Letter 1: bishop. SICUT also CUNCTIS to the brothers through I son om.

Gelasius, bishop, to his most beloved brothers, all the bishops established throughout Dardania. As also to all the brothers throughout [...] [Greek fragment:] If anyone divides the one Son into a pair of Sons, let him be anathema. If anyone calls God the Word and the flesh one nature, being ignorant of the difference of the natures, let him be anathema. [...] For we believe that life is life and has not lapsed into death. But you shall acknowledge and shall cut yourself off for the lawless things you have said. And let the grace of God be, as it is, with those who rightly divide the word of truth. [Latin letter, to the bishops of Dardania:] As soon as it is permitted to draw breath again from the storm of continual wars, which the character of the times has incessantly stirred up whether in those provinces or in these, we have judged that all the priests of the Lord throughout Dardania should be addressed with the solicitude of brotherly love: first, because, having taken up the governance of the apostolic see, we were unable, as the public uproar (as has been said) held us back, to indicate by our own letters, as the custom was, the office of the sacred dispensation committed to us, so that your fraternity might rejoice with us over the gift of the Lord's communion; next, that after such great bitternesses and worldly inconveniences a mutual exchange of words might bring forth how we fared with one another; and lastly, that if there are any matters to be reported concerning ecclesiastical causes, which on account of the snares of the perpetual enemy must continually be watched over with pastoral vigilance, we might disclose them by mutual communications. Spurred on, therefore, by these considerations, we have taken care to direct the present writings through our brother and fellow bishop Ursicinus, exhorting you, with the grace of salutation going before, that, bearing magnanimously by the help of the Lord the devastation of passing things, we ought rather to be alarmed lest, which God forbid, we incur the loss of eternal life. Accordingly, let your love attend a little while to those things which the welfare of catholic truth requires to be guarded against. Among the Greeks, among whom it is not doubtful that many heresies abound, already nearly forty-five years ago a controversy arose concerning the incarnation of our Lord and Savior, when one Eutyches, formerly a presbyter of Constantinople, broke out into blasphemies, through which he said that we ought to believe that there is only one, that is, the divine nature or substance alone in the Lord Jesus Christ, the truth of the flesh he assumed being utterly abolished. This impious and depraved invention, joined to the Marcionists and Manichaeans, would without doubt dissolve the whole sacrament of our salvation, since, as far as the authority of venerable Scripture says and the doctrine of our elders testifies, it is certain that the Redeemer of the world, wholly God and wholly man at once, was begotten of the Virgin Mary and appeared visibly to this world, that he likewise suffered and rose again from the dead, and so was present with his disciples for forty days, that he ascended into heaven in full light, and in that manner, an angel bearing witness, was said to be coming to judgment, so that he, the Son of Man, whom the blessed martyr Stephen saw standing at the right hand of the power of God, may appear manifest, and that his persecutors, who pierced him, may behold him: which assuredly cannot stand without the material of human flesh, whose assumption was glorified by the deity, the deity itself not being assumed. Whence also the blessed apostle John says: He who denies that Christ has come in the flesh, this one is antichrist; and the glorious apostle Paul openly professed of what sort we ought even today to believe our Lord Jesus Christ to be, saying: In whom dwells all the fullness of the deity bodily, by which brief sentence he at once overthrows, by heavenly preaching, both the Arian pestilence and this Eutychian one of which we have spoken, because nothing is lacking where the whole and full deity is declared to dwell, and by the expression "bodily" it is proved to persist in truth in our body. Concerning these matters, moreover, it is certain that the Greeks were frequently convicted by the apostolic see, both through Leo of blessed memory and through his successors, as is shown without ambiguity by their own documents, which we have in our keeping. But now, although they do not dare to profess that very pestilence, nevertheless those who have communicated with such persons and who were deservedly, according to the decrees of the Council of Chalcedon, condemned by the apostolic see, and died obstinate in the same condemnation, they defend with pernicious frenzy, and they endeavor to force the reading of their names upon the catholic Church. By which persons, indeed, if they are received, which God forbid, the contagion of the depravity to which they joined themselves by communion is consequently incurred, just as, which the Lord avert, if the name of Arius or of any heretic whatsoever is admitted to ecclesiastical recitation, at the same time the fellowship of the detestable error is also taken on. Whence, because they confess the error indeed but think that catholic communion is to be relaxed for themselves on this condition, that the names of those who prevaricated may lawfully be recited by them in church, and they strive not so much to correct themselves as to infect catholic sincerity with the contagion of the faithless, we have not ceased to admonish your love, with the affection of brotherly charity, that if any sowing such things should perhaps come into your regions, they be by every means excluded, and that with you the communion with the see of the blessed apostle Peter, as it was handed down by our fathers, may continue undefiled and on every side unshaken. Certainly, if anyone should believe that your ears are to be assailed concerning this stealthy approach, with pastoral solicitude make haste to refer it to us as quickly as possible, so that by common zeal and catholic deliberation all catholic priests may contribute on behalf of the house of the one Lord: so that both the things which befit the orthodox definition may be preserved undefiled, and to what extent it may be fitting that the erring be aided, may be ascertained by reasonable deliberation. But let your love also prudently cause this to reach all the provinces adjoining it and the neighboring bishops, so that all the prelates of the churches, having received instruction in the truth, may be able to turn away deadly falsehood. And the subscription: May God keep you safe, most dear brothers.

