Therefore according to the Evangelist He has a genealogy, and
according to the Apostle, He has not: for according to the Evangelist, He has it on the
mother's side, according to the Apostle He has not, as He springs from the Father. And so
the Apostle well says: "Without father, without mother, without genealogy:" and where he
lays down that He was begotten without mother, there also he records that He was without
genealogy. And thus as regards both the nativities of the Lord, the writings of the
Evangelist and of the Apostle agree together. For according to the Evangelist He has a
genealogy "without father," when born in the flesh: and according to the Apostle, the Lord
has not, when begotten in His Divine nature "without mother;" as Isaiah says: "But who
shall declare His generation?"

Chapter XVI.

He shows that like the devil when tempting Christ, the hereticsgarble and pervert holy
Scripture. Why then, you heretic, did you not in this way quote the whole and entire
passage which you had read? So you see that the Apostle laid down that the Lord was
"without mother" in the same way in which he laid down that He was born "without father:
that we might know that He is "without mother" in the same way in which we understand Him
to be "without father. And as it is impossible to believe Him to be altogether "without
father," so we cannot understand that He is altogether "without mother. Why then, you
heretic, did you not in this way quote what you had read in the Apostle, entire and
unmutilated? But you insert part, and omit part; and garble the words of truth in order
that you may be able to build up your falsenotions by your wicked act. I see who was your
master. We must believe that you had his instruction, whose example you are following. For
so the devil in the gospel when tempting the Lord said: "If Thou art the Son of God, cast
Thyself down. For it is written that He shall give His angels charge concerning Thee to
keep Thee in all Thy ways. And when he had said this, he left out the context and what
belongs to it; viz., "Thou shalt walk upon the asp and the basilisk: and thou shalt
trample under foot the lion and the dragon. Surely he cunningly quoted the previous verse
and left out the latter:

for he quoted the one to deceive Him: he held his tongue about the latter to avoid
condemning himself. For he knew that he himself was signified by the asp and basilisk, the
lion and dragon in the Prophet's words. So then you also bring forward a part and omit a
part; and quote the one to deceive; and omit the other for fear lest if you were to quote
the whole, you might condemn your own deception. But it is now time to pass on to further
matters, for by dwelling too long on particular points, as we are led to do by the desire
of giving a full answer, we exceed the limits even of a longish book.

Chapter XVII.

That the glory and honour of Christ is not to be ascribed to the Holy Ghost in such a way
as to deny that it proceeds from Christ Himself, as if all that excellency, which was in
Him, was another's and proceeded from another source. You say then in another discussion,
nay rather in another blasphemy of yours, "and He separated the Spirit from the Divine
nature Who created His humanity. For Scripture says that that which was born of Mary is of
the Holy Ghost. Who also filled with righteousness (justitia) that which was created: for
it says `He appeared in the flesh, was justified in the Spirit.' Again: Who made Him also
to be feared by the devils: `For I,' He says, `by the Spirit of God cast out devils.' Who
also made His flesh a temple. `For I saw His spirit descending like a dove and abiding
upon Him.' Again: Who granted to Him His ascension into Heaven. For it says, "Giving a
commandment to the apostles whom He had chosen, by the Holy Ghost He was taken up. Finally
that it was He who granted such glory to Christ. The whole of your blasphemy then consists
in this: that Christ had nothing of Himself: nor did He, a mere man, as you say, receive
anything from the Word, i.e., the Son of God; but everything in Him was the gift of the
Spirit. If thenwe can show that all that which you refer to the Spirit, is His own, what
remains but that we prove that He whom you therefore would have taken to be a man, because
as you say everything which He has is another's, is therefore God, because everything
which He has is His own?

And indeed we will prove this not only by discussion and argument, but by the voice of
Divinity Itself: for nothing testifies of God better than things divine. And because
nothing knows itself better than the very glory of God, we believe nothing on the subject
of God with greater right than those writings in which God Himself is His own witness.
First then, as to this that you say that the Holy Spirit created His humanity; we might
take it simply, if we could acknowledge that you had not brought it forward in the
interests of unbelief. For neither do we deny that the flesh of the Lord was conceived by
the Holy Ghost: but we assert that the body was conceived by the co-operation of the Holy
Ghost in such a way that we can say that His Humanity was created for Himself by the Son
of God, as the Holy Spirit Itself says in holy Scripture, testifying that "Wisdom hath
builded for Itself a house. You see then that that which was conceived by the Holy Ghost
was built and perfected by the Son of God: not that the work of the Son of God is one
thing, and the work of the Holy Ghost another: but that through the unity of the Godhead
and glory the operation of the Spirit is the building of the Son of God; and the building
of the Son of God is the co-operation of the Holy Ghost.

And so we read not only that the Holy Ghost came upon the Virgin, but also that the power
of the Most High overshadowed the Virgin; that since Wisdom Itself is the fulness of the
Godhead, no one might doubt that when Wisdom built Itself a house all the fulness of the
Godhead was present. But the wretched hardness of your blasphemy, while it tries to sever
Christ from the Son of God, fails to see that it is entirely severing the nature of the
Godhead from Itself. Unless perhaps you believe that the house is therefore built for Him
by the Holy Ghost because He Himself was insufficient and incapable of building for
Himself an house. But it is as absurd as it is wild, to believe that He, whom we believe
to have created the whole universe of things heavenly and earthly by His will, was unable
to build for Himself a body: especially as the power of the Holy Ghost is His power, and
the Divinity and Glory of the Trinity are so united and inseparable, that we cannot think
of anything at all in One Person of the Trinity, which can be separated from the fulness
of the Godhead. Therefore when this is laid down and grasped; viz., that according to the
faith of holy Scripture, when the Holy Ghost came upon (the Virgin) and the power of the
Most High overshadowed her, Wisdom builded Itself an house; the rest of the slanders of
your blasphemy come to nothing.

For neither is it doubtful that He made all things by Himself and in Himself, in whose
name and faith, the faith even of believers can do anything. For neither did He need the
aid of another, as neither have they needed it, who have trusted in His power. And so as
for your assertions that He was justified by the Spirit, and that the Spirit made Him to
be feared by the devils, and that His flesh became the temple of the Holy Ghost, and that
He was taken up by the Spirit into heaven, they are all blasphemous and wild: not because
we are to believe that in all these things which He Himself did, the unity and cooperation
of the Spirit was wanting - since the Godhead is never wanting to Itself, and the [power
of the Trinity was ever present in the Saviour's works - but because you will have it that
the Holy Ghost gave assistance to the Lord Jesus Christ as if He had been feeble and
powerless; and that He granted those things to Him, which He was unable to procure for
Himself. Learn then from sacred witnesses to believe God, and not to mingle falsehood with
truth: for the subject does not admit it, and common sense abhors the idea of mingling the
notions of the spirit of the devil with the witnesses that are Divine.

Chapter XVIII.

How we are to understand the Apostle's words: "He appeared in the flesh, was justified in
the Spirit," etc. For to begin with this assertion of yours that the Spirit filled with
righteousness (justitia) what was created, and your attempts to prove this by the evidence
of the Apostle, where he says that "He appeared in the flesh, was justified in the
Spirit," you make each statement in an unsound sense and wild spirit. For you make this
assertion; viz., that you will have it that He was filled with righteousness by the
Spirit, in order to show how He was void of righteousness, as you assert that thebeing
filled with it was given to Him. And as for your use of the evidence of the Apostle on
this matter, you garble the arrangement and meaning of the sacred passage. For the
Apostle's statement is not as you have quoted it, mutilated and spoilt. For what says the
Apostle? "And evidently great is the mystery of Godliness, which was manifested in the
flesh, was justified in the Spirit." You see then that the Apostle declared that the
mystery or sacrament of Godliness was justified. For he was not so forgetful of his own
words and teaching as to say that He was void of righteousness, whom he had always
proclaimed as righteousness, saying: "Who was made unto us righteousness and
sanctification and redemption." Elsewhere also he says: "But ye were washed, but ye were
justified, but ye were sanctified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." How far then from
Him was it to need being filled with righteousness, as He Himself filled all things with
righteousness, and for His glory to be without righteousness, whose very name justifies
all things. You see then how foolish and wild are your blasphemies, since you are trying
to take away from our Lord what is ever shed forth by Him upon all believers in such a way
that still in its continuous supply it is never diminished.

Chapter XIX.

That it was not only the Spirit, but Christ Himself also whomade Him to be feared. You say
too that the Spirit made Him to be feared by the devils. To reject and refute which, even
though the horrible character of the utterance is enough, we will still add some
instances. Tell me, I pray, you who say that the fact that the devils feared Him was not
His own doing but another's, and who will have it that this was not His own power but a
gift, how was it that even His name had that power, of which He Himself was, according to
you, void? How was it that in His name devils were cast out, sick persons were cured, dead
men were raised? For the Apostle Peter says to that lame man who was sitting at the
beautiful gate of the Temple: "In the name of Jesus Christ arise and walk. And again in
the city of Joppa to the man who had been lying on his bed paralysed for eight years he
says, "Aeneas, may the Lord Jesus Christ heal thee: arise and make thy bed for thyself.
Paul too says to the pythonical spirit: "I charge thee in the name of Jesus Christ come
out of her," and the devil came out of her. But understand from this how utterly alien
this weakness was from our Lord: for I do not call even those weak, whom He by His name
made strong, since we never heard of any devil or infirmity able to resist any of the
apostles since the Lord's resurrection.

How then did the Spirit make Him to be feared, who made others to be feared? Or was He in
Himself weak, whose faith even through the instrumentality of others reigned over all
things? Finally those men who received power from God, never used that power as if it were
their own: but referred the power to Him from whom they received it: for the power itself
could never have any force except through the name of Him who gave it. And so both the
apostles and all the servants of God never did any thing in their own name, but in the
name and invocation of Christ: for the power itself derived its force from the same source
as its origin, and could not be given through the instrumentality of the ministers, unless
it had come from the Author. You then - who say that the Lord was the same as one of His
servants (for as the apostles had nothing but what they received from their Lord, so you
make out that the Lord Himself had nothing but what He received from the Spirit; and thus
you make out that everything that He had, He had not as Lord, but had received it as a
servant), do you tell me then, how it was that He used this power as His own and not as
something which H e had received? For what do we read of Him? He says to the paralytic:
"Arise, take up thy bed, and go to thine house.

And again to a father who pleads on behalf of his child, He says: "Go thy way: thy son
liveth. And where an only son of his mother was being carried forth for burial, "Young
man," He says, "I say unto thee Arise. Did He then like those who received power from God,
ask that power might be given to Him for performing these things by the invocation of the
Divine Name? Why did He not Himself work by the name of the Spirit, just as the apostles
wrought by His Name? Finally, what does the gospel itself state about Him? It says: "He
was teaching them as one that had authority, and not like the Scribes and Pharisees. Or do
you make out that He was so proud and haughty as to put to the credit of His own might
thepower which (according to you) He had received from God? But what do we make of the
fact that the power never submitted to His servants, except through the name of its
author, and could have no efficacy if the actor claimed any of it as his own?

Chapter XX.

He tries by stronger and weightier arguments to destroy thatnotion. But why are we so long
dealing with your wild blasphemy, with arguments that are plain indeed but still slight?
Let us hear God Himself speaking to His disciples: "Heal thesick, raise the dead, cleanse
the lepers, cast out devils. And again: "In My name," Hesays, "ye shall cast out devils.
Had He any need of Another's name for the exercise of His power, who made His own name to
be a power? But what is still added? "Behold," He says, "I have given you power to tread
upon serpents and scorpions and upon all the power of the enemy. He Himself says that He
was gentle, as indeed He was, and humble in heart. And how was it that as regards the
greatest possible power, He commanded others to work in His own name, if He Himself worked
in Another's name? Or did He give to others, as if it were His own, what He Himself,
according to you, did not possess, unless He received it from Another? But tell me, which
of the saints receiving power from God, so worked? Or would not Peter have been thought a
lunatic, or John a madman, or Paul out of his mind, if they had said to any sick folk: "In
our name arise; or to the lame: "In our name walk; or to the dead: "In our name live; or
this to some: "We give you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions and upon all the
power of the enemy"? You see then from this your madness:

for just as these words are mad if they spring from man's assurance, so are you utterly
mad if you do not see that they come from Divine power. For you must admit one of two
alternatives; either that man could possess and give Divine power, or at any rate if no
man can do this, that He who could do it, was God. For no one can grant of His liberality
Divine power, except Him who possesses it by nature.

Chapter XXI.

That it must be ascribed equally to Christ and the Holy Ghost that His flesh and Humanity
became the temple of God. But there follows in your blasphemy that His flesh was made a
temple of the Holy Ghost, for this reason, that John has said: "For I saw the Spirit
descending from heaven and abiding upon Him. For you try to support even this wild
statement of yours by Scriptural authority: wherefore let us see whether this sacred
authority has said that which you say. "For I saw," it says, "the Spirit descending like a
dove, and abiding upon Him. Discern here, if you can, which is the more powerful, which
greater, which more to be honoured? He who descended, or He to whom the descent was made?
He who brought down the honour, or He to whom the honour was brought? Where do you find in
this passage that the Spirit made His flesh a temple? or wherein does it lessen the honour
of God, if God Himself descended to show God to mankind? For certainly we ought not to
think that He is less whose high estate was pointed out, than He who pointed out His high
estate. But away with the thought of believing or making any separation in the Godhead:
for one and the same Godhead and equal power shut out altogether the wicked notion of
inequality.

And so in this matter, where there is the Person of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Ghost, and where it is the Son of God to whom the descent is made, the Spirit who
descends, the Father who gives His witness, no one had more honour, and no one received
any slight, but it all redounds equally to the fulness of the Godhead, for each Person of
the Trinity contains within Himself the glory of the whole Trinity. And so nothing further
needs to be said, except only to show the rise and origin of your blasphemy. For thorns
and thistles springing up from the roots produce shoots of their own nature, and from
their character show their origin. So then you also, a thorny offshoot of the Pelagian
heresy, show in germ just the same that your father is said to have had in the root. For
he (as Leporius his follower said) declared that our Lord was made the Christ by His
baptism: you say that at His baptism He was made the temple of God by the Spirit. The
words are not altogether identical: but the wrong-headedness is altogether the same.

Chapter XXII.

That the raising up of Christ into heaven is not to be ascribedto the Spirit alone. But
you add this also to those impieties of yours mentioned above; viz., that the Spirit
granted to the Lord His ascension into heaven: showing by this blasphemous notionof yours
that you believe that the Lord Jesus Christ was so weak and powerless that had not the
Spirit raised Him up to heaven, you fancy that He would still at this day have been on
earth. But to prove this assertion you bring forward a passage of Scripture: for you say
"Giving commands to the apostleswhom He had chosen, by the Holy Ghost He was raised up.
What am I to call you? What am I to think of you who by corrupting the sacred writings
contrive that their evidences should not have the force of evidences? A new kind of
audacity, which strives by its impious arguments to manage that truth may seem to confirm
falsehood. For the Acts of the Apostles does not say what you make out. For what says the
Scripture? "What Jesus began to do and to teach until the day in which giving charge to
the apostles whom He had chosen by the Holy Ghost, He was taken up. Which is an instance
of Hyperbaton, and must be understood in this way: what Jesus began to do and to teach
until the day in which he was taken up, giving charge to the apostles whom He had chosen
by the Holy Ghost;

so that we ought not perhaps to have to give you any further answer in this matter than
that of the passage itself, for the entire passage ought to be sufficient for the full
truth, if the mutilation of it was available for your falsehood. But still, you, who think
that our Lord Jesus Christ could not have ascended into heaven, unless He had been raised
up by the Spirit; tell me how is it that He Himself says "No one hath ascended into heaven
but He who came down from heaven, even the Son of man who is in heaven"? Confess then how
foolish and absurd your notion is that He could not ascend into heaven, who is said,
although He had descended into earth, never to have been absent from heaven: and say
whether to leave the regions below and ascend into heaven was possible for Him to whom it
was easy when still on earth, ever to continue in heaven. But what is that which He
Himself says: "I ascend unto my Father. Did He imply that in this ascension there would be
the intervention of Another's help, who by the very fact that He said He would ascend,
shows the efficacy of His own power? David also says of the Ascension of the Lord: "God
ascended with a merry noise, the Lord with the sound of the trumpet: He clearly explained
the glory of Him who ascends by the power of the ascension.

Chapter XXIII.

Hecontinues the same argument to show that Christ had no need of another's glory as He had
a glory of His own. But to end let us see the addition with which you sum up your
preceding blasphemies. Your words are, "Who gave such glory to Christ? You name glory in
order to degrade Him. For by the assertion that the Lord was endowed with glory, in saying
that He received it you blasphemously imply that He stood in need of it. For your perverse
notion suggests that the generosity of the giver shows the need of the receiver. O
miserable impiety of yours! and where is that which Divinity itself once foretold of the
Lord Jesus Christ ascending into heaven? Saying: "Lift up your heads, and the King of
glory shall come in. And when He (after the fashion of Divine utterances) had made answer
to Himself as if in the character of an inquirer: "Who is the King of glory? at once He
adds: "The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle: showing under the figure of
a battle fought, the victory of the Lord in His triumph. Then when, to complete the
exposition of it, He had repeated the words of the utterance quoted above, He showed by
the following conclusion the majesty of the Lord as He entered heaven, saying "The Lord of
hosts, He is the King of glory. On purpose that the fact of His taking a body might not
interfere with the glory of His mighty Divinity, He taught that the same Person was Lord
of hosts and King of heavenly glory, whom He had previously proclaimed Victor in the
battle below.

Go now and say that the glory was given to the Lord, when both prophecy has said that He
was the King of glory, and He Himself also has testified of Himself as follows: "When the
Son of man shall come in His glory. Refute it, if you can, and contradict this; viz., that
whereas He testifies that He has glory of His own, you say that He has received Another's.
Although we maintain that He has His own glory, in such a way that we do not deny that His
very property of glory is common to Him with the Father and the Holy Ghost. For whatever
God possesses belongs to the Godhead: and the kingdom of glory belongs to the Son of God
in such a way that it is not kept back from belonging to the entire Godhead.

Chapter XXIV.

He supports this doctrine by the authority of the blessedHilary. But it is quite time to
finish the book, aye and the whole work, if I may however add the sayings of a few saintly
men and illustrious priests, to support by the faith of the present day what we have
already proved by the authority of holy Scripture. Hilary, a man endowed with all virtues
and graces, and famous for his life as well as for his eloquence, who also, as a teacher
of the churches and a priest, advanced not only by his own merits but also by the progress
of others, and remained so steadfast during the storms of persecution that through the
fortitude of his unconquered faith he attained the dignity of being a Confessor, - he
testifies in the First book on the faiththat the Lord Jesus Christ, Very God of Very God,
was both begotten before the world, and afterwards born as man. Again in the Second book:
"One only Begotten God grew in the womb of the holy Virgin into the form of a human body;
He who contains all things, and in whose power all things are, is brought forth according
to the law of human birth. Again in the same book: "An angel is witness that He who is
born is God with us. Again in the Tenth book: "We have taught the mystery of God born as
man by the birth from the Virgin. Again in the same book: "For when God was born as man,
He was not born on purpose not to remain God.

Again in the same writer's preface to his exposition of the gospel according to Matthew:
"For to begin with it was needful for us that for our sakes the only Begotten God should
be known to be born as man. Again in what follows: "that besides being God, He should be
born as man, which He was not yet. Again in the same place: "Then this third matter was
fitting: that as God was born as man in the world" etc.: Here are a few passages out of
any number. But still you see even from these which we have quoted, how clearly and
plainly he asserts that God was born of Mary. And where then is this saying of yours: "The
creature could not bring forth the Creator: and that which is born of the flesh, is flesh.
It would take too long to quote passages bearing on this point from each separate writer.
I must try to enumerate them rather than to explain them: for they will sufficiently
explain themselves.

Chapter XXV.

He shows that Ambrose agrees with S. Hilary. Ambrose, that illustrious priest of God, who
never leaving the Lord's hand, ever shone like a jewel upon the finger of God, thus speaks
in his book to the Virgins: "My brother is white and ruddy. White because He is the glory
of the Father: ruddy because He was born of the Virgin. But remember that in Him the
tokens of Divinity are of longer standing than the mysteries of the body. For He did not
begin to exist from the Virgin, but He who was already in existence, came into the Virgin.
Again on Christmas Day: "See the miracle of the mother of the Lord: A Virgin conceived, a
Virgin brought forth. She was a Virgin when she conceived, a Virgin when with child, a
Virgin after the birth. As is said in Ezekiel: "And the gate was shut and not opened,
because the Lord passed through it. A splendid Virginity, and wondrous fruitfulness! The
Lord of the world is born: and there are no cries from her who brought Him forth. The womb
is left empty, and a true child is born, and yet the Virginity is not destroyed. It was
right that when God was born the power of chastity should become greater, and that her
purity should not be violated by the going forth of Him who had come to heal what was
corrupt. Again in his exposition of the gospel according to Luke he says that "one was
especially chosen, to bring forth God, who was espoused to an husband.

He certainly declares that God was born of the Virgin. He calls Mary the mother of God.
And where is that awful and execrable utterance of yours asking how can she be the mother
of one of a different nature from her own. But if she is called mother by them, it is the
human nature which was born not the Godhead. So, that illustrious teacher of the faith
says both that she who bare Him was human, and that He who was born is God: and yet that
this is no reason for unbelief, but only a miracle of faith.

Chapter XXVI.

He adds to the foregoing the testimony of S. Jerome. Jerome, the Teacher of the Catholics,
whose writings shine like divine lamps throughout the whole world, says in his book to
Eustochium: "The Son of God for our salvation was made the Son of man. He waits ten months
in the womb to be born: and He, in whose hand the world is held, is contained in a narrow
manger." Again in his commentary on Isaiah: "For the Lord of hosts, who is the King of
glory, Himself descended into the Virgin's womb, and entered in and went forth from the
East Gate which is ever shut." Of whom Gabriel says to the Virgin: "The Holy Ghost shall
come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee. Wherefore that holy
thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." And in Proverbs:
"Wisdom hath builded herself an house." Compare this if you please with your doctrine or
rather your blasphemy, in which you assert that God is the Creator of the months, and was
not an offspring of months. For lo, Jerome, a man of the greatest knowledge and also of
the most pure and approved doctrine testifies almost in the very words in which you deny
that the Son of God was an offspring of months, that He was an offspring of months. For he
says that He waits ten months in the womb to be born. But perhaps the authority of this
man seems a mere nothing to you. You may take it that every one says the same and in the
same words, for whoever does not deny that the Son of God is the offspring of the Virgin,
admits that He is the offspring of months.

Chapter XXVII.

To the foregoing he adds Rufinus and the blessed Augustine. Rufinus also, a Christian
philosopher, with no mean place among Ecclesiastical Doctors testifies as follows of the
Lord's Nativity in his Exposition of the Creed. "For the Son of God," he says, "is born of
a Virgin, not chiefly allied to the flesh alone, but generated in the soul which is the
medium between the flesh and God." Does he witness obscurely that God was born of man?
Augustine the priest of Hippo Regiensis says: "That men might be born of God, God was
first born of them: for Christ is God. And Christ when born of men only required a mother
on earth, because He always had a Father in heaven, being born of God through whom we are
made, and also born of a woman, through whom we might be re-created." Again, in this
place: "And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Why then need you wonder that men
are born of God? Notice how God Himself was born of men." Again in his Epistle to
Volusianus: "But Moses himself and the rest of the prophets most truly prophesied of
Christ the Lord, and gave Him great glory: they declared that He would come not as one
like themselves, nor merely greater in the same sort of power of working miracles, but
clearly as the Lord God of all, and as made man for men. Who therefore Himself also willed
to do such things as they did to prevent the absurdity of His not doing Himself those
things which He did through them. But still it was right also for Him to do something
special; viz., to be born of a Virgin, to rise from the dead, to ascend into heaven. And
if anyone thinks that this is too little for God, I know not what more he can look for.

Chapter XXVIII.

As he is going to produce the testimony of Greek or Eastern Bishops, he brings forward in
the first place S. Gregory Nazianzen. But perhaps because those whom we have enumerated
came from different parts of the world, their authority may seem to you less valuable. An
absurd thing, indeed, because faith is not interfered with by place, and we have to
consider what a man is, not where: especially since religion unites all together, and
those who are in the one faith may be also known to be in the one body. But still we will
bring forward for you some, whom you cannot despise, even from the East. Gregory, that
most grand light of knowledge and doctrine, who though he has been for some time dead, yet
still lives in authority and faith, and though he has been for some time removed in the
body from the Churches, yet has not forsaken them in word and authority. "When then," he
says, "God had come forth from the Virgin, in that human nature which He had taken, as He
existed in one out of two which are the opposite of each other; viz., flesh and spirit,
the one is taken into God, the other exalts into the grace of Deity. O new and unheard of
intermingling! O marvellous and exquisite union! He who was, came to be, and the Creator
is created: and He who is infinite is embraced by the soul which is the medium between God
and the flesh: and He who makes all rich, is made poor. Again he says of the Epiphany:
"But what happens? What is done concerning us and for us?

There is brought about some new and unheard of change of natures and God is made man.
Again in this passage: "The Son of God began to be also the Son of man, not being changed
from what He was, for He is unchangeable, but taking to Himself what He was not: for He is
pitiful so that He, who could not be embraced, can now be embraced. You see how grandly
and nobly he asserts the majesty of His Godhead so that He may bring in the condescension
of the Incarnation: for that admirable teacher of the faith knew well that of all the
blessings which God granted to us at His coming into the world this was the chief, without
diminishing in any way His glory. For whatever God gave to man, ought to increase the love
of Him in us, and not to lessen the honour which we give to Him.

Chapter XXIX.

In the next place he puts the authority of S. Athanasius. Athanasius also, priest of the
city of Alexandria, a splendid instance of constancy and virtue, whom the storm of
heretical persecution tested without crushing him: whose life was always like a clear
glass, and who had almost obtained the reward of martyrdom before attaining the dignity of
confessorship: Let us see what was his view of the Lord Jesus Christ and the mother of the
Lord. "This then," he says, "is the mind and stamp of Holy Scripture, as we have often
said; viz., that in one and the same Saviour two things have to be understood: (1) that He
was ever God, and is Son, Word, and Light, and Wisdom of the Father, and (2) that
afterwards for our sakes He took flesh of the Virgin Mary the Theotocos, and was made
man." Again after some other matter: "Many then were saints and clean from sin: Jeremiah
also was sanctified from the womb, and John, while still in the womb leapt for joy at the
voice of Mary the Theotocos." He certainly says that God, the Son of God, who (to declare
the faith of all in his words) is "the Word, and Light and Wisdom of the Father," took
flesh for our sakes; and therefore he calls the Virgin Mary Theotocos, because she was the
Mother of God.

Chapter XXX.

He adds also S. John Chrysostom. As for John the glory of the Episcopate of
Constantinople, whose holy life obtained the reward of martyrdom without any show of
Gentile persecution, hear what he thought and taught on the Incarnation of the Son of God:
"And Him," he says, "whom if He had come in unveiled Deity neither the heaven nor the
earth nor the sea nor any other creature could have contained, the pure womb of a Virgin
bore. This man's faith and doctrine then, even if you ignore that of others, you ought to
follow and hold, as out of love and affection for him the pious people chose you as their
Bishop. For when it took you for its priest from the Church of Antioch, from which it had
formerly chosen him, it believed that it would receive in you all that it had lost in him.
Did not, I ask you, all these almost with prophetic spirit say all these things in order
to confound your blasphemies. For you declare that our Lord and Saviour Christ is not God:
they declare that Christ the Lord is Very God. You blasphemously assert that Mary is
Christotocos not Theotocos: they do not deny that she is Christotocos, while they
acknowledge her as Theotocos. Not merely the substance but the words also are opposed to
your blasphemies:

that we may clearly see that an impregnable bulwark was formerly prepared by God against
your blasphemies, to break on the wall of truth ready prepared, the force of the heretical
attack which was at some time or other to come. And you, O you most wicked and shameless
contaminator of an illustrious city, you disastrous and deadly plague of a Catholic and
holy people, do you, dare to stand and teach in the Church of God, and with your wild and
blasphemous words slander the priests of an ever unbroken faith and Catholic confession,
and say that the people of the city of Constantinople are in error through the fault of
their earlier teachers? Are you then the corrector of former Bishops, the accuser of
ancient priests, are you better than Gregory, more approved than Nectarius, greater than
John, and all the other Bishops of Eastern cities who, though not of the same renown as
those whom I have enumerated, were yet of the same faith? which, as far as the matter in
hind is concerned, is enough:for when it is a question of the faith, all are as good as
the best in so far as they agree with the best.

Chapter XXXI.

He bemoans the unhappy lot of Constantinople, owing to the misfortune which has overtaken
it from that heretic; and at the same time he urges the citizens to stand fast in the
ancient Catholic and ancestral faith. Wherefore I also, humble and insignificant as I am
in name as in desert, and although I cannot claim a place as Teacher among those
illustrious Bishops of Constantinople, yet venture to claim the zeal and enthusiasm of a
disciple. For I was admitted into the sacred ministry by the Bishop John, of blessed
memory, and offered to God, and even though I am absent in body yet I am still there in
heart: and though by actual presence I no longer mix with that most dear and honourable
people of God, yet I am still joined to them in spirit. And hence it comes that condoling
and sympathizing with them, I broke out just now into the utterance of our common grief
and sorrow, and in my weakness cried out (which was all that I could do) by means of the
dolorous lamentation of my works, as if for my own limbs and members: for if as the
Apostle says, when the smaller part of the body is grieved, the greater part grieves and
sympathizes with it, how much more should the smaller part sympathize when the greater
part is grieved? It is indeed utterly inhuman for the smaller parts not to feel the
sufferings of the greater in one and the same body, if the greater feel those of the
smaller. Wherefore I pray and beseech you, you who live within the circuit of
Constantinople, and who are my fellow-citizens through the love of my country, and my
brothers through the unity of the faith;

separate yourselves from that ravening wolf who (as it is written) devours the people of
God, as if they were bread. Touch not, taste not anything of his, for all those things
lead to death. Come out from the midst of him and be ye separate and touch not the unclean
thing. Remember your ancient teachers, and your priests; Gregory whose fame was spread
through the world, Nectarius renowned for holiness, John a marvel of faith and purity.
John, I say; that John who like John the Evangelist was indeed a disciple of Jesus and an
Apostle; and so to speak ever reclined on the breast and heart of the Lord. Remember him,
I say. Follow him. Think of his purity, his faith, his doctrine, and holiness. Remem- ber
him ever as your teacher and nurse, in whose bosom and embraces you as it were grew up.
Who was the teacher in common both of you and of me: whose disciples and pupils we are.
Read his writings. Hold fast his instruction. Embrace his faith and merits. For though to
attain this is a hard and magnificent thing: yet even to follow is beautiful and sublime.
For in the highest matters, not merely the attainment, but even the attempt to copy is
worthy of praise. For scarcely anyone entirely misses all parts in that to which he is
trying to climb and reach. He then should ever be in your minds and almost in your sight:
he should live in your hearts and in your thoughts.

He would himself commend to you this that I have written, for it was he who taught me what
I have written: and so do not think of this as mine, so much as his: for the stream comes
from the spring, and whatever you think belongs to the disciple, ought all to be referred
to the honour of the master. But, beyond and above all I pray with all my heart and voice,
to Thee, O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that Thou wouldest fill with the gift
of Thy love whatever we have written by Thy bounteous grace. And because, as the Lord our
God Thine Only Begotten Son Himself taught us, Thou hast so loved this world as to send
Thine Only Begotten Son to save the world, grant to Thy people whom Thou hast redeemed
that in the Incarnation of Thine Only Begotten Son they may perceive both Thy gift and His
love: and that all may understand the truth that for us Thine Only Begotten, our Lord God,
was born and suffered and rose again, and may so love it that the condescension of His
glory may increase our love: and let not His Humility lead to a diminution of His honour
in the hearts of all men, but let it ever produce an increase of love:

and may we all rightly and wisely comprehend the blessings of His Sacred Compassion, so as
to see that we owe the more to God, in proportion as for our sakes God humbled Himself yet
lower.parparpar


THE COMMONITORY
===============

THE COMMONITORY Vincent of Lérins

d. c. AD 445

Monk of Lérins; wrote the Commonitory.

INTRODUCTION

1 Very little is known of the author of the following Treatise. He writes under the
assumed name of Peregrinus, but Gennadius of Marseilles, who flourished a.d. 495, some
sixty years after its date, ascribes it to Vincentius, an inmate of the famous monastery
of Lerins, in the island of that name, and his ascription has been universally accepted.
Vincentius was of Gallic nationality. In earlier life he had been engaged in secular
pursuits, whether civil or military is not clear, though the term he uses, "secularis
militia," might possibly imply the latter. He refers to the Council of Ephesus, held in
the summer and early autumn of 431, as having been held some three years previously to the
time at which he was writing "ante triennium ferme." This gives the date of the
Commonitory 434. Cyril, bishop of Alexandria, was still living. Sixtus the Third had
succeeded to the See of Rome; his predecessor, Celestine, having died in 432. Gennadius
says that Vincentius died, "Theodosio et Valentiniano regnantibus." Theodosius died,
leaving Valentinian still reigning, in July, 450. Vincentius' death, therefore, must have
occurred in or before that year.

2 Baronius places his name in the Roman Martyrology, Tillemont doubts whether with
sufficient reason. He is commemorated on the 24th of May. Vincentius has been charged with
Semipelagianism. Whether he actually held the doctrine which was afterwards called by that
name is not clear. Certainly the express enunciation of it is nowhere to be found in the
Commonitory. But it is extremely probable that at least his sympathies were with those who
held it. For not only does he omit the name of St. Augustine, who was especially obnoxious
to them, when making honorable mention at any time of the champions of the faith, but he
denounces his doctrine, though under a misrepresentation of it, as one of the forms of
that novel error which he reprobates. Indeed, whoever will compare what he says in70 of
the heresy which he describes but forbears to name, with Prosper's account of the charges
brought against Augustine by certain Semipelagian clergymen of Marseilles, will have
little doubt that Vincentius and they had the same teacher in view, and were of the same
mind with regard to his teaching. Be this however as it may, when it is considered that
the monks of Lerins, in common with the general body of the churchmen of Southern Gaul,
were strenuous upholders of Semipelagianism, it will not be thought surprising that
Vincentius should have been suspected of at least a leaning in that direction. Tillemont,
who forbears to express himself decidedly, but evidently inclines to that view, says
"L'opinion qui le condamne et l'abandonne aux Semipelagiens passe aujourd'hui pour la plus
commune parmi les savans."

3 It has been matter of question whether Vincentius is to be credited with the authorship
of the "Objectiones Vincentianae," a collection of Sixteen Inferences alleged to be
deducible from St. Augustine's writings, which has come down to us in Prosper's Reply. Its
date coincides so nearly with that of the Commonitory as to preclude all doubt as to the
identity of authorship on that score, and it must be confessed that its animus and that of
the 70th and 86th sections of the Commonitory are too much in keeping to make it difficult
to believe that both are from the same pen. Vincentius's object in the following treatise
is to provide himself, as he states, with a general rule whereby to distinguish Catholic
truth from heresy; and he commits what he has learnt, he adds, to writing, that he may
have it by him for reference as a Commonitory, or Remembrancer, to refresh his memory.

4 This rule, in brief, is the authority of Holy Scripture. By that all questions must be
tried in the first instance. And it would be abundantly sufficient, but that,
unfortunately, men differ in the interpretation of Holy Scripture. The rule, therefore,
must be supplemented by an appeal to that sense of Holy Scripture which is supported by
universality, antiquity, and consent: by universality, when it is the faith of the whole
Church; by antiquity, when it is that which has been held from the earliest times; by
consent, when it has been the acknowledged belief of all, or of almost all, whose office
and character gave authority to their determinations. This is the famous"Quod ubique, quod
semper, quod ab omnibus," with which Vincentius's name is associated." The body of the
work is taken up with its illustration and application. The work consisted originally of
two books; but unfortunately the second was lost, or rather, as Gennadius says, was
stolen, while the author was still alive; and there remains to us nothing but a
recapitulation of its contents, which the authour, unwilling to encounter the labour of
rewriting the whole, has drawn up.

5 In prosecution of his purpose Vincentius proceeds to show how his rule applies for the
detection of error in the instances of some of the more notorious heretics and schismatics
who up to his time had made havoc of the Church,-the Donatists and the Arians, for
instance, and the maintainers of the iteration of Baptism; and how the great defenders of
the Faith were guided in their maintenance of the truth by its observance. But the
perplexing question occurs: Wherefore, in God's providence, were persons, eminent for
their attainments and their piety, such as Photinus, Apollinaris, and Nestorius, permitted
to fall into heresy? To which the answer is, For the Church's trial. And Vincentius
proceeds to show, in the case of each of these, how great a trial to the Church his fall
was. This leads him to give an account of their erroneous teaching severally, from which
he turns aside for a while to expound the Catholic doctrine of the Trinity as opposed to
the heresy of Photinus, and of the Incarnation as opposed to the heresies of Apollinaris
and Nestorius, in an exposition remarkable for its clearness and precision. It contains so
much in common with the so-called Athanasian Creed, both as to the sentiments and the
language, that some have inferred from it, that Vincentius was the author of that
Formulary.

6 Returning from this digression, Vincentius proceeds, after promising to deal with these
subjects more fully on a future occasion, to two other very signal instances of heretical
defection caused by the disregard of antiquity and universality; those of Origen and
Tertullian, of both of whom he draws a vivid picture, contrasting them, such as they were
before their fall with what they became afterwards, and enlarging on the grievous injury
to the Church generally, and the distressing trial to individuals in particular,
consequent upon their defection. But it will be asked, Is Christian doctrine to remain at
a standstill? Is there to be no progresss, as in other sciences? Undoubtedly there is to
be progress; but it must be real progress, analogous, for instance, to the growth of the
human body from infancy to childhood, from childhood to mature age; or to the development
of a plant from the seed to the full-grown vegetable or tree; it must be such as the
elucidation of what was before obscure, the following out into detail of what was before
expressed only in general terms, not the addition of new doctrine, not the rejection of
old.

7 One difficulty which is not unlikely to perplex a simple Christian is the readiness with
which heretics appeal to Scripture, following therein the example of their arch-leader,
who, in his temptation of our Lord, dared to make use of arms drawn from that armoury.
This leads to the question, How are we to ascertain the true sense of Scripture? And, in
the answer to it, to a more detailed exposition of the general rule given at the outset.
Scripture, then, must be interpreted in accordance with the tradition of the Catholic
Church, our guide being antiquity, universality, consent. With regard to antiquity, that
interpretation must be held to which has been handed down from the earliest times; with
regard to universality, that which has always been held, if not by all, at least by the
most part, in preference to that which has been held only by a few; with regard to
consent, the determination of a General Council on any point will of course be of summary
authority, and will hold the first place; next to this, the interpretation which has been
held uniformly and persistently by all those Fathers, or by a majority of them, who have
lived and died in the communion of the Catholic Church. Accordingly, whatsoever
interpretation of Holy Scripture is opposed to an interpretation thus authenticated, even
though supported by the authority of one or another individual teacher, however eminent,
whether by his position, or his attainments, or his piety, or by all of these together,
must be rejected as novel and unsound.

8 Here the first Commonitory ends; but it ends with a promise of a still further and more
detailed inquiry, to be prosecuted in the Commonitory which is to follow, into the way in
which the opinions of the ancient Fathers are to be collected, and the rule of faith
determined in accordance with them. Unfortunately that promise, however fulfilled
according to the author's intention, has been frustrated to his readers. The second
Commonitory, as was said above, was lost, or rather stolen, and all that remains to us is
a brief and apparently partial recapitulation of its contents and of the contents of the
preceding. In this Vincentius repeats the rule for ascertaining the Catholic doctrine
which he had laid down at the outset, enlarging especially upon the way in which the
consent of the Fathers is to be arrived at, and illustrating what he says by the course
pursued by the Council of Ephesus in the matter of Nestorius,-how the Fathers of the
Council, instead of resting upon their own judgment, eminent as many of them were,
collected together the opinions of the most illustrious of their predecessors, and
following their consentient belief, determined the question before them. To this most
noteworthy example he adds the authority of two bishops of Rome, Sixtus III., then
occupying the Papal Chair, and Celestine, his immediate predecessor,-the gist of the whole
being the confirmation of the rule which it had been his object to enforce throughout the
Treatise-that profane novelties must be rejected, and that faith alone adhered to which
the universal Church has held consentiently from the earliest times, Quod Ubique, Quod Ab
Omnibus.

CHAPTER I.

1 The Object of the Following Treatise. [I.] I, Peregrinus, who am the least of all the
servants of God, remembering the admonition of Scripture, "Ask thy fathers and they will
tell thee, thine elders and they will declare unto thee," and again, "Bow down thine ear
to the words of the wise," and once more, "My son, forget not these instructions, but let
thy heart keep my words:" remembering these admonitions, I say, I, Peregrinus, am
persuaded, that, the Lord helping me, it will be of no little use and certainly as regards
my own feeble powers, it is most necessary, that I should put down in writing the things
which I have truthfully received from the holy Fathers, since I shall then have ready at
hand wherewith by constant reading to make amends for the weakness of my memory. [2.] To
this I am incited not only by regard to the fruit to be expected from my labour but also
by the consideration of time and the opportuneness of place:

2 By the consideration of time,-for seeing that time seizes upon all things human, we also
in turn ought to snatch from it something which may profit us to eternal life, especially
since a certain awful expectation of the approach of the divine judgment importunately
demands increased earnestness in religion, while the subtle craftiness of new heretics
calls for no ordinary care and attention. I am incited also by the opportuneness of place,
in that, avoiding the concourse and crowds of cities, I am dwelling in the seclusion of a
Monastery, situated in a remote grange, where, I can follow without distraction the
Psalmist's admonition, "Be still, and know that I am God." Moreover, it suits well with my
purpose in adopting this life; for, whereas I was at one time involved in the manifold and
deplorable tempests of secular warfare, I have now at length, under Christ's auspices,
cast anchor in the harbour of religion, a harbour to all always most safe, in order that,
having there been freed from the blasts of vanity and pride, and propitiating God by the
sacrifice of Christian humility, I may be able to escape not only the shipwrecks of the
present life, but also the flames of the world to come.

3 [3.] But now, in the Lord's name, I will set about the object I have in view; that is to
say, to record with the fidelity of a narrator rather than the presumption of an author,
the things which our forefathers have handed down to us and committed to our keeping, yet
observing this rule in what I write, that I shall by no means touch upon everything that
might be said, but only upon what is necessary; nor yet in an ornate and exact style, but
in simple and ordinary language, so that the most part may seem to be intimated, rather
than set forth in detail. Let those cultivate elegance and exactness who are confident of
their ability or are moved by a sense of duty. For me it will be enough to have provided a
Commonitory (or Remembrancer) for myself, such as may aid my memory, or rather, provide
against my forgetfulness: which same Commonitory however, I shall endeavor, the Lord
helping me, to amend and make more complete by little and little, day by day, by recalling
to mind what I have learnt. I mention this at the outset, that if by chance what I write
should slip out of my possession and come into the hands of holy men, they may forbear to
blame anything therein hastily, when they see that there is a promise that it will yet be
amended and made more complete.

CHAPTER II.

1 A General Rule for distinguishing the Truth of the Catholic Faith from the Falsehood of
Heretical Pravity. [4.] I Have often then inquired earnestly and attentively of very many
men eminent for sanctity and learning, how and by what sure and so to speak universal rule
I may be able to distinguish the truth of Catholic faith from the falsehood of heretical
pravity; and I have always, and in almost every instance, received an answer to this
effect: That whether I or any one else should wish to detect the frauds and avoid the
snares of heretics as they rise, and to continue sound and complete in the Catholic faith,
we must, the Lord helping, fortify our own belief in two ways; first, by the authority of
the Divine Law, and then, by the Tradition of the Catholic Church. [5.] But here some one
perhaps will ask, Since the canon of Scripture is complete, and sufficient of itself for
everything, and more than sufficient, what need is there to join with it the authority of
the Church's interpretation? For this reason,-because, owing to the depth of Holy
Scripture, all do not accept it in one and the same sense, but one understands its words
in one way, another in another; so that it seems to be capable of as many interpretations
as there are interpreters. For Novatian expounds it one way, Sabellius another, Donatus
another, Arius, Eunomius, Macedonius, another, Photinus, Apollinaris, Priscillian,
another, Iovinian, Pelagius, Celestius, another, lastly, Nestorius another. Therefore, it
is very necessary, on account of so great intricacies of such various error, that the rule
for the right understanding of the prophets and apostles should be framed in accordance
with the standard of Ecclesiastical and Catholic interpretation.

2 [6.] Moreover, in the Catholic Church itself, all possible care must be taken, that we
hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, by all. For that is truly and
in the strictest sense "Catholic," which, as the name itself and the reason of the thing
declare, comprehends all universally. This rule we shall observe if we follow
universality, antiquity, consent. We shall follow universality if we confess that one
faith to be true, which the whole Church throughout the world confesses; antiquity, if we
in no wise depart from those interpretations which it is manifest were notoriously held by
our holy ancestors and fathers; consent, in like manner, if in antiquity itself we adhere
to the consentient definitions and determinations of all, or at the least of almost all
priests and doctors.

CHAPTER III.

What is to be done if one or more dissent from the rest. [7.] What then will a Catholic
Christian do, if a small portion of the Church have cut itself off from the communion of
the universal faith? What, surely, but prefer the soundness of the whole body to the
unsoundness of a pestilent and corrupt member? What, if some novel contagion seek to
infect not merely an insignificant portion of the Church, but the whole? Then it will be
his care to cleave to antiquity, which at this day cannot possibly be seduced by any fraud
of novelty. [8.] But what, if in antiquity itself there be found error on the part of two
or three men, or at any rate of a city or even of a province? Then it will be his care by
all means, to prefer the decrees, if such there be, of an ancient General Council to the
rashness and ignorance of a few. But what, if some error should spring up on which no such
decree is found to bear? Then he must collate andconsult and interrogate the opinions of
the ancients, of those, namely, who, though living in divers times and places, yet
continuing in the communion and faith of the one Catholic Church, stand forth acknowledged
and approved authorities: and whatsoever he shall ascertain to have been held, written,
taught, not by one or two of these only, but by all, equally, with one consent, openly,
frequently, persistently, that he must understand that he himself also is to believe
without any doubt or hesitation.

CHAPTER IV.

1 The evil resulting from the bringing in of Novel Doctrine shown in the instances of the
Donatists and Arians. [9.] But that we may make what we say more intelligible, we must
illustrate it by individual examples, and enlarge upon it somewhat more fully, lest by
aiming at too great brevity important matters be hurried over and lost sight of. In the
time of Donatus, from whom his followers were called Donatists, when great numbers in
Africa were rushing headlong into their own mad error, and unmindful of their name, their
religion, their profession, were preferring the sacrilegious temerity of one man before
the Church of Christ, then they alone throughout Africa were safe within the sacred
precincts of the Catholic faith, who, detesting the profane schism, continued in communion
with the universal Church, leaving to posterity an illustrious example, how, and how well
in future the soundness of the whole body should be preferred before the madness of one,
or at most of a few.

2 [10.] So also when the Arian poison had infected not an insignificant portion of the
Church but almost the whole world, so that a sort of blindness had fallen upon almost all
the bishops of the Latin tongue, circumvented partly by force partly by fraud and was
preventing them from seeing what was most expedient to be done in the midst of so much
confusion, then whoever was a true lover and worshipper of Christ, preferring the ancient
belief to the novel misbelief, escaped the pestilent infection. 3 [11.] By the peril of
which time was abundantly shown how great a calamity the introduction of a novel doctrine
causes. For then truly not only interests of small account, but others of the very gravest
importance, were subverted. For not only affinities, relationships, friendships, families,
but moreover, cities, peoples, provinces, nations, at last the whole Roman Empire, were
shaken to their foundation and ruined. For when this same profane Arian novelty, like a
Bellona or a Fury, had first taken captive the Emperor, and had then subjected all the
principal persons of the palace to new laws, from that time it never ceased to involve
everything in confusion, disturbing all things, public and private, sacred and profane,
paying no regard to what was good and true, but, as though holding a position of
authority, smiting whomsoever it pleased. Then wives were violated, widows ravished,
virgins profaned, monasteries demolished, clergymen ejected, the inferior clergy scourged,
priests driven into exile, jails, prisons, mines, filled with saints, of whom the greater
part, forbidden to enter into cities, thrust forth from their homes to wander in deserts
and caves, among rocks and the haunts of wild beasts, exposed to nakedness, hunger,
thirst, were worn out and consumed. Of all of which was there any other cause than that,
while human superstitions are being brought in to supplant heavenly doctrine, while well
established antiquity is being subverted by wicked novelty, while the institutions of
former ages are being set at naught, while the decrees of our fathers are being rescinded,
while the determinations of our ancestors are being torn in pieces, the lust of profane
and novel curiosity refuses to restrict itself within the most chaste limits of hallowed
and uncorrupt antiquity?

CHAPTER V.

1 The Example set us by the Martyrs, whom no force could hinder from defending the Faith
of their Predecessors. [12.] But it may be, we invent these charges out of hatred to
novelty and zeal for antiquity. Whoever is disposed to listen to such an insinuation, let
him at least believe the blessed Ambrose, who, deploring the acerbity of the time, says,
in the second book of his work addressed to the Emperor Gratian: "Enough now, O God
Almighty! have we expiated with our own ruin, with our own blood, the slaughter of
Confessors, the banishment of priests, and the wickedness of such extreme impiety. It is
clear, beyond question, that they who have violated the faith cannot remain in safety."
And again in the third book of the same work, "Let us observe the precepts of our
predecessors, and not transgress with rude rashness the landmarks which we have inherited
from them. That sealed Book of Prophecy no Elders, no Powers, no Angels, no Archangels,
dared to open. To Christ alone was reserved the prerogative of explaining it. Who of us
may dare to unseal the Sacerdotal Book sealed by Confessors, and consecrated already by
the martyrdom of numbers, which they who had been compelled by force to unseal afterwards
resealed, condemning the fraud which had been practised upon them; while they who had not
ventured to tamper with it proved themselves Confessors and martyrs? How can we deny the
faith of those whose victory we proclaim?"

2 [13.] We proclaim it truly, O venerable Ambrose, we proclaim it, and applaud and admire.
For who is there so demented, who, though not able to overtake, does not at least
earnestly desire to follow those whom no force could deter from defending the faith of
their ancestors, no threats, no blandishments, not life, not death, not the palace, not
the Imperial Guards, not the Emperor, not the empire itself, not men, not demons?-whom, I
say, as a recompense for their steadfastness in adhering to religious antiquity, the
Lordcounted worthy of so great a reward, that by their instrumentality He restored
churches which had been destroyed, quickened with new life peoples who were spiritually
dead, replaced on the heads of priests the crowns which had been torn from them, washed
out those abominable, I will not say letters, but blotches (non literas, sed lituras) of
novel impiety, with a fountain of believing tears, which God opened in the hearts of the
bishops? -lastly, when almost the whole world was overwhelmed by a ruthless tempest of
unlooked for heresy, recalled it from novel misbelief to the ancient faith, from the
madnessof novelty to the soundness of antiquity, from the blindness of novelty to pristine
light?

3 [14.] But in this divine virtue, as we may call it, exhibited by these Confessors, we
must note especially that the defence which they then undertook in appealing to the
Ancient Church, was the defence, not of a part, but of the whole body. For it was not
right that men of such eminence should uphold with so huge an effort the vague and
conflicting notions of one or two men, or should exert themselves in the defence of some
ill-advised combination of some petty province; but adhering to the decrees and
definitions of the universal priesthood of Holy Church, the heirs of Apostolic and
Catholic truth, they chose rather to deliver up themselves than to betray the faith of
universality and antiquity. For which cause they were deemed worthy of so great glory as
not only to be accounted Confessors, but rightly, and deservedly to be accounted foremost
among Confessors.

CHAPTER VI.

1 The example of Pope Stephen in resisting the Iteration of Baptism. [15.] Great then is
the example of these same blessed men, an example plainly divine, and worthy to be called
to mind, and medi- rated upon continually by every true Catholic, who, like the seven-
branched candlestick, shining with the sevenfold light of the Holy Spirit, showed to
posterity how thenceforward the audaciousness of profane novelty, in all the several
rantings of error, might be crushed by the authority of hallowed antiquity. Nor is there
anything new in this? For it has always been the case in the Church, that the more a man
is under the influence of religion, so much the more prompt is he to oppose innovations.
Examples there are without number: but to be brief, we will take one, and that, in
preference to others, from the Apostolic See, so that it may be clearer than day to every
one with how great energy, with how great zeal, with how great earnestness, the blessed
successors of the blessed apostles have constantly defended the integrity of the religion
which they have once received.

2 [16.] Once on a time then, Agrippinus, bishop of Carthage, of venerable memory, held the
doctrine-and he was the first who held it -that Baptism ought to be repeated, contrary to
the divine canon, contrary to the rule of the universal Church, contrary to the customs
and institutions of our ancestors. This innovation drew after it such an amount of evil,
that it not only gave an example of sacrilege to heretics of all sorts, but proved an
occasion of error to certain Catholics even. When then all men protested against the
novelty, and the priesthood everywhere, each as his zeal prompted him, opposed it, Pope
Stephen of blessed memory, Prelate of the Apostolic See, in conjunction indeed with his
colleagues but yet himself the foremost, withstood it, thinking it right, I doubt not,
that as he exceeded all others in the authority of his place, so he should also in the
devotion of his faith. In fine, in an epistle sent at the time to Africa, he laid down
this rule: "Let there be no innovation-nothing but what has been handed down." For that
holy and prudent man well knew that true piety admits no other rule than that whatsoever
things have been faithfully received from our fathers the same are to be faithfully
consigned to our children; and that it is our duty, not to lead religion whither we would,
but rather to follow religion whither it leads; and that it is the part of Christian
modesty and gravity not to hand down our own beliefs or observances to those who come
after us, but to preserve and keep what we have received from those who went before us.
What then was the issue of the whole matter?What but the usual and customary one?
Antiquity was retained, novelty was rejected.

3 [17.] But it may be, the cause of innovation at that time lacked patronage. On the
contrary, it had in its favor such powerful talent, such copious eloquence, such a number
of partisans, so much resemblance to truth, such weighty support in Scripture (only
interpreted in a novel and perverse sense), that it seems to me that that whole conspiracy
could not possibly have been defeated, unless the sole cause of this extraordinary stir,
the very novelty of what was so undertaken, so defended, so belauded, had proved wanting
toit. In the end, what result, under God, had that same African Council or decree? None
whatever. The whole affair, as though a dream, a fable, a thing of no possible account,
was annulled, cancelled, and trodden underfoot. [18.] And O marvellous revolution! The
authors of this same doctrine are judged Catholics, the followers heretics; the teachers
are absolved, the disciples condemned; the writers of the books will be children of the
Kingdom, the defenders of them will have their portion in Hell. For who is so demented as
to doubt that that blessed light among all holy bishops and martyrs, Cyprian, together
with the rest of his colleagues, will reign with Christ; or, who on the other hand so
sacrilegious as to deny that the Donatists and those other pests, who boast the authority
of that council for their iteration of baptism, will be consigned to eternal fire with the
devil?

CHAPTER VII.

1 How Heretics, craftily cite obscure passages in ancient writers in support of their own
novelties. [19.] This condemnation, indeed, seems to have been providentially promulgated
as though with a special view to the fraud of those who, contriving to dress up a heresy
under a name other than its own, get hold often of the works of some ancient writer, not
very clearly expressed, which, owing to the very obscurity of their own doctrine, have the
appearance of agreeing with it, so that they get the credit of being neither the first nor
the only persons who have heldit. This wickedness of theirs, in my judgment, is doubly
hateful: first, because they are not afraid to invite others to drink of the poison of
heresy; and secondly, because with profane breath, as though fanning smouldering embers
into flame, they blow upon the memory of each holy man, and spread an evil report of what
ought to be buried in silence by bringing it again under notice, thus treading in the
footsteps of their father Ham, who not only forebore to cover the nakedness of the
venerable Noah, but told it to the others that they might laugh at it, offending thereby
so grievously against the duty of filial piety, that even his descendants were involved
with him in the curse which he drew down, widely differing from those blessed brothers of
his, who would neither pollute their own eyes by looking upon the nakedness of their
revered father, nor would suffer others to do so, but went backwards, as the Scripture
says, and covered him, that is, they neither approved nor betrayed the fault of the holy
man, for which cause they were rewarded with a benediction on themselves and
theirposterity.

2 [20. But to return to the matter in hand: It behoves us then to have a great dread of
the crime of perverting the faith and adulterating religion, a crime from which we are
deterred not only by the Church's discipline, but also by the censure of apostolical
authority. For every one knows how gravely, how severely, how vehemently, the blessed
apostle Paul inveighs against certain, who, with marvellous levity, had "been so soon
removed from him who had called them to the grace of Christ to another Gospel, which was
not another; "who had heaped to themselves teachers after their own lusts, turning away
their ears from the truth, and being turned aside unto fables; "having damnation because
they had cast off their first faith; who had been deceived by those of whom the same
apostle writes to the Roman Christians, "Now, I beseech you, brethren, mark them which
cause divisions and offences, contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned, and avoid
them. For they that are such serve not the Lord Christ, but their own belly, and by good
words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. "who enter intohouses, and lead
captive silly women laden with sins, led away with diverse lusts, ever learning and never
able to come to the knowledge of the truth; "vain talkers and deceivers, who subvert whole
houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake; "men of corrupt
minds, reprobate concerning the faith;

3 "proud knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, destitute of
the truth, supposing that godliness is gain," "withal learning to be idle, wandering about
from house to house, and not only idle, but tattlers also and busy-bodies, speaking things
which they ought not," "who having put away a good conscience have made shipwreck
concerning the faith; "whose profane and vain babblings increase unto more ungodliness,
and their word doth eat as doth a cancer. Well, also, is it written of them: "But they
shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as their's also
was."

CHAPTER VIII.

1 Exposition of St. Paul's Words, Gal. i. 8. [21.] When therefore certain of this sort
wandering about provinces and cities, and carrying with them their venal errors, hadfound
their way to Galatia, and when the Galatians, on hearing them, nauseating the truth, and
vomiting up the manna of Apostolic and Catholic doctrine, were delighted with the garbage
of heretical novelty, the apostle putting in exercise the authority of his office,
delivered his sentence with the utmost severity, "Though we," he says, "or an angel from
heaven, preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let
him be accursed." [22.] Why does he say "Though we"? why not rather "though I "? He means,
"thou h Peter, though Andrew though John in a word, though the whole company of apostles,
preach unto you other than we have preached unto you, let him be accursed." Tremendous
severity! He spares neither himself nor his fellow apostles, so he may preserve unaltered
the faith which was at first delivered. Nay, this is not all. He goes on "Even though an
angel from heaven preach unto you any other Gospel than that which we have preached unto
you, let him be accursed." It was not enough for the preservation of the faith once
delivered to have referred to man; he must needs comprehend angels also. "Though we," he
says, "or an angel from heaven." Not that the holy angels of heaven are now capable of
sinning. But what he means is: Even if that were to happen which cannot happen,-if any
one, be he who he may, attempt to alter the faith once for all delivered, let him be
accursed.

2 [23.] But it may be, he spoke thus in the first instance inconsiderately, giving vent to
human impetuosity rather than expressing himself under divine guidance. Far from it. He
follows up what he had said, and urges it with intense reiterated earnestness, "As we said
before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other Gospel to you than that ye have
received, let him be accursed." He does not say, "If any man deliver to you another
message than that you have received, let him be blessed, praised, welcomed,"-no; but "let
him be accursed," [anathema] i.e., separated, segregated, excluded, lest the dire
contagion of a single sheep contaminate the guiltless flock of Christ by his poisonous
intermixture with them.

CHAPTER IX.

1 His warning to the Galatians a warning to all. [24.] But, possibly, this warning was
intended for the Galatians only. Be it so; then those other exhortations which follow in
the same Epistle were intended for the Galatians only, such as, "If we live in the Spirit,
let us also walk in the Spirit; let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one
another, envying one another," etc.; which alternative if it be absurd, and the
injunctions were meant equally for all, then it follows, that as these injunctions which
relate to morals, so those warnings which relate to faith are meant equally for all; and
just as it is unlawful for all to provoke one another, or to envy one another, so,
likewise, it is unlawful for all to receive any other Gospel than that which the Catholic
Church preaches everywhere. [25.] Or perhaps the anathema pronounced on any one who should
preach another Gospel than that which had been preached was meant for those times, not for
the present. Then, also, the exhortation, "Walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfil the
lust of the flesh," was meant for those times, not for the present. But if it be both
impious and pernicious to believe this, thenit follows necessarily, that as these
injunctions are to be observed by all ages, so those warnings also which forbid alteration
of the faith are warnings intended for all ages. To preach any doctrine therefore to
CatholicChristians other than what they have received never was lawful, never is lawful,
never will be lawful: and to anathematize those who preach anything other than what has
once been received, always was a duty, always is a duty, always will be a duty.

2 [26.] Which being the case, is there any one either so audacious as to preach any other
doctrine than that which the Church preaches, or so inconstant as to receive any other
doctrine than that which he has received from the Church? That elect vessel, that teacher
of the Gentiles, that trumpet of the apostles, that preacher whose commission was to the
whole earth, that man who was caught up to heaven, cries and cries again in his Epistles
to all, always, in all places, "If any man preach any new doctrine, let him be accursed."
On the other hand, an ephemeral, moribund set of frogs, fleas, and flies, such as the
Pelagians, call out in opposition, and that to Catholics, "Take our word, follow our lead,
accept our exposition, condemn what you used to hold, hold what you used to condemn, cast
aside the ancient faith, the institutes of your fathers, the trusts left for you by your
ancestors and receive instead,-what? I tremble to utter it: for it is so full of arrogance
and self-conceit, that it seems to me that not only to affirm it, but even to refute it,
cannot be done without guilt in Some sort.

CHAPTER X.

1 Why Eminent Men are permitted by God to become Authors of Novelties in the Church. [27.]
But some one will ask, How is it then, that certain excellent persons, and of position in
the Church, are often permitted by God to preach novel doctrines to Catholics? A proper
question, certainly, and one which ought to be very carefully and fully dealt with, but
answered at the same time, not in reliance upon one's own ability, but by the authority of
the divineLaw, and by appeal to the Church's determination. Let us listen, then, to Holy
Moses, and let him teach us why learned men,and such as because of their knowledge are
even called Prophets by the apostle, are sometimes permitted to put forth novel doctrines,
which the Old Testament is wont, by way of allegory, to call "strange gods," forasmuch as
heretics pay the same sort of reverence to their notions that the Gentiles do to their
gods.

2 [28. Blessed Moses, then, writes thus in Deuteronomy: "If there arise among you a
prophet or a dreamer of dreams," that is, one holding office as a Doctor in the Church,
who is believed by his disciples or auditors to teach by revelation: well,-what follows?
"and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass whereof he
spake,"-he is pointing to some eminent doctor, whose learning is such that his followers
believe him not only to know things human, but, moreover, to foreknow things superhuman,
such as, their disciplescommonly boast, were Valentinus, Donatus, Photinus, Apollinaris,
and the rest of that sort! What next? "And shall say to thee, Let us go after other gods,
whom thou knowest not, and serve them. What are those other gods but strange errors which
thou knowest not, that is, new and such as were never heard of before? "And let us serve
them; that is, "Let us believe them, follow them. What last? "Thou shall not hearken to
the words of that prophet or dreamer of dreams. And why, I pray thee, does not God forbid
to be taught what God forbids to be heard? "For the Lord, your God, trieth you, to know
whether you love Him with all your heart and with all your soul. The reason is clearer
than day why Divine Providence sometimes permits certain doctors of the Churches to preach
new doctrines-"That the Lord your God may try you; he says.

3 And assuredly it is a great trial when one whom thou believest to be a prophet, a
disciple of prophets, a doctor and defender of the truth, whom thou hast folded to thy
breast with the utmost veneration and love, when such a one of a sudden secretly and
furtively brings in noxious errrors, which thou canst neither quickly detect, being held
by the prestige of former authority, nor lightly think it right to condemn, being
prevented by affection for thine old master.

CHAPTER XI.

1 Examples from Church History, confirming the words of Moses,-Nestorius, Photinus,
Apollinaris. [29.] Here, perhaps, some one will require us to illustrate the words of holy
Moses by examples from Church History. The demand is a fair one, nor shall it wait long
for satisfaction. For to take first a very recent and very plain case: what son of trial,
think we, was that which the Church had experience of the other day, when that unhappy
Nestorius, all at once metamorphosed from a sheep into a wolf, began to make havoc of the
flock of Christ, while as yet a large proportion of those whom he was devouring believed
him to be a sheep, and consequently were the more exposed to his attacks? For who would
readily suppose him to be in error, who was known to have been elected by the high choice
of the Emperor, and to be held in the greatest esteem by the priesthood? who would readily
suppose him to be in error, who, greatly beloved by the holy brethren, and in high favor
with the populace, expounded the Scriptures in public daily, and confuted the pestilent
errors both of Jews and Heathens? Who could choose but believe that his teaching was
Orthodox, his preaching Orthodox, his belief Orthodox, who, that he might open the way to
one heresy of his own, was zealously inveighing against the blasphemies of all heresies?
But this was the very thing which Moses says: "The Lord your God doth try you that He may
know whether you love Him or not."

2 [30.] Leaving Nestorius, in whom there was always more that men admired than they were
profited by, more of show than of reality, whom natural ability, rather than divine grace,
magnified, for a time in the opinion of the common people, let us pass on to speak of
those who, being persons of great attainments and of much industry, proved no small trial
to Catholics. Such, for instance, was Photinus, in Pannonia, who, in the memory of our
fathers, is said to have been a trial to the Church of Sirmium, where, when he had been
raised to the priesthood with universal approbation, and had discharged the office for
some time as a Catholic, all of a sudden, like that evil prophet or dreamer of dreams whom
Moses refers to, he began to persuade the people whom God had intrusted, to his charge, to
follow "strange gods," that is, strange errors, which before they knew not. But there was
nothing unusual in this: the mischief of the matter was, that for the perpetration of so
great wickedness he availed himself of no ordinary helps. For he was of great natural
ability and of powerful eloquence, and had a wealth of learning, disputing and writing
copiously and forcibly in both languages, as his books which remain. composed partly in
Greek, partly in Latin, testify. But happily the sheep of Christ committed to him,
vigilant and wary for the Catholic faith, quickly turned their eyes to the premonitory
words of Moses, and, though admiring the eloquence of their prophet and pastor, were not
blind to the trial. For from thenceforward they began to flee from him as a wolf, whom
formerly they had followed as the ram of the flock.

3 [31.] Nor is it only in the instance of Photinus that we learn the danger of this trial
to the Church, and are admonished withal of the need Of double diligence in guarding the
faith. Apollinaris holds out a like warning. For he gave rise to great burning questions
and sore peplexities among his disciples, the Church's authority drawing them one way,
their Master's influence the opposite; so that, wavering and tossed hither and thither
between the two, they were at a loss what course to take. But perhaps he was a person of
no weight of character. On the contrary, he was so eminent and so highly esteemed that his
word would only too readily be taken on whatsoever subject. For what could exceed his
acuteness, his adroitness, his learning? How many heresies did he, in many volumes,
annihilate! How many errors, hostile to the faith, did he confute! A proof of which is
that most noble and vast work, of not less than thirty books, in which, with a great mass
of arguments, he repelled the insane calumnies of Porphyry. It would take a long time to
enumerate all his works, which assuredly would have placed him on a level with the very
chief of the Church's builders, if that profane last of heretical curiosity had not led
him to devise I know not what novelty which as though through the contagion of a sort of
leprosy both defiled all his labours, and caused his teachings to be pronounced the
Church's trial instead of the Church's edification.

CHAPTER XII.

1 A fuller account of the Errors of Photinus, Apollinaris and Nestorius. [32.] Here,
possibly, I may be asked for some account of the above mentioned heresies; those, namely,
of Nestorius, Apollinaris, and Photinus. This, indeed, does not belong to the matter in
hand: for our object is not to enlarge upon the errors of individuals, but to produce
instances of a few, in whom the applicability of Moses' words may be evidently and clearly
seen; that is to say, that if at any time some Master in the Church, himself also a
prophet in interpreting the mysteries of the prophets, should attempt to introduce some
novel doctrine into the Church of God, Divine Providence permits this to happen in order
to try us. It will be useful, therefore, by way of digression, to give a brief account of
the opinions of the above-named heretics, Photinus, Apollinaris, Nestorius. [33.] The
heresy of Photinus, then, is as follows: He says that God is singular and sole, and is to
be regarded as the Jews regarded Him. He denies the completeness of the Trinity, and does
not believe that there is any Person of God the Word, or any Person of the Holy Ghost.
Christ he affirms to be a mere man, whose original was from Mary. Hence he insists with
the utmost obstinacy that we are to render worship only to the Person of God the Father,
and that we are to honour Christ as man only. This is the doctrine of Photinus.

2 [34.] Apollinaris, affecting to agree with the Church as to the unity of the Trinity,
though not this even with entire soundness of belief, as to the Incarnation of the Lord,
blasphemes openly. For he says that the flesh of our Saviour was either altogether devoid
of a human soul, or, at all events, was devoid of a rational soul. Moreover, he says that
this same flesh of the Lord was not received from the flesh of the holy Virgin Mary, but
came down from heaven into the Virgin; and, ever wavering and undecided, he preaches one
while that it was co-eternal with God the Word, another that it was made of the divine
nature of the Word. For, denying that there are two substances in Christ, one divine, the
other human, one from the Father, the other from his mother, he holds that the very nature
of the Word was divided, as though one part of it remained in God, the other was converted
into flesh: so that whereas the truth says that of two substances there is one Christ, he
affirms, contrary to the truth, that of the one divinity of Christ there are become two
substances.This, then, is the doctrine of Apollinaris.

3 [35.] Nestorius, whose disease is of an opposite kind, while pretending that he holds
two distinct substances in Christ, brings in of a sudden two Persons, and with unheard of
wickedness would have two sons of God, two Christs,-one, God, the other, man, one,
begotten of his Father, the other, born of his mother. For which reason he maintains that
Saint Mary ought to be called, not Theotocos (the mother of God), but Christotocos (the
mother of Christ), seeing that she gave birth not to the Christ who is God, but to the
Christ who is man. But if any one supposes that in his writings he speaks of one Christ,
and preaches one Person of Christ, let him not lightly credit it. For either this is a
crafty device, that by means of good he may the more easily persuade evil, according to
that of the apostle, "That which is good was made death to me," -either, I say, he
craftily affects in some places in his writings to believe one Christ and one Person of
Christ, or else he says that after the Virgin had brought forth, the two Persons were
united into one Christ, though at the time of her conception or parturition, and for some
short time afterwards, there were two Christs; so that forsooth, though Christ was born at
first an ordinary man and nothing more, and not as yet associated in unity of Person with
the Word of God, yet afterwards the Person of the Word assuming descended upon Him; and
though now the Person assumed remains in the glory of God, yet once there would seem to
have been no difference between Him and all other men.Chapter XlII.The Catholic Doctrine
of the Trinity and the Incarnationexplained.

4 [36.] IN these ways then do these rabid dogs, Nestorius, Apollinaris, and Photinus, bark
against the Catholic faith: Photinus, by denying the Trinity; Apollinaris, by teaching
that the nature of the Word is mutable, and refusing to acknowledge that there are two
substances in Christ, denying moreover either that Christ had a soul at all, or, at all
events, that he had a rational soul, and asserting that the Word of God supplied the place
of the rational soul; Nestorius, by affirming that there were always or at any rate that
once there were two Christs. But the Catholic Church, holding the right faith both
concerning God and concerning our Saviour, is guilty of blasphemy neither in the mystery
of the Trinity, nor in that of the Incarnation of Christ. For she worships both one
Godhead in the plenitude of the Trinity, and the equality of the Trinity in one and the
same majesty, and she confesses one Christ Jesus, not two; the same both God and man, the
one as truly as the other. One Person indeed she believes in Him, but two substances; two
substances but one Person: Two substances, because the Word of God is not mutable, so as
to be convertible into flesh; one Person, lest by acknowledging two sons she should seem
to worship not a Trinity, but a Quaternity

5 [37.] But it will be well to unfold this same doctrine more distinctly and explicitly
again and again. 6 In God there is one substance, but three Persons; in Christ two
substances, but one Person. In the Trinity, another and another Person, not another and
another substance (distinct Persons, not distinct substances); in the Saviour another and
another substance, not another and another Person, (distinct substances, not distinct
Persons. How in the Trinity another and another Person (distinct Persons) not another and
another substance (distinct substances)? Because there is one Person of the Father,
another of the Son, another of the Holy Ghost; but yet there is not another and another
nature (distinct natures) but one and the same natUre. How in the Saviour another and
another substance, not another and another Person (two distinct substances, not two
distinct Persons)? Because there is one substance of the Godhead, another of the manhood.
But yet the Godhead and the manhood are not another and another Person (two distinct
Persons), but one and the same fist, one and the same Son of God, and one and the same
Person of one and the same Christ and Son of God, in like manner as in man the flesh is
one thing and the soul another, but one and the same man, both soul and flesh. In Peter
and Paul the saul is one thing, the flesh another; yet there are not two Peters,-one soul,
the other flesh, or two Pauls, one soul, the other flesh,-but one and the same Peter, and
one and the same Paul, consisting each of two diverse natures, soul and body.

7 Thus, then, in one and the same Christ there are two substances, one divine, the other
human; one of (ex) God the Father, the other of (ex) the Virgin Mother; one co-eternal
with and co-equal with the Father, the other temporal and inferior to the Father; one
consubstantial with his Father, the other, consubstantial with his Mother, but one andthe
same Christ in both substances. There is not, therefore, one Christ God, the other man,
not one uncreated, the other created; not one impassible, the other passible; not one
equal to the Father, the other inferior to the Father; not one of his Father (ex), the
other of his Mother (ex), but one and the same Christ, God and man, the same uncreated and
created, the same unchangeable and incapable of suffering, the same acquainted by
experience with both change and suffering, the same equal to the Father and inferior to
the Father, the same begotten of the Father before time, ("before the world"), the same
born of his mother in time ("in the world"), perfect God, perfect Man. In God supreme
divinity, in man perfect humanity. Perfect humanity, I say, forasmuch as it hath both soul
and flesh; the flesh, very flesh; our flesh, his mother's flesh; the soul, intellectual,
endowed with mind and reason. There is then in Christ the Word, the soul, the flesh; but
the whole is one Christ, one Son of God, and one our Saviour and Redeemer:

8 One, not by I know not what corruptible confusion of Godhead and manhood, but by a
certain entire and singular unity of Person. For the conjunction hath not converted and
changed the one nature into the other, (which is the characteristic error of the Arians),
but rather hath in such wise compacted beth into one, that while there always remains in
Christ the singularity of one and the self-same Person, there abides eternally withal the
characteristic property of each nature; whence it follows, that neither doth God (i.e.,
the divine nature) ever begin to be body, nor doth the body ever cease to be body. The
which may be illustrated in human nature: for not only in the present life, but in the
future also, each individual man will consist of soul and body; nor will his body ever be
converted into soul, or his soul into body; but while each individual man will live for
ever, the distinction between the two substances will continue in each individual man for
ever. So likewise in Christ each substance will for ever retain its own characteristic
property, yet without prejudice to the unity of Person.

CHAPTER XIV.

1 Jesus Christ Man in Truth, not in Semblance. [38.] But when we use the word "Person,"
and say that God became man by means of a Person, there is reason to fear that our meaning
may be taken to be, that God the Word assumed our nature merely in imitation, and peformed
the actions of man, being man not in reality, but only in semblance, just as in a theatre,
one man within a brief space represents several persons, not one of whom himself is. For
when one undertakes to sustain the part of another, he performs the offices, or does the
acts, of the person whose part he sustains, but he is not himself that person. So, to take
an illustration from secular life and one in high favour with the Manichees, when a
tragedian represents a priest or a king, he is not really a priest or a king. For, as soon
as the play is over, the person or character whom he represented ceases to be. God forbid
that we should have anything to do with such nefarious and wicked mockery. Be it the
infatuation of the Manichees, those preachers of hallucination, who say that the Son of
God, God, was not a human person really and truly, but that He counterfeited the person of
a man in reigned conversation and manner of life.

2 [39. But the Catholic Faith teaches that the Word of God became man in such wise, that
He took upon Him our nature, not feign- edly and in semblance, but in reality and truth,
and performed human actions, not as though He were imitating the actions of another, but
as performing His own, and as being in reality the person whose part He sustained. Just as
we ourselves also, when we speak, reason, live, subsist, do not imitate men, but are men.
Peter and John, for instance, were men, not by imitation, but by being men in reality.
Paul did not counterfeit an apostle, or feign himself to be Paul, but was an apostle, was
Paul. So, also, that which God the Word did, in His condescension, in assuming and having
flesh, in speaking, acting, and suffering, through the instrumentality Of flesh, yet
without any marring of His own divine nature, came in one word to this:-He did not imitate
or feign Himself to be perfect man, but He shewed Himself to be very man in reality and
truth. Therefore, as the soul united to the flesh, but yet not changed into flesh, does
not imitate man, but is man, and man not feignedly but substantially, so also God the
Word, without any conversion of Himself, in uniting Himself to man, became man, not by
confusion, not by imitation, but by actually being and subsisting.

3 Away then, once and for all, with the notion of His Person as of an assumed fictitious
character, where always what is is one thing, what is counterfeited another, where the man
who acts never is the man whose part he acts. God forbid that we should believe God the
Word to have taken upon Himself the person of a man in this illusory way. Rather let us
acknowledge that while His own unchangeable substance remained, and while He took upon
Himself the nature of perfect man, Himself actually was flesh, Himself actually was man,
Himself actually was personally man; not feignedly, but in truth, not in imitation, but in
substance; not, finally, so as to cease to be when the performance was over, but so as to
be, and continue to be substantially and permanently.

CHAPTER XV.

1 The Union of the Divine with the Human Nature took place in the very Conception of the
Virgin. The appellation "The Mother of God." 2 [40. This unity of Person, then, in Christ
was not effected after His birth of the Virgin, but was compacted and perfected in her
very womb. For we must take most especial heed that we confess Christ not only one, but
always one. For it were intolerable blasphemy, if while thou dost confess Him one now,
thou shouldst maintain that once He was not one, but two; one forsooth since His baptism,
but two at His birth. Which monstrous sacrilege we shall assuredly in no wise avoid unless
we acknowledge the manhood united to the Godhead (but by unity of Person), not from the
ascension, or the resurrection, or the baptism, but even in His mother, even in the womb,
even in the Virigin's very conception. In consequence of which unity of Person, both those
attributes which are proper to God are ascribed to man, and those which are proper to the
flesh to God, indifferently and promiscuously. For hence it is written by divine guidance,
on the one hand, that the Son of man came down from heaven; and on the other, that the
Lord of glory was crucified on earth. Hence it is also that since the Lord's flesh was
made, since the Lord's flesh was created, the very Word of God is said to have been made,
the very omniscient Wisdom of God to have been created, just as propehtically His hands
and His feet are described as having been pierced.

3 From this unity of Person it follows, by reason of a like mystery, that, since the flesh
of the Word was born of an undefiled mother, God the Word Himself is most Catholicly
believed, most impiously denied, to have been born of the Virgin; which being the case,
God forbid that any one should seek to defraud Holy Mary of her prerogative of divine
grace and her special glory. For by the singular gift of Him who is our Lord and God, and
withal, her own son, she is to be confessed most truly and most blessedly-The mother of
God "Theotocos," but not in the sense in which it is imagined by a certain impious heresy
which maintains, that she is to be called the Mother of God for no other reason than
because she gave birth to that man who afterwards became God, just as we speak of a woman
as the mother of a priest, or the mother of a bishop, meaning that she was such, not by
giving birth to one already a priest or a bishop, but by giving birth to one who
afterwards became a priest or a bishop. Not thus, I say, was the holy Mary "Theotocos,"
the mother of God, but rather, as was said before, because in her sacred womb was wrought
that most sacred mystery whereby, on account of the singular and unique unity of Person,
as the Word in flesh is flesh, so Man in God is God.

CHAPTER XVI.

1 Recapitulation of what was said of the Catholic Faith and of divers Heresies, Chapters
xi-xv. [41.] But now that we may refresh our remembrance of what has been briefly said
concerning either the afore-mentioned heresies or the Catholic Faith, let us go over it
again more briefly and concisely, that being repeated it may be more thoroughly
understood, and being pressed home more firmly held. Accursed then be Photinus, who does
not receive the Trinity complete, but asserts that Christ is mere man. Accursed be
Apollinaris, who affirms that the Godhead of Christ is marred by conversion, and defrauds
Him of the property of perfect humanity. Accursed be Nestorius, who denies that God was
born of the Virgin, affirms two Christs, and rejecting the belief of the Trinity, brings
in a Quaternity. But blessed be the Catholic Church, which worships one God in the
completeness of theTrinity, and at the same time adores the equality of the Trinity in the
unity of the Godhead, so that neither the singularity of substance confounds the propriety
of the Persons, not the distinction of the Persons in the Trinity separates the unity of
the Godhead.

2 Blessed, I say, be the Church, which believes that in Christ there are two true and
perfect substances but one Person, so that neither doth the distinction of natures divide
the unity of Person, nor the unity of Person confound the distinction of substances.
Blessed, I say, be the Church, which understands God to have become Man, not by conversion
of nature, but by reason of a Person, but of a Person not feigned and transient, but
substantial and permanent. Blessed, I say, be the Church, which declares this unity of
Person to be so real and effectual, that because of it, in a marvellous and ineffable
mystery, she ascribes divine attributes to man, and human to God; because of it, on the
one hand, she does not deny that Man, as God, came down from heaven, on the other, she
believes that God, as Man, was created, suffered, and was crucified on earth; because of
it, finally, she confesses Man the Son of God, and God the Son of the Virgin.

3 Blessed, then, and venerable, blessed and most sacred, and altogether worthy to be
compared with those celestial praises of the Angelic Host, be the confession which
ascribes glory to the one Lord God with a threefold ascription of holiness. For this
reason moreover she insists emphatically upon the oneness of the Person of Christ, that
she may not go beyond the mystery of the Trinity (that is by making in effect a
Quaternity.) Thus much by way of digression. On another occasion, please God, we will deal
with the subject and unfold it more fully. Now let us return to the matter in hand.

CHAPTER XVII.

1 The Error of Origen a great Trial to the Church. [42.] WE said above that in the Church
of God the teacher's error is the people's trial, a trial by so much the greater in
proportion to the greater learning of the erring teacher. This we showed first by the
authority of Scripture, and then by instances from Church History, of persons who having
at one time had the reputation of being sound in the faith, eventually either fell away to
some sect already in existence, or else founded a heresy of their own. An important fact
truly, useful to be learnt, and necessary to be remembered, and to be illustrated and
enforced again and again, by example upon example, in order that all true Catholics may
understand that it behoves them with the Church to receive Teachers, not with Teachers to
desert the faith of the Church. 2 [43. My belief is, that among many instances of this
sort of trial which might be produced, there is not one to be compared with that of
Origen, in whom there were many things so excellent, so unique, so admirable, that
antecedently any one would readily deem that implicit faith was to be placed all his
assertions. For if the conversation and manner of life carry authority, great was his
industry, great his modesty, his patience, his endurance; if his descent or his erudition,
what more noble than his birth of a house rendered illustrious by martyrdom? Afterwards,
when in the cause of Christ he had been deprived not only of his father, but also of all
his property, he attained so high a standard in the midst of the straits of holy poverty,
that he suffered several times, it is said, as a Confessor. Nor were these the only
circumstances connected with him, all of which afterwards proved an occasion of trial. He
had a genius so powerful, so profound, so acute, so elegant, that there was hardly any one
whom he did not very far surpass. The splendour of his learning, and of his erudition
generally, was such that there were few points of divine philosophy, hardly any of human
which he did not thoroughly master. When Greek had yielded to his industry, he made
himself a proficient in Hebrew.

3 What shall I say of his eloquence, the style of which was so charming, so soft, so
sweet, that honey rather than words seemed to flow from his mouth! What subjects were
there, however difficult, which he did not render clear and perspicuous by the force of
his reasoning? What undertakings, however hard to accomplish, which he did not make to
appear most easy? But perhaps his assertions rested simply on ingeniously woven
argumentation? On the contrary, no teacher ever used more proofs drawn from Scripture.
Then I suppose he wrote little? No man more, so that, if I mistake not, his writings not
only cannot all be read through, they cannot all be found; for that nothing might be
wanting to his opportunities of obtaining knowledge, he had the additional advantage of a
life greatly prolonged. But perhaps he was not particularly happy in his disciples? Who
ever more so? From his school came forth doctors, priests, confessors, martyrs, without
number. Then who can express how much he was admired by all, how great his renown, how
wide his influence? Who was there whose religion was at all above the common standard that
did not hasten to him from the ends of the earth? What Christian did not reverence him
almost as a prophet; what philosopher as a master?

4 How great was the veneration with which he was regarded, not only by private persons,
but also by the Court, is declared by the histories which relate how he was sent for by
the mother of the Emperor Alexander, moved by the heavenly wisdom with the love of which
She, as he, was inflamed. To this also his letters bear witness, which, with the authority
which he assumed as a Christian Teacher, he wrote to the Emperor Philip, the first Roman
prince that was a Christian. As to his incredible learning, if any one is unwilling to
receive the testimony of Christians at our hands, let him at least accept that of heathens
at the hands of philosophers. For that impious Porphyry says that when he was little more
than a boy, incited by his fame, he went to Alexandria, and there saw him, then an old
man, but a man evidently of so great attainments, that he had reached the summit of
universal knowledge.

5 [44.] Time would fail me to recount, even in a very small measure, the excellencies of
this man, all of which, nevertheless, not only contributed to the glory of religion, but
also increased the magnitude of the trial. For who in the world would lightly desert a man
of so great genius, so great learning, so great influence, and would not rather adopt that
saying, That he would rather be wrong with Origen, than be right with others. 6 What shall
I say more? The result was that very many were led astray from the integrity of the faith,
not by any human excellencies of this so great man, this so great doctor, this so great
prophet, but, as the event showed, by the too perilous trial which he proved to be. Hence
it came to pass, that this Origen, such and so great as he was, wantonly abusing the grace
of God, rashly following the bent of his own genius, and placing overmuch confidence in
himself, making light account of the ancient simplicity of the Christian religion,
presuming that he knew more than all the world besides, de- spising the traditions of the
Church and the determinations of the ancients, and interpreting certain passages of
Scripture in a novel way, deserved for himself the warning given to the Church of God, as
applicable in his case as in that of others, "If there arise a prophet in the midst of
thee," ... "thou shalt not hearken to the words of that prophet," ... "because the Lord
your God doth make trial of you, whether you love Him or not." Truly, thus of a sudden to
seduce the Church which was devoted to him, and hung upon him through admiration of his
genius, his learning, his eloquence, his manner of life and influence, while she had no
fear, no suspicion for herself,-thus, I say, to seduce the Church, slowly and little by
little, from the old religion to a new profaneness, was not only a trial, but a great
trial.

