Letter 14: Felix, bishop of Rome, to Acacius of Constantinople.

Felix's libellus of citation to Acacius. [Summons] that Acacius appear in the Roman synod to respond to the charges of John of Alexandria. 1. With episcopal diligence prompting you, your Affection, following the custom of the Church, ought to have made known what the reply of my predecessor of holy memory accomplished, through that devout man Uranius the subdeacon, in the cause of the Alexandrian Church before the most Christian prince, and what his letters accomplished with you as well; and you ought, with joined zeal, to have striven by the announcing of prosperous things for that care of which he willed you to be, not undeservedly, a partaker: so that the catholic faith, strengthened at Chalcedon by the synod and again confirmed by the responses of all the priests of the Lord who had sat together in that same council, which the depravity of the heretics has once more unexpectedly disturbed, might not, by our common effort, be permitted to lie oppressed and subject to its own enemies. And since this was long neglected, our brother and fellow-bishop John, having come upon us, driven out by the heretical invaders of the see of Alexandria, presented to us a libellus which he had prepared to be handed over to my predecessor of holy memory, as you recognize from what is set out below. This procedure, after the example of his own greater predecessor of blessed memory, Athanasius, one of our forerunners, we were not able to refuse. 2. And therefore, having read what is set out below, dearest brother, you must hasten to respond to these matters, which you know have been laid before you, before the blessed apostle Peter, to whom you perceive that the prayers offered among us are presented, and whom you cannot deny to have received from the Lord the power of binding and loosing, in the assembly of the brothers and of our fellow-bishops; so that, ordaining whatever justice shall have prepared for the one side or the other, with the scandals of the churches removed, which we see being torn apart, with concord restored and the integrity of the faith preserved, we may with pure minds offer to God most acceptable victims of reconciliation, which we offer for all the Christian people and for the welfare of the most glorious emperor. For which matter we have, from our college, dispatched our brothers and fellow-bishops Vitalis and Misenus, with whom, from our own side, by ordination, we have sent that most faithful Felix, defender of the holy Roman Church; and no delay must be made for them, lest the things that are to be corrected grow strong through evasions, so as to provoke the indignation of the Lord.

Feljds ad Acaclum libellus citationis. ""Mart" tO. Ui Acadus in synodo Romana compareat^ ad objecta Johannis Alexandrini responsunis, 1. Episcopali diligentia commonente debuerat dilectio tua eccle- aiasticum morem secuta^ quid responsio sanctae memoriae praede- cessoris mei per virum devotum Uranium^) subadjuvam apud Ghri- stianissimmn principem^ quid apud te quoque litterae ipsius in causa Alexandrinae ecclesiae profecerint, indicare, et curam, cujus te non immerito voluit esse participem, juncto'^) studio prosperonmi signi- ficatione moliri: ut catholica fides, apud Calchedonem synodo robo- rata et iterum firmata responsis omnium qui in eadem resederant Domini sacerdotum, quam inopinato rursus haereticorum pravitas inquietaty communi opere inimicis propriis subjacere non permitte- retor oppressa. Quod quum diu omittitur, superveniens frater et co- episcopus noster Johannes, fugatus ab haereticis pervasoribus sedis Alexandrinae, libellum^) nobis, quem sanctae memoriae decessori meo paraverat porrigendum, quantum ex subditis *) agnoscis, ingessit. Qnem morem majoris sui beatae memoriae Athanasii exemplo prio- nun nostrorum non potuimus refutare. 2. Et ideo lectis subditis, frater carissime, ad haec, quae pro- posita esse cognoscis, apud beatum Petrum apostolum, cui preces in nobis oblatas pervides et quem ligandi atque solvendi a Domino potestatem stunpsisse non potes diffiteri, in conventu fratrum et co- Acac. n. 10 probant. Editi Vranium subdiaconum. Uranius ille quum Zenonis leriptam ad Simplicium detolieset, higus papae epistolam IS ad Acacium et ep. 19 ad imperatorem retolit. Victor Vitensis hist. pers. D and. V n. 7 Uranium iegaiMtm tormentis martyrum testem appellat. — Mox editi ctementissimum «) Ita E' E*; P* H' b 0 cuncto. Quae deinde memorantur responsiones episco- porum omniom, qui Calchedone fuerant congregati, in uno codicis corpore vo- cantar encyclicae, habenturque in Calchedonensis concilii parte III (Hard. coU. conc. II , 68»— 772). ') Htgiu libelli ETagriua h. e. III, 18 meminit. Forte Simplicio inscriptus erat, sed qanm Johannes Romam adveniens hunc vita functum comperisset, Olizm ejoB snccessori porrexit. Hoc ipsum quidem sonat, quod ait Felix sibi it Johanne praedictom libellimi, quem Ule decessori paravei-at porrigendum, inge- siom. Contra idem Evagrius III, 15 illum etiam superstite Simplicio Romam wdLrenieae innxui. 240 I S. FELICIS II PAPAE a, 483. episcopomm nostronim respondere f esidna ; ut ih alterutram partem quod justitia'*) paraverit ordinantes, amotis scandalis ecclesiaram, quas scindi videmus, reparata concordia et servata integritate fidei; puris mentibus acceptissimas Deo faciamus placationis hostias, quas pro omni populo Christiano et salute gloriosissimi imperatoris offe- rimus. Ad quam rem de collegio nostro fratres et coepiscopos no- stros Vitalem et Misenum, cum quibus illum a latere nostro fidelis- simuni nostrum FeHcem") defensorem sanctae ecclesiae Romanae ordinatione direximus; quibus moram fieri non oportet, ne ad indi- gnationem Domini provocandam, quae corrigenda sunt, fnistrationi- bus**) convalescant.