DILECTISSIMIS FRATRIBUS UNIVERSIS EPISCOPIS PER DARDANIAM CON* STITUTIS GELASIUS EPISCOPUS. SICUT ETIAM CUNCTIS FRATRIBUS PER I filium om. B dualitate ΒΚ ὃ unàturam V 5 diuinam natu- ram V: unam naturam K, naturam diuinan δ 6 eius om. Καὶ im- passilem X^ — "7 passum VK: passibilem B anathemf V 9. cum om. B 10 et om. V 12 adsumsit V, sumpsit B 18 werbis credimus enim numerum VIIII praescripsit K — recedit B et ante correctionem K morte V 14 absidere B 15 sit VK: sit deus δὶ post uerbum del. di B 16 ueritatis] desinit K — EPLASOLEPIADIS V episcopi oi. B 17 IRALLENSIS PARTIS CAMPANIAE (leg. Cariae?) Ap B 49. — Dat. anno μὲ widelur 493. 8 — Berolin. lat. 79, quem quae in hac epistula correxit manus Sirmondi, non cvro. praeterea «erba inde a his igitur ($nit. $ 3) usque ad damnati sunt (S 7) in duo capi- tula diwisa traduntur 4n. codice Paris. lat. 12098 — K. | Edd. Car. I? 341; Bar. ad a. 492, 34; Collect. Concl.; BTA I 367; Thiel 335. 19 sq. GELASIUS UNIVERSIS EPIS PER DARDANIAM CONSTITUTIS Sicut B — pan- DANIAN V 20 frabus V uniuersis supra linea V Epist. LXXVIII 10 — LXXIX 1. 219 εἴ τις τὸν ἕνα υἱὸν διχάζει εἰς δυάδα υἱῶν, ἀνάϑεμα ἔστω. εἴ τίς τὸν ϑεὸν λόγον καὶ τὴν σάρχα μίαν φύσιν λέγει ἀγνοῶν τῶν φύσεων τὸ διάφορον, ἀνάϑεμα ἔστω. Ll « Ll x * * 10 * * * * * x 5 * * * * * x * * * Li * * xal γὰρ πιστεύομεν, ὅτι ἡ ζωὴ ζωή ἐστι xal οὐ μετέπεσεν elcll ϑάνατον. σὺ δὲ Ἰγώσῃ καὶ ἀποχόψῃ, ἐφ᾽ οἷς ἀνόμως εἴρηκας: 10 ἔστω δὲ xal ἔστι τοῦ ϑεοῦ ἡ χάρις μετὰ τῶν ὀρθοτομούντων τὸν λόγον τῆς ἀληϑείας. 4 aliqua exciderunt 220 Gelasius I. ad episcopos Dardaniae DALMATIAS DESTINATA EST. Ubi primum respirare fas est a con- tinuorum tempestate bellorum, quae uel in illis prouinciis uel in istis temporum qualitas incessanter exercuit, cunctos per Dar- daniam domini sacerdotes fraternae sollicitudine caritatis duximus 2 adloquendos: primum, quia regimen apostolicae sedis indepti s strepitu publico, sicut dietum est, retardante commissae nobis sacrae dispensationis officium propriis, ut mos «crat, litteris nequiuimus indieare, quo uestra fraternitas de communionis domini nobiscum munere gratuletur; deinde ut, post tantas acerbitates incommoditatesque mundanas qualiter inuicem 10 ualeremus, mutuus sermo depromeret; postremo, si qua de ecclesiasticis referenda sunt causis, quae propter insidias perpetui hostis pastorali sunt iugiter cireumspiciendae uigi- 9 lantia, significationibus panderemus alternis. his igitur inci- tati per fratrem et coepiscopum nostrum Ursicinum praesentia 15 dirigere scripta eurauimus, praeeunte gratia salutationis hortantes, ut magnanimiter auxilio domini tolerando rerum transeuntium wuastitatem magis esse debeamus adtoniti, ne, quod absit, perpetuae subeamus uitae dispendium. proinde, quae catholicae ueritatis poscit utilitas praecauenda, dilectio so 4 uestra paulisper aduertat. apud Graecos, quibus multas haereses abundare non dubium est, iam ante annos fere qua- draginta et quinque de domini nostri et saluatoris incarnatione nata conquaestio est Eutyche quondam presbytero Constantino- politano in blasphemias proruente, per quas diceret unam να 10 15 Epist, LXXIX 1—6. 221 tantummodo id est solam diuinitatis naturam siue substantiam in domino lesu Christo credere nos debere susceptae carnis ueritate prorsus abolita. |^ quod utique impium prauumque commentum Marcionistis Manichaeisque coniunctum totum sine dubio salutis nostráe solueret sacramentum, siquidem, quantum et scripturae uenerabilis dicit auetoritas et maiorum testatur doctrina nostrorum, redemptorem mundi deum totum simul deum totumque hominem ex Maria uirgine fuisse pro- genitum et huie mundo certum est extitisse conspicuum, sic passum atque resurrexisse constat a mortuis itaque quadra- ginta diebus fuisse eum