7 [45.] But some one will say, Origen's books have been corrupted. I do not deny it; nay,
I grant it readily. For that such is the case has been handed down both orally and in
writing, not only by Catholics, but by heretics as well. But the point is, that though
himself be not, yet books published under his name are, a great trial, which, abounding in
many hurtful blasphemies, are both read and delighted in, not as being some one else's,
but as being believed to be his, so that, although there was no error in Origen's original
meaning, yet Origen's authority appears to be an effectual cause in leading people to
embrace error.

CHAPTER XVIII.

1 Tertullian a great Trial to the Church. 2 [46. The case is the same with Tertullian. For
as Origen holds by far the first place among the Greeks, so does Tertullian among the
Latins. For who more learned than he, who more versed in knowledge whether divine or
human? With marvellous capacity of mind he comprehended all philosophy, and had a
knowledge of all schools of philosophers, and of the founders and upholders of schools,
and was acquainted with all their rules and observances, and with their various histories
and studies. Was not his genius of such unrivalled strength and vehemence that there was
scarcely any obstacle which he proposed to himself to overcome, that he did not penetrate
by acuteness, or crush by weight? As to his style, who can sufficiently set forth its
praise? It was knit together with so much cogency of argument that it compelled assent,
even where it failed to persuade. Every word almost was a sentence; every sentence a
victory. This know the Marcions, the Apelleses, the Praxeases, the Hermogeneses, the Jews,
the Heathens, the Gnostics, and the rest, whose blasphemies he overthrew by the force of
his many and ponderous volumes, as with so many thunderbolts. Yet this man also,
notwithstanding all that I have mentioned, this Tertullian, I say, too little tenacious of
Catholic doctrine, that is, of the universal and ancient faith, more eloquent by far than
faithful, changed his belief, and justified what the blessed Confessor, Hilary, writes of
him, namely, that "by his subsequent error he detracted from the authority of his approved
writings.

3 He also was a great trial in the Church. But of Tertullian I am unwilling to say more.
This only I will add, that, contrary to the injunction of Moses, by asserting the novel
furies of Montanus which arose in the Church, and those mad dreams of new doctrine dreamed
by mad women, to be true prophecies, he deservedly made both himself and his writings
obnoxious to the words, "If there arise a prophet in the midst of thee,"... "thou shall
not hearken to the words of that prophet. "For why? "Because the Lord your God doth make
trial of you, whether you love Him or not."

CHAPTER XIX.

What we ought to learn from these Examples. [47.] It behoves us, then, to give heed to
these instances from Church History, so many and so great, and others of the same
description, and to understand distinctly, in accordance with the rule laid
downDeuteronomy, that if at any time a Doctor in the Church have erred from the faith,
Divine Providence permits it in order to make trial of us, whether or not we love God with
all our heart and with all our mind.

CHAPTER XX.

1 The Notes of a true Catholic. [48.] This being the case, he is the true and genuine
Catholic who loves the truth of God, who loves the Church, who loves the Body of Christ,
who esteems divine religion and the Catholic Faith above every thing, above the authority,
above the regard, above the genius, above the eloquence, above the philosophy, of every
man whatsoever; who sets light by all of these, and continuing steadfast and established
in the faith, resolves that he will believe that, and that only, which he is sure the
Catholic Church has held universally and from ancient time; but that whatsoever new and
unheard-of doctrine he shall find to have been furtively introduced by some one or
another, besides that of all, or contrary to that of all the saints, this, he will under,
stand, does not pertain to religion, but is permitted as a trial, being instructed
especially by the words of the blessed Apostle Paul, who writes thus in his first Epistle
to the Corinthians, "There must needs be heresies, that they who are approved may be made
manifest among you:" as though he should say, This is the reason why the authors of
Heresies are not forthwith rooted up by God, namely, that they who are approved may be
made manifest that is, that it may be apparent of each individual, how tenacious and
faithful and steadfast he is in his love of the Catholic faith.

2 [49.] And in truth, as each novelty springs up incontinently is discerned the difference
between the weight of the wheat and the lightness of the chaff. Then that which had no
weight to keep it on the floor is without difficulty blown away. For some at once fly off
entirely; others having been only shaken out, afraid of perishing, wounded, half alive,
half dead, are ashamed to return. They have, in fact swallowed a quantity of poison-not
enough to kill, yet more than can be got rid of; it neither causes death, nor suffers to
live. O wretched condition! With what surging tempestuous cares are they tossed about! One
while, the error being set in motion, they are hurried whithersoever the wind drives them;
another, returning upon themselves like refluent waves, they are dashed back: one while,
with rash presumption, they give their approval to what seems uncertain; another, with
irrational fear, they are frightened out of their wits at what is certain, in doubt
whither to go, whither to return, what to seek, what to shun, what to keep, what to throw
away.

3 [50.] This affliction, indeed, of a hesitating and miserably vacillating mind is, if
they are wise, a medicine intended for them by God's compassion. For therefore it is that
outside the most secure harbour of the Catholic Faith, they are tossed about, beaten, and
almost killed, by divers tempestuous cogitations, in order that they may take in the sails
of self-conceit, which, they had with ill advice unfurled to the blasts of novelty, and
may betake themselves again to, and remain stationary within, the most secure harbour of
their placid and good mother, and may begin by vomiting up those bitter and turbid floods
of error which they had swallowed, that thenceforward they may be able to drink the
streams of fresh and living water. Let them unlearn well what they had learnt not well,
and let them receive so much of the entire doctrine of the Church as they can understand:
what they cannot understand let them believe.

CHAPTER. XXI.

1 Exposition of St. Paul'sWords.-1 Tim. vi. 20. [51.] Such being the case, when I think
over these things, and revolve them in my mind again and again, I cannot sufficiently
wonder at the madness of certain men, at the impiety of their blinded understanding, at
their lust of error, such that, not content with the rule of faith delivered once for all,
and received from the times of old, they are every day seeking one novelty after another,
and are constantly longing to add, change, take away, in religion, as though the doctrine,
"Let what has once for all been revealed suffice," were not a heavenly but an earthly
rule,-a rule which could not be complied with except by continual emendation, nay, rather
by continual fault-finding; whereas the divine Oracles cry aloud, "Remove not the
landmarks, which thy fathers have set," and "Go not to law with a Judge,'' and "Whoso
breaketh through a fence a serpent shall bite him," and that saying of the Apostle where-
with, as with a spiritual sword, all the wicked novelties of all heresies often have been,
and will always have to be, decapitated, "O Timothy, keep the deposit, shunning profane
novelties of words and oppositions of the knowledge falsely so called, which some
professing have erred concerning the faith."

2 [52.3] After words such as these, is there any one of so hardened a front, such anvil-
like impudence, such adamantine pertinacity, as not to succumb to so huge a mass, not to
be crushed by so ponderous a weight, not to be shaken in pieces by such heavy blows, not
to be annihilated by such dreadful thunderbolts of divine eloquence? "Shun profane
novelties," he says. He does not say shun "antiquity. But he plainly points to what ought
to follow by the rule of contrary. For if novelty is to be shunned, antiquity is to be
held fast; if novelty is profane, antiquity is sacred. He adds, "And oppositions of
science falsely so called. "Falsely called "indeed, as applied to the doctrines of
heretics, where ignorance is disguised under the name of knowledge, fog of sunshine,
darkness of light. "Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Professing
what? What but some (I know not what) new and unheard-of doctrine. For thou mayest hear
some of these same doctors say, "Come, O silly wretches, who go by the name of Catholics,
come and learn the true faith, which no one but ourselves is acquainted with, which same
has lain hid these many ages, but has recently been revealed and made manifest. But learn
it by stealth and in secret, for you will be delighted with it. Moreover, when you have
learnt it, teach it furtively, that the world may not hear, that the Church may not know.

3 For there are but few to whom it is granted to receivethe secret of so great a mystery.
Are not these the words of that harlot who, in the proverbs of Solomon, calls to the
passengers who go right on their ways, "Whoso is simple let him turn in hither. And as for
them that are void of understanding, she exhorts them saying: "Drink stolen waters, for
they are sweet, and eat bread in secret for it is pleasant. What next? "But he knoweth not
that the sons of earth perish in her house. Who are those "sons of earth "? Let the
apostle explain: "Those who have erred concerning the faith."

CHAPTER XXII.

1 A more particular Exposition of 1 Tim. vi. 20. [53.] But it is worth while to expound
the whole of that passage of the apostle more fully, "O Timothy, keep the deposit,
avoiding profane novelties of words." "O!" The exclamation implies fore-knowledge as well
as charity. For he mourned in anticipation over the errors which he foresaw. Who is the
Timothy of to-day, but either generally the Universal Church, or in particular, the whole
body of The Prelacy, whom it behoves either themselves to possess or to communicate to
others a complete knowledge of religion? What is "Keep the deposit "? "Keep it," because
of thieves, because of adversaries, lest, while men sleep, they sow tares over that good
wheat which the Son of Man had sown in his field. "Keep the deposit." What is "The
deposit"? That which has been intrusted to thee, not that which thou hast thyself devised:
a matter not of wit, but of learning; not of private adoption, but of public tradition; a
matter brought to thee, not put forth by thee, wherein thou art bound to be not an author
but a keeper, not a teacher but a disciple, not a leader but a follower. "Keep the
deposit." Preserve the talent of Catholic Faith inviolate, unadulterate. That which has
been intrusted to thee, let it continue in thy possession, let it be handed on by thee.
Thou hast received gold; give gold in turn. Do not substitute one thing for another. DO
not for gold impudently substitute lead or brass. Give real gold, not counterfeit.

2 O Timothy! O Priest! O Expositor! O Doctor! if the divine gift hath qualified thee by
wit, by skill, by learning, be thou a Bazaleel of the spiritual tabernacle, engrave the
precious gems of divine doctrine, fit them in accurately, adorn them skilfully, add
splendor, grace, beauty. Let that which formerly was believed, though imperfectly
apprehended, as expounded by thee be clearly understood. Let posterity welcome, understood
through thy exposition, what antiquity venerated without understanding. Yet teach still i
the same truths which thou hast learnt, so that though thou speakest after a new fashion,
what thou speakest may not be new.

CHAPTER XXIII.

1 On Development in Religious Knowledge. [54.] But some one will say. perhaps, Shall
there, then, be no progress in Christ's Church? Certainly; all possible progress. For what
being is there, so envious of men, so full of hatred to God, who would seek to forbid it?
Yet on condition that it be real progress, not alteration of the faith. For progress
requires that the subject be enlarged n itself, alteration, that it be transformed into
something else. The intelligence, then, the knowledge, the wisdom, as well of individuals
as of all, as well of one man as of the whole Church, ought, in the course of ages and
centuries, to increase and make much and vigorous progress; but yet only in its own kind;
that is to say, in the same doctrine, in the same sense, and in the same meaning. 2 [55.]
The growth of religion in the soul must be analogous to the growth of the body, which,
though in process of years it is developed and attains its full size, yet remains still
the same. There is a wide diference between the flower of youth and the maturity of age;
yet they who were once young are still the same now that they have become old, insomuch
that though the stature and outward form of the individual are changed, yet his nature is
one and the same, his person is one and the same. An infant's limbs are small, a young
man's large, yet the infant and the young man are the same. Men when full grown have the
same number of joints that they had when children; and if there be any to which maturer
age has given birth these were already present in embryo, so that nothing new is produced
in them when old which was not already latent in them when children. This, then, is
undoubtedly the true and legitimate rule of progress, this the established and most
beautiful order of growth, that mature age ever develops in the man those parts and forms
which the wisdom of the Creator had already framed beforehand in the infant. Whereas, if
the human form were changed into some shape belonging to another kind, or at any rate, if
the number of its limbs were increased or diminished, the result would be that the whole
body would become either a wreck or a monster, or, at the least, would be impaired and
enfeebled.

3 [56.] In like manner, it behoves Christian doctrine to follow the same laws of progress,
so as to be consolidated by years, enlarged by time, refined by age, and yet, withal, to
continue uncorrupt and unadulterate, complete and perfect in all the measurement of its
parts, and, so to speak, in all its proper members and senses, admitting no change, no
waste of its distinctive property, no variation in its limits. [57.] For example: Our
forefathers in the old time sowed wheat in the Church's field. It would be most unmeet and
iniquitous if we, their descendants, instead of the genuine truth of corn, should reap the
counterfeit error of tares. This rather should be the result,-there should be no
discrepancy between the first and the last. From doctrine which was sown as wheat, we
should reap, in the increase, doctrine of the same kind-wheat also; so that when in
process of time any of the original seed is developed, and now flourishes under
cultivation, no change may ensue in the character of the plant. There may supervene shape,
form, variation in outward appearance, but the nature of each kind must remain the same.
God forbid that those rose-beds of Catholic interpretation should be converted into thorns
and thistles. God forbid that in that spiritual paradise from plants of cinnamon and
balsam darnel and wolfsbane should of a sudden shoot forth.

4 Therefore, whatever has been sown by the fidelity of the Fathers in this husbandry of
God's Church, the same ought to be cultivated and taken care of by the industry of their
children, the same ought to flourish and ripen, the same ought to advance and go forward
to perfection. For it is right that those ancient doctrines of heavenly philosophy should,
as time goes on, be cared for, smoothed, polished; but not that they should be changed,
not that they should be maimed, not that they should be mutilated. They may receive proof,
illustration, definiteness; but they must retain withal their completeness,
theirintegrity, their characteristic properties. [58.] For if once this license of impious
fraud be admitted, I dread to say in how great danger religion will be of being utterly
destroyed and annihilated. For if any one part of Catholic truth be given up, another, and
another, and another will thenceforward be given up as a matter of course, and the several
individual portions having been rejected, what will follow in the end but the rejection of
the whole? On the other hand, if what is new begins to be mingled with what is old,
foreign with domestic, profane with sacred, the custom will of necessity creep on
universally, till at last the Church will have nothing left untampered with, nothing
unadulterated, nothing sound, nothing pure; but where formerly there was a sanctuary of
chaste and undefiled truth, thenceforward there will be a brothel of impious and base
errors. May God's mercy avert this wickedness from the minds of his servants; be it rather
the frenzy of the ungodly.

5 [59.] But the Church of Christ, the careful and watchful guardian of the doctrines
deposited in her charge, never changes anything in them, never diminishes, never adds,
does not cut off what is necessary, does not add what is superfluous, does not lose her
own, does not appropriate what is another's, but while dealing faithfully and judiciously
with ancient doctrine, keeps this one object carefully in view,-if there be anything which
antiquity has left shapeless and rudimentary, to fashion and polish it, if anything
already reduced to shape and developed, to consolidate and strengthen it, if any already
ratified and defined to keep and guard it. Finally, what other object have Councils ever
aimed at in their decrees, than to provide that what was before believed in simplicity
should in future be believed intelligently, that what was before preached coldly should in
future be preached earnestly, that what was before practised negligently should
thenceforward be practised with double solicitude? This, I say, is what the Catholic
Church, roused by the novelties of heretics, has accomplished by the decrees of her
Councils,-this, and nothing else,-she has thenceforward consigned to posterity in writing
what she had received from those of olden times only by tradition, comprising a great
amount of matter in a few words, and often, for the better understanding, designating an
old article of the faith by the characteristic of a new name.


THE COMMONITORY
===============

THE COMMONITORY continued

CHAPTER XXIV.

1 Continuation of the Exposition of 1 Tim. vi. 20. [60.] But let us return to the apostle.
"O Timothy," he says, "Guard the deposit,; shunning profane novelties of words. ""Shun
them as you would a viper, as you would a scorpion, as you would a basilisk, lestthey
smite you not only with their touch, but I even with their eyes and breath." What is "to
shun"? Not even to eat with a person of this sort What is "shun"? "If anyone," says St.
John, "come to you and bring not this doctrine. What doctrine? What but the Catholic and
universal doctrine, which has continued one and the same through the several successions
of ages by the uncorrupt tradition of the truth and so will continue for ever-"Receive him
not into your house, neither bid him Godspeed, for he that biddeth him Godspeed
communicates with him in his evil deeds." 2 [61.] "Profane novelties of words" What words
are these? Such as have nothing sacred, nothing religious, words utterly" remote from the
inmost sanctuary of the Church which is the temple of God. "Prolane novelties of words,
that is, of doctrines, subjects, opinions, such as are contrary to antiquity and the faith
of the olden time. Which if they be received, it follows necessarily that the faith of the
blessed fathers is violated either in whole, or at all events in great part; it follows
necessarily that all the faithful of all ages, all the saints, the chaste, the continent,
the virgins, all the clergy, Deacons and Priests, so many thousands of Confessors, so vast
an army of martyrs, such multitudes of cities and of peoples, so many islands, provinces,
kings, tribes, kingdoms, nations, in a word, almost the whole earth, incorporated in
Christ the Head, through the Catholic faith, have been ignorant for so long a tract of
time, have been mistaken, have blasphemed, have not known what to believe, what to
confess.

3 [62.] "Shun profane novelties of words," which to receive and follow was never the part
of Catholics; of heretics always was. In sooth, what heresy ever burst forth save under a
definite name, at a definite place, at a definite time? Who ever originated a heresy that
did not first dissever himself from the consentient agreement of the universality and
antiquity of the Catholic Church? That this is so is demonstrated in the clearest way by
examples. For who ever before that profane Pelagius attributed so much antecedent strength
to Free-will, as to deny the necessity of God's grace to aid it towards good in every
single act? Who ever before his monstrous disciple Coelestius denied that the, whole human
race is involved in the guilt of Adam's sin? Who ever before sacrilegious Arius dared to
rend asunder the unity of the Trinity? Who before impious Sabellius was so audacious as to
confound the Trinity of the Unity? Who before cruellest Novatian represented God as cruel
in that He had rather the wicked should die than that he should be converted and live? Who
before Simon Magus, who was smitten by the apostle's rebuke, and from whom that ancient
sink of every thing vile has flowed by a secret continuous succession even to Priscillian
of our own time,-who, I say, before this Simon Magus, dared to say that God, the Creator,
is the author of evil, that is, of our wickednesses, impieties, flagitiousnesses, inasmuch
as he asserts that He created with His own hands a human nature of such a description,
that of its own motion, and by the impulse of its necessity-constrained will, it can do
nothing else, can will nothing else, but sin, seeing that tossed to and fro, and set on
fire by the furies of all sorts of vices, it is hurried away by unquenchable lust into the
utmost extremes of baseness?

4 [63.] There are innumerable instances of this kind, which for brevity's sake, pass over;
by all of which, however, it is manifestly and clearly shown, that it is an established
law, in the case of almost all heresies, that they evermore delight in profane novelties,
scorn the decisions of antiquity, and, through oppositions of science falsely so called,
make shipwreck of the faith. On the other hand, it is the sure characteristic of Catholics
to keep that which has been committed to their trust by the holy Fathers, to condemn
profane novelties, and, in the apostle's words, once and again repeated, to anathematize
every one who preaches any other doctrine than that which has been received.

CHAPTER XXV.

1 Heretics appeal to Scripture that they may more easily succeed in deceiving. [64.]
Heres, possibly, some one may ask, Do heretics also appeal to Scripture? They do indeed,
and with a vengeance; for you may see them scamper through every single book of Holy
Scripture,-through the books of Moses, the books of Kings, the Psalms, the Epistles, the
Gospels, the Prophets. Whether among their own people, or among strangers, in private or
in public, in speaking or in writing, at convivial meetings, or in the streets, hardly
ever do they bring forward anything of their own which they do not endeavour to shelter
under words of Scripture. Read the works of Paul of Samosata, of Priscillian, of Eunomius,
of Jovinian, and the rest of those pests, and you will see an infinite heap of instances,
hardly a single page, which does not bristle with plausible quotations from the New
Tesment or the Old.

2 [65.] But the more secretly they conceal themselves under shelter of the Divine Law, so
much the more are they to be feared and guarded against. For they know that the evil
stench of their doctrine will hardly find acceptance with any one if it be exhaled pure
and simple. They sprinkle it over, therefore, with the perfume of heavenly language, in
order that one who would be ready to despise human error, may hesitate to condemn divine
words. They do, in fact, what nurses do when they would prepare some bitter draught for
children; they smear the edge of the cup all round with honey, that the unsuspecting
child, having first tasted the sweet, may have no fear of the bitter. So too do these act,
who disguise poisonous herbs and noxious juices under the names of medicines, so that no
one almost, when he reads the label, suspects the poison.

3 [66.] It was for this reason that the Saviour cried, "Beware of false prophets who come
to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." What is meant by
"sheep's closing"? What but the words which prophets and apostles with the guilelessness
of sheep wove beforehand as fleeces, for that immaculate Lamb which taketh away the sin of
the world? What are the ravening wolves? What but the savage and rabid glosses of
heretics, who continually infest the Church's folds, and tear in pieces the flock of
Christ wherever they are able? But that they may with more successful guile steal upon the
unsuspecting sheep, retaining the ferocity of the wolf, they put off his appearance, and
wrap themselves, so to say, in the language of the Divine Law, as in a fleece, so that
one, having felt the softness of wool, may have no dread of the wolf's fangs. But what
saith the Saviour? "By!their fruits ye shall know them;" that is, when they have begun not
only to quote those divine words, but also to expound them, not as yet only to make a
boast of them as on their side, but also to interpret them, then will that bitterness,
that acerbity, that rage, be understood; then will the ill-savour of that novel poison be
perceived, then will those profane novelties be disclosed, then may you see first the
hedge broken through, then the landmarks of the Fathers removed, then the Catholic faith
assailed, then the doctrine of the Church torn in pieces.

4 [67.] Such were they whom the Apostle Paul rebukes in his Second Epistle to the
Corinthians, when he says, "For of this sort are false apostles, deceitful workers,
transforming themselves into apostles of Christ." The apostles brought forward instances
from Holy Scripture; these men did the same. The apostles cited the authority of the
Psalms; these men did so likewise. The apostles brought forward passages from the
prophets; these men still did the same. But when they began to interpret in different
senses the passages which both had agreed in appealing to, then were discerned the
guileless from the crafty, the genuine from the counterfeit, the straight from the
crooked, then, in one word, the true apostles from the false apostles. "And no wonder," he
says, "for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. It is no marvel then
if his servants are transformed as the servants of righteousness." Therefore, according to
the authority of the Apostle Paul, as often as either false apostles or false teachers
cite passages from the Divine Law, by means of which, misinterpreted, they seek to prop up
their own errors, there is no doubt that they are following the cunning devices of their
father, which assuredly he would never have devised, but that he knew that where he could
fraudulently and by stealth introduce error, there is no easier way of effecting his
impious purpose than by pretending the authority of Holy Scripture.

CHAPTER XXVI.

1 Heretics, in quoting Scripture, follow the example of the Devil. [68.] But some one will
say, What proof have we that the Devil is wont to appeal to Holy Scripture? Let him read
the Gospels wherein it is written, "Then the Devil took Him (the Lord the Saviour) and set
Him upon a pinnacle of the Temple, and said untoHim: If thou be the Son of God, cast
thyself down, for it is written, He shall give His angels charge concerning thee, that
they maykeep thee in all thy ways: In their hands they shall bear thee up, lest perchance
thou dash thy foot against a stone." What sort of treatment must men, insignificant
wretches that they are, look for at the hands of him who assailed even the Lord of Glory
with quotations from Scripture? "If thou be the Son of God," saith be, "cast the, self
down." Wherefore? "For," saith he, "it is written." It behoves us to pay special attention
to this passage and bear it in mind, that, warned by so important an instance of
Evangelical authority, we may be assured beyond doubt, when we find people alleging
passages from the Apostles or Prophets against the Catholic Faith, that the Devil speaks
through their mouths. For as then the Head spoke to the Head, so now also the members
speak to the members, the members of the Devil to the members of Christ, misbelievers to
believers, sacrilegious to religious, in one word, Heretics to Catholics.

2 [69.] But what do they say? "If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down;"that is,. If
thou wouldst be a son of God, and wouldst receive the inheritance of the Kingdom of
Heaven, cast thyself down; that is, cast thyself down from the doctrine and tradition of
that sublime Church, which is imagined to benothing less than the very temple of God. And
if one should ask one of the heretics who gives this advice, How do you prove? Whatground
have you, for saying, that I ought to cast away the universal and ancient faith of the
Catholic Church? he has the answer ready, "For it is written;" and forthwith he produces a
thousand testimonies, a thousand examples, a thousand authorities from the Law, from the
Psalms, from the apostles, from the Prophets, by means of which, interpreted on a new and
wrong principle, the unhappy soul may be precipitated from the height of Catholic truth to
the lowest abyss of heresy. Then, with the accompanying promises, the heretics are wont
marvellously to beguile the incautious. For they dare to teach and promise, that in their
church, that is, in the conventicle of their communion, there is a certain great and
special and altogether personal grace of God, so that whosoever pertain to their number,
without any labour, without any effort, without any industry, even though they neither
ask, nor seek, nor knock, have such a dispensation from God, that, borne up by angel
hands, that is, preserved by the protection of angels, it is impossible they should ever
dash their feet against a stone, that is, that they should ever be offended.

CHAPTER XXVII.

What Rule is to be observed in the Interpretation of Scripture. [70.] But it will be said,
If the words, the sentiments, the promises of Scripture, are appealed to by the Devil and
his disciples, of whom some are false apostles, some false prophets and false teachers,
and all without exception heretics, what are Catholics and the sons of Mother Church to
do? How are they to distinguish truth from falsehood in the sacred Scriptures? They must
be very careful to pursue that course which, in the beginning of this Commonitory, we said
that holy and learned men had commended to us, that is to say, they must interpret the
sacred Canon according to the traditions of the Universal Church and in keeping with the
rules of Catholic doctrine, in which Catholic and Universal Church, moreover, they must
follow universality, antiquity, consent. And if at any time a part opposes itself to the
whole, novelty to antiquity, the dissent of one or a few who are in error to the consent
of all or at all events of the great majority of Catholics, then they must prefer the
soundness of the whole to the corruption of a part; in which same whole they must prefer
the religion of antiquity to the profaneness of novelty; and in antiquity itself in like
manner, to the temerity of one or of a very few they must prefer, first of all, the
general decrees, if such there be, of a Universal Council, or if there be no such, then,
what is next best, they must follow the consentient belief of many and great masters.
Which rule having been faithfully, soberly, and scrupulously observed, we shall with
little difficulty detect the noxious errors of heretics as they arise.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

1 In what Way, on collating the consentient opinions of the Ancient Masters, the Novelties
of Heretics may be detected and condemned. [71.] And here I perceive that, as a necessary
sequel to the foregoing, I ought to show by examples in what way, by collating the
consentient opinions of the ancient masters, the profane novelties of heretics may be
detected and condemned. Yet in the investigation of this ancient consent of the holy
Fathers we are to bestow our pains not on every minor question of the Divine Law, but
only, at all events especially, where the Rule of Faith is concerned. Nor is this way of
dealing with heresy to be resorted to always, or in every instance, but only in the case
of those heresies which are new and recent, and that on their first arising, before they
have had time to deprave the Rules of the Ancient Faith, and before they endeavour, while
the poison spreads and diffuses itself, to corrupt the writings of the ancients. But
heresies already widely diffused and of old standing are by no means to be thus dealt
with, seeing that through lapse of time they have long had opportunity of corrupting the
truth. And therefore, as to the more ancient schisms or heresies, we ought either to
confute them, if need be, by the sole authority of the Scriptures, or at any rate, to shun
them as havingbeen already of old convicted and condemned by universal councils of the
Catholic Priesthood.

2 [72.] Therefore, as soon as the corruption of each mischievous error begins to break
forth, and to defend itself by filching certain passages of Scripture, and expounding them
fraudulently and deceitfully, forthwith, the opinions of the ancients in the
interpretation of the Canon are to be collected, whereby the novelty, and consequently the
profaneness, whatever it may be, that arises, may both without any doubt be exposed, and
without any tergiversation be condemned. But the opinions of those Fathers only are to be
used for comparison, who living and teaching, holily, wisely, and with constancy, in the
Catholic faith and communion, were counted worthy either to die in the faith of Christ, or
to suffer death happily for Christ. Whom yet we are to believe on this condition, that
that only is to be accounted indubitable, certain, established, which either all, or the
more part, have supported and confirmed manifestly, frequently, persistently, in one and
the same sense, forming, as it were, a consentient council of doctors, all receiving,
holding, handing on the same doctrine. But whatsoever a teacher holds, other than all, or
contrary to all, be he holy and learned, be he a bishop, be he a Confessor, be he a
martyr, let that be regarded as a private fancy of his own, and be separated from the
authority of common, public, general persuasion, lest, after the sacrilegious custom of
heretics and schismatics, rejecting the ancient truth of the universal Creed, we follow,
at the utmost peril of our eternal salvation, the newly devised error of one man.

3 [73.] Lest any one perchance should rashly think the holy and Catholic consent of these
blessed fathers to be despised, the Apostle says, in the First Epistle to the Corinthians,
"God hath placed some in the Church, first Apostles," of whom himself was one; "secondly
Prophets," such as Agabus, read in the Acts of the Apostles; of whom we "then doctors,"
who are now called Homilists, Expositors, whom the same apostle sometimes calls also
"Prophets," because by them the mysteries of the Prophets are opened to the people.
Whosoever, therefore, shall despise these, who had their appointment of God in His Church
in their several times and places, when they are unanimous in Christ, in the
interpretation of some one point of Catholic doctrine, despises not man, but God, from
whose unity in the truth, lest any one should vary, the same Apostle earnestly protests,
"I beseech you, brethren, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions
among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same
judgment." But if any one dissent from their unanimous decision, let him listen to the
words of the same apostle," "God is not the God of dissension but of peace;" that is, not
of him who departs from the unity of consent, but of those who remain steadfast in the
peace of consent: "as," he continues, "I teach in all Churches of the saints," that is, of
Catholics, which churches are therefore churches of the saints, because they continue
steadfast in the communion of the faith.

4 [74.] And lest any one, disregarding every one else, should arrogantly claim to be
listened to himself alone, himself alone to be believed, the Apostle goes on to say, "Did
the word of God proceed from you, or did it come to you only?" And, lest this should be
thought lightly spoken, he continues, "If any man seem to be a prophet or a spiritual
person, let him acknowledge that the things which I write unto you are the Lord's
commands." As to which, unless a man be a prophet or a spiritual person, that is, a master
in spiritual matters, let him be as observant as possible of impartiality and unity, so as
neither to prefer his own opinions to those of every one besides, nor to recede from the
belief of the whole body. Which injunction, whoso ignores, shall be himself ignored; that
is, he who either does not learn what he does not know, or treats with contempt what he
knows, shall be ignored, that is, shall be deemed unworthy to be ranked of God with those
who are united to each other by faith, and equalled with each other by humility, than
which I cannot imagine a more terrible evil. This it is however which, according to the
Apostle's threatening, we see to have befallen Julian the Pelagian, who either neglected
to associate himself with the belief of his fellow Christians, or presumed to dissociate
himself from it.

5 [75.] But it is now time to bring forward the exemplification which we promised, where
and how the sentences of the holy Fathers have been collected together, so that in
accordance with them, by the decree and authority of a council, the rule of the Church's
faith may be settled. Which that it may be done the more conveniently, let this present
Commonitory end here, so that the remainder which is to follow may be begun from a fresh
beginning. [The Second Book of the Commonitory is lost. Nothing of it remains but the
conclusion: in other words, the recapitulation which follows.]

CHAPTER XXIX.

1 Recapitulation. [76.] This being the case, it is now time that we should recapitulate,
at the close of this second Commonitory, what was said in that and in the preceding. We
said above, that it has always been the custom of Catholics, and still is, to prove the
true faith in these two ways; first by the authority of the Divine Canon, and next by the
tradition of the Catholic Church. Not that the Canon alone does not of itself suffice for
every question, but seeing that the more part, interpreting the divine words according to
their own persuasion, take up various erroneous opinions, it is therefore necessary that
the interpretation of divine Scripture should be ruled according to the one standard of
the Church's belief, especially in those articles on which the foundations of all Catholic
doctrine rest. 2 [77. We said likewise, that in the Church itself regard must be had to
the consentient voice of universality equally with that of antiquity, lest we either be
torn from the integrity of unity and carried away to schism, or be precipitated from the
religion of antiquity into heretical novelties. We said, further, that in this same
ecclesiastical antiquity two points are very carefully and earnestly to be held in view by
those who would keep clear of heresy: first, they should ascertain whether any decision
has been given in ancient times as to the matter in question by the whole priesthood of
the Catholic Church, with the authority of a General Council: and, secondly, if some new
question should arise on which no such decision has been given, they should then have
recourse to the opinions of the holy Fathers, of those at least, who, each in his own time
and place, remaining in the unity of communion and of the faith, were accepted as approved
masters; and whatsoever these may be found to have held, with one mind and with one
consent, this Ought to be accounted the true and Catholic doctrine of the Church, without
any doubt or scruple. [78.

3 Which lest we should seem to allege presumptuously on our own warrant rather than on the
authority of the Church, we appealed to the example of the holy council which some three
years ago was held at Ephesus in Asia, in the consulship of Bassus and Antiochus, where,
when question was raised as to the authoritative determining of rules of faith, lest,
perchance, any profane novelty should creep in, as did the perversion of the truth at
Ariminum, the whole body of priests there assembled, nearly two hundred in number,
approved of this as the most Catholic, the most trustworthy, and the best course, viz., to
bring forth into the midst the sentiments of the holy Fathers, some of whom it was well
known had been martyrs, some Confessors, but all had been, and continued to the end to be,
Catholic priests, in order that by their consentient determination the reverence due to
ancient truth might be duly and solemnly confirmed, and the blasphemy of profane novelty
condemned. Which having been done, that impious Nestorius was lawfully and deservedly
adjudged to be opposed to Catholic antiquity, and contrariwise blessed Cyril to be in
agreement with it. And that nothing might be wanting to the credibility of the matter, we
recorded the names and the number (though we had forgotten the order) of the Fathers,
according to whose consentient and unanimous judgment, both the sacred preliminaries of
judicial procedure were expounded, and the rule of divine truth established.

4 Whom, that we may strengthen our memory, it will be no superfluous labour to mention
again here also.!

CHAPTER XXX.

1 The Council of Ephesus. [79.] These then are the men whose writings, whether as judges
or as witnesses, were recited in the Council: St. Peter, bishop of Alexandria, a most
excellent Doctor and most blessed martyr, Saint Athanasius, bishop of the same city, a
most faithful Teacher, and most eminent Confessor, Saint Theophilus, also bishop of fie
same city, a man illustrious for his faith, his life, his knowledge, whose successor, the
revered Cyril, now adorns the Alexandrian Church. And lest perchance the doctrine ratified
by the Council should be thought peculiar to one city and province, there were added also
those lights of Cappadocia, St. Gregory of Nazianzus, bishop and Confessor, St. Basil of
Caesarea in Cappadocia, bishop and Confessor, and the other St. Gregory, St. Gregory of
Nyssa, for his faith, his conversation, his integrity, and his wisdom, most worthy to be
the brother of Basil. And lest Greece or the East should seem to stand alone, to prove
that the Western and Latin world also have always held the same belief, there were read in
the Council certain Epistles of St. Felix, martyr, and St. Julius, both bishops of Rome.
And that not only the Head, but the other parts, of the world also might bear witness to
the judgment of the council, there was added from the South the most blessed Cyprian,
bishop of Carthage and martyr, and from the North St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan.

2 [80.] These all then, to the sacred number of the decalogue, were produced at Eph- esus
as doctors, councillors, witnesses, judges. And that blessed council holding their
doctrine, following their counsel, believing their witness, submitting to their judgment
without haste, without foregone conclusion, without partiality, gave their determination
concerning the Rules of Faith. A much greater number of the ancients might have been
adduced; but it was needless, because neither was it fit that the time should be occupied
by a multitude of witnesses, nor does any one suppose that those ten were really of a
different mind from the rest of their colleagues.

CHAPTER XXXI.

1 The Constancy of the Ephesine Fathers in driving away Novelty and maintaining Antiquity.
[81.] After the preceding we added also the sentence of blessed Cyril, which is contained
in these same Ecclesiastical Proceedings. For when the Epistle of Capreolus, bishop of
Carthage, had been read, wherein he earnestly intreats that novelty may be driven away and
antiquity maintained, Cyril made and carried the proposal, which it may not be out of
place to insert here: For says he, at the close of the proceedings, "Let the Epistle
ofCapreolus also, the reverend and very religious bishop of Carthage, which has been read,
be inserted in the acts. His mind is obvious, for he intreats that the doctrines of the
ancient faith be confirmed, such as are novel, wantonly devised, and impiously
promulgated, reprobated and condemned." All the bishops cried out, "These are the words of
all; this we all say, this we all desire." What mean "the words of all," what mean "the
desires of all," but that what has been handed down from antiquity should be retained,
what has been newly devised, rejected with disdain?

2 [82.] Next we expressed our admiration of the humility and sanctity of that Council,
such that, though the number of priests was so great, almost the more part of them
metropolitans, so erudite, so learned, that almost all were capable of taking part in
doctrinal discussions, whom the very circumstance of their being assembled for the
purpose, might seem to embolden to make some determination on their own authority, yet
they innovated nothing, presumed nothing, arrogated to themselves absolutely nothing, but
used all possible care to hand down nothing to posterity but what they had themselves
received from their Fathers. And not only did they dispose satisfactorily of the matter
presently in hand, but they also set an example to those who should come after them, how
they also should adhere to the determinations of sacred antiquity, and condemn the devices
of profane novelty. [83.] We inveighed also against the wicked presumption of Nestorius in
boasting that he was the first and the only one who understood holy Scripture, and that
all those teachers were ignorant, who before him had expounded the sacred oracles,
forsooth, the whole body of priests, the whole body of Confessors and martyrs, of whom
some had published commentaries upon the Law of God, others had agreed with them in their
comments, or had acquiesced in them. In a word, he confidently asserted that the whole
Church was even now in error, and always had been in error, in that, as it seemed to him,
it had followed, and was following, ignorant andmisguided teachers.

CHAPTER XXXII.

1 The zeal of Celestine and Sixtus, bishops of Rome, in opposing Novelty. [84.] The
foregoing would be enough and very much more than enough, to crush and annihilate every
profane novelty. But yet that nothing might be wanting to such completeness of proof, we
added, at the close, the twofold authority of the Apostolic See, first, that of holy Pope
Sixtus, the venerable prelate who now adorns the Roman Church; and secondly that of his
predecessor, Pope Celestine of blessed memory, which same we think it necessary to insert
here also. Holy Pope Sixtus then says in an Epistle which he wrote on Nestorius's matter
to the bishop of Antioch, "Therefore, because, as the Apostle says, the faith is
one,-evidently the faith which has obtained hitherto,-let us believe the things that are
to be said, and say the things that are to be held." What are the things that are to be
believed and to be said? He goes on: "Let no license be allowed to novelty, because it is
not fit that any addition should be made to antiquity. Let not the clear faith and belief
of our forefathers be fouled by any muddy admixture." A truly apostolic sentiment! He
enhances the belief of the Fathers by the epithet of clearness; profane novelties he calls
muddy.

2 [85.] Holy Pope Celestine also expresses himself in like manner and to the same effect.
For in the Epistle which he wrote to the priests of Gaul, charging them with connivance
with error, in that by their silence they failed in their duty to the ancient faith, and
allowed profane novelties to spring up, he says: "We are deservedly to blame if we
encourage error by silence. Therefore rebuke these people. Restrain their liberty of
preaching." But here some one may doubt who they are whose liberty to preach as they, list
he forbids,-the preachers of antiquity or the devisers of novelty. Let himself tell us;
let himself resolve the reader's doubt. For he goes on: "If the case be so (that is, if
the case be so as certain persons complain to me touching your cities and provinces, that
by your hurtful dissimulation you cause them to consent to certain novelties), if the case
be so, let novelty cease to assail antiquity." This, then, was the sentence of blessed
Celestine, not that antiquity should cease to subvert novelty, but that novelty should
cease to assail antiquity.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

1 The Children of the Catholic Church ought to adhere to the Faith of their Fathers and
die for it. 2 [86. Whoever then gainsays these Apostolic and Catholic determinations,
first of all necessarily insults the memory of holy Celestine, who decreed that novelty
should cease to assail antiquity; and in the next place sets at naught the decision of
holy Sixtus, whose sentence was, "Let no license be allowed to novelty, since it is not
fit that any addition be made to antiquity; moreover, he condemns the determination of
blessed Cyril, who extolled with high praise the zeal of the venerable Capreolus, in that
he would fain have the ancient doctrines of the faith confirmed, and novel inventions
condemned; yet more, he tramples upon the Council of Ephesus, that is, on the decisions of
the holy bishops of almost the whole East, who decreed, under divine guidance, that
nothing ought to be believed by posterity save what the sacred antiquity of the holy
Fathers, consentient in Christ, had held, who with one voice, and with loud acclaim,
testified that these were the words of all, this was the wish of all, this was the
sentence of all, that as almost all heretics before Nestorius, despising antiquity and
upholding novelty, had been condemned, so Nestorius, the author of novelty and the
assailant of antiquity, should be condemned also. Whose consentient determination,
inspired by the gift of sacred and celestial grace, whoever disapproves must needs hold
the profaneness of Nestorius to have been condemned unjustly; finally, he despises as vile
and worthless the whole Church of Christ, and its doctors, apostles, and prophets, and
especially the blessed Apostle Paul:

3 he despises the Church, in that she hath never failed in loyalty to the duty of
cherishing and preserving the faith once for all delivered to her; he despises St. Paul,
who wrote, "O Timothy, guard the deposit intrusted to thee, shunning profane novelties of
words; and again, "if any man preach unto you other than ye have received, let him be
accursed. But if neither apostolical injunctions nor ecclesiastical decrees may be
violated, by which, inaccordance with the sacred consent of universality and antiquity,
all heretics always, and, last of all, Pelagius, Coelestius, and Nestorius have been
rightly and deservedly condemned, then assuredly it is incumbent on all Catholics who are
anxious to approve themselves genuine sons of Mother Church, to adhere henceforward to the
holy faith of the holy Fathers, to be wedded to it, to die in it; but as to the profane
novelties of profane men-to detest them, abhor them, oppose them, give them no quarter.

4 [87.] These matters, handled more at large in the two preceding Commonitories, I have
now put together more briefly by way of recapitulation, in order that my memory, to aid
which I composed them, may, on the one hand, be refreshed by frequent reference, and, on
the other, may avoid being wearied by prolixity.

APPENDIX 1

I

Note ON Section 41, PAGE 143 There is so close an agreement, both in substance and often
in the form of expression, between the preceding sections (36-42) and the so-called
Athanasian Creed, that it led Antelmi (Nova de Symb. Athanas. Disquisitio,) to ascribe
that document to Vincentius as its author, and to suppose that in it we have the
fulfilment of the promise here referred to. If, however, the Creed was the work of
Vincentius, it cannot well be the work promised at the close of § 41, for Vincentius's
words point to a fuller and more explicit treatment of the subjects referred to, whereas
in the Athanasian Creed, though the subjects are the same, the treatment of them is very
much briefer and more concise. Whoever was the author however, if it was not Vincentius,
he must at least, as the subjoined extracts seem to prove, have been familiar with the
Commonitory, as also with St. Augustine's writings, of which, as well as of the
Commonitory, the Creed bears evident traces. I subjoin the following instances of
agreement between the Commonitory and the Creed: Antelmi gives several others.

APPENDIX 2

II

1 Note ON Section 69, PAGE 151. COMMONITORY, § 69. PROSPER TO AUGUSTINE. "Si quis
interroget quempiam hæreticorum sibi talia persuadentem, Unde probas, unde doces quod
Ecclesiæ Catholicæ universalem et antiquam fidem dimittere debeam? `Scriptum est enim,' et
continuo mille testimonia, mille exempla, mille auctoritates parat de Lege, de Psalmis, de
Apostolis, de Prophetis, quibus, novo et malo more interpretatis, ex arce Catholica in
hæreseos barathrum infelix anima præcipitetur. Audent enim polliceri et docere, quod in
Ecclesia sua, id est. in communionis suæ conventiculo, magna et specialis ac plane
personalis quædam sit Dei gratia, adeo ut sine ullo labore, sine ullo studio, sine ulla
industria, etiamsi nec petant, nec qu_rant, nec pulsent, quicunque illi ad numerum suum
pertinent, tamen ita divinitus dispensentur, ut, angelicis evecti manibus, id est,
angelica protectione servati, nunquam possint offendere ad lapidem pedem suum, id est,
nunquam scandalizari." "The Massilian clergy complain," he says, "Romoveri omnem
industriam, tollique virtutes, si Dei constitutio humanus præveniat voluntates." § 3.

2 That Vincentius had Augustine and his adherents in view in this description will hardly
be doubted by any one who will compare it with the following extracts, the first from
Prosper's letter to Augustine, giving him an account of the complaints made against his
doctrine by the Massilian clergy; the second from St. Augustine's treatise, "De dono
Perseveranti " written in consequence of it. Vincentius's language is in keeping with that
of others of St. Augustine's opponents, as Cassian and Faustus, extracts from whom are
given by Noris; only, as he observes, while Vincentius uses the term "heresy" of the
doctrine impugned,-they are content to use the milder term "error."-Histor. Pelag. p. 246.

APPENDIX 3

III

1 Note ON Section 85, PAGE 156. Celestine's letter was addressed to certain Bishops of
Southern Gaul, who are particularized by name. It appears that Prosper and Hilary had made
a journey to Rome, where they then were, for the purpose of complaining to Celestine of
the connivance of certain bishops of Southern Gaul with the unsound teaching of their
clergy. They complained too of the disrespectful manner in which these same clergy treated
the memory of Augustine, then recently deceased. Celestine writes to these bishops: blames
their connivance with a fault, which, says he, by their silence they make their own, and
then proceeds to charge them, as in the passage quoted in the text, "Rebuke these people:
restrain their liberty of preaching. If the case be so, let novelty cease to assail
antiquity, let restlessness cease to disturb the Church's peace." Then, after some further
exhortation, he adds, "We cannot wonder at their thus assailing the living, when they do
not shrink from seeking to asperse the memory of the departed. With Augustine, whom all
men everywhere loved and honoured, we ever held communion. Let a stop be put to this
spirit of disparagement, which unhappily is on the increase."

2 The manner in which Vincentius deals with this letter has been very commonly thought,
and with reason, to indicate a Semipelagian leaning. His "si ita est." "if the case be
so," emphasized by being repeated again and again, quite in an excited manner, as we
should say, shows an evident wish to shift the charge of novelty from those against whom
it had been brought, and fix it upon the opposite party. "Who are the introducers of
novelty? The Massilians, as Prosper represents them, or their calumniators? Not the
Massilians: they notoriously appeal to antiquity,-not the Massilians, but Prosper and the
rest of Augustine's followers." The feeling with regard to Augustine, on the part of the
Massilian clergy, as indicated in Celestine's letter, is quite in accordance with the
animus of § 69 above. See the note on that place, and see Noris's remarks, pp. 246-248.


THE LIFE OF AUGUSTINE
=====================

THE LIFE OF AUGUSTINE Possidius

c. AD 370–440

Friend of Augustine and his biographer.

INTRODUCTION

1 [Translated by Herbert Theberath Weiskotten]

LIFE OF SAINT AUGUSTINE WRITTEN BY THE BISHOP POSSIDIUS

2 PREFACE 3 Inspired by God, the Maker and Ruler of all, and mindful of my purpose wherein
through the grace of the Saviour I resolved faithfully to serve the omnipotent and divine
Trinity, both formerly as a layman and now as a bishop, I am eager with whatever ability
and eloquence I possess, to aid in the edification of the holy and true Catholic Church of
Christ the Lord, and so [have resolved] not to keep silent concerning the life and
character of the most noble Bishop Augustine, predestined long ago and presented in his
own time—the things that I have seen in him and heard from him. I have read and observed
that this very thing was often done in times past by most devout men of the holy Catholic
Mother Church. Inspired by the divine Spirit, yet using their own speech and style, they
spoke and wrote like histories for the ears and eyes of those who wished to learn, and
thus brought to the notice of the studious the great men who were counted worthy by the
Lord's free grace both to live amid human affairs and to persevere to the end of their
course. Therefore in that faith unfeigned whereby all righteous and faithful souls must
serve and please the Lord of Lords, I also, the least of all His stewards, have
determined, with the Lord's help, to set forth the origin, career and end of this
venerable man as I have learned them from him and observed them through so many years of
loving fellowship.

4 But I beseech the divine Majesty that by His aid I may carry out and complete this task,
which I have undertaken, without sinning against the truth of the Father of Lights or
seeming in any way to disappoint the loving expectation of good sons of the Church. It is
not my purpose to touch on all those things which the blessed Augustine noted about
himself in his books of the Confessions, telling what his life was before receiving the
divine grace and what it became on his conversion. For it was his purpose that, in the
words of the Apostle, "no man should believe or think him to be above that which he knew
him to be or heard of him. Therefore in his practice of holy humility he deceived no one
and sought not his own praise for those things he had already received, but the glory of
his Lord because of the blessing of his own deliverance, and desired the prayers of his
brethren for the things which he hoped to obtain. For, as declared by the angel, though
"It is good to hide the secret of a king: yet it is honorable to reveal and confess the
works of God."

CHAPTER I. AUGUSTINE'S BIRTH, CONVERSION AND BAPTISM

Augustine was born in the African province, in the city of Tagaste of honorable Christian
parents of curial rank and was nurtured and trained under their care and attention. At
their expense he was educated chiefly in secular literature, that is, was trained in all
the disciplines which are called liberal. For he first taught grammar in his own town and
then rhetoric at Carthage, the capitol of Africa. Subsequently [he taught] across the sea
in the city of Rome and at Milan where the Emperor Valentinian the Younger had then
established his court. At that time the bishopric in this city was administered by
Ambrose, a priest most acceptable to God and eminent among the best of men. As he stood
among the people in the church he used to listen in eager suspense to the frequent sermons
of this preacher of the Word of God. Now at one time, while still a youth at Carthage, he
had been carried away by the error of the Manichaeans and therefore was more eager than
others to hear whether anything would be said for or against this heresy. And by the mercy
of God the Deliverer who touched the heart of His bishop, it came to pass that the
questions of the Law bearing on that error were solved, and so little by little Augustine
was led on by the divine compassion until the heresy was driven from his soul.
Straightway, established in the Catholic faith, an ardent desire was awakened in him to
perfect himself in religion, and so with the coming of the holy days of Easter he received
the water of baptism. And thus it happened that by divine grace he received through the
great and illustrious prelate Ambrose the salutary doctrine of the Catholic Church and the
divine Sacraments.

CHAPTER II. WHEN MORE THAN THIRTY YEARS OF AGE HE LEAVES ALL AND TAKES UP HIS PROFESSION OF SERVING GOD

And soon from his inmost heart he relinquished all earthly desires, no longer seeking
wife, children of the flesh, riches or worldly honors. But he determined to serve God with
His saints, desiring to be in and of that little flock to which the Lord spoke, saying,
"Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Sell that ye have and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in
the heavens that faileth not," and so on. And that which the Lord spoke on another
occasion this holy man sought to do: "If thou wilt be perfect, sell that thou hast and
give to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me." He also
desired to build on the foundation of faith,—not on wood, hay and stubble, but on gold,
silver and precious stones. He was now more than thirty years of age, his mother alone
surviving and clinging to him, exulting more in his determination to serve God than in the
hope of offspring after the flesh. His father had already died before this time. He also
gave notice to his pupils in rhetoric to secure another teacher, as he had resolved to
serve God.

CHAPTER III. THE RETIREMENT OF AUGUSTINE

When he had received the grace of God, he determined, with others of his neighbors and
friends who served God with him, to return to Africa to his own home and lands to which he
came and in which he was settled for almost three years. He now gave up these possessions
and began to live with those who had also consecrated themselves to God, in fastings and
prayers and good works, meditating day and night in the Law of the Lord. And the things
which God revealed to him through prayer and meditation, he taught both those present and
absent in his sermons and books. Now it happened at this time that one of those whom they
call "agents in affairs" who lived at Hippo Regius, a good Christian who feared God, heard
of his good fame and learning. He earnestly sought to see him, declaring that he was ready
to reject all the passions and allurements of this world if he were but counted worthy to
hear the Word of God from his lips. When this was brought to Augustine by trustworthy
report, he longed to rescue that soul from the dangers of this life and from eternal
death. So of his own accord he went in haste to that famous city and when he had seen the
man he spoke to him frequently and exhorted him that in so far as God had blessed him he
should pay to God what he had vowed. Day after day he promised to do so, but did not
fulfil this while Augustine was present. And yet surely in this case that could not have
proved vain and ineffectual which divine Providence was everywhere accomplishing by means
of this vessel purged unto honor, meet for the Master's use and prepared unto every good
work.

CHAPTER IV. HE IS SEIZED FOR THE OFFICE OF PRESBYTER

Now at this time the holy Valerius was bishop in the Catholic church at Hippo. But owing
to the increasing demands of ecclesiastical duty he addressed the people of God and
exhorted them to provide and ordain a presbyter for the city. The Catholics, already
acquainted with the life and teaching of the holy Augustine, laid hands on him—for he was
standing there among the people secure and unaware of what was about to happen. For while
a layman he was careful, as he told us, to withhold his presence solely from those
churches which had no bishops. So they laid hands on him and, as is the custom in such
cases, brought him to the bishop to be ordained, for all with common consent desired that
this should be done and accomplished; and they demanded it with great zeal and clamor,
while he wept freely. But some, as he himself later told us, at the time ascribed his
tears to wounded pride and by way of consolation told him that while he was worthy of
greater honor the office of presbyter was but little inferior to the bishopric. But the
man of God, as he told us, understood with greater comprehension and mourned as he
apprehended the many imminent dangers which threatened his life in the direction and
government of the church, and for this reason he wept. But their desire was accomplished
as they wished.

CHAPTER V. HE ESTABLISHES A MONASTERY

Soon after he had been made presbyter he established a monastery within the church and
began to live with the servants of God according to the manner and rule instituted by the
holy apostles. The principal rule of this society was that no one should possess anything
of his own, but that all things should be held in common and be distributed to each one as
he had need, as Augustine had formerly done after he returned to his native home from
across the sea. But the holy Valerius who ordained him, a good man fearing God, rejoiced
and gave thanks to God. He said the Lord had heard the prayers which he had unceasingly
poured forth that divine Providence would grant him such a man, who by his salutary
teaching of the Word of God could edify the Church of the Lord. For Valerius, a Greek by
birth and less versed in the Latin language and literature, saw that he himself was less
useful for this end. Therefore he gave his presbyter the right of preaching the Gospel in
his presence in the church and very frequently of holding public discussions—contrary to
the practice and custom of the African churches. On this account some bishops found fault
with him. But the venerable and prudent man knew well that this was the custom in the
Eastern churches and considered only the welfare of the Church and took no notice of the
words of his detractors, if only his presbyter might do that which he saw could not be
accomplished by himself as bishop. Wherefore this burning and shining light was placed
upon a candlestick and gave light to all who were in the house. And after the report of
this had rapidly spread by reason of the good example which preceded it, some other
presbyters by permission of their bishops began to preach to the people in their presence.

CHAPTER VI. THE CONFLICT OF AUGUSTINE WITH FORTUNATUS, A MANICHAEAN

1 Now in the city of Hippo at this time the plague of the Manichaeans had infected and
permeated very many, both citizens and strangers, who were seduced and deceived by a
certain presbyter of that heresy, Fortunatus by name, who lived and dwelt there. Meanwhile
the Christians of Hippo, whether citizens or strangers, Catholics and even Donatists, came
to the presbyter Augustine and demanded that he should meet this presbyter of the
Manichaeans, whom they regarded as a learned man, and argue with him about the Law. This
he in no wise refused; for, as it is written, he was "ready to give an answer to every man
that asked him a reason of the hope and faith that is toward God, and was able by sound
doctrine both to exhort and refute the gainsayers. But he sought to learn whether
Fortunatus were willing that this should take place. So they at once reported the matter
to Fortunatus asking, urging and even demanding that he should on no account refuse. But
since Fortunatus had previously known the holy Augustine at Carthage when he was still
involved with himself in this same error, he was afraid to meet him. Nevertheless he was
greatly urged and shamed by the insistency of his followers and promised that he would
meet him face to face and enter the contest of debate. So they met at an appointed time
and place, where many who were interested and crowds of the curious quickly gathered.

2 When the reporters' books had been opened, the discussion was begun on the first day and
ended on the second. In this discussion the Manichaean teacher, as the evidence of the
record proves, could neither refute the Catholic argument, nor could he prove that the
sect of the Manichaeans was founded on truth. But failing in his final answer, he declared
that he would refer to his superiors the arguments which he had been unable to refute, and
if perchance they should not satisfy him on these matters, he would consult the welfare of
his own soul. Thereupon all who had formerly regarded him as great and learned now judged
that he had accomplished nothing in the defence of his own sect. Overwhelmed with
confusion he left the city of Hippo soon after and returned to it no more. Thus this error
was removed by that memorable man of God from the hearts of all those present or those
absent who learned what had been done; and the Catholic faith was declared and upheld as
the true religion.

CHAPTER VII. THE BOOKS AND TREATISES OF AUGUSTINE AGAINST THE ENEMIES OF THE FAITH ARE EAGERLY RECEIVED EVEN BY THE HERETICS THEMSELVES

In private and in public, at home and in the church, Augustine taught and preached the
Word of salvation with all confidence against the African heresies, especially against the
Donatists, Manichaeans and pagans both in his finished books and extemporaneous sermons,
the Christians, who did not keep silent but spread it abroad wherever they could, being
filled with unspeakable joy and praise. And so, with God's help, the Catholic Church in
Africa began to lift its head, having for a long time lain prostrate, seduced, oppressed
and overpowered, while the heretics were gaining strength, especially the rebaptizing
Donatist party which comprised a large multitude of the Africans. Even the heretics
themselves gathered together and with the Catholics listened most eagerly to these books
and treatises which issued and flowed forth by the wonderful grace of God, filled with
abundance of reason and the authority of Holy Scripture; each one also who would or could
bringing reporters and taking down what was said. And thence throughout all Africa, the
glorious doctrine and most sweet savor of Christ was spread abroad and made manifest,
while the Church of God across the sea heard of it and also rejoiced. For as when one
member suffers, all the members suffer with it, so when one member is honored, all the
members rejoice with it.

CHAPTER VIII. HE IS CHOSEN BISHOP WHILE VALERIUS IS STILL LIVING, AND IS ORDAINED BY THE PRIMATE MEGALIUS

1 But the blessed and aged Valerius rejoiced more than others on this account and gave
thanks to God for the special blessing bestowed upon him. He began to fear, however, for
such is human nature, that Augustine would be sought for the episcopal office and be taken
from him by some other church which lacked a bishop. And this would have happened, had not
the bishop himself, since he knew of it, taken care that he should remove to a secret
place, and had thus hidden him so that he could not be found by those who sought him. But
since the venerable old man still feared this and realized that he was aged and very
infirm, he communicated by a secret letter with the Bishop of Carthage, the episcopal
Primate, mentioning the weakness of his body and the burden of his years, and beseeching
that Augustine might be ordained bishop of the church of Hippo, because he would not in
that case then succeed to his office, but would be associated with him as coadjutor-
bishop. And what he thus sought and desired he obtained in a satisfactory answer. Later
on, accordingly, when Megalius, Bishop of Calama, and at that time primate of Numidia, had
come at his request to visit the church at Hippo, unexpectedly to all the bishop Valerius
made his desire known to the bishops who happened at that time to be present, and to all
the clergy of Hippo and to all the people.

2 But while all who heard rejoiced and clamored most eagerly that this should be done and
accomplished, the presbyter refused to accept the episcopate contrary to the custom of the
Church, since his bishop was still living. However, when they had convinced him that this
was generally done and had appealed to examples from the churches across the sea as well
as in Africa, though he had been ignorant of it before, under compulsion and constraint he
yielded and accepted the ordination to the higher office. Later he both said and wrote
that this should not have been done in his case, namely to ordain him while his bishop was
still living, because of the prohibition of the Ecumenical Council of which he learned
after his ordination ; for that which he regretted to have had done in his case he did not
wish to have done to others. Therefore he endeavored to have it decreed by the councils of
the bishops that the rules governing all the priests should be made known by the ordaining
bishops to those about to be ordained and to those already ordained. And so it was done.

CHAPTER IX. HE CONTENDS WITH THE DONATISTS

As bishop he preached the Word of eternal salvation much more earnestly and fervently and
with greater authority, no longer in one district only, but wherever he went in answer to
requests, ready always to give an answer to every man that asked of him a reason of the
faith and hope which is toward God. And the Church of the Lord flourished and grew rapidly
and strongly. The Donatists in particular, who lived in Hippo and the neighboring towns,
brought his addresses and writings to their bishops. And if, when they had heard these,
they perchance made any reply, they were either refuted by their own followers or else
their replies were brought to the holy Augustine; and when he had reviewed them patiently
and calmly (and, as it is written, he worked out the salvation of men with fear and
trembling, showing how they would and could refute nothing and how true and manifest is
that doctrine which the Church of God holds and has understood) ; on these things he
labored continually by day and by night. He even wrote private letters to prominent
bishops of this error and to laymen, urging and exhorting them by the arguments which he
offered that they should either abandon the error or at least enter into a discussion with
him. In their distrust they were never willing even to answer him in writing, but in anger
spoke furiously, privately and publicly declaring that Augustine was a seducer and
deceiver of souls. They said and preached that the wolf must be killed in defence of their
flock, and neither fearing God nor ashamed before men, they taught the people to believe
that whoever should be able to do this would undoubtedly have all his sins forgiven of
God. Meanwhile Augustine sought to make known to all their lack of confidence in their own
cause, and when they met in public conferences they did not dare to debate with him.

CHAPTER X. THE MADNESS OF THE CIRCUMCELLIONS

These Donatists had in nearly all their churches an unusual kind of men, perverse and
violent, going about under a profession of continency, who were called Circumcellions.
They were very numerous and formed themselves into bands throughout almost all the regions
of Africa. Inspired by evil teachers, in their insolent boldness and lawless temerity they
never spared either their own or strangers, and in violation of right and justice deprived
men of their civil rights; and unless men obeyed, they were visited with the severest
losses and injuries, when armed with every kind of weapon, the Circumcellions madly
overran the farms and estates and did not even hesitate to shed human blood. But while the
Word of God was diligently preached, whenever any plan of peace was suggested to those who
hated peace, they freely assailed whoever talked of it. And when, despite their teachings,
the truth became known, those who would and could do so either openly tore themselves away
from them or secretly withdrew and together with as many of their friends as they could
obtain, adhered to the peace and unity of the Church. As a result, seeing that the
congregations of their error were growing smaller, and being envious of the growth of the
Church, these heretics were inflamed and burned with fiercest wrath and with the help of
their confederates began intolerable persecutions against the unity of the Church. They
made daily and nightly attacks even upon the Catholic priests and ministers and robbed
them of all their possessions; and they crippled many of the servants of God by tortures.
They also threw lime mixed with vinegar in the eyes of some and others they murdered.
Wherefore these rebaptizing Donatists came to be hated even by their own.

CHAPTER XI. PROGRESS OF THE CHURCH THROUGH AUGUSTINE

Now as the divine teachings prospered, the clergy in the church at Hippo who had served
God under and with the holy Augustine in the monastery began to be ordained. And the truth
taught by the Catholic Church, the manner of life of the holy servants of God, their
continence and abject poverty became more known and celebrated day by day. Then the
Church, for the sake of its peace and unity, first began to demand with great eagerness
bishops and clergy from the monastery which had begun to exist and grow through the
efforts of that memorable man, and later obtained them. And there were about ten men, holy
and venerable, continent and learned, whom the most blessed Augustine furnished in answer
to our request to various churches, some of them quite prominent. And likewise these too
who came from that fellowship of holy men increased the churches of the Lord, and also
established monasteries, and as their zeal for the spreading of the Word of God grew, they
furnished other churches with their brethren whom they promoted to the priesthood.
Therefore the teaching of the salutary faith, hope and love of the Church became known
through many and to many, not only throughout all parts of Africa, but even in the
churches across the sea, through the books which were edited and translated into the Greek
tongue. Thus by that one man, and through him to many, by the grace of God it was all
brought to public knowledge. And so, as it is written, the wicked man saw it and was
grieved; he gnashed with his teeth and melted away. But Thy servants, as it is said, were
for peace with those who hated peace and whenever they spoke they were willingly overcome
by them.

CHAPTER XII. BY THE ERROR OF HIS GUIDE AUGUSTINE ESCAPES AN AMBUSCADE LAID FOR HIM

1 But several times these Circumcellions, fully armed, beset the roads even against
Augustine, the servant of God, when, as it chanced, he went on request to visit, instruct
and exhort the Catholic people, as he frequently did. Now it once happened that although
they were out in full force, they yet failed to capture him. For through the error of his
guide and yet, in fact, by the providence of God, it happened that the bishop with his
companions came to his destination by a different road, and he learned later that through
this error he had escaped their impious hands, and together with all he gave thanks to
God, the Deliverer. And they, according to their custom, spared neither laymen nor clergy,
as the public records witness. 2 In this connection we must not pass over in silence the
things which were done and accomplished to the glory of God by the ardor of that man, so
distinguished in the Church, and in his zeal for the house of God, against the rebaptizing
Donatists mentioned above. When, on one occasion, one of the bishops he had furnished to
the Church from his monastery and clergy visited the diocese of the church of Calama which
was under his care and, for the peace of the Church, had preached against the heresy such
things as he had learned, it happened that in the midst of his journey he fell into their
ambuscade, and although he escaped with all his companions, the animals and baggage were
taken from them and they left him grievously injured and wounded. Wherefore, in order that
the progress of the peace of the Church might not be further hindered, the defender of the
Church was not silent before the law. And Crispinus, who was bishop of the Donatists in
the city and region of Calama, for some time well known and also a learned man, was
admonished that he was liable to the fine of gold fixed by the civil laws against
heretics. When he protested against the laws and was brought before the proconsul, he
denied that he was a heretic. Then it became necessary, when the defender of the Church
withdrew, that he should be opposed by a Catholic bishop and be convicted of being what he
denied he was;

3 for if he had succeeded in his dissimulation, the ignorant perhaps would have believed
that the heretic was a Catholic bishop, since he denied being what he was, and so a
stumbling-block might have been placed in the way of the weak because of this neglect. And
since the illustrious Bishop Augustine firmly insisted on it, both the bishops of Calama
met for discussion and for the third time they met in conflict concerning their different
communions, while a great multitude of Christians at Carthage and throughout all Africa
awaited the result of the case; and Crispinus was pronounced a heretic by proconsular and
libellary sentence. But the Catholic bishop interceded with the judge in his behalf that
the fine of gold should not be exacted, and the favor was obtained for him. But when he
ungratefully appealed to the most clement Prince, a final answer from the Emperor was due
to his appeal, and accordingly the order was issued that the Donatist heretics should have
no rights in any place and that they should everywhere be held to the full force of all
the laws enacted against heretics. By this order also, the judge and the officers of his
court and Crispinus himself, though he had not previously been compelled to pay, were all
enjoined to pay ten pounds of gold to the credit of the treasury. Immediately every effort
was made by the Catholic bishops, and especially by Augustine of holy memory, that this
condemnation of all should be withdrawn through the indulgence of the Emperor.

4 With the aid of the Lord this was accomplished. Through this vigilance and holy zeal the
Church increased greatly.

CHAPTER XIII. PEACE OF THE CHURCH THROUGH AUGUSTINE

For all these labors for the peace of the Church the Lord gave the palm to Augustine in
this life and reserved with Himself the crown of righteousness for him. And more and more
by the aid of Christ, the unity of peace, that is, the fraternity of the Church of God,
grew and multiplied from day to day. This was especially advanced after the conference
which was held a little later at Carthage by all the Catholic bishops with these same
bishops of the Donatists at the command of the most glorious and devout Emperor Honorius,
who, in order to bring this about, had sent the tribune and notary Marcellinus from his
own court to Africa as judge. In this conference they were completely silenced, and being
convicted of error by the Catholics, were reprimanded by sentence of the judge. After
their appeal these unrighteous men were condemned as heretics by the rescript of the most
pious Ruler. For this reason their bishops, more than before, together with their clergy
and people, enjoyed our communion, maintained the Catholic peace and endured many
persecutions even to the loss of life and limb. And this good was begun and completed, as
I said, by that holy man, while our fellow-bishops consented and were equally pleased.

CHAPTER XIV. EMERITUS, A DONATIST BISHOP, OVERCOME

1 Yet after the conference which was held with the Donatists, there were not lacking those
who declared that these bishops had not been permitted to speak fully and freely for their
sect before the magistrate who heard the case, since the judge, who was of Catholic
communion, favored his own Church. But is was only after they had failed and were defeated
that they offered this excuse, since these heretics knew before the discussion was held
that he was of the Catholic communion, and when they were summoned by him to the public
debate for the purpose of discussion, they agreed to do it. Surely, if they had held him
under suspicion, they could have refused to attend. Nevertheless the help of Almighty God
revealed itself, for Augustine of venerable memory stopped a while later in the city of
Caesarea in Mauretania to which letters from the Apostolic See constrained him to go with
others of his fellow-bishops, evidently for the purpose of settling further difficulties
of the Church. Thus it happened on this occasion that he met Emeritus, the Donatist bishop
of that place, whom they regarded as the chief defender of their sect at the conference,
and held a discussion with him publicly in the church, while the people of the different
communions were present.

2 He challenged them by the ecclesiastical records in order that whatever perchance, as
they said, Emeritus might have been able to offer in the conference and had not been
permitted to offer, he might now not hesitate to say with security and without the
interference or violence of any magistrate, and should not refuse to defend his own
communion with all confidence in his own city and in the presence of all his fellow-
townsmen. Notwithstanding this encouragement and the urgent entreaty of his parents and
townsmen, he was not willing to do so, although they promised him that they would return
to his communion even at the risk of their property and temporal welfare, if only he would
overthrow the Catholic argument. But he was neither willing nor able to add anything more
to these records except only to say: "Those records of what was done by the bishops at
Carthage contain the proof of whether we were victors or vanquished. At another time, when
urged by a reporter to answer, he spoke, and then when he was silent his position became
evident to all through his embarrassment, while the growing strength of the Church of God
was revealed. Whoever, therefore, wishes to learn more about the diligence and labor of
Augustine, of most blessed memory, for the welfare of the Church of God, let him run
through these records. He will find what sort of arguments he produced to provoke and
persuade that learned, eloquent and illustrious man to state whatever he wished in defence
of his sect;

3 and he will learn that Emeritus was defeated.

CHAPTER XV. A MERCHANT, FIRMUS BY NAME, CONVERTED BY A DIGRESSION IN AUGUSTINE'S SERMON

1 I know also, and not I only but also my brethren and fellow-servants who were at that
time living together with the holy man in the church at Hippo, that when we were seated at
the table he said: "Did you take notice of my sermon in the church to-day, that both the
beginning and end worked out contrary to my usual custom? For I did not explain to its
conclusion the subject which I had propounded but left it in suspense. To which we
replied, "Yes, we know it and remember that we wondered at it at the time. Then he said,
"I suppose that perhaps the Lord wished some wanderer among the people to be taught and
healed by our forgetfulness and error; for in His hands are we and all our utterances. For
while I was investigating the margins of the question proposed, by a digression of speech
I passed over to something else and so, without finishing or explaining the question, I
ended my discourse by attacking the error of the Manichaeans, about which I had intended
to say nothing in my discussion, rather than by speaking about those things which I had
intended to explain.

2 And after this, unless I am mistaken, lo, on the next day or the day after, there came a
certain merchant, Firmus by name, to the holy Augustine, who was seated in the monastery,
and in our presence fell down on his knees and prostrated himself at his feet, shedding
tears and asking that the priest and his holy companions intercede with the Lord for his
sins. For he confessed that he had followed the sect of the Manichaeans, had lived in it
for many years and so had paid out much money in vain to the Manichaeans, or rather to
those whom they call the Elect; but recently by the mercy of God he had been in the church
and was converted and made a Catholic by Augustine's sermons. And when the venerable
Augustine and we who were with him at the time inquired diligently of the man by what
thing in the sermon he had been especially satisfied, he told us and we all recalled the
course of the sermon. Wondering and marvelling at the profound plan of God for the
salvation of souls, we glorified and blessed His holy Name; for when He wishes and by whom
He wishes and in whatever way He wishes, by those who know and those who do not know, He
works the salvation of souls.

3 And from that time on this man held fast to the manner of life of the servants of God,
gave up his business as merchant and progressing among the members of the church, by the
will of God he was called and constrained in another region to enter the office of
presbyter, wherein he maintained and persevered in his sanctity of life. And perhaps he is
still in active life across the sea.

CHAPTER XVI. THE ACCURSED AND SHAMEFUL PRACTICES OF THE MANICHAEANS LAID BARE

1 At Carthage also when a certain procurator of the royal house, Ursus by name, and a man
of the Catholic faith, had come into an assembly of certain Manichaeans whom they call
Elect, both men and women, and when they had been led away by him to the church and were
examined by the bishops, they were given a hearing with formal record. Among these bishops
was also Augustine, of holy memory, who knew the accursed sect better than the others did,
and by disclosing their damnable blasphemies from places in the books which the
Manichaeans accept he even brought them to a confession of the same. The base and unworthy
things they practiced to their own great harm are revealed in the ecclesiastical records
through the disclosures of those women—Elect indeed. And so by the watchfulness of the
shepherds an increase was made in the Lord's flock and strong defence was maintained
against the thieves and robbers.

2 With a certain Felix, also a member of those whom the Manichaeans call Elect, Augustine
argued in public in the church at Hippo while the people were present and the reporters
took down the record. After the second or third meeting the emptiness and error of the
sect were exposed and that Manichaean was converted to our faith and Church, as these
writings will show if they are consulted.

CHAPTER XVII. PASCENTIUS, AN ARIAN COUNT, IS REFUTED IN PUBLIC DEBATE

1 Moreover there was also a certain Pascentius, a Count of the royal house and an Arian,
who was a most energetic collector of the taxes. By reason of the authority of his
position he attacked the Catholic faith violently and persistently and by his raillery and
power tormented and annoyed many of the more simple priests of God who were living by
faith. Challenged by him, Augustine met him at Carthage in the presence of honored and
notable men. The heretic utterly refused to have tablets and a pen at hand, as our
teacher, both before and in the meeting, urgently insisted should be done. And since he
refused this, saying that he was unwilling through fear of the public laws to be exposed
to danger by such records, and appealed to the bystanders, the Bishop Augustine took up
the discussion, because it seemed best to his fellow-bishops who were present that they
should debate in private and without written records. He prophesied, however, as
afterwards happened, that since there was no record in writing, after the conclusion of
the conference anyone who wished could freely say that he had said what perchance he had
not said or had not said what he had said. Augustine then joined in debate with him, and
after stating what he believed and hearing from him what he held, by true reasoning and by
producing the authority of the Scriptures he explained and proved the foundations of our
faith.

2 And the statements of Pascentius, being supported neither by truth nor by the authority
of the Holy Scriptures, were explained and refuted. And as the parties separated from each
other, he became more and more angry and enraged and threw out many lies in defense of his
false faith, declaring that Augustine, though praised by the voice of many, had really
been defeated by him. Since this could not be kept from public notice, Augustine was
compelled to write to Pascentius himself, omitting, because of the latter's fear, the
names of those who had attended the conference. In these letters he faithfully set forth
everything which had been said and done by both parties; and to prove these things, if
they should be denied, he had ready a great multitude of witnesses, illustrious and
honorable men, who had been present on that occasion. In answer to two letters directed to
him, Pascentius returned but one meager reply in which he managed to offer insults rather
than to declare the opinion of his sect. This is acknowledged by those who are able and
willing to read [the letter].

3 With a bishop of these Arians, a certain Maximinus, who came to Africa with the Goths,
he held a conference at Hippo, since many illustrious men desired and requested it and
were also present. And what each party asserted is recorded. If the studious will take the
trouble to read the records carefully, they will surely discover what this crafty and
unreasonable heresy professes in order to seduce and deceive and what the Catholic Church
maintains and teaches regarding the divine Trinity. But when the heretic returned from
Hippo to Carthage and because of his great loquacity in the conference asserted that he
had returned victorious from the debate and lied (and as, of course, he could not be
easily examined and judged by those who were ignorant of the divine Law), the venerable
Augustine at a later time with his own pen made a recapitulation of the separate charges
and answers of the entire conference. And although Maximinus was unable to offer any reply
to the charges, nevertheless supplements were added and the things which could not be
introduced and written in the short time of the conference were made clear; for the
craftiness of the man led him to occupy the entire part of the day which remained with his
last and by far his longest speech.

CHAPTER XVIII. HERETICS OF THE NEW PELAGIAN SECT OVERCOME AND CONDEMNED

1 Against the Pelagians also, new heretics of our time and skilful debaters, who wrote
with an art even more subtle and noxious, and spoke whenever they could, in public and in
homes—against these he labored for almost ten years, writing and publishing many books and
very frequently arguing in the church with people of that error. When they perversely
tried through their flattery to persuade the Apostolic See of their false doctrine, it was
most positively resolved by [successive] African councils of holy bishops first to
convince the venerable Innocent, the holy Pope of the city, and his successor, the holy
Zosimus, that this sect ought to be abominated and condemned by the Catholic faith. And
the bishops of that great See at various times censured them and cut them off from the
membership of the Church, and in letters sent to the African churches of the West and to
the churches of the East decreed that they should be anathamatized and shunned by all
Catholics. When the most pious Emperor Honorius heard of this judgment which had been
passed upon them by the Catholic Church of God, influenced by it, he in turn decreed that
they should be condemned by his laws and should be regarded as heretics. Accordingly some
of them returned to the bosom of the holy mother Church from which they had withdrawn. And
others are still returning as the truth of the right faith shines forth and prevails
against the detestable error.

2 The memorable man, a noble member of the Lord's body, was ever solicitous and watchful
for the advantage of the universal Church. To him it was divinely granted that from the
fruit of his labors he should find joy even in this life, first because unity and peace
were established in the part of the Church around Hippo over which he had special
jurisdiction, and then in the other parts of Africa, either by his own efforts or by
others, and through priests whom he himself had furnished. Moreover, he found joy in
seeing the Church of the Lord increase and multiply and in seeing the Manichaeans,
Donatists, Pelagians and pagans for the most part diminishing and becoming united with the
Church of God. He also delighted in the pursuit of his studies and rejoiced in all good.
In kindness he bore with the shortcomings of his brethren and mourned over the iniquities
of the wicked, whether of those within the Church or of those without, always rejoicing,
as I said, in the Lord's gains and sorrowing over His losses.

3 And so many things were dictated and published by him and so many things were discussed
in the church, written down and amended, whether against various heretics or expounded
from the canonical books for the edification of the holy sons of the Church, that scarcely
any student would be able to read and know them all. However, lest we seem in any way to
deprive those who are very eager for the truth of his word, I have determined, with the
aid of God, to add also an Indiculus of these books, homilies and epistles at the end of
this little work. When those who love the truth of God more than temporal riches have read
this, each may choose for himself what he wishes to read. And in order to copy them let
him seek them either from the library of the church of Hippo, where the more perfect
copies can probably be found, or search wherever else he can, and when he has found them
let him copy and preserve them and also lend them willingly to anyone who wishes to make
copies.

CHAPTER XIX. AUGUSTINE AS JUDGE

1 According also to the teaching of the Apostle, who said: "Dare any of you having a
matter against another, go to law before the unjust and not before the saints? Do ye not
know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are
ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? How
much more things that pertain to this life? If ye have judgments of things pertaining to
this life, set them to judge who are least in the church. I speak to your shame. Is it so
that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between
his brethren? But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers.
Accordingly when he was importuned by Christians or by men of any sect, he heard their
cases carefully and dutifully, keeping before his eyes the remark of a certain one, who
said that he preferred to hear cases between strangers rather than between friends; for of
the strangers he could gain the one as a friend in whose favor the case was justly
decided, whereas he would lose the one of his friends against whom judgment was passed.

2 Though they sometimes kept him even till meal-time and sometimes he even had to fast all
day, yet he always examined these cases and passed judgment on them, considering in them
the value of Christian souls—in how far each had increased or decreased in faith and good
works. When opportunities occurred, he instructed both parties in the truth of. the divine
Law, impressing it upon them and reminding them of the way by which they might obtain
eternal life. He asked no other reward from those for whom he spent his time in this way
except the Christian obedience and devotion which is due to God and man, rebuking the
sinner before all, that others also might fear. He did this as one whom the Lord made "a
watchman unto the house of Israel," preaching the Word, instant in season, out of season,
reproving, rebuking, exhorting with all longsuffering and doctrine, and he took special
pains to instruct those who were able to teach others. On request he also wrote letters to
some concerning their temporal cases. But this work which took him away from better things
he regarded as a kind of conscription, for his pleasure was always in the things of God or
in the exhortation or conversation of intimate brotherly friendship.

CHAPTER XX. HOW HE INTERCEDED FOR PRISONERS

We know also that when his most intimate friends asked him for letters of intercession to
the civil authorities he did not give them, saying that it was wise to observe the rule of
a certain sage of whom it was written that out of great regard for his own reputation he
would not be responsible for his friends. But he added the remark, which was however his
own, that this was a good rule because often the authority which is petitioned afterward
becomes oppressive. But if, when he was asked for it, he perceived that intercession was
necessary, he did it with such sincerity and tact that not only did he not appear
irritating and annoying, but rather seemed admirable. For when one case of necessity arose
and in his usual manner he interceded by letter with a Vicar of Africa, Macedonius by
name, on behalf of a suppliant, Macedonius granted the request and sent him an answer on
this wise: "I am struck with wonder at your wisdom, both in the books you have published
and in this letter which you have not found it too great a burden to send me by way of
intercession for those in distress. For the former writings, my venerable lord and
esteemed father, possess a discernment, wisdom and holiness which leave nothing to be
desired, and the latter such modesty, that unless I do as you request, I could not regard
myself as remaining free from blame in the matter. You do not insist, like most men in
your position, on extorting all that the suppliant asks. But what seemed to you fair to
ask of a judge occupied with many cares, this you advise with a humble modesty which is
most efficacious in settling difficulties among good men. Consequently I have not
hesitated to grant your request as you recommended and as I had given you reason to
expect."

CHAPTER XXI. HIS FRAME OF MIND WHEN ATTENDING COUNCILS

Whenever he was able, Augustine attended the councils of the holy priests which were held
throughout the various provinces, seeking in them not his own but the things of Jesus
Christ, that the faith of the holy Catholic Church might remain inviolate or that some
priests and clergy who had been justly or unjustly excommunicated might be either absolved
or rejected. In the ordination of priests and clergy he thought that the agreement of the
majority of Christians and the custom of the Church should be followed.

CHAPTER XXII. AUGUSTINE'S USE OF FOOD AND CLOTHING

1 His garments and foot-wear and even his bedclothing were modest yet sufficient—neither
too fine nor yet too mean; for in such things men are wont either to display themselves
proudly or else to degrade themselves, in either case seeking not the things which are of
Jesus Christ, but their own. But Augustine, as I have said, held a middle course, turning
neither to the right hand nor to the left. His table was frugal and sparing, though indeed
with the herbs and lentils he also had meats at times for the sake of his guests or for
some of the weaker brethren; but he always had wine because he knew and taught, as the
Apostle says, that "every creature of God is good and nothing is to be rejected if it be
received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified through the Word of God and prayer." And
as Augustine himself has set down in his books of the Confessions, saying: "I fear not the
uncleanness of meat, but the uncleanness of lust. I know that Noah was permitted to eat
every kind of flesh which was useful for food; that Elijah was refreshed by eating flesh;
that John, who was gifted with marvelous abstinence, was not defiled by the creatures,
that is the locusts, which became his food. I know also that Esau was ensnared by his
desire for a pottage of lentils, and that David rebuked himself for his longing after
water, and that our King was tempted not with meat, but with bread. And so likewise the
people in the desert deserved to be condemned not because they desired meat, but because
in their desire for food they murmured against God." As regards the use of wine there is
the injunction of the Apostle who wrote to Timothy, saying: "Be no longer a drinker of
water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities."

2 His spoons only were silver, but the vessels in which food was served were earthen,
wooden or marble; yet this was not from the compulsion of necessity, but from the choice
of his own will. He always showed hospitality. At the table he loved reading and
discussion rather than eating and drinking, and against that pest of human custom he had
this inscription on his table: Who injures the name of an absent friend May not at this
table as guest attend. Thus he warned every guest to refrain from unnecessary and harmful
tales. And when some of his most intimate fellow-bishops forgot that inscription and spoke
without heeding it, Augustine on one occasion became exasperated and so sternly rebuked
them as to declare that either those verses would have to be removed from the table or he
would leave in the midst of the meal and retire to his chamber. Both I and the others who
were at the table experienced this.

CHAPTER XXIII. HIS USE OF THE CHURCH REVENUES

He was ever mindful of his fellow-poor and for them he spent from the same funds from
which he spent for himself and all who lived with him, that is, either from the revenues
from the possessions of the church or from the offerings of the faithful. And when
perchance, as was frequently the case, jealousy arose among the clergy regarding these
possessions, Augustine addressed the people of God, saying that he preferred to live by
the contributions of God's people rather than be burdened with the care and direction of
these possessions and that he was ready to give them back to them so that all the servants
and ministers of God might live after the manner of which we read in the Old Testament
that they were partakers of that altar which they served. But this the laity were never
willing to undertake.

CHAPTER XXIV. HOUSEHOLD AFFAIRS

1 The care of the church building and all its property he assigned and entrusted in turn
to the more capable clergy. He never held the key nor wore his ring, but everything which
was received and spent was noted down by these overseers of the house. At the end of the
year the accounts were read to him that he might know how much had been received and how
much spent, or what still remained to be spent. In many bills he preferred to rely on the
fidelity of the overseer of the house rather than to ascertain it by testing and proving
his accounts. A house or land or an estate he was never willing to buy. But if perchance
anything of the kind was given to the church by someone of his own accord or if it was
left as a legacy, he did not refuse it, but ordered that it be accepted. But some legacies
I know he refused, not because they could not be used for the poor, but because it seemed
just and right that they should rather be in the possession of the children or parents or
relatives of the deceased, even though the decedents had not willed to leave these things
to them. In fact one of the chief men of Hippo who was living at Carthage wished to give
his property to the church at Hippo.

2 Retaining only the interest for himself, he sent the tablets duly attested to Augustine
of holy memory, who gladly accepted his offering and congratulated him because he was
mindful of his eternal salvation. But some years after this, when as it happened we were
visiting in Augustine's house, lo, this benefactor sent a letter by his son and asked that
the records of transfer be returned to his son, directing, however, that a hundred pieces
of gold should be given to the poor. And when the holy man heard it he mourned that the
man had either pretended to make a gift or had repented of his good work. In his grief of
mind at this perversity he said what he could, as God put it in his heart, for the man's
admonition and reproof. He immediately returned the tablets which had been sent
voluntarily and not by request nor on compulsion. The money he spurned, and as in duty
bound, he wrote an answer and censured and reproved the man, warning him to make his peace
with God in humble repentance for his false pretences and wickedness, that he might not
depart from this life under the burden of so great a sin.

3 He also said frequently that the church might with greater security and sa'fety accept
legacies left by the dead rather than gifts from the living which might cause anxiety and
loss, and furthermore that legacies themselves should be offered voluntarily rather than
solicited. He accepted nothing which was offered him in trust, but did not restrain any of
the clergy who wished to accept such gifts. He was not intently concerned nor entangled in
the property which the church held and possessed. Yet though following with inmost desire
after the greater spiritual things, he sometimes relaxed from his contemplation of things
eternal and turned to temporal affairs. But when such things had been arranged and set in
order, then as though freed from consuming and annoying cares, his soul rebounded to the
more intimate and lofty thoughts of the mind in which he either pondered on the discovery
of divine truth or dictated some of the things already discovered or else emended some of
the works which had been previously dictated and then transcribed. This he accomplished by
working all day and toiling at night. He was a type of the Church on high, even as most
glorious Mary, of whom it is written that she sat at the feet of the Lord and listened
intently to His word; but when her sister who was cumbered about much serving, complained
because she received no help, she heard the words: "Martha, Martha, Mary hath chosen that
better part which shall not be taken away from her."

4 For new buildings he never had any desire, avoiding the entanglement of his soul in
these things, since he wished always to have it free from all temporal annoyance.
Nevertheless he did not restrain those who desired or constructed them, provided only they
were not extravagant. Sometimes, when the money of the church failed, he announced to the
Christian people that he had nothing to give to the poor. For the sake of captives and of
the many who were in need he even ordered the holy vessels to be broken and melted down
and to be distributed to the needy. I would not have mentioned this unless I knew that it
was done contrary to the carnal judgment of some. Ambrose, of venerable memory, also said
and wrote that in such extremities it should be done without any hesitancy. Sometimes too
when the treasury and also the consistory, from which were supplied the things necessary
for the altar, had been neglected by the faithful, Augustine would speak of it in the
church and remind the people, even as he once told us the blessed Ambrose had dealt with
the subject in the church when he was there.

CHAPTER XXV. HOUSEHOLD DISCIPLINE

At the same house and table together with him the clergy were regularly fed and clothed at
the common expense. That no one might lightly utter an oath and thus fall into
condemnation, he preached to the people in the church and instructed the members of his
own household that no one should utter an oath—not even at the table. And if anyone erred
in this, he lost one drink, according to the rules: for the number of cups allowed each
one of those who lived and ate with him was fixed beforehand. The faults of omission and
commission of which, in spite of this rule, his brethren were guilty, he duly and properly
censured or countenanced them as far as was fitting and necessary; in such cases
particularly teaching that no one should incline his heart to evil words or to make
excuses in sins. And when anyone offered his gift at the altar and there remembered that
his brother had aught against him, he should leave his offering at the altar and go to be
reconciled to his brother and then come and offer his gift at the altar. But if he had
anything against his brother, he should rebuke him in secret, and if he heard him he had
gained his brother, but if not, he should take with him one or two others. If he held them
also in contempt he should be brought before the Church. If he did not obey her, he should
be to him as a heathen and a publican. This also he added, that if a brother offend and
ask forgiveness, not seven times, but seventy times seven times, the offence should be
forgiven him, even as each one daily asks of the Lord that his own sins be forgiven.

CHAPTER XXVI. ON THE COMPANIONSHIP OF WOMEN

No woman ever lived or stayed in Augustine's house, not even his own sister, though she
was a widow who had long served God and lived in charge of His handmaidens even to the day
of her death. Nor did he admit his brother's daughters who were likewise serving God,
although the councils of holy bishops placed these persons among the exceptions. He used
to say that although no evil suspicion could arise from the fact that his sister and
nieces were living with him, yet since they could not be without servants and other women
who would stay with them, and still others would come in from without to visit them,
because of these a stumbling-block or an occasion to fall might be placed in the way of
the weak. He also said that because of the presence of all those women who would live or
come there, the men who happened to be visiting the bishop or some one of the clergy might
either perish by human temptation or surely be most shamefully maligned by the evil
suspicions of men. On this account, therefore, he said that women ought never to live in
the same house with the servants of God, even the most chaste, that no occasion to fall,
as has been said, nor a stumbling-block might be placed in the way of the weak by such an
example. And if perchance any women requested to see him or to salute him, they never came
in to him without some of the clergy as witnesses, nor did he ever speak with them alone,
not even if the matter was one of secrecy.

CHAPTER XXVII. SERVICE TO THE NEEDY AND SICK

1 In his visitations he adhered to the rule set forth by the Apostle and visited only the
widows and orphans in their afflictions. Yet whenever it happened that he was requested by
the sick to come in person and pray to the Lord for them and lay his hand upon them, he
went without delay. But the monasteries of women he visited only in extreme emergencies.
Furthermore he said that in the life and habits of a man of God that rule ought to be
observed which he had learned from the practice of Ambrose of holy memory, namely, never
to seek a wife for another man, nor to urge anyone who desired to go to war to do so, nor
to accept an invitation to a feast in his own community. He gave as his reasons for each
of these that if the husband and wife should [ever] happen to quarrel with each other,
they might revile him who had brought them together; but clearly, if they themselves had
previously agreed to marry, the priest to whom they came ought to offer his services so
that that which had been agreed upon and was pleasing to them should be confirmed or
blessed; in the second case in order that no one who had been recommended to military
service might blame the one who encouraged him if he suffered any ill through his own
fault; and finally, lest by frequent participation in the customs peculiar to feasts his
vow of temperance should be broken.

2 He also told us that he had heard of the very wise and godly reply of an illustrious man
of blessed memory at the end of his life, and he warmly praised and extolled it. For when
the venerable man lay abed in his last illness and the chief members of the church were
standing around his couch, watching him as he was about to depart from this world to be
with God, they were overcome with grief at the thought that the Church could be deprived
of so great and glorious a prelate and of his dispensation of the Word and Sacrament of
God. And when they begged him with tears that he should ask of the Lord an extension of
his life he said to them: "I have not so lived that I should be ashamed to live among you,
yet I do not fear to die, for we have a Lord who is good." And our Augustine, in his later
days, used to admire and praise these well-weighed words. For he said that we must
understand that Ambrose added this second saying—"I do not fear to die, for we have a Lord
who is good"—so that no one might believe that from overconfidence in the purity of his
own life he had first said, "I have not so lived that I should be ashamed to live among
you." Now this he had said in reference to that which men can judge about a fellow-man;
but as for his judgment by the divine justice, he trusted rather in the Lord who is good
to whom he also said in the daily prayer: "Forgive us our trespasses."

3 Moreover toward the end of his life Augustine very frequently repeated in this same
connection the words of a certain fellow-bishop and very intimate friend. For when he had
gone to visit him several times as he drew near to death and he had indicated by a gesture
of his hand that he was soon to depart from this world, Augustine had said to him that he
might still be of great benefit to the Church if he lived. But that no one should think he
was captivated by a desire for this life he had answered: "If I were never to die it would
be well; but if I am ever to die, why not now?" This sentiment was much admired by
Augustine and he praised him who had given voice to it—a man who feared God, indeed, but
who had been born and brought up in a small town and was not much educated in the art of
reading. Compare on the other hand the attitude of a certain ailing bishop of whom the
holy martyr Cyprian speaks on this wise in his letter which he wrote on Mortality, saying:
"When a certain one of our colleagues and fellow-priests, wearied with infirmity and
troubled at the near approach of death, prayed for an extension of his life, there stood
by him as he prayed and was even now on the point of death, a youth, venerable in glory
and majesty, tall of stature and with radiant countenance. And mortal eyes could scarcely
have endured to look upon him as he stood there, had not he who was soon to depart from
this world already had power to behold such a being. And not without a certain indignation
of soul and voice the youth rebuked him and said: 'You fear to suffer, you do not wish to
die; what shall I do with you?'"

CHAPTER XXVIII. THE BOOKS PUBLISHED BY AUGUSTINE JUST BEFORE HIS DEATH

1 Shortly before the time of his death he revised the books which he had dictated and
edited, whether those which he had dictated in the time immediately following his
conversion when he was still a layman, or while he was a presbyter or a bishop. And in
those works which he had dictated or written while he was as yet not so well acquainted
with ecclesiastical usage and had less understanding, whatsoever he found not agreeing
with the ecclesiastical rule, this he himself censured and corrected. Thus he wrote two
volumes whose title is On the Revision of Books. And he sometimes complained that certain
books had been carried off by some of his brethren before his careful revision, although
he revised them later. Some of his books, however, he left uncompleted at the time of his
death. Furthermore, in his desire to be of help to all, both those who could read many
books and those who could not, he made excerpts from both the sacred Testaments, the Old
and the New, of the divine commandments and prohibitions relating to the conduct of life,
and with the addition of a preface, made one volume of them. He who wishes may read it and
learn therefrom how obedient or disobedient he is to God. This work he desired to have
called The Mirror.

2 But a short time after his it came about, in accordance with the divine will and
command, that a great host of savage foes, Vandals and Alans, with some of the Gothic
tribe interspersed, and various other peoples, armed with all kinds of weapons and well
trained in warfare, came by ship from the regions of Spain across the sea and poured into
Africa and overran it. And everywhere through the regions of Mauretania, even crossing
over to other of our provinces and territories, raging with cruelty and barbarity, they
completely devastated everything they could by their pillage, murder and varied tortures,
conflagrations and other innumerable and unspeakable crimes, sparing neither sex nor age,
nor even the priests or ministers of God, nor yet the ornaments or vessels of the churches
nor even the buildings. Now the man of God did not believe and think as other men did
regarding the causes from which this most fierce assault and devastation of the foe had
arisen and come to pass. But considering these matters more deeply and profoundly and
perceiving in them above all the dangers and the death of souls (since, as it is written,
"He that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow," and "An understanding heart is a worm in
the bones"), more than ever tears were his meat day and night, as he passed through and
endured those days of his life, now almost ended, which beyond all others were the most
bitter and mournful of his old age.

3 For he saw cities overthrown in destruction, and the resident citizens, together with
the buildings on their lands, partly annihilated by the enemy's slaughter and others
driven into flight and dispersed. He saw churches stripped of priests and ministers, and
holy virgins and all the monastics scattered in every direction. Here he saw some succumb
to torture and others slain by the sword, while still others in captivity, losing their
innocency and faith both in soul and body, received from their foes the harsh and evil
treatment of slaves. He saw the hymns and praises of God perish from the churches; the
church buildings in many places consumed by fire; the regular services which were due to
God cease from their appointed places; the holy sacraments no longer desired, or if some
one did desire them, no one could easily be found to administer them. When they gathered
in flight amid the mountain forests, in the caves and caverns of the rocks or in any other
kind of retreat, some were captured and put to death while others were robbed and deprived
of the necessary means of sustenance so that they gradually perished of hunger. Even the
bishops of the churches and the clergy who, by the help of God, did not chance to meet the
foe or, if they did meet them, escaped their hands, he saw despoiled and stripped of all
their goods and begging in abject poverty, nor could they all be furnished with that by
which they might be relieved.

4 Of the innumerable churches he saw only three survive, namely those of Carthage, Hippo
and Cirta, which by God's favor were not demolished. These cities too still stand,
protected by human and divine aid, although after Augustine's death the city of Hippo,
abandoned by its inhabitants, was burned by the enemy. Amid these calamities he was
consoled by the thought of a certain wise man who said: "He is not to be thought great who
thinks it strange that wood and stones should fall and mortals die." 5 But Augustine,
being exceeding wise, daily bewailed all these events. And it increased his grief and
sorrow that this same enemy also came to besiege the city of the Hippo-Regians which had
so far maintained its position. With its defence at this time the late Count Boniface had
been entrusted with an army of allied Goths. For almost fourteen months they shut up and
besieged the city; and they even cut off its sea-coast by blockade. We ourselves with
other of our fellow-bishops from the neighboring regions took refuge in this city and
remained in it during the whole time of the siege. Consequently we very frequently
conversed together and meditated on the awful judgments of God laid bare before our eyes,
saying: "Righteous art thou, O Lord, and upright are thy judgments." And in our common
grief, with groanings and tears, we besought the Father of mercies and the Lord of all
consolation that He vouchsafe to sustain us in this tribulation.

CHAPTER XXIX. AUGUSTINE'S LAST ILLNESS

1 And it chanced at one time while we were seated with him at the table and were
conversing together that he said to us: "I would have you know that in this time of our
misfortune I ask this of God: either that He may be pleased to free this city which is
surrounded by the foe, or if something else seems good in His sight, that He make His
servants brave for enduring His will, or at least that He may take me from this world unto
Himself. And when he had taught us these words, together with him we all joined in a like
petition to God Most High, for ourselves and for all our fellow bishops and for the others
who were in this city. And lo, in the third month of the siege he succumbed to fever and
began to suffer in his last illness. In truth the Lord did not deprive His servant of the
reward of his prayer. For what he asked with tears and prayers for himself and the city he
obtained in due time. I know also that both while he was presbyter and bishop, when asked
to pray for certain demoniacs, he entreated God in prayer with many tears and the demons
departed from the men. In like manner when he was sick and confined to his bed there came
a certain man with a sick relative and asked him to lay his hand upon him that he might be
healed.

2 But Augustine answered that if he had any power in such things he would surely have
applied it to himself first of all; to which the stranger replied that he had had a vision
and that in his dream these words had been addressed to him: "Go to the bishop Augustine
that he may lay his hand upon him, and he shall be whole. Now when Augustine heard this he
did not delay to do it and immediately God caused the sick man to depart from him healed.


THE LIFE OF AUGUSTINE
=====================

THE LIFE OF AUGUSTINE continued

CHAPTER XXX. ADVICE ON THE WITHDRAWAL OF BISHOPS FROM THE CHURCHES AT THE APPROACH OF A FOE

And now I must by no means pass over in silence the fact that when the above-mentioned
enemy was threatening us, Augustine was consulted in letters by Honoratus, a holy man and
our fellow-bishop of the church at Thiabe, as to whether or not the bishops or clergy
should withdraw from the churches at their approach. In his reply he pointed out what was
more to be feared from those destroyers of Romania. It is my desire to have that letter of
his included in this account, for it is very useful, even necessary, for the proper
conduct of the priests and ministers of God. "To our holy brother and fellow-bishop
Honoratus, Augustine sends greeting in the Lord. 1. I thought the copy which was sent to
your Grace of the letter which I wrote our brother and fellow-bishop Quodvultdeus would
relieve me of this task which you have laid upon me by asking my advice as to what you
ought to do amid these perils which have befallen our times. For although I wrote that
letter quickly, I nevertheless believe I omitted nothing that would suffice me to say in
answering and him to know who awaits my reply. For I said that those who desire to
withdraw to places of safety, if they are able, should not be prevented, and that the ties
of our ministry, by which the love of Christ has bound us not to desert the churches which
we ought to serve, should not be broken. Here, then, are the very words which I wrote in
that letter: 'If, therefore,' I said, 'our ministry is so needful to those people of God,
however few, who stay where we are, that they ought not to be left without it, it remains
for us to pray to the Lord: "Be thou unto us a God, a protector and a place of refuge."'

2. But this advice, as you write, is not satisfactory to you, because you fear we may be
striving to act against that command and example of the Lord in which He teaches that we
should flee from city to city. We recall the words which He said: 'But when they persecute
you in this city, flee ye to another.' But who would believe that the Lord wished this to
be done when the circumstances are such that the flocks, which He purchased with His own
blood, should be abandoned by that necessary ministry without which they cannot live? Did
He do this when as an infant He fled into Egypt, carried by His parents, when He had not
yet assembled any congregations which we could say were deserted by Him? When the Apostle
Paul, that he might not be apprehended of his enemy, was let down through a window in a
basket and escaped his hands, was any church there which was deserted when in need of his
ministry? Was not that which was needful supplied by the other brethren dwelling there?
Indeed it was at their request that the Apostle did this, that he might be spared to the
Church, since he alone was sought by the persecutor. Therefore let the servants of Christ,
the ministers of His Word and Sacrament, do as He has taught and permitted.

Let them by all means flee from city to city when some one of them in particular is sought
by the persecutors, provided that the Church shall not be abandoned by the others who are
not so persecuted, but that these may administer the food to their fellow-servants, who
they know would otherwise be unable to live. But when the danger is common to all, that
is, to bishops, clergy and laymen, let those who are in need of others not be abandoned by
those of whom they are in need. Accordingly, either let them all withdraw to places of
safety or else let not those who have a necessity for remaining be left by those through
whom their ecclesiastical needs are supplied, so that they may either live together or
suffer together whatever their Father wishes them to endure. 3. But if it should happen
that some suffer more and others less, or if all suffer equally, it is evident that they
suffer for others who, though they were able to escape such woes by flight, preferred to
remain so as not to desert others in their time of need. In this especially is that love
exemplified which the Apostle John commends, saying: 'As Christ laid down His life for us,
so also ought we to lay down our lives for the brethren.' For if those who flee or those
who are bound by their duties and are unable to flee—if these are taken captive and suffer
anything, they of course suffer for themselves, not for the brethren. But those who suffer
because they are unwilling to forsake their brethren who have need of them for their
Christian welfare, these undoubtedly lay down their lives for their brethren. 4. Therefore
that which we heard a certain bishop say, namely: 'If the Lord has bidden us to flee in
those persecutions where we can obtain the reward of martyrdom, how much more ought we to
avoid these fruitless sufferings when there is a hostile invasion of the barbarians?' is
indeed true and acceptable, but only for those who are not held by the bonds of
ecclesiastical duty. For when he who can escape does not flee from the onslaught of the
enemy and so does not abandon the ministry of Christ, without which men could neither live
a Christian life nor become Christians, he finds a greater reward of love than he who
flees, not for his brethren's sake but for his own, and when taken captive does not deny
Christ but suffers martyrdom.

5. But what, then, is that which you wrote in your previous letter? For you say: 'If we
must remain in the churches, I do not see what will be the advantage to us or to the
people, except that men should be cut down before our very eyes, women outraged, churches
burned, and we ourselves perish under torture when the things we have not are demanded of
us.' God, indeed, is able to hear the prayers of His children and to ward off the things
which they fear; yet even so we ought not, on account of that which is uncertain, to be
guilty of that which is certain, namely, neglect of our ministrations. Without these the
ruin of the people is certain, not in the things of this life, but of that other which
must be cared for with incomparably greater devotion and anxiety. For if these evils were
certain which we fear might come to pass in the places in which we are, all on whose
account we ought to remain would have fled before us, and so we should be freed from the
necessity of remaining. For there is no one who says that ministers ought to remain where
there are no longer any to whom it is necessary to minister. So indeed the holy bishops
fled from Spain after the people had either fallen in flight, or had been slain or
consumed in the siege or scattered in captivity. But many more bishops stayed amid the
multitude of these dangers, because those on whose account they remained were staying
there. And if some deserted their people, this is what we say ought not to be done. For
such were not led by divine authority, but were deceived by human error or constrained by
fear.

6. For why do they think they should without discrimination obey the command which they
read to flee from city to city, and do not tremble at the parable of the hireling who sees
the wolf coming and flees because he cares not for the sheep? Why do they not endeavor so
to understand these two consistent teachings of the Lord—the one, indeed, where flight is
permitted or even commanded, the other where it is denounced and censured—that they be
discovered not to be contrary to each other, as, in fact, they are not? And how shall this
be discovered unless attention be given to that which I have discussed above, namely, that
we ministers of Christ, under the stress of persecution, should flee from the places in
which we are only when there are no Christians there to whom to minister, or when the
necessary duties of the ministry can be performed by others who have not the same reason
for flight—as the Apostle fled, let down in a basket, as I have mentioned above, when he
alone was sought out by the persecutor while the others did not have any such need for
flight, so that the services of the ministry were not withdrawn there nor the churches
abandoned; as the holy Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, fled when the Emperor Constantius
desired to apprehend him alone, while the Catholic people who remained in Alexandria were
by no means deserted by the other ministers. But when the people remain and the ministers
flee and the service of the ministry is withdrawn, what will this be but that damnable
flight of hirelings who care not for the sheep? For the wolf shall come, not a man, but
the Devil, who has very frequently induced the faithful to apostatize who were deprived of
the daily ministry of the Lord's body; and not through thy knowledge, but through thine
ignorance shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died.

7. But as for those who are not deceived by error in this matter, but are overcome by
terror, why should they not rather, with the mercy and aid of the Lord, bravely struggle
against their fright, lest incomparably greater and more fearful evils come upon them?
This will be the case where the love of God is aflame, not where the desire of this world
smoulders. For love says: 'Who is weak and I am not weak? Who is offended and I burn not?'
And love is from God. Let us pray, therefore, that this love be given of Him by whom it is
commanded. And because of it let us fear that the sheep of Christ, who will die at some
time by some kind of death, may be slain in heart by the sword of spiritual wickedness
rather than in the body by one of iron. Let us rather fear that the inner sense may be
corrupted and the purity of faith perish than that women be forcibly defiled in body. For
chastity is not destroyed in the body when the will of the sufferer does not shamefully
take part in the deeds of the flesh, but without consenting endures another's violence.
Rather let us fear that the living stones may be destroyed while we are absent than that
the stones and wood of the earthly buildings may be burned while we are present. Rather
let us fear that the members of Christ's body may be destroyed when deprived of spiritual
nourishment than that the members of our body may be put to torture when overpowered by
the attack of the enemy. Not that these things are not to be avoided when possible, but
rather that they are to be endured when they cannot be avoided without impiety—unless,
perchance, someone will maintain that the minister is not impious who withdraws his
ministry which is needful for piety at the time when it is most needful.

8. Or when these dangers have reached their height and there is no possibility of flight,
do we not realize how great a gathering there usually is in the church of both sexes and
of every age, some clamoring for baptism, others for reconciliation, still others for acts
of penance: all of them seeking consolation and the administration and distribution of the
sacraments? If, then, the ministers are not at hand, how terrible is the destruction which
overtakes those who depart from this world unregenerated or bound by sin! How great is the
grief of their brethren in the faith who shall not have their companionship in the rest in
the life eternal! Finally how great the lamentation of all and how great the blasphemy of
some because of the absence of the ministers and their ministry! See what the fear of
temporal evils does and how great an increase of eternal woes results. But if the
ministers are present they are a help to all, according to the strength which the Lord
gives them: some are baptized, others are reconciled, none are deprived of the communion
of the body of the Lord, all are consoled, edified and exhorted to ask of God, who hath
the power to avert all the things they fear—prepared for either issue, so that if that cup
may not pass from them, His will may be done who can will no evil.

9. Surely you now see that which you wrote you did not see, namely, how great advantage
Christian people may obtain if in these present evils they are not deprived of the
presence of Christ's ministers, and you also see how much injury their absence does when
they seek their own, not the things which are of Jesus Christ, and have not that love of
which it was said: 'She seeketh not her own,' and do not imitate him who said: 'Seeking
not mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.' For he also would
not have fled from the snares of that persecuting prince had he not wished to save himself
for others who had greater need of him. Wherefore he says: 'For I am in a strait betwixt
two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better; nevertheless to abide
in the flesh is more needful for you.'

10. At this point someone perchance may say that the ministers of God ought to flee when
such dangers are threatening so that they may save themselves for the benefit of the
Church in more peaceful times. This is right for some when others are not lacking to
provide the ministrations of the Church, that it may not be deserted by all, as we have
said above that Athanasius did. For the Catholic faith, which was defended against the
Arian heretics by his voice and zeal, perceived how needful it was and how profitable it
would be to have him abide in the flesh. But when the peril is common and it is more to be
feared that someone may be thought to do this not from a desire of serving, but from a
fear of dying, and when more harm may be done by the example of fleeing than good by the
obligation of living, it should under no circumstances be done. Finally the holy David,
that he might not be exposed to the dangers of battle and that the 'light of Israel,' as
it is there written, should not by any chance be extinguished, withdrew when his followers
demanded it, but he did not do this of his own accord or he would have had many imitators
of his cowardice, who would have believed that he did it not from any consideration of the
advantage of others but from the confusion of his own fear.

11. But another question arises which we ought not to slight. For if this usefulness is
not to be disregarded so that some ministers should flee when any danger is imminent in
order to be saved to minister to those survivors whom they might be able to find after the
disaster, what should be done where all seem sure to perish unless some flee? What if the
persecution should in so far be overcome as to pursue only the ministers of the Church?
What shall we say? Shall the Church be forsaken by its ministers in flight that it may not
be forsaken more wretchedly by them in death? But if the laymen are not persecuted to the
death, they can in some way or other hide their bishops and clergy, as He shall aid, in
whose control are all things, who is able by His marvelous power to save even those who do
not flee. But we are inquiring what we ought to do in order that we be not adjudged as
tempting God by looking for divine miracles in all things. Certainly this storm in which
the danger is common to laymen and clergy is not the same as that in which the danger is
common to merchants and sailors in the same ship. God forbid that this ship of ours should
be prized so lightly that the sailors, and especially the pilot, ought to abandon it when
it is in danger, even if they can escape by taking to a small boat or even by swimming.

For in the case of those who we fear may perish because of our desertion, it is not their
temporal death we fear, which is sure to come at some time, but their eternal death which
can come if we are not careful and which cannot come if we are careful. But in the common
perils of this life, why should we believe that wherever there is a hostile invasion all
the clergy, and not all the laymen also, are going to perish so that those for whom the
clergy are necessary shall all end this life together? Or why should we not expect that as
some of the laymen shall survive, so also shall some of the clergy, by whom the necessary
ministry may be provided for them? 12. Yet O that the rivalry between the ministers of God
were as to which of them should remain that the Church be not abandoned by the flight of
all, and which of them should flee that it be not abandoned by the death of all! Such,
indeed, will be the rivalry among them when both are kindled by love and both obey love.
And if this argument cannot be otherwise settled, so far as I can see, those who should
remain and those who should flee must be chosen by lot. For those who shall say that they
ought rather to flee will either seem to be afraid because they are unwilling to endure
the threatening danger, or presumptuous in that they judge themselves more necessary to
the Church to fulfill its services. Furthermore, peradventure those who are the better may
choose to lay down their lives for the brethren and those will be saved by flight whose
life is less useful by reason of their inferior ability in counsel and government.
Nevertheless those who are good and wise will oppose those who they see ought rather to
live and who yet choose to die rather than flee.

Thus, as it is written: 'The lot causeth contentions to cease and parteth between the
mighty.' For in difficulties of this sort God is a better judge than men as to whether it
is well to call the more gifted to the reward of martyrdom and to spare the weak or
whether to make them stronger to endure the hardships and to take them out of this world
whose lives cannot be of as much advantage to the Church as the lives of the others. The
procedure will indeed be rather unusual if the lot has to be adopted; but if it has been
used who shall presume to call it into question? Who, except he be ignorant or envious,
will not praise it with fitting commendation? But if this method is not found satisfactory
on the ground that no instance of such a procedure occurs, let no one by his flight cause
the ministration of the Church, especially needful and due amid such great perils, to
cease. Let no one regard his own person, so that if he seem to excel in some grace, he
should on this account say he is more deserving of life and therefore of flight. For
whoever thinks this doubtless pleases himself; but whoever also says this, displeases all.

13. To be sure there are those who believe that when the bishops and clergy do not flee
amid such dangers but remain, they deceive the people, since the people do not flee
because they see their bishops remaining. But it is easy to avoid this accusation or
reproach by speaking to the people and saying: 'Be not deceived because we do not flee
from this place. For we are remaining here not for our own sakes but rather for yours that
we may not fail to provide you with whatever we know to be needful for your salvation
which is in Christ. If, therefore, you wish to flee you will free us from the bonds by
which we are held.' This I think should be said when it seems truly expedient to withdraw
to places of greater safety. And when such words have been heard and all or some shall
have said: 'We are in His power whose wrath no one escapes, wheresoever he may go, and
whose mercy he can find, wheresoever he may be who does not wish to go elsewhere, whether
prevented by certain obligations or unwilling to seek places of uncertain refuge, thus not
ending but merely transfering the dangers,'—surely they must not be forsaken by the
Christian ministry. But if the people prefer to leave when they have heard this, the
ministers are not bound to stay who were remaining on their account, because there are no
longer any persons there for whose sake they ought still to remain.

14. Accordingly, whoever flees under such circumstances that the necessary ministry of the
Church is not lacking because of his flight, does as the Lord commands or permits. But
whoever so flees that he deprives the flock of Christ of that nourishment from which it
has its spiritual life, is an hireling who sees the wolf coming and flees because he cares
not for the sheep. These things, since I believe them, my brother most beloved, have I
written to you in truth and love unfeigned because you have asked my advice, but I make no
objection to a better opinion if you find one. Nevertheless we can find nothing better to
do in these dangers than to pray to the Lord our God that He have mercy upon us. And some
wise and holy men, with the help of God, have been enabled to will and to do this much,
namely not to desert the churches, and in the face of detraction not to waver in
maintaining their purpose."

CHAPTER XXXI. DEATH AND BURIAL

1 Now the holy man in his long life given of God for the benefit and happiness of the holy
Church (for he lived seventy-six years, almost forty of which he spent as a priest or
bishop), in private conversations frequently told us that even after baptism had been
received exemplary Christians and priests ought not depart from this life without fitting
and appropriate repentance. And this he himself did in his last illness of which he died.
For he commanded that the shortest penitential Psalms of David should be copied for him,
and during the days of his sickness as he lay in bed he would look at these sheets as they
hung upon the wall and read them; and he wept freely and constantly. And that his
attention might not be interrupted by anyone, about ten days before he departed from the
body he asked of us who were present that no one should come in to him, except only at the
hours in which the physicians came to examine him or when nourishment was brought to him.
This, accordingly, was observed and done, and he had all that time free for prayer. Up to
the very moment of his last illness he preached the Word of God in the church incessantly,
vigorously and powerfully, with a clear mind and sound judgment. With all the members of
his body intact, with sight and hearing unimpaired, while we stood by and watched and
prayed, "he slept with his fathers," as it is written, "well-nourished in a good old age.

2 And in our presence, after a service was offered to God for the peaceful repose of his
body, he was buried. He made no will, because as a poor man of God he had nothing from
which to make it. He repeatedly ordered that the library of the church and all the books
should be carefully preserved for future generations. Whatever the church had in the way
of possessions or ornaments he left in charge of his presbyter, who had the care of the
church building under his direction. Neither in life nor death did he treat his relatives
according to the general custom, whether they observed his manner of life or not. But
while he was still living, whenever there was need he gave to them the same as he gave
others, not that they should have riches, but that they might not be in want, or at least
might be less in want. Pie left to the Church a fully sufficient body of clergy and
monasteries of men and women with their continent overseers, together with the library and
books containing treatises of his own and of other holy men. By the help of God, one may
find therein how great he was in the Church and therein the faithful may always find him
living. Wherefore also a secular poet, who directed that a monument be erected to himself
in a public place after his death, composed this as an inscription, saying:

3 Wouldst know that poets live again, O traveller, after death? These words thou readest,
lo, I speak! Thy voice is but my breath. From his writing assuredly it is manifest that
this priest, beloved and acceptable to God, lived uprightly and soberly in the faith, hope
and love of the Catholic Church in so far as he was permitted to see it by the light of
truth, and those who read his works on divine subjects profit thereby. But I believe that
they were able to derive greater good from him who heard and saw him as he spoke in person
in the church, and especially those who knew well his manner of life among men. For not
only was he a "scribe instructed unto the kingdom of heaven, which bringeth forth out of
his treasure things new and old," and one of those merchants who "when he had found the
pearl of great price, sold all that he had and bought it," but he was also one of those of
whom it is written: "So speak ye and so do," and of whom the Saviour said: "Whosoever
shall so do and teach men, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven."

4 Now I earnestly ask your grace who read these words, you who bless the Lord, that with
me you give thanks to God Almighty, who gave me understanding to desire and power to bring
these things to the knowledge of men near and far, of present and of future time; and I
ask that you pray with me and for me, that as by the grace of God I have lived with this
man, who is now dead, on terms of intimate and delightful friendship, with no bitter
disagreement, for almost forty years, I may also continue to emulate and imitate him in
this world and may enjoy with him the promises of God Almighty in the world to come. Amen.
Scanned from H.T.Weiskotten, Sancti Augustini Vita scripta a Possidio Episcopo.


LETTERS OF LEO THE GREAT
========================

LETTERS OF LEO THE GREAT d. AD 461

Bishop of Rome whose Tome shaped the Council of Chalcedon.

LETTER 1

I. Through the Negligence of the Authorities the Pelagian Heresy Has Been Spreading in His
Province.

1 From the account of our holy brother and fellow-bishop Septimus which is contained in
the subjoined letter , we have understood that certain priests and deacons and clergy of
various orders in your province who have been drawn in by the Pelagian or Caelestian
heresy, have attained to catholic communion without any recantation of their peculiar
error being required of them; and that, whilst the shepherds set to watch were fast
asleep, wolves clothed in sheep-skins but without laying aside their bestial minds have
entered into the Lord's sheep-fold: and that they make a practice of what is not allowed
even to non-offenders by the injunctions of our canons and decrees : to wit that they
should leave the churches in which they received or regained their office and carry their
uncertainty in all directions, loving to continue wandering and never to remain on the
foundations of the Apostles. For without being sifted by any test or bound by any previous
confession of faith, they make a great point of their right to the privilege of going to
one house after another under cover of their being in communion with the Church, and
corrupting the hearts of many through men's ignorance of their false name. And yet I am
sure they could not do this, if the rulers of the churches had exercised their rightful
diligence in the matter of receiving such, and had not allowed any of them to wander from
place to place.

II. He Orders a Provincial Synod to Be Convened to Receive the Recantation of the Heretics
in Express Terms.

1 Accordingly, lest this should be attempted any further, and lest this pernicious habit,
which owes its introduction to certain persons' negligence, should result in the overthrow
of many souls, by this our authoritative injunction we charge you, brother, to give
diligence that a synod of the clergy of your province be convened, and all, whether
priests or deacons or clerics of any rank who have been re-admitted from their alliance
with the Pelagians and the Caelestians into catholic communion with such precipitation
that they were not first constrained to recant their error, be now at least forced to a
true correction, which can advantage themselves and hurt no one, since their deceitfulness
has in part been disclosed. Let them by their public confession condemn the authors of
this presumptuous error and renounce all that the universal Church has repudiated in their
doctrine: and let them announce by full and open statements, signed by their own hand,
that they embrace and entirely approve of all the synodal decrees which the authority of
the Apostolic See has ratified to the rooting out of this heresy. Let nothing obscure,
nothing ambiguous be found in their words. For we know that their cunning is such that
they reckon that the meaning of any particular clause of their execrable doctrine can be
defended if they only keep it distinct from the main body of their damnable views .

III. The Pelagian View of God's Grace is Unscriptural.

1 And when they pretend to disapprove of and give up all their definitions to facilitate
evasion through their complete art of deception, unless their meaning is detected, they
make exception of the dogma that the grace of God is given according to the merits of the
recipient. And yet surely, unless it is given freely, it is not a gift , but a price and
compensation for merits: for the blessed Apostle says, "by grace ye have been saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves but it is the gift of God; not of works lest any
should perchance be exalted. For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus in good
works, which God prepared that we should walk in them ." Thus every bestowal of good works
is of God's preparing: because a man is justified by grace rather than by his own
excellence: for grace is to every one the source of righteousness, the source of good and
the fountain of merit. But these heretics say it is anticipated by men's natural goodness
for this reason, that that nature which(in their view) is before grace conspicuous for
good desires of its own, may not seem marred by any stain of original sin, and that what
the Truth says may be falsified: "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which
was lost ."

IV. Prompt Measures are Essential.

1 You must take heed, therefore, beloved, and with great diligence make provision that
offences which have long been removed be not set up again through such men and that no
seed of the same evil spring up in your province from a doctrine which has once been
uprooted: for not only will it take root and grow, but also will taint the future
generations of the Church with its poisonous exhalations. Those who wish to appear
corrected must purge themselves of all suspicion: and by obeying us, prove themselves
ours. And if any of them decline to satisfy our wholesome injunctions, be he cleric or
layman, he must be driven from the society of the Church lest he deal treacherously by
others' safety as well as forfeit his own soul.

V. the Canons Must Be Enforced Against Clerics Who Wonder from One Church to Another.

1 We admonish you also to restore to full working that part of the discipline of the
Church whereby the holy Fathers and we have often in former times decreed that neither in
the grade of the priesthood nor in the order of the diaconate nor in the lower ranks of
the clergy, is any one at liberty to migrate from church to church: to the end that each
one may persevere where he was ordained without being enticed by ambition, or led astray
by greed, or corrupted by men's evil beliefs: and thus that if any one, seeking his own
interests, not those of Jesus Christ , neglect to return to his own people and church, he
may be reckoned out of the pale both in respect of promotion and of the bond of communion.
But do not doubt, beloved, that we must be somewhat sorely moved if, as we think not, our
decrees for the maintenance of the canons and the integrity of the faith be neglected:
because the short-comings of the lower orders are to be laid at the door of none so much
as of those slothful and remiss rulers who often foster much pestilence by shrinking from
the application of a stringent remedy.

LETTER 2: TO SEPTIMUS, BISHOP OF ALTINUM

(Caution must be observed in receiving Pelagians back, and clergy must stay in the church
of their ordination.)

LETTER 3: FROM PASCHASINUS, BISHOP OF LILYBAEUM

(About the keeping of Easter in 444; recommending the Alexandrine calculation.)

LETTER 4

1 Leo, bishop of the city of Rome, to all the bishops appointed in Campania, Picenum,
Etruria, and all the provinces, greeting in the Lord.

I. Introduction.

1 As the peaceful settlement of the churches causes us satisfaction, so are we saddened
with no slight sorrow whenever we learn that anything has been taken for granted or done
contrary to the ordinances of the canons and the discipline of the Church: and if we do
not repress such things with the vigilance we ought, we cannot excuse ourselves to Him who
intended us to be watchmen , for permitting the pure body of the Church, which we ought to
keep clean from every stain, to be defiled by contact with wicked schemers, since the
framework of the members loses its harmony by such dissimulation.

II. Slaves and Serfs (Coloni) are Not to Be Ordained.

1 Men are admitted commonly to the Sacred Order who are not qualified by any dignity of
birth or character: even some who have failed to obtain their liberty from their masters
are raised to the rank of the priesthood , as if sorry slaves were fit for that honour;
and it is believed that a man can be approved of God who has not yet been able to approve
himself to his master. And so the cause for complaint is twofold in this matter, because
both the sacred ministry is polluted by such poor partners in it, and the rights of
masters are infringed so far as unlawful possession is rashly taken of them . From these
men, therefore, beloved brethren, let all the priests of your province keep aloof; and not
only from them, but from others also, we wish you to keep, who are under the bond of
origin or other condition of service : unless perchance the request or consent be
intimated of those who claim some authority over them. For he who is to be enrolled on the
divine service ought to be exempt from others, that he be not drawn away from the Lord's
camp in which his name is entered, by any other bonds of duty.

III. A Man Who Has Married Twice or a Widow is Not Eligible as a Priest.

1 Again, when each man's respectability of birth and conduct has been established, what
sort of person should be associated with the ministry of the Sacred Altar we have learnt
both from the teaching of the Apostle and the Divine precepts and the regulations of the
canons, from which we find very many of the brethren have turned aside and quite gone out
of the way. For it is well known that the husbands of widows have attained to the
priesthood: certain, too, who have had several wives, and have led a life given up to all
licentiousness, have had all facilities put in their way, and been admitted to the Sacred
Order, contrary to that utterance of the blessed Apostle, in which he proclaims and says
to such, "the husband of one wife ," and contrary to that precept of the ancient law which
says by way of caution: "Let the priest take a virgin to wife, not a widow, not a divorced
woman . All such persons, therefore, who have been admitted we order to be put out of
their offices in the church and from the title of priest by the authority of the Apostolic
See: for they will have no claim to that for which they were not eligible, on account of
the obstacle in question: and we specially claim for ourselves the duty of settling this,
that if any of these irregularities have been committed, they may be corrected and may not
be allowed to occur again, and that no excuse may arise from ignorance:

2 although it has never been allowed a priest to be ignorant of what has been laid down by
the rules of the canons. These writings, therefore, we have addressed to your provinces by
the hand of Innocent, Legitimus and Segetius, our brothers and fellow-bishops: that the
evil shoots which are known to have sprung up may be torn out by the roots, and no tares
may spoil the Lord's harvest. For thus all that is genuine will bear much fruit, if that
which has been wont to kill the growing crop be carefully cleared away.

IV. Usurious Practices Forbidden for Clergy and for Laity .

1 This point, too, we have thought must not be passed over, that certain possessed with
the love of base gain lay out their money at in terest, and wish to enrich themselves
asusurers. For we are grieved that this is practised not only by those who belong to the
clergy, but also by laymen who desire to be called Christians. And we decree that those
who have been convicted be punished sharply, that all occasion of sinning be removed.

V. A Cleric May Not Make Money in Another's Name Any More Than in His Own.

1 The following warning, also, we have thought fit to give, that no cleric should attempt
to make money in another's name any more than in his own: for it is unbecoming to shield
one's crime under another man's gains . Nay, we ought to look at and aim at only that
usury whereby what we bestow in mercy here we may recover from the Lord, who will restore
a thousand fold what will last for ever.

VI. Any Bishop Who Refuses Consent to These Rules Must Be Deposed.

1 This admonition of ours, therefore, proclaims that if any of our brethren endeavour to
contravene these rules and dare to do what is forbidden by them, he may know that he is
liable to deposition from his office, and that he will not be a sharer in our communion
who refuses to be a sharer of our discipline. But lest there be anything which may
possibly be thought to be omitted by us, we bid you, beloved, to keep all the decretal
rules of Innocent of blessed memory , and also of all our predecessors, which have been
promulgated about the orders of the Church and the discipline of the canons, and to keep
them in such wise that if any have transgressed them he may know at once that all
indulgence is denied him. Dated 10th of October, in the consulship of the illustrious
Maximus(a second time) and Paterius(a.d. 443).

LETTER 5: TO THE METROPOLITAN BISHOPS OF ILLYRICUM

(Appointing Anastasius of Thessalonica his Vicar in the province, and expressing his
wishes about its government, for which see Letter VI.)

LETTER 6

1 Leo to his beloved brother Anastasius.

I. He is Pleased to Have Been Consulted by the Bishops Illyricum an Important Questions.

1 The brotherly love of our colleagues makes us read with grateful mind the letters of all
priests ; for in them we embrace one another in the spirit as if we were face to face, and
by the intercourse of such epistles we are associated in mutual converse . But in this
present letter the affection displayed seems to us greater than usual: for it informs us
of the state of the churches , and urges us to a vigilant exercise of care by a
consideration of our office, so that being placed, as it were, on a watch-tower, according
to the will of the Lord, we should both lend our approval to things when they run in
accordance with our wishes, and correct, by applying the remedies of compulsion, what we
observe gone wrong through any aggression: hoping that abundant fruit will be the result
of our sowing the seed, if we do not allow those things to increase which have begun to
spring up to the spoiling of the harvest.

II. Following the Examples of His Predecessors He Nominates Anastasius Metropolitan of
Illyricum.

1 Now therefore, dear brother, that your request has been made known to us through our son
Nicolaus the priest, that you, too, like your predecessors, might receive from us in our
turn authority over Illyricum for the observance of the rules, we give our consent and
earnestly exhort that no concealment and no negligence may be allowed in the management of
the churches situated throughout Illyricum, which we commit to you in our stead, following
the precedent of Siricius of blessed remembrance, who then, for the first time, acting on
a fixed method, entrusted them to your last predecessor but one , Anysius of holy memory,
who had at the time well deserved of the Apostolic See, and was approved by after events:
that he might render assistance to the churches situated in that province whom he wished
kept up to discipline. Noble precedents must be followed with eagerness that we may show
ourselves in all things like those whose privileges we wish to enjoy. We wish you to
imitate your last predecessor but one as well as of your immediate predecessor who is
known equally with the former to have both deserved and employed this privilege: so that
we may rejoice in the progress of the churches which we commit to you in our stead. For as
the conduct of matters progresses creditably when committed to one who acts well and
carries out skilfully the duties of the priestly position, so it is found to be only a
burden to him who, when power is entrusted to him, uses not the moderation that is due.

III. Ordinees Must Be Carefully Selected with Especial Reference to Thecanons of the
Church.

1 And so, dear brother, hold with vigilance the helm entrusted to you, and direct your
mind's gaze around on all which you see put in your charge, guarding what will conduce to
your reward and resisting those who strive to upset the discipline of the canons. The
sanction of God's law must be respected, and the decrees of the canons should be more
especially kept. Throughout the provinces committed to thee let such priests be
consecrated to the Lord as are commended only by their deserving life and position among
the clergy. Permit no licence to personal favour, nor to canvassing, nor to purchased
votes. Let the cases of those who are to be ordained be investigated carefully and let
them be trained in the discipline of the Church through a considerable period of their
life. But if all the requirements of the holy Fathers are found in them, and if they have
observed all that we read the blessed Apostle Paul to have enjoined on such, viz., that he
be the husband of one wife, and that she was a virgin when he married her, as the
authority of God's law requires,[then ordain them ]. And this we are extremely anxious
should be observed, so as to do away with all place for excuses, lest any one should
believe himself able to attain to the priesthood who has taken a wife before he obtained
the grace of Christ, and on her decease joinedhimself to another after baptism. Seeing
that the former wife cannot be ignored, nor the previous marriage put out of the
reckoning, and that he is as much the father of the children whom he begot by that wife
before baptism as he is of those whom he is known to have begotten by the second after
baptism. For as sins and things which are known to be unlawful are washed away in the font
of baptism, so what are allowedor lawful are not done away.

IV. The Metropolitans Must Not Ordain Hastily Nor Without Consultingtheir Primate.

1 Let one be ordained a priest throughout these churches inconsiderately; for by this
means ripe judgments will be formed about those to be elected, if your scrutiny, brother,
is dreaded. But let any bishop who, contrary to our command, is ordained by his
metropolitan without your knowledge, know that he has no assured position with us, and
that those who have taken on themselves so to do must render an account of their
presumption . But as to each metropolitan is committed such power that he has the right of
ordaining in his province, so we wish those metropolitans to be ordained, but not without
ripe and well-considered judgment. For although it is seemly that all who are consecrated
priests should be approved and well-pleasing to God, yet we wish those to have peculiar
excellence whom we know are going to preside over the fellow-priests who are assigned to
them. And we admonish you, beloved, to see to this the more diligently and carefully, that
you may be proved to keep that precept of the Apostles which runs, "lay hands suddenly on
no man ."

V. Points Which Cannot Be Settled at the Provincial Synod are to Be Referred to Rome.

1 Any of the brethren who has been summoned to a synod should attend and not deny himself
to the holy congregation: for there especially he should know that what will conduce to
the good discipline of the Church must be settled. For all faults will be better avoided
if more frequent conferences take place between the priests of the Lord, and intimate
association is the greatest help alike to improvement and to brotherly love. There, if any
questions arise, under the Lord's guidance they will be able to be determined, so that no
bad feeling remains, and only a firmer love exists among the brethren. But if any more
important question spring up, such as cannot be settled there under your presidency,
brother, send your report and consult us, so that we may write back under the revelation
of the Lord, of whose mercy it is that we can do ought, because He has breathed favourably
upon us : that by our decision we may vindicate our right of cognizance in accordance with
old-established tradition and the respect that is due to the Apostolic See: for as we wish
you to exercise your authority in our stead, so we reserve to ourselves points which
cannot be decided on the spot and persons who have made appeal to us.

VI. Priests and Deacons May Not Be Ordained on Weekdays Any More Than Bishops.

1 You shall take order that this letter reach the knowledge of all the brethren, so that
no one hereafter find an opportunity to excuse himself through ignorance in observing
these things which we command. We have directed our letter of admonition to the
metropolitans themselves also of the several provinces, that they may know that they must
obey the Apostolic injunctions, and that they obey us in beginning to obey you, brother,
our delegate according to what we have written. We hear, indeed, and we cannot pass it
over in silence, that only bishops are ordained by certain brethren on Sundays only; but
presbyters and deacons, whose consecration should be equally solemn , receive the dignity
of the priestly office indiscriminately on any day, which is a reprehensible practice
contrary to the canons and tradition of the Fathers , since the custom ought by all means
to be kept by those who have received it with respect to all the sacred orders: so that
after a proper lapse of time he who is to be ordained a priest or deacon may be advanced
through all the ranks of the clerical office, and thus a man may have time to learn that
of which he himself also is one day to be a teacher. Dated the 12th of January, in the
consulship of Theodosius(18th time) and Albinus(444).

LETTER 7: TO THE BISHOPS THROUGHOUT ITALY

1 Leo to all the bishops set over the provinces of Italy greeting.

I. Many Manichaeans Have Been Discovered in Rome.

2 We call you to a share in our anxiety, that with the diligence of shepherds you may take
more careful heed to your flocks entrusted to you that no craft of the devil's be
permitted: lest that p ague, which by the revealing mercy of the Lord is driven off from
our flocks through our care, should spread among your churches before you are forewarned,
and are still ignorant of what is happening, and should find means of stealthily burrowing
into your midst, and thus what we are checking in the City should take hidden root among
you and grow up. Our search has discovered in the City a great many followers and teachers
of the Manichaean impiety, our watchfulness has proclaimed them, and our authority and
censure has checked them: those whom we could reform we have corrected and driven to
condemn Manichaeus with his preachings and teachings by public confession in church, and
by the subscription of their own hand, and thus we have lifted those who have acknowledged
their fault from the pit of their iniquity by granting them room for repentance . A good
many, however, who had so deeply involved themselves that no remedy could assist them,
have been subjected to the laws in accordance with the constitutions of our Christian
princes, and lest they should pollute the holy flock by their contagion; have been
banished into perpetual exile by public judges.

3 And all the profaneand disgraceful things which are found as well in their writings as
in their secret traditions, we have disclosed and clearly proved to the eyes of the
Christian laity that the people might know what to shrink from or avoid: so that he that
was called their bishop was himself tried by us, and betrayed the criminal views which he
held in his mystic religion, as the record of our proceedings can show you. For this, too,
we have sent you for instruction: and after reading them you will be in a position to
understand all the discoveries we have made.

II. The Bishops of Italy Rarest Not Allow Those Manichaeans Who Have Quitted the City to
Escape or Lie Concealed.

4 And because we know that a good many of those who are involved here in too close an
accusation for them to clear themselves have escaped, we have sent this letter to you,
beloved, by our acolyth: that your holiness, dear brothers, may be informed of this, and
see fit to act with diligence and caution, lest the men of the Manichaean error be able to
find opportunity of hurting your people and of teaching their impious doctrines. For we
cannot otherwise rule those entrusted to us unless we pursue with the zeal of faith in the
Lord those who are destroyers and destroyed: and with what severity we can bring to bear,
cut them off from intercourse with sound minds, lest this pestilence spread much wider.
Wherefore I exhort you, beloved, I beseech and warn you to use such watchful diligence as
you ought and can employ in tracking them out, lest they find opportunity of concealment
anywhere. For as he will have a due recompense of reward from God, who carries out what
conduces to the health of the people committed to him; so before the Lord's judgment-seat
no one will be able to excuse himself from a charge of carelessness who has not been
willing to guard his people against the propagators of an impious misbelief. Dated 30
January, in the consulship of the illustrious Theodosius Augustus (18th time) and Albinus
(444).

LETTER 8: THE ORDINANCE OF VALENTINIAN 3 CONCERNING THE MANICHAEANS

(The Manichaeans are to be turned out of the army and the City, and to lose all their
rights as citizens.)

LETTER 9

1 Leo, the bishop, to Dioscorus, bishop of Alexandria, greeting.

I. The Churches of Rome and Alexandria Should Be at One in Everything.

1 How much of the divine love we feel for you, beloved, you will be able to estimate from
this, that we are anxious to establish your beginnings on a surer basis, lest anything
should seem lacking to the perfection of your love, since your meritorious acts of
spiritual grace, as we have proved, are already in your favour. Fatherly and brotherly
conference, therefore, ought to be most grateful to you, holy brother, and received by you
in thesame spirit as you know it is offered by us. For you and we ought to be at one in
thought and act, so that as we read , in us also there may be proved to be one heart and
one mind. For since the most blessed Peter received the headship of the Apostles from the
Lord, and the church of Rome still abides by His institutions, it is wicked to believe
that His holy disciple Mark, who was the first to govern the church of Alexandria , formed
his decrees on a different line of tradition: seeing that without doubt both disciple and
master drew but one Spirit from the same fount of grace, and the ordained could not hand
on aught else than what he had received from his ordainer. We do not therefore allow it
that we should differ in anything, since we confess ourselves to be of one body and faith,
nor that the institutions of the teacher should seem different to those of the taught.

II. Fixed Days Should Be Observed for Ordaining Priests and Deacons.

1 That therefore which we know to have been very carefully observed by our fathers, we
wish kept by you also, viz. that the ordination of priests or deacons should not be
performed at random on any day: but after Saturday, the commencement of that night which
precedes the dawn of the first day of the week should be chosen on which the sacred
benediction should be bestowed on those who are to be consecrated, ordainer and ordained
alike fasting. This observance will not be violated, if actually on the morningof the
Lord's day it be celebrated without breaking the Saturday fast: for the beginning of the
preceding night forms part of that period, and undoubtedly belongs to the day of
resurrection as is clearly laid down with regard to the feast of Easter . For besides the
weight of custom which we know rests upon the Apostles' teaching, Holy Writ also makes
this clear, because when the Apostles sent Paul and Barnabas at the bidding of the Holy
Ghost to preach the gospel to the nations, they laid hands on them fasting and praying:
that we may know with what devoutness both giver and receiver must be on their guard lest
so blessed a sacrament should seem to be carelessly performed. And therefore you will
piously and laudably follow Apostolic precedents if you yourself also maintain this form
of ordaining priests throughout the churches over which the Lord has called you to
preside: viz.

2 that those who are to be consecrated should never receive the blessing except on the day
of the Lord's resurrection, which iscommonly held to begin on the evening of Saturday, and
which has been so often hallower in the mysterious dispensations of God that all the more
notable institutions of the Lord were accomplished on that high day. On it the world took
its beginning. On it through the resurrection of Christ death received its destruction,
and life its commencement. On it the apostles take from the Lord's hands the trumpet of
the gospel which is to be preached to all nations, and receive the sacrament of
regeneration which they are to bear to the whole world. On it, as blessed John the
Evangelist bears witness when all the disciples were gathered together in one place, and
when, the doors being shut, the Lord entered to them, He breathed on them and said:
"Receive the Holy Ghost: whose sins ye have remitted they are remitted to them: and whose
ye have retained, they shall be retained . On it lastly the Holy Spirit that had been
promised to the Apostles by the Lord came: and so we know it to have been suggested and
handed down by a kind of heavenly rule, that on that day we ought to celebrate the
mysteries of the blessing of priests on which all these gracious gifts were conferred.

III. The Repetition of the Holy Eucharist on the Great Festivals is Not Undesirable.

1 Again, that our usage may coincide at all points, we wish this thing also to be
observed, viz. that when any of the greater festivals has brought together a larger
congregation than usual, and too great a crowd of the faithful has assembled for one
church to hold them all at once, there should be no hesitation about repeating the
oblation of the sacrifice: lest, if those only are admitted to this service who come
first, those who flock in afterwards, should seem to be rejected: for it is fully in
accordance with piety and reason, that as often as a fresh congregation has filled the
church where service is going on, the sacrifice should be offered as a matter of course.
Whereas a certain portion of the people must be deprived of their worship, if the custom
of only one celebration be kept, and only those who come early in the day can offer the
sacrifice . We admonish you, therefore, beloved, earnestly and affectionately that your
carefulness also should not neglect what has become a part of our own usage on the pattern
of our fathers' tradition, so that in all things we may agree together in our beliefs and
in our performances. Consequently, we have given this letter to our son Possidonius, a
presbyter, on his return, that he may bear it to you, brother; he has so often taken part
in our ceremonials and ordinations, and has been sent to us so many times that he knows
quite well what Apostolic authority we possess in all things.Dated 21June (? 445).

LETTER 10

1 To the beloved brothers, the whole body of bishops of the province of Vienne, Leo,
bishop of Rome.

I. The Solidarity of the Church Built Upon the Rack of S. Peter Must Be Everywhere
Maintained.

1 Our Lord Jesus Christ, Saviour of mankind, instituted the observance of the Divine
religion which He wished by the grace of God to shed its brightness upon all nations and
all peoples in such a way that the Truth, which before was confined to the announcements
of the Law and the Prophets, might through the Apostles' trumpet blast go out for the
salvation of all men , as it is written: "Their sound has gone out into every land,and
their words into the ends of the world . But this mysterious function the Lord wished to
be indeed the concern of all the apostles, but in such a way that He has placed the
principal charge on the blessed Peter, chief of all the Apostles : and from him as from
the Head wishes His gifts to flow to all the body: so that any one who dares to secede
from Peter's solid rock may understand that he has no part or lot in the divine mystery.
For He wished him who had been received into partnership in His undivided unity to be
named what He Himself was, when He said: "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build
My Church : that the building of the eternal temple by the wondrous gift of God's grace
might rest on Peter's solid rock: strengthening His Church so surely that neither could
human rashness assail it nor the gates of hell prevail against it.

2 But this most holy firmness of the rock, reared, as we have said, by the building hand
of God, a man must wish to destroy in over-weaning wickedness when he tries to break down
its power, by favouring his own desires, and not following what he received from men of
old: for he believes himself subject to no law, and held in check by no rules of God's
ordinances and breaks away, in his eagerness for novelty, from your use and ours, by
adopting illegal practices, and letting what he ought to keep fall into abeyance.

II. Hilary is Disturbing the Peace of the Church by His Insubordination.

1 But with the approval, as we believe, of God, and retaining towards you the fulness of
our love which the Apostolic See always, as you remember, expends upon you, holy brethren
we are striving to correct these things by mature counsel, and to share with you the task
of setting your churches in order, not by innovations but by restoration of the old; that
we may persevere in the accustomed state which our fathers handed down to us, and please
our God through the ministry of a good work by removing the scandals of disturbances. And
so we would have you recollect, brethren, as we do, that the Apostolic See, such is the
reverence in which it is held, has times out of number been referred to and consulted by
the priests of your province as well as others, and in the various matters of appeal, as
the old usage demanded, it has reversed or confirmed decisions: and in this way "the unity
of the spirit in the bond of peace " has been kept, and by the interchange of letters, our
honourable proceedings have promoted a lasting affection: for "seeking not our own but the
things of Christ ," we have been careful not to do despite to the dignity which God has
given both to the churches and their priests. But this path which with our fathers has
been always so well kept to and wisely maintained, Hilary has quilted, and is likely to
disturb the position and agreement of the priests by his novel arrogance:

2 desiring to subject you to his power in such a way as not to suffer himself to be
subject to the blessed Apostle Peter, claiming for himself the ordinations of all the
churches throughout the provinces of Gaul, and transferring to himself the dignity which
is due to metropolitan priests; he diminishes even the reverence that is paid to the
blessed Peter himself with his proud words: for not only was the power of loosing and
binding given to Peter before the others, but also to Peter more especially was entrusted
the care of feeding the sheep . Yet any one who holds that the headship must be denied to
Peter, cannot really diminish his dignity: but is puffed up with the breath of his pride,
and plunges himself into the lowest depth.

III. Celidonius Has Been Restored to His Bishopric, the Charges Against Him Having Been
Found False.

1 Accordingly the written record of our proceedings shows what action we have taken in the
matter of Celidonius , the bishop, andwhat Hilary said in the presence and hearing of the
aforesaid bishop. For when Hilary had no reasonable answer to give in the council of the
holy priests, "the secrets of his heart " gave vent to utterances such as no layman could
make and no priest listen to. We were grieved, I acknowledge, brothers, and endeavoured to
appease the tumult of his mind by patient treatment. For we did not wish to exasperate
those wounds which he was inflicting on his soul by his insolent retorts, and strove
rather to pacify him whom we had taken up as a brother, although it was he who was
entangling himself by his replies, than to cause him pain by our remarks. Celidonius, the
bishop, was therefore acquitted, for he had proved himself wrongfully deposed from the
priesthood, by the clear replies of his witnesses made in his own presence: so that
Hilary, who remained with us, had no opposition to offer. The judgment, therefore, was
rescinded, which was brought forward and read to the effect that, as the husband of a
widow , he could not hold the priesthood. Now this rule we, maintaining the legal
constitutions , have wished scrupulously adhered to, not only in respect of priests but
also of clergy of the lower ranks:

2 that those who have contracted such a marriage, or those who are proved not to be the
husbands of only one wife contrary to the apostle's discipline, should not be suffered to
enter the sacred service . But though we decree that those, whom their own acts condemn,
must either not be admitted at all, or, if they have, must be removed, so those who are
falsely so accused we are bound to clear after examination held, and not allow to lose
their office. For the sentence pronounced would have remained against him, if the truth of
the charge had been proved. And so Celidonius, our fellow-bishop, was restored to his
church and to that dignity which he ought not to have lost, as the course of our
proceedings, and the sentence which was pronounced by us after holding the inquiry
testifies.

IV. Hilary's Treatment of Projectus Does Not Redound to His Credit.

1 When this business was so concluded, the complaint of our brother and fellow-bishop,
Projectus , next came before us: who addressed us in a tearful and piteous letter, about
the ordaining of a bishop over his head. A letter was also brought to us from his own
fellow-citizens, corroborated by a great many individual signatures, and full of the most
unpleasant complaints against Hilary: to the effect that Projectus, their bishop, was not
allowed to be ill, but his priesthood had been transferred to another without their
knowledge, and the heir brought into possession by Hilary, the intruder as if to fill up a
vacancy, though the possessor was still alive . We should like to hear what you, brothers,
think on the point: although we ought not to entertain any doubt about your feelings, when
you picture to yourselves a brother lying on a sick-bed and tortured, not so much by his
bodily weakness as by pains of another kind. What hope in life is left a man who is
visited with despair about his priesthood whilst another is set up in his place? Hilary
gives a clear proof of his gentle heart when he believed that the tardiness of a brother's
death is but a hindrance to his own ambitious designs. For, as far as in him lay, he
quenched the light for him; he robbed him of life by setting up another in his room, and
thus causing him such pain as to hinder his recovery.

2 And supposing that his brother's passage from this world was brief, but after the common
course of men, what does Hilary seek for himself in another's province, and why does he
claim that which none of his predecessors before Patroclus possessed? whereas that very
position which seemed to have been temporarily granted to Patroclus by the Apostolic See
was afterwards withdrawn by a wiser decision . At least the wishes of the citizens should
have been waited for, and the testimony of the people : the opinion of those held in
honour should have been asked, and the choice of the clergy-things which those who know
the rules of the fathers are wont to observe in the ordination of priests: that the rule
of the Apostle's authority might in all things be kept, which enjoins that one who is to
be the priest of a church should be fortified, not only by theattestation of the faithful
but also by the testimony of "those who are without ," and that no occasion for offence be
left, when, in peace and in God-pleasing harmony with the full approval of all, one who
will be a teacher of peace is ordained.

V. Hilary's Action Was Very Reprehensible Throughout, and We Have Restored Projectus.

1 But Hilary came upon them unawares and departed no less suddenly, accomplishing many
journeys with great speed, as we have ascertained, and traversing distant provinces with
such haste that he seems to have coveted a reputation for the swiftness of a courier
rather than for the sobriety of a priest . For these are the words of the citizens in the
letter that has been addressed to us:-"He departed before we knew he had come." This is
not to return but to flee, not to exercise a shepherd's wholesome care, but to employ the
violence of a thief and a robber, as saith the Lord: "he that entereth not by the door
into the sheep-fold , but climbeth up some other way, is a thief and a robber." Hilary,
therefore, was anxious not so much to consecrate a bishop as to kill him who was sick, and
to mislead the man whom he set over his head by wrongful ordination. We, however, have
done what, as God is our Judge, we believe you will approve: after holding counsel with
all the brethren we have decreed that the wrongfully ordained man should be deposed and
the Bishop Projectus abide in his priesthood: with the further provision that when any of
our brethren in whatsoever province shall decease, he who has been agreed upon to be
metropolitan of that province shall claim for himself the ordination of his successor.

2 These two matters, as we see, have been settled, though there are many other points in
them which seem to have violated the principles of the Church, and ought to be visited
with just censure and judgment. But we cannot linger on them any further, for we are
called off to other matters on which we must carefully confer with you, holy brethren.

VI. Hilary's Practice of Using Armed Violence Must Be Suppressed.

1 A band of soldiers, as we have learnt follows the priest through the provinces and helps
him who relies upon their armed support in turbulently invading churches, which have lost
their own priests. Before this court are dragged for ordination men who are quite unknown
to the cities over which they are to be set. For as one who is well known and approved is
sought out in peace, so must one who is unknown, when brought forward, beestablished by
violence. I beg and entreat and beseech you in God's name prevent such things, brethren,
and remove all occasion for discord from your provinces. At all events we acquit ourselves
before God in beseeching you not to allow this to proceed further. In peace and quietness
should they be asked for who are to be priests. The consent of the clergy, the testimony
of those held in honour the approval of the orders and the laity should be required . He
who is to govern all, should be chosen by all . As we said before, each metropolitan
should keep in his own hands the ordinations that occur in his own province, acting in
concert with those who precede the rest in seniority of priesthood, a privilege restored
to him through us. No man should claim for himself another's rights. Each should keep
within his own limits and boundaries, and should understand that he cannot pass on to
another a privilege that belongs to himself.

2 But if any one neglecting the Apostle's prohibitions and paying too much heed to
personal favour, wishes to give up his precedence, thinking he can pass his rights on to
another, not he to whom he has yielded, but he who ranks before the rest of the priests
within the province in episcopal seniority, should claim to himself the power of
ordaining. The ordination should be performed not at random but on the proper day: and it
should be known that any one who has not been ordained on the evening of Saturday, which
precedes the dawn of the first day of the week , or actually on the Lord's day cannot be
sure of his status. For our forefathers judged the day of the Lord's resurrection as
aloneworthy of the honour of being the occasion on which those who are to be made priests
are given to God.

VII. Hilary is Deposed Not Only from His Usurped Jurisdiction, But Also from What of Right
Belongs to Him, and is Restricted to His Own Single Bishopric.

1 Let each province be content with its own councils. and let not Hilary dare to summon
synodal meetings besides, and by his interference disturb the judgments of the Lord's
priests. And let him know that he is not only deposed from another's rights, but also
deprived of his power over the province of Vienne which he had wrongfully assumed. For it
is but fair, brethren, that the ordinances of antiquity should be restored, seeing that he
who claimed for himself the ordinations of a province for which he was not responsible,
has been shown in a similar way in the present case also to have acted so that, as he has
on more than one occasion brought on himself sentence of condemnation by hisrash and
insolent words, he may now be kept by our command in accordance with the clemency of the
Apostolic See to the priesthood of his own city alone. He is not to be present then at any
ordination: he is not to ordain because, conscious of his deserts, when he was required to
answer for his action, be trusted to make good his escape by disgraceful flight, and has
put himself out of Apostolic communion, of which he did not deserve to be a partaker : and
we believe this was by God's providence, who brought him to our court, though we did not
expect him, and caused him to retire by stealth in the midst of holding the inquiry, that
he should not be a partner in our communion .

VIII. Excommunication Should Be Inflicted Only on Those Who are Guilty of Some Great
Crime, and Even Then Not Hastily.

1 No Christian should lightly be denied communion , nor should that be done at the will of
an angry priest which the judge's mind ought to a certain extent unwillingly and
regretfully to carry out for the punishment of a great crime. For we have ascertained that
some have been cut off from the grace of communion for trivial deeds and words, and that
the soul for which Christ's blood was shed has been exposed to the devil's attacks and
wounded, disarmed, so to say, and stript of all defence by the infliction of so savage a
punishment as to fall an easy prey to him. Of course if ever a case has arisen of such a
kind as in due proportion to the nature of the crime committed to deprive a man of
communion, he only who is involved in the accusation must be subjected to punishment: and
he who is not shown to be a partner in its commission ought not to share in the penalty.
But what wonder that one who is wont to exult over the condemnation of priests, should
show himself in the same light towards laymen.

IX. Leontius is Appointed in Hilary's Room.

1 Wherefore, because our desire seems very different to this (for we are anxious that the
settled state of all the Churches and the harmony of the priests should be maintained,)
exhorting you to unity in the bond of love, we both entreat, and consistently with our
affection admonish you, in the interests of your peace and dignity, to keep what has been
decreed by us at the inspiration of God and the most blessed Apostle Peter, after sifting
and testing all the matters at issue, being assured that what we are known to have decided
in this way is not so much to our own advantage as to yours. For we are not keeping in our
own hands the ordinations of your provinces, as perhaps Hilary, with his usual
untruthfulness, may suggest in order to mislead your minds, holy brethren: but in our
anxiety we are claiming for you that no further innovations should be allowed, and that
for the future no opportunity should be given for the usurper to infringe your privileges.
For we acknowledge that it can only redound to our credit, if the diligence of the
Apostolic See be kept unimpaired among you, and if in our maintenance of Apostolic
discipline we do not allow what belongs to your position to fall to the ground through
unscrupulous aggressions.

2 And since seniority is always to be respected, we wish Leontius , our brother and
fellow-bishop, a priest well approved among you, to be promoted to this dignity, if it
please you that without his consent no further council be summoned by you, holy brethren,
and that he may be honoured by you all as his age and good fame demands, the metropolitans
being secured in their own dignity and rights. For it is but fair, and no injury seems to
accrue to any of the brethren, if those who come first in seniority of the priesthood
should, as their age deserves, have deference paid to them by the rest of the priests in
their own provinces, God keep you safe, beloved brethren.

LETTER 11: AN ORDINANCE OF VALENTINIANUS 3

(Confirming Leo's sentence upon Hilary.)

LETTER 12

1 Leo, bishop of the city of Rome, to all the bishops of Mauritania Caesariensis in Africa
greeting the Lord.

I. The Disorderly Appointments of Bishops Which Have Been Made in the Province are
Reprehensible.

1 Inasmuch as the frequent accounts of those who visited us made mention of certain
unlawful practices among you with regard to the ordination of priests, the demands of
religion required that we should strive to arrive at the exact state of the case in
accordance with that solicitude which by the Divine command we bestow on the whole Church:
and so we delegated the charge of this to our brother and fellow-priest, Potentius. who
was setting out from us: and who, according to what we wrote and addressed to you by him,
was to make inquiry as to the facts about the bishops whose election was said to be
faulty, and to report everything faithfully to us. Wherefore, because the same Potentius
has most fully disclosed all to our knowledge, and has by his truthful account made clear
to us, under what and what manner of governors some of Christ's congregations are placed
in certain parts of the province of (Mauritania) Caesariensis, we have found it necessary
to open out the grief wherewith our hearts are vexed for the dangers of the Lord's flocks,
by sending this letter also to you beloved: for we are surprised that either the over-
bearing conduct of intriguers or the rioting of the people had so much weight with you in
a time of disorder, that the chief pastorate and governance of the Church was handed over
to the unworthiest persons, and such as were farthest removed from the priestly standard.
This is not to consult but harm the peoples' interests:

2 and not to enforce discipline but to increase differences. For the integrity of the
rulers is the safeguard of those who are under them: and where there is complete
obedience, there the form of doctrine is sound. But an appointment which has either been
made by sedition or seized by intrigue, even though it offend not in morals or in
practice, is nevertheless pernicious from the mere example of its beginning: and it is
hard for things to be carried to a good issue which were started with a bad beginning.

II. In No Case Ought Bishops to Be Ordained Hastily.

1 But if in every grade of the Church great forethought and knowledge has to be employed,
lest there be any thing disorderly or out of place in the house of the Lord: how much more
carefully must we strive to prevent mistakes in the election of him who is set over all
the grades? For the peace and order of the Lord's whole household will be shaken, if what
is required in the body be not found in the head. Where is that precept of the blessed
Apostle Paul uttered through the Spirit of God, whereby in the person of Timothy the whole
number of Christ's priests are instructed, and to each one of us is said: "Lay hands
hastily on no one, and do not share in other men's sins ?" What is to lay on hands hastily
but to confer the priestly dignity on unproved men before the proper age , before there
has been time to test them, before they have deserved it by their obedience, before they
have been tried by discipline? And what is to share in other men's sins but for the
ordainer to become such as is he who ought not to have been ordained by him? For just as a
man stores up for himself the fruit of his good work, if he maintains a right judgment in
choosing a priest: so one who receives an unworthy priest into the number of his
colleagues, inflicts grievous loss upon himself. We must not then pass over in the case of
any one that which is laid down in the general ordinances: nor is that advancement to be
reckoned lawful which has been made contrary to the precepts of God's law.

III. The Apostolic Precept About the Marriage of the Clergy Based Upon the Marriage of
Christ with the Church of Which It is a Figure.

1 For as the Apostle says that among other rules for election he shall be ordained bishop
who is known to have been or to be "the husband of one wife," this command was always held
so sacred that the same condition was understood as necessary to be observed even in the
wife of the priest-elect: lest she should happen to have been married to another man
before she entered into wedlock with him, even though he himself had had no other wife.
Who then would dare to allow this injury to be perpetrated upon so great a sacrament ,
seeing that this great and venerable mystery is not without the support of the statutes of
God's law as well, whereby it is clearly laid down that a priest is to marry a virgin, and
that she who is to be the wife of a priest is not to know another husband? For even then
in the priests was prefigured the Spiritual marriage of Christ and His Church: so that
since "the man is the head of the woman ," the spouse of the Word may learn to know no
other man but Christ, who did rightly choose her only, loves her only, and takes none but
her into His alliance. If then even in the Old Testament this kind of marriage among
priests is adhered to, how much more ought we who are placed under the grace of the Gospel
to conform to the Apostle's precepts: so that though a man be found endowed with good
character, and furnished with holy works, he may nevertheless in no wise ascend either to
the grade of deacon, or the dignity of the presbytery, or to the highest rank of the
bishopric, if it has been spread abroad either that he himself is not the husband of one
wife, or that his wife is not the wife of one husband.

IV. Premature Promotions are to Be Avoided.

1 But when the Apostle warns and says: "and let these also first be proved, and so let
them minister ," what else do we think must be understood but that in these promotions we
should consider not only the chastity of their marriages, but also the deserts of their
labours, lest the pastoral office be entrusted to men who are either fresh from baptism,
or suddenly diverted from worldly pursuits? for through all the ranks of the Christian
army in the matter of promotions it ought to be considered whether a man can manage a
greater charge. Rightly did the venerable opinions of the blessed Fathers in speaking of
the election of priests reckon those men fit for the administration of sacred things who
had been slowly advanced through the various grades of office, and had given such good
proof of themselves therein that in each one of them the character of their practices bore
witness to their lives .

2 For if it is improper to attain to the world's dignities without the help of time and
without the merit of having toiled, and if the seeking of office is branded unless it be
supported by proofs of uprightness, how diligently and how carefully ought the dispensing
of divine duties and heavenly dignities to be carried out, lest in aught the apostolic and
canonical decrees be violated, and the ruling of the Lord's Church be committed to men who
being ignorant of the lawful constitutions anti devoid of all humility wish not to rise
from the lowest grade, but to begin with the highest: for it is extremely unfair and
preposterous that the inexpert should be preferred to the expert, the young to the old,
the raw recruits to those who have seen much service. In a great house, indeed, as the
Apostle explains , there must needs be divers vessels, some of gold and of silver, and
some of wood and of earth: but their purpose varies with the quality of their material,
and the use of the precious and of the cheap kinds is not the same. For everything will be
in disorder if the earthen ware be preferred to the golden, or the wooden to the silver.
And as the wooden or earthen vessels are a figure of those men who are hitherto
conspicuous for no virtues;

3 so in the golden or silver vessels they no doubt are represented who, having passed
through the fire of long experience, and through the furnace of protracted toil have
deserved to be tried gold and pure silver. And if such men get no reward for their
devotion, all the discipline of the Church is loosened, all order is disturbed, while men
who have undergone no service obtain undeserved preferment by the wrongful choice of the
electing body.

V. He Distinguishes Between Laymen Who Have Been Raised to the Bishoprics and Digamous
Clerks, Forgiving the Former and Not the Latter.

1 Since then either the eager wishes of the people or the intrigues of the ambitious have
had so much weight among you that we understand not only laymen, but even husbands of
second wives or widows have been promoted to the pastoral office, are there not the
clearest reasons for requiring that the churches in which such things have been done
should be cleansed by a severer judgment than usual, and that not only the rulers
themselves, but also those who ordained them should receive condign punishment? But there
stand on our one hand the gentleness of mercy, on our other the strictness of justice. And
because "all the paths of the Lord are loving-kindness and truth ," we are forced
according to our loyalty to the Apostolic See so to moderate our opinion as to weigh men's
misdeeds in the balance (for of course they are not all of one measure), and to reckon
some as to a certain extent pardonable, but others as altogether to be repressed. For they
who have either entered into second marriages or joined themselves in wedlock with widows
are not allowed to hold the priesthood, either by the apostolic or legal authority: and
much more is this the case with him who, as it was reported to us, is the husband of two
wives at once, or him who being divorced by his wife is said to have married another, that
is, supposing these charges are in your judgment proved.

2 But the rest, whose preferment only so far incurs blame that they have been chosen to
the episcopal function from among the laity, and are not culpable in the matter of their
wives, we allow to retain the priesthood upon which they have entered, without prejudice
to the statutes of the Apostolic See, and without breaking the rules of the blessed
Fathers, whose wholesome ordinance it is that no layman, whatever amount of support he may
receive, shall ascend to the first, second, or third rank in the Church until he reach
that position by the legitimate steps . For what we now suffer to be to a certain extent
venial, cannot hereafter pass unpunished, if any one perpetrates what we altogether
forbid: because the forgiveness of a sin does not grant a licence to do wrong, nor will it
be right to repeat an offence with impunity which has partly been condoned.

VI. Donatus, a Converted Novatian, and Maximus, an Ex-Donatist, are Retained in Their
Episcopal Office.

1 Donatus of Salacia, who, as we learn, has been converted from the Novatians with his
people, we wish to preside over the Lord's flock, on condition that he remembers he must
send a certificate of his faith to us, in which he not only condemns the error of the
Novatian dogma, but also unreservedly confesses the catholic truth. Maximus, also,
although he was culpably ordained when a layman, yet if he is now no longer a Donatist,
and has abjured the spirit of schismatic depravity, we do not depose from his episcopal
dignity, which he has obtained irregularly, on condition that he declare himself a
catholic by drawing Up a certificate for us.

VII. The Case of Aggarus and Tyberianus (Ordained with Tumult) is Referred to the Bishops.

1 But concerning Aggarus and Tyberianus, whose case is different from the others who were
ordained from among the laity, in this that their ordination is reported to have been
accompanied by fierce riots and savage disturbances, we have entrusted the whole matter to
your judgment, treat relying upon your investigation of the case, we may know what to
decide about them.

VIII. Maidens Who Have Suffered Violence are Not to Compare Themselves with Others.

1 Those handmaids of God who have lost their chastity by the violence of barbarians, will
be more praiseworthy in their humility and shame-fastness, if they do not venture to
compare themselves to undefiled virgins. For although every sin springs from the desire,
and the will may have remained unconquered and unpolluted by the fall of the flesh still
this will be less to their detriment, if they grieve over losing even in the body what
they did not lose in spirit.

IX. These Injunctions to Be Carried Out Without Contentiousness.

1 And so now that you see yourselves, beloved, fully instructed through David, our brother
and fellow-bishop, who is approved to us both by his personal character and his priestly
worth, on[nearly] all the points which our brother Potentius' account contained, it
remains, brothers, that you receive our healthful exhortations harmoniously, and that
doing nothing in rivalry, but acting unanimously with entire devotion and zeal, you obey
the constitution of God and His Apostles, and in nothing suffer the well-considered
decrees of the canons to be violated. For what we from the consideration of certain
reasons have now relaxed must henceforward be guarded by the ancient rules, lest, what we
have on this occasion with merciful lenity conceded, we may hereafter have to visit with
condign punishment , acting with special and direct vigour against those who in ordaining
bishops have neglected the statutes of the holy fathers, and have consecrated men whom
they ought to have rejected. Wherefore if any bishops have consecrated such an one priest
as ought not to be, even though in some measure they have escaped any loss of their
personal dignity, yet they shall have no further right of ordination, nor shall ever be
present at that sacrament which, neglecting the judgment of God, they have improperly
conferred.

X. The Appointment of Bishops Over Too Small Places is Inexpedient and Must Be
Discontinued.

1 That of course which pertains to the priestly dignity we wish to be observed in common
with all the statutes of the canons, viz., that bishops be not consecrated in any place
nor in any hamlet , nor where they have not been consecrated before; for where the flocks
are small and the congregations small, the care of the presbyters may suffice, whereas the
episcopal authority ought to preside onlyover larger flocks and more crowded cities, lest
contrary to the divinely-inspired decrees of the holy Fathers the priestly office be
assigned over villages and rural estates or obscure and thinly-populated townships, and
the position of honour, to which only the more important charges should be given, be held
cheap from the very number of these that hold it. And this bishop Restitutus has reported
to have been done in his own diocese, and he has with good reason requested that when the
bishops of those places where they ought not to have been ordained die in the natural
course, the places themselves should revert to the jurisdiction of the same prelate to
whom they formerly belonged and were attached. It is indeed useless for the priestly
dignity to be diminished by the superfluous multiplications of the office through the
inconsiderate complaisance of the ordainer.

XI. Virgins Violated Against Their Will are to Be Treated as Somewhat Different to the
Others, But Not to Be Denied Communion.

1 Now concerning those who, having made a holy vow of virginity[as we said above, chap.
viii.], have suffered the violence of barbarians, and have lost their spotless purity not
in spirit but in body, we consider such mode- ration ought to be observed that they should
be neither degraded to the rank of widows nor yet reckoned in the number of holy and
undefiled virgins: yet, if they persevere in the virgin life, and in heart and mind guard
the reality of chastity, participation in the sacraments is not to be denied them, because
it is unfair that they should be accused or branded for what their wishes did not
surrender, but was stolen by the violence of foes.

XII. The Care of Lupicinus is in Part Dealt with and in Part Referred to Them.

1 The case also of bishop Lupicinus we order to be heard there, but at his urgent and
frequent entreaties we have restored him to communion for this reason, that, as he bad
appealed to our judgment, we saw that while the matter was pending he had been
undeservedly suspended from communion. Moreover there is this also in addition, that it
was clearly rash to ordain one over his head who ought not to have been ordained until
Lupicinus, having been placed before you or convicted, or having at least confessed, had
opportunity to submit to a just sentence, so that, according to the requirements of
ecclesiastical discipline, he who was consecrated might receive his vacant place.

XIII. All Disputes to Be Dealt with on the Spot First and Then Referred to the Apostolic
See.

1 But whenever other eases arise which concern the state of the Church and the harmony of
priests, we wish them to be first sifted by yourselves in the fear of the Lord, and a full
account of all matters settled or needing settlement sent to us, that those things which
have been properly and reasonably decided, according to the usage of the Church, may
receive our corroborative sanction also. Dated 10th August.

LETTER 13: TO THE METROPOLITAN BISHOPS IN THE PROVINCES OF ILLYRICUM

Leo congratulates them on accepting the authority of Anastasius over them (given in Lett.
IV.).

LETTER 14

1 Leo, bishop of the City of Rome, to Anastasius, bishop of Thessalonica.

I. Prefatory.

1 If with true reasoning you perceived all that has been committed to you, brother, by the
blessed apostle Peter's authority, and what has also been entrusted to you by our favour,
and would weigh it fairly, we should be able greatly to rejoice at your zealous discharge
of the responsibility imposed on you .

II. Anastasius is Taxed with Exceeding the Limits of His Vicariate, Especially in His
Violent and Unworthy Treatment of Atticus.

1 Seeing that, as my predecessors acted towards yours, so too I, following their example,
have delegated my authority to you , beloved: so that you, imitating our gentleness, might
assist us in the care which we owe primarily to all the churches by Divine institution,
and might to a certain extent make up for our personal presence in visiting those I
provinces which are far off from us: for it would be easy for you by regular and well-
timed inspection to tell what and in what cases you could either, by your own influence,
settle or reserve for our judgment. For as it was free for you to suspend the more
important matters and the harder issues while you awaited our opinion, there was no reason
nor necessity for you to go out of your way to decide what was beyond your powers. For you
have numerous written warnings of ours in which we have often instructed you to be
temperate in all your actions: that with loving exhortations you might provoke the
churches of Christ committed to you to healthy obedience. Because, although as a rule
there exist among careless or slothful brethren things which demand a strong hand in
rectifying them; yet the correction ought to be so applied as ever to keep love inviolate.
Wherefore also it is that the blessed Apostle Paul, in instructing Timothy upon the ruling
of the Church, says: "an eider rebuke not, but intreat him as a father: the young men as
brethren: old women as mothers:

2 young women as sisters in all purity . And if this moderation is due by the Apostle's
precept to all and any of the lower members, how much more is it to be paid without
offence to our brethren and fellow-bishops? in order that although things sometimes happen
which have to be reprimanded in the persons of priests, yet kindness may have more effect
on those who are to be corrected than severity: exhortation than perturbation: love than
power. But they who "seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's ," easily
depart from this law, and finding pleasure rather in domineering over their subjects than
in consulting their interests, are swoln with the pride of their position, and thus what
was provided to secure harmony ministers to mischief. That we are obliged to speak thus
causes us no small grief. For I feel myself in a certain measure drawn into blame, on
discovering you to have so immoderately departed from the rules handed down to you. If you
were careless of your own reputation, you ought at least to have spared my good name: lest
what only your own mind prompted should seem done with our approval. Do but read, brother,
our pages with care, and peruse all the letters sent by holders of the Apostolic See to
your predecessors, and you will find injunctions either from me or from my predecessors on
that in which we learn you have presumed.