discipulis conuersatum, in caelum ascendisse plena luce sit clarum eoque modo dietum ad iudi- eium angelo testante uenturum, ut et filius hominis, quem beatus Stephanus martyr a dextris uirtutis dei uidit astantem, manifestus appareat et, quem compunxerunt, persecutores eius aspiciant: quod nimirum sine carnis humanae non potest constare materia, cuius adsumptio glorificata est deitate non prorsus adsumpta. ^ unde et beatus Iohannes apostolus dicit: qui negat Christum in carne uenisse, hic est antichristus, et gloriosus apostolus Paulus, qualem hodie- que eredere debeamus dominum nostrum lesum Christum, palam professus est dicens: in quo habitat omnis pleni- tudo diuinitatis corporaliter, quo breui capitulo simul Árrianam pestem et hane, quam diximus, Eutychianam eaelesti praedieatione subuertit, quia et nihil minus est, ubi 14 cf. Act. 7, bó. 15 cf. Ioh. 19, 37 (Zachar. 12, 1) 19 Ioh. II 7 -92 Coloss. 2, 9 l diuinitati K^ 2 suscepta BK — 3 impium prauumque BK: impra- bumque V 4 cognomentum J£ manicheis que B ὃ saluti nrae .B soluere BK . 9 genitum K . est stetisse B 10 itaque V: ita BK ll uersatum in caelis BK 12 eo quomodo B, et quomodo A — 14 bea- tum B — ad K 3 15 econpunexerunt B, eum punxerunt K — 16 quid V 17 materiam .B absumpta Coust. 20 aceypf B, antecrhistus AK: antichristum V 22 confessus B 23 quo Thiel: quod VBK . capi- tulos simula crianam B 294. euticianam ΒΒ 25 peatione subuertet B est ubi VK: sibi B 222 Gelasius I. ad episcopos Dardaniae omnis plenaque diuinitas habitare perhibetur et *corporaliter' exprimendo in ueritate persistere nostri corporis adprobatur. 7 super his autem frequenter ab apostolica sede et per beatae memoriae sanctum Leonem et per successores eius certum est Graecos fuisse conuictos, sicut ipsorum cartis, quas apud s 8nos habemus, sine ambiguitate monstratur. ^ nunc uero, quamuis ipsam pestilentiam non audeant profiteri, eos tarnen, qui talibus communicauerint meritoque secundum Calchedo- nensis decreta concilii ab apostolica sede damnati sunt ob- stinatique in eadem damnatione defuncti, pernicioso furore 10 defendunt et eorum recitationem ecclesiae catholicae moliuntur ingerere. quibus utique, quod absit, receptis etiam contagium prauitatis, cui se communione sociarunt, consequenter incurritur, quemadmodum, quod auertat dominus, si Árrii uel cuiuslibet haeretici ad ecclesiasticam recitationem nomen admittitur, :5 9simul et consortium detestabilis erroris adsumitur. unde quia errorem quidem fatentur sed ea sibi putant communi- onem catholicam conditione laxandam, ut nomina eorum, qui praeuarieati sunt, illis in ecclesia recitare sit licitum et non tam ipsi corrigere quam sinceritatem catholicam inficere s nitantur contagio perfidorum, dilectionem uestram fraternae caritatis adfectu non destitimus admonere, ut si qui talia seminantes ad uestras regiones forte peruenerint, modis omnibus exeludantur uobisque cum sede beati apostoli Petri, sicut a patribus nostris est tradita, inlibata communio atque ss l0ex omni parte inconuulsa perduret. certe, si quis aures uestras de hac crediderit subreptione pulsandas, sollicitudine 10 15 e Epist. LXXIX 7 — LXXX 1. 228 pastorali ad nos quantocius referre properetis, ut. communi studio catholicoque tractatu pro domo unius domini cuncti eatholiei conferant sacerdotes: ut et, quae orthodoxae defini- tioni competunt, intemerata seruentur et, quatenus errantibus deceat subueniri, rationabili deliberatione noscatur. haecll autem uestra dilectio etiam ad contiguas sibi quasque prouincias uicinosque pontifices prudenter faciat peruenire, ut ecclesiarum praesules uniuersi ueritatis instructione. percepta mortiferam declinare ualeant fa)sitatem. ^ ET suBscRIPTIO: Deus uos in- colomes eustodiat, fratres, carissimi.