3 For there has come to us our brother Atticus, the metropolitan bishop of Old Epirus,
with the bishops of his province, and with tearful pleading has complained of the
undeserved contumely he has suffered, in the presence of your own deacons who, by giving
no contradiction to these woeful complaints, showed that what was impressed upon us did
not want for truth. We read also in your letter, which those same deacons of yours
brought, that brother Atticus had come to Thessalonica, and that he had also sealed his
agreement in a written profession, so that we could not but understand concerning him that
it was of his own will and free devotion that he had come, and that he had composed the
statement of his promise of obedience, although in the very mention of this statement a
sign of injury was betrayed. For it was not necessary that he should be bound in writing,
who was already proving his obedience by the very dutifulness of his voluntary coming.
Wherefore these words in your letter bore witness to the bewailings of the aforesaid, and
through his outspoken account that which had been passed over in silence is laid bare,
namely that the Praefecture of Illyricum had been approached, and the most exalted
functionary among the potentates of the world had been set in motion to expose an innocent
prelate:

4 so that a company was sent to carry out the aweful deed who were to enlist all the
public servants in giving effect to their orders, and from the church's holy sanctuary
charged with no crime, or at best a false one, was dragged a priest, to whom no truce was
granted in consideration of his grievous ill-health or the cruel winter weather: but he
was forced to take a journey full of hardships and dangers through the pathless snows. And
this was a task of such toil and peril that some of those who accompanied the bishop are
said to have succumbed . 5 I am quite dumb-founded, beloved brother, yea and I am also
sore grieved that you brought yourself to be so savagely and violently moved against one
about whom you had laid no further information than that when summoned to appear he put
off and excused himself on the grounds of illness; especially when, even if he deserved
any such treatment, you should have waited till I had replied to your consulting letter.
But, as I perceive, you thought too well of my habits, and most truly foresaw how fair-
minded an answer I was likely to make to preserve harmony among priests: and therefore you
made haste to carry out your movements without concealment, lest when you had received the
letter of our forbearance dictating another course, you should have no licence to do that
which is done. Or perhaps some crime had reached your ears, and metropolitan bishop that
you are, the weight of some new charge pressed you hard? But that this is not consistent
with the fact, you yourself make certain by laying nothing against him. Yet even if he had
committed some grave and intolerable misdemeanour, you should have waited for our opinion:
so as to arrive at no decision by yourself until you knew our pleasure. For we made you
our deputy, beloved, on the understanding that you were engaged to share our
responsibility, not to take plenary powers on yourself. Wherefore as what you bestow a
pious care on delights us much, so your wrongful acts grieve us sorely. And after
experience in many cases we must show greater foresight, and use more diligent precaution:
to the end that through the spirit of love and peace all matter of offence may be removed
from the Lord's churches, which we have commended to you: the pre-eminence of your
bishopric being retained in the provinces, but all your usurping excesses being shorn off.

III. The Rights of the Metropolitans Under the Vicariate of Anastasius are to Be Observed.

1 Therefore according to the canons of the holy Fathers, which are framed by the spirit of
God and hollowed by the whole world's reverence, we decree that the metropolitan bishops
Of each province over which your care. brother, extends by our delegacy shall keep
untouched the rights of their position which have been handed down to them from olden
times: but on condition that they do not depart from the existing regulations by any
carelessness or arrogance.

IV. The Negative Qualifications of a Bishop Determined.

1 In cities whose governors have died let this form be observed in filling up their place:
he, who is to be ordained, even though his good life be not attested, shall be not a
layman, not a neophyte, nor yet the husband of a second wife, or one who, though he has or
has had but one, married a widow. For the choosing of priests is of such surpassing
importance that things which in other members of the Church are not blame-worthy, are yet
held unlawful in them.

V. Continence is Required Even in Sub Deacons.

1 For although they who are not within the ranks of the clergy are free to take pleasure
in the companionship of wedlock and the procreation of children, yet for the exhibiting of
the purity of complete continence, even sub-deacons are not allowed carnal marriage: that
"both those that have, may be as though they had not ," and those who have not, may remain
single. But if in this order, which is the fourth from the Head , this is worthy to be
observed, how much more is it to be kept in the first, or second, or third, lest any one
be reckoned fit for either the deacon's duties or the presbyter's honourable position, or
the bishop's pre-eminence, who is discovered not yet to have bridled his uxorious desires.

VI. The Election of a Bishop Must Proceed by the Wishes of the Clergy and People.

1 When therefore the choice of the chief priest is taken in hand, let him be preferred
before all whom the unanimous consent of clergy and people demands, but if the votes
chance to be divided between two persons, the judgment of the metropolitan should prefer
him who is supported by the preponderance of votes and merits: only let no one be ordained
against the express wishes of the place: lest a city should either despise or hate a
bishop whom they did not choose, and lamentably fall away from religion because they have
not been allowed to have when they wished.

VII. Metropolitans are to Refer to Their Vicar: the Made of Electing Metropolitans is Laid
Down.

1 However the metropolitan bishop should refer to you, brother, about the person to be
consecrated bishop, and about the consent of the clergy and people: and he should acquaint
you with the wishes of the province: that the due celebration of the ordination may be
strengthened by your authority also. But to right selections it will be your duty to cause
no delay or hindrance, lest the Lord's flocks should remain too long with their shepherd's
care. Moreover when a metropolitan is defunct and another has to be elected in to his
place, the bishops of the province must meet together in the metropolitical city: that
after the wishes of all the clerics and all the citizens have been sifted, the best man
may be chosen from the presbyters of that same church or from the deacons, and you are to
be informed of his name by the priests of the province, who will carry out the wishes of
his supporters on ascertaining that you agree with their choice . For whilst we desire
proper elections to be hampered by no delays, we yet allow nothing to be done
presumptuously without your knowledge.

VIII. Bishops are to Hold Provincial Councils Twice a Year.

1 Concerning councils of bishops we give no other instructions than those laid down for
the Church's health by the holy Fathers : to wit that two meetings should be held a year,
in which judgment should be passed upon all the complaints which are wont to arise between
the various ranks of the Church. But if perchance among the rulers themselves a cause
arise (which God forbid) concerning one of the greater sins, such as cannot be decided by
a provincial trial, the metropolitan shall take care to inform you, brother, concerning
the nature of the whole matter, and if, after both parties have come before you, the thing
be not set at rest even by your judgment, whatever it be, let it be transferred to our
jurisdiction.

IX. Translation from One See to Another is to Be Prohibited.

1 If any bishop, despising the insignificance of his city, shall intrigue for the
government of a more populous place, and transfer himself by whatever means to a larger
flock, he shall first be driven from the chair he has usurped, and also shall be deprived
of his own: so shall he preside neither over those whom in his greed he coveted, nor over
those whom in his arrogance he spurned. Therefore let each be content with his own bounds,
and not seek to be raised above the limits of his present post.

X. Bishops are Not to Entice or Receive the Clergy of Another Diocese.

1 A cleric from another diocese let no (bishop) accept or invite against the wishes of his
own bishop: but only when giver and receiver agree together thereupon by friendly compact.
For a man is guilty of a serious injury who ventures either to entice or withhold from a
brother's church that which is of great use or high value. And so, if such a thing happen
within the province, the metropolitan shall force the deserting cleric to return to his
church: but if he has withdrawn himself still further off, he shall be recalled by your
authoritative command: so that no occasion be left for either desire of gain or intrigue.

XI. When the Vicar Shall Require a Meeting of Bishops, Two from Each Province Will Be
Sufficient.

1 In summoning bishops to your presence, we wish you to show great forbearance: lest under
a show of much diligence you seem to exult in your brethren's injuries. Wherefore if any
greater case arise for which it is reasonable and necessary to convene a meeting of
brethren, it may suffice, brother, that two bishops should attend from each province, whom
the metropolitans shall think proper to be sent, on the understanding that those who
answer the summons be not detained longer than fifteen days from the time fixed.

XII. In Case of Difference of Opinion Between the Vicar and the Bishops, the Bishop of
Rome Must Be Consulted. The Subordination of Authorities in the Church Expounded.

1 But if in that which you believed necessary to be discussed and settled with the
brethren, their opinion differs from your own wishes, let all be referred to us, with the
minutes of your proceedings attested, that all ambiguities may be removed, and what is
pleasing to God decided. For to this end we direct all our desires and pains, that what
conduces to our harmonious unity and to the protection of discipline may be marred by no
dissension and neglected by no slothfulness. Therefore, dearly beloved brother, you and
those our brethren who are offended at your extravagant conduct (though the matter of
complaint is not the same with all), we exhort and warn not to disturb by any wrangling
what has been rightfully ordained and wisely settled. Let none "seek what is his own, but
what is another's," as the Apostle says: "Let each one of you please his neighbour for his
good unto edifying . For the cementing of our unity cannot be firm unless we be bound by
the bond of love into an inseparable solidity: because "as in one body we have many
members, but all the members have not the same office; so we being many are one body in
Christ, and all of us members one of another . The connexion of the whole body makes all
alike healthy, all alike beautiful: and this connexion requires the unanimity indeed of
the whole body, but it especially demands harmony among the priests.

2 And though they have a common dignity, yet they have not uniform rank; inasmuch as even
among the blessed Apostles, notwithstanding the similarity of their honourable estate,
there was st certain distinction of power, and while the election of them all was equal,
yet it was given to one to take the lead of the rest. From which model has arisen a
distinction between bishops also, and by an important ordinance it has been provided that
every one should not claim everything for himself: but that there should be in each
province one whose opinion should have the priority among the brethren: and again that
certain whose appointment is in the greater cities should undertake a fuller
responsibility, through whom the care of the universal Church should converge towards
Peter's one seat, and nothing anywhere should be separated from its Head. Let not him then
who knows he has been set over certain others take it ill that some one has been set over
him, but let him himself render the obedience which he demands of them: and as he does not
wish to bear a heavy load of baggage, so let him not dare to place on another's shoulders
a weight that is insupportable. For we are disciples of the humble and gentle Master who
says: "Learn of Me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and ye shall find rest for your
souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden light .

3 And how shall we experience this, unless this too comes to our remembrance which the
same Lord says: "He that is greater among you, shall be your servant. But he that exalteth
himself, shall be humbled: and he that humbleth himself, shall be exalted ."


LETTERS OF LEO THE GREAT
========================

LETTERS OF LEO THE GREAT continued

LETTER 15

1 Leo, bishop, to Turribius, bishop, greeting.

I. Introductory.

1 Your laudable zeal for the truth of the catholic Faith, and the painstaking devotion you
expend in the exercise of your pastoral office upon the Lord's flock is proved by your
letter, brother, which your deacon has handed to us, in which you have taken care to bring
to our knowledge the nature of the disease which has burst forth in your district from the
remnants of an ancient plague. For the language of your letter, and your detailed
statement, and the text of your pamphlet , explains clearly that the filthy puddle of the
Priscillianists again teems with life amongst you . For there is no dirt which has not
flowed into this dogma from the notions of all sorts of heretics: since they have scraped
together the motley dregs from the mire of earthly opinions and made for themselves a
mixture which they alone may swallow whole, though others have tasted little portions of
it.

2 In fact, if all the heresies which have arisen before the time of Priscillian were to be
studied carefully, hardly any mistake will be discovered with which this impiety has not
been infected: for not satisfied with accepting the falsehoods of those who have departed
from the Gospel under the name of Christ, it has plunged itself also in the shades of
heathendom, so as to rest their religious faith and their moral conduct upon the power of
demons and the influences of the stars through the blasphemous secrets of the magic arts
and the empty lies of astrologers. But if this may be believed and taught, no reward will
be due for virtues, no punishment for faults, and all the injunctions not only of human
laws but also of the Divine constitutions will be broken down: because there will be no
criterion of good or bad actions possible, if a fatal necessity drives the impulses of the
mind to either side, and all that men do is through the agency not of men but of stars. To
this madness belongs that monstrous division of the whole human body among the twelve
signs of the zodiac, so that each part is ruled by a different power: and the creature,
whom God made in His own image, is as much under the domination of the stars as his limbs
are connected one with the other.

3 Rightly then our fathers, in whose times this abominable heresy sprung up, promptly
pursued it throughout the world, that the blasphemous error might everywhere be driven
from the Church: for even the leaders of the world so abhorred this profane folly that
they laid low its originator, with most of his disciples, by the sword of the public laws.
For they saw that all desire for honourable conduct was removed, all marriage-ties undone,
and the Divine and the human law simultaneously undermined, if it were allowed for men of
this kind to live anywhere under such a creed. And this rigourous treatment was for long a
help to the Church's law of gentleness which, although it relies upon the priestly
judgment, and shuns blood-stained vengeance, yet is assisted by the stern decrees of
Christian princes at times when men, who dread bodily punishment, have recourse to merely
spiritual correction. But since many provinces have been taken up with the invasions of
the enemy , the carrying out of the laws also has been suspended by these stormy wars. And
since intercourse came to be difficult among God's priests and meetings rare, secret
treachery was free to act through the general disorder, and was roused to the upsetting of
many minds by those very ills which ought to have counteracted it. But which of the
peoples and how many of them are free from the contagion of this plague in a district
where, as you point out, dear brother, the minds even of certain priests have sickened of
this deadly disease:

4 and they who were believed the necessary quellers of falsehood and champions of the
Truth are the very ones through whom the Gospel of God is enthralled to the teaching of
Priscillian: so that the fidelity of the holy volumes being distorted to profane meanings,
under the names of prophets and apostles, is proclaimed not that which the Holy Spirit has
taught, but what the devil's servant has inserted. Therefore as you, beloved, with all the
faithful diligence in your power, have dealt under 16 heads with these already condemned
opinions , we also subject them once more to a strict examination; lest any of these
blasphemies should be thought either bearable or doubtful.

II. (1) ThePriscillianists' Denial of the Trinity Refuted.

1 And so under the first head is shown what unholy views they hold about the Divine
Trinity: they affirm that the person of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost is one and
the same, as if the same God were named now Father, now Son, and now Holy Ghost: and as if
He who begot were not one, He who was begotten, another, and He who proceeded from both,
yet another; but an undivided unity must be understood, spoken of under three names,
indeed, but not consisting of three persons. This species of blasphemy they borrowed from
Sabellius, whose followers were rightly called Patripassians also: because if the Son is
identical with the Father, the Son's cross is the Father's passion (patris-passio): and
the Father took on Himself all that the Son took in the form of a slave, and in obedience
to the Father. Which without doubt is contrary to the catholic faith, which acknowledges
the Trinity of the Godhead to be of one essence (o9moou/sion) in such a way that it
believes the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost indivisible without confusion, eternal
without time, equal without difference: because it is not the same person but the same
essence which fills the Unity in Trinity

III. (2) Their Fancy About Virtues Proceeding from God Refuted.

1 Under the second head is displayed their foolish and empty fancy about the issue of
certain virtues from God which he began to possess, and which were posterior to God
Himself in His own essence. In this again they support the Arians' mistake, who say that
the Father is prior to the Son, because there was a time when He was without the Son: and
became the Father then when He begot the Son. But as the catholic Church abhors them, so
also does it abhor these who think that what is of the same essence was ever wanting to
God. For it is as wicked to speak of Him as progressing as it is to call Him changeable.
For increase implies change as much as does decrease.

IV. (3) Their Account of the Epithet "Only Begotten" Refuted.

1 Again the third head is concerned with these same folk's impious assertion that the Son
of God is called "only-begotten" for this reason that He alone was born of a virgin. To be
sure they would not have dared to say this, had they not drunk the poison of Paul of
Samosata and Photinus: who said that our Lord Jesus Christ did not exist till He was born
of the virgin Mary. But if they wish something else to be understood by their tenet, and
do not date Christ's beginning from His mother's womb, they must necessarily assert that
there is not one Son of God, but others also were begotten of the most High Father, of
whom this one is born of a woman, and therefore called only-begotten, because no other of
God's sons underwent this condition of being born. Therefore, whithersoever they betake
themselves, they fall into an abyss of great impiety, if they either maintain that Christ
the Lord took His beginning from His mother, or do not believe Him to be the only-begotten
of God the Father: since He who was God was born of a mother, and no one was born of the
Father except the Word.

V. (4) Their Fasting on the Nativity and Sunday Disapproved of.

1 The fourth head deals with the fact that the Birth-day of Christ, which the catholic
Church thinks highly of as the occasion of His taking on Him true man, because "the Word
became flesh and dwelt in us ," is not truly honoured by these men, though they make a
show of honouring it, for they fast on that day, as they do also on the Lord's day, which
is the day of Christ's resurrection. No doubt they do this, because they do not believe
that Christ the Lord was born in true man's nature, but maintain that by a sort of
illusion there was an appearance of what was not a reality, following the views of Cerdo
and Marcion, and being in complete agreement with their kinsfolk, the Manichaeans. For as
our examination has disclosed and brought home to them, they drag out in mournful fasting
the Lord's day which for us is hollowed by the resurrection of our Saviour: devoting this
abstinence, as the explanation goes, to the worship of the sun: so that they are
throughout out of harmony with the unity of our faith, and the day which by us is spent in
gladness is past in self-affliction by them. Whence it is fitting that these enemies of
Christ's cross and resurrection should accept an opinion (like this) which tallies with
the doctrine they have selected.

VI. (5) Their View that the Soul is Part of the Divine Being Refuted.

1 The fifth head refers to their assertion that man's soul is part of the Divine beings ,
and that the nature of our human state does not differ from its Creator's nature. This
impious view has its source in the opinions of certain philosophers, and the Manichaeans
and the catholic Faith condemns it: knowing that nothing that is made is so sublime and so
supreme as that its nature should be itself God. For that which is part of Himself is
Himself, and none other than the Son and Holy Spirit. And besides this one consubstantial,
eternal, and unchangeable Godhead of the most high Trinity there is nothing in all
creation which, in its origin, is not created out of nothing. Besides anything that
surpasses its fellow-creatures is not ipso facto God, nor, if a thing is great and
wonderful, is it identical with Him "who alone doeth great wonders ." No man is truth,
wisdom, justice; but many are partakers of truth, wisdom, and justice. But God alone is
exempt from any participating: and anything which is in any degree worthily predicated of
Him is not an attribute, but His very essence. For in the Unchangeable there is nothing
added, there is nothing lost: because "to be " is ever His peculiar property, and that is
eternity. Whence abiding in Himself He renews all things , and receives nothing which He
did not Himself give. Accordingly they are over-proud and stone-blind who, when they say
the soul is part of the Divine Being, do not understand that they merely assert that God
is changeable, and Himself suffers anything that may be inflicted upon His nature.

VII. (6) Their View that the Devil Was Never Goad, and is Therefore Not God's Creation,
Refuted.

1 The sixth notice points out that they say the devil never was good, and that his nature
is not God's handiwork, but he came forth out of chaos and darkness: because I suppose he
has no instigator, but is himself the source and substance of all evil: whereas the true
Faith, which is the catholic, acknowledges that the substance of all creatures spiritual
or corporeal is good, and that evil has no positive existence ; because God, who is the
Maker of the Universe, made nothing that was not good. Whence the devil also would be
good, if he had remained as he was made. But because he made a bad use of his natural
excellence, and "stood not in the truth ," he did not pass into the opposite substance,
but revolted from the highest good to which he owed adherence: just as they themselves who
make such assertions run headlong from truth into falsehood, and accuse nature of their
own spontaneous delinquencies, and are condemned for their voluntary perversity: though of
course this evil is in them, but is itself not a substance but a penalty inflicted on
substance.

VIII. (7) Their Rejection of Marriage Condemned.

1 In the seventh place follows their condemnation of marriages and their horror of
begetting children: in which, as in almost all points, they agree with the Manichaeans'
impiety. But it is for this reason, as their own practices prove, that they detest the
marriage tie, because there is no liberty for lewdness where the chastity of wedlock and
of offspring is preserved.

IX. (8) Their Disbelief in the Resurrection of the Body Has Been Already Condemned by the
Church.

1 Their eighth point is that the formation of men's bodies is the device of the devil, and
that the seed of conception is shaped by the aid of demons in the wombs of women: and that
for this reason the resurrection of the flesh is not to be believed because the stuff of
which the body is made is not consistent with the dignity of the soul. This falsehood is
without doubt the devil's work, and such monstrous opinions are the devices of demons who
do not mould men in women's bellies, but concoct such errors in heretics' hearts. This
unclean poison which flows especially from the fount of the Manichaean wickedness has been
already arraigned and condemned by the catholic Faith.

X. (9) Their Nation that "The Children of Promise" Are Conceived by the Holy Ghost is
Utterly Unscriptural and Uncatholic.

1 The ninth notice declares that they say the sons of promise are born indeed of women but
conceived by the Holy Spirit: lest that offspring which is born of carnal seed should seem
to share in God's estate. This is repugnant and contrary to the catholic Faith which
acknowledges every man to be formed by the Maker of the Universe in the substance of his
body and soul, and to receive the breath of life within his mother's womb: though
thattaint of sin and liability to die remains which passed from the first parent into his
descendants; until the sacrament of Regeneration comes to succour him, whereby through the
Holy Spirit we are re-born the sons of promise, not in the fleshly womb, but in the power
of baptism. Whence David also, who certainly was a son of promise, says to God: "Thy hands
have made me and fashioned me ." And to Jeremiah says the Lord, "Before I formed thee in
the womb I knew thee, and in thy mother's belly I sanctified thee ."

XI. (10) Their Theory that Souls Have a Previous Existence Before Entering Man Refuted.

1 Under the tenth head they are reported as asserting that the souls which are placed in
men's bodies have previously been without body and have sinned in their heavenly
habitation, and for this reason having fallen from their high estate to a lower one alight
upon ruling spirits of divers qualities, and after passing through a succession of powers
of the air and stars, some fiercer, some milder, are enclosed in bodies of different sorts
and conditions, so that whatever variety and inequality is meted out to us in this life,
seems the result of previous causes. This blasphemous fable they have woven for themselves
out of many persons' errors : but all of them the catholic Faith cuts off from union with
its body, persistently and truthfully proclaiming that men's souls did not exist until
they were breathed into their bodies, and that they were not there implanted by any other
than God, who is thecreator both of the souls and of the bodies. And because through the
transgression of the first man the whole stock of the human race was tainted, no one can
be set free from the state of the old Adam save through Christ's sacrament of baptism, in
which there are no distinctions between the re-born, as says the Apostle: "For as many of
you as were baptized in Christ did put on Christ: there is neither Jew nor Greek: there is
neither bond nor free: there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ
Jesus .

2 What then have the course of the stars to do with it, or the devices of destiny? what
the changing state of mundane things and their restless diversity? Behold how the grace of
God makes all these unequals equal, who, whatever their labours in this life, if they
abide faithful, cannot be wretched, for they can say with the Apostle in every trial: "who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution,
or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, `For thy sake we are killed
all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.' (Ps. xliv. 22. But in all
these things we overcome through Him that loved us . And therefore the Church, which is
the body of Christ, has no fear about the inequalities of the world, because she has no
desire for temporal goods: nor does she dread being overwhelmed by the empty threats of
destiny, for she knows she is strengthened by patience in tribulations.

XII. (11) Their Astrological Notions Condemned.

1 Their eleventh blasphemy is that in which they suppose that both the souls and bodies of
men are under the influence of fatal stars: this folly compels them to become entangled in
all the errors of the heathen, and to strive to attract stars that are as they think
favourable to them, and to soften those that are against them. But for those who follow
such pursuits there is no place in the catholic Church; a man who gives himself up to such
convictions separates himself from the body of Christ altogether.

XIII. (12) Their Belief that Certain Powers Rule the Soul and the Stars the Body, is
Unscriptural and Preposterous.

1 The twelfth of these points is this, that they map out the parts of the soul under
certain powers, and the limbs of the body under others: and they suggest the characters of
the inner powers that rule the soul by giving them the names of the patriarchs, and on the
contrary they attribute the signs of the stars to those under which they put the body. And
in all these things they entangle themselves in an inextricable maze, not listening to the
Apostle when he says. "See that no one deceive you through philosophy and vain deceit
after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ; for in
Him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and in Him ye are made full, who is the
head of every principality and power . And again: "let no man beguile you by a voluntary
humility and worshipping of angels, treading on things which he hath not seen, vainly
puffed up by the senses of his flesh, not holding fast the Head from whom all the body,
being supplied and knit together through the joints and bands, increaseth withthe increase
of God . What then is the use of admitting into the heart what the law has not taught,
prophecy has not sung, the truth of the Gospel has not proclaimed, the Apostles' teaching
has not handed down?

2 But these things are suited to the minds of those of whom the Apostle speaks, "For the
time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but having itching ears, will
heap to themselves teachers after their own lusts: and will turn away indeed their hearing
from the truth, and turn aside unto fables . And so we can have nothing in common with men
who dare to teach or believe such things, and strive by any means in their power to
persuade men that the substance of flesh is foreign to the hope of resurrection, and so
break down the whole mystery of Christ's incarnation: because it was wrong for Christ to
take upon Him complete manhood if it was wrong for Him to emancipate complete manhood.

XIV. (13) Their Fanciful Division of the Scriptures Rejected.

1 In the thirteenth place comes their assertion that the whole body of the canonical
Scriptures is to be accepted, under the names of the patriarchs : because those twelve
virtues which work the reformation of the inner man are pointed out in their names, and
without this knowledge no soul can effect its reformation, and return to that substance
from which it came forth. But this wicked delusion the Christian wisdom holds in disdain,
for it knows that the nature of the true Godhead is inviolable and immutable: but the
soul, whether living in the body or separated from the body, is subject to many passions:
whereas, of course, if it were part of the divine essence, no adversity could happen to
it. And therefore there is no comparison between them: One is the Creator, the other is
the creature. For He is always the same, and suffers no change: but the soul is
changeable, even if not changed, because its power of not changing is a gift, and not a
property.

XV. (14) Their Idea that the Scriptures Countenance Their Subjecting of the Body to the
Starry Influences Denied.

1 Under the fourteenth heading their sentiments upon the state of the body are stated,
viz., that it is, on account of its earthly properties, held under the power of stars and
constellations, and that many things are found in the holy books which have reference to
the outer man with this object, that in the Scriptures themselves a certain opposition may
be seen at work between the divine and the earthly nature: and that which the powers that
rule the soul claim for themselves may be distinguished from that which the fashioners of
the body claim. These stories are invented that the soul may be maintained to be part of
the divine substance, and the flesh believed to belong to the bad nature: since the world
itself, with its elements, they hold to be not the work of the good God, but the outcome
of an evil author: and that they might disguise these sacrilegious lies under a fair
cloak, they have polluted almost all the divine utterances with the colouring of their
unholy notions.

XVI. (15) Their Falsified Copies of the Scriptures, and Their Apocryphal Books Prohibited.

1 And on this subject your remarks under the fifteenth head make a complaint, and express
a well-deserved abhorrence of their devilish presumption, for we too have ascertained this
from the accounts of trustworthy witnesses, and have found many of their copies most
corrupt, though they are entitled canonical. For how could they deceive the simple- minded
unless they sweetened their poisoned cups with a little honey, lest what was meant to be
deadly should be detected by its over-nastiness? Therefore care must be taken, and the
priestly diligence exercised to the uttermost, to prevent falsified copies that are out of
harmony with the pure Truth being used in reading. And the apocryphal scriptures, which,
under the names of Apostles , form a nursery-ground for many falsehoods, are not only to
be proscribed, but also taken away altogether and burnt to ashes in the fire. For although
there are certain things in them which seem to have a show of piety, yet they are never
free from poison, and through the allurements of their stories they have the secret effect
of first beguiling men with miraculous narratives, and then catching them in the noose of
some error. Wherefore if any bishop has either not forbidden the possession of apocryphal
writings in men's houses, or under the name of being canonical has suffered those copies
to be read in church which are vitiated with the spurious alterations of Priscillian, let
him know that he is to be accounted heretic, since he who does not reclaim others from
error shows that he himself has gone astray.

XVII. (16) About the Writings of Dictinius .

1 Under the last head a just complaint was made that the treatises of Dictinius which he
wrote in agreement with Priscillian's tenets were read by many with veneration: for if
they think any respect is due to Dictinius' memory, they ought to admire his restoration
rather than his fall. Accordingly it is not Dictinius but Priscillian that they read: and
they approve of what he wrote in error, not what he preferred after recantation. But let
no one venture to do this with impunity, nor let any one be reckoned among catholics who
makes use of writings that have been condemned not by the catholic Church alone but by the
author himself as well. Let not those who have gone astray be allowed to make a fictitious
show, and under the veil of the Christian name shirk the provisions of the imperial
decrees. For they attach themselves to the catholic Church with all this difference of
opinion in their heart, with the object of both making such converts as they can, and
escaping the rigour of the law by passing themselves off as ours. This is done by
Priscillianists and Manichaeans alike;for there is such a close bond of union between the
two that they are distinct only in name, but in their blasphemies are found at one:
because although the Manichaeans reject the Old Testament which the others pretend to
accept, yet the purpose of both tends to the same end, seeing that the one side corrupts
while receiving what the other assails and rejects.

2 But in their abominable mysteries, which the more unclean they are, are so much the more
carefully concealed, their crime is but one, their filthy-mindedness one, and their foul
conduct similar. And although we blush to speak so plainly, yet we have tracked it out
with the most painful searches, and exposed it by the confession of Manichaeans who have
been arrested, and thus brought it to the public knowledge: lest by any means it might
seem matter of doubt, although it has been disclosed by the mouth of the men themselves,
who had performed the crime, in our court, which was attended not only by a large
gathering of priests, but also by men of repute and dignity, and a certain number of the
senate and the people, even as the missive which we have addressed to you, beloved, shows
to have been done. And there has been found out and widely published about the immoral
practices of the Priscillianists just what was also found out about the foul wickedness of
the Manichaeans. For they who are throughout on a level of depravity in their ideas,
cannot be unlike in their religious matters.

3 So having run through all that the detailed refutation contains, with which the contents
of the memorial of their views does not disagree, we have, I think, satisfactorily shown
what our opinion on the matters which you, brother, have referred to us, and how
unbearable it is if such blasphemous errors find acceptance in the hearts even of some
priests, or to put it more mildly, are not actively opposed by them. With what conscience
can they maintain the honourable position which has been given them, who do not labour for
the souls entrusted to them? Beasts rush in, and they do not close the fold. Robbers lay
wait, and they set no watch. Diseases multiply, and they seek out no remedies. But when in
addition they refuse assent to those who act more warily, and shrink from anathematizing
by their written confession blasphemies which the whole world has already condemned, what
do they wish men to understand except that they are not of the number of the brethren, but
on the enemy's side?

XVIII. The Body of Christ Really Rested in the Tomb, and Really Rose Again.

1 Furthermore in the matter which you placed last in your confidential letter, I am
surprised that any intelligent Christian should be in difficulty as to whether when Christ
descended to the realms below, his flesh rested in the tomb: for as it truly died and was
buried, so it was truly raised the third day. For this the Lord Himself also had
announced, saying to the Jews, "destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up
." Where the evangelist adds this comment: "but this He spake of the temple of His body."
The truth of which the prophet David also had predicted, speaking in the person of the
Lord and Saviour, and saying: "Moreover my flesh also shall rest in hope; because Thou
will not leave my soul in Hades, nor give Thy Holy One to see corruption " From these
words surely it is clear that the Lord's flesh being buried, both truly rested and did not
undergo corruption: because it was quickly revived by the return of the soul, and rose
again. Not to believe this is blasphemous enough, and is undoubtedly of a piece with the
doctrine of Manichaeus and Priscillian, who with their blasphemous conceptions pretend to
confess Christ, but only in such a way as to destroy the reality of His incarnation, and
death, and resurrection.

2 Therefore let a council of bishops be held among you, and let the priests of
neighbouring provinces meet at a place suitable to all: that, on the lines of our reply to
your request for advice, a full inquiry may be made as to whether here are any of the
bishops who are tainted with the contagion of this heresy: for they must without doubt be
cut off from communion, if they refuse to condemn this most unrighteous sect with all its
wrongful conceptions. For it can nohow be permitted that one who has undertaken the duty
of preaching the Faith should dare to maintain opinions contrary to Christ's gospel and
the creed of the universal Church. What kind of disciples will there be in a place where
such masters teach? What will the people's religion, or the salvation of the laity be,
where against the interests of human society the holiness of chastity is uprooted, the
marriage-bond overthrown, the propagation of children forbidden, the nature of the flesh
condemned, and, in opposition to the true worship of the true God, the Trinity of the
Godhead is denied, the individuality of the persons confounded, man's soul declared to be
the Divine essence, and enclosed in flesh at the Devil's will, the Son of God proclaimed
only-begotten in right of being born of a Virgin, not begotten of the Father, and at the
same time maintained to be neither true offspring of God, nor true child of the virgin:

3 so that after a false passion and an unreal death, even the resurrection of the flesh
reassumed out of the tomb should be considered fictitious? But it is vain for them to
adopt the name of catholic, as they do not oppose these blasphemies: they must believe
them, if they can listen so patiently to such words. And so we have sent a letter to our
brethren and fellow-bishops of the provinces of Tarraco, Carthago, Lusitania and Gallicia,
enjoining a meeting of the general synod. It will be yours, beloved, to take order that
our authoritative instructions be conveyed to the bishops of the aforesaid provinces. But
should anything, which God forbid, hinder the coming together of a general council of
Gallicia , at least let the priests come together, the assembling of whom our brothers
Idacius and Ceponius shall look to, assisted by your own strenuous efforts to hasten the
applying of remedies to these serious wounds by a provincial synod also. Dated July 21, in
the consulship of the illustrious Calipius and Ardaburis (447).

LETTER 16

1 Leo the bishop to all the bishops throughout Sicily greeting in the Lord.

I. Introductory.

1 By God's precepts and the Apostle's admonitions we are incited to keep a careful watch
over the state of all the churches: and, if anywhere ought is found that needs rebuke, to
recall men with speedy care either from the stupidity of ignorance or from forwardness and
presumption. For inasmuch as we are warned by the Lord's own command whereby the blessed
Apostle Peter had the thrice repeated mystical injunction pressed upon him, that he who
loves Christ should feed Christ's sheep, we are compelled by reverence for that see which,
by the abundance of the Divine Grace, we hold, to shun the danger of sloth as much as
possible: lest the confession of the chief Apostle whereby he testified that he loved God
be not found in us: because if he (through us) carelessly feed the flock so often
commended to him he is proved not to love the chief Shepherd.

II. Baptism is to Be Administered at Easter-Tide and Not on the Epiphany.

1 Accordingly when it reached my ears on reliable testimony (and I already felt a
brother's affectionate anxiety about your acts, beloved)that in what is one of the chief
sacraments of the Church you depart from the practice of the Apostles' constitution by
administering the sacrament of baptism to greater numbers on the feast of the Epiphany
than at Easter-tide, I was surprised that you or your predecessors could have introduced
so unreasonable an innovation as to confound the mysteries of the two festivals and
believe there was no difference between the day on which Christ was worshipped by the wise
men and that on which He rose again from the dead. You could never have fallen into this
fault, if you had taken the whole of your observances from the source whence you derive
your consecration to the episcopate; and if the see of the blessed Apostle Peter, which is
the mother of your priestly dignity, were the recognized teacher of church-method. We
could indeed have endured your departure from its rules with less equanimity, if you had
received any previous rebuke by way of warning from us. But now as we do not despair of
correcting you, we must show gentleness. And although an excuse which affects ignorance is
scarce tolerable in priests, yet we prefer to moderate our needful rebuke and to instruct
you plainly in the true method of the Church.

III. One Must Distinguish One Festival from Another in Respect of Dignity and Occasion.

1 The restoration of mankind has indeed ever remained immutably fore-ordained in God's
eternal counsel: but the series of events which had to be accomplished in time through
Jesus Christ our Lord was begun at the Incarnation of the Word. Hence there is one time
when at the angel's announcement the blessed Virgin Mary believed she was to be with child
through the Holy Ghost and conceived: another, when without loss of her virgin purity the
Boy was born and shown to the shepherds by the exulting joy of the heavenly attendants:
another, when the Babe was circumcised: another, when the victim required by the Law is
offered for him: another, when the three wise men attracted by the brightness of the new
star arrive at Bethlehem from the East and worship the Infant with the mystic offering of
Gifts. 2 And again the days are not the same on which by the divinely appointed pasage
into Egypt He was withdrawn from wicked Herod, and on which He was recalled from Egypt
into Galilee on His pursuer's death. Among these varieties of circumstance must be
included His growth of body: the Lord increases, as the evangelist bears witness, with the
progress of age and grace: at the time of the Passover He comes to the temple at Jerusalem
with His parents, and when He was absent from the returning company, He is found sitting
with the ciders and disputing among the wondering masters and rendering an account of His
remaining behind: "why is it," He says, "that ye sought Me? did ye not know that I must be
in that which is My Father's ," signifying that He was the Son of Him whose temple He was
in. Once more when in later years He was to be declared more openly and sought out the
baptism of His forerunner John, was there any doubt of His being God remaining when after
the baptism of the Lord Jesus the Holy Spirit in form of a dove descended and rested upon
Him, and the Father's voice was heard from the skies, "Thou art My beloved Son: in Thee I
am well pleased ?

3 All these things we have alluded to with as much brevity as possible for this reason,
that you may know, beloved, that though all the daysof Christ's life were hallowed by many
mighty works of His , and though in all His actions mysterious sacraments shone forth, yet
at one time intimations of events were given by signs, and at one time fulfilment
realized: and that all the Saviour's works that are recorded are not suitable to the time
of baptism. For if we were to commemorate with indiscriminate honour these things also
which we know to have been done by the Lord after His baptism by the blessed John, His
whole life- time would have to be observed in a continuous succession of festivals,
because all His acts were full of miracles. But because the Spirit of wisdom and knowledge
so instructed the Apostles and teachers of the whole Church as to allow nothing disordered
or confused to exist in our Christian observances, we must discern the relative importance
of the various solemnities and observe a reasonable distinction in all the institutions of
our fathers and rulers: for we cannot otherwise "be one flock and one shepherd ," except
as the Apostle teaches us, "that we all speak the same thing: and that we be perfected in
the same mind and in the same judgment ."

IV. The Reason Explained Why Easier and Whitsuntide are the Proper Seasons for Baptism.

1 Although, therefore, both these things which are connected with Christ's humiliation and
those which are connected with His exaltation meet in one and the same Person, and all
that is in Him of Divine power and human weakness conduces to the accomplishment of our
restoration: yet it is appropriate that the power of baptism should change the old into
the new creature on the death-day of the Crucified and the Resurrection-day of the Dead:
that Christ's death and His resurrection may operate in the re-born , as the blessed
Apostle says: "Are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized in Christ Jesus, were
baptized in His death? We were buried with Him through baptism into death; that as Christ
rose from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also should walk in newness of
life. For if we have become united with the likeness of His death, we shall be also (with
the likeness) of His resurrections ," and the rest which the Teacher of the Gentiles
discusses further in recommending the sacrament of baptism:

2 that it might be seen from the spirit of this doctrine that that is the day, and that
the time chosen for regenerating the sons of men and adopting them among the sons of God,
on which by a mystical symbolism and form , what is done in the limbs coincides with what
wasdone in the Head Himself, for in the baptismal office death ensues through the slaying
of sin, and threefold immersion imitates the lying in the tomb three days, and the raising
out of the water is like Him that rose again from the tomb . The very nature, therefore of
the act teaches us that that is the recognized day for the general reception of the grace
, on which the power of the gift and the character of the action originated. And this is
strongly corroborated by the consideration that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, after He
rose from the dead, handed on both the form and power of baptizing to His disciples, in
whose person all the chiefs of the churches received their instructions with these words,
"Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Ghosts . On which of course He might have instructed them even before His
passion, had He not especially wished it to be understood that the grace of regeneration
began with His resurrection.

3 It must be added, indeed, that the solemn season of Pentecost, hallowed by the coming of
the Holy Ghost is also allowed, being as it were, the sequel and completion of the Paschal
feast. And while other festivals are held on other days of the week, this festival (of
Pentecost) always occurs on that day, which is marked by the Lord's resurrection: holding
out, so to say, the hand of assisting grace and inviting those, who have been cut off from
the Easter feast by disabling sickness or length of journey or difficulties of sailing, to
gain the purpose that they long for through the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the Only-
begotten of God Himself wished no difference to be felt between Himself and the Holy
Spirit in the Faith of believers and in the efficacy of His works: because there is no
diversity in their nature, as He says, "I will ask the Father and He shall give you
another Comforter that He may be with you for ever, even the Spirit of Truth ; and again:
"But the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He shall
teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said unto you ; and again:
"When He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He shall guide you into all the Truth .

4 And thus, since Christ is the Truth, and the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Truth, and the
name of "Comforter" appropriate to both, the two festivals are not dissimilar, where the
sacrament is the same .

V. S. Peter's Example as an Authority for Whitsuntide Baptisms.

1 And that we do not contend for this on ours own conviction but retain it on Apostolic
authority, we prove by a sufficiently apt example, following the blessed Apostle Peter,
who, on the very day on which the promised coming of the Holy Ghost filled up the number
of those that believed, dedicated to God in the baptismal font three thousand of the
people who had been converted by his preaching. The Holy Scripture, which contains the
Acts of Apostles , teaches this in its faithful narrative, saying, "Now when they heard
this they were pricked in the heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the Apostles,
what shall we do, brethren? But Peter said unto them, Repent ye and be baptized every one
of you in the name of Jesus Christ, unto the remission of your sins, and ye shall receive
the gift of the Holy Ghost. For to you is the promise, and to your children and to all
that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto Him. With many other
words also he testified and exhorted them saying, Save yourselves from this crooked
generation. They then that received his word were baptized, and there were added in that
day about three thousand ."

VI. In Cases of Urgency Other Times Art Allowable for Baptism.

1 Wherefore, as it is quite clear that these two seasons of which we have been speaking
are the rightful ones for baptizing the chosen in Church, we admonish you, beloved, not to
add other days to this observance. Because, although there are other festivals also to
which much reverence is due in God's honour, yet we must rationally guard this principal
and greatest sacrament as a deep mystery and not part of the ordinary routine : not,
however, prohibiting the licence to succour those who are in danger by administering
baptism to them at any time. For whilst we put off the vows of those who are not pressed
by ill health and live in peaceful security to those two closely connected and cognate
festivals, we do not at any time refuse this which is the only safeguard of true salvation
to any one in peril of death, in the crisis of a siege, in the distress of persecution, in
the terror of shipwreck.

VII. Our Lord's Baptism by John Very Different to the Baptism of Believers.

1 But if any one thinks the feast of the Epiphany, which in proper degree is certainly to
be held in due honour, claims the privilege baptism because, according to some the Lord
came to St. John's baptism on the same day, let him know that the grace of that baptism
and the reason of it were quite different, and is not on an equal footing with the power
by which they are re-born of the Holy Ghost, of whom it is said, "which were born not of
blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God . For the Lord who
needed no remission of sin and sought not the remedy of being born again, desired to be
baptized just as He desired to be circumcised, and to have a victim offered for His
purification: that He, who had been "made of a woman )," as the Apostle says, might become
also "under the law" which He had come, "not to destroy but to fulfil ," and by fulfilling
to end, as the blessed Apostle proclaims, saying: "but Christ is the end of the law unto
righteousness to every one that believeth . But the sacrament of baptism He founded in His
own person , because "in all things having the pre-eminence ," He taught that He Himself
was the Beginning. And He ratified the power of re-birth on that occasion, when from His
side flowed out the blood of ransom and the water of baptism .

2 As, therefore, the Old Testament was the witness to the new, and "the law was given by
Moses: but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ ; as the divers sacrifices prefigured
the one Victim, and the slaughter of many lambs was ended by the offering up of Him, of
whom it is said, "Behold the Lamb of God; behold Him that taketh away the sin of the world
; so too John, not Christ, but Christ's forerunner, not the bridegroom, but the friend of
the bridegroom, was so faithful in seeking, "not His own, but the things which are Jesus
Christ's ," as to profess himself unworthy to undo the shoes of His feet: seeing that He
Himself indeed baptized "in water unto repentance," but He who with twofold power should
both restore life and destroy sins, was about to "baptize in the Holy Ghost and fire .
then, beloved brethren, all these distinct proofs come before you, whereby to the removal
of all doubt you recognize that in baptizing the elect who, according to the Apostolic
rule have to be purged by exorcisms, sanctified by fastings and instructed by frequent
sermons, two seasons only are to be observed, viz. Easter and Whitsuntide: we charge you,
brother, to make no further departure from the Apostolic institutions. Because hereafter
no one who thinks the Apostolic rules can be set at defiance will go unpunished.

VIII. The Sicilian Bishops are to Send Three Theirnumber to Each of the Half-Yearly
Meetings of Bishops at Rome.

1 Wherefore we require this first and foremost for the keeping of perfect harmony, that,
according to the wholesome rule of the holy Fathers that there should be two meetings of
bishops every year , three of you should appear without fail each time, on the 29th of
September, to join in the council of the brethren: for thus, by the aid of Gov's grace, we
shall the easier guard against the rise of offences and errors in Christ's Church: and
this council must always meet and deliberate in the presence of the blessed Apostle Peter,
that all his constitutions and canonical decrees may remain inviolate with all the Lord's
priests. These matters, upon which we thought it necessary to instruct you by the
inspiration of the Lord, we wish brought to your knowledge by our brothers and fellow-
bishops, Bacillus and Paschasinus. May we learn by their report that the institutions of
the Apostolic See are reverently observed by you. Dated 21 Oct., in the consulship of the
illustrious Alipius and Ardaburis (447).

LETTER 17

1 To all the bishops of Sicily (forbidding the sale of church property except for the
advantage of the church). Leo, the pope( ), to all the bishops of Sicily. 2 The occasion
of specific complaints claims our attention as having "the care of all the churches," that
we should make a perpetual decree precluding all bishops from adopting as a practice what
in two churches of your province has been unscrupulously suggested and wrongfully carried
out. Upon the clergy of the church in Tauromenium deploring the destitution they were in
from the bishop having squandered all its estates by selling giving away, and otherwise
disposing of them, the clergy of Panormus, who have lately had a new bishop, raised a
similar complaint about the misgovernment of the former bishop in the holy synod, at which
we were presiding. Although, therefore, we have already given instructions as to what is
for the advantage of both Churches, yet test this vicious example of abominable plundering
should hereafter be taken as a precedent, we wish to make this our formal command binding
on you, beloved, for ever. We decree, therefore, that no bishopwithout exception shall
dare to give away, or to exchange, or to sell any of the property of his church: unless he
foresees an advantage likely to accrue from so doing, and after consultation with the
whole of the clergy, and with their consent he decides upon what will undoubtedly profit
that church. For presbyters, or deacons, or clerics of any rank who have connived at the
churches losses, must know that they will be deprived of both rank and communion: because
it is absolutely fair, beloved brethren, that not only the bishop, but also the whole of
the clergy should advance the interests of their church and keep the gifts unimpaired of
those who have contributed their own substance to tile churches for the salvation of their
souls. Dated 20 Oct., in the consulship of the illustrious Calepius (447).

LETTER 18: TO JANUARIUS, BISHOP OF AQUILEIA

1 Leo, bishop of the city of Rome, to Januarius, bishop of Aquileia. Those who renounce
heresy and schism and return to the Church must make their recantation very clear: those
who are clerics may retain their rank but not be promoted. 2 On reading your letter,
brother, we recognized the vigour of your faith, which we already were aware of, and
congratulate you on the watchful care you bestow as pastor. on the keeping of Christ's
flock: lest the wolves, that enter in under guise of sheep, should tear the simple ones to
pieces in their bestial fierce- ness, and not only themselves run riot without restraint,
but also spoil those which are sound. And lest the vipery deceit should effect this, we
have thought it meet to warn you, beloved, reminding you that it is at the peril of his
soul, for any one of them who has fallen away from us into a sect of heretics and
schismatics , and stained himself to whatever extent with the pollution of heretical
communion, to be received into catholic communion on coming to his senses without making
legitimate and express satisfaction. For it is most wholesome and full of all the benefits
of spiritual healing that presbyters or deacons, or sub-deacons or clerics of any rank,
who wish to appear reformed, and entreat to return once more to the catholic Faith which
they had long ago lost, should first confess without ambiguity that their errors and the
authors of the errors themselves are condemned by them, that their base opinions may be
utterly destroyed, and no hope survive of their recurrence, and that no member may be
harmed by contact with them, every point having been met with its proper recantation.

3 With regard to them we also order the observance of this regulation of the canons , that
they consider it a great indulgence, if they be allowed to remain undisturbed in their
present rank without any hope of further advancement: but only on consideration of their
not being defiled with second baptism . No slight penalty does he incur from the Lord, who
judges any such person fit to be advanced to Holy Orders. If advancement is granted to
those who are without blame, only after full examination, how much more ought it to be
refused to those who are under suspicion. Accordingly, beloved brother, in whose devotion
we rejoice, bestow your care on our directions, and take order for the circumspect and
speedy carrying out of these laudable suggestions and wholesome injunctions, which affect
the welfare of the whole Church. But do not doubt, beloved, that, if what we decree for
the observance of the canons, and the integrity of the Faith be neglected (which we do not
anticipate), we shall be strongly moved: because the faults of the lower orders are to be
referred to none more than to slothful and careless governors, who often foster much
disease by refusing to apply the needful remedy. Dated 30 Dec., in the consulship of the
illustrious Calepius and Ardaburis (447).

LETTER 19: TO DORUS, BISHOP OF BENEVENTUM

1 Leo, bishop, to Dorus his well-beloved brother.

I. He Rebukes Dorus Far Allowing a Junior Presbyter to Be Promoted Over the Heads of the
Seniors, and the First and Second in Seniority for Acquiescing.

2 We grieve that the judgment, which we hoped to entertain of you, has been frustrated by
our ascertaining that you have done things which by their blame-worthy novelty infringe
the whole system of Church discipline: although you know full well with what care we wish
the provisions of the canons to be kept through all the churches of the Lord, and the
priests of all the peoples to consider it their especial duty to prevent the violation of
the rules of the holy constitutions by any extravagances. We are surprised, therefore,
that you who ought to have been a strict observer of the injunctions of the Apostolic See
have acted so carelessly, or rather so contumaciously, as to show yourself not a guardian,
but a breaker of the laws handed on to you. For from the report of your presbyter, Paul,
which is subjoined, we have learnt that the order of the presbyterate has been thrown into
confusion with you by strange intrigues and vile collusion; in such a way that one man has
been hastily and prematurely promoted, and others passed over whose advancement was
recommended by their age, and who were charged with no fault. But if the eagerness of an
intriguer or the ignorant zeal of his supporters demanded that which custom never allowed,
viz., that a beginner should be preferred to veterans, and a mere boy to men of years, it
was your duty by diligence and teaching to check the improper desires of the petitioners
with all reasonable authority:

3 lest he whom you advanced hastily to the priestly rank should enter on his office to the
detriment of those with whom he associated and become demoralized by the growth within
him, not of the virtue of humility, but of the vice of conceit . For you were not unaware
that the Lord had said that "he that humbleth himself shall be exalted: but he that
exalteth himself shall be humbled ," and also had said, "but ye seek from little to
increase, and from the greater to be less . For both actions are out of order and out of
place : and all the fruit of men's labours is lost, all the measure of their deserts is
rendered void, if the gaining of dignity is proportioned to the amount of flattery used:
so that the eagerness to be eminent belittles not only the aspirer himself, but also him
that connives at him. But if, as is asserted, the first and second presbyter were so
agreeable to Epicarpius being put over their heads as to demand his being honoured to
their own disgrace, that which they wished ought not to have been granted them when they
were voluntarily degrading themselves: because it would have been worthier of you to
oppose than to yield to such a pitiable wish. But their base and cowardly submission could
not be to the prejudice of others whose consciences were good, and who had not done
despite to God's grace;

4 so that, whatever the transaction was whereby they gave up their precedence to another,
they could not lower the dignity of those that came next to them, nor because they had
placed the last above themselves, could he take precedence of the rest.

II. The Presbyters, Who Gave Way, to Be Degraded with the Usurper to the Bottom: the Rest
to Keep Their Places.

5 The aforesaid presbyters, therefore, who have declared themselves unworthy of their
proper rank, though they even deserved to be deprived of their priesthood; yet, that we
may show the gentleness of the Apostolic See in sparing them, are to be put last of all
the presbyters of the Church: and that they may bear their own sentence, they shall be
below him also whom they preferred to themselves by their own judgment: all the other
presbyters remaining in the order which the time of his ordination assigns to each. And
let none except the two aforesaid suffer any loss of dignity, but let this disgrace attach
to those only who chose to put themselves below a junior who had only lately been
ordained: that they may feel that that sentence of the gospels applies to themselves when
it is said: "with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye
mete, the same shall be measured unto you ." But let Paul the presbyter retain his place
from which with praiseworthy firmness he did not budge: and let no further encroachments
be made to any one's harm: so that you, beloved, who not undeservedly get the discredit of
the whole matter, may with all speed take measures to cure it at least by putting these
our injunctions into effect; lest, if a second time a just complaint be lodged with us, we
be forced into stronger displeasure: for we would rather restore discipline by correcting
what is done wrong, than increase the punishment. Know that we have entrusted the carrying
out of our commands to our brother and fellow-bishop Julius, that all things may
straightway be established, as we have ordained. Dated 8th March, in the consulship of the
illustrious Postumianus (448).

LETTER 20: TO EUTYCHES, AN ABBOT OF CONSTANTINOPLE

1 Leo, the bishop, to his dearly-beloved son, Eutyches, presbyter. He thanks him far his
information about the revival of Nestorianism and commends his zeal. You have brought to
our knowledge, beloved, by your letter that through the activity of some the heresy of
Nestorius has been again reviving. We reply that your solicitude in this matter has
pleased us, since the remarks we have received are an indication of your mind. Wherefore
do not doubt that the Lord, the Founder of the catholic Faith, will befriend you in all
things. And when we have been able to ascertain more fully by whose wickedness this
happens, we must make provision with the help of God for the complete uprooting of this
poisonous growth which has long ago been condemned. God keep thee safe, my beloved son.
Dated 1st June, in the consulship of the illustrious Postumianus and Zeno (448).

I. He States His Account of the Proceedings at the Synod.

1 God the Word is before all else my witness, being confident of my hope and faith in
Christ the Lord and God of all, and discerning the proof of my holding the truth in these
matters: but I call on your holiness, too, to bear witness to my heart and to the
reasonableness of my opinions and words. But the wicked devil has exercised his evil
influence upon my zeal and determination, whereby his power ought to have been destroyed.
Whereupon he has exerted all his proper power and aroused Eusebius, bishop of the town of
Dorylaeum, against me, who presented an allegation to the holy bishop of the church in
Constantinople, Flavian, and to certain others whom he found in the same city assembled on
various matters of their own: in this he called me heretic, not raising any true
accusation but contriving destruction for me and disturbance for the churches of God.

2 Their holinesses summoned me to reply to his accusation: but though I was delayed by a
serious illness besides my advanced age, I came to clear myself, knowing well that a
faction had been formed against my safety. And, indeed, together with a writ of appeal to
which my signature was appended, I offered them a statement showing my confession upon the
holy Faith. But when the holy Flavian did not receive the document, nor order it to be
read, yet heard me in reply utter word for word that Faith which was put forth at Nicaea
by the holy Synod, and confirmed at Ephesus, I was required to acknowledge two natures,
and to anathematize those who denied this. But I, fearing the decision of the synod, and
not wishing either to take away or to add one word contrary to the Faith put forth by the
holy Synod of Nicaea, knowing, too, that our holy and blessed fathers and bishops Julius,
Felix, Athanasius, and Gregorius rejected the phrase "two natures," and not daring to
discuss the nature of God the Word, who came into flesh in the last days entering the womb
of the holy virgin Mary unchangeably as he willed and knew, becoming man in reality, not
in fancy, nor yet venturing to anathematize our aforesaid Fathers, I asked them to let
your holiness know these things, that you might judge what seemed right to you,
undertaking by all means co follow your ruling.

II. His Explanations Were Allowed No Hearing.

1 But without listening to any thing which I said, they broke up the Synod and published
the sentence of my degradation, which they were getting ready against me before the
inquiry. So much slander were they factiously making up against me that even my safety
would have been endangered had not the help of God at the intercession of your holiness
quickly snatched me from the assault of military force. Then they began to force the heads
of other monasteries to subscribe to my degradation (a thing which was never done either
towards those who have professed themselves heretics, nor even against Nestorius himself),
insomuch that when to reassure the people I tried to set forth statements of my faith, not
only did they, who were plotting the aforesaid faction against me, prevent them being
heard, but also seized them that straightway I might be held a heretic before all.

III. He Appeals to Leo for Protection.

1 I take refuge, therefore, with you the defender of religion and abhorrer of such
factions, bringing in even still nothing strange against the faith as it was originally
handed down to us, but anathematizing Apollinaris, Valentinus, Manes, and Nestorius, and
those who say that the flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour, descended from heaven
and not from the Holy Ghost and from the holy Virgin, along with all heresies down to
Simon Magus. Yet nevertheless I stand in jeopardy of my life as a heretic. I beseech you
not to be prejudiced against me by their insidious designs about me, but to pronounce the
sentence which shall seem to you right upon the Faith, and in future not to allow any
slander to be uttered against me by this faction, nor let one be expelled and banished
from the number of the orthodox who has spent his seventy years of lite in continence and
all chastity, so that at the very end of life he should suffer shipwreck. I have subjoined
to this my letter both documents, that which was presented by my accuser at the Synod, and
that which was brought by me but not received, as well as the statement of my faith and
those things which have been decreed upon the two natures by our holy Fathers .

Eutyches' Confession of Faith.

2 I call upon you before God, who gives life to all things, and Christ Jesus, who
witnessed that good confession under Pontius Pilate, that you do nothing by favour. For I
have held the same as my forefathers and from my boyhood have been illuminated by the same
Faith as that which was laid down by the holy Synod of 318 most blessed bishops who were
gathered at Nicaea from the whole world, and which was confirmed and ratified afresh for
sole acceptance by the holy Synod assembled at Ephesus: and I have never thought otherwise
than as the right and only true orthodox Faith has enjoined. And I agree to everything
that was laid down about the same Faith by the same holy Synod: of which Synod the leader
and chief was Cyril of blessed memory bishop of the Alexandrians, the partner and sharer
in the preaching and in the Faith of those saints and elect of God, Gregory the greater,
and the other Gregory , Basil, Athanasius, Atticus and Proclus. Him and all of them I have
held orthodox and faithful, and have honoured as saints, and have esteemed my masters. But
I utter an anathema on Nestorius, Apollinaris, and all heretics down to Simon, and those
who say that the flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ came down from heaven. For He who is the
Word of God came down from heaven without flesh and was made flesh in the holy Virgin's
womb unchangeably and unalterably as He Himself knew and willed. And He who was always
perfect God before the ages, was also made perfect man in the end of the days for us and
for our salvation. This my full profession may your holiness consider.

3 I, Eutyches, presbyter and archimandrite, have subscribed to this statement with my own
hand.

LETTER 21

1 To the most holy and God-loving father and fellow-bishop, Leo, Flavian greeting in the
Lord.

I. The Designs of the Devil Have Led Eutyches Astray.

1 There is nothing which can stay the devil's wickedness, that "restless evil, full of
deadly poison ." Above and below it "goes about," seeking "whom it may" strike, dismay,
and "devour ." Whence to watch, to be sober unto prayer, to draw near to God, to eschew
foolish questionings, to follow the fathers and not to go beyond the eternal bounds, this
we have learnt from Holy Writ. And so I give up the excess of grief and abundant tears
over the capture of one of the clergy who are under me, and whom I could not save nor
snatch from the wolf, although I was ready to lay down my life for him. How was he caught,
how did he leap away, hating the voice of the caller and turning aside also from the
memory of the Fathers and thoroughly detesting their paths. And thus I proceed with my
account.

II. The Seductions of Heretics Capture the Unwary.

1 There are some "in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves :" whom we
know by their fruit. These men seem indeed at first to be of us, but they are not of us:
"for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us ." But when they
have spewed out their impiety, throwing out the guile that is in them, and seizing the
weaker ones, and those who have their senses unpractised in the divine utterances, they
carry them along with themselves to destruction, wresting and doing despite to the
Fathers' doctrines, just as they do the Holy Scriptures also to their own destruction:
whom we must be forewarned of and take heed lest some should be misled by their wickedness
and shaken in their firmness. "For they have sharpened their tongues like serpents:
adder's poison is under their lips ," as the prophet has cried out about them.

III. Eutyches' Heresy Stated.

1 Such a one, therefore, has now shown himself amongst us, Eutyches, for many years a
presbyter and archimandrite , pretending to hold the same belief as ours, and to have the
right Faith in him: indeed he resists the blasphemy of Nestorius, and feigns a controversy
with him, but the exposition of the Faith composed by the 318 holy fathers, and the letter
that Cyril of holy memory wrote to Nestorius, and one by the same author on the same
subject to the Easterns, these writings, to which all have given their assent, he has
tried to upset, and revive the old evil dogmas of the blasphemous Valentinus and
Apollinaris. He has not feared the warning of the True King: "Whoso shall cause one of the
least of these little ones to stumble, it was better that a millstone should be hanged
about his neck, and that he should be sunk in the depth of the sea " But casting away all
shame, and shaking off the cloak which covered his error , he openly in our holy synod
persisted in saying that our Lord Jesus Christ ought not to be understood by us as having
two natures after His incarnation in one substance and in one person: nor yet that the
Lord's flesh was of the same substance with us, as if assumed from us and united to God
the Word hypostatically: but he said that the Virgin who bare him was indeed of the same
substance with us according to the flesh, but the Lord Himself did not assume from her
flesh of the same substance with us: but the Lord's body was not a man's body, although
that which issued from the Virgin was a human body. resisting all the expositions of the
holy Fathers.

IV. He Has Sent Leo the Minutes of Their Proceedings that He May See All the Details.

1 But not to make my letter too long by detailing everything, we have sent your holiness
the proceedings which some time since we took in the matter: therein we deprived him as
convicted on these charges, of his priesthood, of the management of his monastery and of
our communion: in order that your holiness also knowing the facts of his case may make his
wickedness manifest to all the God-loving bishops who are under your reverence; lest
perchance if they do not know the views which he holds, and of which he has been openly
convicted, they may be found to be in correspondence with him as a fellow-believer by
letter or by other means. I and those who are with me give much greeting to you and to all
the brotherhood in Christ. The Lord keep you in safety and prayer for us, O most God-
Loving Father

LETTER 23: TO FLAVIAN, BISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE

1 To his well-beloved brother Flavian the bishop, Leo the bishop.

I. He Complains that Flavian Has Not Sent Him a Full Account of Eutyches' Case.

2 Seeing that our most Christian and merciful Emperor, in his holy and praiseworthy faith
and anxiety for the peace of the Catholic Church, has sent us a letter upon the matters
which have roused the din of disturbance among you, we wonder, brother, that you have been
able to keep silence to us upon the scandal that has been caused, and that you did not
rather take measures for our being at once informed by your own report, that we might not
have any doubt about the truth of the case. For we have received a document from the
presbyter Eutyches , who complains that on the accusation of bishop Eusebius he has been
wrongfully deprived of communion, notwithstanding that he says he attended your summons
and did not refuse his presence: and moreover asserts that he presented a deed of appeal
in the very court, which was however not accepted: whereupon he was forced to put forth
letters of defence in the city of Constantinople. Pending which matter we do not yet know
with what justice he has been separated from the communion of the Church. But having
regard to the importance of the matter, we wish to know the reason of your action and to
have the whole thing brought to our knowledge: for we, who desire the judgments of the
Lord's priests to be deliberate, cannot without information decide one way or another,
until we have all the proceedings accurately before us.

II. And Now Demands It.

3 And therefore, brother, signify to us in a full account by the hand of the most fit and
competent person, what innovation has arisen against the ancient faith, which needed to be
corrected by so severe a sentence. For both the moderation of the Church and the devout
faith of our most godly prince insist upon our showing much anxiety for the peace of
Christendom: that dissensions may be cleared away and the Catholic Faith kept unimpaired,
and that those whose faith has been proved may be fortified by our authority, when those
who maintain what is wrong have been recalled from their error. And no difficulty can
arise on this side, since the said presbyter has professed himself by his own statement,
ready to be corrected if anything be found in him worthy of rebuke. For it beseems us in
such matters to take every precaution that charity be kept and the Truth defended without
the din of strife. And therefore because you see, beloved, that we are anxious about so
great a matter, hasten to inform us of everything in as full and clear a manner as
possible (for this ought to have been done before), lest in the cross-statements of both
sides we be misled by some uncertainty, and the dissension, which ought to be stifled in
its infancy, be fostered for our heart is impressed by God's inspiration with the need of
saving from violation by anyone's misinterpretation those constitutions of the venerable
fathers which have received Divine ratification and belong to the groundwork of the Faith.
God keep thee safe, dear brother. Dated 18 February (449), in the consulship of the
illustrious Asturius and Protogenes.

LETTER 24: TO THEODOSIUS AUGUSTUS

1 Leo the bishop, to Theodosius Augustus.

I. He Praises the Emperor's Piety and Mentions Eutyches' Appeal.

2 How much protection the Lord has vouchsafed His Church through your clemency and faith,
is shown again by this letter which you have sent me: so that we rejoice at there being
not only a kingly, but also a priestly mind within you. Seeing that, besides your imperial
and public cares, you have a most devout anxiety for the Christian religion, lest schisms
or heresies or other offences should grow up among God's people. For your realm is then in
its best state when men serve the eternal and unchangeable Trinity by the confession of
one Godhead . What the disturbance was which occurred in the Church of Constantinople, and
which could have so moved my brother and fellow-bishop Flavian, that he deprived Eutyches,
the presbyter, of communion, I have not yet been able to understand clearly. For although
the aforesaid presbyter sent in writing a complaint concerning his trouble to the
Apostolic See, yet he only briefly touched on some points, asserting that he kept the
constitutions of the Nicene synod and had been vainly blamed for difference of faith.

II. He Finds Fault with Flavian's Silence.

3 But the statement of bishop Eusebius, his accuser, copies of which the said presbyter
has sent us, contained nothing clear about his objections, and though he charged a
presbyter with heresy, he did not say expressly what opinion he disapproved of in him:
although the bishop himself also professed that he adhered to the decrees of the Nicene
synod: for which reason we had no means of learning anything more fully. And because the
method of our Faith and the laudable anxiety shown by your piety requires the merits of
the case to be known, there must now be no place allowed for deception, but we must be
informed of the points on which he considers him unsound, that the right judgment may be
passed after full information. I have sent a letter to the aforesaid bishop, from which he
may gather that I am displeased at his still keeping silence upon what has been done in so
grave a matter, when he ought to have been forward in disclosing all to us at the outset:
and we believe that even after the reminder he will acquaint us with the whole, in order
that, when what now seems obscure, has been brought into the light, judgment may be passed
agreeably to the teaching of the Gospels and the Apostles. Dated the 18th of February , in
the consulship of the illustrious Asturius and Protogenes (449).

LETTER 25: FROM PETER CHRYSOLOGUS, BISHOP OF RAVENNA, TO EUTYCHES, THE PRESBYTER

[In answer to a letter from Eutyches, he urges him to accept the decisions of the Church
on the Faith in fear and without too close inquiry, and to abide by the ruling of the
bishop of Rome.]

LETTER 26

1 To the most holy and blessed father and fellow-minister Leo, Flavian greeting in the
Lord.

I. Eutyches' Heresy Restated.

1 Nothing, as you know, most beloved of God, is more precious to priests than piety and he
right dividing of the word of truth. For all our hope and safety, and the recompense of
promised good depend thereon. For this reason we must take all pains about the true Faith,
and those things which have been set forth and decreed by the holy Fathers, that always,
and in all circumstances, they may be kept and guarded whole and uninjured. And so it was
necessary on the present occasion for us, who see the orthodox Faith suffering harm, and
the heresy of Apollinaris and Valentinus being revived by the wicked monk Eutyches, not to
overlook it, but publicly to disclose it for the people's safety. For this man: this
Eutyches, keeping his diseased and sickly opinion hid within him, has dared to attack our
gentleness, and unblushingly and shamelessly to instil his own blasphemy into many minds:
saying that before the Incarnation indeed, our Saviour Jesus Christ had two natures,
Godhead and manhood: but that after the union they became one nature not knowing what he
says, or on what he is speaking so decidedly. For even the union of the two natures that
came together in Christ did not, as your piety knows, confuse their properties in the
process: but the properties of the two natures remain entire even in the union. And he
added another blasphemy also, saying that the Lord's body which sprang from Mary was not
of our substance, nor of human matter: but, though he calls it human, he refuses to say it
was con-substantial with us or with her who bare him, according to the flesh .

II. The Means Eutyches Has Taken to Circumvent the Synod.

1 And this notwithstanding that the acts of Ephesus , in the letter written by the holy
and ecumenical synod to the wicked and deposed Nestorius, contain these express words "the
natures which came together to form true unity are indeed different: and yet from then
both there is but one Christ and Son. Not as if the difference between the two natures was
done away with through the union, but rather that these same natures, His Godhead and His
Manhood perfected for us one Lord Jesus Christ, through an ineffable and incomprehensible
meeting which resulted in unity. And this does not escape your holiness, who have no doubt
read the record of what was done at Ephesus. Yet this same Eutyches attaching no weight to
these words, thinks he is not liable to the penalties fixed by that holy and ecumenical
synod. For this reason, finding that many of the simpler-minded folk were injured in their
faith by his contention, upon his being accused by the devout Bishop Eusebius, and upon
his attending at the holy council, and with his own mouth declaring what he thought to the
members of the synod, we have deposed him for his estrangement from the true Faith, as
your holiness will learn from the resolutions passed about him: which we have sent with
this our letter.

2 Moreover, it is fair in my opinion that you should be told this also that this same
Eutyches, after suffering just and canonical deposition, instead of making amends for his
earlier by his later conduct , and appeasing God by careful penitence and many tears, and
by a true repentance, comforting our heart which was greatly saddened at his fall: not
only did not do so, but even made every effort to throw the most holy church of this place
into confusion: setting up in public placards full of insults and maledictions, and beyond
this addressing his entreaties to our most religious and Christ-loving Emperor, and these
too over-flowing with arrogance and sauciness, whereby he tried to override the divine
canons in everything.

III. He Acknowledges the Receipt of Leo's Letter.

1 But after all this had occurred, your holiness' letter was conveyed to us by the most
honourable count Pansophius: and from it we learnt that the same Eutyches had sent you a
letter full of falsehood and cunning, saying that at the time of trial he had presented
letters of appeal to us, and to the holy synod of bishops who were then present, and had
appealed to your holiness: this he certainly never did, but in this matter, too, he has
been guilty of deceit, like the father of lies, thinking to gain your ear. Therefore, most
holy father, being stirred by all that he has ventured, and by what has been done, and is
being done against us and the most holy Church, use your accustomed promptitude as becomes
the priesthood, and in defending the commonweal and peace of the holy churches, consent by
your own letter to endorse the resolution that has been canonically passed against him,
and to confirm the faith of our most religious and Christ-loving Emperor. For the matter
only requires your weight and support, which through your wisdom will at once bring about
general peace and quietness. For thus both the heresy which has arisen, and the disorder
it has excited, will easily be appeased by God's assistance through a letter from you: and
the rumoured synod will also be prevented, and so the most holy churches throughout the
world need not be disturbed. I and all that are with me salute all the brethren that are
with you. May you be granted to us safe in the Lord, and still praying for us, O most God-
Loving and Holy Father.


LETTERS OF LEO THE GREAT
========================

LETTERS OF LEO THE GREAT continued

LETTER 27: TO FLAVIAN, BISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE

1 Leo to Flavian, bishop of Constantinople. An acknowledgment of Flavian's first letter
and a promise of a fuller reply. On the first opportunity we could find, which was the
coming of our honourable son Rodanus, we acknowledge, beloved, the arrival of your packet
, which was to give us information about the case which has been stirred up to our grief
among you by misguided error. Since this man, who has long seemed to be religiously
disposed, has expressed himself in the Faith otherwise than is right, though he never
ought to have departed from the catholic tradition, but to have persevered in the same
belief as is held by all. But on this matter we are replying more fully by him who brought
your letter to us, beloved: that we may give you all necessary instructions, beloved, on
the whole matter. For we do not allow either him to persist in his perverse conviction; or
you, beloved, who with such faithful zeal are resisting his wrong and foolish error to be
long disturbed by the adversary's opposition. Our aforesaid son, by whom we are sending
this letter, we desire you to receive with the affection he deserves, and to reply when he
returns to us. Dated 21st May in the consulship of Asturius and Protogenes (449).

I. Eutyches Has Been Driven into His Error by Presumption and Ignorance .

1 Having read your letter, beloved, at the late arrival of which we are surprised , and
having perused the detailed account of the bishops' acts , we have at last found out what
the scandal was which had arisen among you against the purity of the Faith: and what
before seemed concealed has now been unlocked and laid open to our view: from which it is
shown that Eutyches, who used to seem worthy of all respect in virtue of his priestly
office, is very unwary and exceedingly ignorant, so that it is even of him that the
prophet has said: "he refused to understand so as to do well: he thought upon iniquity in
his bed ." But what more iniquitous than to hold blasphemous opinions , and not to give
way to those who are wiser and more learned than ourself. Now into this unwisdom fall they
who, finding themselves hindered from knowing the truth by some obscurity, have recourse
not to the prophets' utterances, not to the Apostles' letters, nor to the injunctions of
the Gospel but to their own selves: and thus they stand out as masters of error because
they were never disciples of truth. For what learning has he acquired about the pages of
the New and Old Testament, who has not even grasped the rudiments of the Creed? And that
which, throughout the world, is professed by the mouth of every one who is to be born
again , is not yet taken in by the heart of this old man.

II. Concerning the Twofold Nativity and Nature of Christ.

1 Not knowing, therefore, what he was bound to think concerning the incarnation of the
Word of God, and not wishing to gain the light of knowledge by researches through the
length and breadth of the Holy Scriptures, he might at least have listened attentively to
that general and uniform confession, whereby the whole body of the faithful confess that
they believe in God the Father Almighty, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son , our Lord, who
was born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. By which three statements the devices of
almost all heretics are overthrown. For not only is God believed to be both Almighty and
the Father, but the Son is shown to be co-eternal with Him, differing in nothing from the
Father because He is God from. God , Almighty from Almighty, and being born from the
Eternal one is co-eternal with Him; not later in point of time, not lower in power, not
unlike in glory, not divided in essence: but at the same time the only begotten of the
eternal Father was born eternal of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. And this nativity
which took place in time took nothing from, and added nothing to that divine and eternal
birth, but expended itself wholly on the restoration of man who had been deceived : in
order that he might both vanquish death and overthrow by his strength , the Devil who
possessed the power of death. For we should not now be able to overcome the author of sin
and death unless He took our nature on Him and made it His own, whom neither sin
couldpollute nor death retain. Doubtless then, He was conceived of the Holy Spirit within
the womb of His Virgin Mother, who brought Him forth without the loss of her virginity,
even as she conceived Him without its loss.

2 But if He could not draw a rightful understanding (of the matter) from this pure source
of the Christian belief, because He had darkened the brightness of the clear truth by a
veil of blindness peculiar to Himself, He might have submitted Himself to the teaching of
the Gospels. And when Matthew speaks of "the Book of the Generation of Jesus Christ, the
Son of David, the Son of Abraham ," He might have also sought out the instruction afforded
by the statements of the Apostles. And reading in the Epistle to the Romans, "Paul, a
servant of Jesus Christ, called an Apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God, which He had
promised before by His prophets in the Holy Scripture concerning His son, who was made
unto Him of the seed of David after the flesh ," he might have bestowed a loyal
carefulness upon the pages of the prophets. And finding the promise of God who says to
Abraham, "In thy seed shall all nations be blest ," to avoid all doubt as to the reference
of this seed, he might have followed the Apostle when He says, "To Abraham were the
promises made and to his seed. He saith not and to seeds, as if in many, but as it in one,
and to thy seed which is Christ .

3 Isaiah's prophecy also he might have grasped by a closer attention to what he says,
"Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and they shall call His name Immanuel,"
which is interpreted "God with us . And the same prophet's words he might have read
faithfully. "A child is born to us, a Son is given to us, whose power is upon His
shoulder, and they shall call His name the Angel of the Great Counsel, Wonderful,
Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Prince of Peace, the Father of the age to come . And then
he would not speak so erroneously as to say that the Word became flesh in such a way that
Christ, born of the Virgin's womb, had the form of man, but had not the reality of His
mother's body . Or is it possible that he thought our Lord Jesus Christ was not of our
nature for this reason, that the angel, who was sent to the blessed Mary ever Virgin,
says, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Most High shall overshadow
thee: and therefore that Holy Thing also that shall be born of thee shall be called the
Son of God ," on the supposition that as the conception of the Virgin was a Divine act,
the flesh of the conceived did not partake of the conceiver's nature?

4 But that birth so uniquely wondrous and so wondrously unique, is not to be understood in
such wise that the properties of His kind were removed through the novelty of His
creation. For though the Holy Spirit imparted fertility to the Virgin, yet a real body was
received from her body; and, "Wisdom building her a house ," "the Word became flesh and
dwelt in us ," that is, in that flesh which he took from man and which he quickened with
the breath of a higher life .

III. The Faith and Counsel of God In Regard to the Incarnation of the Word are Set Forth.

1 Without detriment therefore to the properties of either nature and substance which then
came together in one person , majesty took on humility, strength weakness, eternity
mortality: and for the paying off of the debt belonging to our condition inviolable nature
was united with possible nature, so that, as suited the needs of our case , one and the
same Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, could both die with the one and
not die with the other. Thus in the whole and perfect nature of true man was true God
born, complete in what was His own, complete in what was ours. And by "ours" we mean what
the Creator formed in us from the beginning and what He undertook to repair. For what the
Deceiver brought in and man deceived committed, had no trace in the Saviour. Nor, because
He partook of man's weaknesses, did He therefore share our faults. He took the form of a
slave without stain of sin, increasing the human and not diminishing the divine: because
that emptying of Himself whereby the Invisible made Himself visible and, Creator and Lord
of all things though He be, wished to be a mortal, was the bending down of pity, not the
failing of power. Accordingly He who while remaining in the form of God made man, was also
made man in the form of a slave. For both natures retain their own proper character
without loss:

2 and as the form of God did not do away with the form of a slave, so the form of a slave
did not impair the form of God. For inasmuch as the Devil used to boast that man had been
cheated by his guile into losing the divine gifts, and bereft of the boon of immortality
had undergone sentence of death, and that he had found some solace in his troubles from
having a partner in delinquency , and that God also at the demand of the principle of
justice had changed His own purpose towards man whom He had created in such honour: there
was need for the issue of a secret counsel, that the unchangeable God whose will cannot be
robbed of its own kindness, might carry out the first design of His Fatherly care towards
us by a more hidden mystery ; and that man who had been driven into his fault by the
treacherous cunning of the devil might not perish contrary to the purpose of God .

IV. The Properties of the Twofold Nativity and Nature of Christ are Weighed One Against
Another.

1 There enters then these lower parts of the world the Son of God, descending from His
heavenly home and yet not quitting His Father's glory, begotten in a new order by a new
nativity. In a new order, because being invisible in His own nature, He became visible in
ours, and He whom nothing could contain was content to be contained : abiding before all
time He began to be in time: the Lord of all things, He obscured His immeasurable majesty
and took on Him the form of a servant: being God that cannot suffer, He did not disdain to
be man that can, and, immortal as He is, to subject Himself to the laws of death. The Lord
assumed His mother's nature without her faultiness: nor in the Lord Jesus Christ, born of
the Virgin's womb, does the wonderfulness of His birth make His nature unlike ours. For He
who is true God is also true man: and in this union there is no lie , since the humility
of manhood and the loftiness of the Godhead both meet there. For as God is not changed by
the showing of pity, so man is not swallowed up by the dignity. For each form does what is
proper to it with the co-operation of the other ; that is the Word performing what
appertains to the Word, and the flesh carrying out what appertains to the flesh. One of
them sparkles with miracles, the other succumbs to injuries.

2 And as the Word does not cease to be on an equality with His Father's glory, so the
flesh does not forego the nature of our race. For it must again and again be repeated that
one and the same is truly Son of God and truly son of man. God in that "in the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ; man in that "the Word
became flesh and dwelt in us . God in that "all things were made by Him , and without Him
was nothing made: man in that "He was made of a woman, made under law . The nativity of
the flesh was the manifestation of human nature: the childbearing of a virgin is the proof
of Divine power. The infancy of a babe is shown in the humbleness of its cradle : the
greatness of the Most High is proclaimed by the angels' voices . He whom Herod
treacherously endeavours to destroy is like ourselves in our earliest stage : but He whom
the Magi delight to worship on their knees is the Lord of all. So too when He came to the
baptism of John, His forerunner, lest He should not be known through the veil of flesh
which covered His Divinity, the Father's voice thundering from the sky, said, "This is My
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased . And thus Him whom the devil's craftiness attacks
as man, the ministries of angels serve as God.

3 To be hungry and thirsty, to be weary, and to sleep, is clearly human: but to satisfy
5,000 men with five loaves, and to bestow on the woman of Samaria living water, droughts
of which can secure the drinker from thirsting any more, to walk upon the surface of the
sea with feet that do not sink, and to quell the risings of the waves by rebuking the
winds, is, without any doubt, Divine. Just as therefore, to pass over many other
instances, it is not part of the same nature to be moved to tears of pity for a dead
friend, and when the stone that closed the four-days' grave was removed, to raise that
same friend to life with a voice of command: or, to hang on the cross, and turning day to
night, to make all the elements tremble: or, to be pierced with nails, and yet open the
gates of paradise to the robber's faith: so it is not part of the same nature to say, "I
and the Father are one," and to say, "the Father is greater than I . For although in the
Lord Jesus Christ God and man is one person, yet the source of the degradation, which is
shared by both, is one, and the source of the glory, which is shared by both, is another.
For His manhood, which is less than the Father, comes from our side: His Godhead, which is
equal to the Father, comes from the Father.

V. Christ's Flesh is Proved Real from Scripture.

1 Therefore in consequence of this unity of person which is to be understood in both
natures , we read of the Son of Man also descending from heaven, when the Son of God took
flesh from the Virgin who bore Him. And again the Son of God is said to have been
crucified and buried, although it was not actually in His Divinity whereby the Only-
begotten is co-eternal and con-substantial with the Father, but in His weak human nature
that He suffered these things. And so it is that in the Creed also we all confess that the
Only-begotten Son of God was crucified and buried, according to that saying of the
Apostle: "for if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory . But
when our Lord and Saviour Himself would instruct His disciples' faith by His questionings,
He said, "Whom do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And when they had put on record the
various opinions of other people, He said, "But ye, whom do ye say that I am? Me, that is,
who am the Son of Man, and whom ye see in the form of a slave, and in true flesh, whom do
ye say that I am? Whereupon blessed Peter, whose divinely inspired confession was destined
to profit all nations, said, "Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God .

2 And not undeservedly was he pronounced blessed by the Lord, drawing from the chief
corner-stone the solidity of power which his name also expresses, he, who, through the
revelation of the Father, confessed Him to be at once Christ and Son of God: because the
receiving of the one of these without the other was of no avail to salvation, and it was
equally perilous to have believed the Lord Jesus Christ to be either only God without man,
or only man without God. But after the Lord's resurrection (which, of course, was of His
true body, because He was raised the same as He had died and been buried), what else was
effected by the forty days' delay than the cleansing of our faith's purity from all
darkness? For to that end He talked with His disciples, and dwelt and ate with them, He
allowed Himself to be handled with diligent and curious touch by those who were affected
by doubt, He entered when the doors were shut upon the Apostles, and by His breathing upon
them gave them the Holy Spirit , and bestowing on them the light of understanding, opened
the secrets of the Holy Scriptures . So again He showed the wound in His side, the marks
of the nails, and all the signs of His quite recent suffering, saying, "See My hands and
feet, that it is I. Handle Me and see that a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me
have ;

3 in order that the properties of His Divine and human nature might be acknowledged to
remain still inseparable: and that we might know the Word not to be different from the
flesh, in such a sense as also to confess that the one Son of God iS both the Word and
flesh . Of this mystery of the faith your opponent Eutyches must be reckoned to have but
little sense if he bus recognized our nature in the Only-begotten of God neither through
the humiliation of His having to die, nor through the glory of His rising again. Nor has
he any fear of the blessed apostle and evangelist John's declaration when he says, "every
spirit which confesses Jesus Christ to have come in the flesh, is of God: and every spirit
which destroys Jesus is not of God, and this is Antichrist . But what is "to destroy
Jesus," except to take away the human nature from Him, and to render void the mystery, by
which alone we were saved, by the most barefaced fictions. The truth is that being in
darkness about the nature of Christ's body, he must also be befooled by the same blindness
in the matter of His sufferings. For if he does not think the cross of the Lord
fictitious, and does not doubt that the punishment He underwent to save the world is
likewise true, let him acknowledge the flesh of Him whose death he already believes:

4 and let him not disbelieve Him man with a body like ours, since he acknowledges Him to
have been able to suffer: seeing that the denial of His true flesh is also the denial of
His bodily suffering. If therefore he receives the Christian faith, and does not turn away
his ears from the preaching of the Gospel: let him see what was the nature that hung
pierced with nails on the wooden cross, and, when the side of the Crucified was opened by
the soldier's spear, let him understand whence it was that blood and water flowed, that
the Church of God might be watered from the font and from the cup . Let him hear also the
blessed Apostle Peter, proclaiming that the sanctification of the Spirit takes place
through the sprinkling of Christ's blood . And let him not read cursorily the same
Apostle's words when he says, "Knowing that not with corruptible things, such as silver
and gold, have ye been redeemed from your vain manner of life which is part of your
fathers' tradition, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ as of a lamb without spot
and blemish . Let him not resist too the witness of the blessed Apostle John, who says:
"and the blood of Jesus the Son of God cleanseth us from all sin . And again: "this is the
victory which overcometh the world, our faith. And "who is He that overcometh the world
save He that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God.

5 This is He that came by water and blood, Jesus Christ: not by water only, but by water
and blood. And it is the Spirit that testifieth, because the Spirit is the truth , because
there are three that bear witness, the Spirit, the water and the blood, and the three are
one . The Spirit, that is, of sanctification, and the blood of redemption, and the water
of baptism: because the three are one, and remain undivided, and none of them is separated
from this connection; because the catholic Church lives and progresses by this faith, so
that in Christ Jesus neither the manhood without the true Godhead nor the Godhead without
the true manhood is believed in.

VI. The Wrong and Mischievous Concession of Eutyches. The Terms on Which He May Be
Restored to Communion. The Sending of Deputies to the East.

1 But when during your cross-examination Eutyches replied and said, "I confess that our
Lord had two natures before the union but after the union I confess but one ," I am
surprised that so absurd and mistaken a statement of his should not have been criticised
and rebuked by his judges, and that an utterance which reaches the height of stupidity and
blasphemy should be allowed to pass as if nothing offensive had been heard: for the
impiety of saying that the Son of God was of two natures before His incarnation is only
equalled by the iniquity of asserting that there was but one nature in Him after "the Word
became flesh. And to the end that Eutyches may not think this a right or defensible
opinion because it was not contradicted by any expression of yourselves, we warn you
beloved brother, to take anxious care that if ever through the inspiration of God's mercy
the case is brought to a satisfactory conclusion, his ignorant mind be purged from this
pernicious idea as well as others. He was, indeed, just beginning to beat a retreat from
his erroneous conviction, as the order of proceedings shows , in so far as when hemmed in
by your remonstrances he agreed to say what he had not said before and to acquiesce in
that belief to which before he had been opposed.

2 However, when he refused to give his consent to the anathematizing of his blasphemous
dogma, you understood, brother , that he abode by his treachery and deserved to receive a
verdict of condemnation. And yet, if he grieves over it faithfully and to good purpose,
and, late though it be, acknowledges how rightly the bishops' authority has been set in
motion; or if with his own mouth and hand in your presence he recants his wrong
opinions,no mercy that is shown to him when penitent can be found fault with : because our
Lord,that true and "good shepherd" who laid downHis life for His sheep and who came to
save not lose men's souls , wishes us to imitate His kindness ; in order that while
justice constrains us when we sin, mercy may prevent our rejection when we have returned.
For then at last is the true Faith most profitably defended when a false belief is
condemned even by the supporters of it.

3 Now for the loyal and faithful execution of the whole matter, we have appointed to
represent us our brothers Julius Bishop and Renatus priest [of the Title of S. Clement],
as well as my son Hilary , deacon. And with them we have associated Dulcitius our notary,
whose faith is well approved: being sure that the Divine help will be given us, so that he
who had erred may be saved when the wrongness of his view has been condemned. God keep you
safe, beloved brother. The 13 June, 449, in the consulship of the most illustrious
Asturius and Protogenes.

LETTER 29: TO THEODOSIUS AUGUSTUS

To Caesar Theodosius, the most religious and devout Augustus Leo pope of the Catholic
Church of the city of Rome . He notifies the appointment of his representatives at the
Council of Ephesus. How much God's providence vouchsafes to consult for the interests of
men is shown by your merciful care which, incited by God's Spirit, is unwilling that
thereshould be any disturbance or difference: since the Faith, which is absolutely one,
cannot be different from itself in any thing. Hence although Eutyches, as the minutes of
the bishops' proceeds reveals, has been detected in an ignorant and unwise error, and
ought to have withdrawn from his conviction which is rightly condemned, yet since your
piety which loves the Catholic Truth with great jealousy for God's honour, has determined
on a synodal judgment at Ephesus, that that Truth on which he is blind may be brought home
to the ignorant old man; I have sent my brothers Julius the Bishop, Renatus the presbyter,
and my son Hilary the deacon to act as my representatives as the matter requires, and they
shall bring with them such a spirit of justice and kindness that while the whole misguided
error is condemned (for there can be no doubt as to what is the integrity of the Christian
Faith), yet if he who has gone astray repents and entreats for pardon, he may receive the
succour of priestly indulgence: seeing that in his appeal which he sent us, he reserved to
himself the right of earning our forgiveness by promising to correct whatever our opinion
disapproved of in his opinion. But what the catholic Church universally believes and
teaches on the mystery of the Lord's Incarnation is contained more fully in the letter
which I have sent to my brother and fellow-bishop Flavian. Dated 13th June in the
consulship of the illustrious Asturius and Protogenes (449).

LETTER 30: TO PULCHERIA AUGUSTA

Much shorter than, but to nearly the same effect as, xxxi., which was written on the same
day as this. As xxx. has a Greek translation accompanying it and is duly dated, whereas
xxxi. has neither, the Ballerinii would seem to be correct in thinking that xxx. was
despatched but did not reach Pulcheria (cf. Lett. xlv. i.) and that xxxi. was for some
reason never used. Of the two we have printed xxxi. by preference, as being the fuller
discussion of the subject.

LETTER 31

1 Leo to Pulcheria Augusta.

I. He Reminds Pulcheria of Her Former Services to the Church, and Suggests Her
Interference in the Eutychian Controversy.

1 How much protection the Lord has extended to His Church through your clemency, we have
often tested by many signs. And whatever stand the strenuousness of the priesthood has
made in our times against the assailers of the catholic Truth, has redounded chiefly to
your glory: seeing that, as you have learnt from the teaching of the Holy Spirit, you
submit your authority in all things to Him, by whose favour and under whose protection you
reign. Wherefore, because I have ascertained from my brother and fellow-bishop Flavian's
report, that a certain dispute has been raised through the agency of Eutyches in the
church of Constantinople against the integrity of the Christian faith (and the text of the
synod's minutes has shown me the exact nature of the whole matter), it is worthy of your
great name that the error which in my opinion proceeds rather from ignorance than
ingenuity, should be dispelled before, with the pertinacity of wrong-headedness, it gains
any strength from the support of the unwise. Because even ignorance sometimes falls into
serious mistakes, and very frequently the simple-minded rush through unwariness into the
devil's pit: and it is thus, I believe, that the spirit of falsehood has crept over
Eutyches: so that, whilst he imagines himself to appreciate the majesty of the Son of God
more devoutly, by denying in Him the real presence of our nature, he came to the
conclusion that the whole of that Word which "became flesh" was of one and the same
essence.

2 And greatly as Nestorius fell away from the Truth, in asserting that Christ was only
born man of His mother, this man also departs no less far from the catholic path, who does
not believe that our substance was brought forth from the same Virgin: wishing it of
course to be understood as belonging to His Godhead only; so that that which took the form
of a slave, and was like us and of the same form , was a kind of image, not the reality of
our nature.

II. Man's Salvation Required the Union of the Two Natures in Christ.

1 But it is of no avail to say that our Lord, the Son of the blessed Virgin Mary, was true
and perfect man, if He is not believed to be Man of that stock which is attributed to Him
in the Gospel. For Matthew says, "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of
David, the son of Abraham : and follows the order of His human origin, so as to bring the
lines of His ancestry down to Joseph to whom the Lord's mother was espoused. Whereas Luke
going backwards step by step traces His succession to the first of the human race himself,
to show that the first Adam and the last Adam were of the same nature. No doubt the
Almighty Son of God could have appeared for the purpose of teaching, and justifying men in
exactly the same way that He appeared both to patriarchs and prophets in the semblance of
flesh ; for instance, when He engaged in a struggle, and entered into conversation (with
Jacob), or when He refused not hospitable entertainment, and even partook of the food set
before Him. But these appearances were indications of that Man whose reality it was
announced by mystic predictions would be assumed from the stock of preceding patriarchs.
And the fulfilment of the mystery of our atonement, which was ordained from all eternity,
was not assisted by any figures because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon the Virgin,
and the power of the Most High had not over-shadowed her:

2 so that "Wisdom building herself a house " within her undefiled body, "the Word became
flesh; and the form of God and the form of a slave coming together into one person, the
Creator of times was born in time; and He Himself through whom all things were made, was
brought forth in the midst of all things. For if the New Man had not been made in the
likeness of sinful flesh, and taken on Him our old nature, and being consubstantial with
the Father, had deigned to be consubstantial with His mother also, and being alone free
from sin, had united our nature to Him the whole human race would be held in bondage
beneath the Devil's yoke , and we should not be able to make use of the Conqueror's
victory, if it had been won outside our nature.

III. From the Union of the Two Natures Flows the Grace of Baptism. He Makes a Direct
Appeal to Pulcheria for Her Help.

1 But from Christ's marvellous sharing of the two natures, the mystery of regeneration
shone upon us that through the self-same spirit, through whom Christ was conceived and
born, we too, who were born through the desire of the flesh, might be born again from a
spiritual source: and consequently, the Evangelist speaks of believers as those "who were
born not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God ."
And of this unutterable grace no one is a partaker, nor can be reckoned among the adopted
sons of God, who excludes from his faiththat which is the chief means of our salvation.
Wherefore, I am much vexed and saddened that this man, who seemed before so laudably
disposed towards humility, dares to make these empty and stupid attacks on the one Faith
of ourselves and of our fathers. When he saw that his ignorant notion offended the ears of
catholics, he ought to have withdrawn from his opinion, and not to have so disturbed the
Church's rulers, as to deserve a sentence of condemnation: which, of course, no one will
be able to remit, if he is determined to abide by his notion. For the moderation of the
Apostolic See uses its leniency in such a way as to deal severely with the contumacious,
while desiring to offer pardon to those who accept correction. Seeing then that I possess
great confidence in your lofty faith and piety, I entreat your illustrious clemency, that,
as the preaching of the catholic Faith has always been aided by your holy zeal, so now,
also, you will maintain its free action. Perchance the Lord allowed it to be thus assailed
for this reason that we might discover what sort of persons lurked within the Church. And
clearly, we must not neglect to look after such, lest we be afflicted with their actual
loss.

IV. His Personal Presence at the Council Must Be Excused.the Question at Issue is a
Verygrave One.

1 But the most august and Christian Emperor, being anxious that the disturbances may be
set at rest with all speed, has appointed too short and early a date for the council of
bishops, which he wishes held at Ephesus, in fixing the first of August for the meeting:
for from the fifth of May, on which we received His Majesty's letter, most of the time
remaining has to be spent in making complete arrangements for the journey of such priests
as are competent to represent me. For as to the necessity of my attending the council
also, which his piety suggested, even if there were any precedent for the request, it
could by no means be managed now: for the very uncertain state of things at present would
not permit my absence from the people of this great city: and the minds of the riotously-
disposed might be driven to desperate deeds, if they were to think that I took occasion of
ecclesiastical business to desert my country and the Apostolic See. As then you recognize
that it concerns the public weal that with your merciful indulgence I should not deny
myself to the affectionate prayers of my people, consider that in these my brethren, whom
I have sent in my stead, I also am present with the rest who appear: to them I have
clearly and fully explained what is to be maintained in view of the satisfactory
exposition of the case which has been given, me by the detailed report, and by the
defendant's own statement to me.

2 For the question is not about some small portion of our Faith on which no very distinct
declaration has been made: but the foolish opposition that is raised ventures to impugn
that which our Lord desired no one of either sex in the Church to be ignorant of. For the
short but complete confession of the catholic creed which contains the twelve sentences of
the twelve apostles is so well furnished with the heavenly panoply, that all the opinions
of heretics can receive their death-blow from that one weapon. And if Eutyches had been
content to receive that creed in its entirety with a pure and simple heart, he would at no
point go astray from the decrees of the most sacred council of Nicaea, and he would
understand that the holy Fathers laid this down, to the end that no mental or rhetorical
ingenuity should lift itself up against the Apostolic Faith which is absolutely one. Deign
then, with your accustomed piety to do your best endeavour, that this blasphemous and
foolish attack upon the one and only sacrament of man's salvation may be driven from all
men's minds. And if the man himself, who has fallen into this temptation, recover his
senses, so as to condemn his own error by a written recantation, let him not be denied
communion with his order . Your clemency is to know that I have written in the same strain
to the holy bishop Flavian also: that loving-kindness be not lost sight of, if the error
be dispelled.

3 Dated 13 June in the consulship of the illustrious Asturius and Protogenes (449).

LETTER 32: TO THE ARCHIMANDRITES OF CONSTANTINOPLE

1 To his well-beloved sons Faustus, Martinus, and the rest of the archimandrites, Leo the
bishop. He acknowledges their zeal and refers them to the Tome.As on behalf of the faith
which Eutyches has tried to disturb, I was sending legates de latere to assist the defence
of the Truth, I thought it fitting that I should address a letter to you also, beloved:
whom I know for certain to be so zealous in the cause of religion that you can by no means
listen calmly to such blasphemous and profane utterances: for the Apostle's command
lingers in your hearts, in which it is said, "If any man hath preached unto you any gospel
other than that which he received, let him be anathema . And we also decide that the
opinion of the said Eutyches is to be rejected, which, as we have learnt from perusing the
proceedings, has been deservedly condemned: so that, if its foolish maintainer will abide
by his perverseness, he may have fellowship with those whose error he has followed. For
one who says that Christ had not a human, that is our, nature, is deservedly put out of
Christ's Church. But, if he be corrected through the pity of God's Spirit and acknowledge
his wicked error, so as to condemn unreservedly what catholics reject, we wish him not to
be denied mercy, that the Lord's Church may suffer no loss: for the repentant can always
be readmitted, it is only error that must be shut out.

2 Upon the mystery of great godliness , whereby through the Incarnation of the Word of God
comes our justification and redemption, what is our opinion, drawn from the tradition of
the fathers, is now sufficiently explained according to my judgment in the letter which I
have sent to our brother Flavian the bishop : so that through the declaration of your
chief you may know what, according to the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, we desire to be
fixed in the hearts of all the faithful. Dated 13th June, in the consulship of the
illustrious Asturius and Protogenes (449).

LETTER 33: TO THE SYNOD OF EPHESUS

1 Leo, bishop, to the holy Synod which is assembled at Ephesus. 2 I. He commends the
Emperor's appeal to the chair of Peter. The devout faith of our most clement prince,
knowing that it especially concerns his glory to prevent any seed of error from springing
up within the catholic Church, has paid such deference to the Divine institutions as to
apply to the authority of the Apostolic See for a proper settlement: as if he wished it to
be declared by the most blessed Peter himself what was praised in his confession, when the
Lord said, "whom do men say that I, the Son of man, am 5?" and the disciples mentioned
various people's opinion: but, when He asked what they themselves believed, the chief of
the apostles, embracing the fulness of the Faith in one short sentence, said, "Thou art
the Christ, the son of the living God :" that is, Thou who truly art Son of man art also
truly Son of the living God: Thou, I say, true in Godhead, true in flesh and one
altogether , the properties of the two natures being kept intact. And if Eutyches had
believed this intelligently and thoroughly, he would never have retreated from the path of
this Faith. For Peter received this answer from the Lord for his confession. "Blessed art
thou, Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father
which is in heaven. And I say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will
build My Church: and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it ." But he who both
rejects the blessed Peter's confession, and gainsays Christ's Gospel, is far removed from
union with this building; for he shows himself. never to have had any zeal for
understanding the Truth, and to have only the empty appearance of high esteem, who did not
adorn the hoary hairs of old age with any ripe judgment of the heart.

II. The Heresy of Eutyches is to Be Condemned Though His Full Repentance May Lead to His
Restitution.

3 But because the healing even of such men must not be neglected, and the most Christian
Emperor has piously and devoutly desired a council of bishops to be held, that all error
may be destroyed by a fuller judgment, I have sent our brothers Julius the bishop, Renatus
the presbyter, and my son Hilary the deacon, and with them Dulcitius the notary, whose
faith we have proved, to be present in my stead at your holy assembly, brethren, and
settle in common with you what is in accordance with the Lord's will. To wit, that the
pestilential error may be first condemned, and then the restitution of him, who has so
unwisely erred, discussed, but only if embracing the true doctrine he fully and openly
with his own voice and signature condemns those heretical opinions in which his ignorance
has been ensnared: for this he has promised in the appeal which he sent to us, pledging
himself to follow our judgment in all things . On receiving our brother and fellow-bishop
Flavian's letter, we have replied to him at some length on the points which he seems to
have referred to us : that when this error which seems to have arisen, has been destroyed,
there may be one Faith and one and the same confession throughout the whole world to the
praise and glory of God, and that "in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things
in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should
confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father ." Dated 13th June in
the consulship of the illustrious Asturius and Protogenes (449).

LETTER 34: TO JULIAN, BISHOP OF COS

1 Leo, the bishop, to Julian, the bishop, his well-beloved brother.

I. Eutyches is Now Clearly, Seen to Have Deviated from the Faith.

2 Your letter, beloved, which has just reached me, shows with what spiritual love of the
Catholic Faith you are inspired: and it makes me very glad that devout hearts all agree in
the same opinion, so that according to the teaching of the Holy Ghost there may be
fulfilled in us what the Apostle says: "Now I beseech you, brethren, through the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same things, and there be no divisions among
you: but that ye be perfect in the same mind and in the same judgment ." But Eutyches has
put himself quite outside this unity, if he perseveres in his perversity, and still does
not understand the bonds with which the devil has bound him, and thinks any one is to be
reckoned among the Lord's priests, who is a party to his ignorance and madness. For some
time we were uncertain in what he was displeasing to catholics: and when we received no
letter from our brother Flavian, and Eutyches himself complained in his letter that the
Nestorian heresy was being revived, we could not fully learn the source or the motive of
so crafty an accusation. But as soon as the minutes of the bishops' proceedings reached
us, all those things which were hidden beneath the veil of his deceitful complaints were
revealed in their abomination.

II. He Announces the Appointment of Legates a Latere.

3 And because our most clement Emperor in the loving-kindness and godliness of his mind
wished a more careful judgment to be passed about the position of one who hitherto has
seemed to be in high esteem, and for this purpose has thought fit to convene a council of
bishops, by the hands of our brothers Julius the bishop, and Renatus the presbyter, and
also my son Hilary, the deacon whom I have sent ex latere in my stead, I have addressed a
letter suited to the needs of the case to our brother Flavian. from which you also,
beloved, and the whole Church may know about the ancient and unique Faith, which this
unlearned opponent has assailed, what we hold as handed down from God and what we preach
without alteration. Yet, because we must not forget the duty of mercy, we have considered
it consonant with our moderation as priests, that, if the condemned presbyter corrects
himself unreservedly, the sentence by which he is bound should be remitted: if, however,
he chooses to lie in the mire of his foolishness, let the decree remain, and let him have
his lot with those whose error he has followed. Dated 13th June in the consulship of the
illustrious Asturius and Protogenes (449) .

LETTER 35

1 Leo, bishop of the city of Rome to his well-beloved brother, Julian the bishop.

I. Eutyches' Heresy Involves Many Other Heresies.

1 Although by the hands of our brothers, whom we have despatched from the city on behalf
of the Faith, we hare sent a most full refutation of Eutyches' excessive heresy to our
brother Flavian, yet because we have received, through our son Basil, your letter,
beloved, which has given us much pleasure from the fervour of its catholic spirit, we have
added this page also which agrees with the other document, that you may offer a united and
strenuous resistance to those who seek to corrupt the gospel of Christ, since the wisdom
and the teaching of the Holy Spirit is one and the same in you as in us: and whosoever
does not receive it, is not a member of Christ's body and cannot glory in that Head in
which he denies the presence of his own nature. What advantage is it to that most unwise
old man under the name of the Nestorian heresy to mangle the belief of those, whose most
devout faith he cannot tear to pieces: when in declaring the only-begotten Son of God to
have been so born of the blessed Virgin's womb that He wore the appearance of a human body
without the reality of human flesh being united to the Word, he departs as far from the
right path as did Nestorius in separating the Godhead of the Word from the substance of
His assumed Manhood ? From which prodigious falsehood who does not see what monstrous
opinions spring?

2 for he who denies the true Manhood of Jesus Christ, must needs be filled with many
blasphemies, being claimed by Apollinaris as his own, seized upon by Valentinus, or held
fast by Manichaeus: none of whom believed that there was true human flesh in Christ. But,
surely, if that is not accepted, not only is it denied that He. who was in the form of
God, but yet abode in the form of a slave, was born Man according to the flesh and
reasonable soul: but also that He was crucified, dead, and buried, and that on the third
day He rose again, and that, sitting at the right hand of the Father, he will come to
judge the quick and the dead in that body in which He Himself was judged,: because these
pledges of our redemption are rendered void if Christ is not believed to have the true and
whole nature of true Manhood.

II. The Two Natures are to Be Found in Christ.

1 Or because the signs of His Godhead were undoubted, shall the proof of his having a
human body be assumed false, and thus theindications of both natures be accepted to prove
Him Creator, but not be accepted for the salvation of the creature ? No, for the flesh did
not lessen what belongs to His Godhead, nor the Godhead destroy what belongs to His flesh.
For He is at once both eternal from His Father and temporal from His mother, inviolable in
His strength, possible in our weakness: in the Triune Godhead, of one and the same
substance with the Father and the Holy Spirit, but in taking Manhood on Himself, not of
one substance but of one and the same person [so that He was at once rich in poverty,
almighty in submission, impossible in punishment, immortal in death ]. For the Word was
not in any part of It turned either into flesh or into soul, seeing that the absolute and
unchangeable nature of the Godhead is ever entire in its Essence, receiving no loss nor
increase, and so beatifying the nature that It had assumed that that nature remained for
ever glorified in the person of the Glorifier. [But why should it seem unsuitable or
impossible that the Word and flesh and soul should be one Jesus Christ, and that the Son
of God and the Son of Man should be one, if flesh and soul which are of different natures
make one person even without the Incarnation of the Word:

2 since it is much easier for the power of the Godhead to produce this union of Himself
and man than for the weakness of manhood by itself to effect it in its own substance.
Therefore neither was the Word changed into flesh nor flesh into the Word: but both
remains in one and one is in both, not divided by the diversity and not confounded by
intermixture: He is not one by His Father and another by His mother, but the same, in one
way by His Father before every beginning, and in another by His mother at the end of the
ages: so that He was "mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus ," in whom dwelt
"the fulness of the Godhead bodily : because it was the assumed (nature) not the Assuming
(nature) which was raised, because God "exalted Him and gave Him the Name which is above
every name: that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and
things on earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that
Jesus Christ the Lord is in the glory of God the Father ."

III. The Soul of Christ and the Body of Christ Were Real in the Full Human Sense, Though
the Circumstances of His Birth Were Unique.

1 [But as to that which Eutyches dared to say in the court of bishops "that before the
Incarnation there were two natures in Christ, but after the Incarnation one ,"he ought to
have been pressed by the frequent and anxious questions of the judges to render an account
of his acknowledgment, lest it should be passed over as something trivial, though it was
seen to have issued from the same fount as his other poisonous opinions. For I think that
in saying this he was convinced that the soul, which the Saviour assumed, had had its
abode in the heavens before He was born of the Virgin Mary, and that the Word joined it to
Himself in the womb. But this is intolerable to catholic minds and ears: because the Lord
who came down from heaven brought with Him nothing that belonged to our state: for He did
not receive either a soul which had existed before nor a flesh which was not of his
mother's body. Undoubtedly our nature was not assumed in such a way that it was created
first and then assumed, but it was created by the very assumption. And hence that which
was deservedly condemned in Origen must be punished in Eutyches also, unless he prefers to
give up his opinion, viz. the assertion that souls have had not only a life but also
different actions before they were inserted in men's bodies ].

2 For although the Lord's nativity according to the flesh has certain characteristics
wherein it transcends the ordinary beginnings of man's being, both because He alone was
conceived and born without concupiscence of a pure Virgin, and because He was so brought
forth of His mother's womb that her fecundity bare Him without loss of virginity: yet His
flesh was not of another nature to ours: nor was the soul breathed into Him from another
source to that of all other men, and it excelled others not in difference of kind but in
superiority of power. For He had no opposition in His flesh [nor did the strife of desires
give rise to a conflict of wishes ]. His bodily senses were active without the law of sin,
and the reality of His emotions being under the control of His Godhead and His mind, was
neither assaulted by temptations nor yielded to injurious influences. But true Man was
united to God and was not brought down from heaven as regards a pro-existing soul, nor
created out of nothing as regards the flesh: it wore the same person in the Godhead of the
Word and possessed a nature in common with us in its body and soul. For He would not be
"the mediator between God and man," unless God and man had co-existed in both natures
forming one true Person. The magnitude of the subject urges us to a lengthy discussion:

3 but with one of your learning there is no need for such copious dissertations,
especially as we have already sent a sufficient letter to our brother Flavian by our
delegates for the confirmation of the minds, not only of priests but also of the laity.
The mercy of God will, we believe, provide that without the loss of one soul the sound may
be defended against the devil's wiles, and the wounded healed. Dated 13th June in the
consulship of the illustrious Asturius and Protogenes (449).

LETTER 36: TO FLAVLAN, BISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE

(He acknowledges the receipt of Flavian's second letter (xxvi) and protests against the
necessity for a general council, though at the same time he acquiesces in it. Dated 21
June, a week after the Tome).

LETTER 37: TO THEODOSLUS AUGUSTUS

Leo to Theodosius Augustus. Unity of Faith is essential but the point at issue hardly
required a general council, it is so clear. On receiving your clemency's letter, I
perceived that the universal Church has much cause for joy, that you will have the
Christian Faith, whereby the Divine Trinity is honoured and worshipped, to be different or
out of harmony with itself in nothing. For what more effectual support can be given to
human affairs in calling upon God's mercy than when one thanksgiving, and the sacrifice of
one confession is offered to His majesty by all. Wherein the devotions of the priests and
all the faithful will reach at last their completeness, if in what was done for our
redemption by God the Word, the only Son of God nothing else be believed than what He
Himself ordered to be preached and believed. Wherefore although every consideration
prevents my attendance on the day which your piety has fixed for the councils of bishops :
for there are no precedents for such a thing, and the needs of the times do not allow me
to leave the city, especially as the point of Faith at issue is so clear, that it would
have been more reasonable to abstain from proclaiming a synod: yet as far as the Lord
vouchsafes to help me, I have bestowed my zeal upon obeying your clemency's commands, by
appointing my brethren who are competent to act as the case requires in removing offences,
and who can represent me: because no question has arisen on which there can or ought to be
any doubt. Dated 21st of June, in the consulship of the illustrious Asturius and
Protogenes, (449).

LETTER 38: TO FLAVIAN, BISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE

1 Leo to Flavian, bishop of Constantinople. He acknowledges the receipt of a letter and
advises mercy if Eutyches will recant. 2 When our brethren had already started whom we
despatched to you in the cause of the Faith, we received your letter, beloved, by our son
Basil the deacon, in which you rightly said very little on the subject of our common
anxiety, both because the accounts which had already arrived had given us full information
on every thing, and because for purposes of private inquiry it was easy to converse with
the aforesaid Basil, by whom now through the grace of God, in whom we trust, we exhort
you, beloved, in reply, using the Apostle's words, and saying: "Be ye in nothing
affrighted by the adversaries; which is for them a cause of perdition, but to you of
salvation . For what is so calamitous as to wish to destroy all hope of man's salvation by
denying the reality of Christ's Incarnation, and to contradict the Apostle who says
distinctly: "great is the mystery of Godliness which was manifest in the flesh ? What so
glorious as to fight for the Faith of the gospel against the enemies of Christ's nativity
and cross? About whose most pure light and unconquered power we have already disclosed
what was in our heart, in the letter which has been sent to you beloved : lest anything
might seem doubtful between us on those things which we have learnt, and teach in
accordance with the catholic doctrine.

3 But seeing that the testimonies to the Truth are so clear and strong that a man must be
reckoned thoroughly blind and stubborn, who does not at once shake himself free from the
mists of falsehood in the bright light of reason; we desire you to use the remedy of long-
suffering in curing the madness of ignorance that through your fatherly admonitions they
who though old in years are infants in mind, may learn to obey their elders. And if they
give up the vain conceits of their ignorance and come to their senses, and if they
condemn, all their errors and receive the one true Faith, do not deny them the
mercifulness of a bishop's kind heart: although your judgment must remain, if their
impiety which you have deservedly condemned persists in its depravity. Dated 23 July in
the consulship of the illustrious Asturius and Protogenes (449).

LETTER 39: TO FLAVIAN, BISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE

Leo, the bishop, to Flavian, the bishop. He rebukes Flavian for not answering his repeated
letters. Our anxiety is increased by your silence, for it is long now since we received a
letter from you, beloved: while we who bear a chief share in your cares , through our
anxiety for the defence of the Faith, have several times , as occasion served, sent
letters to you: that we might aid you with the comfort of our exhortations not to yield to
the assaults of your adversaries in defence of the Faith, but to feel that we were the
sharers in your labour. Some time since we believe our messengers have reached you,
brother, through whom you find yourself fully instructed by our writings and injunctions,
and we have ourselves sent back Basil to you as you desired . Now, lest you should think
we had omitted any opportunity of communicating with you, we have sent this note by our
son Eupsychius, a man whom we hold in great honour and affection, asking you to reply to
our letter with all speed, and inform us at once about your own actions and those of our
representatives, and about the completion of the whole matter: so that we may allay the
anxiety which we now feel in defence of the Faith, by happier tidings. Dated 11th August
in the consulship of the illustrious Asturius and Protogenes (449).

LETTER 41: TO RAVENNIUS, BISHOP OF ARLES

(He congratulates him on his appointment, exhorts him to firm but gentle government, and
advises him frequently to consult the Apostolic See. Undated, but no doubt sent about the
same time as XL.)

LETTER 42: TO RAVENNIUS, BISHOP OF ARLES

Leo the Pope to his well-beloved brother Ravennius. He asks him to deal with the imposture
of a certain Petronianus. We wish you to be circumspect and careful lest any blameworthy
presumption should put forth undue claims: for, when it once finds an entrance by crafty
stealth, it spreads itself into greater rashness in the name of the dignity it has
assumed. We have learnt, on the trustworthy evidence of your clergy, that a certain
wandering and vagabond Petronianus has boasted himself throughout the provinces of Gaul as
our deacon, and under cover of this office is going about the various churches of that
country. We desire you, beloved brother, so to check his abominable effrontery, as to
disclose his imposture, by warning the bishops of the whole district. and to expel him
from communion with all the Churches, lest he continue his claim. The Lord keep you safe,
dearly beloved brother. Dated 26th, August, in the consulship of the illustrious Asturius
and Protogenes (449).

LETTER 43: TO THEODOSIUS AUGUSTUS

1 To the most glorious and serene Emperor Theodosius. Leo the bishop. I. He complains of
the conduct of Dioscorus at the Council of Ephesus. Already and from the beginning, in the
synods which have been held, we have received such freedom of speech from the most holy
Peter, chief of the Apostles, as to have the power both to maintain the Truth in the cause
of peace, and to allow no one to disturb it in its firm position, but at once to repel the
mischief, Since then the council of bishops which you ordered to be held in the city of
Ephesus on account of Flavian, does mischief to the Faith itself and inflicts wounds on
all the churches- ; and this has been brought to our knowledge not by some untrustworthy
messenger, but by the most reverend bishops themselves who were sent by us and by the most
trusty Hilarus our deacon, who have narrated to us what took place. And the occurrences
are to be put down to the fault of those who met, not having, as is customary, with a pure
conscience and right judgment made a definite statement about the faith and those who
erred therefrom. For we have learnt that all did not come together in the conference who
ought, some being ejected and others received: who were ensnared into an ungodly act of
subscription by the designs of the aforesaid priest . For the declaration effected by him
is of such a nature as to injure all the churches. For when those who were sent by us saw
how exceedingly impious and hostile to the Faith it was, they notified it to us.

II. He Asks Him to Restore the Ancient Catholic Doctrine.

2 Wherefore, most peace-loving prince, vouchsafe for the Faith's sake to avert this danger
from your Godly conscience, and let not man's presumption use violence upon Christ's
Gospel In my sincere desire, which is shared by the bishops that are with me, that you,
most Christian and revered prince, should before all things please God, tO whom the
prayers of the whole Church are poured with one accord for your empire, I give you
counsel, for fear lest, if we keep silence on so great a matter, we incur punishment
before the tribunal of Christ. I entreat you therefore before the undivided Trinity of the
one Godhead, which is injured by these evil doings, and which is the guardian of your
kingdom, and before Christ's holy angels that all things remain intact as they were before
the judgment, and that they await the weightier decision of the Synod at which the whole
number of the bishops in the whole world is gathered together: and do not allow yourselves
to bear the weight of others' misdoing. We are constrained to say this plainly by the fear
of a constraining necessity . But keep before your eyes the blessed Peter's glory, and the
crowns which all the Apostles have in common with him, and the joys of the martyrs who had
no other incentive to suffering but the confession of the true Godhead and the perfect
continuance in Christ .

III. And Asks Far Another Synod to Be Summoned.

3 And now that this confession is being God lessly impugned by some few men, all the
churches of our parts and all the priests implore your clemency with tears in accordance
with the request which Flavian makes in his appeal, to command the assembling together of
a special Synod in Italy, in order that all opposition may be expelled or pacified, and
that there may be no deviation from or ambiguity in the Faith: and to it should also come
the bishops of all the Eastern provinces, that, if any have wandered out of the way of
Truth, they may be recalled to their allegiance by wholesome remedies, and they who are
under a more grievous charge may either be reduced to submission by counsel or cut off
from the one Church. So that we are bound to preserve both what the Nicene canon enjoins
and what the definitions of the bishops of the whole world enjoin according to the custom
of the catholic Church, and also (to maintain) the freedom of our fathers' Faith, on which
your tranquillity rests. For we pray that when those who harm the Church are driven out,
and your provinces enjoy the possession of justice, anti vengeance has been executed on
these heretics your royal power also may be defended by Christ's right hand.

LETTER 44

1 Leo, the bishop, and the holy Synod which is assembled at Rome to Theodosius Augustus.

I. He Exposes the Unscrupulous Nature of the Proceedings at Ephesus.

1 From your clemency's letter,' which in your love of the catholic Faith you sent sometime
ago to the see of the blessed Apostle Peter, we drew such confidence in your defence of
truth and peace that we thought nothing harmful could happen in so plain and well-ordered
a matter; especially when those who were sent to the episcopal council, which you ordered
to be held at Ephesus, were so fully instructed that, if the bishop of Alexandria had
allowed the letters, which they brought either to the holy synod or to Flavian the bishop,
to be read in the ears of the bishops, by the declaration of the most pure Faith, which
being Divinely inspired we both have received and hold, all noise of disputings would have
been so completely hushed thatneither ignorance could any longer disport itself, nor
jealousy find occasion to do mischief. But because private interests are consulted under
cover of religion, the disloyalty of a few has wrought that which must wound the whole
Church.

2 For not from some untrustworthy messenger, but from a most faithful narrator of the
things which have been done, Hilary, our deacon, who, lest he should be compelled by force
to subscribe to their proceedings, with great difficulty made his escape, we have learnt
that a great many priests came together at the synod, whose numbers would doubtless have
assisted the debate and decision, if he who claimed for himself the chief place had
consented to maintain priestly moderation, in order that, according to custom, when all
had freely expressed their opinion, after quiet and fair deliberation, that might be
ordained which was both agreeable to the Faith and helpful to those in error. But we have
been told that all who had come were not present at the actual decision: for we have
learnt that some were rejected while others were admitted, who at the aforesaid priest's
requisition surrendered themselves to an unrighteous subscription, knowing they would
suffer harm unless they obeyed his commands, and that such a resolution was brought
forward by him that in attacking one man he might wreak his fury of the whole Church.
Which our delegates from the Apostolic See saw to be so blasphemous and opposed to the
catholic Faith that no pressure could force them to assent; for in the same synod they
stoutly protested, as they ought, that the Apostolic See would never receive what was
being passed:

3 since the whole mystery of the Christian Faith is absolutely destroyed (which Heaven
forfend in your Grace's reign), unless this abominable wickedness, which exceeds all
former blasphemies, be abolished.

II. And Entreats the Emperor to Help in Reversing Their Decision.

1 But because the devil with wicked subtlety deceives the unwary, and so mocks the
imprudence of some by a show of piety as to persuade them to things harmful instead of
profitable, we pray your Grace, renounce all complicity in this endangering of religion
and Faith, and afford in the treatment of Divine things that which is granted in worldly
matters by the equity of your laws, that human presumption may not do violence to Christ's
Gospel. Behold, I, O most Christian and honoured Emperor, with my fellow-priests
fulfilling towards your revered clemency the offices of sincere love, and desiring you in
all things to please God, to whom prayers are offered for you by the Church, lest before
the Lord Christ's tribunal we be judged guilty for our silence,-we beseech you in the
presence of the Undivided Trinity of the One Godhead, Whom such an act wrongs (for He is
Himself the Guardian and the Author of your empire), and in the presence of Christ's holy
angels, order everything to be in the position in which they were before the decision
until a larger number of priests be assembled from the whole world. Suffer not yourself to
be weighted with another's sin because (and we must say it) we are afraid lest He, Whose
religion is being destroyed, be provoked to wrath. Keep before your eyes, and with all
your mental vision gaze reverently upon the blessed Peter's glory, and the crowns which
all the Apostles have in common with him and the palms of all the martyrs, who had no
other reason for suffering than the confession of the true Godhead and the true Manhood in
Christ.

III. He Asks for a Council in Italy.

1 And because this mystery is now being impiously opposed by a few ignorant persons, all
the churches of our parts, and all the priests entreat your clemency, with groans and
tears seeing that our delegates faithfully protested, and bishop Flavian gave them an
appeal in writing, to order a general synod to be held in Italy, which shall either
dismiss or appease all disputes in such a way that there be nothing any longer either
doubtful in the Faith or divided in love, and to it, of course, the bishops of the Eastern
provinces must come, and if any of them were overcome by threats and injury, and deviated
from the path of truth, they may be fully restored by health-giving measures, and they
themselves, whose case is harder, if they acquiesce in wiser counsels, may not fall from
the unity of the Church. And how necessary this request is after the lodging of an appeal
is witnessed by the canonical decrees passed at Nicaea by the bishops of the whole world,
which are added below . Show favour to the catholics after your own and your parents'
custom. Give us such liberty to defend the catholic Faith as no violence, no fear of the
world, while your revered clemency is safe, shall be able to take away. For it is the
cause not only of the Church but of your Kingdom and prosperity that we plead, that you
may enjoy the peaceful sway of your provinces. Defend the Church in unshaken peace against
the heretics, that your empire also may be defended by Christ's right hand. Dated the 13th
of October, in the consulship of the illustrious Asturius and Protogenes (449).

LETTER 45: TO PULCHERIA AUGUSTA

1 Leo, the bishop, and the holy Synod which is assembled in the City of Rome to Pulcheria
Augusta.

I. He Sends a Copy of the Former Letter Which Failed to Reach Her.

2 If the letters respecting the Faith which were despatched to your Grace by the hands of
our clergy had reached you, it is certain you would have been able, the Lord helping you,
to provide a remedy for these things which have been done against the Faith. For when have
you failed either the priests or the religion or the Faith of Christ? But when those who
were sent were so completely hindered from reaching your clemency that only one of them,
namely Hilary our deacon, with difficulty fled and returned, we thought it necessary to
rewrite our letter: and that our prayers may deserve to receive more weight, we have
subjoined a copy of the very document which did not reach your clemency, entreating you
even more earnestly than before to take under protection that religion in which you excel
which will win you the greater glory in proportion to the heinousness of the crimes
against which your royal faith requires you to proceed, lest the integrity of the
Christian Faith be violated by any plot of man's devising. For the things which were
believed to require setting at rest and healing by the meeting of a Synod at Ephesus, have
not only resulted in still greater disturbances of peace but, which is the more to be
regretted, even in the overthrow of the very Faith whereby we are Christians.II. He also
sends a copy of his letter to the Emperor and explains its contents.

3 And they indeed, who were sent, and one of whom, escaping the violence of the bishop of
Alexandria who claims everything for himself, faithfully reported to us what took place in
the Synod, opposed, as it became them, what I will call the frenzy not the judgment of one
man, protesting that those things which were being carried through by violence and fear
could not reverse the mysteries of the Church and the Creed itself composed by the
Apostles, and that no injuries could sever them from that Faith which they had brought
fully set forth and expounded from the See of the blessed Apostle Peter to the holy synod.
4 And since this statement was not allowed to be read out at the bishop's request, in
order forsooth that by the rejection of that Faith which has crowned patriarchs, prophets,
apostles and martyrs, the birth according to the flesh of Jesus Christ our Lord and the
confession of His true Death and Resurrection (we shudder to say it) might be overthrown,
we have written on this matter according to our ability, to our most glorious and (what is
far greater) our Christian Prince, and at the same time have subjoined a copy of the
letter to you to the end that he may not allow the Faith, in which he was re-born and
reigns through God's grace, to be corrupted by any innovation, since Bishop Flavian
continues in communion with us all, and that which has been done without regard to justice
and contrary to all the teaching of the canons can, under no consideration, be held valid.
And because the Synod of Ephesus has not removed but increased the scandal of disagreement
(I have asked him) to appoint a place and time for holding a council within Italy, all
quarrels and prejudices on both sides being suspended, that everything which has
engendered offence may be the more diligently reconsidered and without wounding the Faith,
without injuring religion those priests may return into the peace of Christ, who through
irresolution were forced to subscribe, and only their errors be re moved.

III. He Asks Her to Assist His Petition with the Emperor.

5 And that we may be worthy to obtain this, let your well-tried faith and protection,
which has always helped the Church in her labours, deign to advance our petition with our
most clement Prince, under a special commission so to act from the blessed Apostle Peter;
so that before this civil and destructive war gains strength within the Church, he may
grant opportunity of restoring unity by God's aid, knowing that the strength of his empire
will be increased by every extension of catholic freedom that his kindly will affects.
Dated 13th of October in the consulship of the illustrious Asturius and Protogenes (449).

LETTER 46: FROM HILARY, THEN DEACON (AFTERWARDS BISHOP OF ROME) TO PULCHERIA AUGUSTA

(Describing his ill-treatment, as Leo's delegate, by Dioscorus.)

LETTER 47: TO ANASTASIUS, BISHOP OF THESSALONICA

(Congratulating him on being present at the synod of Ephesus)

LETTER 48: TO JULIAN, BISHOP OF COS

(Consoling him after the riots at Ephesus and exhorting him to stand firm.)

LETTER 49: TO FLAVIAN, BISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE

(Whose death he is unaware of, promising him all the support in his power.)

LETTER 50: TO THE PEOPLE OF CONSTANTINOPLE, BY THE HAND OF EPIPHANIUS AND DIONYSIUS, NOTARY OF THE CHURCH OF ROME

(Exhorting them to stand firm and consoling them for Flavian's deposition.)

LETTER 51: TO FAUSTUS AND OTHER PRESBYTERS AND ARCHIMANDRITES IN CONSTANTINOPLE

(With the same purport as the last.)

LETTER 52

1 To Leo, bishop of Rome.

I. If Paul Appealed to Peter How Much More Must Ordinary Folk Have Recourse to His
Successor.

1 If Paul, the herald of the Truth, the trumpet of the Holy Ghost, had recourse to the
great Peter, in order to obtain a decision from him for those at Antioch who were
disputing about living by the Law, much more do we small and humble folk run to the
Apostolic See to get healing from you for the sores of the churches. For it is fitting
that you should in all things have the pre-eminence, seeing that your See possesses many
peculiar privileges. For other cities get a name for size or beauty or population, and
some that are devoid of these advantages are compensated by certain spiritual gifts: but
your city has the fullest abundance of good things from the Giver of all good. For she is
of all cities the greatest and most famous, the mistress of the world and teeming with
population. And besides this she has created an empire which is still predominant and has
imposed her own name upon her subjects. But her chief decoration is her Faith, to which
the Divine Apostle is a sure witness when he exclaims "your faith is proclaimed in all the
world ; and if immediately after receiving the seeds of the saving Gospel she bore such a
weight of wondrous fruit, what words are sufficient to express the piety which is now
found in her? She has, too, the tombs of our common fathers and teachers of the Truth,
Peter and Paul , to illumine the souls of the faithful.

2 And this blessed and divine pair arose indeed in the East, and shed its rays in all
directions, but voluntarily underwent the sunset of life in the West, from whence now it
illumines the whole world. These have rendered your See so glorious: this is the chief of
all your goods. And their See is still blest by the light of their God's presence, seeing
that therein He has placed your Holiness to shed abroad the rays of the one true Faith.

II. He Commends Leo's Zeal Against the Manichees, and Latterly Against Entychianism, as
Evidenced Especially in the Tome.

1 Of which thing indeed, though there are many other proofs to be found, your zeal against
the ill-famed Manichaeans is proof enough, that zeal which your holiness has of late years
displayed , thereby revealing the intensity of your devotion to God in things Divine.
Proof enough, too, of your Apostolic character is what you have now written. For we have
met with what your holiness has written about the Incarnation of our God and Saviour, and
have admired the careful diligence of the work . For it has proved both points equally
well, viz., the Eternal Godhead of the Only-begotten of the Eternal Father, and at the
same time His manhood of the seed of Abraham and David, and His assumption of a nature in
all things like ours, except in this one thing, that He remained free from all sin: for
sin is engendered not of nature, but of free will . This also was contained in your
letter, that the only-begotten Son of God is One and His Godhead impassible, irreversible,
unchangeable even as the Father who begat Him and the All-holy Spirit. And since the
Divine nature could not suffer, He took the nature that could suffer to this end, that by
the suffering of His own Flesh He might give exemption from suffering to those that
believed on Him. These points, and all that is akin thereto, the letter contained. And we,
admiring your spiritual wisdom, extolled the grace of the Holy Ghost which spoke through
and ask and pray, and beg and beseech your holiness to come to the rescue of the churches
of God that are now tempest tossed.

III. He Complains of Dioscorus' ILL-Treatment of Himself

1 For when we expected a stilling of the waves through those who were sent to Ephesus from
your holiness, we have fallen into yet worse storm. For the most righteous prelate of
Alexandria was not satisfied with the illegal and most unrighteous deposition of the
Lord's most holy and God-loving bishop of Constantinople, Flavian, nor was his wrath
appeased by the slaughter of the other bishops likewise. But me, too, he murdered with his
pen in my absence, without calling me to judgment, without passing judgment on me in
person, without questioning me on what I hold about the Incarnation of our God and
Saviour. But even murderers, tomb-breakers, and ravishers of other men's beds, those who
sit in judgment do not condemn until they either themselves corroborate the accusations by
their confessions, or are clearly convicted by others. But us, when five and thirty days'
journey distant, he, though brought up on Divine laws, has condemned at his will. And not
now only has he done this, but also last year, after that two persons infected with the
Apollinarian disorder had come hither and laid false information against us, he rose up in
church and anathematized us, and that when I had written to him and expressed what I hold
in a letter.

IV. This ILL-Treatment Has Come After 20 Years' Good Work in His Diocese of Cyrus.

1 I bemoan the distress of the Church and yearn after its peace. For having ruled through
your prayers the church committed to me by the God of the universe for 20 years, neither
in the time of the blessed Theodotus, president of the East, nor in the time of those who
have succeeded him in the See of Antioch, have I received the slightest blame, but, the
Divine Grace working with me, have freed more than 1,000 souls from the disease of
Marcion, and have won over many others from the company of Arius and Eunomius to the
Master, Christ. And 800 churches have I had to shepherd: for that is the number of
parishes in Cyrus, in which not a single tare through your prayers has lingered. But our
flock has been freed from every heretical error. He that sees all things knows how I have
been stoned by the ill-famed heretics that have been sent against me, and what struggles I
have had in many cities of the East against Greeks, Jews, and every heretical error. And
after all these toils and troubles, I have been condemned without a hearing.

V. He Appeals to the Apostolic See with Confidence.

1 I however await the verdict of your Apostolic See, and beg and pray your Holiness to
succour me when I appeal to your upright and just tribunal, and bid me come to you and
show that my teaching follows in the track of the Apostles. For there are writings of mine
some 20 years ago, some 18, some 15, and some 12, some again against the Arians and
Eunomians, some against the Jews and Greeks some against the Magi in Persia, some also
about the universal Providence, Others about the nature of God and about the Divine
Incarnation. I have interpreted, through the Divine grace, both the Apostolic writings and
the prophetic utterances, and it is easy therefrom to gather whether I have kept
unswervingly the standard of the Faith, or have turned aside from its straight path. And I
beg you not to spurn my petition, nor to overlook the insults heaped on my poor white
hairs.

VI. Ought He to Acquiesce in His Deposition?

1 First of all, I beg you to tell me, whether I ought to acquiesce in this unrighteous
deposition or not. For I await your verdict and, if you bid me abide by my condemnation, I
will abide by it, and will trouble no one hereafter, but await the unerring verdict of our
God and Saviour. I indeed, the Master God is my witness, care nought for honour and glory,
but only for the stumbling-block that is put in men's way: because many of the simpler
folk, and especially those who have been rescued by us from divers heresies, will give
credence to those who have condemned us, and perchance reckon us heretics, not being able
to discern the exact truth of the dogma, and because, after my long episcopate, I have
acquired neither house, nor land, nor obol, nor tomb, only a voluntary poverty, having
straightway distributed even what came to me from my fathers after their death, as all
know who live in the East.

VII. Being Prevented Himself, He Has Sent Delegates to Plead His Cause.

1 And before all things I entreat you, holy and God-loved brother, render assistance to my
prayers. These things I have brought to your Holiness' knowledge, by the most religious
and God-beloved presbyters, Hypatius and Abramius the chorepiscopi , and Alypius,
superintendent of the monks in our district: seeing that I was hindered from coming to you
myself by the Emperor's restraining letter, and likewise the others. And I entreat your
holiness both to look on them with fatherly regard, and to lend them your ears in sincere
kindness, and also to deem my slandered and falsely attacked position worthy of your
protection, and above all to defend with all your might the Faith that is now plotted
against, and to keep the heritage of the fathers intact for the churches, so shall your
holiness receive from the Bountiful Master a full reward. (Date about the end of 449.)

LETTER 53: A FRAGMENT OF A LETTER FROM ANATOLIUS, BISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE, TO LEO

(about his consecration).

LETTER 54: TO THEODOSIUS AUGUSTUS

(asking for a synod in Italy).

LETTER 56: (FROM GALLA PLACIDIA AUGUSTA TO THEODOSIUS)

1 To the Lord Theodosius, Conqueror and Emperor, her ever august son, Galla Placidia, most
pious and prosperous, perpetual Augusta and mother. 2 When on our very arrival in the
ancient city, we were engaged in paying our devotion to the most blessed Apostle Peter, at
the martyr's very altar, the most reverend Bishop Leo waiting behind awhile after the
service uttered laments over the catholic Faith to us, and taking to witness the chief of
the Apostles himself likewise, whom we had just approached, and surrounded by a number of
bishops whom he had brought together from numerous cities in Italy by the authority and
dignity of his position, adding also tears to his words, called upon us to join our moans
to his own. For no slight harm has arisen from those occurrences, whereby the standard of
the catholic Faith so long guarded since the days of our most Divine father Constantine,
who was the first in the palace to stand out as a Christian, has been recently disturbed
by the assumption of one man, who in the synod held at Ephesus is alleged to have rather
stirred up hatred and contention, intimidating by the presence of soldiers, Flavianus, the
bishop of Constantinople, because he had sent an appeal to the Apostolic See, and to all
the bishops of these parts by the hands of those who had been deputed to attend the Synod
by the most reverend Bishop of Rome, who have been always wont so to attend, most sacred
Lord and Son and adored King, in accordance with the provisions of the Nicene Synod .

3 For this cause we pray your clemency to oppose such disturbances with the Truth, and to
order the Faith of the catholic religion to be preserved without spot, in order that
according to the standard and decision of the Apostolic See, which we likewise revere as
pre-eminent, Flavianus may remain altogether uninjured in his priestly office, and the
matter be referred to the Synod of the Apostolic See, wherein assuredly he first adorned
the primacy, who was deemed worthy to receive the keys of heaven: for it becomes us in all
things to maintain the respect due to this great city, which is the mistress of all the
earth; and this too we must most carefully provide that what in former times our house
guarded seem not in our day to be infringed, and that by the present example schisms be
not advanced either between the bishops or the most holy churches.


LETTERS OF LEO THE GREAT
========================

LETTERS OF LEO THE GREAT continued

LETTER 57

1 Leo the bishop to the clergy, dignitaries, and people, residing at Constantinople.

I. He Congratulates Them on Their Outspoken Resistance to Error.

1 Though we are greatly grieved at the things reported to have been done recently in the
council of priests at Ephesus, because, as is consistently rumoured, and also demonstrated
by results, neither due moderation nor the strictness of the Faith was there observed, yet
we rejoice in your devoted piety and in the acclamations of the holy people , instances of
which have been brought to our notice, we have approved of the right feeling of you all;
because there lives and abides in good sons due affection for their excellent Father, and
because you suffer the fulness of catholic teaching to be in no part corrupted. For
undoubtedly, as the Holy Spirit has unfolded to you, they are leagued with the
Manichaeans' error, who deny that the only-begotten Son of God took our nature's true
Manhood, and maintain that all His bodily actions were the actions of a false apparition.
And lest you should in aught give your assent to this blasphemy, we have now sent you,
beloved, by my son Epiphanius and Dionysius, notary of the Roman Church, letters of
exhortation wherein we have of our own accord rendered you the assistance which you
sought, that you may not doubt of our bestowing all a father's care on you, and labouring
in every way, by the help of God's mercy, to destroy all the stumbling-blocks which
ignorant and foolish men have raised. And let no one venture to parade his priestly
dignity who can be convicted of holding such detestably blasphemous opinions. For if
ignorance seems hardly tolerable in laymen, how much less excusable or pardonable is it in
those who govern; especially when they dare even to defend their mendacious and perverse
views, and persuade the unsteadfast to agree with them either by intimidation or by
cajoling.

II. They are to Be Rejected Who Deny the Truth of Christ's Flesh, a Truth Repeated by
Every Recipient at the Holy Eucharist.

1 Let such men be rejected by the holy members of Christ's Body, and let not catholic
liberty suffer the yoke of the unfaithful to be laid upon it. For they are to be reckoned
outside the Divine grace, and outside the mystery of man's salvation, who, denying the
nature of our flesh in Christ, gainsay the Gospel and oppose the Creed. Nor do they
perceive that their blindness leads them into such an abyss that they have no sure footing
in the reality either of the Lord's Passion or His Resurrection: because both are
discredited in the Saviour, if our fleshly nature is not believed in Him. In what density
of ignorance, in what utter sloth must they hitherto have lain, not to have learnt from
hearing, nor understood from reading, that which in God's Church is so constantly in men's
mouths, that even the tongues of infants do not keep silence upon the truth of Christ's
Body and Blood at the rite of Holy Communion ? For in that mystic distribution of
spiritual nourishment, that which is given and taken is of such a kind that receiving the
virtue of the celestial food we pass into the flesh of Him, Who became our flesh . Hence
to confirm you, beloved, in your laudably faithful resistance to the foes of Truth, I
shall filly and opportunely use the language and sentiments of the Apostle, and say:

2 "Therefore I also hearing of your faith, which is in the Lord Jesus, and love towards
all saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers that
the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father l of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom
and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your hearts being enlightened that you
may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His
inheritance among the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power in us, who
believed according to the working of His mighty power which he has wrought in Christ,
raising Him from the dead, and setting Him at His right hand in heavenly places above
every principality, and power, and strength, and dominion, and every name which is named
not only in this age, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under His
feet, and given Him to be the head over all the Church which is His body, and the fulness
of Him Who filleth all in all ."

III. Perfect God And Perfect Man Were United in Christ.

1 In this passage let the adversaries of the Truth say when or according to what nature
did the Almighty Father exalt His Son above all things, or to what substance did He
subject all things. For the Godhead of the Word is equal in all things, and consubstantial
with the Father, and the power of the Begetter and the Begotten is one and the same always
and eternally. Certainly, the Creator of all natures, since "through Him all things were
made, and without Him was nothing made ," is above all things which He created, nor were
the things which He made ever not subject to their Creator, Whose eternal property it is,
to be from none other than the Father, and in no way different to the Father. If greater
power, grander dignity, more exalted loftiness was granted Him, then was He that was so
increased less than He that promoted Him, and possessed not the full riches of His nature
from Whose fulness He received. But one who thinks thus is hurried off into the society of
Arius, whose heresy is much assisted by this blasphemy which denies the existence of human
nature in the Word of God, so that, in rejecting the combination of humility with majesty
in God, it either asserts a false phantom-body in Christ, or says that all His bodily
actions and passions belonged to the Godhead rather than to the flesh. But everything he
ventures to uphold is absolutely foolish:

2 because neither our religious belief nor the scope of the mystery admits either of the
Godhead suffering anything or of the Truth belying Itself in anything. The impassible Son
of God, therefore, whose perpetually it is with the Father and with the Holy Spirit to be
what He is in the one essence of the Unchangeable Trinity, when the fullness of time had
come which had been fore-ordained by an eternal purpose, and promised by the prophetic
significance of words and deeds, became man not by conversion of His substance but by
assumption of our nature, and "came to seek and to save that which was lost . But He came
not by local approach nor by bodily motion, as if to be present where He had been absent,
or to depart where He had come: but He came to be manifested to onlookers by that which
was visible and common to others, receiving, that is to say, human flesh and soul in the
Virgin mother's womb, so that, abiding in the form of God, He united to Himself the form
of a slave, and the likeness of sinful flesh, whereby He did not lessen the Divine by the
human, but increased the human by the Divine.

IV. The Sacrament of Baptism Typifies and Realizes This Union to Each Individual Believer.

1 For such was the state of all mortals resulting from our first ancestors that, after the
transmission of original sin to their descendants, no one would have escaped the
punishment of condemnation, had not the Word become flesh and dwelt in us, that is to say,
in that nature which belonged to our blood and race. And accordingly, the Apostle says:
"As by one man's sin (judgment passed) upon all to condemnation, so also by one man's
righteousness (it) passed upon all to justification of life. For as by one man's
disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one man's obedience shall many be made
righteous ; and again, "For because by man (came) death, by man also (came) the
resurrection of the dead. And as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made
alive . All they to wit who though they be born in Adam, yet are found reborn in Christ,
having a sure testimony both to their justification by grace, and to Christ's sharing in
their nature ; for he who does not believe that God's only-begotten Son did assume our
nature in the womb of the Virgin-daughter of David, is without share in the Mystery of the
Christian religion, and, as he neither recognizes the Bridegroom nor knows the Bride, can
have no place at the wedding-banquet. For the flesh of Christ is the veil of the Word,
wherewith every one is clothed who confesses Him unreservedly.

2 But he that is ashamed of it and rejects it as unworthy, shall have no adornment from
Him, and though he present i himself at the Royal feast, and unseasonably join in the
sacred banquet, yet the intruder will not be able to escape the King's discernment, but,
as the Lord Himself asserted, will be taken, and with hands and feet bound, be cast into
outer darkness; where will be weeping and gnashing of teeth . Hence whosoever confesses
not the human body in Christ, must know that he is unworthy of the mystery of the
Incarnation, and has no share in that sacred union of which the Apostle speaks, saying,
"For we are His members, of His flesh and of His bones. For this cause a man shall leave
father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, and there shall be two in one flesh . And
explaining what was meant by this, he added, "This mystery is great, but I speak in
respect of Christ and the Church. Therefore, from the very commencement of the human race,
Christ is announced to all men as coming in the flesh. In which, as was said, "there shall
be two in one flesh," there are undoubtedly two, God and man, Christ and the Church, which
issued from the Bridegroom's flesh, when it received the mystery of redemption and
regeneration, water and blood flowing from the side of the Crucified.

3 For the very condition of a new creature which at baptism puts off not the covering of
true flesh but the taint of the old condemnation, is this, that a man is made the body of
Christ, because Christ also is the body of a man .

V. The True Doctrine of the Incarnation Restated and Commended to Their Keeping.

1 Wherefore we call Christ not God only, as the Manichaean heretics, nor Man only, as the
Photinian heretics, nor man in such a way that anything should be wanting in Him which
certainly belongs to human nature, whether soul or reasonable mind or flesh which was not
derived from woman, but made from the Word turned and changed into flesh; which three
false and empty propositions have been variously advanced by the three sections of the
Apollinarian heretics . Nor do we say that the blessed Virgin Mary conceived a Man without
Godhead, Who was created by the Holy Ghost and afterwards assumed by the Word, which we
deservedly and properly condemned Nestorius for preaching: but we call Christ the Son of
God, true God, born of God the Father without any beginning in time, and likewise true
Man, born of a human Mother, at the ordained fulness of time, and we say that His Manhood,
whereby the Father is the greater, does not in anything lessen that nature whereby He is
equal with the Father. But these two natures form one Christ, Who has said most truly both
according to His Godhead: "I and the Father are one ," and according to His manhood "the
Father is greater than I ." This true and indestructible Faith, dearly-beloved, which
alone makes us true Christians, and which, as we hear with approval, you are defending
with loyal zeal and praiseworthy affection, hold fast and maintain boldly. And since,
besides God's aid, you must win the favour of catholic Princes also, humbly and wisely
make request that the most clement Emperor be pleased to grant our petition, wherein we
have asked for a plenary synod to be convened; that by the aid of God's mercy the sound
may be increased in courage, and the sick, if they consent to be treated, have the remedy
applied. (Dated October 15, in the consulship of the illustrious Asturius and Protogenes,
449.)

LETTER 60: TO PULCHERIA AUGUSTA

(He hopes for her intercession to procure the condemnation of Eutyches.)

LETTER 61: TO MARTINUS AND FAUSTUS, PRESBYTERS

(Reminding them of a former letter he has written to them, viz. Lett. LI.) (Letters LXII.,
LXIII., LXIV., are the Emperor Theodosius' answers (a) to Valentinian, (b) to Galla
Placidia, and (c) to Licinia Eudoxia (assuring them of his orthodoxy and care for the
Faith.)

LETTER 65: FROM THE BISHOPS OF THE PROVINCE OF ARLES

(Asking Leo to confirm the privileges of that city, which they allege date from the
mission of Trophimus, by S. Peter, and more recently ratified by the Emperor Constantine.)

LETTER 66: LEO'S REPLY TO LETTER 65

1 Leo, the pope, to the dearly-beloved brethren Constantinus, Armentarius, Audientius
Severianus, Valerianus, Ursus, Stephanus, Nectarius, Constantius, Maximus, Asclepius,
Theodorus, Justus Ingenuus, Augustalis, Superventor, Ynantius, Fonteius, and Palladius.

I. The Bishop of Vienne Has Anticipated Their Appeal. He Proposes to Arbitrate with
Impartiality.

2 When we read your letter, beloved, which was brought to us by our sons Petronius the
presbyter and Regulus the deacon, we recognized how affectionate is the regard in which
you hold our brother and fellow-bishop, Ravennius: for your request is that what his
predecessor deservedly lost for his excessive presumption may be restored to him. But your
petition, brothers, was forestalled by the bishop of Vienne, who sent a letter and legates
with the complaint that the bishop of Aries had unlawfully claimed the ordination of the
bishop of Vasa. Accordingly, as we had to show such respect both for the canons of the
fathers and for your good opinion of us, that in the matter of the churches' privileges we
should allow no infringement or deprivation, it were incumbent on us to preserve the peace
within the province of Vienne by employing such righteous moderation as should disregard
neither ancient usage nor your desires.

II. The Bishop of Vienne is to Retain Jurisdiction Over Four Neighbouring Cities: the Rest
to Belong to Arles.

3 For alter considering the arguments advanced by the clergy present on either side, we
find that the cities of Vienne and Arles within your province have always been so famous,
that in certain matters of ecclesiastical privilege, now one, now the other, has
alternately taken precedence, though the national tradition is that formerly they had
community of rights. And hence we suffer not the city of Vienne to be altogether without
honour, so far as concerns ecclesiastical jurisdiction, especially as it already possesses
the authority of our decree for the enjoyment of its privilege: to wit the power which,
when taken away from Hilary, we thought proper to confer on the bishop of Vienne. And that
he seem not suddenly and unduly lowered, he shall hold rule over the four neighbouring
towns, that is, Valentia, Tarantasia, Genava and Gratianopolis, with Vienne herself for
the fifth, to the bishop of which shall belong the care of all the said churches. But the
other churches of the same province shall be placed under the authority and management of
the bishop of Arles, who from his temperate moderation we believe will be so anxious for
love and peace as by no means to consider himself deprived of that which he sees conceded
to his brother. Dated 5th of May, in the consulship of Valentinianus Augustus (7th time),
and the most famous Avienus (450.)

LETTER 67: TO RAVENNIUS, BISHOP OF ARLES

To his dearly-beloved brother Ravennius, Leo the pope. We have kept our sons Petronius the
presbyter, and Regulus the deacon, long in the City, both because they deserved this from
their favour in our eyes, and because the needs of the Faith, which is now being assailed
by the error of some, demanded it. For we wished them to be present when we discussed the
matter, and to ascertain everything which we desire through you, beloved, should reach the
knowledge of all our brethren and fellow-bishops, specially deputing this to you, dear
brother, that through your watchful diligence our letter, which we have issued to the East
in defence of the Faith, or else that of Cyril of blessed memory, which agrees throughout
with our views, may become known to all the brethren; in order that being furnished with
arguments they may fortify themselves with spiritual strength against those who think fit
to insult the Lord's Incarnation with their misbeliefs. You have a favourable opportunity,
beloved brother, of recommending the commencement of your episcopacy to all the churches
and to our God, if you will carry out these things in the way we have charged and enjoined
you. But the matters which were not to be committed to paper, in reliance on God's aid,
you shall carry out effectually, as we have said, and laudably, when you have learnt about
them from the mouths of our aforesaid sons. God keep you safe, dearest brother. Dated 5th
of May, in the consulship of the most glorious Valentinianus (for the 7th time) and of the
famous Avienus (450).

LETTER 68: FROM THREE GALLIC BISHOPS TO ST LEO

1 Ceretius, Salonius and Veranus to the holy Lord, most blessed father, and pope most
worthy of the Apostolic See, Leo.

I. They Congratulate and Thank Leo for the Tome.

2 Having perused your Excellency's letter, which you composed for instruction in the
Faith, and sent to the bishop of Constantinople, we thought it our duty, being enriched
with so great a wealth of doctrine, to pay our debt of thanks by at least inditing you a
letter. For we appreciate your fatherly solicitude on our behalf, and confess that we are
the more indebted to your preventing care because we now have the benefit of the remedy
before experiencing the evils. For knowing that those remedies are well-nigh too late
which are applied after the infliction of the wounds, you admonish us with the voice of
loving forethought to arm ourselves with those Apostolic means of defence. We acknowledge
frankly, most blessed pope , with what singular loving-kindness you have imparted to us
the innermost thoughts of your breast, by the efficacy of which you secure the safety of
others: and while you extract the old Serpent's infused poison from the hearts of others,
standing as it were on the watch-tower of Love, with Apostolic care and watchfulness you
cry aloud, lest the enemy come on us unawares and off our guard, lest careless security
expose us to attack, O holy Lord, most blessed father and pope, most worthy of the
Apostolic See. Moreover we; who specially belong to you , are filled with a great and
unspeakable delight, because this special statement of your teaching is so highly regarded
wherever the Churches meet together, that the unanimous opinion is expressed that the
primacy of the Apostolic See is rightfully there assigned, from whence the oracles of the
Apostolic Spirit still receive their interpretations.

II. They Ask Him to Correct or Add to Their Copy of the Tome.

3 Therefore, if you deem it worth while, we entreat your holiness to run through and
correct any mistake of the copyist in this work, so valuable both now and in the future,
which we have had committed to parchment , in our desire to preserve it, or if you have
devised anything further in your zeal, which will profit all who read, give orders in your
loving care that it be added to this copy, so that not only many holy bishops our brethren
throughout the provinces of Gaul, but also many of your sons among the laity, who greatly
desire to see this letter for the revelation of the Truth, may be permitted, when it is
sent back to us, corrected by your holy hand, to transcribe, read and keep it. If you
think fit, we are anxious that our messengers should return soon, in order that we may the
speedier have an account of your good health over which to rejoice: for your well-being is
our joy and health.

4 May Christ the Lord long keep your eminence mindful of our humility, O holy Lord, most
blessed father and pope most worthy of the Apostolic See. I, Ceretius, your adopted
(son?), salute your apostleship, commending me to your prayers. I, Salonius, your adorer,
salute your apostleship, entreating the aid of your prayers. I, Veranus, the worshipper of
your apostleship, salute your blessedness, and beseech you to pray for me.

LETTER 69: (TO THEODOSIUS AUGUSTUS)

1 Leo, the bishop, to Theodosius ever Augustus.

I. He Suspends His Opinion on the Appointment of Anatolius Till He Has Made Open
Confession of the Catholic Faith.

2 In all your piously expressed letters amid the anxieties, which we suffer for the Faith,
you have afforded us hope of security by supporting the Council of Nicaea so loyally as
not to allow the priests of the Lord to budge from it, as you have often written us
already. But lest I should seem to have done anything prejudicial to the catholic defence,
I thought nothing rash on either side ought meanwhile to be written back on the ordination
of him who has begun to preside over the church of Constantinople, and this not through
want of loving interest, but waiting for the catholic Truth to be made clear. And I beg
your clemency to bear this with equanimity that when he has proved himself such as we
desire towards the catholic Faith, we may the more fully and safely rejoice over his
sincerity. But that no evil suspicion may assail him about our disposition towards him, I
remove all occasion of difficulty, and demand nothing which may seem either hard or
controvertible but make an invitation which no catholic would decline. For they are well
known and renowned throughout the world, who before our time have shone in preaching the
catholic Truth whether in the Greek or the Latin tongue, to whose learning and teaching
some even of our own day have recourse, and from whose writings a uniform and manifold
statement of doctrine is produced:

3 which, as it has pulled down the heresy of Nestorius, so has it cut off this error too
which is now sprouting out again. Let him then read again what is the belief on the Lord's
Incarnation which the holy fathers guarded and has always been similarly preached,and when
he has perceived that the letter of Cyril of holy memory, bishop of Alexandria, agrees
with the view of those who preceded him [wherein he wished to correct and cure Nestorius,
refuting his wrong statements and setting out more clearly the Faith as defined at Nicaea,
and which was sent by him and placed in the library of the Apostolic See ], let him
further reconsider the proceedings of the Ephesian Synod wherein the testimonies of
catholic priests on the Lord's Incarnation are inserted and maintained by Cyril of holy
memory. Let him not scorn also to read my letter over, which he will find to agree
throughout with the pious belief of the fathers.

4 And when he has realized that that is required and desired from him which shall serve
the same good end, let him give his hearty assent to the judgment of the catholics, so
that in the presence of all the clergy and the whole people he may without any reservation
declare his sincere acknowledgment of the common Faith, to be communicated to the
Apostolic See and all the Lord's priests and churches, and thus the world being at peace
through the one Faith, we may all be able to say what the angels sang at the Saviour's
birth of the Virgin Mary, "Glory in the highest to God and on earth peace to men of good
will ."

II. He Promises to Accept Anatolius on Making This Confession, and Asks for a Council in
Italy to Finally Define the Faith.

5 But because both we and our blessed fathers, whose teaching we revere and follow, are in
concord on the one Faith, as the bishops of all the provinces attest, let your clemency's
most devout faith see to it that such a document as is due may reach us as soon as may be
from the bishop of Constantinople, as from an approved and catholic priest, that is,
openly and distinctly affirming that he will separate from his communion any one who
believes or maintains any other view about the Incarnation of the Word of God than my
statement and that of all catholics lays down, that we may fairly be able to bestow on him
brotherly love in Christ. And that swifter and fuller effect, God aiding us, may be given
through your clemency's faith to our wholesome desires, I have sent to your piety my
brethren and fellow-bishops Abundius and Asterius, together with Basilius and Senator
presbyters, whose devotion is well proved to me, through whom, when they have displayed
the instructions which we have sent, you may be able properly to apprehend what is the
standard of our faith, so that, if the bishop of Constantinople gives his hearty assent to
the same confession, we may securely, as is due, rejoice over the peace of the Church and
no ambiguity may seem to lurk behind which may trouble us with perhaps ungrounded
suspicions.

6 But if any dissent from the purity of our Faith and from the authority of the Fathers,
the Synod which has met at Rome for that purpose joins with me in asking your clemency to
permit a universal council within the limits of Italy; so that, if all those come together
in one place who have fallen either through ignorance or through fear, measures may be
taken to correct and cure them, and no one any longer may be allowed to quote the Synod of
Niches in a way which shall prove him opposed to its Faith; since it will be of advantage
both to the whole Church and to your rule, if one God, one Faith and one mystery of man's
Salvation, be held by the one confession of the whole world. 7 Dated 17th July in the
consulship of the illustrious Valentinianus for the seventh time) and Avienus (450).

LETTER 70: TO PULCHERIA AUGUSTA

(In which he again says he is waiting for Anatolius' acceptance of Cyril's and his own
statement of the Faith, and looks forward to a Synod in Italy.)

LETTER 71: TO THE ARCHIMANDRITES OF CONSTANTINOPLE

(Complaining of Anatolius' silence.)

LETTER 72: TO FAUSTUS, ONE OF THE ARCHIMANDRITES AT CONSTANTINOPLE

(Commending his faith and exhorting him to steadfastness.)

LETTER 73: FROM VALENTINIAN AND MARCIAN

(Announcing their election as Emperors (a.d. 450), and asking his prayers that (per
celebrandam synodum, te auctore), peace may be restored to the Church.)

LETTER 74: TO MARTINUS, ANOTHER OF THE ARCHIMANDRITES AT CONSTANTINOPLE

(Commending his steadfastness in the Faith.)

LETTER 75: TO FAUSTUS AND MARTINUS TOGETHER

(Condemning the Latrocinium and maintaining that Eutyches equally with Nestorius promotes
the cause of Antichrist.)

LETTER 76: FROM MARCIANUS AUGUSTUS TO LEO

(Proposing that he should either attend a Synod at Constantinople or help in arranging
some other more convenient place of meeting.)

LETTER 77: FROM PULCHERIA AUGUSTA TO LEO

(In which she expresses her assurance that Anatolius is orthodox, and begs him to assist
her husband in arranging for the Synod, and announces that Flavian's body has been buried
in the Basilica of the Apostles at Constantinople and the exiled bishops restored.)

LETTER 78: LEO'S ANSWER TO MARCIANUS

(Briefly thanking him.)

LETTER 79

1 Leo, bishop of the city of Rome to Pulcheria Augusta.

I. He Rejoices at Pulcheria's Zeal Both Against Nestorius and Eutyches.

1 That which we have always anticipated concerning your Grace's holy purposes, we have now
proved fully true, viz. that, however varied may be the attacks of wicked men upon the
Christian Faith, yet when you are present and prepared by the Lord for its defence, it
cannot be disturbed. For God will not forsake either the mystery of His mercy or the
deserts of your labours, whereby you long ago repelled the crafty foe of our holy religion
from the very vitals of the Church: when the impiety of Nestorius failed to maintain his
heresy because it did not escape you the handmaid and pupil of the Truth, how much poison
was instilled into simple folk by the coloured falsehoods of that glib fellow. And the
sequel to that mighty struggle was that through your vigilance the things which the devil
contrived by means of Eutyches, did not escape detection, and they who had chosen to
themselves one side in the twofold heresy, were overthrown by the one and undivided power
of the catholic Faith. This then is your second victory over the destruction of Eutyches'
error: and, if he had had any soundness of mind, that error having been once and long ago
routed and put to confusion in the person of his instigators, he would easily have been
able to avoid the attempt to rekindle into life the smouldering ashes, and thus only share
the lot of those, whose example he had followed, most glorious Augusta. We desire,
therefore, to leap for joy and to pay due vows for your clemency's prosperity to God, who
has already bestowed on you a double palm and crown through all the parts of the world, in
which the Lord's Gospel is proclaimed.

II. He Thanks Her for Her Aid to the Catholic Cause, and Explains His Wishes About the
Restoration of the Lapsed Bishops.

1 Your clemency must know, therefore, that the whole church of Rome is highly grateful for
all your faithful deeds, whether that you have with pious zeal helped our representatives
throughout and brought back the catholic priests, who had been expelled from their
churches by an unjust sentence, or that you have procured the restoration with due honour
of the remains of that innocent and holy priest, Flavian, of holy memory, to the church,
which he ruled so well. In all which things assuredly your glory is increased manifold, so
long as you venerate the saints according to their deserts, and are anxious that the
thorns and weeds should be removed from the Lord's field. But we learn as well from the
account of our deputies as from that of my brother and fellow-bishop, Anatolius, whom you
graciously recommend to me, that certain bishops crave reconciliation for those who seem
to have given their consent to matters of heresy, and desire catholic communion for them:
to whose request we grant effect on condition that the boon of peace should not be vouch-
soled them till, our deputies acting in concert with the aforesaid bishop, they are
corrected, and with their own hand condemn their evil doings; because our Christian
religion requires boil that true justice should constrain the obstinate, and love not
reject the penitent.

III. He Commends Certain Bishops and Churches to Her Care.

1 And because we know how much pious care your Grace deigns to bestow on catholic priests,
we have ordered that you should be informed that my brother and fellow-bishop, Eusebius,
is living with us, and sharing our communion, whose church we commend to you; for he that
is improperly asserted to have been elected in his place, is said to be ravaging it. And
this too we ask of you, Grace, which we doubt not you will do of your own free will, to
extend the favour which is due as well to my brother and fellow-bishop, Julian, as to the
clergy of Constantinople, who clung to the holy Flavian with faithful loyalty. On all
things we have instructed your Grace by our deputies as to what ought to be done or
arranged. Dated April 13, in the consulship of the illustrious Adelfius (451).

LETTER 80

1 Leo, the bishop, to Anatolius, the bishop.

I. He Rejoices at Anatolius Having Proved Himself Orthodox.

1 We rejoice in the Lord and glory in the gift of His Grace, Who has shown you a follower
of Gospel-teaching as we have found from your letter, beloved, and our brothers' account
whom we sent to Constantinople: for now through the approved faith of the priest, we are
justifying in presuming that the whole church committed to him will have no wrinkle nor
spot of error, as says the Apostle, "for I have espoused you to one husband to present you
a pure virgin to Christ ." For that virgin is the Church, the spouse of one husband
Christ, who suffers herself to be corrupted by no error, so that through the whole world
we have one entire and pure communion in which we now welcome you as a fellow, beloved,
and give our approval to the order of proceedings which we have received, ratified, as was
proper, with the necessary signatures. In order, therefore, that your spirit in turn,
beloved, might be strengthened by words of ours, we sent back after the Easter festival
with our letters, our sons, Casterius, the Presbyter, and Patricius and Asclepias, the
Deacons, who brought your writings to us, informing you, as we said above, that we rejoice
at the peace of the church of Constantinople, on which we have ever spent such care that
we wish it to be polluted by no heretical deceit.

II. The Penitents Among the Backsliding Bishops are to Be Received Back into Full
Communion Upon Some Plan to Be Settled by Anatolius and Leo's Delegates.

1 But concerning the brethren whom we learn from your letters, and from our delegates' ac
count, to be desirous of communion with us, on the ground of their sorrow that they did
not remain constant against violence and intimidation, but gave their assent to another's
crime when terror had so bewildered them, that with hasty acquiescence they ministered to
the condemnation of the catholic and guiltless bishop (Flavian), and to the acceptance of
the detestable heresy (of Eutyches), we approve of that which was determined upon in the
presence and with the co operation of our delegates, viz., that they should be content
meanwhile with the communion of their own churches, but we wish our delegates whom we have
sent to consult with you, and come to some arrangement whereby those who condemn their
ill-doings with full assurances of penitence, and choose rather to accuse than to defend
themselves, may be gladdened by being at peace and in communion with us; on condition that
what has been received against the catholic Faith is first condemned with complete
anathema. For otherwise in the Church of God, which is Christ's Body, there are neither
valid priesthoods nor true sacrifices, unless in the reality of our nature the true High
Priest makes atonement for us, and the true Blood of the spotless Lamb makes us clean.

2 For although He be set on the Father's right hand, yet in the same flesh which He took
from the Virgin, he carries on the mystery of propitiation, as says the Apostle, "Christ
Jesus Who died, yea, Who also rose, Who is on the right hand of God, Who also maketh
intercession for us . For our kindness cannot be blamed in any case where we receive those
who give assurance of penitence, and at whose deception we were grieved. The boon of
communion with us, therefore, must neither harshly be withheld nor rashly granted, because
as it is fully consistent with our religion to treat the oppressed with a Christlike
charity, so it is fair to lay the full blame upon the authors of the disturbance.

III. The Names of Dioscorus, Juvenal, and Eustathius are Not to Be Read Aloud at the Holy
Altar.

1 Concerning the reading out of the names of Dioscorus, Juvenal, and Eustathius at the
holy altar, it beseems you, beloved, to observe that which our friends who were there
present said ought to be done, and which is consistent with the honourable memory of S.
Flavian, and will not turn the minds of the laity away from you. For it is very wrong and
unbecoming that those who have harassed innocent catholics with their attacks, should be
mingled indiscriminately with the names of the saints, seeing that by not forsaking their
condemned heresy, they condemn themselves by their perversity: such men should either be
chastised for their unfaithfulness; or strive hard after forgiveness.

IV. One or Two Instructions About Individuals.

1 But our brother and fellow-bishop, Julian, and the clergy who adhered to Flavian of holy
memory, rendering him faithful service, we wish to adhere to you also beloved, that they
may know him who we are sure lives by the merits of his faith with our God to be present
with them in you. We wish you to know this too, beloved, that our brother and fellow-
bishop Eusebius , who for the Faith's sake endured many dangers and toils, is at present
staying with us and continuing in our communion; whose church we would that your care
should protect, that nothing may be destroyed in his absence, and no one may venture to
injure him in anything until he come to you bearing a letter from us. And that our or
rather all Christian people's affection for you may be stirred up in greater measure, we
wish this that we have written to you, beloved, to come to all men's knowledge, that they
who serve our God may give thanks for the consummation of the peace of the Apostolic See
with you. But on other matters and persons you will be more fully instructed, beloved, by
the letter you will have received through our delegates. Dated 13 April, in the consulship
of the illustrious Adelfius (451).

LETTER 81: TO BISHOP JULIAN

(Warning him to be circumspect in receiving the lapsed.)

LETTER 82: TO MARCLAN AUGUSTUS

I. After Congratulating the Emperor on His Noble Conduct, He Deprecates Random Inquiries
into the Tenets of the Faith.

1 Although I have replied already to your Grace by the hand of the Constantinopolitan
clergy, yet on receiving your clemency's mercy through the illustrious prefect of the
city, my son Tatian, I found still greater cause for congratulation, because I have learnt
your strong eagerness for the Church's peace. And this holy desire as in fairness it
deserves, secures for your empire the same happy condition as you seek for religion. For
when the Spirit of God establishes harmony among Christian princes, a twofold confidence
is produced throughout the world, because the progress of love and faith makes the power
of their arms in both directions unconquerable, so that God being propitiated by one
confession, the falseness of heretics and the enmity of barbarians are simultaneously
overthrown, most glorious Emperor. The hope, therefore, of heavenly aid being increased
through the Emperor's friendship, I venture with the greater confidence to appeal to your
Grace on behalf of the mystery of man's salvation, not to allow any one in vain and
presumptuous craftiness to inquire what must be held, as if it were uncertain. And
although we may not in a single word dissent from the teaching of the Gospels and
Apostles, nor entertain any opinion on the Divine Scriptures different to what the blessed
Apostles and our Fathers learnt and taught, now in these latter days unlearned and
blasphemous inquiries are set on foot, which of old the Holy Spirit crushed by the
disciples of the Truth, so soon as the devil aroused them in hearts which were suited to
his purpose.

II. The Points to Be Settled are Only Which of the Lapsed Shall Be Restored, and on What
Terms.

2 But it is most inopportune that through the foolishness of a few we should be brought
once more into hazardous opinions, and to the warfare of carnal disputes, as if the
wrangle was to be revived, and we had to settle whether Eutyches held blasphemous views,
and whether Dioscorus gave wrong judgment, who in condemning Flavian of holy memory struck
his own death-blow, and involved the simpler folk in the same destruction. And now that
many, as we have ascertained, have betoken themselves to the means of amendment, and
entreat forgiveness for their weak hastiness, we have to determine not the character of
the Faith, but whose prayers we shall receive, and on what terms. And hence that most
religious anxiety which you deign to feel for the proclamation of a Synod, shall have
fully and timely put before it all that I judge pertinent to the needs of the case, by
means of the deputies who will with all speed, if God permit, reach your Grace. Dated the
23rd of April in the consulship of the illustrious Adelfius (451).

LETTER 83: TO THE SAME MARCIAN

(Congratulating him on his benefits to the Church, and deprecating a Synod as
inopportune.)

LETTER 84: TO PULCHERIA AUGUSTA

(Announcing the despatch of his legates to deal with the lapsed, and asking that Eutyches
should be superseded in his monastery by a catholic, and dismissed from Constantinople.)

LETTER 85

1 Leo, the bishop, to the bishop Anatolius.

I. Anatolius with Leo's Delegates is to Settle the Question of the Receiving Back of Those
Who Had Temporarily Gone Astray After Eutyches.

1 Although I hope, beloved, you are devoted to every good work, yet that your activity may
be rendered the more effective, it was needful and fitting to despatch my brothers
Lucentius the bishop and Basil the presbyter, as we promised, to ally themselves with you,
beloved, that nothing may be done either indecisively or lazily in matters, which concern
the welfare of the universal Church; for as long as you are on the spot, to whom we have
entrusted the carrying out of our will, all things can be conducted with such moderation
that the claims of neither kindness nor justice may be neglected, but without the
accepting of persons, the Divine judgment may be considered in everything. But that this
may be properly observed and guarded, the integrity of the catholic Faith must first of
all be preserved, and, because in all cases "narrow" and steep "is the way that leadeth
unto life ," there must be no deviation from its track, either to the right hand or to the
left. And because the evangelical and Apostolic Faith has to combat all errors, on the one
side casting down Nestorius, on the other crushing Eutyches and his accomplices, remember
the need of observing this rule, that all those who in that synod , which cannot, and does
not deserve to have the name of Synod, and in which Dioscorus displayed his bad feeling,
and Juvenal his ignorance, grieve as we learn from your account, beloved, that they were
conquered by fear, and being overcome with terror, were able to be forced to assent to
that iniquitous judgment, and who now desire to obtain catholic communion, are to receive
the peace of the brethren after due assurance of repentance, on condition that in no
doubtful terms they anathematize, execrate and condemn Eutyches and his dogma and his
adherents.

II. The Case of the More Serious Offenders Must Be Reserved for the Present.

1 But concerning those who have sinned more gravely in this matter, and claimed for
themselves a higher place in the same unhappy synod, in order to irritate the simple minds
of their lowlier brethren by their pernicious arrogance, if they return to their right
mind, and ceasing to defend their action, turn themselves to the condemnation of their
particular error, if these men give such assurance of penitence as shall seem
indisputable, let their case be reserved for the maturer deliberations of the Apostolic
See, that when all things have been sifted and weighed, the right conclusion may be
arrived at about their real actions. And in the Church over which the Lord has willed you
to rule, let none such as we have already written have their names read at the altar until
the course of events shows what ought to be determined concerning them.

III. Anatolius is Requested to Co-Operate Loyally with Leo's Delegates.

1 But concerning the address presented to us by your clergy, beloved, there is no need to
put my sentiments into a letter: it is sufficient to entrust all to my delegates, whose
words shall carefully instruct you on every point. And so, dearest brother, do your
endeavour with these brethren whom we have chosen as suitable agents in so great a matter
faithfully and effectually to carry out what is agreeable to the Church of God: especially
as the very nature of the case, and the promise of Divine aid incite you, and our most
gracious princes show such holy faith, such religious devotion, that we find in them not
only the general sympathy of Christians, but even that of the priesthood. Who assuredly in
accordance with that piety, whereby they boast themselves to be servants of God, will
receive all your suggestions for the benefit of the catholic Faith in a worthy spirit, so
that by their aid also the peace of Christendom can be restored and wicked error
destroyed. And if on any points more advice is needed, let word be quickly sent to us,
that after investigating the nature of the case, we may carefully prescribe the rightful
measures. Dated 9th of June in the consulship of the illustrious Adelfius (451).

LETTER 86: TO JULIAN, BISHOP OF COS

(Begging him for friendship's and the Church's sake to assist his legates in quelling the
remnants of heresy.)

LETTER 87: TO ANATOLIUS, BISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE

(Commending to him two presbyters, Basil and John, who being accused of heresy had come to
Rome, and quite convinced Leo of their orthodoxy.)

LETTER 88

1 Leo, the bishop, to Paschasinus, bishop of Lilybaeum.

I. He Sends a Copy of the Tome and Still Further Explains the Heterodoxy of Eutyches.

1 Although I doubt not all the sources of scandal are fully known to you, brother, which
have arisen in the churches of the East about the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ,
yet, test anything might have chanced to escape your care, I have despatched for your
attentive perusal and study our letter , which deals with this matter in the fullest way,
which we sent to Flavian of holy memory, and which the universal Church has accepted; in
order that, understanding how completely this whole blasphemous error has with God's aid
been destroyed, you yourself also in your love towards God may show the same spirit, and
know that they are utterly to be abhorred, who, following the blasphemy and madness of
Eutyches, have dared to say there are not two natures, i.e. perfect Godhead and perfect
manhood, in our Lord, the only-begotten Son of God, who took upon Himself to restore
mankind; and think they can deceive our wariness by saying they believe the one nature of
the Word to be Incarnate, whereas the Word of God in the Godhead of the Father, and of
Himself, and of the Holy Spirit has indeed one nature; but when He took on Him the reality
of our flesh, our nature also was united to His unchangeable substance: for even
Incarnation could not be spoken of, unless the Word took on Him the flesh. And this taking
on of flesh forms so complete a union, that not only in the blessed Virgin's child-
bearing, but also in her conception, no division must be imagined between the Godhead and
the life-endowed flesh , since in the unity of person the Godhead and the manhood came
together both in the conception and in the childbearing of the Virgin.

II. Eutyches Might Have Been Warned by Tire Fate of Former Heretics.

1 A like blasphemy, therefore, is to be abhorred in Eutyches, as was once condemned and
overthrown by the Fathers in former heretics: and their example ought to have benefited
this foolish fellow, in putting him on his guard against that which he could not grasp by
his own sense, lest he should render void the peerless mystery of our salvation by denying
the reality of human flesh in our Lord Jesus Christ. For, if there is not in Him true and
perfect human nature, there is no taking of us upon Him, and the whole of our belief and
teaching according to his heresy is emptiness and lying. But because the Truth does not
lie and the Godhead is not possible, there abides in God the Word both substances in one
Person, and the Church confesses her Saviour in such a way as to acknowledge Him both
impossible in Godhead and possible in flesh, as says the Apostle, "although He was
crucified through (our) weakness, yet He lives by the power of God ."

III. He Sends Quotations from the Fathers, and Announces that the Churches of the East
Have Accepted the Tome.

1 And in order that you may be the fuller instructed in all things, beloved, I have sent
you certain quotations from our holy Fathers, that you may clearly gather what they felt
and what they preached to the churches about the mystery of the Lord's Incarnation, which
quotations our deputies produced at Constantinople also together with our epistle. And you
must understand that the whole church of Constantinople, with all the monasteries and many
bishops, have given their assent to it, and by their subscription have anathematized
Nestorius and Eutyches with their dogmas. You must also understand that I have recently
received the bishop of Constantinople's letter, which states that the bishop of Antioch
has sent instructions to all the bishops throughout his provinces, and gained their assent
to my epistle, and their condemnation of Nestorius and Eutyches in like manner.

IV. He Asks Him to Settle the Discrepancy Between the Alexandrine and the Roman
Calculation of Easter for 455, by Consulting the Proper Authority.

1 This also we think necessary to enjoin upon your care that you should diligently inquire
in those quarters where you are sure of information concerning that point in the reckoning
of Easter, which we have found in the table of Theophilus, and which greatly exercises us,
and that you should discuss with those who are learned in such calculations, as to the
date, when the day of the Lord's resurrection should be held four years hence. For,
whereas the next Easter is to be held by God's goodness on March 23rd, the year after on
April 12th, the year after that on April 4th, Theophilus of holy memory has fixed April
24th to be observed in 455, which we find to be quite contrary to the rule of the Church;
but in our Easter cycles as you know very well, Easter that year is set down to be kept on
April 17th. And therefore, that all our doubts may be removed, we beg you carefully to
discuss this point with the best authorities, that for the future we may avoid this kind
of mistake. Dated June 24th in the consulship of the illustrious Adelfius (451).

LETTER 89: TO MARCIAN AUGUSTUS

(Appointing Paschasinus the bishop and Boniface a presbyter, and Julian the bishop, his
representatives at the Synod, as the Emperor is determined it should be held at once.)

LETTER 90: TO MARCLAN AUGUSTUS

(Assenting perforce to the meeting of the Synod, but begging him to see that the Faith be
not discussed as doubtful.)

LETTER 91: TO ANATOLIUS, BISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE

(Telling him that he has appointed Paschasinus, Boniface, and Julian, bishop of Cos, to
represent him at the Synod.)

LETTER 92: TO JULIAN, BISHOP OF COS

(Asking him to act as one of his representatives at the Synod.)

LETTER 93

1 Leo, the bishop of the city of Rome, to the holy Synod, assembled at Nicaea .

I. He Excuses His Absence from the Synod, and Introduces His Representatives.

1 I had indeed prayed, dearly beloved, on behalf of my dear colleagues that all the Lord's
priests would persist in united devotion to the catholic Faith, and that no one would be
misled by favour or fear of secular powers into departure from the way of Truth; but
because many things often occur to produce penitence and God's mercy transcends the faults
of delinquents, and vengeance is postponed in order that reformation may have place, we
must make much of our most merciful prince's piously intentioned Council, in which he has
desired your holy brotherhood to assemble for the purpose of destroying the snares of the
devil and restoring the peace of the Church, so far respecting the rights and dignity of
the most blessed Apostle Peter as to invite us too by letter to vouchsafe our presence at
your venerable Synod. That indeed is not permitted either by the needs of the times or by
any precedent. Yet in these brethren, that is Paschasinus and Lucentius, bishops, Boniface
and Basil, presbyters, who have been deputed by the Apostolic See, let your brotherhood
reckon that I am presiding at the Synod; for my presence is not withdrawn from you, who am
now represented by my vicars, and have this long time been really with you in the
proclaiming of the catholic Faith: so that you who cannot help knowing what we believe in
accordance with ancient tradition, cannot doubt what we desire.

II. He Entreats Them to Re-State the Faith as Laid Down in the Tome.

1 Wherefore, brethren most dear, let all attempts at impugning the Divinely-inspired Faith
be entirely put down, and the vain unbelief of heretics be laid to rest: and let not that
be defended which may not be believed: since in accordance with the authoritative
statements of the Gospel, in accordance with the utterances of the prophets, and the
teaching of the Apostles, with the greatest fulness and clearness in the letter which we
sent to bishop Flavian of happy memory, it has been laid down what is the loyal and pure
confession upon the mystery of our Lord Jesus Christ's Incarnation.

III. The Ejected Bishops Must Be Restored, and the Nestorian Canons Retain Their Force.

1 But because we know full well that through evil jealousies the state of many churches
has been disturbed, and a large number of bishops have been driven from their Sees for not
receiving the heresy and conveyed into exile, while others have been put into their places
though yet alive, to these wounds first of all must the healing of justice be applied, nor
must any one be deprived of his own possession that some one else may enjoy it: for if, as
we desire, all forsake their error, no one need lose his present rank, and those who have
laboured for the Faith ought to have their rights restored with every privilege. Let the
decrees specially directed against Nestorius of the former Synod of Ephesus, at which
bishop Cyril of holy memory presided; still retain their force, lest the heresy then
condemned flatter itself in aught because Eutyches is visited with condign execration. For
the purity of the Faith and doctrine which we proclaim in the same spirit as our holy
Fathers, equally condemns and impugns the Nestorian and the Eutychian misbelief with its
supporters. Farewell in the Lord, brethren most dear. Dated 26th , of June, in the
consulship of the illustrious Adelfius (451).

LETTER 94: TO MARCIAN AUGUSTUS

(Commending his legates to him and praying for the full success of the Synod, if it adhere
to the Faith once delivered to the saints.)

LETTER 95

1 Leo, the bishop to Pulcheria Augusta.

I. He Informs the Empress that He Has Loyally Recognized the Council Ordered by Her, and
Sent Representatives with Letters to It.

1 Your clemency's religious care which you unceasingly bestow on the catholic Faith, I
recognize in everything, and give God thanks at seeing you take such interest in the
universal Church, that I can confidently suggest what I think agreeable to justice and
kindness, and so what thus far your pious zeal through the mercy of Christ has
irreproachably accomplished, may the more speedily be brought to an issue which we shall
be thankful for, O most noble Augusta. Your clemency's command, therefore, that a Synod
should be held at Nicaea , and your gently expressed refusal of my request that it should
be held in Italy, so that all the bishops in our parts might be summoned and assemble, if
the state of affairs had permitted them, I have received in a spirit so far removed from
scorn as to nominate two of my fellow-bishops and fellow-presbyters respectively to
represent me, sending also to the venerable synod an appropriate missive from which the
brotherhood therein assembled might learn the standard necessary to be maintained in their
decision, lest any rashness should do detriment either to the rules of the Faith, or to
the provisions of the canons, or to the remedies required by the spirit of loving
kindness.

II. In the Settlement of This Matter that Moderation Must Be Observed Which Was Entirely
Absent at Ephesus.

1 For, as I have very often stated in letters from the beginning of this matter, I have
desired that such moderation should be observed in the midst of discordant views and
carnal jealousies that, whilst nothing should be allowed to be wrested from or added to
the purity of the Faith, yet the remedy of pardon should be granted to those who return to
unity and peace. Because the works of the devil are then more effectually destroyed when
men's hearts are recalled to the love of God and their neighbours. But how contrary to my
warnings and entreaties were their actions then, it is a long story to explain, nor is the
need to put down in the pages of a letter all that was allowed to be perpetrated in that
meeting, not of judges but of robbers, at Ephesus; where the chief men of the synod spared
neither those brethren who opposed them nor those who assented to them, seeing that for
the breaking down of the catholic Faith and the strengthening of execrable heresy, they
stripped some of their rightful rank and tainted others with complicity in guilt; and
surely their cruelty was worse to those whom by persuasion they divorced from innocence,
than to those whom by persecution they made blessed confessors.

III. Those Who Recant Their Error Must Be Treated with Forbearance.

1 And yet because such men have harmed themselves most by their wrong-doing, and because
the greater the wounds, the more careful must be the application of the remedy, I have
never in any letter maintained that pardon must be withheld even from them if they came to
their right mind. And although we unchangeably abhor their heresy, which is the greatest
enemy of Christian religion, yet the men themselves, if they without any doubt amend their
ways and clear themselves by full assurances of repentance, we do not judge to be outcasts
from the unspeakable mercy of God: but rather we lament with those that lament, "we weep
with those that weep ," and obey the requirements of justice in deposing without
neglecting the remedies of loving-kindness: and this, as your piety knows, is not a mere
word-promise, but is also borne out by our actions, inasmuch as nearly all who had been
either misled or forced into assenting to the presiding bishops, by rescinding what they
had decreed and by condemning what they had written, have obtained complete acquittal from
guilt and the boon of Apostolic peace.

IV. Even the Authors of the Mischief May Find Room Far Forgiveness by Repentance.

1 If, therefore, your clemency deigns to reflect upon my motives, it will be satisfied
that I have acted throughout with the design of bringing about the abolition of the heresy
without the loss of one soul; and that in the case of the authors of these cruel
disturbances I have modified my practice somewhat in order that their slow minds might be
aroused by some feelings of compunction to ask for lenient treatment. For although since
their decision, which is no less blasphemous than unjust, they cannot be held in such
honour by the catholic brotherhood as they once were, yet they still retain their sees and
their rank as bishops, with the prospect either of receiving the peace of the whole
Church, after true and necessary signs of repentance or, if (which God forbid) they
persist in their heresy, of reaping the reward of their misbelief. Dated 20th of July, in
the consulship of the illustrious Adelfius (451).

LETTER 96: TO RAVENNIUS, BISHOP OF ARLES

(Requesting him to keep Easter on March 23 in 452.)

LETTER 97: FROM EUSEBIUS, BISHOP OF MILAN, TO LEO

(Informing him that the Tome has been approved by the Synod of Milan, and containing the
subscriptions of the bishops there assembled.)

LETTER 98

1 The great and holy and universal Synod, which by the grace of God and the sanction of
our most pious and Christ-loving Emperors has been gathered together in the metropolis of
Chalcedon in the province of Bithynia, to the most holy and blessed archbishop of Rome,
Leo.

I. They Congratulate Leo on Taking the Foremost Part in Maintaining the Faith.

1 "Our mouth was filled with joy and our tongue with exultation ." This prophecy grace has
fitly appropriated to us for whom the security of religion is ensured. For what is a
greater incentive to cheerfulness than the Faith? what better inducement to exultation
than the Divine knowledge which the Saviour Himself gave us from above for salvation,
saying, "go ye and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things that I
have enjoined you ." And this golden chain leading down from the Author of the command to
us, you yourself have stedfastly preserved, being set as the mouthpiece unto all of the
blessed Peter, and imparting the blessedness of his Faith unto all. Whence we too, wisely
taking you as our guide in all that is good, have shown to the sons of the Church their
inheritance of Truth, not giving our instruction each singly and in secret, but making
known our confession of the Faith in conceit, with one consent and agreement And we were
all delighted, revelling, as at an imperial banquet, in the spiritual food, which Christ
supplied to us through your letter: and we seemed to see the Heavenly Bridegroom actually
present with us. For if "where two or three are gathered together in His name," He has
said that "there He is in the midst of them ," must He not have been much more
particularly present with 520 priests, who preferred the spread of knowledge concerning
Him to their country and their ease? Of whom you were, chief, as the head to the members,
showing your goodwill in the person of those who represented you; whilst our religious
Emperors presided to the furtherance of due order, inviting us to restore the doctrinal
fabric of the Church, even as Zerubbabel invited Joshua to rebuild Jerusalem .

II. They Detail Dioscorus' Wicked Acts.

1 And the adversary would have been like a wild beast outside the fold, roaring to himself
and unable to seize any one, had not the late bishop of Alexandria thrown himself for a
prey to him, who, though he had done many terrible things before, eclipsed the former by
the latter deeds; for contrary to all the injunctions of the canons, he deposed that
blessed shepherd of the saints at Constantinople, Flavian, who displayed such Apostolic
faith, and the most pious bishop Eusebius, and acquitted by his terror-won votes Eutyches,
who had been condemned for heresy, and restored to him the dignity which your holiness had
taken away from him as unworthy of it, and like the strangest of wild beasts, falling upon
the vine which he found in the finest condition, He uprooted it and brought in that which
had been cast away as unfruitful, and those who acted like true shepherds he cut off, and
set over the flocks those who had shown themselves wolves: and besides all this he
stretched forth his fury even against him who had been charged with the custody of the
vine by the Saviour, we mean of course your holiness, and purposed excommunication against
one who had at heart the unifying of the Church. And instead of showing penitence for
this, instead of begging mercy with tears, he exulted as if over virtuous actions,
rejecting your holiness' letter and resisting all the dogmas of the Truth.

III. We Have Deposed Eutyches, Treating Him as Mercifully as We Could.

1 And we ought to have left him in the position where he had placed himself: but, since we
profess the teaching of the Saviour "who wishes all men to be saved and to come to a
knowledge of the Truth ," as a fact we took pains to carry out this merciful policy
towards him, and called him in brotherly fashion to judgment, not as if trying to cut him
off but affording him room for defence and healing; and we prayed that he might be
victorious over the many charges they had brought against him, in order that we might
conclude our meeting in peace and happiness and Satan might gum no advantage over us. But
he, being absolutely convicted by his own conscience , by shirking the trial gave
countenance to the accusations and rejected the three lawful summonses he received. In
consequence of which, we ratified with such moderation as we could the vote which he had
passed against himself by his blunders, stripping the wolf of his shepherd's skin, which
he had long been convicted of wearing for a pretence. Thereupon our troubles ceased and
straightway a time of welcome happiness set in: and having pulled up one tare, we filled
the whole world to our delight with pure grain: and having received, as it were, full
power to rootup and to plant, we limited the up-rooting to one and carefully plant a crop
of good fruit.

2 For it was God who worked, and the triumphant Euphemia who crowned the meeting as for a
bridal , and who, taking our definition of the Faith as her own confession, presented it
to her Bridegroom by our most religious Emperor and Christ-loving Empress, appeasing all
the tumult of opponents and establishing our confession of the Truth asacceptable to Him,
and with hand and tonguesetting her seal to the votes of us all in proclamation thereof
These are the things we have done, with you present in the spirit and known to approve of
us as brethren, and all but visible to us through the wisdom of your representatives.

IV. They Announce Their Decision that Constantinople Should Take Precedence Next to Rome,
and Ask Leo's Consent to It.

1 And we further inform you that we have decided on other things also for the good
management and stability of church matters, being persuaded that your holiness will accept
and ratify them, when you are told. The long prevailing custom, which the holy Church of
God at Constantinople had of ordaining metropolitans for the provinces of Asia, Pontus and
Thrace, we have now ratified by the votes of the Synod, not so much by way of conferring a
privilege on the See of Constantinople as to provide for the good government of those
cities, because of the frequent disorders that arise on the death of their bishops, both
clergy and laity being then without a leader and disturbing church order. And this has not
escaped your holiness, particularly in the case of Ephesus, which has often caused you
annoyance . We have ratified also the canon of the 150 holy Fathers who met at
Constantinople in the time of the great Theodosius of holy memory, which ordains that
after your most holy and Apostolic See, the See of Constantinople shall take precedence,
being placed second: for we are persuaded that with your usual care for others you have
often extended that Apostolic prestige which belongs to you, to the church in
Constantinople also, by virtue of your great disinterestedness in sharing all your own
good things with your spiritual kinsfolk.

2 Accordingly vouchsafe most holy and blessed father to accept as your own wish, and as
conducing to good government the things which we have resolved on for the removal of al
confusion and the confirmation of church order. For your holiness' delegates, the most
pious bishops Paschasinus and Lucentius, and with them the right Godly presbyter Boniface,
attempted vehemently to resist these decisions, from a strong desire that this good work
also should start from your foresight, in order that the establishment of good order as
well as of the Faith should be put to your account. For we duly regarding our most devout
and Christ loving Emperors, who delight therein, and the illustrious senate and, so to
say, the whole imperial city, considered it opportune to use the meeting of this
ecumenical Synod for the ratification of your honour, and confidently corroborated this
decision as if it were initiated by you with your customary fostering zeal, knowing that
every success of the children rebounds to the parent's glory. Accordingly, we entreat you,
honour our decision by your assent, and as we have yielded to the head our agreement on
things honourable, so may the head also fulfil for the children what is fitting. For thus
will our pious Emperors be treated with due regard, who have ratified your holiness'
judgment as law, and the See of Constantinople will receive its recompense for having
always displayed such loyalty on matters of religion towards you, and for having so
zealously linked itself to you in full agreement.

3 But that you may know that we have done nothing for favour or in hatred, but as being
guided by the Divine Will, we have made known to you the whole scope of our proceedings to
strengthen our position and to ratify and establish what we have done .

LETTER 99: FROM RAVENNUS AND OTHER GALLIC BISHOPS

(Announcing that the Tome has been accepted in Gaul also as a definitive statement of the
Faith, with the bishops' subscriptions.)

LETTER 100: FROM THE EMPEROR MARCIAN

(Dealing much more briefly with the same subjects as Letter XCVIII. above.)

LETTER 101: FROM ANATOLIUS, BISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE, TO LEO

1 (Dealing with much the same subjects as Letter XCVIII. from Anatolius' own standpoint:
Chap. iii. is translated in extenso as illustrating XCVIII., chap. iii.)

III. He Describes the Circumstances Under Which the Doctrine of the Incarnation Had Been
Formulated by the Synod.

2 But since after passing judgment upon him we had to come to an agreement with prayers
and tears upon a definition of the right Faith; for that was the chief reason for the
Emperor's summoning the holy Synod, at which your holiness was present in the spirit with
us, and wrought with us by the God-fearing men who were sent from you; we, having the
protection of the most holy and beautiful martyr Euphemia, have all given ourselves to
this important matter with all deliberateness. And as the occasion demanded that all the
assembled holy bishops should publish a unanimous de cision for clearness and for an
explicit statement of the Faith in our Lord-Jesus Christ the Lord God who is found and
revealed even to those who seek Him not, yes, even to those who ask not for Him , in spite
of some attempts to resist at first, nevertheless showed us His Truth, and ordained that
it should be written down and proclaimed by all unanimously and without gainsaying, which
thus confirmed the souls of the strong, and invited into the way of Truth all who were
swerving therefrom.

3 And, indeed, after unanimously setting our names to this document, we who have assembled
in this ecumenical Synod in the name of the Faith of the same most holy and triumphant
martyr, Euphemia, and of our most religious and Christ-loving Emperor Marcian, and our
most religious and in all things most faithful daughter the Empress Pulcheria Augusta,
with prayer and joy and happiness, having laid on the holy altar the definition written in
accordance with your holy epistle for the confirmation of our Fathers' Faith, presented it
to their pious care; for thus they had asked to receive it, and, having received it, they
glorified with us their Master Christ, who had driven away all the mist of heresy and had
graciously made clear the word of Truth. And in this way was simultaneously established
the peace of the Church and the agreement of the priests concerning the pure Faith by the
Saviour's mercy.

LETTER 102: TO THE GALLIC BISHOPS

(Thanking them for their letter (viz. XCIX.) to him, and announcing the result of the
Synod of Chalcedon.)

LETTER 103: TO THE GALLIC BISHOPS

(Written later: enclosing a copy of the sentence against Eutyches and Dioscorus.)

LETTER 104

1 (To Marcian Augustus, about the presumption of Anatolius, by the hand of Lucian the
bishop and Basil the deacon.)

I. He Congratulates the Emperor on His Share in the Triumph of the Catholic Faith.

1 By the great bounty of God's mercy the joys of the whole catholic Church were multiplied
when through your clemency's holy and glorious zeal the most pestilential error was
abolished among us; so that our labours the more speedily reached their desired end,
because your God-serving Majesty bad so faithfully and powerfully assisted them. For
although the liberty of the Gospel had to be defended against certain dissentients in the
power of the Holy Ghost, and through the instrumentality of the Apostolic See, yet God's
grace has shown itself more manifestly (than we could have hoped) by vouchsafing to the
world that in the victory of the Truth only the authors of the violation of the Faith
should perish and the Church restored to her soundness. Accordingly the war which the
enemy of our peace had stirred up, was so happily ended, the Lord's right hand fighting
for us, that when Christ triumphed all His priests shared in the one victory, and when the
light of Truth shone forth, only the shades of error, with its champions, were dispelled.
For as in believing the Lord's own resurrection, with a view to strengthen the beginnings
of Faith, confidence was much increased by the fact that certain Apostles doubted of the
bodily reality of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by examining the prints of the nails and the
wound of the spear with sight and touch removed the doubts of all by doubting;

2 so now, too, while the misbelief of some is refuted, the hearts of all hesitaters are
strengthened, and that which caused blindness to some few avails for the enlightenment of
the whole body. In which work your clemency duly and rightly rejoices, having faithfully
and properly provided that the devil's snares should do no hurt to the Eastern churches,
but that to propitiate God everywhere more acceptable holocausts should be offered; seeing
that through the mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus, one and the self-same
creed is held by people, priests, and princes, O most glorious son and most clement
Augustus.

II. Considering All the Circumstances Anatolius Might Have Been Expected to Shaw More
Modesty.

1 But now that these things, about which so great a concourse of priests assembled, have
been brought to a good and desirable conclusion, I am surprised and grieved that the peace
of the universal Church which had been divinely restored is again being disturbed by a
spirit of self-seeking. For although my brother Anatolius seems necessarily to have
consulted his own interest in forsaking the error of those who ordained him, and with
salutary change of mind accepting the catholic Faith, yet he ought to have taken care not
to mar by any depravity of desire that which he is known to have obtained through your
means . For we, having regard to your faith and intervention, though his antecedents were
suspicious on account of those who consecrated him , wished to be kind rather than just
towards him, that by the use of healing measures we might assuage all disturbances which
through the operations of the devil had been excited; and this ought to have made him
modest rather than the opposite. For even if he had been lawfully and regularly ordained
for conspicuous merit, and by the wisest selection yet without respect to the canons of
the Fathers, the ordinances of the Holy Ghost, and the precedents of antiquity, no votes
could have availed in his favour. I speak before a Christian and a truly religious, truly
orthodox prince (when I say that) Anatolius the bishop detracts greatly from his proper
merits in desiring undue aggrandizement.

III. The City of Constantinople, Royal Though It Be, Can Never Be Raised to Apostolic
Rank.

1 Let the city of Constantinople have, as we desire, its high rank, and under the
protection of God's right hand, long enjoy your clemency's rule. Yet things secular stand
on a differentbasis from things divine: and there can be no sure building save on that
rock which the Lord has laid for a foundation. He that covets what is not his due, loses
what is his own. Let it be enough for Anatolius that by the aid of your piety and by my
favour and approval he has obtained the bishopric of so great a city. Let him not disdain
a city which is royal, though he cannot make it an Apostolic See ; and let him on no
account hope that he can rise by doing injury to others. For the privileges of the
churches determined by the canons of the holy Fathers, and fixed by the decrees of the
Nicene Synod, cannot be overthrown by any unscrupulous act, nor disturbed by any
innovation. And in the faithful execution of this task by the aid of Christ I am bound to
display an unflinching devotion; for it is a charge entrusted to me, and it tends to my
condemnation if the rules sanctioned by the Fathers and drawn up under the guidance of
God's Spirit at the Synod of Nicaea for the government of the whole Church are violated
with my connivance (which God forbid), and if the wishes of a single brother have more
weight with me than the common good of the Lord's whole house.

IV. He Asks the Emperor to Express His Disapproval of Anatolius' Self-Seeking Spirit.

1 And therefore knowing that your glorious clemency is anxious for the peace of the Church
and extends its protection and approval to those measures which conduce to pacific unity,
I pray and beseech you with earnest entreaty to refuse all sanction and protection to
these unscrupulous attempts against Christian unity and peace, and put a salutary check
upon my brother Anatolius' desires, which will only injure himself, if he persists: that
he may not desire things which are opposed to your glory and the needs of the times, and
wish to be greater than his predecessors, and that it may be free for him to be as pre-
eminent as he can in virtues, in which he will be partaker only if he prefer to be adorned
with love rather than puffed up with ambition. The conception of this unwarrantable wish
he ought indeed never to have received within the secret of his heart, but when my
brothers and fellow-bishops who were there to represent me withstood him, he might at
least have desisted from his unlawful self-seeking at their wholesome opposition. For both
your gracious Majesty and his own letter affirm that the legates of the Apostolic See
opposed him as they ought with the most justifiable resistance, so that his presumption
was the less excusable in that not even when rebuked did it restrain itself.

V. And to Try to Bring Him to a Right Mind.

1 And hence, because it becomes your glorious faith that, as heresy was overthrown, God
acting through you, so now all self-seeking should be defeated, do that which beseems both
your Christian and your kingly goodness, so that the said bishop may obey the Fathers,
further the cause of peace, and not think he had any right to ordain a bishop for the
Church of Antioch, as he presumed to do without any precedent and contrary to the
provisions of the canons: an act which from a longing to re-establish the Faith and in the
interests of peace we have determined not to cancel. Let him abstain therefore from doing
despite to the rules of the Church and shun unlawful excesses, lest in attempting things
un-favourable to peace he cut himself off from the universal Church. I had much liefer
love him for acting blamelessly than find him persist in this presumptuous frame of mind
which may separate him from us all. My brother and fellow-bishop, Lucian, who with my son,
Basil the deacon, brought your clemency's letter to me, has fulfilled the duties he
undertook as legate with all devotion: for he must not be reckoned to have failed in his
mission, the course of events having rather failed him. Dated the 22nd of May in the
consulship of the illustrious Herculanus (452).

LETTER 105

1 Leo the bishop to Pulcheria Augusta.

I. He Congratutates the Empress on the Triumph of the Faith, But Regrets the Introduction
of a New Controversy into the Church.

1 We rejoice ineffably with your Grace that the catholic Faith has been defended against
heretics and peace restored to the whole Church through your clemency's holy and God-
pleasing zeal: giving thanks to the Merciful and Almighty God that He has suffered none
save those who loved darkness rather than light to be defrauded of the gospel-truth: so
that by the removal of the mists of error the purest light might arise in the hearts of
all, and that darkness-loving foe might not triumph over certain weak souls, whom not only
those who stood unhurt but also those whom he had made to totter have overcome, and that
by the abolition of error the true Faith might reign throughout the world, and "every
tongue might confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father ." But
when the whole world had been confirmed in the unity of the Gospel, and the hearts of all
priests had been guided into the same belief, it had been better that besides those
matters for which the holy Synod was assembled, and which were brought to a satisfactory
agreement through your Grace's zeal, nothing should be introduced to counteract so great
an advantage, and that a council of bishops should not be made an occasion for the
inopportune advancing of an illegitimate desire.

II. The Nicene Canons are Unalterable and Binding Universally.

1 For my brother and fellow-bishop Anatolius not sufficiently considering your Grace's
kindness and the favour of my assent, whereby he gained the priesthood of the church of
Constantinople, instead of rejoicing at what he has gained, has been inflamed with undue
desires beyond the measure of his rank, believing that his intemperate self-seeking could
be advanced by the assertion that certain persons had signified their assent thereto by an
extorted signature: notwithstanding that my brethren and fellow-bishops, who represented
me, faithfully and laudably expressed their dissent from these attempts which are doomed
to speedy failure. For no one may venture upon anything in opposition to the enactments of
the Fathers' canons which many long years ago in the city of Nicaea were founded upon the
decrees of the Spirit, so that any one who wishes to pass any different decree injures
himself rather than impairs them. And if all pontiffs will but keep them inviolate as they
should, there will be perfect peace and complete harmony through all the churches: there
will be no disagreements about rank, no disputes about ordinations, no controversies about
privileges, no strifes about taking that which is another's; but by the fair law of love a
reasonable order will be kept both in conduct and in office, and he will be truly great
who is found free from all self-seeking, as the Lord says, "Whosoever will become greater
among you, let him be your minister, and whosoever will be first among you shall be your
slave;

2 even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto but to minister . And yet these
precepts were at the time given to men who wished to rise from a mean estate and to pass
from the lowest to the highest things; but what more does the ruler of the church of
Constantinople covet than he has gained? or what will satisfy him, if the magnificence and
renown of so great a city is not enough? It is too arrogant and intemperate thus to step
beyond all proper bounds and trampling on ancient custom to wish to seize another's right:
to increase one man's dignity at the expense of so many metropolitans' primacy, and to
carry a new war of confusion into peaceful provinces which were long ago set at rest by
the enactments of the holy Nicene Synod: to break through the venerable Fathers' decrees
by alleging the consent of certain bishops, which even the course of so many years has not
rendered effective. For it is boasted that this has been winked at for almost 60 years
now, and the said bishop thinks that he is assisted thereby; but it is vain for him to
look for assistance from that which, even if a man dared to wish for it, yet he could
never obtain.

III. Only by Imitating His Predecessor Will He Regain Leo's Confidence: the Assent of the
Bishops is Declared Null and Void.

1 Let him realize what a man he has succeeded, and expelling all the spirit of pride let
him imitate Flavian's faith, Flavian's modesty, Flavian's humility, which has raised him
right to a confessor's glory. If he will shine with his virtues, he will merit all praise,
and in all quarters he will win an abundance of love not by seeking human advancement but
by deserving Divine favour. And by this careful course I promise he will bind my heart
also to him, and the love of the Apostolic See, which we have ever bestowed on the church
of Constantinople, shall never be violated by any change. Because if sometimes rulers fall
into errors through want of moderation, yet the churches of Christ do not lose their
purity. But the bishops' assents, which are opposed to the regulations of the holy canons
composed at Nicaea in conjunction with your faithful Grace, we do not recognize, and by
the blessed Apostle Peter's authority we absolutely dis-annul in comprehensive terms, in
all ecclesiastical cases obeying those laws which the Holy Ghost set forth by the 318
bishops for the pacific observance of all priests in such sort that even if a much greater
number were to pass a different decree to theirs, whatever was opposed to their
constitution would have to be held in no respect.

IV. He Requests the Empress to Give His Letter Her Favourable Consideration.

1 And so I request your Grace to receive in a worthy spirit this lengthy letter, in which
I had to explain my views, at the hands of my brother and fellow-bishop Lucianus, who, as
far as in him lies, has faithfully executed the anxious duties of his undertaking as my
delegate, and of my son Basil, the deacon. And because it is your habit to labour for the
peace and unity of the Church, for his soul's health keep my brother Anatolius the bishop,
to whom I have extended my love by your advice, within those limits which shall be
profitable to him, that as your clemency's glory is magnified already for the restoration
of the Faith, so it may be published abroad for the restraint of self-seeking. Dated the
22nd of May, in the consulship of the illustrious Herculanus (452).

LETTER 106

1 Leo, the bishop, to Anatolius, the bishop.

I. He Commends Anatolius Far His Orthodoxy, But Condemns Him Far His Presumption.

1 Now that the light of Gospel Truth has been manifested, as we wished, through God's
grace, and the night of most pestilential error has been dispelled from the universal
Church, we are unspeakably glad in the Lord, because the difficult charge entrusted to us
has been brought to the desired conclusion, even as the text of your letter announces, so
that, according to the Apostle's teaching, "we all speak the same thing, and that there be
no schisms among us: but that we be perfect in the same mind and in the same knowledge .
In devotion to which work we commend you, beloved, for taking part: for thus you benefited
those who needed correction by your activity, and purged yourself from all complicity with
the transgressors. For when your predecessor Flavian, of happy memory, was deposed for his
defence of catholic Truth, not unjustly it was believed that your ordainers seemed to have
consecrated one like themselves, contrary to the provision of the holy canons. But God's
mercy was present in this, directing and confirming you, that you might make good use of
bad beginnings, and show that you were promoted not by men's judgment, but by God's
loving-kindness: and this may be accepted as true, on condition that you lose not the
grace of this Divine gift by another cause of offence. For the catholic, and especially
the Lord's priest, must not only be entangled in no error, but also be corrupted by no
covetousness;

2 for, as says the Holy Scripture, "Go not after thy lusts, and decline from thy desire "
Many enticements of this world, many vanities must be resisted, that the perfection Of
true self-discipline may be attained the first blemish of which is pride, the beginning of
transgression and the origin of sin. For the mind greedy of power knows not either how to
abstain from things forbidden nor to enjoy things permitted, so long as transgressions go
unpunished and run into undisciplined and wicked excesses, and wrong doings are
multiplied, which were only endured in our zeal for the restoration of the Faith and love
of harmony .

II. Nothing Can Cancel or Modify the Nicene Canons.

1 And so after the not irreproachable beginning of your ordination, after the consecration
of the bishop of Antioch, which you claimed for yourself contrary to the regulations of
the canons. I grieve, beloved, that you have fallen into this too, that you should try to
break down the most sacred constitutions of the Nicene canons : as if this opportunity had
expressly offered itself to you for the See of Alexandria to lose its privilege of second
place, and the church of Antioch to forego its right to being third in dignity, in order
that when these places had been subjected to your jurisdiction, all metropolitan bishops
might be deprived of their proper honour. By which unheard of and never before attempted
excesses you went so far beyond yourself as to drag into an occasion of self-seeking, and
force connivance from that holy Synod which the zeal of our most Christian prince had
convened, solely to extinguish heresy and to confirm the catholic Faith: as if the
unlawful wishes of a multitude could not be rejected, and that state of things which was
truly ordained by the Holy Spirit in the canon of Nicaea could in any part be overruled by
any one. Let no synodal councils flatter themselves upon the size of their assemblies, and
let not any number of priests, however much larger, dare either to compare or to prefer
themselves to those 318 bishops, seeing that the Synod of Nicaea is hollowed by God with
such privilege, that whether by fewer or by more ecclesiastical judgments are supported,
whatever is opposed to their authority is utterly destitute of all authority.

III. The Synod of Chalcedon, Which Met for One Purpose, Ought Never to Have Been Used for
Another.

1 Accordingly these things which are found to be contrary to those most holy canons are
exceedingly unprincipled and misguided. This haughty arrogance tends to the disturbance of
the whole Church, which has purposed so to misuse a synodal council, as by wicked
arguments to over-persuade, or by intimidation to compel, the brethren to agree with it,
when they had been summoned simply on a matter of Faith, and had come to a decision on the
subject which was to engage their care. For it was on this ground that our brothers sent
by the Apostolic see, who presided in our stead at the synod with commendable firmness,
withstood their illegal attempts, openly protesting against the introduction of any
reprehensible innovation contrary to the enactments of the Council of Nicaea. And there
can be no doubt about their opposition, seeing that you yourself in your epistle complain
of their wish to contravene your attempts. And therein indeed you greatly commend them to
me by thus writing, whereas you accuse yourself in refusing to obey them concerning your
unlawful designs, vainly seeking what cannot be granted, and craving what is bad for your
soul's health, and can never win our consent. For may I never be guilty of assisting so
wrong a desire, which ought rather to be subverted by my aid, and that of all who think
not high things, but agree with the lowly.

IV. The Nicene Canons are for Universal Application and Not to Be Wrested to Private
Interpretations.

1 These holy and venerable fathers who in he city of Nicaea, after condemning the
blasphemous Arius with his impiety, laid down a code of canons for the Church to last till
the end of the world, survive not only with us but with the whole of mankind in their
constitutions; and, if anywhere men venture upon what is contrary to their decrees, it is
ipso facto null and void; so that what is universally laid down for our perpetual
advantage can never be modified by any change, nor can the things which were destined for
the common good be perverted to private interests; and thus so long as the limits remain,
which the Fathers fixed, no one may invade another's right but each must exercise himself
within the proper and lawful bounds, to the extent of his power, in the breadth of love;
of which the bishop of Constantinople may reap the fruits richly enough, if he rather
relies on the virtue of humility than is puffed up with the spirit of self-seeking.

V. The Sanction Alleged to Have Been Accorded 60 Years Ago to the Supremacy of
Constantinople Over Alexandria and Antioch is Worthless.

1 "Be not highminded," brother, "but fear ," and cease to disquiet with unwarrantable
demands the pious ears of Christian princes, who I am sure will be better pleased by your
modesty than by your pride. For your purpose is in no way whatever supported by the
written assent of certain bishops given, as you allege, 60 years ago , and never brought
to the knowledge of the Apostolic See by your predecessors; and this transaction, which
from its outset was doomed to fall through and has now long done so, you now wish to
bolster up by means that are too late and useless, viz., by extracting from the brethren
an appearance of consent which their modesty from very weariness yielded to their own
injury. Remember what the Lord threatens him with, who shall have caused one of the little
ones to stumble, and get wisdom to understand what a judgment of God he will have to
endure who has not feared to give occasion of stumbling to so many churches and so many
priests. For I confess I am so fist bound by love of the whole brotherhood that I will not
agree with any one in demands which are against his own interests, and thus you may
clearly perceive that my opposition to you, beloved, proceeds from the kindly intention to
restrain you from disturbing the universal Church by sounder counsel. The rights of
provincial primates may not be overthrown nor metropolitan bishops be defrauded of
privileges based on antiquity.

2 The See of Alexandria may not lose any of that dignity which it merited through S. Mark,
the evangelist and disciple of the blessed Peter, nor may the splendour of so great a
church be obscured by another's clouds, Dioscorus having fallen through his persistence in
impiety. The church of Antioch too, in which first at the preaching of the blessed Apostle
Peter the Christian name arose , must continue in the position assigned it by the Fathers,
and being set in the third place must never be lowered therefrom. For the See is on a
different footing to the holders of it; and each individual's chief honour is his own
integrity. And since that does not lose its proper worth in any place, how much more
glorious must it be when placed in the magnificence of the city of Constantinople, where
many priests may find both a defence of the Fathers' canons and an example of uprightness
in observing you?

VI. Christian Love Demands Self-Denial Not Self-Seeking.

1 In thus writing to you, brother, I exhort and admonish you in the Lord, laying aside all
ambitious desires to cherish rather a spirit of love and to adorn yourself to your profit
with the virtues of love, according to the Apostle's teaching. For love "is patient and
kind, and envies not, acts not iniquitously, is not puffed up, is not ambitious, seeks not
its own ." Hence if love seeks not its own, how greatly does he sin who covets another's?
From which I desire you to keep yourself altogether, and to remember that sentence which
says, "Hold what thou hast, that no other take thy crown ." For if you seek what is not
permitted, you will deprive yourself by your own action and judgment of the peace of the
universal Church. Our brother and fellow-bishop Lucian and our son Basil the deacon,
attended to your injunctions with all the zeal they possessed, but justice refused to give
effect to their pleadings. Dated the 22nd of May in the consulship of the illustrious
Herculanus (452).

LETTER 107: TO JULIAN, BISHOP OF COS

(Expostulating with him for putting personal considerations before the good of the Church
in the matter of the precedence of the See of Constantinople.)


LETTERS OF LEO THE GREAT
========================

LETTERS OF LEO THE GREAT continued

LETTER 108

1 Leo, the bishop, to Theodore, bishop of Forum Julii.

I. Theodosus Should Not Have Approached Him Except Through His Metropolitan.

1 Your first proceeding, when anxious, should have been to have consulted your
metropolitan on the point which seemed to need inquiry, and if he too was unable to help
you, beloved, you should both have asked to be instructed (by us); for in matters, which
concern all the Lord's priests as a whole, no inquiry ought to be made without the
primates. But in order that the consulter's doubts may in any case be set at rest, I will
not keep back the Church's rules about the state of penitents.

II. The Grace of Penitence is for Those Who Fall After Baptism.

1 The manifold mercy of God so assists men when they fall, that not only by the grace of
baptism but also by the remedy of penitence is the hope of eternal life revived, in order
that they who have violated the gifts of the second birth, condemning themselves by their
own judgment, may attain to remission of their crimes, the provisions of the Divine
Goodness having so ordained that God's indulgence cannot be obtained without the
supplications of priests. For the Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, has
transmitted this power to those that are set over the Church that they should both grant a
course of penitence to those who confess, and, when they are cleansed by wholesome
correction admit them through the door of reconciliation to communion in the sacraments.
In which work assuredly the Saviour Himself unceasingly takes part and is never absent
from those things, the carrying out of which He has committed to His ministers. saying:
"Lo, I am with you all the days even to the completion of the age :" so that whatever is
accomplished through our service in due order and with satisfactory results we doubt not
to have been vouchsafed through the Holy Spirit.

III. Penitence is Sure Only in This Life.

1 But if any one of those for whom we entreat God be hindered by some obstacle and lose
the benefit of immediate absolution, and before he attain to the remedies appointed, end
his days in the course of nature, he will not be able when stripped of the flesh to gain
that which when yet in the body he did not receive. And there will be no need for us to
weigh tile merits and acts of those who have thus died, seeing that the Lord our God,
whose judgments cannot be found out, has reserved for His own decision that which our
priestly ministry could not complete: for He wishes His power to be so feared that this
fear may benefit all, and every one may dread that which happens to the lukewarm or
careless. For it is most expedient and essential that the guilt of sins should be loosed
by priestly supplication before the last day of life.

IV. And Yet Penitence and Reconciliation Must Not Be Refused to Men in Extremis.

1 But to those who in time of need and in urgent danger implore the aid first of
penitence, then of reconciliation, must neither means of amendment nor reconciliation be
forbidden: because we cannot place limits to God's mercy nor fix times for Him with whom
true conversion suffers no delay of forgiveness, as says God's Spirit by the prophet,
"when thou hast turned and lamented, then shalt thou be saved ;" and elsewhere, "Declare
thou thy iniquities beforehand, that thou may'st be justified ;" and again, "For with the
Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption ." And so in dispensing God's
gifts we must not be hard, nor neglect the tears and groans of self-accusers, seeing that
we believe the very feeling of penitence springs from the inspiration of God, as says the
Apostle, "lest perchance God will give them repentance that they may recover themselves
from the snares of the devil, by whom they are held captive at his will ."

V. Hazardous as Deathbed Repentance Is, the Grace of Absolution Must Not Be Refused Even
When It Can Be Asked for Only by Signs.

1 Hence it behoves each individual Christian to listen to the judgment of his own
conscience, lest he put off the turning to God from day to day and fix the time of his
amendment at the end of his life; for it is most perilous for human frailty and ignorance
to confine itself to such conditions as to be reduced to the uncertainty of a few hours,
and instead of winning indulgence by fuller amendment, to choose the narrow limits of that
time when space is scarcely found even for the penitent's confession or the priest's
absolution. But, as I have said, even such men's needs must be so assisted that the free
action of penitence and the grace of communion be not denied them, if they demand it even
when their voice is gone, by the signs of a still clear intellect. And if they be so
overcome by the stress of their malady that they cannot signify in the priest's presence
what just before they were asking for, the testimony of believers standing by must prevail
for them, that they may obtain the benefit of penitence and reconciliation simultaneously,
so long as the regulations of the Fathers' canons be observed in reference to those
persons who have sinned against God by forsaking the Faith.

VI. He is to Bring This Letter to the Notice of the Metropolitan.

1 These answers, brother, which I have given to your questions in order that nothing
different be done under the excuse of ignorance, you shall bring to the notice of your
metropolitan; that if there chance to be any of the brethren who before now have thought
there was any doubt about these points, they may be instructed by him concerning what I
have written to you. Dated June 11th in the consulship of the illustrious Herculanus
(452).

LETTER 109

1 Leo, the pope, to Julian, the bishop.

I. He Laments Over the Recent Rioting in Palestine.

1 The information which you give, brother, about the riotous doings of the false monks is
serious and to no slight degree lamentable; for they are due to the war which the wicked
Eutyches by the madness of deceivers is waging against the preaching of the Gospel and the
Apostles, though it will end in his own destruction and that of his followers but this is
delayed by the long-suffering of God, in order that it may appear how greatly the enemies
of the cross of Christ are enslaved to the devil; because heretical depravity, breaking
through its ancient veil of pretence can no longer restrain itself within the limits of
its hypocrisy, and has poured forth all its long-concealed poison, raging against the
disciples of the Truth not only with pen but also with deeds of violence , in order to
wrest consent from unlearned simplicity or from panic-stricken faith. But the sons of
light ought not to be so afraid of the sons of darkness, as being sane to acquiesce in the
ideas of madmen or to think that any respect should be shown to men of this kind; for, if
they would rather perish than recover their senses, provision must be made lest their
escape from punishment should do wider harm, and long toleration of them should lead to
the destruction of many.

II. The Ringleaders Must Be Removed to a Distance.

1 I am not unaware what love and favour is due to our sons, those holy and true monks, who
forsake not the moderation of their profession, and carry into practice what they promised
by their vows. But these insolent disturbers, who boast of their insults and injuries to
priests , are to be held not the slaves of Christ, but the soldiers of Antichrist, and
must be chiefly humiliated in the person of their leaders, who incite the ignorant mob to
uphold their insubordination. And hence, seeing that our most merciful Prince loves the
catholic Faith with all the devotion of a religious heart, and is greatly offended at the
effrontery of these rebel heretics, as is everywhere reported, we must appeal to his
clemency that the instigators of these seditions be removed from their mad congregations;
and not only Eutyches and Dioscorus but also any who have been forward in aiding their
wrongheaded madness, be placed where they can hold no intercourse with their partners in
blasphemy: for the simpleness of some may chance to be healed by this method, and men will
be more easily recalled to soundness of mind, if they be set free from the incitements of
pestilential teachers.

III. He Sends a Letter of S. Athanasius to Show that the Present Heresy is Only a Revival
of Former Exploded Heresies.

1 But lest the instruction necessary for the confirmation of faithful spirits or the
refutation of heretics should be wanting or not expressed, I have sent the letter of
bishop Athanasius of holy memory addressed to bishop Epictetus , whose testimony Cyril of
holy memory made use of at the Synod of Ephesus against Nestorius, because it has so
clearly and carefully set forth the Incarnation of the Word', as to overthrow both
Nestorius and Eutyches by anticipation in the heresies of those times. Let the followers
of Eutyches and Dioscorus dare to accuse such an authority as this of ignorance or of
heresy, who assert that our preaching goes astray from the teaching and the knowledge of
the Fathers. But it ought to avail for the confirmation of the minds of all the Lord's
priests, who, having been already detected and condemned of heresy in respect of the
authorities they followed, now begin more openly to set forth their blasphemous dogma,
lest, if their meaning were hid beneath the cloke of silence it might still be doubtful
whether the triple error of Apollinaris , and the mad notion of the Manichees was really
revived in them. And as they no longer seek to hide themselves but rise boldly against the
churches of Christ, must we not take care to destroy all the strength of their attempts,
observing. as I have said, such discrimination as to separate the incorrigible from the
more docile spirits: for "evil conversations corrupt good manners ," and "the wise man
will be sharper than the pestilent person who is chastised ;" in order that in whatever
way the society of the wicked is broken up, some vessels may be snatched from the devil's
hand? For we ought not to be so offended at scurrilous and empty words as to have no care
for their correction.

IV. He Expresses a Hope that Juvenal's Timely Acknowledgment of Error Will Be Imitated by
the Rest.

1 But bishop Juvenal, whose injuries are to be lamented, joined himself too rashly to
those blasphemous heretics, and by embracing Eutyches and Dioscorus, drove many ignorant
folk headlong by his example, albeit he afterwards corrected himself by wiser counsels.
These men, however, who drank in more greedily the wicked poison, have become the enemies
of him, whose disciples they had been before, so that the very food he had supplied them
was turned to his own ruin: and yet it is to be hoped they will imitate him in amending
his ways, if only the holy associations of the neighbourhood in which they dwell will help
them to recover their senses. But the character of him who has usurped the place of a
bishop still living cannot be doubted from the character of his actions, nor is it to be
disputed that he who is loved by the assailants of the Faith must be a misbeliever.
Meanwhile, brother, do not hesitate to continue with anxious care to keep me acquainted
with the course of events by more frequent letters. Dated November 25th in the consulship
of Herculanus (452).

LETTER 110: FROM MARCIAN AUGUSTUS

(Expressing surprise that Leo has not by now confirmed the acts of the Synod, and asking
for a speedy confirmation.)

LETTER 111: TO MARCIAN AUGUSTUS

(About Anatolius' mistake in deposing Actions from the office of archdeacon and putting in
Andrew instead.)

LETTER 112: TO PULCHERIA AUGUSTA

(On the same subject more briefly.)

LETTER 113

1 Leo, bishop of Rome, to Julian, bishop of Cos.

I. After Thanks for Julian's Sympathy He Complains of the Deposition of Aetius from the
Archdeaconry.

1 I acknowledge in your letter, beloved, the feelings of brotherly love, in that you
sympathize with us in true grief at the many grievous evils we have borne: But we pray
that these things which the Lord has either allowed or wished us to suffer, may avail to
the correction of those who live through them , and that adversities may cease through the
cessation of offences. Both which results will follow through the mercy of God, if only He
remove the scourge and turn the hearts of His people to Himself. But as you, brother, are
saddened by the hostilities which have raged around us, so I am made anxious because, as
your letter indicates, the treacherous attacks of heretics are not set at rest in the
church of Constantinople, and men seek occasion to persecute those who have been the
defenders of the catholic Fairly. For so long as Aetius is removed from his office of
archdeacon under pretence of promotion and Andrew is taken into his place, who had been
cast off for associating with heretics; so long as respect is shown to the accusers of
Flavian of holy memory, and the partners or disciples of that most pious confessor are put
down, it is only too clearly shown what pleases the bishop of the church itself. Towards
whom I put off taking action till I hear the merits of the case and await his own dealing
with me in the letter our son Aetius tells me he will send, giving opportunity for
voluntary correction, whereby I desire my vexation to be appeased. Nevertheless, I have
written to our most clement Prince and the most pious Augusta about these things which
concern the peace of the Church; and I do not doubt they will in the devoutness of their
faith take heed lest a heresy already condemned should succeed in springing up again to
the detriment of their own glorious work.

II. He Asks Julian to Act for Him as Anatolius is Deficient in Vigour.

1 See then, beloved brother, that you bestow the necessary thought on the cares of the
Apostolic See, which by her rights as your mother commends to you, who were nourished at
her breast, the defence of the catholic Truth against Nestorians and Eutychians, in order
that, supported by the Divine help, you may not cease to watch the interests of the city
of Constantinople, lest at any time the storms of error arise within her. And because the
faith of our glorious Princes is so great that you may confidently suggest what is
necessary to them, use their piety for the benefit of the universal Church. But if ever
you consult me, beloved, on things which you think doubtful, my reply shall not fail to
supply instruction, so that, apart from cases which ought to be decided by the inquiries
of the bishops of each particular church, you may act as my legate and undertake the
special charge of preventing the Nestorian or Eutychian heresy reviving in any quarter;
because the bishop of Constantinople does not possess catholic vigour, and is not very
jealous either for the mystery of man's salvation or for his own reputation: whereas if he
had any spiritual activity, he ought to have considered by whom he was ordained, and whom
he succeeded in such a way as to follows the blessed Flavian rather than the instruments
of his promotion.

2 And, therefore, when our most religious Princes deign in accordance with my entreaties
to reprimand our brother Anatolius on those matters, which deservedly come under blame,
join your diligence to theirs, beloved, that all causes of offences may be removed by the
application of the fullest correction and he cease from injuring our son Aetius. For with
a catholic-minded bishop even though there was something which seemed calculated to annoy
in his archdeacon, it ought to have been passed over from regard for the Faith, rather
than that the most worthless heretic should take the place of a catholic. And so when I
have learnt the rest of the story, I shall then more clearly gather what ought to be done.
For, meanwhile, I have thought better to restrain my vexation and to exercise patience
that there might be room for forgiveness.

III. He Asks for Further Information About the Rioting in Palestine and in Egypt.

1 But with regard to the monks of Palestine, who are said this long time to be in a state
of mutiny, I know not by what spirit they are at present moved. Nor has any one yet
explained to me what reasons they seem to bring forward for their discontent: whether for
instance, they wish to serve the Eutychian heresy by such madness, or whether they are
irreconcilably vexed that their bishop could have been misled into that blasphemy,
whereby, in spite of the very associations of the holy spots, from which issued
instruction for the whole world, he has alienated himself from the Truth of the Lord's
Incarnation, and in their opinion that cannot be venial in him which in others had to be
wiped out by absolution. And therefore I desire lobe more fully informed about these
things that proper means may he taken for their correction; because it is one thing to arm
oneself wickedly against the Faith, and another thing to be immoderately disturbed on
behalf of it. You must know, too, that the documents which Aetius the presbyter told me
before had been dispatched, and the epitome of the Faith which you say you have sent, have
not yet arrived. Hence, if an opportunity offers itself of a more expeditious messenger, I
shall be glad for any information that may seem expedient to be sent me as soon as
possible. I am anxious to know about the monks of Egypt , whether they have regained their
peacefulness and their faith, and about the church of Alexandria, what trustworthy tidings
reaches you: I wish you to know what I wrote to its bishop or his ordainers, or the
clergy, and have therefore sent you a copy of the letter. You will learn also what I have
said to our most clement Prince and our most religious Empress from the copies sent.

IV. He Asks for a Latin Translation of the Acts of Chalcedon.

1 I wish to know whether my letter has been delivered to you, brother, which I sent you by
Basil the deacon, upon the Faith of the Lord's Incarnation, while Flavian of holy memory
was still alive; for I fancy you have never made any comment on its contents. We have no
very clear information about the acts of the Synod, which were drawn up at the time of the
council at Chalcedon, on account of the difference of language . And therefore i specially
enjoin upon you, brother, that you have the whole collected into one volume, accurately
translated of course into Latin, that we may not be in doubt on any portion of the
proceedings, and that there may be no manner of uncertainty after you have taken pains to
bring it fully within my understanding. Dated March 11th, in the consulship of the
illustrious Opilio (453).

LETTER 114: TO THE BISHOPS ASSEMBLED IN SYNOD AT CHALCEDON

(In answer to their Letter (XCVIII.), approving of their acts in the general so long as
nothing is contrary to the canons of Nicaea.)

LETTER 115: TO MARCIAN AUGUSTUS

(Congratulating him upon the restoration of peace to the Church, and the suppression of
the riotous monks; giving his consent also, as a liege subject of the Emperor's, to the
acts of Chalcedon, and asking him to make this known to the Synod.)

LETTER 115: TO PULCHERIA AUGUSTA

(Commending her pious zeal and informing her of Iris assent to the acts of Chalcedon.)

LETTER 116

1 Leo to Julian the bishop.

I. He Wishes His Assent to the Acts of Chalcedon to Be Widely Known.

1 How watchfully and how devotedly you guard the catholic Faith, brother, the tenor of
your letter shows, and my anxiety is greatly relieved by the information it contains;
supplemented as it is by the most religious piety of our religious Emperor, which is
clearly shown to be prepared by the Lord for the confirmation of the whole Church; so
that, whilst Christian princes act for the Faith with holy zeal, the priests of the Lord
may confidently pray for their realm. What therefore our most clement Emperor deemed
needful I have willingly complied with, by sending letters to all the brethren who were
present at the Synod of Chalcedon, in which to show that I approved of what was resolved
upon by our holy brethren about the Rule of Faith; on their account to wit, who in order
to cloke their own treachery, pretend to consider invalid or doubtful such conciliar
ordinances as are not ratified by my assent albeit, after the return of the brethren whom
I had sent in my stead, I dispatched a letter to the bishop of Constantinople; so that, if
he had been minded to publish it, abundant proof might have been furnished thereby how
gladly I approved of what the synod had passed concerning the Faith. But, because it
contained such an answer as would have run counter to his self-seeking, he preferred my
acceptance of the brethren's resolutions to remain unknown, lest at the same time my reply
should become known on the absolute authority of the Nicene canons. Wherefore take heed,
beloved, that you warn our most gracious prince by frequent reminders that he add his
words to ours and order the letter of the Apostolic See to be sent round to the priests of
each single province, that hereafter no enemy of the Truth may venture to excuse himself
under cover of my silence.

II. He Expresses His Thanks for the Zeal Shown by the Emperor and the Empress.

1 And as to the edict of the most Christian Emperor, in which he has shown what the
ignorant folly of certain monks deserved and as to the reply of the most gracious Augusta,
in which she rebuked the heads of the monasteries, I wish my great rejoicing to be known,
being assured that this fervour of faith is bestowed upon them by Divine inspiration, in
order that all men may acknowledge their superiority to rest not only on their royal state
but also on their priestly holiness: whom both now and formerly I have asked to treat you
with full confidence, being assured of their good will, and that they will not refuse to
give ear to necessary suggestions.

III. He Wishes to Know the Effect of His Letter to the Empress Eudocia.

1 And, because the most clement Emperor has been pleased to charge me secretly by our son
Paulus with the task of admonishing our daughter the most clement Augusta Eudocia , I have
done what he wished, in order that from my letter she may learn how profitable it will be
to her if she espouses the cause of the catholic Faith, and have managed that she should
further be admonished by a letter from that most clement prince her son; nothing doubting
that she herself, too, will set to work with pious zeal to bring the leaders of sedition
to a knowledge of the consequences of their action, and, if they understand not the
utterances of those who teach them, to make them at least afraid of the powers of those
who will punish them. And so what effect this care of ours produces, I with to know at
once by a letter from you, beloved, and whether their ignorant contumacy has at length
subsided: as to which if they think there is any doubt about our teaching, let them at
least not reject the writings of such holy priests as Athanasius, Theophilus and Cyril of
Alexandria, with whom our statement of the Faith so completely harmonizes that any one who
professes consent to them disagrees in nothing with us.

IV. Aetius Must Be Content at Present with the Emperor's Favour.

1 With our son Aetius the presbyter we sympathize in his sorrow; and, as one has been put
into his place who had previously been judged worthy of censure, there is no doubt that
this change tends to the injury of catholics. But these things must be borne patiently
meanwhile, lest we should be thought to exceed the measure of our usual moderation, and
for the present Aetius must be content with the encouragement of our most clement prince's
favour, to whom I have but lately so commended him by letter that I doubt not his good
repute has been increased in their most religious minds.

V. Anatalius Shows No Contrition in His Subsequent Acts.

1 This too we would have you know, that bishop Anatolius after our prohibition so
persisted in his rash presumption as to call upon the bishops of Illyricum to subscribe
their names: this news was brought us by the bishop who was sent by the bishop of
Thessalonica to announce his consecration. We have declined to write to Anatolius about
this, although you might have expected us to do so, because we perceived he did not wish
to be reformed. I have made two versions of my letter to the Synod, one with a copy of my
letter to Anatolius subjoined, one without it; leaving it to your judgment to deliver the
one which you think ought to be given to our most clement prince and to keep the other.
Dated 21st March, in the consulship of the illustrious Opilio (453).

LETTER 118: TO THE SAME JULIAN, BISHOP OF COS

(In which, after speaking of his own efforts for the Faith, he objects to monks being
permitted to preach, especially if heretically inclined, and asks Julian to stir up the
Emperor's zeal for the Faith.)

LETTER 119

1 Leo to Maximus of Antioch.

I. The Faith is the Mean Between the Two Extremes of Eutyches and Nestorius.

1 How much, beloved, you have at heart the most sacred unity of our common Faith and the
tranquil harmony of the Church's peace, the substance of your letter shows, which was
brought me by our sons, Marian the presbyter and Olympius the deacon, and which was the
more welcome to us because thereby we can join as it were in conversation, and thus the
grace of God becomes more and more known and greater joy is felt through the whole world
over the revelation of catholic Truth. And yet we are sore grieved at some who still (so
your messengers indicate) love their darkness; and though the brightness of day has arisen
everywhere, even still delight in the obscurity of their blindness, and abandoning the
Faith, remain Christians in only the empty name, without knowledge to discern one error
from another, and to distinguish the blasphemy of Nestorius from the impiety of Eutyches.
For no delusion of theirs can appear excusable, because they contradict themselves in
their perverseness. For, though Eutyches' disciples abhor Nestorius, and the followers of
Nestorius anathematize Eutyches, yet in the judgment of catholics both sides are condemned
and both heresies alike are cut away from the body of the Church: because neither
falsehood can be in unison with us. Nor does it matter in which direction of blasphemy
they disagree with the truth of the Lord's Incarnation, since their erroneous opinions
hold neither with the authority of the Gospel nor with the significance of the mystery .

II. Maximus is to Keep the Churches of the East Free from These Two Opposite Heresies.

1 And therefore, beloved brother, you must with all your heart consider over which church
the Lord has set you to preside, and remember that system of doctrine of which the chief
of all the Apostles, the blessed Peter, laid the foundation, not only by his uniform
preaching throughout the world, but especially by his teaching in the cities of Antioch
and Rome: so that you may understand that he demands of him who is set over the home of
his own renown those institutions which he handed down, as he received them from the Truth
Itself, which he confessed. And in the churches of the East, and especially in those which
the canons of the most holy Fathers at Nicaea assigned to the See of Antioch, you must not
by any means allow unscrupulous heretics to make assaults on the Gospel, and the dogmas of
either Nestorius or Eutyches to be maintained by any one. Since, as I have said, the rock
(petra) of the catholic Faith, from which the blessed Apostle Peter took his name at the
Lord's hands, rejects every trace of either heresy; for it openly and clearly
anathematizes Nestorius for separating the nature of the Word and of the flesh in the
blessed Virgin's conception, for dividing the one Christ into two, and for wishing to
distinguish between the person of the Godhead and the person of the Manhood: because He is
altogether one and the same who in His eternal Deity was born of the Father without time,
and in His true flesh was born of His mother in time; and similarly it eschews Eutyches
for ignoring the reality of the human flesh in the Lord Jesus Christ, and asserting the
transformation of the Word Himself into flesh, so that His birth, nurture, growth,
suffering, death and burial, and resurrection on the third day, all belonged to His Deity
only, which put on not the reality but the semblance of the form of a slave.

III. Antioch as the Third See in Christendom is to Retain Her Privileges.

1 And so it behoves you to use the utmost vigilance, lest these depraved heretics dare to
assert themselves; for you must resist them with all the authority of priests, and
frequently inform us by your reports what is being done for the progress of the churches.
For it is right that you should share this responsibility with the Apostolic See, and
realize that the privileges of the third See in Christendom give you every confidence in
action, privileges which no intrigues shall in any way impair: because my respect for the
Nicene canons is such that I never have allowed nor ever will the institutions of the holy
Fathers to be violated by any innovation. For different sometimes as are the deserts of
individual prelates, yet the rights of their Sees are permanent: and although rivalry may
perchance cause some disturbance about them, yet it cannot impair their dignity.
Wherefore, brother, if ever you consider any action ought to be taken to uphold the
privileges of the church of Antioch, be sure to explain it in a letter of your own, that
we may be able to reply to your application completely and appropriately.

IV. Anatolius' Attempts to Subvert the Decisions of Nicaea are Futile.

1 But at the present time let it be enough to make a general proclamation on all points,
that if in any synod any one makes any attempt upon or seems to take occasion of wresting
an advantage against the provisions of the Nicene canons, he can inflict no discredit upon
their inviolable decrees: and it will be easier for the compacts of any conspiracy to be
broken through than for the regulations of the aforesaid canons to be in any particular
invalidated. For intrigue loses no opportunity of stealing an advantage, and whenever the
course of things brings about a general assembly of priests, it is difficult for the
greediness of the unscrupulous not to try to gain some unfair point: just as in the Synod
of Ephesus which overthrew the blasphemous Nestorius with his dogma, bishop Juvenal
believed that he was capable of holding the presidency of the province of Palestine, and
ventured to rally the insubordinate by a lying letter . At which Cyril of blessed memory,
bishop of Alexandria, being properly dismayed, pointed out in his letter to me to what
audacity the other's cupidity had led him: and with anxious entreaty begged me hard that
no assent should be given his unlawful attempts. For be it known to you that we found the
original document of Cyril's letter which was sought for in our book-case, and of which
you sent us copies. On this, however, my judgment lays especial stress that, although a
majority of priests through the wiliness of some came to a decision which is found opposed
to those constitutions of the 318 fathers, it must be considered void on principles of
justice: since the peace of the whole Church cannot otherwise be preserved, except due
respect be invariably shown to the canons.

V. If Leo's Legates in Any Way Exceeded Their Instructions, They Did So Ineffectually.

1 Of course, if anything is alleged to have been done by those brethren whom I sent in my
stead to the holy Synod, beyond that which was germane to the Faith, it shall he of no
weight at all: because they were sent by the Apostolic See only for the purpose of
extirpating heresy and upholding the catholic Faith. For whatever is laid before bishops
for inquiry beyond the particular subjects which come before synodal councils may admit of
a certain amount of free discussion, if the holy Fathers have laid down nothing thereon at
Nicaea. For anything that is not in agreement with their rules and constitutions can never
obtain the assent of the Apostolic See. But how great must be the diligence with which
this rule is kept, you will gather from the copies of the letter which we sent to the
bishop of Constantinople, restraining his cupidity; and you shall take order that it reach
the knowledge of all our brethren and fellow-priests.

VI. No One But Priests are Allowed to Preach.

1 This too it behaves you, beloved, to guard against, that no one except those who are the
Lord's priests dare to claim the right of teaching or preaching, be he monk or layman ,
who boasts himself of some knowledge. Because although it is desirable that all the
Church's sons should understand the things which are right and sound, yet it is permitted
to none outside the priestly rank to assume the office of preacher, since in the Church of
God all things ought to be orderly, that in Christ's one body the more excellent members
should fulfil their own duties, and the lower not resist the higher. Dated the 11th of
June, in the consulship of the illustrious Opilio (453).

LETTER 120

1 Leo, the bishop, to his beloved brother Theodoret, the bishop.

I. He Congratulates Theodoret on Their Joint Victory, and Expresses His Approval of an
Hottest Inquiry Which Leads to Good Results.

1 On the return of our brothers and fellow-priests, whom the See of the blessed Peter sent
to the holy council, we ascertained, beloved, the victory you and we together had won by
assistance from on high over the blasphemy of Nestorius, as well as over the madness of
Eutyches. Wherefore we make our boast in tim Lord, singing with the prophet: "our help is
in the name of the Lord, who hath made heaven and earth : who has suffered us to sustain
no harm in the person of our brethren, but has corroborated by the irrevocable assent of
the whole brotherhood what He had already laid down through our ministry: to show that,
what had been first formulated by the foremost See of Christendom, and then received by
the judgment of the whole Christian world, had truly proceeded from Himself: that in this,
too, the members may be at one with the Head. And herein our cause for rejoicing grows
greater when we see that the more fiercely the foe assailed Christ's servants, the more
did he afflict himself. For lest the assent of other Sees to that which the Lord of all
has appointed to take precedence of the rest might seem mere complaisance, or lest any
other evil suspicion might creep in, some were found to dispute our decisions before they
were finally accepted .

2 And while some, instigated by the author of the disagreement, rush forward into a
warfare of contradictions, a greater good results through his fall under the guiding hand
of the Author of all goodness. For the gifts of God's grace are sweeter to us when they
are gained with mighty efforts: and uninterrupted peace is wont to seem a lesser good than
one that is restored by labours. Moreover, the Truth itself shines more brightly, and is
more bravely maintained when what the Faith had already taught is afterwards confirmed by
further inquiry. And still further, the good name of the priestly office gains much in
lustre where the authority of the highest is preserved without it being thought that the
liberty of the lower ranks has been at all infringed. And the result of a discussion
contributes to the greater glory of God when the debaters exert themselves with confidence
in overcoming the gainsayers: that what of itself is shown wrong may not seem to be passed
over in prejudicial silence.

II. Christ's Victory Has Won Back Many to the Faith.

1 Exult therefore, beloved brother, yes, exult triumphantly in the only-begotten Son of
God. Through us He has conquered for Himself the reality of Whose flesh was denied.
Through us and for us He has conquered, in whose cause we have conquered. This happy day
ranks next to the Lord's Advent for the world. The robber is laid low, and there is
restored to our age the mystery of the Divine Incarnation which the enemy of mankind was
obscuring with his chicaneries, because the facts would not let him actually destroy it.
Nay, the immortal mystery had perished from the hearts of unbelievers, because so great
salvation is of no avail to unbelievers, as the Very Truth said to His disciples: "he that
believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be condemned .
The rays of the Sun of Righteousness which were obscured throughout the East by the clouds
of Nestorius and Eutyches, have shone out brightly from the West, where it has reached its
zenith in the Apostles and teachers of the Church. And yet not even in the East is it to
be believed that it was ever eclipsed where noble confessors have been found among your
ranks: so that, when the old enemy was trying afresh, through the impenitent heart of a
modern Pharaoh , to blot out the seed of faithful Abraham and the sons of promise, he grew
weary, through God's mercy, and could harm no one save himself.

2 And in regard to him the Almighty has worked this wonder also, in that He has not
overwhelmed with the founder of the tyranny those who were associated with him in the
slaughter of the people of Israel, but has gathered them into His own people; and as the
Source of all mercy knew to be worthy of Himself and possible for Himself alone, He has
made them conquerors with us who were conquered by us. For whilst the spirit of falsehood
is the only true enemy of the human race, it is undoubted that all whom the Truth has won
over to His side share in His triumph over that enemy. Assuredly it now is clear how
divinely authorized are these words of our Redeemer, which are so applicable to the
enemies of the Faith that one may not doubt they were said of them: "You," He says, "are
of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to fulfil. He was a
murderer from the beginning and stood not in the truth, because the truth is not in him.
When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar and the father thereof ."

III. Dioscorus, Who in His Madness Has Attacked Even the Bishop of Rome, Has Shown Himself
the Instrument of Satan.

1 It is not to be wondered, then, that they who have accepted a delusion as to our nature
in the true God agree with their father on these points also, maintaining that what was
seen, heard, and in fact, by the witness of the gospel, touched and handled in the only
Son of God, belonged not to that to which it was proved to belong , but to an essence co-
eternal and consubstantial with the Father: as if the nature of the Godhead could have
been pierced on the Cross, as if the Unchangeable could grow from infancy to manhood, or
the eternal Wisdom could progress in wisdom, or God, who is a Spirit, could thereafter be
filled with the Spirit. In this, too, their sheer madness betrayed its origin, because, as
far as it could, it attempted to injure everybody. For he, who afflicted you with his
persecutions, led others wrong by driving them to consent to his wickedness. Yea, even us
too, although he had wounded us in each one of the brethren (for they are our members),
even us he did not exempt from special vexation in attempting to inflict an injury upon
his Head with strange and unheard of and incredible effrontery . But would that he had
recovered his senses even after all these enormities, and had not saddened us by his death
and eternal damnation. There was no measure of wickedness that he did not reach:

2 it was not enough for him that, sparing neither living nor dead, and forswearing truth
and allying himself with falsehood, he imbrued his hands, that had been already long
polluted, in the blood of a guiltless, catholic priest . And since it is written: "he that
hateth his brother is a murderer : he has actually carried out what he was said already to
have done in hate, as if he had never heard of this nor of that which the Lord says,
"learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls:
for My yoke is easy and My burden is light . A worthy preacher of the devil's errors has
been found in this Egyptian plunderer, who, like the cruellest tyrant the Church has had,
forced his villainous blasphemies on the reverend brethren through the violence of riotous
mobs and the blood-stained hands of soldiers. And when our Redeemer's voice assures us
that the author of murder and of lying is one and the same, He has carried out both
equally: as if these things were written not to be avoided but to be perpetrated: and thus
does he apply to the completion of his destruction the salutary warnings of the Son of
God, and turns a deaf ear to what the same Lord has said, "I speak that which I have seen
with My Father; and ye do that which ye have seen with your father ."

IV. Those Who Undertake to Speak Authoritatively an Doctrine, Must Preserve the Balance
Between the Extremes.

1 Accordingly while he strove to cut short Flavian of blessed memory's life in the present
world, he has deprived himself of the light of true life. While he tried to drive you out
of your churches, he has cut off himself from fellowship with Christians. While he drags
and drives many into agreement with error, he has stabbed his own soul with many a wound,
a solitary convicted offender beyond all, and through all and for all, for he was the
cause of all men's being accused. But, although, brother, you who are nurtured on solid
food, have little need of such reminders yet that we may fulfil what belongs to our
position according to that utterance of the Apostle who says, "Besides these things that
are without, that which presseth on me daily, anxiety for all the churches. Who is
weakened and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble and I burn not ? we believe this
admonition ought to be given especially on the present occasion, that whenever by the
ministration of the Divine grace we either overwhelm or cleanse those who are without, in
the pool of doctrine, we go not away in aught from those rules of Faith which the Godhead
of the Holy Ghost brought forward at the Council of Choicedon, and weigh our words with
every caution so as to avoid the two extremes of new false doctrine : not any longer (God
forbid it) as if debating what is doubtful, but with full authority laying clown
conclusions already arrived at;

2 for in the letter which we issued from the Apostolic See, and which has been ratified by
the assent of the entire holy Synod, we know that so many divinely authorised witnesses
are brought together, that no one can entertain any further doubt, except one who prefers
to enwrap himself in the clouds of error, and the proceedings of the Synod whether those
in which we read the formulating of the definition of Faith, or those in which the
aforesaid letter of the Apostolic See was zealously supported by you, brother, and
especially the address of the whole Council to our most religious Princes, are
corroborated by the testimonies of so many fathers in the past that they must persuade any
one, however unwise and stubborn his heart, so long as he be not already joined with the
devil in damnation for his wickedness.

V. Theodoret's Orthodoxy Has Been Happily and Thoroughly Vindicated.

1 Wherefore this, too, it is our duty to provide against the Church's enemies, that, as
far as in us lies, we leave them no occasion for slandering us, nor yet, in acting against
the Nestorians or Eutychians, ever seem to have retreated before the other side, but that
we shun and condemn both the enemies of Christ in equal measure, so that whenever the
interests of the hearers in any way require it, we may with all promptitude and clearness
strike down them and their doctrines with the anathema that they deserve, lest if we seem
to do this doubtfully or tardily, we be thought to act against our will . And although the
facts themselves are sufficient to remind your wisdom of this, yet now actual experience
has brought the lesson home. But blessed be our God, whose invincible Truth has shown you
free from all taint of heresy in the judgment of the Apostolic See . To whom you will
repay due thanks for all these labours, if you keep yourself such a defender of the
universal Church as we have proved and do still prove you. For that God has dispelled all
calumnious fallacies, we attribute to the blessed Peter's wondrous care of us all, for
after sanctioning the judgment of his See in defining the Faith, he allowed no sinister
imputation to rest on any of you, who have laboured with us for the catholic Faith:
because the Holy Spirit adjudged that no one could fail to come out conqueror of those
whose Faith had now conquered.

VI. He Asks Theodoret for His Continued Cooperation, and Refers Him to a Letter Which He
Has Written to the Bishop of Antioch.

1 It remains that we exhort you to continue your co-operation with the Apostolic See,
because we have learnt that some remnants of the Eutychian and Nestorian error still
linger amongst you. For the victory which Christ our Lord has vouchsafed to His Church,
although it increases our confidence, does not yet entirely destroy our anxiety, nor is it
granted us to sleep but to work on more calmly. Hence it is we wish to be assisted in this
too by your watchful care, that you hasten to inform the Apostolic See by your periodic
reports what progress the Lord's teaching makes in those regions; to the end that we may
assist the priests of that district in whatever way experience suggests. On those matters
which were mooted in the often-quoted council, in unlawful opposition to the venerable
canons of Nicaea, we have written to our brother and fellow-bishop. the occupant of the
See of Antioch , adding that too which you had given us verbal information about by your
delegates with reference to the unscrupulousness of certain monks, and laying down strict
injunctions that no one, be he monk or layman, that boasts himself of some knowledge,
should presume to preach except the Lord's priests. That letter, however, we wish to reach
all men's knowledge for the benefit of the universal Church through our aforesaid brother
and fellow-bishop Maximus; and for that reason we have not thought fit to add a copy of it
to this; because we have no doubt of the due carrying out of our injunctions to our
aforesaid brother and fellow-bishop. (In another hand.) God keep thee safe, beloved
brother. Dated 11 June in the consulship of the illustrious Opilio (453).

LETTERS 121 AND 122: THE FORMER TO MARCIAN AUGUSTUS, AND THE OTHER TO JULIAN THE BISHOP

Asking him for further inquiries and information about the proper date for Easter in 455;
cf. Letter LXXXVIII. chap. 4, above.

LETTER 123: TO EUDOCIA AUGUSTA, ABOUT THE MONKS OF PALESTINE

1 Leo, the bishop, to Eudocia Augusta.

I. A Request that She Should Use Her Influence with the Monks of Palestine in Reducing
Them to Order.

2 I do not doubt that your piety is aware how great is my devotion to the catholic Faith,
and with what care I am bound, God helping me, to guard against the Gospel of truth being
withstood at any time by ignorant or disloyal men. And, therefore, after expressing to you
my dutiful greetings which your clemency is ever bound to receive at my hands, I entreat
the Lord to gladden me with the news of your safety, and to bring aid evermore and more by
your means to the maintenance of that article of the Faith over which the minds of certain
monks within the province of Palestine have been much disturbed; so that to the best of
your pious zeal all confidence in such heretical perversity may be destroyed. For what but
sheer destruction was to be feared by men who were not moved either by the principles of
God's mysteries , or by the authority of the Scriptures, or by the evidence of the sacred
places themselves . May it advantage then the Churches, as by God's favour it does
advantage them, and may it advantage the human race itself which the Word of God adopted
at the Incarnation, that you have conceived the wish to take up your abode in that country
where the proofs of His wondrous acts and the signs of His sufferings speak to you of our
Loan Jesus Christ as not only true God but also true Man.

II. They are to Be Told that the Catholic Faith Rejects Both the Eutychian and the
Nestorian Extremes. He Wishes to Be Informed How Far She Succeeds.

3 If then the aforesaid revere and love the name of "catholic," and wish to be numbered
among the members of the Lord's body, let them reject the crooked errors which in their
rashness they have committed, and let them show penitence for their wicked blasphemies and
deeds of bloodshed . For the salvation of their souls let them yield to the synodal
decrees which have been confirmed in the city of Choicedon. And because nothing but true
faith and quiet humility attains to the understanding of the mystery of man's salvation,
let them believe what they read in the Gospel, what they confess in the Creed, and not mix
themselves up with unsound doctrines. For as the catholic Faith condemns Nestorius, who
dared to maintain two persons in our one Lord Jesus Christ, so does it also condemn
Eutyches and Dioscorus who deny that the true human flesh was assumed in the Virgin
Mother's womb by the only-begotten Word of God.

4 If your exhortations have any success in convincing these persons, which will win for
you eternal glory, I beseech your clemency to inform me of it by letter; that I may have
the joy of knowing that you have reaped the fruit of your good work, and that they through
the Lord's mercy have not perished. Dated the 15th of June, in the consulship of the
illustrious Opilio (453).

LETTER 124

1 Leo, the bishop, to the whole body of monks settled throughout Palestine.

I. They Have Possibly Been Misled by a Wrong Translation of His Letter on the Incarnation
to Flavian.

1 The anxious care, which I owe to the whole Church and to all its sons, has ascertained
from many sources that some offence has been given to your minds, beloved, through my
interpreters , who being either ignorant, as it appears, or malicious, have made you take
some of my statements in a different sense to what I meant, not being capable of turning
the Latin into Greek with proper accuracy, although in the explanation of subtle and
difficult matters, one who undertakes to discuss them can scarcely satisfy himself even in
his own tongue. And yet this has so far been of advantage to me, that by your disapproving
of what the catholic Faith rejects, we know you are greater friends to the true than to
the false: and that you quite properly refuse to believe what I myself also abhor, in
accordance with ancient doctrine . For although my letter addressed to bishop Flavian, of
holy memory, is of itself sufficiently explicit, and stands in no need either of
correction or explanation, yet other of my writings harmonize with that letter, and in
them my position will be found similarly set forth.

2 For necessity was laid upon me to argue against the heretics who have thrown many of
Christ's peoples into confusion, both before our most merciful princes and the holy
synodal Council, and the church of Constantinople, and thus I have laid down what we ought
to think and feel on the Incarnation of the Word according to the teaching of the Gospel
and Apostles, and in nothing have I departed from the creed of the holy Fathers: because
the Faith is one, true, unique, catholic, and to it nothing can be added, nothing taken
away: though Nestorius first, and now Eutyches, have endeavoured to assail it from an
opposite standpoint, but with similar disloyalty, and have tried to impose on the Church
of God two contradictory heresies, which has led to their both being deservedly condemned
by the disciples of the Truth; because the false view which they both held in different
ways was exceedingly mad and sacrilegious.

II. Eutyches, Who Confounds the Persons, is as Much to Be Rejected as Nestorius, Who
Separates Them .

1 Nestorius, therefore, must be anathematized for believing the Blessed Virgin Mary to be
mother of His manhood only, whereby he made the person of His flesh one thing, and that of
His Godhead another, and did not recognize the one Christ in the Word of God and in the
flesh, but spoke of the Son of God as separate and distinct from the son of man: although,
without losing that unchangeable essence which belongs to Him together with the Father and
the Holy Spirit from all eternity and without respect of time, the "Word became flesh"
within the Virgin's womb in such wise that by that one conception and one parturition she
was at the same time, in virtue of the union of the two substances, both handmaid and
mother of the Lord. This Elizabeth also knew, as Luke the evangelist declares, when she
said: "Whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me ? But Eutyches
also must be stricken with the same anathema, who, becoming entangled in the treacherous
errors of the old heretics, has chosen the third dogma of Apollinaris : so that he denies
the reality of his human flesh and Soul, and maintains the whole of our Lord Jesus Christ
to be of one nature, as if the Godhead of the Word had turned itself into flesh and soul:

2 and as if to be conceived and born, to be nursed and grow, to be crucified and die, to
be buried and rise again, and to ascend into heaven and to sit on the Father's right hand,
from whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead-as if all those things belonged
to that essence only which admits of none of them without the reality of the flesh: seeing
that the nature of the Only-begotten is the nature of the Father, the nature of the Holy
Spirit, and that the undivided unity and consubstantial equality of the eternal Trinity is
at once impassible and unchangeable. But if this heretic withdraws from the perverse views
of Apollinaris, lest he be proved to hold that the Godhead is passible and mortal: and yet
dares to pronounce the nature of the Incarnate Word that is of the Word made Flesh one, he
undoubtedly crosses over into the mad view of Manichaeus and Marcion , and believes that
the man Jesus Christ, the mediator between God and men, did all things in an unreal way,
and had not a human body, but that a phantom-like apparition presented itself to the
beholders' eyes.

III. The Acknowledgment of Our Nature in Christ is Necessary to Orthodoxy.

1 As these iniquitous lies were once rejected by the catholic Faith, and such men's
blasphemies condemned by the unanimous votes of the blessed Fathers throughout the world,
whoever these are that are so blinded and strange to the light of truth as to deny the
presence of human, that is our, nature in the Word of God from the time of the
Incarnation, they must show on what ground they claim the name of Christian, and in what
way they harmonize with the true Gospel, if the child-bearing of the blessed Virgin
produced either the flesh without the Godhead or the Godhead without the flesh. For as it
cannot be denied that "the Word became flesh and dwelt in us ," so it cannot be denied
that "God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself . But what reconciliation can
there be, whereby God might be propitiated for the human race, unless the mediator between
God and man took up the cause of all? And in what way could He properly fulfil His
mediation, unless He who in the form of God was equal to the Father, were a sharer of our
nature also in the form of a slave: so that the one new Man might effect a renewal of the
old: and the bond of death fastened on us by one man's wrong-doing might be loosened by
the death of the one Man who alone owed nothing to death.

2 For the pouring out of the blood of the righteous on behalf of the unrighteous was so
powerful in its effect , so rich a ransom that, if the whole body of us prisoners only
believed in their Redeemer, not one would be held in the tyrant's bonds: since as the
Apostle says, "where sin abounded, grace also did much more abound . And since we, who
were born under the imputation of sin, have received the power of a new birth unto
righteousness, the gift of liberty has become stronger than the debt of slavery.

IV. They Only Benefit by the Blood of Christ Who Truly Share in His Death and
Resurrection.

1 What hope then do they, who deny the reality of the human person in our Saviour's body,
leave for themselves in the efficacy of this mystery? Let them say by what sacrifice they
have been reconciled, by what blood-shedding brought back. Who is He "who gave Himself for
us an offering and a victim to God for a sweet smell :" or what sacrifice was ever more
hallowed than that which the true High priest placed upon the altar of the cross by the
immolation of His own flesh? For although in the sight of the Lord the death of many of
His saints has been precious , yet no innocent's death was the propitiation of the world.
The righteous have received, not given, crowns: and from the endurance of the faithful
have arisen examples of patience, not the gift of justification. For their deaths affected
themselves alone, and no one has paid off another's debt by his own death : one alone
among the sons of men, our Load Jesus Christ, stands out as One in whom all are crucified,
all dead, all buried, all raised again. Of them He Himself said "when I am lifted from the
earth, I will draw all (things) unto Me ." True faith also, that justifies the
transgressors and makes them just, is drawn to Him who shared their human natures and wins
salvation in Him, in whom alone man finds himself not guilty; and thus is free to glory in
the power of Him who in the humiliation of our flesh engaged in conflict with the haughty
foe, and shared His victory with those in whose body He had triumphed.

V. The Actions of Christ's Two Natures Must Be Kept Distinct.

1 Although therefore in our one Lord Jesus Christ, the true Son of God and man, the person
of the Word and of the flesh is one, and both beings have their actions in common : yet we
must understand the character of the acts themselves, and by the contemplation of sincere
faith distinguish those to which the humility of His weakness is brought from those to
which His sublime power is inclined: what it is that the flesh without the Word or the
Word without the flesh does not do. For instance, without the power of the Word the Virgin
would not have conceived nor brought forth: and without the reality of the flesh His
infancy would not have laid wrapt in swaddling clothes. Without the power of the Word the
Magi would not have adored the Child that a new star had pointed out to them: and without
the reality of the flesh that Child would not have been ordered to be carried away into
Egypt and withdrawn from Herod's persecution. Without the power of the Word the Father's
voice uttered from the sky would not have said, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased : and without the reality of the flesh John would not have been able to point to
Him and say: "Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him that beareth away the sins of the world .
Without the power of the Word there would have been no restoring of the sick to health, no
raising of the dead to life:

2 and without the reality of the flesh He would not have hungered and needed food, nor
grown weary and needed rest. Lastly, without the power of the Word, the Lord would not
have professed Himself equal to the Father, and without the reality of the flesh He would
not also have said that the Father was greater than He: for the catholic Faith upholds and
defends both positions, believing the only Son of God to be both Man and the Word
according to the distinctive properties of His divine and human substance.

VI. There is No Confusion of the Two Natures in Christ .

1 Although therefore from that beginning whereby in the Virgin's womb "the Word became
flesh," no sort of division ever arose between the Divine and the human substance, and
through all the growth and changes of His body, the actions were of one Person the whole
time, yet we do not by any mixing of them up confound those very acts which were done
inseparably: and from the character of the acts we perceive what belonged to either form.
For neither do His Divine acts affect His human, nor His human acts His Divine, since both
concur in this way and to this very end that in their operation His twofold qualities be
not absorbed the one by the other, nor His individuality doubled. Therefore let those
Christian phantom-mongers tell us, what nature of the Saviour's it was that was fastened
to the wood of the Cross, that lay in the tomb, and that on the third day rose in the
flesh when the stone was rolled away from the grave: or what kind of body Jesus presented
to His disciples' eyes entering when the doors were shut upon them: seeing that to drive
away the beholders' disbelief, He required them to inspect with their eyes and to handle
with their hands the still open prints of the nails and the flesh wound of His pierced
side.

2 But if in spite of the truth being so clear, their persistence in heresy will not
abandon their position in the darkness, let them show whence they promise themselves the
hope of eternal life, which no one can attain to, save through the mediator between God
and man, the man Jesus Christ. For "there is not another name given to men under heaven,
in which they must be saved . Neither is there any ransoming of men from captivity, save
in His blood, "who gave Himself a ransom for all : who, as the blessed apostle proclaims,
"when He was in the form of God, thought it not robbery that He was equal with God; but
emptied Himself, receiving the form of a slaves Icing made in the likeness of men, and
being found in fashion as a man He humbled Himself, being made obedient even unto death,
the death of the cross. For which reason God also exalted Him, and gave Him a name which
is above every name: that in the name of Jesus every knee may bow of things in heaven, of
things on the earth, and of things under the earth, and that every tongue may confess that
the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father ."

VII. It Was as Being "In Form of a Slave," Not as Son of God That He Was Exalted.

1 Although therefore the Lord Jesus Christ is one, and the true Godhead and true Manhood
in Him forms absolutely one and the same person, and the entirety of this union cannot be
separated by any division, yet the exaltation wherewith "God exalted Him," and "gave Him a
name which excels every name," we understand to belong to that form which needed to be
enriched by this increase of glory . Of course "in the form of God" the Son was equal to
the Father, and between the Father and the Only-begotten there was no distinction in point
of essence, no diversity in point of majesty: nor through the mystery of the Incarnation
had the Word been deprived of anything which should be restored Him by the Father's gift.
But "the form of a slave" by which the impassible Godhead fulfilled a pledge of mighty
loving-kindness , is human weakness which was lifted up into the glory of the divine
power, the Godhead and the manhood being right from the Virgin's conception so completely
united that without the manhood the divine acts, and without the Godhead the human acts
were not performed. For which reason as the Lord of majesty is said to have been
crucified, so He who from eternity is equal with God is said to have been exalted.

2 Nor does it matter by which substance Christ is spoken of, since the unity of His person
inseparably remaining He is at once both wholly Son of man according to the flesh and
wholly Son of God according to His Godhead, which is one with the Father. Whatever
therefore Christ received in time, He received in virtue of His manhood, on which are
conferred whatsoever it had not. For according to the power of the Word, "all things that
the Father hath" the Son also hath indiscriminately, and what "in the form of a slave" He
received from the Father, He also Himself gave in the form of the Father. He is in Himself
at once both rich and poor; rich, because "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and God was the Word. This was in the beginning with God. All things were made
through Him, and without Him was made nothing: and poor because "the Word became flesh and
dwelt in us . But what is that emptying of Himself, or that poverty except the receiving
of the form of a slave by which the majesty of the Word was veiled, and the scheme for
man's redemption carried out?

3 For as the original chains of our captivity could not be loosed, unless a man of our
race and of our nature appeared who was not under the prejudice of the old debt, and who
with his untainted blood might blot out the bond of death , as it had from the beginning
been divinely fore-ordained, so it came to pass in the fulness of the appointed time that
the promise which had been proclaimed in many ways might reach its long expected
fulfilment, and that thus, what had been frequently announced by one testimony after
another, might have all doubtfulness removed.

VIII. A Protest Against Their Faithlessness and Inconsistency in This Matter.

1 And so, as all these heresies have been destroyed, which through the holy devotion of
the presiding Fathers have been cut off from the body of the catholic unity, and which
deserved to be exiles from Christ, because they have made the Incarnation of the Word,
which is the one salvation of those who believe aright, a stone of offence and a
stumbling-block to themselves, I am surprised that you, beloved, have any difficulty in
discerning the light of the Truth. And since it has been made clear by numerous
explanations that the Christian Faith was right in condemning both Nestorius and Eutyches
with Dioscorus, and that a man cannot be called a Christian who gives his assent to the
blasphemous opinion of either the one or the other, I am grieved that you are, as I hear,
doing despite to the teaching of the Gospel and the Apostles by stirring up the various
bodies of citizens with seditions, by disturbing the churches, and by inflicting not only
insults, but even death, upon priests and bishops, so that you lose sight of your resolves
and profession through your fury and cruelty. Where is your rule of meekness and
quietness? where is the long-suffering of patience? where the tranquillity of peace? where
the firm foundation of love and courage of endurance?what evil persuasion has carried you
off, what persecution has separated you from the gospel of Christ?

2 or what strange craftiness of the Deceiver has shown itself that, forgetting the
prophets and apostles, forgetting the health-giving creed and confession which you
pronounced before many witnesses when you received the sacrament of baptism you should
give yourselves up to the the Devil's deceits? what effect would "the Claws " and other
cruel tortures have had on you if the empty comments of heretics have had so much weight
in taking the purity of your faith by storm? you think you are acting for the Faith and
yet you go against the Faith. You arm yourselves in the name of the Church and yet fight
against the Church. Is this what you have learnt from prophets, evangelists, and apostles?
to deny the true flesh of Christ, to subject the ,very essence of the Word to suffering
and death, to make our nature different from His who repaired it, and to reckon all that
the cross uplifted, that the spear pierced, that the stone on the tomb received and gave
back, to be only the work: of Divine power, and not also of human humility? It is in
reference to this humility that the Apostle says, "For I do not blush for the Gospel ,"
inasmuch as he knew what a slur was cast upon Christians by their enemies. And, therefore,
the Lord also made proclamation, saying: "he that shall confess Me before men him will I
also confess before My Father .

3 For these will not be worthy of the Son and the Father's acknowledgment in whom the
flesh of Christ awakens no respect: and they will prove themselves to have gained no
virtue from the sign of the cross who blush to avow with their lips what they have
consented to bear upon their brows.

IX. An Exhortation to Accept the Catholic View of the Incarnation.

1 Give up, my sons, give up these suggestions of the devil. God's Truth nothing can
impair, but the Truth does not save us except in our flesh. For, as the prophet says,
"truth is sprung out of the earth ," and the Virgin Mary conceived the Word in such wise
that she ministered flesh of her substance to be united to Him without the addition of a
second person, and without the disappearance of her nature: seeing that He who was in the
form of God took the form of a slave in such wise that Christ is one and the same in both
forms: God bending Himself to the-weak things of man, and man rising up to the high things
of the Godhead, as the Apostle says, "whose are the fathers, and from whom, according to
the flesh is Christ, who is above all things God blessed for ever. Amen ."

LETTER 125: TO JULIAN, THE BISHOP, BY COUNT RODANUS

(Asking him to write quickly, and not keep him in suspense.)

LETTER 126: TO MARCIAN AUGUSTUS

(Congratulating him on the restoration of peace in Palestine.)

LETTER 127: TO JULIAN, BISHOP OF COS

(About (1) affairs in Palestine, (2) a letter from Proterius, (3) the date of Easter, (4)
his reply to the Synod of Chalcedon, (5) the deposition of Aetius.)

LETTER 127: TO MARCIAN AUGUSTUS

(Professing readiness to be reconciled to Anatolius if he will abide by the canons and not
infringe the prerogatives of others.)

LETTER 128

1 Leo to Proterius, bishop of Alexandria.

I. He Commends His Persistent Loyalty to the Faith.

1 Your letter, beloved, which our brother and fellow-bishop Nestorius duly brought us, has
caused me great joy. For it was seemly that such an epistle should be sent by the head of
the church of Alexandria to the Apostolic See, as showed that the Egyptians had from the
first learnt from the teaching of the most blessed Apostle Peter through his blessed
disciple Mark , that which it is agreed the Romans have believed, that beside the Lord
Jesus Christ "there is no other name given to men under heaven, in which they must be
saved . But because "all men have not faith " and the crafty Tempter never delights so
much in wounding the hearts of men as when he can poison their unwary minds with errors
that are opposed to Gospel Truth, we must strive by the mighty teaching of the Holy Ghost
to prevent Christian know ledge from being perverted by the devil's falsehoods. And
against this danger it behoves the rulers of the churches especially to guard and to avert
from the minds of simple folk lies which are coloured by a certain show of truth . "For
narrow and steep is the way which leads to life . And they seek to entrap men not so much
by watching their actions as by nice distinctions of meaning, corrupting the force of
sentences by some very slight addition or alteration, whereby sometimes a statement, which
made for salvation, by a subtle change is turned to destruction.

2 But since the Apostle says, "there must be heresies, that they which are approved may be
made manifest among you ," it tends to tile progress of the whole Church, that, whenever
wickedness reveals itself in setting forth wrong opinions, the things which are harmful be
not concealed, and that what will inevitably end in ruin may not injure the innocence of
others. Wherefore they must put down. their blind wanderings and downfalls to themselves,
who with rash obstinacy prefer to glory: in their shame than to accept the offered remedy.
You do right, brother, to be displeased at their stubbornness, and we commend. you for
holding fast that teaching which has; come down to us from the blessed Apostles and the
holy Fathers.

II. Let Him Fortify the Faithful by the Public Reading Aloud of Quotations from the
Fathers Bearing on the Question and of the Tome.

1 For there is no new preaching in the letter which I wrote in reply to Flavian of holy
memory, when be consulted me about the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ; for in
nothing did I depart from that rule of Faith which was outspokenly maintained by your
ancestors and ours. And if Dioscorus had been willing to follow and imitate them, he would
have abided in the Body of Christ, having in the works of Athanasius of blessed memory the
materials for instruction, and in the discourses of Theophilus and Cyril of holy
remembrance the means rather of praise-worthily opposing the already condemned dogma than
of choosing to consort with Eutyches in his blasphemy. This therefore, beloved brother, I
advise in my anxiety for our common Faith that, because the enemies of Christ's cross lie
in watch for all our words and syllables, we give them not the slightest occasion for
falsely asserting that we agree with the Nestorian doctrine. And you must so diligently
exhort the laity and clergy and all the brotherhood to advance in the Faith as to show
that you teach nothing new but instil into all men's breasts those things, which the
Fathers of revered memory have with harmony of statement taught, and with which in all
things our epistle agrees.

2 And this must be shown not only by your words but also by the actually reading aloud of
previous statements, that God's people may know that what the Fathers received from their
predecessors and handed on to their descendants, is still instilled into them in the
present day. And to this end, when the statements of the aforesaid priests have first been
read, then lastly let my writings also be recited, that the ears of the faithful may
attest that we preach nothing else than what we received from our forefathers. And because
their understandings are but little practised in discerning these things, let them at
least learn from the letters of the Fathers, how ancient this evil is, which is now
condemned by us in Nestorius as well as in Eutyches, who have both been ashamed to preach
the gospel of Christ according to the Lord's own teaching.

III. The Ancient Precedents are to Be Maintained Throughout.

1 Accordingly, both in the rule of Faith and in the observance of discipline, let the
standard of antiquity be maintained throughout, and do thou, beloved, display the firmness
of a prudent ruler, that the church of Alexandria may get the benefit of my earnest
resistance to the unprincipled ambition of certain people in maintaining its ancient
privileges, and of my determination that all metropolitans should retain their dignity
undiminished, as you will ascertain from the tenor of my letters, which I have addressed,
whether to the holy Synod or to the most Christian Emperor, or to the Bishop of
Constantinople; for you will perceive that I have made it my special care to allow no
deviation from the rule of Faith in the Lord-churches, nor any diminution of their
privileges through any individual's unscrupulousness. And as this is so, hold fast,
brother, to the custom of your predecessors, and keep due authority over your
comprovincial bishops, who by ancient constitution are subject to the See of Alexandria;
so that they resist not ecclesiastical usage, and refuse not to meet together under your
presidency, either at fixed times or when any reasonable cause demands it: and that if
anything has to be discussed in a general meeting which will be to the benefit of the
Church, when the brethren have thus met together, they may unanimously come to some
resolution thereupon. For there is nothing which ought to recall them from this obedience,
seeing that both for faith and conduct we have such good knowledge of you, brother, that
we will not allow you to lose any of your predecessor's authority, nor to be slighted with
impunity. Dated March 10th, in the consulship of the illustrious Aetius and Studius (454).

LETTER 130: TO MARCIAN AUGUSTUS

(Praising the orthodoxy of Proterius, advocating the public recital by him of passages
bearing on the present controversy from the writings of Athanasius and others, and also of
the Tome itself in a new Greek translation.)

LETTER 131: TO JULIAN, BISHOP OF COS

(Telling him he has received Proterius' letter, and asking for (1) a new Greek translation
of the Tome; (2) a report on the Easter difficulty of the next year (455)).

LETTER 132: FROM ANATOLIUS, BISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE, TO LEO

(In which he complains of the intermission in their correspondence, maintains his
allegiance to Rome, announces the restitution of Aetius, deprecates the charge of personal
ambition, and remits the proceedings of Chalcedon for his approval.)

LETTER 134: TO MARCIAN AUGUSTUS

(Suggesting that Eutyches should be banished to a still remoter place, where he cannot do
so much harm by his false teaching.)

LETTER 136: TO MARCIAN AUGUSTUS

(Simultaneously with CXXXV., on the subject of his reconciliation with Anatolius.)

LETTER 137: TO THE SAME, AND ON THE SAME DAY

(On the subject of Easter, acknowledging the trouble Proterius has taken, - to which is
joined a request that the accounts of the oeconomi should be audited by priests, not lay
persons.)

LETTER 138

1 Leo, bishop of the city of Rome, to Juvenal, bishop of Jerusalem.

1.he Rejoices Over Juvenal's Return to Orthodoxy, Though Chiding Him Far Having Gone
Astray.

2 When I received your letter, beloved, which our sons Andrew the presbyter and Peter the
deacon brought me, I rejoiced indeed that you had been allowed to return to the seat of
your bishopric; but when all the reasons came to my remembrance, which brought you into
such excessive troubles, I grieved to think you had been yourself the source of your
adversities by failing in persistency of opposition to the heretics: for men can but think
you were not bold enough to refute those with whom when in error you professed yourself
satisfied. For the condemnation of Flavian of blessed memory, and the acceptance of the
most unholy Eutyches, what was it but the denial of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the
flesh? which He Himself of His great mercy caused to be overthrown, when by the authority
of the holy Council of Chalcedon He brought to nought that accursed judgment of the Synod
of Ephesus without debarring any of the attainted from being healed by correction. And
therefore, because in the tithe of long-suffering, you have chosen return to wisdom rather
than persistency in folly, I rejoice that you have so sought the heavenly remedies as at
last to have become a defender of the Faith which is assailed by heretics.

3 For, though no priest ought to be ignorant of that which he preaches , yet any Christian
living at Jerusalem is more inexcusable than all the ignorant, seeing that he is taught to
understand the power of the Gospel, not only by the written word but by the witness of the
places themselves, and what elsewhere may not be disbelieved, cannot there remain unseen.
Why is the understanding in difficulty, where the eyes are its instructors? And why are
things read or heard doubtful, where all the mysteries of man's salvation obtrude
themselves upon the sight and touch? As if to each individual doubter the Lord still used
His human voice and said, why are "ye disturbed and why do thoughts arise into your
hearts? see My hands and My feet that it is I myself. Handle Me and see because (or that)
a spirit hath not bones and flesh, as ye see Me have ."

II. Let Him Be Strengthened in His Faith by the Holy Associations of Life Place Where He
Lives.

1 Make use, therefore, beloved brother, of these incontrovertible proofs of the catholic
Faith and support the preaching of the Evangelists by the testimony of the holy places in
which you live. In your country is Bethlehem, in which the Light of Salvation sprang from
the womb of the Virgin of the house of David , whom wrapped in swaddling clothes the
manger of the crowded inn received. In your country was the Saviour's infancy announced by
angels, adored by magi, sought by Herod through the death of many infants. In your country
was it that His boyhood grew, His youth ripened, and His true man's nature reached to
perfect manhood by the increase of the body, not without food for hunger, not without
sleep for rest, not without tears of pity, not without fear and dread: for He is one and
the same Person, who in the form of God wrought great miracles of power, and in the form
of a slave underwent the cruelty of the passion. This the very cross unceasingly says to
you: this the stone of the sepulchre cries out, under which the Lord in human condition
lay, and from which by Divine power He rose. And when you approach the mount of Olivet, to
venerate the place of the Ascension, does not the angel's voice ring in your ears, which
says to those who were dumb-founded at the Lord's uplifting, "ye men of Galilee, why stand
ye gazing into heaven? this Jesus, Who was taken up from you into heaven, shall so come,
as ye saw Him going into heaven ."

III. The Facts of the Gospel Attest the Incarnation.

1 The true birth of Christ, therefore, is confirmed by the true cross; since He is Himself
born in our flesh, Who is crucified in our flesh, which, as no sin entered into it., could
not have been mortal, unless it had been that of our race. But in order that He might
restore life to all, He undertook the cause of all and rendered void the force of the old
bond, by paying it for all, because He alone of us all did not owe it: that, as by one
man's guilt all had become sinners, so by one man's innocence all might become innocent,
righteousness being bestowed upon men by Him Who had undertaken man's nature. For in no
way is He outside our true bodily nature, of Whom the Evangelist in beginning his story
says, "the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham ,"
with which the blessed Apostle Paul's teaching agrees, when he says "whose are the fathers
and of whom is Christ according to the flesh, Who is above all God blessed for ever ," and
so to Timothy "remember," he says, "that Jesus Christ has risen from the dead, of the seed
of David ."

IV. Those Who are Still in Error Must Be Thoroughly Instructed in the Historic Faith.

1 But how many are the authorities, both in the New and Old Testaments, by which this
truth is declared, as befits the antiquity of your See, you clearly understand, seeing
that the belief of the Fathers and my letter written to Flavian, of holy memory, of which
you yourself made mention, confirmed, as they have been, by the universal synod, are
sufficient for you. And therefore it behoves you, beloved, to take heed that no one raise
a murmur against the unspeakable mystery of our Redemption and Hope. But if there are any
who are still in the darkness of ignorance or the discord of perversity, let them be
instructed by the authority of those whose doctrine in God's Church was apostolical and
clear, that they may recognize that on the Incarnation of God's Word we believe what they
did, and may not by their obstinacy place themselves outside the Body of Christ, in which
we died and rose with Him: because neither loyalty to the Faith nor the plan of the
mystery admits that either the Godhead should be possible in its own essence. or the
reality be falsified in His taking on Him of our flesh. Dated 4th September, in the
consulship of the illustrious Aetius and Studius (454).

LETTER 140: TO JULIAN, BISHOP OF COS

(Now that Dioscorus is dead, the peace of the Church will be more easily restored.)

LETTER 142: TO MARCIAN AUGUSTUS

(Inter alia thanking him for the trouble he has taken about the Easter of 455.)

LETTER 143: TO ANATOLIUS, BISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE

(Briefly asking him to extirpate all remains of heresy.)

LETTER 145: TO LEO AUGUSTUS

(Asking him to help the church of Alexandria in appointing a good bishop in place of the
murdered Proterius .)

LETTER 146: TO ANATOLIUS, BISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE

(Begging him to take precautions lest the change of Emperor should be made the occasion
for fresh outbreaks of heresy.)Letter CXLVII. TO Julian, Bishop OF Cos, And Aetius, The
Presbyter. (Charging him to uphold the acts of Chalcedon, and to help in choosing a good
successor to Proterius.)

LETTER 148: TO LEO AUGUSTUS

(Thanking him for assurances made that he would guard the interests of the Church.)

LETTER 149: TO BASIL, BISHOP OF ANTIOCH

(Asking him to give no countenance to the demand for a new Synod.)

LETTER 151: TO ANATOLIUS, BISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE

(He is to keep the church of Constantinople free from all heresy.)

LETTER 152: TO JULIAN, BISHOP OF COS

(Charging him to see that the preceding letters reach their destination.)

LETTER 153: TO AETIUS, PRESBYTER ,OF CONSTANTINOPLE

(Asking him to assist in the distribution of these letters.)

LETTER 155: TO ANATOLIUS, BISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE

(In which he incites him to watchfulness, and complains that certain of the clergy in
Constantinople are in collusion with the adversary.)

LETTER 156

1 Leo, the bishop, to Leo Augustus.

I. There is No Need to Open the Question of Doctrine Again Now.

1 Your clemency's letter, which was full of vigorous faith and of the light of truth, I
have respectfully received, which I wish I could obey, even in the matter of my personal
attendance, which your Majesty thinks necessary; for then I should gain the greater
advantage from the sight of your splendour. But I believe you will approve of my view when
reason has shown it preferable. For since with holy and spiritual zeal you consistently
maintain the Church's peace, and nothing is more conducive to the defence of the Faith
than to adhere to those things which have been incontrovertibly defined under tile
unceasing guidance of the Holy Spirit, we shall seem to be doing our best to upset the
decrees, and at the bidding of a heretic's petition to overthrow the authorities which the
universal Church has adopted, and thus to remove all limits from the conflicts of
Churches, and giving full rein to rebellion, to extend rather than appease contentions.

2 And hence because after the disgraceful scenes at the synod of Ephesus, whereat through
the wickedness of Dioscorus the catholic Faith was rejected, and Eutyches' heresy
accepted, nothing more useful could be devised for the preservation of the Christian Faith
than that the holy Synod of Chalcedon should rescind his wicked acts, and that such care
should be bestowed thereat on heavenly doctrine, that nothing should linger in any one's
mind in disagreement with the utterances of either the Prophets or the Apostles, such
moderation of course being observed that only the persistent rebels should be east off
from the unity of the Church, and no one who was penitent should be denied pardon, what
more in accordance with men's expectations or with religion will your Majesty be able to
decree, than that no one henceforth be permitted to attack what has been determined by
decrees which are Divine rather than human, lest they be truly worthy but to lose God's
gift, who have dared to doubt concerning His Truth?

II. The Proposal to Reconsider the Question Proceeds from Antichrist or the Devil Himself.

1 Since, therefore, the universal Church has become a rock (petra) through the building up
of that original Rock , and the first of the Apostles, the most blessed Peter, heard the
voice of the Lord saying, "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock (petra) I will build My
Church ," who is there who dare assail such impregnable strength, unless he be either
antichrist or the devil, who, abiding unconverted in his wickedness, is anxious to sow
lies by the vessels of wrath which are suited to his treachery, whilst under the false
name of diligence he pretends to be in search of the Truth. And his unrestrained madness
and blind wickedness has deservedly brought contempt and disrepute on himself, so that
while he rages against the holy church of Alexandria with diabolical purpose, men may
learn the character of those who desire to reconsider the Synod of Chalcedon. For it
cannot possibly have been that an opinion was there expressed contrary to the holy Synod
of Nicaea, as the heretics falsely maintain, who pretend that they hold the faith of the
Nicene Council, in which our holy and venerable fathers, being assembled against Arius,
affirmed not that the Lord's Flesh, but that the Son's Godhead was homoousion with the
Father, whereas in the Council of Chalcedon against the blasphemy of Eutyches, it was
defined that the Lord Jesus Christ took the reality of our body from the substance of the
Virgin-mother.

III. All the Bishops of Christendom Agree with Him in This.

1 Therefore in addressing our most Christian Emperor, who is worthy to be classed among
the champions of Christ, I use the freedom of the catholic Faith and fearlessly exhort you
to throw in your lot with Apostles and Prophets; firmly to despise and reject those who
have deprived themselves of their Christian name, and not to let blasphemous parricides,
who, it is agreed, wish to annul the Faith, discuss that Faith under treacherous pretexts.
For since the Lord has enriched your clemency with such insight into His mystery, you
ought unhesitatingly to consider that the kinglypower has been conferred on you not for
the governance of the world alone but more especially for the guardianship of the Church:
that by quelling wicked attempts you may both defend that which has been rightly decreed,
and restore true peace where there has been disturbance, that is to say by deposing
usurpers of the rights of others and reinstating the ancient Faith in the See of
Alexandria, that by your reforms God's wrath may be appeased, and so He take not vengeance
for their doings on a people hitherto religious, but forgive them. Set before the eyes of
your heart, venerable Emperor, the fact that all the Lord's priests which are in all the
world, are beseeching you on behalf of that Faith, wherein is Redemption for the whole
world.

2 In which those maintainers of the Apostolic Faith more particularly appeal to you who
have presided over the Church of Alexandria, entreating your Majesty not to allow heretics
who have rightfully been condemned for their perversity, to continue intheir usurpation ;
for, whether you look at the wickedness of their error or consider the deed which their
madness has perpetrated, not only are they unable to be admitted to the dignity of the
priesthood, but they even deserve to be cut off from the name of Christian. For - and I
entreat your Majesty's forgiveness for saying so - they to some extent dim your own
splendour, most glorious Emperor, when such treacherous parricides dare to ask for that
which even the guiltless could not lawfully obtain.

IV. The Difference Between the Two Petitions Which Have Been Presented to the Emperor.

1 Petitions have been presented to your Majesty , copies of which you subjoined to your
letter. But in that which comes in deprecation from the catholics, a list of signatures is
contained: and because their case had good reason in it, the names of individuals, and
even their dignified rank is confidently disclosed. But in that, which heretical intrusion
has not feared to offer to our orthodox Emperor under the vague sanction of a motley body,
all particular names are withheld for this reason, lest not only the paucity of members
but also their worth might be discovered. For they think it expedient to conceal their
number, though their quality is indicated, and not improperly they are afraid to proclaim
their position, seeing that they deserve to be condemned. In the one document therefore is
contained the petition of catholics, in the other the fictions of heretics are set forth.
Here the overthrow of the Lord's priests, of the whole Christian people, and of the
monasteries is bemoaned: there is displayed the continuance of gigantic wrongs, so that
what ought never to have been heard of is allowed to be widely extended.

V. It is a Great Opportunity for the Emperor to Show His Faith.

1 Is it not clear which side you ought to support and which to oppose, if the Church of
Alexandria, which has always been the "house of prayer," is not now to be "a den of
robbers ?" For surely it is manifest that through the cruellest and maddest savagery all
the light of the heavenly mysteries is extinguished. The offering of the sacrifice is cut
off, the hallowing of the chrism has failed , and from the murderous hands of wicked men
all the mysteries have withdrawn themselves. Nor can there be any manner of doubt what
decree ought to be passed on these then, who after unutterable acts of sacrilege, after
shedding the blood of a most highly reputed priest, awlscattering the ashes of his burnt
body to be the sport of the winds of heaven, dare to demand for themselves the rights of a
usurped dignity and to arraign before councils the inviolable Faith of the Apostolic
teaching. Great, therefore, is the opportunity for you to add to your diadem from the
Lord's hand the crown of faith also, and to triumph over the Church's foes: for, if it be
matter of praise to you to vanquish the armies of opposing nations, how great will be the
glory of freeing from its mad tyrant the church of Alexandria, the affliction of which is
an injury to all Christians?

VI. He Promises More Detailed Statements an the Faith Subsequently, and Begs Him to
Correct Certain Things in Which Anatolius is Remiss.

1 But in order that my correspondence may have the effect on your Majesty of a mouth to
mouth colloquy, I have seen that whatever suggestions I would make about our commonFaith,
must be conveyed in subsequent communications . And lest the pages of this epistle reach
too great a length, I have comprised in another letter what is agreeable to the
maintenance of the catholic Faith, in order that, though the published statements of the
Apostolic See were sufficient, yet theseadditional statements might also break down the
snares of the heretics. For your Majesty's priestly and Apostolic mind ought to be still
further kindled to righteous vengeance by this pestilential evil, which mars the purity of
the church of Constantinople, in which are found certain clerics, who agree with the
interpretations of the heretics and within the very heart of the Church assist them by
their support . In removing whom if my brother Anatolius is found remiss through too good-
natured leniency, vouchsafe to show your laith by administering this remedy also to the
Church, that such men be driven not only from the ranks of the clergy, but also from
dwelling in the city. I commend to you your Majesty's loyal subjects, bishop Julian and
presbyter Aetius, with a request that you will deign to listen quietly to their
suggestions in defence of the catholic Faith, because they are in good truth men who may
be found helpful to your faith in all things. Dated the 1st of Dec. in the consulship of
the illustrious Constantine and Rufus (457).

LETTER 157: TO ANATOLIUS, BISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE

(Urging him to active measures in certain specified matters.)


LETTERS OF LEO THE GREAT
========================

LETTERS OF LEO THE GREAT continued

LETTER 158: TO THE CATHOLIC BISHOPS OF EGYPT SOJOURNING IN CONSTANTINOPLE

1 Leo to the catholic Egyptian bishops sojourning in Constantinople.He encourages them in
their sufferings for the Faith, and in their entreaties for redress to the Emperor. 2 I
have before now been so saddened by tidings of the crimes committed in Alexandria, and my
spirit has been so wounded by the atrocity of the deed itself, that I know not what tears
to show and what lamentation to utter over it, and am fain to use the prophet's language,
"who will give waters to my head and a fountain of tears to my eyes ? Yet anticipating
your complaint, beloved, I have entreated our most clement and Christian Emperor for a
remedy of these great evils, and by our sons and assistants Gerontius and Olympius have at
a different time demanded that he should make haste to purge of a heresy already condemned
the church of that city, in which so many Catholic teachers have flourished, and not allow
murderous spirits whom no reverence for place or time could deter from shedding their
ruler's blood, to gain anything from his clemency, more particularly when they desire to
reconsider the council of Chalcedon to the overthrow of the Faith. Accordingly the same
reason, beloved, which drove you from your own Sees, ought to console you for your
sufferings; for it, is certain that afflicted souls, that suffer adversity for His name,
are in no wise deprived of the Lord's protection. Bear it therefore bravely, and mindful
of that country which is yours, rejoice over your present sojourn in a strange land.

3 Abstain from grieving over your exile and indulge not in sorrow for your present
weariness, ye who know that the Apostle glories even in his many perils on behalf of the
Lord's Faith. You have One who knows your conflicts and has prepared the rewards of
recompense. Let no one shrink from this labour, whose guerdon is to reign and live for
ever. Let the feet of all who fight be fixed in the halls of Jerusalem; for in the hope of
that retribution they will have no cause to fear the camp nor the onsets of the enemy.
Victory is never hard nor triumph difficult over the remnants of an abject foe who has
been routed by the whole world alike, especially over those whose ringleaders you see
already prostrate. With unceasing prayers, therefore (even as I also have not failed to
do), entreat the favour of the most Christian Emperor, who in God's mercy is ready to
hear: that in accordance with the letter I have sent , he may strengthen the cause of the
common Faith with that devotion of mind, which we are well assured he possesses, and in
his piety may remove all the harmful charges which the madness of heretics has invented,
and arrange for your return, beloved, and so may cause each several province and all the
churches with their priests to rejoice in the unshaken peace of Christ. Dated the 1st of
Dec. in the consulship of Constantine and Rufus (457).

LETTER 159

1 (Leo, the bishop, to Nicaetas, bishop of Aquileia, greeting.)

I. Prefatory

1 My son Adeodatus, deacon of our See, on returning to us has delivered your request,
beloved, to receive from us the authority of the Apostolic See upon matters which seem
indeed to be hard to decide, but which we must make provision for with a view to the
necessities of the times that the wounds which have been inflicted by the attacks of the
enemy may be healed chiefly by the agency of religion.

II. About the Women Who Married Again When Their Husbands Were Taken Prisoners.

1 As then you say that through the disasters of war and through the grievous inroads of
the enemy families have in certain cases been so broken up that the husbands have been
carried off into captivity and their wives remain forsaken, and these latter thinking
their own husbands either dead or never likely to be freed from their masters, have
contracted another marriage under stress of loneliness, and as, now that the state of
things has im- proved through the Lord's help, some of those who were thought to have
perished have returned, you seem, dear brother, naturally to be in doubt what ought to be
settled by us about women thus joined to other husbands. But because we know it is written
that "a woman is joined to a man by God ," and again, we are aware of the precept that
"what God hath joined, man may not put asunder ," we are bound to hold that the compact of
the lawful marriage must be renewed, and after the removal of the evils inflicted by the
enemy, what each lawfully had must be restored to him; and we must take every pains that
each should recover what is his own.

III. Whether He is Blameable Who Has Taken the Prisoner's Wife?

1 But notwithstanding let him not be held blameable and treated as the invader of
another's right, who took the place of the husband, who was thought no longer alive. For
thus many things which belonged to those led into captivity happened to pass into the
possession of others, and yet it is altogether fair that on their return their property
should be restored. And if this is duly observed in the case of slaves or of lands, or
even of houses and personal goods, how much more ought it to be done in the restoration of
wives, that what has been disturbed by the necessitities of war may be restored by the
remedy of peace?

IV. The Wife Must Be Restored to Her First Husband.

1 And, therefore, if husbands who have returned after a long captivity still feel such
affection for their wives as to desire them to return to partnership , that, which
necessity brought about, must be passed over and judged blameless and the demands of
fidelity satisfied.

V. Women Must Be Excommunicated Who Refuse to Return.

1 And if any women are so possessed by love of their later husbands as to prefer to remain
with them than to return to their lawful partners, they are deservedly to be branded: so
that they be even deprived of the Church's communion; for in a pardonable matter they have
chosen to taint themselves with crime, showing that they have sought their own pleasure in
their incontinence, when a rightful restitution could have obtained their forgiveness. Let
them return then to their former state and make voluntary reparation, nor let that which a
condition of necessity extorted from them be by any means turned into disgrace through
evil desires; because, as those women who refuse to return to their husbands are to be
held unholy, so they who return to an affection entered on with God's sanction are
deservedly to be praised.

VI. About Captives, Who Were Compelled to Eat of Sacrificial Food.

1 Concerning those Christians who are asserted to have been polluted with sacrificial
food, while among those by whom they were taken prisoners, we have thought it right to
make this reply to your enquiry, dear brother, that they be purged by a satisfactory
penitence which is to be measured not so much by the duration of the process as by the
intensity of the feeling. And whether their compliance was wrung from them by terror or
hunger, there need be no hesitation at acquitting them, since the food was taken from fear
or want, not from superstitious reverence.

VII. About Those Who in Fear or by Mistake Were Re-Baptized

1 But as to those about whom you thought. beloved, we ought likewise to be consulted who
were either forced by fear or led by mistake to repeat their baptism, and now understand
that they acted contrary to the ordinances of the catholic Faith, such moderation must be
observed towards them that they be received into full communion with us, but not without
the healing of penitence and the imposition of the bishop's hands, the length of the
penance (with due regard to moderation) being left to your judgment, as you shall perceive
the minds of the penitents to be disposed: in which you must not forget to consider old
age, illness, and other risks. For if a man be in so dangerous a case that his life is
despaired of, while he is still under penance, he should receive the gracious aid of
communion by the priest's tender care.

VIII. About Baptism by Heretics.

1 For they who have received baptism from heretics, not having been previously baptized,
are to be confirmed by imposition of hands with only the invocation of the Holy Ghost,
because they have received the bare form of baptism without the power of sanctification .
And this regulation, as you know; we require to be kept in all the churches, that the font
once entered may not be defiled by repetition, as the Lord says, "One Lord, one faith, one
baptism." And that washing may not be polluted by repetition, but, as we have said, only
the sanctification of the Holy Ghost invoked, that what no one can receive from heretics
may be obtained from catholic priests. This letter of ours, which we have sent in reply to
the inquiries of the brotherhood you shall bring to the knowledge of all your brethren and
fellow-bishops of the province, that our authority, now that it is given, may avail for
the general observance. Dated 21st March, in the consulship of Majorian Augustus (458).

LETTER 161: TO THE PRESBYTERS, DEACONS AND CLERGY OF THE CHURCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE

(Exhorting them to remain stedfast in the Faith as fixed at Chalcedon, and to have no
dealings with Atticus and Andrew unless they recant.)

LETTER 162

1 By the hand of Philoxenus agens in rebus . Leo the Bishop to Leo Augustus.

I. The Decrees of Chalcedon and Nicaea are Identical and Final.

1 With much joy my mind exults in the Lord, and great is my cause for thankfulness, now
that I perceive your clemency's most excellent faith to be in all things enlarged by the
gifts of heavenly grace, and I experience by increased diligence the devotion of a
priestly mind in you. For in your Majesty's communications! it is beyond doubt revealed
what the Holy Spirit is working through you for the good of the whole Church, and how
greatly it is to be desired by the prayers of all the faithful that your empire may be
everywhere extended with glory, seeing that besides your care for things temporal you so
perseveringly exercise a religious foresight in the service of what is divine and eternal:
to wit that the catholic Faith, which alone gives life to and alone in hallows mankind,
may abide in the one confession, and the dissensions which spring from the variety of
earthly opinions may be driven away, most glorious Emperor, from that solid Rock, on which
the city of God is built. And these gifts of God will at last be granted us from Him, if
we be not found ungrateful for what has been vouchsafed, and as though what we have gained
were naught, we seek not rather the very opposite.

2 For to seek what has been discovered, to reconsider what has been completed, and to
demolish what has been defined, what else is it but to return no thanks for things gained
and to indulge the unholy longings of deadly lust on the food of the forbidden tree? And
hence by deigning to show a more careful regard for the peace of the universal Church, you
manifestly recognize what is the design of the heretics' mighty intrigues that a more
careful discussion should take place between the disciples of Eutyches and Dioscorus and
the emissary of the Apostolic See, as if nothing had already been defined, and that what
with the glad approval of the catholic priests of the whole world was determined at the
holy Synod of Chalcedon should be rendered invalid to the detriment also of the most
sacred Council of Nicaea. For what in our own days at Chalcedon was determined concerning
our Lord Jesus Christ's Incarnation, was also so defined at Nicaea by that mystic number
of Fathers , lest the confession of catholics should believe that God's Only-begotten Son
was in aught unequal to the Father, or that when He was made Son of man He had not the
true nature of our flesh and soul.

II. The Wicked Designs of Heretics Must Be Stedfastly Resisted.

1 Therefore we must abhor and persistently avoid what heretical deceit is striving to
obtain, nor must what has been well and fully defined be brought again under discussion,
lest we ourselves should seem at the will of condemned men to have doubts concerning
things which it is clear agree throughout with the authority of Prophets, Evangelists, and
Apostles. And hence, if there are any who disagree with these heaven-inspired decisions,
let them be left to their own opinions and depart from the unity of the Church with that
perverse sect which they have chosen. For it can in no wise be that men who dare to speak
against divine mysteries are associated in any communion with us. Let them pride
themselves on the emptiness of their talk and boast of the cleverness of their arguments
against the Faith: we are pleased to obey the Apostle's precepts, where he says, "See that
no one deceive you with philosophy and vain seductions of men . For according to the same
Apostle, "ifI build up those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a transgressor ,"
and subject myself to those conditions of punishment which not only the authority of
Prince Marcian of blessed memory, but I myself also by my consent have accepted. Because
as you have justly and truthfully maintained perfection admits of no increase nor fulness
of addition.

2 And hence, since I know you, venerable Prince, imbued as you are with the purest light
of truth, waver in no part of the Faith, but with just and perfect judgment distinguish
right from wrong, and separate what is to be embraced from what is to be rejected, I
beseech you not to think that my humility is to be blamed for want of confidence, since my
cautiousness is not only in the interests of the universal Church but also for the
furtherance of your own glory, that under your reign the unscrupulousness of heretics may
not seem to be advanced and the security of catholics disturbed.

III. He Promises to Send Envoys Not to Discuss with the Eutychians, But to Explain the
Faith to the Emperor.

1 Although, therefore, I am very confident of the piety of your heart in all things, and
perceive that through the Spirit of Gov dwelling in you, you are sufficiently instructed,
nor can any error delude your faith, yet I will endeavour to follow your bidding so far as
to send certain of my brothers to represent my person before you, and to set forth what
the Apostolic rule of Faith is, although, as I have said, it is well known to you, in all
things making it clear and certain that they are not in any way to be reckoned among
catholics, who do not accept the definitions of the venerable Synod of Nicaea or the
ordinances of the holy Council of Chalcedon, inasmuch as it is evident the holy decrees of
both proceed from the Evangelical and Apostolical source, and whatever is not of Christ's
watering is like a snake-poisoned draught . Your Majesty should understand beforehand,
most venerable Emperor, that those whom I undertake to send will come from the Apostolic
See, not to fight with the enemies of the Faith nor to strive against any, because of
matters already settled as it has pleased God both at Nicaea and at Chalcedon we dare not
enter upon any discussion, as if what so great an authority has fixed by theHoly Spirit
were doubtful or weak.

IV. The Heretics Must Be Formed to Give Up Their Usurpations and Left to the Judgment of
God.

1 But we do not refuse the assistance of our ministry for the instruction of our little
ones, who after being fed with milk desire to be satisfied with more solid food: and as we
do not scorn the simple folk, so we will have no dealings with rebel heretics, remembering
the Lord's command, who says, "Give not that which is holy to the dogs, nor cast your
pearls before swine ." Surely it is altogether unworthy and unjust to admit to freedom of
discussion men whom the Holy Spirit describes in the words of the prophet, "the sons of
the stranger have lied unto me ." For even though they resist not the Gospel, yet they
have shown themselves to be of those of whom it is written "they profess that they know
God but by their deeds they deny Him ," while the blood of just Abel still cries against
wicked Cain , who being rebuked by the Lord did not set quietly about his repentance but
burst forth into murder. Whose punishment we wish to be reserved for the Lord's judgment
in such a way that, unprincipled plunderer and blood-thirsty murderer as he is, he may be
thrown back upon himself and relinquish what is ours. We pray you also not to suffer the
lamentable captivity of the holy church of Alexandria to be any further prolonged, which
by the help of your faith and Justice ought to be restored to its liberty, that through
all the cities of Egypt the dignity of the Fathers and their priestly rights may be
restored. Dated 21st of March in the consulship of Leo and Majorian Augusti (458).

LETTER 163: TO ANATOLIUS, BISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE BY PATRITIUS THE DEACON THE DEACON

(Glorying over the harshness of his former letter, to which Anatolius had objected, but
persisting that he is not satisfied with the explanation Atticus had furnished of his
orthodoxy.)

LETTER 164

1 Leo, the bishop, to Leo Augustus.

I. He Sends Envoys But de Deprecates Any Fresh Discussion of the Faith.

1 Rejoicing that it has been proved to me by many clear proofs with what earnestness you
consult the interests of the universal Church, I have not delayed to obey your Majesty's
commands on the first opportunity, by despatching Domitian and Geminian my brothers and
fellow-bishops, who in furtherance of my earnest prayers, shall entreat you for the
peaceful acceptance of the gospel-teaching and obtain the liberty of the Faith in which
through the instruction of the Holy Spirit you yourself are so conspicuously eminent, now
that the enemies of Christ are driven far away, who even if they had wished to conceal
their madness, could not lie hid, because the holy simplicity of the Lord's flock is very
different from the pretences of beasts who hide themselves in sheeps' clothing, nor can
they creep in by hypocrisy now that their exceeding madness has revealed them. Recognize,
therefore, august and venerable Emperor, how that you are called by Divine providence to
the guardianship of the whole world, and understand what aid you owe to your Mother, the
Church, who makes especial boast of you. Disputes that are ended must not be allowed to
rise with renewed vigour against the triumphs of the Almighty's right hand, especially
when this can in no wise be allowed to heretics, whose attempts have long ago been
condemned and the labours of the faithful have a just claim to this result, that all the
fulness of the Church shall remain secure in the completeness of her unity, and that
nothing whatever of what has been well laid down shall be reconsidered, because, after
constitutions have been legitimately framed under Divine guidance, to wish still to
wrangle is the sign not of a peace-making but of a rebellious spirit, as says the Apostle,
"for to strive with words is profitable for nothing, but for the subverting of them that
hear ."

II. In Matters of Faith Human Rhetoric is Out of Place.

1 For if it be always free for human fancies to assert themselves in dispute, there never
will be wanting men who will dare to oppose the Truth, and to put their trust in the glib
utterances of this world's wisdom, whereas the Christian Faith and wisdom knows from the
teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself how strictly it ought to shun this most harmful
vanity. For when Christ was about to summon all nations to the illumination of the Faith,
He chose those who were to devote themselves to the preaching of the Gospel not from among
philosophers or orators,but took humble fishermen as the instruments by which He would
reveal Himself, lest the heavenly teaching, which was of itself full of mighty power,
should. seem to need the aid of words. And hence the Apostle protests and says, "For
Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the Gospel, not in wisdom of words lest the
cross of Christ should be made void; for the word of the cross is to them indeed that
perish foolishness, but to those which are being saved it is the power of God. For it is
written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the prudence of the prudent will I
reject. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the inquirer of this age? has not
God made foolish the wisdom of this world ?

2 For rhetorical arguments and clever debates of man's device make their chief boast in
this, that in doubtful matters which are obscured by the variety of opinions they can
induce their hearers to accept that view which each has chosen for his own genius and
eloquence to bring forward; and thus it happens that what is maintained with the greatest
eloquence is reckoned the truest. But Christ's Gospel needs not this art; for in it the
true teaching stands revealed by its own light: nor is there any seeking for that which
shall please the ear, when to know Who is the Teacher is sufficient for true faith.

III. Eutyches' Dogma is Condemned by the Testimony of Scripture and Cannot Further Be
Entertained.

1 But nothing severs those who are deceived by their own inventions, from the light of the
Gospel so much as their not thinking that the Lord's Incarnation appertains in a true
sense to man's, that is, our, nature: as if it were unworthy of God's glory that the
majesty of the impossible Word should have taken the reality of human flesh, whereas men's
salvation could not otherwise have been restored had not He Who is in the form of God
deigned also to take the form of a slave. And hence since the holy Synod of Chalcedon,
which was attended by all the provinces of the Roman world and obtained universal
acceptance for its decisions, and is in complete harmony therein with the most sacred
council of Nicaea, has cut off all the wicked followers of the Eutychian dogma from the
body of the catholic communion, how shall any of the lapsed regain the peace of the
church, without purging himself by a full course of penitence? For what licence can be
granted them for discussing, when they have deserved to be condemned by a just and holy
judgment, so that they might most truly fall under that sentence of the blessed Apostle,
wherewith at the very outset of the infant Church he overthrew the enemies of Christ's
cross, saying: "every spirit which confesses Jesus Christ to have come in the flesh is of
God, and every spirit which dissolves Jesus is not of God, but this is antichrist .

2 And this pre-existent teaching of the Holy Ghost we must faithfully and stedfastly make
use of, lest, by admitting the discussions of such men the authority of the divinely
inspired decrees be diminished, when in all parts of your kingdom and in all borders of
the earth that Faith which was confirmed at Chalcedon is being established on the surest
basis of peace, nor is any one worthy of the name of Christian who cuts himself off from
communion with us. Of whom the Apostle says, "a man that is heretical after a first and a
second admonition, avoid, knowing that such a one is perverse and condemned by his own
judgment ."

IV. If the Divine Mercy is to Be Exercised, the Heretics Must Cease Entirely from the
Error of Their Ways.

1 What therefore the unholy parricide has perpetrated by seizing on the holy Church and
cruelly murdering its very ruler, cannot be expiated by man's forgiveness, unless He Who
alone can rightly punish such things, and alone can of His unspeakable mercy remit them,
be propitiated. But though we are not anxious for vengeance, we cannot in any way be
allied with the devil's servants. Yet if we learn they are quitting the ranks of heresy,
repenting, them of their error and turning from the weapons of discord to the lamentations
of sorrow, we also can intercede for them, lest they perish for ever, thus following the
example of the Lord's loving-kindness, who, when nailed to the wood of the cross prayed
for His persecutors, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do ." And that
Christian love may do this profitably for its enemies, wicked heretics must cease to
harass God's ever religious and ever devout Church; they must not dare to disturb the
souls of the simple by their falsehoods, to the end that, where in all former times the
purest faith has flourished, the teaching of the Gospel and of the Apostles may now also
have free course; because we also imitating, so far as we can, the Divine mercy desire no
one to be punished by justice, but all to be released by mercy.

V. Let Him Restore the Refugee Clergy and Laity and Utterly Reject Those Who Persist in
Heresy.

1 I entreat your clemency, listen to the suggestions of my brethren already mentioned,
whom, as I some time ago have said in a former letter , I have sent not to wrangle with
the condemned, but merely to intercede with you for the stability of the catholic Faith.
And in accordance with your faith in and regard for the Divine Majesty this especially you
should grant, that completely setting aside the contentions of heretics you should deign
to bestow a merciful attention on those who have fallen upon such evil days, and, after
restoring the liberty of the church of Alexandria to its pristine state, should set up
there a bishop who, upholding the decrees of the Synod of Chalcedon and agreeing with the
ordinances of the Gospel, shall be able to restore peace among that greatly disturbed
people. Those bishops and clergy also whom the unholy parricide has driven out of their
churches, should be recalled at your Majesty's command, all others also, whom a like
maliciousness has banished from their dwellings, being restored to their former estate, to
the end that we may have due cause fully and perfectly to rejoice in the grace of God and
your faith without any further noise of strife. For it any one is so forgetful of the
Christian hope and his own salvation as to venture by any dispute to assail the
Evangelical and Apostolical decrease of the holy Synod of Chalcedon, thus overthrowing the
most sacred Council of Nicaea also, him with all heretics who have held blasphemous and
abominable views on the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ we condemn by a like anathema
and equal curse, so that, without refusing the remedy of repentance to those who make full
and legitimate atonement, the sentence of the Synod, which is based on truth, may rest
upon those who still resist. Dated 17th of August, in the consulship of Leo and Majorian
Augusti (458).

LETTER 165: TO LEO AUGUSTUS

[This letter, which is sometimes called the Second Tome, contains the detailed statement
of the catholic doctrine of the Incarnation, which Leo had promised the Emperor in Letter
CLVI. It consists of 9 chapters, but, as chaps. iii. to viii. and parts of ii. and ix. are
almost identical in language with Letter CXXIV. already given in full, I have not thought
it necessary to reproduce the letter here. At the end a long series of quotations from
Hilary, Ambrose and other Fathers bearing upon the doctrine are also added, but these also
are dispensed with in accordance with our general practice, as we are now presenting Leo
and no one else to the reader.]

LETTER 166: TO NEO, BISHOP OF RAVENNA

1 Leo, the bishop, to Neo, bishop of Ravenna, greeting.

I. Those, Who Being Taken Captives in Infancy Cannot Remember or Bring Witnesses of
Theirbaptism, Must Not Be Denied This Sacrament.

2 We have indeed frequently, God's Spirit instructing us, steadied the brethren's hearts,
when they were tottering on the slippery places of doubtful questions, by formulating an
answer either out of the teaching of the Holy Scriptures or from the rules of the Fathers:
but lately in Synod a new and hitherto unheard-of subject of debate has arisen. For at the
instance of certain brethren we have discovered that some of the prisoners of war, on
their free return to their own homes, such to wit as went into captivity at an age when
they could have no sure knowledge of anything, crave the healing waters of baptism, but in
the ignorance of infancy cannot remember whether they have received the mystery and rites
of baptism, and that therefore in this uncertainty of defective recollection their souls
are brought into jeopardy, so long as under a show of caution they are denied a grace,
which is withheld, because it is thought to have been bestowed. And so, since certain
brethren in a not unjustifiable fear have hesitated to perform the rites of the Lord's
mystery, at a synodal meeting, as we have said, we have received a formal request for
advice on this matter, and in carefully discussing it, we have desired to weigh each
members opinion, and to handle it in so cautious a manner as to arrive with certainty at
the truth by making use of the knowledge of many.

3 Consequently the same things, which have come into our mind by the Divine inspiration,
have received the assent and confirmation of a large number of the brethren. And so we are
bound before all things to take heed test, while we hold fast to a certain show of
caution, we incur a loss of souls who are to be regenerated. For who is so given over to
suspicions as to decide that to be true which without any evidence he suspects by mere
guesswork? And so wherever the man himself who is anxious for the new birth does not
recollect his baptism, and no one can Bear witness about him being unaware of his
consecration to God, there is no possibility for sin to creep In, seeing that, so far as
their knowledge goes, neither the bestower or receiver of the consecration is guilty. We
know indeed that an unpardonable offence is committed, whenever in accordance with the
institutions of heretics which the holy Fathers have condemned, any one is forced twice to
enter the font, which is but once available for those who are to be reborn, in opposition
to the Apostle's teaching , which speaks to us of One Godhead in Trinity, one confession
in Faith, one sacrament in Baptism. But in this nothing similar is to be apprehended,
since, what is not known to have been done at all, cannot come under the charge of
repetition.

4 And so, whenever such a case occurs, first sift it by careful investigation, and spend a
considerable time, unless his last end is near, in inquiring whether there be absolutely
no one who by his testimony can assist the other's ignorance. And when it is established
that the man who requires the sacrament of baptism is prevented by a mere baseless
suspicion, let him come boldly to obtain the grace, of which he is conscious of no trace
in himself. Nor need we fear thus to open the door of salvation which has not been shown
to have been entered before.

II. Baptism by Heretics Must Not Be Invalidated by Second Baptism.

5 But if it is established that a man has been baptized by heretics, on him the mystery of
regeneration must in no wise be repeated, but only that conferred which was wanting
before, so that he may obtain the power of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the Bishop's
hands . This decision, beloved brother, we wish to be brought to the knowledge of you all
generally, to the end that God's mercy may not be refused to those who desire to be saved
through undue timidity. Dated the 24th of Oct., in the consulship of Ms Majorian Augustus
(458).

LETTER 167

1 Leo, the bishop, to Rusticus, bishop of Gallia Narbonensis.

I. He Exhorts Him to Act with Moderation Towards Two Bishops Who Have Offended Him.

1 Your letter, brother. which Hermes your archdeacon brought, I have gladly received; the
number of different matters it contains makes it indeed lengthy, but not so tedious to me
on a patient perusal that any point should be passed over, amid the cares that press upon
me from all sides. And hence having grasped the gist of your allegation and reviewed what
took place at the inquiry of the bishops and leading men , we gather that Sabinian and
Leo, presbyters, lacked confidence in your action, and that they have no longer any just
cause for complaint, seeing that of their own accord they withdrew from the discussion
that had been begun. What form or what measure of justice you ought to mete out to them I
leave to your own discretion advising you, however, with the exhortation of love that to
the healing of the sick you ought to apply spiritual medicine, and that remembering the
Scripture which says "be not over just ," you should act with mildness towards these who
in zeal for chastity seem to have exceeded the limits of vengeance, lest the devil, who
deceived the adulterers, should triumph over the avengers of the adultery.

II. He Expostulates with Him for Wishing to Give Up His Office, Which Would Imply Distrust
of God's Promises.

1 But I am surprised, beloved, that you are so disturbed by opposition in consequence of
offences, from whatever cause arising, as to say you would rather be relieved of the
labours of your bishopric, and live in quietness and ease than continue in the office
committed to you. But since the Lord says, "blessed is he who shall persevere unto the end
," whence shall come this blessed perseverance, except from the strength of patience? For
as the Apostle proclaims, "All who would live godly in Christ shall suffer persecution .
And it is not only to be reckoned persecution, when sword or fire or other active means
are used against the Christian religion; for the direst persecution is often inflicted by
nonconformity of practice and persistent disobedience and the barbs of ill-natured
tongues: and since all the members of the Church are always liable to these attacks, and
no portion of the faithful are free from temptation, so that a life neither of ease nor of
labour is devoid of danger, who shall guide the ship amidst the waves of the sea. if the
helmsman quit his post? Who shall guard the sheep from the treachery of wolves, if the
shepherd himself be not on the watch? Who, in fine, shall resist the thieves and robbers.
if love of quietude draw away the watchman that is set to keep the outlook from the
strictness of his watch? One must abide, therefore, in the office committed to him and in
the task undertaken.

2 Justice must be stedfastly upheld and mercy lovingly extended. Not men, but their sins
must be hated . The proud must be rebuked, the weak must be borne with; and those sins
which require severer chastisement must be dealt with in the spirit not of vindictiveness
but of desire to heal. And if a fiercer storm of tribulation fall upon us, let us not be
terror-stricken as if we had to overcome the disaster in our own strength, since both our
Counsel and our Strength is Christ, and through Him we can do all things, without Him
nothing, Who, to confirm the preachers of the Gospel and the ministers of the mysteries,
says, "Lo, I am with you all the days even to the consummation of the age . And again He
says, "these things I have spoken unto you that in me ye may have peace. In this world ye
shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, because I have overcome the world . The
promises, which are as plain as they can be, we ought not to let any causes of offence to
weaken, lest we should seem ungrateful to God for making us His chosen vessels, since His
assistance is powerful as His promises are true.

III. Many of the Questions Raised Could Be More Easily Settled in a Personal Interview
Than on Paper.

1 On those points of inquiry, beloved, which your archdeacon has brought me separately
written out, it would be easier to arrive at conclusions on each point face to face, if
you could grant us the advantage of your presence. For since some questions seem to exceed
the limits of ordinary diligence, I perceive that they are better suited to conversation
than to writing: for as there are certain things which can in no wise be controverted, so
there are many things which require to be modified either by considerations of age or by
the necessities of the case; always provided that we remember in things which are doubtful
or obscure, that must be followed which is found to be neither contrary to the commands of
the Gospel nor opposed to the decrees of the holy Fathers.

Question I. Concerning a Presbyter or Deacon Who Falsely Claims to Be a Bishop, and Those
Whom They Have Ordained.

1 Reply. No consideration permits men to be reckoned among bishops who have not been
elected by the clergy, demanded by the laity, and consecrated by the bishops of the
province with the assent of the metropolitan . And hence, since the question often arises
concerning advancement unduly obtained, who need doubt that that can in no wise be which
is not shown to have been conferred on them, And if any clerics have been ordained by such
false bishops in those churches which have bishops of their own, and their ordination took
place with the consent and approval of the proper bishops, it may be held valid on
condition that they continue in the same churches. Otherwise it must be held void, not
being connected with any place nor resting on any authority.

Question II. Concerning a Presbyter or Deacon, Who on His Crime Being Known Asks for
Public Penance, Whether It is to Be Granted Hint by Laying on of Hands?

1 Reply. It is contrary to the custom of the Church that they who have been dedicated to
the dignity of the presbyterate or the rank of the diaconate, should receive the remedy of
penitence by laying on of hands for any crime; which doubtless descends from the Apostles'
tradition, according to what is written, "If a priest shall have sinned, who shall pray
for him ?" And hence such men when they have lapsed in order to obtain God's mercy must
seek private retirement, where their atonement may be profitable as well as adequate.

Question III. Concerning Those Who Minister at the Altar and Have Wives, Whether They May
Lawfully Cohabit with Them?

1 Reply. The law of continence is the same for the ministers of the altar as for bishops
and priests, who when they were laymen or readers, could lawfully marry and have
offspring. But when they reached to the said ranks, what was before lawful ceased to be
so. And hence, in order that their wedlock may become spiritual instead of carnal, it
behaves them not to put away their wives but to "have them as though they had them not ,"
whereby both the affection of their wives may be retained and the marriage functions
cease.

Question IV. Concerning a Presbyter or Deacon Who Has Given His Unmarried Daughter in
Marriage to a Man Who Already Had a Woman Joined to Him, by Whom He Had Also Had Children.

1 Reply. Not every woman that is joined to a man is his wife, even as every son is not his
father's heir. But the marriage bond is legitimate between the freeborn and between
equals: this was laid down by the Lord long before the Roman law had its beginning. And so
a wife is different from a concubine, even as a bondwoman from a freewoman. For which
reason also the Apostle in order to show the difference of these persons quotes from
Genesis, where it is said to Abraham, "Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of
the bondwoman shall not be heir with my son Isaac ." And hence, since the marriage tie was
from the beginning so constituted as apart from the joining of the sexes to symbolize the
mystic union of Christ and His Church, it is undoubted that that woman has no part in
matrimony, in whose case it is shown that the mystery of marriage has not taken place.
Accordingly a clergyman of any rank who has given his daughter in marriage to a man that
has a concubine, must not be considered to have given her to a married man, unless
perchance the other woman should appear to have become free, to have been legitimately
dowered and to have been honoured by public nuptials.

Question V. Concerning Young Women Who Have Married Men that Have Concubines.

1 Reply. Those who are joined to husbands by their fathers' will are tree from blame, if
the women whom their husbands had were not in wedlock.

Question VI. Concerning Those Who Leave the Women by Whom They Have Children and Take
Wives.

1 Reply. Seeing that the wife is different from the concubine, to turn a bondwoman from
one's couch and take a wife whose free birth is assured, is not bigamy but an honourable
proceeding.

Question VII. Concerning Those Who in Sickness Accept Terms of Penitence, and When They
Have Recovered, Refuse to Keep Them.

1 Reply. Such men's neglect is to be blamed but not finally to be abandoned, in order that
they may be incited by frequent exhortations to carry out faithfully what under stress of
need they asked for. For no one is to be despaired of so long as he remain in this body,
because sometimes what the diffidence of age puts off is accomplished by maturer counsels.

Question VIII. Concerning Those Who Their Deathbed Promise Repentance and Die Before
Receiving Communion.

1 Reply. Their cause is reserved for the judgment of God, in Whose hand it was that their
death was put off until the very time of communion. But we cannot be in communion with
those, when dead, with whom when alive we were not in communion. Question IX. Concerning
Those Who Under Pressure of Great Pain Ask for Penance to Be Granted Them, and When the
Presbyter Has Come to Give What They Seek, If the Pain Has Abated Somewhat, Make Excuses
and Refuse to Accept What is Offered. Reply. This tergiversation cannot proceed from
contempt of the remedy but from fear of falling into worse sin. Hence the penance which is
put off, when it is more earnestly sought must not be denied in order that the wounded
soul may in whatever way attain to the healing of absolution.

Question X. Concerning Those Who Have Professed Repentance, If They Begin to Go to Law in
the Forum.

1 Reply. To demand just debts is indeed one thing and to think nothing of one's own
property from the perfection of love is another. But one who craves pardon for unlawful
doings ought to abstain even from many things that are lawful, as says the Apostle, "all
things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient ." Hence, if the penitent has a
matter which perchance he ought not to neglect, it is better for him to have recourse to
the judgment of the Church than of the forum.

Question XI. Concerning Those Who During or After Penance Transact Business.

1 Reply. The nature of their gains either excuses or condemns the trafficker, because
there is an honourable and a base kind of profit. Notwithstanding it is more expedient for
the penitent to suffer loss than to be involved in the risks of trafficking, because it is
hard for sin not to come into transactions between buyer and seller.

Question XII. Concerning Those Who Return to Military Service After Doing Penance.

1 Reply. It is altogether contrary to the rules of the Church to return to military
service in the world after doing penance, as the Apostle says, "No soldier in God's
service entangles himself in the affairs of the world ." Hence he is not free from the
snares of the devil who wishes to entangle himself in the military service of the world.

Question XIII. Concerning Those Who After Penance Take Wives or Join Themselves to
Concubines.

1 Reply. If a young man under fear of death or the dangers of captivity has done penance,
and afterwards fearing to fall into youthfulincontinence has chosen to marry a wife lest
he should be guilty of fornication, he seems to have comitted a pardonable act, so long as
he has known no woman whatever save his wife. Yet herein we lay down no rule, but express
an opinion as to what is less objectionable. For according to a true view of the matter
nothing better suits him who has done penance than continued chastity both of mind and
body.

Question XIV. Concerning Monks Who Take to Military Service or to Marriage.

1 Reply. The monk's vow being undertaken of his own will or wish cannot be given up
without sin. For that which a man has vowed to God, he ought also to pay. Hence he who
abandons his profession of a single life and betakes himself to military service or to
marriage, must make atonement and clear himself publicly, because although such service
may be innocent and the married state honourable, it is transgression to have forsaken the
higher choice.

Question XV. Concerning Young Women Who Have Worn the Religious Habit for Some Time But
Have Not Been Dedicated, If They Afterwards Marry.

1 Reply. Young women, who without being forced by their parents' command but of their own
free-will have taken the vow and habit of virginity, if afterwards they choose wedlock,
act wrongly, even though they have not re- ceived dedication: of which they would
doubtless not have been defrauded, if they had abided by their vow.

Question XVI. Concerning Those Who Have Been Left as Infants by Christian Parents, If No
Proof of Their Baptism Can Be Found Whether They Ought to Be Baptized?

1 Reply. If no proof exist among their kinsfolk and relations, nor among the clergy or
neighbours whereby those, about whom the question is raised, may be proved to have been
baptized, steps must be taken for their regeneration: lest they evidently perish; for in
their case reason does not allow that what is not shown to have been done should seem to
be repeated. Question XVII. Concerning Those Who Have Been Captured by the Enemy and are
Not Aware Whether They Have Been Baptized But Know, They Were Several Times Taken to
Church by Their Parents, Whether They Can or Ought to Be Baptized When They Come Back to
Roman Territory ? Reply. Those who can remember that they used to go to church with their
parents can remember whether they received what used to be given to their parents . But if
this also has escaped their memory, it seems that that must be bestowed on them which is
not known to have been bestowed because there can be no presumptuous rashness where the
most loyal carefulness has been exercised.

Question XVIII. Concerning Those Who Have Come from Africa or Mauretania and Know Not in
What Sect They Were Baptized, What Ought to Be Done in Their Case ?

1 Reply. These persons are not doubtful of their baptism, but profess ignorance as to the
faith of those who baptized them: and hence since they have received the form of baptism
in some way or other, they are not to be baptized but are to be united to the catholics by
imposition of hands, after the invocation of the Holy Spirit's power, which they could not
receive from heretics. Question XIX. Concerning Those Who After Being Baptized in Infancy
Were Captured by the Gentiles, and Lived with Them After the Manner of the Gentiles, When
They Come Back to Roman Territory as Still Young Men, If They Seek Communion, What Shall
Be Done? Reply. If they have only lived with Gentiles and eaten sacrificial food, they can
be purged by fasting and laying on of hands, in order that for the future abstaining from
things offered to idols, they may be partakers of Christ's mysteries. But if they have
either worshipped idols or been polluted with manslaughter or fornication, they must not
be admitted to communion, except by public penance.

LETTER 168: TO ALL THE BISHOPS OF CAMPANIA, SAMNIUM AND PICENUM

(Rebuking them first for performing baptisms without due preparation or sufficient cause
on ordinary saints'-days (Easter and Whitsuntide being the only recognized times), and
secondly for requiring from penitents that a list of their offences should be read out
publicly, a practice which is in many ways objectionable.)

LETTER 169

1 Leo, the bishop, to Leo Augustus.

I. He Heartily Thanks the Emperor Far What He Has Done, and Asks Him to Complete the Work
in Any Way He Can.

1 If we should seek to reward your Majesty's glorious resolution in defence of the Faith
with all the praise that the greatness of the issue demands, we should be found unequal to
the task of giving thanks and celebrating the joy of the universal Church with our feeble
tongue. But His worthier recompense awaits your acts and deserts, in whose cause you have
shown so excellent a zeal, and are now triumphing gloriously over the attainment of the
wished-for end. Your clemency must know therefore that all the churches of God join in
praising you and rejoicing that the unholy parricide has been cast off from the neck of
the Alexandrine church, and that God's people, on whom the abominable robber has been so
great a burden, restored to the ancient liberty of the Faith, can now be recalled into the
way of salvation by the preaching of faithful priests, when it sees the whole hotbed of
pestilence done away with in the person of the originator himself. Now therefore, because
you have accomplished this by firm resolution and stedfast will, complete your tale of
work for the Faith by passing such decrees as shall be well-pleasing to God in favour of
this city's catholic ruler , who is tainted by no trace of the heresy now so often
condemned: lest, perchance, the wound apparently healed but still lurking beneath. the
scar should grow, and the Christian laity; which by your public action has been freed from
the perversity of heretics, should again fall a prey to deadly poison.

II. Good Works as Well as Integrity of Faith is Required in a Priest.

1 But you see, venerable Emperor, and clearly understand, that in the person, whose
excommunication is contemplated, it is not only the integrity of his faith that must be
considered; for even, if that could be purged by any punishments and confessions, and
completely restored by any conditions, yet the wicked and bloody deeds that have been
committed can never be done away by the protestations of plausible words: because in God's
pontiff, and particularly in the priest of so great a church, the sound of the tongue and
the utterance of the lips is not enough, and nothing is of avail, if God makes
proclamation with His voice and the mind is convicted of blasphemy. For of such the Holy
Ghost speaks by the Apostle, "having an appearance of godliness, but denying the power
thereof," and again elsewhere, "they profess that they know God, but in deeds they deny
Him ." And hence, since in every member of the Church both the integrity of the true Faith
and abundance of good works is looked for, how much more ought both these things to
predominate in the chief pontiff, because the one without the other cannot be in union
with the Body of Christ.

III. Timothy's Request Far Indulgence on the Scare of Orthodoxy Must Not Be Allowed.

1 Nor need we now state all that makes Timothy accursed, since what has been done through
him and on his account, has abundantly and conspicuously come to the knowledge of the
whole world, and whatever has been perpetrated by an unruly mob against justice, all rests
on his head, whose wishes were served by its mad hands. And hence, even if in his
profession of faith he neglects nothing, and deceives us in nothing, it best consorts with
your glory absolutely to exclude him from this design of his , because in the bishop of so
great a city the universal Church ought to rejoice with holy exultation, so that the true
peace of the Lord may be glorified not only by the preaching of the Faith, but also by the
example of men's conduct. Dated 17th of June, in the consulship of Magnus and Apollonius
(460). (By the hand of Philoxenus agens in rebus .)

LETTER 170: TO GENNADIUS, BISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE

(Complaining of Timothy Aelurus having been allowed to come to Constantinople, and saying
that there is no hope of his restitution.)

LETTER 171: TO TIMOTHY, BISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA

1 Leo, the bishop, to Timothy, catholic bishop of the church of Alexandria.

I. He Congratulates Him on His Election, and Bids Him Win Back Wanderers to the Fold.

2 It is dearly apparent from the brightness of the sentiment quoted by the Apostle, that
"all things work together for good to them that love God ," and by the dispensation of
God's pity, where adversities are received, there also prosperity is given. This the
experience of the Alexandrine church shows, in which the moderation and long suffering of
the humble has laid up for themselves great store in return for their patience: because
"the Lord is nigh them that are of a contrite heart, and shall save those that are humble
in spirit ," our noble Prince's faith being glorified in all things, through whom "the
right-hand of the Lord hath done great acts ," in preventing the abomination of antichrist
any longer occupying the throne of the blessed Fathers; whose blasphemy has hurt no one
more than himself, because although he has induced some to be partners of his guilt, yet
he has inexpiably stained himself with blood. And hence concerning that which under the
direction of Faith your election, brother, by the clergy, and the laity, and all the
faithful, has brought about, I assure you that the whole of the Lord's Church rejoices
with me, and it is my strong desire that the Divine pity will in its loving-kindness
confirm this joy with manifold signs of grace, your own devotion ministering thereto in
all things, so that you may sedulously win over, through the Church's prayers, those also
who have hitherto resisted the Truth, to reconciliation with God, and, as a zealous ruler,
bring them into union with the mystic body of the catholic Faith, whose entirety admits of
no division, imitating that true and gentle Shepherd, who laid down His life for His
sheep, and, when one sheep wandered, drove it not back with the lash, but carried it back
to the fold on His own shoulders.

II. Let Him Be Watchful Against Heresy and Send Frequent Reports to Rome.

3 Take heed, then, dearly beloved brother, lest any trace of either Nestorius' or
Eutyches' error be found in God's people: because "no one can lay any foundation except
that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus ;" who would not have reconciled the whole world
to God the Father, had He not by the regeneration of Faith adopted us all in the reality
of our flesh . Whenever, therefore, opportunities arise which you can use for writing,
brother, even as you necessarily and in accordance with custom have done in sending a
report of your ordination to us by our sons, Daniel the presbyter and Timothy the deacon,
so continue to act at all times and send us, who will be anxious for them, as frequent
accounts as possible of the progress of peace, in order that by regular intercourse we may
feel that "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Ghost, which is
given unto us ." Dated the 18th of August, in the consulship of Magnus and Apollonius
(460).

LETTER 172: TO THE PRESBYTERS AND DEACONS OF THE CHURCH OF ALEXANDRIA

(Inviting them to aid in confirming the peace of the Church, and in winning those who had
given way to heresy.)

LETTER 173: TO CERTAIN EGYPTIAN BISHOPS

1 (Congratulating them on the election of Timothy, and begging them to assist in
maintaining unity and bringing back wanderers to the fold.)

Letter XLto the Bishops of the Province of Arles in Gaul

1 To his well-beloved brethren Constantinus Audentius, Rusticus, Auspicius, Nicetas,
Nectarius, Florus, Asclepius, Justus, Augustalis, Ynantius, and Chrysaphius , Leo the
pope. He approves of their having unanimously elected Ravennius, Bishop of Arles. We have
just and reasonable reason for rejoicing, when we learn that the Lord's priests have done
what is agreeable both to the rules of the Father's canons and to the Apostles'
institutions. For the whole body of the Church must needs increase with a healthy growth,
if the governing members excel in the strength of their authority, and in peaceful
management. Accordingly, we ratify with our sanction your good deed, brethren, in
unanimously, on the death of Hilary of holy memory, consecrating our brother Ravennius, a
man well approved by us, in the city of Aries, in accordance with the wishes of the
clergy, the leading citizens, and the laity. Because a peace-making and harmonious
election, where neither personal merits nor the good will of the congregation are wanting,
is we believe the expression not only of man's choice, but of God's inspiration. So dearly
beloved brethren, let the said priest use God's gift, and understand what self-devotion is
expected of him, that by diligently and prudently carrying out the office entrusted to
him, he may prove himself equal to your testimony, and fully worthy of our favour. God
keep you safe, beloved brethren. Dated 22 August in the consulship of Asturius and
Protogenes (449).


THE CONFESSION AND THE LETTER TO COROTICUS
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THE CONFESSION AND THE LETTER TO COROTICUS Patrick of Ireland

c. AD 385–461

Patrick’s own two surviving writings, in Newport White’s English translation from the
Latin: the Confession, in which he tells of his captivity in Ireland, his escape and his
call back to the Irish, and the Letter to the soldiers of Coroticus, a British chieftain
whose men had killed and enslaved newly baptized Irish Christians. The numbered sections
are those of the standard text.

THE CONFESSION

1. I, Patrick the sinner, am the most illiterate and the least of all the faithful, and
contemptible in the eyes of very many. My father was Calpurnius, a deacon, one of the sons
of Potitus, a presbyter, who belonged to the village of Banavem Taberniae. Now he had a
small farm hard by, where I was taken captive. I was then about sixteen years of age. I
knew not the true God; and I went into captivity to Ireland with many thousands of
persons, according to our deserts, because we departed away from God, and kept not his
commandments, and were not obedient to our priests, who used to admonish us for our
salvation. And the Lord poured upon us the fury of his anger, and scattered us amongst
many heathen, even unto the ends of the earth, where now my littleness may be seen amongst
men of another nation.

2. And there the Lord opened the understanding of my unbelief that, even though late, I
might call my faults to remembrance, and that I might turn with all my heart to the Lord
my God, who regarded my low estate, and pitied the youth of my ignorance, and kept me
before I knew him, and before I had discernment or could distinguish between good and
evil, and protected me and comforted me as a father does his son. 3. Wherefore then I
cannot keep silence—nor would it be fitting—concerning such great benefits and such great
grace as the Lord hath vouchsafed to bestow on me in the land of my captivity; because
this is what we can render unto him, namely, that after we have been chastened, and have
come to the knowledge of God, we shall exalt and praise his wondrous works before every
nation which is under the whole heaven.

4. Because there is no other God, nor was there ever any in times past, nor shall there be
hereafter, except God the Father unbegotten, without beginning, from whom all things take
their beginning, holding all things [i. e., Almighty], as we say, and his Son Jesus
Christ, whom we affirm verily to have always existed with the Father before the creation
of the world, with the Father after the manner of a spiritual existence, begotten
ineffably before the beginning of anything. And by him were made things visible and
invisible. He was made man; and having overcome death, he was received up into heaven to
the Father. And he gave to him all power above every name of things in heaven and things
in earth and things under the earth; and let every tongue confess to him that Jesus Christ
is Lord and God in whom we believe. And we look for his coming soon to be; he the Judge of
the quick and the dead, who will render to every man according to his deeds. And he shed
on us abundantly the Holy Ghost, the gift and earnest of immortality, who makes those who
believe and obey to become children of God the Father and joint heirs with Christ, whom we
confess and adore as one God in the Trinity of the Holy Name.

5. For he himself hath said through the prophet, Call upon me in the day of trouble; I
will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. And again he saith, It is honourable to
reveal and confess the works of God. 6. Nevertheless, although I am faulty in many things,
I wish my brethen and kinsfolk to know what manner of man I am, and that they may be able
to understand the desire of my soul. 7. I am not ignorant of the testimony of my Lord, who
witnesseth in the Psalm, Thou shalt destroy them that speak a lie. And again he saith, The
mouth that belieth killeth the soul. And the same Lord saith in the Gospel, The idle word
that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgement. 8.
Wherefore then I ought exceedingly, with fear and trembling, to dread this sentence in
that day when no one will be able to absent himself or hide, but when all of us, without
exception, shall have to give account of even the smallest sins before the judgement seat
of the Lord Christ.

9. On this account I had long since thought of writing; but I hesitated until now; for I
feared lest I should fall under the censure of men's tongues, and because I have not
studied as have others, who in the most approved fashion have drunk in both law and the
Holy Scriptures alike, and have never changed their speech from their infancy, but rather
have been always rendering it more perfect. For my speech and language is translated into
a tongue not my own, as can be easily proved from the savour of my writing, in what
fashion I have been taught and am learned in speech; for, saith the wise man, By the
tongue will be discovered understanding and knowledge and the teaching of truth. 10. But
what avails an excuse, no matter how true, especially when accompanied by presumption?
since now I myself, in mine old age, earnestly desire that which in youth I did not
acquire; because my sins prevented me from mastering what I had read through before. But
who gives me credence even if I should repeat the statement that I made at the outset?

When a youth, nay, almost a boy, I went into captivity in language [as well as in person]
before I knew what I should earnestly desire, or what I ought to shun. And so to-day I
blush and am exceedingly afraid to lay bare my lack of education; because I am unable to
make my meaning plain in a few words to the learned; for as the Spirit yearns, the [human]
disposition displays the souls of men and their understandings. 11. But if I had had
[only] the same privileges as others, nevertheless I would not keep silence on account of
the reward. And if perchance it seems to not a few that I am thrusting myself forward in
this matter with my want of knowledge and my slow tongue, yet it is written, The tongue of
the stammerers shall quickly learn to speak peace. How much rather should we earnestly
desire so to do, who are, he saith, the epistle of Christ for salvation unto the ends of
the earth, although not a learned one, yet ministered most powerfully, written in your
hearts, not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. And again the Spirit
witnesseth, And husbandry [lit. rusticity] was ordained by the Most High.

12. Whence I who was at first illiterate, an exile, unlearned verily, who know not how to
provide for the future—but this I do know most surely, that before I was afflicted I was
like a stone lying in the deep mire; and he that is mighty came, and in his mercy lifted
me up, and verily raised me aloft and placed me on the top of the wall. And therefore I
ought to cry aloud that I may also render somewhat to the Lord for his benefits which are
so great both here and in eternity, the value of which the mind of men cannot estimate.
13. Wherefore then be ye astonied, ye that fear God, both small and great, and ye clever
sirs, ye rhetoricians, hear therefore and search it out. Who was it that called up me,
fool though I be, out of the midst of those who seem to be wise and skilled in the law,
and powerful in word and in everything? And me, moreover, the abhorred of this world, did
he inspire beyond others—if such I were—only that with reverence and godly fear and
unblameably I should faithfully be of service to the nation to whom the love of Christ
conveyed me, and presented me, as long as I live, if I should be worthy; in fine, that I
should with humility and in truth diligently do them service.

14. And so it is proper that according to the rule of faith in the Trinity, I should
define doctrine, and make known the gift of God and everlasting consolation, without being
held back by danger, and spread everywhere the name of God without fear, confidently; so
that even after my decease I may leave a legacy to my brethren and sons whom I baptized in
the Lord, many thousands of persons. 15. And I was not worthy, nor such an one, as that
the Lord should grant this to his poor servant, after calamities and such great
difficulties, after a life of slavery, after many years; that he should bestow on me so
great grace towards that nation, a thing that formerly, in my youth, I never hoped for nor
thought of. 16. Now, after I came to Ireland, tending flocks was my daily occupation; and
constantly I used to pray in the day time. Love of God and the fear of him increased more
and more, and faith grew, and the spirit was moved, so that in one day [I would say] as
many as a hundred prayers, and at night nearly as many, so that I used to stay even in the
woods and on the mountain [to this end]. And before daybreak I used to be roused to
prayer, in snow, in frost, in rain; and I felt no hurt; nor was there any sluggishness in
me—as I now see, because then the spirit was fervent within me.

17. And there verily one night I heard in my sleep a voice saying to me, "Thou fastest to
good purpose, thou who art soon to go to thy fatherland." And again, after a very short
time, I heard the answer [of God] saying to me, "Lo, thy ship is ready." And it was not
near at hand, but was distant perhaps two hundred miles. And I had never been there, nor
did I know any one there. And thereupon I shortly took to flight, and left the man with
whom I had been for six years, and I came in the strength of God who prospered my way for
good, and I met with nothing to alarm me until I reached that ship. 18. And on the very
day that I arrived, the ship left its moorings, and I said that I had to [or must] sail
thence with them; but the shipmaster was annoyed, and replied roughly and angrily, "On no
account seek to go with us."

When I heard this, I parted from them to go to the hut where I was lodging, and on the way
I began to pray, and before I had finished my prayer, I heard one of them shouting loudly
after me, "Come quickly, for these men are calling thee;" and straightway I returned to
them. And they began to say to me, "Come, for we receive thee in good faith; make friends
with us in any way thou desirest." And so on that day I refused to be intimate with them
[lit. suck their breasts], because of the fear of God; but nevertheless I hoped that some
of them would come into the faith of Jesus Christ, for they were heathen; and on this
account I continued with them: and forthwith we set sail. 19. And after three days we
reached land, and journeyed for twenty-eight days through a desert; and food failed them,
and hunger overcame them. And one day the shipmaster began to say to me, "How is this, O
Christian? thou sayest that thy God is great and almighty; wherefore then canst thou not
pray for us, for we are in danger of starvation? Hardly shall we ever see a human being
again."

Then said I plainly to them, "Turn in good faith and with all your heart to the Lord my
God, to whom nothing is impossible, that this day he may send you food in your journey
until ye be satisfied, for he has abundance everywhere." And, by the help of God, so it
came to pass. Lo, a herd of swine appeared in the way before our eyes, and they killed
many of them; and in that place they remained two nights; and they were well refreshed,
and their dogs were sated, for many of them had fainted and were left half dead by the
way. And after this they rendered hearty thanks to God, and I became honourable in their
eyes; and from that day on they had food in abundance. Moreover, they found wild honey,
and gave me a piece of it. And one of them said, "This is offered in sacrifice." Thanks be
to God, I tasted none of it.

20. Now on that same night, when I was sleeping, Satan assailed me mightily, in such sort
as I shall remember as long as I am in this body. And he fell upon me as it were a huge
rock, and I had no power over my limbs. But whence did it occur to me—to my ignorant
mind—to call upon Helias? And on this I saw the sun rise in the heaven, and while I was
shouting "Helias" with all my might, lo, the splendour of that sun fell upon me, and
straightway shook all weight from off me. And I believe that I was helped by Christ my
Lord, and that his Spirit was even then calling aloud on my behalf. And I trust that it
will be so in the day of my trouble, as he saith in the Gospel, In that day, the Lord
testifieth, it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.

21. And, again, after many years, I went into captivity once more. And so on that first
night I remained with them. Now I heard the answer of God saying to me, "For two months
thou shalt be with them." And so it came to pass. On the sixtieth night after, the Lord
delivered me out of their hands. 22. Moreover, he provided for us on our journey food and
fire and dry quarters every day, until on the fourteenth day we reached human habitations.
As I stated above, for twenty-eight days we journeyed through a desert; and on the night
on which we reached human habitations, we had in truth no food left. 23. And again, after
a few years, I was in Britain with my kindred, who received me as a son, and in good faith
besought me that at all events now, after the great tribulations which I had undergone, I
would not depart from them anywhither.

And there verily I saw in the night visions a man whose name was Victoricus coming as it
were from Ireland with countless letters. And he gave me one of them, and I read the
beginning of the letter, which was entitled, "The Voice of the Irish"; and while I was
reading aloud the beginning of the letter, I thought that at that very moment I heard the
voice of them who lived beside the Wood of Foclut which is nigh unto the western sea. And
thus they cried, as with one mouth, "We beseech thee, holy youth, to come and walk among
us once more." And I was exceedingly broken in heart, and could read no further. And so I
awoke. Thanks be to God, that after very many years the Lord granted to them according to
their cry. 24. And another night, whether within me or beside me, I cannot tell, God
knoweth, in most admirable words which I heard and could not understand, except that at
the end of the prayer he thus affirmed, "He who laid down his life for thee, he it is who
speaketh in thee." And so I awoke, rejoicing.

25. And another time I saw him praying within me, and I was as it were within my body; and
I heard [One praying] over me, that is, over the inner man; and there he was praying
mightily with groanings. And meanwhile I was astonied, and was marvelling and thinking who
it could be that was praying within me; but at the end of the prayer he affirmed that he
was the Spirit. And so I awoke, and I remembered how the Apostle saith, The Spirit helpeth
the infirmities of our prayer, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but
the Spirit himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered,
which cannot be expressed in words. And again, The Lord our Advocate maketh intercession
for us. 26. And when I was assailed by not a few of my elders, who came and [urged] my
sins against my laborious episcopate—certainly on that day I was sore thrust at that I
might fall both here and in eternity. But the Lord graciously spared the stranger and
sojourner for his name's sake; and he helped me exceedingly when I was thus trampled on,
so that I did not come badly into disgrace and reproach. I pray God that it may not be
laid to their charge as sin.

27. After the lapse of thirty years they found, as an occasion against me, a matter which
I had confessed before I was a deacon. Because of anxiety, with sorrowful mind, I
disclosed to my dearest friend things that I had done in my youth one day, nay, in one
hour, because I had not yet overcome. I cannot tell, God knoweth, if I was then fifteen
years old; and I did not believe in the living God, nor had I since my infancy; but I
remained in death and in unbelief until I had been chastened exceedingly, and humbled in
truth by hunger and nakedness, and that daily. 28. Contrariwise, I did not proceed to
Ireland of my own accord until I was nearly worn out. But this was rather well for me,
because thus I was amended by the Lord. And he fitted me, so that I should to-day be
something which was once far from me, that I should care for, and be busy about, the
salvation of others, whereas then I did not even think about myself.

29. And so on that day on which I was rejected by the aforesaid persons whom I have
mentioned, in that night I saw in the night visions:—There was a writing void of honour
over against my face. And meanwhile I heard the answer of God saying to me, "We have seen
with anger the face of the person designated (the name being expressed)." Nor did he say
thus, "Thou hast seen with anger," but, "We have seen with anger," as if in that matter he
had joined himself [with me]. As he said, He that toucheth you is as he that toucheth the
apple of mine eye. 30. Therefore I thank him who hath enabled me in all things, because he
did not hinder me from the journey on which I had resolved, and from my labour which I had
learnt from Christ my Lord; but rather I felt in myself no little virtue proceeding from
him, and my faith has been approved in the sight of God and of men.

31. Wherefore then I say boldly that my conscience does not blame me either here or
hereafter. God is my witness that I have not lied in the matters that I have stated to
you. 32. But rather I am grieved for my dearest friend that we should have merited to hear
such an answer as that; a man to whom I had even entrusted my soul! And I ascertained from
not a few of the brethren before that contention—it was at a time when I was not present,
nor was I in Britain, nor will the story originate with me—that he too had fought for me
in my absence. Even he himself had said to me with his own lips, "Lo, thou art to be
raised to the rank of bishop;" of which I was not worthy. But how did it occur to him
afterwards to put me to shame publicly before every one, good and bad, in respect of an
[office] which before that he had of his own accord and gladly conceded [to me], and the
Lord too, who is greater than all?

33. I have said enough. Nevertheless I ought not to hide the gift of God which he bestowed
upon us in the land of my captivity; because then I earnestly sought him, and there I
found him, and he kept me from all iniquities—this is my belief—because of his indwelling
Spirit who hath worked in me until this day. Boldly again [am I speaking]. But God knoweth
if man had said this to me—perchance I would have held my peace for the love of Christ.
34. Hence therefore I render unwearied thanks to my God who kept me faithful in the day of
my temptation, so that to-day I can confidently offer to him a sacrifice, as a living
victim, my soul to Christ my Lord who saved me out of all my troubles, so that I may say,
Who am I, O Lord, or what is my calling, that thou hast worked together with me with such
divine power? so that to-day among the heathen I should steadfastly exult, and magnify thy
name wherever I may be; and that not only in prosperity, but also in troubles, so that
whatever may happen to me, whether good or bad, I ought to receive it with an equal mind,
and ever render thanks to God who shewed me that I might trust him endlessly, as one that
cannot be doubted; and who heard me, so that I, ignorant as I am, and in the last days,
should be bold to undertake this work so holy and so wonderful; so that I might imitate in
some degree those of whom the Lord long ago foretold, when foreshewing that his Gospel
would be for a witness unto all nations before the end of the world. And accordingly, as
we see, this has been so fulfilled. Behold, we are witnesses that the Gospel has been
preached to the limit beyond which no man dwells.

35. Now it were a tedious task to declare particularly the whole of my toil, or even
partially [or, and in all its parts]. I shall briefly say in what manner the most
righteous God often delivered me from slavery and from twelve perils whereby my soul was
endangered, besides many plots and things which I am not able to express in words. Nor
shall I weary my readers. But I have as my voucher God who knoweth all things even before
they come to pass, as the answer of God frequently warned me, the poor, unlearned orphan.
36. Whence came to me this wisdom, which was not in me, I who neither knew the number of
my days, nor cared for God? Whence afterwards came to me that gift so great, so salutary,
the knowledge and love of God, but only that I might part with fatherland and kindred?

37. And many gifts were proffered me with weeping and tears. And I displeased them, and
also, against my wish, not a few of my elders; but, God being my guide, in no way did I
consent or yield to them. It was not any grace in me, but God who overcometh in me; and he
withstood them all, so that I came to the heathen Irish to preach the Gospel, and to
endure insults from unbelievers, so as to hear the reproach of my going abroad, and
[endure] many persecutions even unto bonds, and that I should give up my free condition
for the profit of others. And if I should be worthy, I am ready [to give] even my life for
his name's sake unhesitatingly and very gladly; and there I desire to spend it even unto
death, if the Lord would grant it to me. 38. Because I am a debtor exceedingly to God, who
granted me such great grace that many peoples through me should be regenerated to God and
afterwards confirmed, and that clergy should everywhere be ordained for them for a people
newly come to belief, which the Lord took from the ends of the earth, as he had in times
past promised through his prophets: The Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the
earth, and shall say, As our fathers have got for themselves false idols, and there is no
profit in them. And again, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou
shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.

39. And there I wish to wait for his promise who verily never disappoints. As he promises
in the Gospel, They shall come from the east and west and from the south and from the
north, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob; as we believe that believers
will come from all parts of the world. 40. For that reason therefore, we ought to fish
well and diligently, as the Lord forewarns and teaches, saying, Come ye after me, and I
will make you to become fishers of men. And again he saith through the prophets, Behold I
send fishers and many hunters, saith God, and so forth. Wherefore then, it was exceedingly
necessary that we should spread our nets so that a great multitude and a throng should be
taken for God, and that everywhere there should be clergy to baptize and exhort a people
poor and needy, as the Lord in the Gospel warns and teaches, saying, Go ye therefore now
and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and,
lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. And again he saith, Go ye
therefore into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And again, This
Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations:
and then shall the end come.

And in like manner the Lord, foreshewing by the prophet, saith, And it shall come to pass
in the last days, saith the Lord, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your
sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old
men shall dream dreams: and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those
days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. And Hosea saith, I will call them my people,
which were not my people; and her one that hath obtained mercy which had not obtained
mercy. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said, Ye are not my
people; there shall they be called the children of the living God. 41. Wherefore then in
Ireland they who never had the knowledge of God, but until now only worshipped idols and
abominations—how has there been lately prepared a people of the Lord, and they are called
children of God? Sons and daughters of Scottic chieftains are seen to become monks and
virgins of Christ.

42. In especial there was one blessed lady of Scottic birth, of noble rank, most
beautiful, grown up, whom I baptized; and after a few days she came to us for a certain
cause. She disclosed to us that she had been warned by an angel of God, and that he
counselled her to become a virgin of Christ, and live closer to God. Thanks be to God, six
days after, most admirably and eagerly she seized on that which all virgins of God do in
like manner; not with the consent of their fathers; but they endure persecution and lying
reproaches from their kindred; and nevertheless their number increases more and more—and
as for those of our race who are born there, we know not the number of them—besides widows
and continent persons. But the women who are kept in slavery suffer especially; they
constantly endure even unto terrors and threats. But the Lord gave grace to many of his
handmaidens, for although they are forbidden, they earnestly follow the example [set
them].

43. Wherefore then, even if I should wish to part with them, and thus proceeding to
Britain—and glad and ready I was to do so—as to my fatherland and kindred, and not that
only, but to go as far as Gaul in order to visit the brethren and to behold the face of
the saints of my Lord—God knoweth that I used to desire it exceedingly—yet I am bound in
the Spirit, who witnesseth to me that if I should do this, he would note me as guilty; and
I fear to lose the labour which I began; and yet not I, but Christ the Lord who commanded
me to come and be with them for the remainder of my life, if the Lord will, and if he
should keep me from every evil way, so that I may not sin in his sight. 44. Now I hope
that I ought to do this; but I do not trust myself as long as I am in the body of this
death, because he is strong who daily endeavours to turn me away from the faith, and from
that chastity of unfeigned religion which I have purposed to keep to the end of my life
for Christ my Lord. But the flesh, the enemy, is ever dragging us unto death, that is, to
enticements to do that which is forbidden. And I know in part wherein I have not led a
perfect life as have other believers; but I confess to my Lord, and I do not blush in his
presence, for I lie not:—From the time that I knew him, from my youth, there grew in me
the love of God and the fear of him; and unto this hour, the Lord being gracious to me, I
have kept the faith.

45. Let who will laugh and insult, I shall not be silent nor conceal the signs and wonders
which were shewn to me by the Lord many years before they came to pass; since he knoweth
all things even before the world began. 46. Wherefore then I ought without ceasing to
render thanks to God who oftentimes pardoned my folly and carelessness—and that not in one
place only—so that he be not exceedingly wroth with me, to whom I have been given as a
fellow-labourer; and yet I did not quickly yield in accordance with what had been shewn to
me, and as the Spirit brought to my remembrance. And the Lord shewed mercy upon me
thousands of times, because he saw in me that I was ready, but that I did not know through
these [revelations] what I should do about my position, because many were forbidding this
embassage. Moreover they used to talk amongst themselves behind my back and say, "Why does
this fellow thrust himself into danger amongst hostile people who know not God?" They did
not say this out of malice; but it did not seem meet in their eyes, on account of my
illiteracy, as I myself witness that I have understood. And I did not quickly recognize
the grace that was then in me. Now that seems meet in mine eyes which I ought to have done
before.

47. Now therefore, I have frankly disclosed to my brethren and fellow-servants who have
believed me, for what reason I told you before, and foretell you to strengthen and confirm
your faith. Would that you, too, would imitate greater things, and do things of more
consequence! This will be my glory, for a wise son is the glory of his father. 48. You
know, and God also, in what manner I have lived from my youth with you, in the faith of
truth and in sincerity of heart. Moreover, as regards those heathen amongst whom I dwell,
I have kept faith with them, and will keep it. God knoweth I have defrauded none of them,
nor do I think of doing it, for the sake of God and his Church, lest I should raise
persecution against them and all of us, and lest through me the name of the Lord should be
blasphemed; for it is written, Woe to the man through whom the name of the Lord is
blasphemed.

49. But though I be rude in all things, nevertheless I have endeavoured in some sort to
keep myself, both for the Christian brethren, and the virgins of Christ, and the devout
women who used of their own accord to present me with their little gifts, and would cast
of their ornaments upon the altar; and I returned them again to them. And they were
scandalized at my doing so. But I did it on account of the hope of immortality, so as to
keep myself warily in all things; for this reason, namely, that the heathen might receive
me and the ministry of my service on any grounds, and that I should not, even in the
smallest matter, give occasion to the unbelievers to defame or disparage. 50. Perchance
then, when I baptized so many thousands of men, I hoped from any one of them even as much
as the half of a scruple. Tell me and I shall restore it to you. Or when the Lord ordained
clergy everywhere by means of my mediocrity, and I imparted my service to them for
nothing, if I demanded from one of them even the price of my shoe; tell it against me and
I shall restore you more.

51. I spent for you that they might receive me; and both amongst you and wherever I
journeyed for your sake, through many perils, even to outlying regions beyond which no man
dwelt, and where never had any one come to baptize, or ordain clergy, or confirm the
people, I have, by the bounty of the Lord, initiated everything, carefully and very
gladly, for your salvation. 52. On occasion, I used to give presents to the kings, besides
the hire that I gave to their sons who accompany me; and nevertheless they seized me with
my companions. And on that day they most eagerly desired to kill me; but my time had not
yet come. And everything they found with us they plundered, and me myself they bound with
irons. And on the fourteenth day the Lord delivered me from their power; and whatever was
ours was restored to us for the sake of God and the near friends whom we had provided
beforehand.

53. Moreover, ye know by proof how much I paid to those who were judges throughout all the
districts which I more frequently visited; for I reckon that I distributed to them not
less than the price of fifteen men, so that ye might enjoy me, and I might ever enjoy you
in God. I do not regret it, nor is it enough for me. Still I spend and will spend more.
The Lord is mighty to grant to me afterwards to be myself spent for your souls. 54.
Behold, I call God for a record upon my soul that I lie not; nor would I write to you that
there may be an occasion for flattering words or covetousness, nor that I hope for honour
from any of you. Sufficient to me is the honour which is not seen as yet, but is believed
on in the heart. And faithful is he that promised; never does he lie.

55. But I see that already in this present world I am exalted above measure by the Lord.
And I was not worthy nor such a one as that he should grant this to me; since I know most
surely that poverty and affliction become me better than delights and riches. But Christ
the Lord, too, was poor for our sakes. I indeed am wretched and unfortunate; and though I
should wish for wealth, now I have it not; nor do I judge mine own self; for daily I
expect either slaughter, or to be defrauded, or reduced to slavery, or an unfair attack of
some kind. But none of these things move me, on account of the promises of heaven, because
I have cast myself into the hands of God Almighty, for he rules everywhere, as saith the
prophet, Cast thy care upon God, and he shall sustain thee.

56. Behold now I commit the keeping of my soul to my most faithful God, for whom I am an
ambassador in my ignoble state, only because he accepteth no man's person, and chose me
for this duty that I should be one of his least ministers. 57. Wherefore then, I shall
render unto him for all his benefits towards me. But what shall I say, or what shall I
promise to my Lord? For I am only worth what he himself has given to me. But he trieth the
hearts and reins, [and knoweth] that enough, and more than enough, do I desire, and was
ready, that he should grant me to drink of his cup, as he granted to others also who love
him. 58. On which account let it not happen to me from my God that I should ever part with
his people which he purchased in the ends of the earth. I pray God to give me
perseverance, and to vouchsafe that I bear to him faithful witness, until my passing
hence, for the sake of my God.

59. And if I ever imitated anything good for the sake of my God whom I love, I pray him to
grant to me that I may shed my blood with those strangers and captives for his name's
sake, even though I should lack burial itself, or that in most wretched fashion my corpse
be divided limb by limb to dogs and wild beasts, or that the fowls of the air eat it. Most
surely I deem that if this should happen to me, I have gained my soul as well as my body,
because without any doubt we shall rise on that day in the clear shining of the sun, that
is, in the glory of Christ Jesus our Redeemer, as sons of the living God and joint heirs
with Christ, and conformed to his image that will be; since of him and through him and in
him we shall reign.

60. For that sun which we behold, by the command of God rises daily for our sakes; but it
will never reign, nor will its splendour endure; but all those who worship it
shall—wretched men—come badly to punishment. We, on the other hand, who believe in and
worship the true sun, Christ—who will never perish, nor will any one who doeth his will;
but he will abide for ever, as Christ will abide for ever, who reigneth with God the
Father Almighty and with the Holy Spirit, before the worlds, and now, and for ever and
ever. Amen. 61. Lo, again and again I shall briefly set forth the words of my confession:
I testify in truth and in exultation of heart before God and his holy angels, that I never
had any cause except the Gospel and his promises for ever returning to that nation from
whence previously I scarcely escaped.

62. But I pray those who believe in and fear God, whosoever shall have vouchsafed to look
upon and receive this writing which Patrick the sinner, unlearned verily, composed in
Ireland, that no one ever say it was my ignorance that did whatever trifling matter I did,
or proved, in accordance with God's good pleasure; but judge ye, and let it be most truly
believed that it was the gift of God. And this is my confession before I die.

THE LETTER TO COROTICUS

1. Patrick the sinner, unlearned verily:—I confess that I am a bishop, appointed by God,
in Ireland. Most surely I deem that from God I have received what I am. And so I dwell in
the midst of barbarians, a stranger and an exile for the love of God. He is witness if
this is so. Not that I desired to utter from my mouth anything so harshly and so roughly;
but I am compelled by zeal for God; and the truth of Christ roused me, for the love of my
nearest friends and sons, for whom I have not regarded my fatherland and kindred, yea nor
my life, even unto death, if I am worthy. I have vowed to my God to teach the heathen,
though I be despised by some. 2. With mine own hand have I written and composed these
words to be given and delivered and sent to the soldiers of Coroticus—I do not say to my
fellow-citizens or to the fellow-citizens of the holy Romans, but to those who are fellow-
citizens of demons because of their evil deeds. Behaving like enemies, they are dead while
they live, allies of the Scots and apostate Picts, as though wishing to gorge themselves
with blood, the blood of innocent Christians, whom I in countless numbers begot to God and
confirmed in Christ.

3. On the day following that on which the newly baptized, in white array, were anointed—it
was still fragrant on their foreheads while they were cruelly butchered and slaughtered
with the sword by the aforesaid persons—I sent a letter with a holy presbyter whom I had
taught from his infancy, clergy accompanying him, with a request that they would grant us
some of the booty and of the baptized captives whom they had taken. They jeered at them.
4. Therefore I know not what I should the rather mourn: whether those who are slain, or
those whom they captured, or those whom the devil grievously ensnared. In everlasting
punishment they will become slaves of hell along with him; for verily whosoever committeth
sin is a bondservant of sin, and is called a son of the devil. 5. On this account let
every man that feareth God learn that aliens they are from me and from Christ my God, for
whom I am an ambassador—patricide, fratricide as he is!—ravening wolves eating up the
people of the Lord as it were bread. As he saith, O Lord, the ungodly have destroyed thy
law, which in the last times he had excellently [and] kindly planted in Ireland; and it
was built by the favour of God..

6. I make no false claim. I have part with those whom he called and predestinated to
preach the Gospel amidst no small persecutions, even unto the ends of the earth, even
though the enemy casts an evil eye on me by means of the tyranny of Coroticus, who fears
neither God nor his priests whom he chose, and to whom he granted that highest, divine,
sublime power, that whom they should bind on earth should be bound in heaven. 7. Whence
therefore, ye holy and humble men of heart, I beseech you very much. It is not right to
pay court to such men, nor to take food or drink with them; nor ought one to accept their
almsgivings, until [doing] sore penance with shedding of tears, they make amends to God,
and liberate the servants of God and the baptized handmaidens of Christ, for whom he died
and was crucified.

8. The most High approveth not the gifts of the wicked. He that offereth sacrifice of the
goods of the poor is as one that sacrificeth the son in the presence of his father. The
riches, he saith, which he hath gathered unjustly will be vomited up from his belly. The
angel of death draggeth him away. He will be tormented by the fury of dragons. The viper's
tongue shall slay him; unquenchable fire devoureth him. And therefore, Woe to those who
fill themselves with what is not their own. And, What is a man profited, if he shall gain
the whole world, and lose his own soul? 9. It would be tedious to discuss or declare
[their deeds] one by one, [and] to gather from the whole law testimonies concerning such
greed. Avarice is a deadly sin; Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's goods; Thou shalt do
no murder; A murderer cannot be with Christ; He that hateth his brother is reckoned as a
murderer. And again, He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. How much more guilty
is he that hath stained his hands with the blood of the sons of God whom he recently
purchased in the ends of the earth through the exhortation of our littleness.

10. Was it without God, or according to the flesh, that I came to Ireland? Who compelled
me? I am bound in the Spirit not to see any one of my kinsfolk. Is it from me that springs
that godly compassion which I exercise towards that nation who once took me captive, and
made havoc of the menservants and maidservants of my father's house? I was freeborn
according to the flesh; I am born of a father who was a decurion; but I sold my noble rank
—I blush not to state it, nor am I sorry—for the profit of others; in short, I am a slave
in Christ to a foreign nation for the unspeakable glory of the eternal life which is in
Christ Jesus our Lord. 11. And if my own know me not, a prophet hath no honour in his own
country. Perchance we are not of the one fold, nor have one God and Father. As he saith,
He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
It is not meet that one pulleth down and another buildeth up. I seek not mine own.

It was not any grace in me, but God that put this earnest care into my heart, that I
should be one of the hunters or fishers whom long ago God foreshowed would come in the
last days. 12. Men look askance at me. What shall I do, O Lord? I am exceedingly despised.
Lo, around me are thy sheep torn to pieces and spoiled, and that too by the robbers
aforesaid, by the orders of Coroticus with hostile disposition. Far from the love of God
is he who betrays Christians into the hands of the Scots and Picts. Ravening wolves have
swallowed up the flock of the Lord which verily in Ireland was growing up excellently with
the greatest care. And the sons and daughters of Scottic chieftains who were monks and
virgins of Christ I cannot reckon. Wherefore, be not pleased with the wrong done to the
just; even unto hell it shall not please thee.

13. Which of the saints would not shudder to jest and feast with such men? They have
filled their houses with the spoil of dead Christians. They live by plunder. Wretched men,
they know not that it is poison; they offer the deadly food to their friends and sons;
just as Eve did not understand that verily it was death that she handed to her husband. So
are all they who do wrong; they work death as their eternal punishment. 14. This is the
custom of the Roman Gauls:—They send holy and fit men to the Franks and other heathen with
many thousands of solidi to redeem baptized captives. Thou rather slayest and sellest them
to a foreign nation which knows not God. Thou handest over the members of Christ as it
were to a brothel. What manner of hope in God hast thou, or has he who consents with thee,
or who holds converse with thee in words of flattery? God will judge; for it is written,
Not only those who commit evil, but those that consent with them shall be damned.

15. I know not what I should say, or what I should speak further about the departed ones
of the sons of God, whom the sword has touched roughly above measure. For it is written,
Weep with them that weep, and again, If one member suffer, let all the members suffer with
it. On this account the Church bewails and laments her sons and daughters whom the sword
has not as yet slain, but who are banished and carried off to distant lands where sin
openly, grievously, and shamelessly abounds. There freemen are put up for sale, Christians
are reduced to slavery, and, worst of all, to most degraded, most vile and apostate Picts.
16. Therefore in sadness and grief shall I cry aloud: O most lovely and beloved brethen,
and sons whom I begot in Christ—I cannot reckon them—what shall I do for you? I am not
worthy to come to the aid of either God or men. The wickedness of the wicked hath
prevailed against us. We are become as it were strangers. Perchance they do not believe
that we receive one baptism, and that we have one God and Father. It is in their eyes a
disgraceful thing that we were born in Ireland. As he saith, Have ye not one God? Why do
ye, each one, forsake his neighbour?

17. Therefore, I grieve for you, I grieve, O ye most dear to me. But again, I rejoice
within myself. I have not laboured for nought, and my going abroad was not in vain. And
there happened a crime so horrid and unspeakable! Thanks be to God, it was as baptized
believers that ye departed from the world to Paradise. I can see you. Ye have begun to
remove to where there shall be no night nor sorrow nor death any more; but ye shall leap
like calves loosened from their bands, and ye shall tread down the wicked, and they shall
be ashes under your feet. 18. Ye therefore shall reign with apostles and prophets and
martyrs. Ye shall take everlasting kingdoms, as he himself witnesseth, saying, They shall
come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the
kingdom of heaven. Without are dogs and sorcerers and murderers; and liars and false
swearers shall have their part in the lake of everlasting fire Not without just cause the
apostle saith, Where the righteous shall scarcely be saved, where shall the sinner and the
ungodly transgressor of the law recognize himself?

19. Wherefore then, where shall Coroticus with his accursed followers, rebels against
Christ, where shall they see themselves?—they who distribute baptized damsels as rewards,
and that for the sake of a wretched temporal kingdom, which verily passes away in a moment
like a cloud or smoke which is verily dispersed by the wind. So shall the deceitful wicked
perish at the presence of the Lord; but let the righteous feast in great constancy with
Christ. They shall judge nations, and rule over ungodly kings for ever and ever. Amen. 20.
I testify before God and his angels that it will be so, as he has signified to my
unskilfulness. The words are not mine, but of God and the apostles and prophets, who have
never lied, which I have set forth in Latin. He that believeth shall be saved, but he that
believeth not shall be damned. God hath spoken.

21. I beseech very much that whatever servant of God be ready, he be the bearer of this
letter, that on no account it be suppressed or concealed by any one, but much rather be
read in the presence of all the people, yea, in the presence of Coroticus himself; if so
be that God may inspire them to amend their lives to God some time; so that even though
late they may repent of their impious doings—murderer of the brethren of the Lord!—and may
liberate the baptized women captives whom they had taken, so that they may deserve to live
to God, and be made whole, both here and in eternity. Peace—to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost. Amen.


LIVES OF ILLUSTRIOUS MEN
========================

LIVES OF ILLUSTRIOUS MEN Gennadius of Massilia

d. c. AD 496

Priest of Marseilles who continued Jerome's lives of illustrious men.

INTRODUCTION

List of the Authors Whom Gennadius Added, After the Death of the Blessed Jerome

1. James; surnamed the Wise. 2. Julius, bishop of Rome. 3. Paulonas the presbyter. 4.
Vitellius the African. 5. Macrobius the presbyter. 6. Heliodorus the presbyter. 7.
Pachomius the presbyter-monk. 8. Theodorus, his successor. 9. Oresiesis the monk. 10.
Macarius the monk. 11. Evagrius the monk. 12. Theodorus the presbyter. 13. Prudentius. 14.
Audentius the bishop. 15. Commodianus. 16. Faustinus the presbyter. 17. Rufinus the
presbyter. 18. Tichonius the African. 19. Severus the presbyter. 20. Antiochus the bishop.
21. Severianus the bishop. 22. Nicaeas the bishop. 23. Olympius the bishop. 24.
Bachiarius. 25. Sabbatius the bishop. 26. Isaac. 27. Ursinus. 28. Another Macarius. 29.
Heliodorus the presbyter. 30. John, bishop of Constantinople. 31. John, another bishop.
32. Paulus the bishop. 33. Helvidius. 34. Theophilus the bishop. 35. Eusebius the bishop.
36. Vigilantius the presbyter. 37. Simplicianus the bishop. 38. Vigilius the bishop. 39.
Augustine the bishop. 40. Orosius the presbyter.

41. Maximus the bishop. 42. Petronius the bishop. 43. Pelagius the heresiarch. 44.
Innocentius the bishop. 45. Caelestius, follower of Pelagius. 46. Julianus the bishop. 47.
Lucianus the presbyter. 48. Avitus the presbyter. 49. Paulinus the bishop. 50. Eutropius
the presbyter. 51. Another Evagrius. 52. Atticus the holy bishop. 53. Vigilius the deacon.
54. Nestorius the heresiarch. 55. Caelestinus the bishop. 56. Theodorus the bishop. 57.
Fastidius the bishop. 58. Cyrillus the bishop. 59. Timotheus the bishop. 60. Leporius the
presbyter. 61. Victorinus the rhetorician. 62. Cassianus the deacon. 63. Philippus the
presbyter. 64. Eucherius the bishop. 65. Vincentius the Gaul. 66. Syagrius. 67. Isaac the
presbyter. 68. Salvianus the presbyter. 69. Paulinus the bishop. 70. Hilarius the bishop.
71. Leo the bishop. 72. Mochimus the presbyter. 73. Timotheus the bishop. 74. Asclepius
the bishop. 75. Peter the presbyter, 76. Paul the presbyter. 77. Pastor the bishop. 78.
Victor the bishop.

79. Voconius the bishop. 80. Musaeus the presbyter. 81. Vincentius the presbyter. 82.
Cyrus the monk. 83. Samuel the presbyter. 84. Claudianus the presbyter. 85. Prosper. 86.
Faustus the bishop. 87. Servus Dei the bishop. 88. Victorius. 89. Theodoritus the bishop.
90. Gennadius the bishop. 91. Theodulus the presbyter. 92. John the presbyter. 93.
Sidonius the bishop. 94. Gelasius the bishop. 95. Honoratus the bishop. 96. Cerealis the
bishop. 97. Eugenius the bishop. 98. Pomerius the bishop. 99. Gennadius.

CHAPTER I.

1 James, surnamed the Wise, was bishop of Nisibis the famous city of the Persians and one
of the confessors under Maximinus the persecutor. He was also one of those who, in the
Nicean council, by their opposition overthrew the Arian perversity of the Homoousia. That
the blessed Jerome mentions this man in his Chronicle as a man of great virtues and yet
does not place him in his catalogue of writers, will be easily explained if we note that
of the three or four Syrians whom he mentions he says that he read them translated into
the Greek. From this it is evident that, at that period, be did not know the Syriac
language or literature and therefore he did not know a writer who had not yet been
translated into another language. All his writings are contained in twenty-six books
namely On faith, Against all heresies, On charity towards all, On fasting, On prayer, On
particular affection towards our neighbor, On the resurrection, On the life after death,
On humility, On penitence, On satisfaction, On virginity, On the worth of the soul, On
circumcision, On the blessed grapes, On the saying in Isaiah, "the grape cluster shall not
be destroyed," That Christ is the son of God and consubstantial with the Father On
chastity, Against the Nations, On the construction of the tabernacle, On the conversation
of the nations, On the Persian kingdom, On the persecution of the Christians.

2 He composed also a Chronicle of little interest indeed to the Greeks, but of great
reliability in that it is constructed only on the authority of the Divine Scriptures. It
shuts the mouths of those who, on some daring guess, idly philosophize concerning the
advent of Antichrist, or of our Lord. This man died in the time of Constantius and
according to the direction of his father Constantine was buried within the walls of
Nisibis, for the protection evidently of the city, and it turned out as Constantine had
expected. For many years after, Julian having entered Nisibis and grudging either the
glory of him who was buried there or the faith of Constantine, whose family he persecuted
on account of this envy, ordered the remains of the saint to be carried out of the city,
and a few months later, as a matter succeeded Julian, gave over to the barbarians the city
which, with the adjoining territory, is subject unto the Persian rule until this day.

CHAPTER II.

Julius, bishop of Rome, wrote to one Dionysius a single epistle On the incarnation of Our
Lord, which at that time was regarded as useful against those who asserted that, as by
incarnation there were two persons in Christ, so also there were two natures, but now this
too is regarded as injurious for it nourishes the Eutychian and Timothean heresies.

CHAPTER III.

Paulonas, the Presbyter, disciple of the blessed deacon Ephraim a man of very energetic
character and learned in the holy scriptures was distinguished among the doctors of the
church while his master was still living and especially as an extempora-neous orator.
After the death of his master, overcome by love of reputation, separating himself from the
church, he wrote many things opposed to the faith. The blessed Ephraim when on the point
of death is reported to have said to him as he stood by his side-See to it, Paulonas that
you do not yield yourself to your own ideas, but when you shall think that you understand
God wholly, believe that you have not known,-for he felt beforehand from the studies or
the words of Paulonus, that he was investigating new things, and was stretching out his
mind to the illimitable, whence also he frequently called him the new Bardesanes.

CHAPTER IV.

Vitellius the African, defending the Donatist schism wrote Why the servants of God are
hated by the world, in which, except in speaking of us as persecutors, he published
excellent doctrine. He wrote also Against the nations and against us as traditors of the
Holy Scriptures in times of persecution, and wrote much On ecclesiastical procedure. He
was distinguished during the reign of Constans son of the emperor Constantinus.

CHAPTER V.

Macrobius the Presbyter was likewise as I learned from the writings of Optatus, afterwards
secretly bishop of the Donatians in Rome. He wrote, having been up to this time a
presbyter in the church of God, a work To confessors and virgins, a work of ethics indeed,
but of Very necessary doctrine as well and fortified with sentiments well fitted for the
preservation of chastity. He was distinguished first in our party in Africa and afterwards
in his own, that is among the Donatians or Montanists at Rome.

CHAPTER VI.

Heliodorus the Presbyter wrote a book entitled An introductory treatise on the nature of
things, in which he showed that the beginning of things was one, that nothing was coaeval
with God, that God was not the creator of evil, but in such wise the creator of all good,
that matter, which is used for evil, was created by God after evil was discovered, and
that nothing material whatever can be regarded as established in any other way than by
God, and that there was no other creator than God, who, when by His foreknowledge He knew
that nature was to be changed, warned of punishment.

CHAPTER VII.

Pachomius the monk, a man endowed with apostolic grace both in teaching and in performing
miracles, and founder of the Egyptian monasteries, wrote an Order of discipline suited to
both classes of monks, which he received by angelic dictation. He wrote letters also to
the associated bishops of his district, in an alphabet concealed by mystic sacraments so
as to surpass customary human knowledge and only manifest to those of special grace or
desert, that is To the Abbot Cornelius one, To the Abbot Syrus one, and one To the heads
of all monasteries exhorting that, gathered together to one very ancient monastery which
is called in the Egyptian language Bau, they should celebrate the day of the Passover
together as by everlasting law. He urged likewise in another letter that on the day of
remission, which is celebrated in the month of August, the chief bishops should be
gathered together to one place, and wrote one other letter to the brethren who had been
sent to work outside the monasteries.

CHAPTER VIII.

Theodorus, successor to the grace and the headship of the above mentioned Abbot Pachomius,
addressed to other monasteries letters written in the language of Holy Scripture, in which
nevertheless he frequently mentions his master and teacher Pachomius and sets forth his
doctrine and life as examples. This he had been taught he said by an Angel that he himself
might teach again. He likewise exhorts them to remain by the purpose of their heart and
desire, and to restore to harmony and unity those who, a dissension having arisen after
the death of the Abbot, had broken the unity by separating themselves from the
community.Three hortatory epistles of his are extant.

CHAPTER IX.

Oresiesis the monk, the colleague of both Pachomius and Theodorus, a man learned to
perfection in Scripture, composed a book seasoned with divine salt and formed of the
essentials of all monastic discipline and to speak moderately, in which almost the whole
Old and New Testament is found set forth in compact dissertations-all, at least, which
relates to the special needs of monks. This he gave to his brethren almost on the very day
of his death leaving, as it were, a legacy.

CHAPTER X.

Macarius, the Egyptian monk, distinguished for his miracles and virtues, wrote one letter
which was addressed to the younger men of his profession. In this he taught them that he
could serve God perfectly who, knowing the condition of his creation, should devote
himself to all labours, and by wrestling against every thing which is agreeable in this
life, and at the same time imploring the aid of God would attain also to natural purity
and obtain continence, as a well merited gift of nature.

CHAPTER XI.

Evagrius the monk, the intimate disciple of the above mentioned Macarius, educated in
sacred and profane literature and distinguished, whom the book which is called the Lives
of the fathers mentions as a most continent and erudite man, wrote many things of use to
monks among which are these: Suggestions against the eight principal sins. He was first to
mention oramong the first at least to teach these setting against them eight books taken
from the testimony of the Holy Scriptures only, after the example of our Lord, who always
met his tempter with quotations from Scripture, so that every suggestion, whether of the
devil or of depraved nature had a testimony against it. This work I have, under
instructions, translated into Latin translating with the same simplicity which I found in
the Greek. He composed also a book of One hundred sentiments for those living simply as
anchorites, arranged by chapters, and one of Fifty sentiments for the erudite and
studious, which I first translated into Latin. The former one, translated before, I
restored, partly by retranslating and partly by emendation, so as to represent the true
meaning of the author, because I saw that the translation was vitiated and confused time.
He composed also a doctrine of the common-life suited to Cenobites and Synodites, and to
the virgin consecrated to God, a little book suitable to her religion and sex. He
published also a few collections of opinions very obscure and, as he himself says of them,
only to be understood by the hearts of monks, and these likewise I published in Latin. He
lived to old age, mighty in signs and miracles.

CHAPTER XII.

Theodorus, presbyter of the church at Antioch, a cautious investigator and clever of
tongue, wrote against the Apollinarians and Anomians On the incarnation of the Lord,
fifteen books containing as many as fifteen thousand verses, in which he showed by the
clearest reasoning and by the testimony of Scripture that just as the Lord Jesus had a
plenitude of deity, so he had a plenitude of humanity. He taught also that man consists
only of two substances, soul and body and that sense and spirit are not different
substances, but inherent inborn faculties of the soul through which it is inspired and has
rationality and through which it makes the body capable of feeling. Moreover the
fourteenth book of this work treats wholly of the uncreated and alone incorporeal and
ruling nature of the holy Trinity and of the rationality of animals which he explains in a
devotional spirit, on the authority of Holy Scriptures. In the fifteenth volume he
confirms and fortifies the whole body of his work by citing the traditions of the fathers.

CHAPTER XIII.

Prudentius, a man well versed in secular literature, composed a Trocheum of selected
persons from the whole Old and New Testament. He wrote a commentary also, after the
fashion of the Greeks, On the six days of creation from creation of the world until the
creation of the first man and his fall. He wrote also short books which are entitled in
the Greek, Apotheosis, chomachia and Hamartigenia, that is On divinity, On spiritual
conflict, On the origin of sin. He wrote also In praise of martyrs, an invitation to
martyrdom in one book citing several as examples and another of Hymns, but specially
directed Against Symmachus who defended idolatry, from which we learn that Palatinus was a
soldier.

CHAPTER XIV.

Audentius, bishop of Spain, wrote a book against the Manicheans, Sabellians and Arians and
very particularly against the Photinians who are now called Bonosiacians. This book he
entitled On faith against heretics, and in it he showed the Son to have been coeternal
with the Father and that He did not receive the beginning of his deity from God the
Father, at the time when conceived by the act of God, he was born of the Virgin Mary his
mother in true humanity.

CHAPTER XV.

Commodianus, while he was engaged in secular literature read also our writings and,
finding opportunity, accepted the faith. Having become a Christian thus and wishing to
offer the fruit of his studies to Christ the author of his salvation, he wrote, in barely
tolerable semi-versified language, Against the pagans, and because he was very little
acquainted with our literature he was better able to overthrow their [doctrine] than to
establish ours. Whence also, contending against them concerning the divine
counterpromises, he discoursed in a sufficiently wretched and so to speak, gross fashion,
to their stupefaction and our despair. Following Tertullian, Lactantius and Papias as
authorities he adopted and inculcated in his students good ethical principles and
especially a voluntary love of poverty.

CHAPTER XVI.

Faustinus the presbyter wrote to Queen Flaccilla seven books Against the Arians and
Macedonians, arguing anti convicting them by the testimonies of the very Scriptures which
they used, in perverted meaning, for blasphemy. He wrote also a book which, together with
a certain presbyter named Marcellinus, he addressed to the emperors Valentinianus;
Theodosius anti Arcadius, in defence of their fellow Christians. From this it appears that
he acquiesced in the Luciferian schism, in that in this same book he blames Hilary of
Poitiers and Damasus, bishop of Rome, for giving ill-advised counsel to the church,
advising that the apostate bishops should be received into communion for the sake of
restoring the peace. For it was as displeasing to the Luciferians to receive the bishops
who in the Ariminian council had communed with Arius, as it was to the Novatians to
receive the penitent apostates.

CHAPTER XVII.

Rufinus, presbyter of the church at Aquileia, was not the least among the doctots of the
church and bad a fine talent for elegant translation from Greek into Latin. In this way he
opened to the Latin speaking church the greater part of the Greek literature; translating
the works of Basil of Caesarea in Cappadocia, Gregory Nazianzan, that most eloquent man,
the Recognitions of Clement of Rome, the Church history of Eusebius of Caesarea in
Palestine, the Sentences of Xystus, the Sentences of Evagrius and the work of Pamphilus
Martyr Against the mathematicians. Whatever among all these which are read by the Latins
have prefatory matter, have been translated by Rufinus, but those which are without
Prologue have been translated by some one else who did not choose to write a prologue. Not
all of Origen, however, is his work, for Jerome translated some which are identified by
his prologue. On his own account, the same Rufinus, ever through the grace of God
published an Exposition of the Apostles'creed so excellent that other expositions are
regarded as of no account in comparison. He also wrote in a threefold sense. that is, the
historical, moral and mystical sense, on Jacob's blessing on the patriarchs. He wrote also
many epistles exhorting to fear of God, among which those which he addressed to Proba are
preeminent. He added also a tenth and eleventh book to I the ecclesiastical history which
we have said was written by Eusebius and translated by him. Moreover be responded to a
detractor of his works, in two volumes, arguing and proving that he exercised his talent
with the aid of the Lord and in the sight of God, for the good of the church, while he, on
the other hand, incited by jealousy had taken to polemics.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Tichonius, an African by nationality was, it is said, sufficiently learned in sacred
literature, not wholly unacquainted with secular literature and zealous in ecclesiastical
affairs. He wrote books On internal war and Expositions of various causes in which for the
defence of his friends, he cites the ancient councils and from all of which he is
recognized to have been a Donatist. He composed also eight Rules for investigating and
ascertaining the meaning of the Scriptures, compressing them into one volume. He also
expounded the Apocalypse of John entire, regarding nothing in it in a carnal sense, but
all in a spiritual sense. In this exposition he maintained the angelical nature to be
corporeal, moreover he doubts that there will be a reign of the righteous on earth for a
thousand years after the resurrection, or that there will be two resurrections of the dead
in the flesh, one of the righteous and the other of the unrighteous, but maintains that
there will be one simultaneous resurrection of all, at which shall arise even the aborted
and the deformed lest any living human being, however deformed, should be lost. He makes
such distinction to be sure, between the two resurrections as to make the first, which he
calls the apocalypse of the righteous, only to take place in the growth of the church
where, justified by faith, they are raised from the dead bodies of their sins through
baptism to the service of eternal life. but the second, the general resurrection of all
men in the flesh. This man flourished at the same period with the above mentioned Rufinus
during the reign of Theodosius and his sons.

CHAPTER XIX.

Severus the presbyter, surnamed Sulpitius, of the province of Aquitania, a man
distinguished by his birth, by his excellent literary work, by his devotion to poverty and
by his humility, beloved also of the sainted men Martin bishop of Tours and Paulinus
Nolanus, wrote small books which are far from despicable. He wrote to his sister many
Letters exhorting to love of God and contempt of the world. These are well known. He wrote
two to the above mentioned Paulinus Nolanus and others to others, but because, in some,
faintly matters are included, they have not been collected for publication. He composed
also a Chronicle, and wrote also to the profit of many, a Life of the holy Martin, monk
and bishop, a man famous for signs and wonders and virtues. He also wrote a Conference
between Postumianus and Gallus, in which he himself acted as mediator and judge of the
debate. The subject matter was the manner of life of the oriental monks and of St.
Martin-a sort of dialogue in two divisions. In the first of these he mentions a decree of
the bishops at the synod of Alexandria in his own time to the effect that Origen is to be
read, though cautiously, by those who are wise, for the good that is in him, and is to be
rejected by the less able on account of the evil. In his old age, he was led astray by the
Pelagians, and recognizing the guilt of much speaking, kept silent until his death, in
order that by penitent silence he might atone for the sin which he had contracted by
speaking.

CHAPTER XX.

Antiochus the bishop, wrote one long a volume Against avarice and he composed a homily,
full of godly penitence and humility On the healing of the blind man whose sight was
restored by the Saviour. He died during the reign of the emperor Arcadius.

CHAPTER XXI.

Severianus, bishop of the church of Gab-ala, was learned in the Holy Scriptures and a
wonderful preacher of homilies. On this account he was frequently summoned by the bishop
John and the emperor Arcadius to preach a sermon at Constantinople. I have read his
Exposition of the epistle to the Galatians and a most attractive little work On baptism
and the feast of Epiphany. He died in the reign of Theodosius, his son by baptism.

CHAPTER XXII.

Niceas, bishop of the city of Romatia, composed, in simple and clear language, six books
of Instruction for neophites. The first of these contains, How candidates who seek to
obtain grace of baptism ought to act, the second, On the errors of relationship, in which
he relates that not far from his own time a certain Melodius, father of a family, on
account of his liberality and Garadius a peasant, on account of his bravery, were placed,
by the heathen, among the gods. A third book On faith in one sovereign, a fourth Against
genealogy, a fifth On the creed, a sixth On the sacrifice of the paschal lamb. He
addressed a work also To the fallen virgin, an incentive to amendment for all who have
fallen.

CHAPTER XXIII.

Olympius the bishop, a Spaniard by nationality, wrote a book of faith against those who
blame nature and not the will, showing that evil was introduced into nature not by
creation but by disobedience.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Bachiarius, a Christian philosopher, prompt and ready and minded to devote his time to
God, chose travel as a means of preserving the integrity of his purpose. He is said to
have published acceptable small works but I have only read one of them, a work On faith,
in which be justified himself to the chief priest of the city, defending himself against
those who complained and misrepresented his travel, and asserting that he undertook his
travel not through fear of men but for the sake of God, that going forth from his land and
kindred he might become a co-heir with Abraham the patriarch.

CHAPTER XXV.

Sabbatius, bishop of the Gallican province, at the request of a certain virgin, chaste and
devoted to Christ, Secunda by name, composed a book On faith against Marcion and
Valentinus his teacher, also against Eunomius and his Master Aëetius, showing, both by
reason and by testimony of the Scriptures, that the origin of the deity is one, that the
Author of his eternity and the Creator of the earth out of nothing, are one and the same,
and likewise concerning Christ, that he did not appear as man in a phantasm but had real
flesh through which eating, drinking, weary and weeping, suffering, dying, rising again he
was demonstrated to be man indeed. For Marcion and Valentinus had been opposed to these
opinions asserting that the origin of Deity is twofold and that Christ came in a phantasm.
To Aetius indeed and Eunomius his disciple, he showed that the Father and Son are not of
two natures and equal in divinity but of one essence and the one from the other, that is
the Son from the Father, the one coeternal with the other, which belief Aëtius and
Eunomius opposed.

CHAPTER XXVI.

Isaac wrote On the Holy Trinity and a book On the incarnation of the Lord, writing in a
very obscure style of argument and involved language, maintaining that three persons exist
in one Deity, in such wise that any thing may be peculiar to each which another does not
have, that is to say, that the Father has this peculiarity that He, himself without
source, is the source of others, that the Son has this peculiarity. that, begotten, He is
not posterior to the begetter, that the Holy Spirit has this peculiarity, that He is
neither made nor begotten but nevertheless is from another. Of the incarnation of the Lord
indeed, he writes that the person of the Son of God is believed to be one, while yet there
are two natures existing in him.

CHAPTER XXVII.

Ursinus the monk wrote against those who say that heretics should be rebaptized, teaching
that it is not legitimate nor honouring God, that those should be rebaptized who have been
baptized either in the name of Christ alone or in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit, though the formula has been used in a vitiated sense. He considers
that after the simple confession of the Holy Trinity and of Christ, the imposition of the
hands of the catholic priest is sufficient for salvation.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Macarius another monk, wrote at Rome books Against the mathematicians, in which labour he
sought the comfort of oriental writings.

CHAPTER XXIX.

Heliodorus, presbyter of Antioch, published an excellent volume gathered from Holy
Scriptures On Virginity.

CHAPTER XXX.

[John bishop of Constantinople, a man of marvelous knowledge and in sanctity of life, in
every respect worthy of imitation, wrote many and very useful works for all who are
hastening to divine things. Among them are the following On compunction of soul one book,
That no one is injured except by himself, an excellent volume In praise of the blessed
Paul the apostle, On the excesses and ill reputation of Eutropius a praetorian prefect and
many others, as I have said, which may be found by the industrious.]

CHAPTER XXXI.

Another John, bishop of Jerusalem, wrote a book against those who disparaged his studies,
in which he shows that he follows the genius of Origen not his creed.

CHAPTER XXXII.

Paul the bishop wrote a short work On penitence in which he lays down this law for
penitents; that they ought to repent for their sins in such manner that they be not beyond
measure overwhelmed with despairing sadness.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

Helvidius, a disciple of Auxentius and imitator of Symmachus, wrote, indeed, with zeal for
religion but not according to knowledge, a book, polished neither in language nor in
reasoning, a work in which he so attempted to twist the meaning of the Holy Scriptures to
his own perversity, as to venture to assert on their testimony that Joseph and Mary, after
the nativity of our Lord, had children who were called brothers of the Lord. In reply to
his perverseness Jerome, published a book against him, well filled with scripture proofs.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

Theophilus, bishop of the church of Alexandria, wrote one great volume Against Origen in
which he condemns pretty nearly all his sayings and himself likewise, at the same time
saying that he was not original in his views but derived them from the ancient fathers
especially from Heraclas, that he was deposed from the office of presbyter driven from the
church and compelled to fly from the city. He also wrote Against the Anthropomorphites,
heretics who say that God has the human form and members, confuting in a long discussion
and arguing by testimonies of Divine Scripture and convincing. He shows that, according to
the belief of the Fathers, God is to be thought of as incorporal, not formed with any
suggestion of members at all, and therefore there is nothing like Him among created things
in substance, nor has the incorruptibility nor unchangeableness nor incorporeality of his
nature been given to any one but that all intellectual natures are corporeal, all
corruptible, all mutable, that He alone should not be subject to corruptibility or
changeableness, who alone has immortality and life. Likewise the return of the paschal
feast which the great council at Nicea had found would take place after ninety years at
the same time, the same month and day adding some observations on the festival and
explanations he gave to the emperor Theodosius. I have read also three books On faith,
which bear his name but, as their language is not like his, I do not very much think they
are by him.

CHAPTER XXXV.

Eusebius wrote On the mystery of our Lord's cross and the faithfulness of the apostles,
and especially of Peter, gained by virtue of the cross.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

Vigilantius, a citizen of Gaul, had the church of Barcelona. He wrote also with some zeal
for religion but, overcome by the desire for human praise and presuming above his
strength, being a man of polished language but not practised in the meaning of Scriptures,
he expounded the vision of Daniel in a perverted sense and said other frivolous things
which are necessarily mentioned in a catalogue of heretics. [To him also the blessed
Jerome the presbyter responded.]

CHAPTER XXXVII.

Simplicianus, the bishop, exhorted Augustine then presbyter, in many letters, that he
should exercise his genius and take time for exposition of the Scriptures that, as it
were, a new Ambrosius, the task master of Origen might appear. Wherefore also he sent to
him many examinations of scriptures. There is also an epistle of his of Questions in which
he teaches by asking questions as if wishing to learn.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

Vigilius the bishop wrote to one Simplicianus a small book In praise of martyrs and an
epistle containing the acts of the martyrs in his time among the barbarians.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

Agustine, of Africa, bishop of Hipporegensis, a man renowned throughout the world for
learning both sacred and secular, unblemished in the faith, pure in life, wrote works so
many that they cannot all be gathered. For who is there that can boast himself of having
all his works, or who reads with such diligence as to read all he has written? As an old
man even, he published fifteen books On the Trinity which he had begun as a young man. In
which, as scripture says, brought into the chamber of the king and adorned with the
manifold garment of the wisdom of God, he exhibited a church not having spot or wrinkle or
any such thing. In his work On the incarnation of the Lord also he manifested a peculiar
piety. On the resurrection of the dead he wrote with equal sincerity, and left it to the
less able to raise doubts respecting abortions.

CHAPTER XL.

Orosius, a Spanish presbyter, a man most eloquent and learned in history, wrote eight
books against those enemies of the Christians who say that the decay of the Roman State
was caused by the Christian religion. In these rehearsing the calamities and miseries and
disturbances of wars, of pretty much the whole world from the creation he shows that the
Roman Empire owed to the Christian religion its undeserved continuance and the state of
peace which it enjoyed for the worship of God. In the first book he described the world
situated within the ever flowing stream of Oceanus and intersected by the Tanais, giving
the situations of places, the names, number and customs of nations, the characteristics of
various regions, the wars begun and the formation of empires sealed with the blood of
kinsmen. This is the Orosius who, sent by Augustine to Hieronymus to teach the nature of
the soul, returning, was the first to bring to the West relics of the blessed Stephen the
first martyr then recently found. He flourished almost at the end of the reign of the
emperor Honorius.

CHAPTER XLI.

Maximus, bishop of the church at Turin, a man fairly industrious in the study of the Holy
Scripture, and good at teaching the people extemporaneously, composed treatises In praise
of the apostles and John the Baptist, and a Homily on all the martyrs. Moreover he wrote
many acute comments on passages from the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. He wrote
also two treatises, On the life of Saint Eusebius, bishop ofVercelli, and confessor, and
On Saint Cyprian, and published a monograph On the grace of baptism. I have read his On
avarice, On hospitality, On the eclipse of the moon, On almsgiving, On the saying. in
Isaiah, Your winedealers mix wine with water, On Our Lord's Passion, A general treatise On
fasting by the servants of God, On the quadragesimal fast in particular, and That there
should be no jesting on fast day, On Judas, the betrayer, On Our Lord's cross, On His
sepulchre, On His resurrection, On the accusation and trial of Our Lord before Pontius
Pilate, On the Kalends of January, a homily On the day of Our Lord's Nativity, also
homilies On Epiphany, On the Passover, On Pentecost, many also, On having no fear of
carnal Foes, On giving thanks after meat, On the repentance of the Ninivites, and other
homilies of his, published on various occasions, whose names I do not remember. He died in
the reign of Honorius and Theodosius the younger.

CHAPTER XLII.

Petronius, bishop of Bologna in Italy a man of holy life and from his youth practised in
monastic studies, is reputed to have written the Lives of the Fathers, to wit of the
Egyptian monks, a work which the monks accept as the mirror and pattern of their
profession. I have read a treatise which bears his name On the ordination of bishops, a
work full of good reasoning and notable for its humility, but whose polished style shows
it not to have been his, but perhaps, as some say, the work of his father Petronius, a man
of great eloquence and learned in secular literature. This I think is to be accepted, for
the author of the work describes himself as a praetorian prefect. He died in the reign of
Theodosius and Valentinianus.

CHAPTER XLIII.

Pelagius the heresiarch, before he was proclaimed a heretic wrote works of practical value
for students: three books On belief in the Trinity, and one book of Selections from Holy
Scriptures bearing on the Christian life. This latter was preceded by tables of contents,
after the model of Saint Cyprian the martyr. After he was proclaimed heretic, however, he
wrote works bearing on his heresy.

CHAPTER XLIV.

Innocentius, bishop of Rome, wrote the decree which the Western churches passed against
the Pelagians and which his successor, Pope Zosimus, afterwards widely promulgated.

CHAPTER XLV.

Caelestius, before he joined Pelagius, while yet a very young man, wrote to his parents
three epistles On monastic life, written as short books, and containing moral maxims
suited to every one who is seeking God, containing no trace of the fault which afterwards
appeared but wholly devoted to the encouragement of virtue.

CHAPTER XLVI.

Julianus the bishop, a man of vigorous character, learned in the Divine Scriptures, and
proficient both in Greek and Latin, was, before he disclosed his participation in the
ungodliness of Pelagius, distinguished among the doctors of the church. But afterwards,
trying to defend the Pelagian heresy, he wrote four books, Against Augustine, the opponent
of Pelagius, and then again, eight books more. There is also a book containing a
discussion, where each defends his side. This Julianus, in time of famine and want,
attracting many through the alms which he gave, and the glamour of virtue, which they cast
around him, associated them with him in his heresy. He died during the reign of
Valentinianus, the son of Constantius.

CHAPTER XLVII.

Lucianus the presbyter, a holy man to whom, at the time when Honorius and Theodosius were
Emperors, God revealed the place of the sepulchre and the remains of Saint Stephen the
Protomartyr, wrote out that revelation in Greek, addressing it to all the churches.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

Avitus the presbyter, a Spaniard by race, translated the above mentioned work of the
presbyter Lucianus into Latin, and sent it with his letter annexed, by the hand of Orosius
the presbyter, to the Western churches.

CHAPTER XLIX.

Paulinus, bishop of Nola in Campania, composed many brief works in verse, also a
consolatory work to Celsus On the death of a christian and baptized child, a sort of
epitaph, well fortified with christian hope, also many Letters to Severus, and A panegric
in prose written before he became bishop, On victory over tyrants which was addressed to
Theadosius and maintained that victory lay rather in faith and prayer, than in arms. He
wrote also a Sacramentary and Hymnal. He also addressed many letters to his sister, On
contempt of the world, and published treatises of different sorts, on various occasions.
The most notable of all his minor works.. are the works On repentance, and A general
panegyric of all the martyrs. He lived in the reign of Honorius and Valentinianus, and was
distinguished, not only for erudition and holiness of life, but also for his ability to
cast out demons.

CHAPTER L.

Eutropius, the presbyter, wrote to two sisters, handmaids of Christ, who had been
disinherited by their parents on account of their devotion to chastity and their love for
religion, two Consolatory letters in the form of small books, written in polished and
clear language and fortified not only by argument, but also by testimonies from the
Scriptures.

CHAPTER LI.

Another Evagrius wrote a Discussion between Simon the Jew and Theophilus the Christian, a
work which is very well known.

CHAPTER LII.

Vigilius the deacon. composed ant of the traditions of the fathers a Rule for monks, which
is accustomed to be read in the monastery for the profit of the assembled monks. It is
written in condensed and clear language and covers the whole range of monastic duties.

CHAPTER LIII.

Atticus bishop of Constantinople, wrote to the princess daughters of the Emperor Arcadius,
On faith and virginity, a most excellent work, in which he attacks by anticipation the
Nestorian doctrine.

CHAPTER LIV.

Nestorius the heresiarch, was regarded, while presbyter of the church at Antioch, as a
remarkable extemporaneous teacher, and composed a great many treatises on various
Questions, into which already at that time he infused that subtle evil, which afterwards
became the poison of acknowledged impiety, veiled meanwhile by moral exhortation. But
afterwards, when commended by his eloquence and abstemiousness he had been made pontiff of
the church at Constantinople, showing openly what he had for a long while concealed, he
became a declared enemy of the church, and wrote a book On the incarnation of the Lord,
formed of sixty-two passages from Divine Scripture, used in a perverted meaning. What he
maintained in this book may be found in the catalogue of heretics.

CHAPTER LV.

Caelestinus, bishop of Rome, addressed a volume to the churches of the East and West,
giving an account of the decree of the synod against the above mentioned Nestorius and
maintaining that while there are two complete natures in Christ, the person of the Son of
God is to be regarded as single. The above mentioned Nestorius was shown to be opposed to
this view. Xystus likewise, the successor of Caelestinus, wrote on the same subject and to
the same Nestorius and the Eastern bishops, giving the views of the Western bishops
against his error.

CHAPTER LVI.

Theodotus, bishop of Ancyra in Galatia, while at Ephesus, wrote against Nestorius a work
of defence and refutation, written, to be sure, in dialectic style, but interwoven with
passages from the Holy Scriptures. His method was to make statements and then quote proof
texts from the Scriptures.

CHAPTER LVII.

Fastidius, bishop in Britain, wrote to one Fatalis, a book On the Christian life, and
another On preserving the estate of virginity, a work full of sound doctrine, and doing
honour to God.

CHAPTER LVIII.

Cyril, bishop of the church at Alexandria, published various treatises on various
Questions, and also composed many homilies, which are recommended for preaching by the
Greek bishops. Other books of his are; On the downfall of the synagogue, On faith against
the heretics, and a work directed especially against Nestorius and entitled, A Refutation,
in which all the the secrets of Nestorius are exposed and his published opinions are
refuted.

CHAPTER LIX.

Timotheus, the bishop composed a book On the nativity of Our Lord according to the flesh,
which is supposed to have been written at Epiphany.

CHAPTER LX.

Leporius, formerly monk afterwards presbyter, relying on purity, through his own free will
and unaided effort, instead of depending on the help of God, began to follow the Pelagian
doctrine. But having been admonished by the Gallican doctors, and corrected by Augustine
in Africa, he wrote a book containing his retraction, in which he both acknowledges his
error and returns thanks for his correction. At the same time in correction of his false
view of the incarnation of Christ, he presented the Catholic view, acknowledging the
single person of the Son of God, and the two natures existing in Christ in his substance.

CHAPTER LXI.

Victorus, a rhetorician of Marseilles, wrote to his son Etherius, a commentary On Genesis,
commenting, that is, from the beginning of the book to the death of the patriarch Abraham,
and published four books in verse, words which have a savour of piety indeed, but, in that
he was a man busied with secular literature and quite untrained in the Divine Scriptures,
they are of slight weight, so far as ideas are concerned. He died in the reign of
Theodosius and Valentinianus.

CHAPTER LXII.

1 Cassianus, Scythian by race, ordained deacon by bishop John the Great, at
Constantinople, and a presbyter at Marseilles, rounded two monasteries, that is to say one
for men and one for women, which are still standing. He wrote from experience, and in
forcible language, or to speak more clearly, with meaning back of his words, and action
back of his talk. He covered the whole field of practical directions, for monks of all
sorts, in the following works: On dress, also On the canon of prayers, and the Usage in
the saying of Psalms, (for these in the Egyptian monasteries, are said day and night),
three books. One of Institutes, eight books On the origin, nature and remedies for the
eight principal sins, a book on each sin. He also compiled Conferences with the Egyptian
fathers, as follows: 2 On the aim of a monk and his creed, On di scretion, On three
vocations to the service of God, On the warfare of the flesh against the spirit and the
spirit against the flesh, On the nature of all sins, On the slaughter of the saints, On
fickleness of mind, On principalities, On the nature of prayer, On the duration of prayer,
On perfection, On chastity, On the protection of God, On the knowledge of spiritual
things, On the Divine graces, On friendship, On whether to define or not to define, On
three ancient kinds of monks and a fourth recently arisen, On the object of cenobites and
hermits, On true satisfaction in repentance, On the remission of the Quinquagesimal fast,
On nocturnal illusions, On the saying of the apostles, "For the good which I would do. I
do not, but the evil which l would not, that l do," On mortification, and finally at the
request of Leo the archdeacon, afterwards bishop of Rome, he wrote seven books against
Nestorius, On the incarnation of the Lord, and writing this, made an end, both of writing
and living, at Marseilles, in the reign of Theodosius and Valentinianus.

CHAPTER LXIII.

Philip, the presbyter Jerome's best pupil, published a Commentary on Job, written in an
unaffected style, I have read his Familiar letters, exceedingly witty, exhorting the
endurance of poverty and sufferings. He died in the reign of Martianus and Avitus.

CHAPTER LXIV.

Eucherius, bishop of the church at Lyons, wrote to his relative Valerianus, On contempt
for the world and worldly philosophy, a single letter, written in a style which shows
sound learning and reasoning. He wrote also to his sons, Salonius and Veranius, afterward
bishops, a discussion On certain obscure passages of Holy Scriptures, and besides,
revising and condensing certain works of Saint Cassianus, he compressed them into one
volume, and wrote other works suited to ecclesiastical or monastic pursuits. He died in
the reign of Valentinianus and Martianus.

CHAPTER LXV.

Vincentius, the Gaul, presbyter in the Monastery on the Island of Lerins, a man learned in
the Holy Scriptures and very well informed in matters of ecclesiastical doctrine, composed
a powerful disputation, written in tolerably finished and clear language, which,
suppressing his name, he entitled Peregrinus against heretics. The greater part of the
second book of this work having been stolen, he composed a brief reproduction of the
substance of the original work, and published in one [book]. He died in the reign of
Theodosius and Valentinianus.

CHAPTER LXVI.

Syagrius wrote On faith, against the presumptuous words, which heretics assume for the
purpose of destroying or superseding the names of the Holy Trinity, for they say that the
Father ought not to be called Father, lest the name, Son should harmonize with that of
Father, but that he should be called the Unbegotten or the Imperishable and the Absolute,
in order that whatever may be distinct from Him in person, may also be separate in nature,
showing that the Father, who is unchangeable in nature may be called the Unbegotten,
though the Scripture may not call Him so, that the person of the Son is begotten from Him,
not made, and that the person of the Holy Spirit proceeds from Him not begotten, and not
made. Under the name of this Syagrius I found seven books, entitled On Faith and the rules
of Faith, but as they did not agree in style, I did not believe they were written by him.

CHAPTER LXVII.

Isaac, presbyter of the church at Antioch, whose many works cover a long period, wrote in
Syriac especially against the Nestorians and Eutychians. He lamented the downfall of
Antioch in an elegiac poem, taking up the same strain that Ephraim, the deacon, sounded on
the downfall of Nicomedia. He died during the reign of Leo and Majorianus.

CHAPTER LXVIII.

Salvianus, presbyter of Marseilles, well informed both in secular and in sacred
literature, and to speak without invidiousness, a master among bishops, wrote many things
in a scholastic and clear style, of which I have read the following: four books On the
Excellence of virginity, to Marcellus the presbyter, three books Against avarice, five
books On the present judgment, and one book On punishment according to desert, addressed
to Salonius the bishop, also one book of Commentary on the latter part of the book of
Ecclesiastes, addressed to Claudius bishop of Vienne, one book of Epistles. He also
composed one book in verse after the Greek fashion, a sort of Hexaemeron, covering the
period from the beginning of Genesis to the creation of man, also many Homilies delivered
to the bishops, and I am sure I do not know how many On the sacraments. He is still living
at a good old age.

CHAPTER LXIX.

Paulinus composed treatises On the beginning of the Quadragesimal, of which I have read
two, On the Passover Sabbath, On obedience, On penitence, On neophytes.

CHAPTER LXX.

Hilary, bishop of the church at Arles, a man learned in Holy Scriptures, was devoted to
poverty, and earnestly anxious to live in narrow circumstances, not only in religiousness
of mind, but also in labour of body. To secure this estate of poverty, this man of noble
race and very differently brought up, engaged in farming, though it was beyond his
strength, and yet did not neglect spiritual matters. He was an acceptable teacher also,
and without regard to persons administered correction to all. He published some few
things, brief, but showing immortal genius, and indicating an erudite mind, as well as
capacity for vigorous speech; among these that work which is of so great practical value
to many, his Life Saint Honoratus, his predecessor. He died during the reign of
Valentinianus and Martianus.

CHAPTER LXXI.

Leo, bishop of Rome, wrote a letter to Flavianus, bishop of the church at Constantinople,
against Eutyches the presbyter, who at that time, on account of his ambition for the
episcopate was trying to introduce novelties into the church. In this he advises
Flavianus, if Eutyches confesses his error and promises amendment, to receive him, but if
he should persist in the course he had entered on, that he should be condemned together
with his heresy. He likewise teaches in this epistle and confirms by divine testimony that
as the Lord Jesus Christ is to be considered the true son of the Divine Father, so
likewise he is to be considered true man with human nature, that is, that he derived a
body of flesh from the flesh of the virgin and not as Eutyches asserted, that he showed a
body from heaven. He died in the reign of Leo and Majorianus.

CHAPTER LXXII.

Mochimus, the Mesopotamian, a presbyter at Antioch, wrote an excellent book Against
Eutyches, and is said to be writing others, which I have not yet read.

CHAPTER LXXIII.

Timotheus, when Proterius had been put to death by the Alexandrians, in response to
popular clamour, willingly or unwillingly allowed himself to be made bishop by a single
bishop in the place of him who bad been put to death. And lest he, having been illegally
appointed, should be deservedly deposed at the will of the people who had hated Proterius,
he pronounced all the bishops of his vicinity to be Nestorians, and boldly presuming to
wash out the stain on his conscience by hardihood, wrote a very persuasive book to the
Emperor Leo, which he attempted to fortify by testimonies of the Fathers, used in a
perverted sense, so far as to show, for the sake of deceiving the emperor and establishing
his heresy, that Leo of Rome, pontiff of the city, and the synod of Chalcedon, and all the
Western bishops were fundamentally Nestorians. But by the grace of God, the enemy of the
church was refuted and overthrown at the Council of Chalcedon. He is said to be living in
exile, still an heresiarch, and it is most likely so. This book of his for learning's
sake, I translated by request of the brethren into Latin and prefixed a caveat.

CHAPTER LXXIV.

Asclepius, the African, bishop of a large see within the borders of Bagais, wrote against
the Arians, and is said to be now writing against the Donatists. He is famous for his
extemporaneous teaching.

CHAPTER LXXV.

Peter, presbyter of the church at Edessa, a famous preacher, wrote Treatises on various
subjects, and Hymns after the manner of Saint Ephrem, the deacon.

CHAPTER LXXVI.

Paul the presbyter, a Pannonian by nationality, as I learned from his own mouth, wrote On
preserving virginity, and contempt for the world, and the Ordering of life or the
correction of morals, written in a mediocre style, but flavoured with divine salt. The two
books were addressed to a certain noble virgin devoted to Christ, Constantia by name, and
in them he mentions Jovinian the heretic and preacher of voluptuousness and lusts, who was
so far removed from leading a continent and chaste life, that he belched forth his life in
the midst of luxurious banquets.

CHAPTER LXXVII.

Pastor the bishop composed a short work, written in the form of a creed, and containing
pretty much the whole round of Ecclesiastical doctrine in sentences. In this, among other
heresies which he anathematizes without giving the names of their authors, he condemns the
Priscillians and their author.

CHAPTER LXXVIII.

Victor, bishop of Cartenna in Mauritania, wrote one long book against the Arians, which he
sent to king Genseric by his followers, as I learned from the preface to the work, and a
work On the repentance of the publican, in which he drew up a rule of life for the
penitent, according to the authority of Scriptures. He also wrote a consolatory work to
one Basilius, On the death of a son, filled with resurrection hope and good counsel. He
also composed many Homilies, which have been arranged as continuous works and are as I
know, made use of by brethren anxious for their own salvation.

CHAPTER LXXIX.

Voconius, bishop of Castellanum in Mauritania, wrote Against the enemies of the church,
Jews, Arians, and other heretics. He composed also an excellent work On the Sacraments.

CHAPTER LXXX.

Musaeus, presbyter of the church at Marseilles, a man learned in Divine Scriptures and
most accurate in their interpretation, as well as master of an excellent scholastic style,
on the request of Saint Venerius the bishop, selected from Holy Scriptures passages suited
to the various feast days of the year, also passages from the Psalms for responses suited
to the season, and the passages for reading. The readers in the church found this work of
the greatest value, in that it saved them trouble and anxiety in the selection of
passages, and was useful for the instruction of the people as well as for the dignity of
the service. He also addressed to Saint Eustathius the bishop, successor to the above
mentioned man of God, an excellent and sizable volume, a Sacramentary, divided into
various sections, according to the various offices and seasons, Readings and Psalms, both
for reading and chanting, but also filled throughout with petitions to the Lord, and
thanksgiving for his benefits. By this work we know him to have been a man of strong
intelligence and chaste eloquence. He is said to have also delivered homilies, which are,
as I know, valued by pious men, but which I have not read. He died in the reign of Leo and
Majorianus.

CHAPTER LXXXI.

Vincentius the presbyter, a native of Gaul, practised in Divine Scripture and possessed of
a style polished by speaking and by wide reading, wrote a Commentary On the Psalms. A part
of this work, he read in my hearing, to a man of God, at Cannatae, promising at the same
time, that if the Lord should spare his life and strength, he would treat the whole
Psalter in the same way.

CHAPTER LXXXII.

Cyrus, an Alexandrian by race, and a physician by profession, at first a philosopher then
a monk, an expert speaker, at first wrote elegantly and powerfully against Nestorius, but
afterwards, since he began to inveigh against him too intemperately and dealt in syllogism
rather than Scripture, he began to foster the Timothean doctrine. Finally he declined to
accept the decree of the council of Chalcedon, and did not think the doctrine that after
the incarnation the Son of God comprehended two natures, was to be acquiesced in.

CHAPTER LXXXIII.

Samuel, presbyter of the church at Edessa, is said to have written many things in Syriac
against the enemies of the church, especially against the Nestorians, the Eutychians and
the Timotheans, new heresies all, but differing from one another. On this account he
frequently speaks of the triple beast, while he briefly refutes by the opinion of the
church, and the authority of Holy Scriptures, showing to the Nestorians, that the Son was
God in man, not simply man born of a Virgin, to the Eutychians, that he had true human
flesh, taken on by God, and not merely a body made of thick air, or shown from Heaven; to
the Timotheans, that the Word was made flesh in such wise, that the Word remains Word in
substance, and, human nature remaining human nature, one person of the Son of God is
produced by union, not by mingling. He is said to be still living at Constantinople, for
at the beginning of the reign of Anthemius, I knew his writings, and knew that he was in
the land of the living.

CHAPTER LXXXIV.

Claudianus, presbyter of the church at Vienne, a master speaker, and shrewd in argument,
composed three books, On the condition and substance of the soul, in which he discusses
how far anything is incorporeal excepting God. [He wrote also some other things, among
which are, A Hymn on Our Lord's Passion, which begins "Pange lingua gloriosi." He was
moreover brother of Mamertus, bishop of Vienne.] (See note.)

CHAPTER LXXXV.

Prosper of Aquitania, a man scholastic in style and vigorous in statement, is said to have
composed many works, of which I have read a Chronicle, which bears his name, and which
extends from the creation of the first man, according to Divine Scripture, until the death
of the Emperor Valentinianus and the taking of Rome by Genseric king of the Vandals. I
regard as his also an anonymous book against certain works of Cassianus, which the church
of God finds salutary, but which he brands as injurious, and in fact, some of the opinions
of Cassian and Prosper on the grace of God and on free will are at variance with one
another. Epistles of Pope Leo against Eutyches, On the true incarnation of Christ, sent to
various persons, are also thought to have been dictated by him.

CHAPTER LXXXVI.

1 Faustus, first abbot of the monastery at Lerins, and then made bishop of Riez in Gaul, a
man studious of the Divine Scriptures, taking his text from the historic creed of the
church, composed a book On the Holy Spirit, in which he shows from the belief of the
fathers, that the Holy Spirit is consubstantial and coeternal with the Father and the Son,
the fulness of the Trinity and therefore God. He published also an excellent work, On the
grace of God, through which we are saved, in which he teaches that the grace of God always
invites, precedes and helps our will, and whatever gain that freedom of will may attain
for its pious effect, is not its own desert, but the gift of grace, I have read also a
little book of his Against the Arians and Macedonians, in which he posits a coössential
Trinity, and another against those who say that there is anything incorporeal in created
things, in which he maintains from the testimony of Scriptures, and by quotations from the
fathers, that nothing is to be regarded as incorporeal but God. There is also a letter of
his, written in the form of a little book, and addressed to a certain deacon, named
Graecus, who, leaving the Catholic faith, had gone over to the Nestorian impiety.

2 In this epistle he admonishes him to believe that the holy Virgin Mary did not bring
forth a mere human being, who afterwards should receive divinity, but true God in true
man. There are still other works by him, but as I have not read, I do not care to mention
them. This excellent doctor is enthusiastically believed in and admired. He wrote
afterwards also to Felix, the Praetonian prefect, and a man of Patrician rank, son of
Magnus the consul, a very pious letter, exhorting to the fear of God, a work well fitted
to induce one to repent with his whole heart.

CHAPTER LXXXVII.

Servus Dei the bishop, wrote against those who say that Christ while living in this world
did not see the Father with his eyes of flesh-But after his resurrection from the dead and
his ascension into heaven when he had been translated into the glory of God the Father as
in reward so to speak to him for his abnegation and a compensation for his martyrdom. In
this work he showed both from his own argument and from the testimony of Sacred Scriptures
that the Lord Jesus from his conception by the Holy Spirit and his birth of the Virgin
through which true God in true man himself also man made God was born, always beheld with
his eyes of flesh both the Father and the Holy Spirit through the special and complete
union of God and man.

CHAPTER LXXXVIII.

Victorius the Aquitanian, a careful reckoner, on invitation of St. Hilary bishop of Rome,
composed a Paschal cycle with the most careful investigation following his four
predecessors, that is Hippolytus, Eusebius, Theophilus and Prosper, and extended the
series of years to the year five hundred and thirty-two, reckoning in such wise that in
the year 533 the paschal festival should take place again on the same month and day and
the same moon as on that first year when the Passion and resurrection of our Lord took
place.

CHAPTER LXXXIX.

Theodoretus bishop of Cyrus (for the city founded by Cyrus king of the Persians preserves
until the present day in Syria the name of its founder) is said to have written many
works. Such as have come to my knowledge are the following: On the incarnation of the
Lord, Against Eutyches the presbyter and Dioscorus bishop of Alexandria who deny that
Christ had human flesh; strong works by which he confirmed through reason and the
testimony of Scripture that He had real flesh from the maternal substance which he derived
from His Virgin mother just as he had true deity which he received at birth by eternal
generation from God the Father. There are ten books of the ecclesiastical history which he
wrote in imitation of Eusebius of Caesarea beginning where Eusebius ends and extending to
his own time, that is from the Vicennalia of Constantine until the accession of the elder
Leo in whose reign he died.

CHAPTER XC.

Gennadius a Patriarch of the church of Constantinople, a man brilliant in speech and of
strong genius, was so richly equipped by his reading of the ancients that he was able to
expound the prophet Daniel entire commenting on every word. He composed also many
Homilies. He died while the eider Leo was Emperor.

CHAPTER XCI.

Theodulus, a presbyter in Coelesyria is said to have written many works, but the only one
which has come to my hand, is the one which he composed On the harmony of divine
Scripture, that is, the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, against the ancient
heretics who on account of discrepancies in the injunctions of the ritual, say that the
God of the Old Testament is different from the God of the New. In this work he shows it to
have been by the dispensation of one and the same God, the author of both Scriptures, that
one law should be given by Moses to those of old in a ritual of sacrifices and in judicial
laws, and another to us through the presence of Christ in the holy mysteries and future
promises, that they should not be considered different, but as dictated by one spirit and
one author, since these things which if observed only according to the letter, would slay,
if observed according to the spirit, would give life to the mind. This writer died three
years since in the reign of Zeno.

CHAPTER XCII.

Sidonius bishop of the Arverni wrote several acceptable works and being a man sound in
doctrine as well as thoroughly imbued with divine and human learning and a man of
commanding genius wrote a considerable volume of letters to different persons written in
various metres or in prose and this showed his ability in literature. Strong in Christian
vigour even in the midst of that barbaric ferocity which at that time oppressed the Gauls
he was regarded as a catholic father and a distinguished doctor. He flourished during the
tempest which marked the mle of Leo and Zenos.]

CHAPTER XCIII.

John of Antioch first grammarian, and then Presbyter, wrote against those who assert that
Christ is to be adored in one substance only and do not admit that two natures are to be
recognized in Christ. He taught according to the Scriptural account that in Him God and
man exist in one person, and not the flesh and the Word in one nature. He likewise
attacked certain sentiments of Cyril, bishop of Alexandria, unwisely delivered by Cyril
against Nestorius, which now are an encouragement and give strength to the Timotheans. He
is said to be still living and preaching.

CHAPTER XCIV.

[Gelasius, bishop of Rome wrote Against Eutyches end Nestorius a great and notable volume,
also Treatises on various parts of the scripture and the sacraments written in a polished
style. He also wrote Epistles against Peter and Acacius which are still preserved in the
catholic church. He wrote also Hymns after the fashion of bishop Ambrosius. He died during
the reign of the emperor Anastasius.

CHAPTER XCV.

Honoratus, bishop of Constantina in Africa wrote a letter to one Arcadius who on account
of his confession of the catholic faith had been exiled to Africa by King Genseric. This
letter was an exhortation to endure hardness for Christ and fortified by modern examples
and scripture illustrations showing that perseverance in the confession of the faith not
only purges past sins but also procures the blessing of martyrdom.

CHAPTER XCVI.

Cerealis the bishop, an African by birth, was asked by Maximus bishop of the Arians
whether he could establish the catholic faith by a few testimonies of Divine Scripture and
without any controversial assertions. This he did in the name of the Lord, truth itself
helping him, not with a few testimonies as Maximus had derisively asked, but proving bv
copious proof texts from both Old and New Testaments and published in a little book.

CHAPTER XCVII.

Eugenius, bishop of Carthage in Africa and public confessor, commanded by Huneric King of
the Vandals to write an exposition of the catholic faith and especially to discuss the
meaning of the word Homoousian, with the consent of all the bishops and confessors of
Mauritania in Africa and Sardinia and Corsica, who had remained in the catholic faith,
composed a book of faith, fortified not only by quotations from the Holy Scriptures but by
testimonies of the Fathers, and sent it by his companions in confession. But now, exiled
as a reward for his faithful tongue, like an anxious shepherd herd over his sheep he has
left behind works urging them to remember the faith and the one sacred baptism to be
preserved at all hazards. He also wrote out the Discussions which he held through
messengers with the leaders of the Arians and sent them to be given to Huneric by his
major domo. Likewise also he presented to the same, petitions for the peace of the
Christians which were of the nature of an Apology, and he is said to be still living for
the strengthening of the church.

CHAPTER XCVIII.

1 Pomerius the Mauritanian was ordained presbyter in Gaul. He composed a dialectical
treatise in eight books On the nature of the soul and its properties, also one On the
reszerrection and its particular bearing for the faithful in this life and in general for
all men, written in clear language and style, in the form of a dialogue between Julian the
bishop, and Verus the presbyter. 2 The first book contains discourses on what the soul is
and in what sense it is thought to be created in the image of God, the second, whether the
soul should be thought of as corporeal or incorporeal, the third, how the soul of the
first man was made, fourth, whether the soul which is put in the body at birth is newly
created and without sin, or produced from the substance of the first man like a shoot from
a root it brings also with it the original sin of the first man, fifth, a review of thc
fourth book of the discussion, and an inquiry as to what is the capability of the soul,
that is its possibilities, and that it gains its capability from a single and pure will,
the sixth, whence arises the conflict between flesh and the spirit, spoken of by the
apostle, seventh, on the difference between the flesh and the spirit in respect of life,
of death and of resurrection, the eighth, answers to questions concerning the things which
it is predicted will happen at the end of the world, to such questions, that is, as are
usually propounded concerning the resurrection. I remember to have once read a hortatory
work of his, addressed to some one named Principius, On contempt of the world, and of
transitory things, and another entitled, On vices and virtues. He is said to have written
yet other works, which have not come to my knowledge, and to be still writing.

3 He is still living, and his life is worthy of Christian profession, and his rank in the
church.

CHAPTER XCIX.

I Gennadius, a presbyter of Marseilles, have written eight books Against all heresies,
five books Against Nestorius, ten books Against Eutyches, three books Against Pelagius,
also treatises On the Millennium and On the Apocalypse of Saint John, also an epistle On
my creed, sent to the blessed Gelasius, bishop of Rome.]


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THE SEVEN BOOKS ON THE INCARNATION OF THE LORD English translation: an older public-domain
translation as collected in the Writings-Database (HistoricalChristianFaith), mostly from
the Ante-Nicene, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers and similar nineteenth-century editions.
SermonIndex has only divided it into chapters and short sections; the wording is the
translator’s own. No Greek or Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English
version has been made. Licence: Public domain.

THE COMMONITORY English translation: an older public-domain translation as collected in
the Writings-Database (HistoricalChristianFaith), mostly from the Ante-Nicene, Nicene and
Post-Nicene Fathers and similar nineteenth-century editions. SermonIndex has only divided
it into chapters and short sections; the wording is the translator’s own. No Greek or
Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English version has been made. Licence:
Public domain.

THE LIFE OF AUGUSTINE English translation: an older public-domain translation as collected
in the Writings-Database (HistoricalChristianFaith), mostly from the Ante-Nicene, Nicene
and Post-Nicene Fathers and similar nineteenth-century editions. SermonIndex has only
divided it into chapters and short sections; the wording is the translator’s own. No Greek
or Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English version has been made.
Licence: Public domain.

LETTERS OF LEO THE GREAT English translation: an older public-domain translation as
collected in the Writings-Database (HistoricalChristianFaith), mostly from the Ante-
Nicene, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers and similar nineteenth-century editions.
SermonIndex has only divided it into chapters and short sections; the wording is the
translator’s own. No Greek or Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English
version has been made. Licence: Public domain.

THE CONFESSION AND THE LETTER TO COROTICUS English translation by Newport J. D. White,
from St. Patrick, his Writings and Life , by Newport J. D. White (London: Society for
Promoting Christian Knowledge; New York: The Macmillan Company, 1920; Translations of
Christian Literature , Series V: Lives of the Celtic Saints); public domain. The text was
read by machine (Mistral OCR) from a scan of the 1920 edition from the University of
Toronto library at the Internet Archive and has not been proofread against the printed
book. SermonIndex has removed running heads and page numbers, joined words split across
lines, and divided the text into chapters and short sections; the wording is the
translator’s own. Footnotes and the editor’s introduction are left out. White’s
introductions, the Latin hymn and sayings, Muirchu’s Life of Patrick, his notes and the
index are also left out; the Scripture references that the book gives in the footnotes are
removed. No original-language text is shown beside it, and no modern English version has
been made. Licence. The translation was published in 1920 and is in the public domain.
Licence: Public domain.

LIVES OF ILLUSTRIOUS MEN English translation: an older public-domain translation as
collected in the Writings-Database (HistoricalChristianFaith), mostly from the Ante-
Nicene, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers and similar nineteenth-century editions.
SermonIndex has only divided it into chapters and short sections; the wording is the
translator’s own. No Greek or Latin text is shown beside it yet, and no modern English
version has been made. Licence: Public domain.