Letter 20: Felix, bishop of Rome, to our beloved brothers the bishops of Egypt, the Thebaid, Libya, and Pentapolis, greetings.

A fragment of Pope Felix's letter to the bishops established throughout Egypt, the Thebaid, Libya, and Pentapolis. Pope Felix to the bishops established throughout Egypt, the Thebaid, Libya, and Pentapolis. After other matters. But as for Peter, who separated himself from the unity of the Church under Proterius of blessed memory, and who joined himself, for the persecution of the orthodox, to Timothy, the parricide and murderer of that same man, we do not permit him to rejoice in any fellowship of so great a name or honor; since in its very beginning, among its own originators who are not unlike himself, there is found to be perishable that which he esteems himself to be. The aforesaid man is therefore anathema to all, nor is he ever to be believed received back by the Catholic Church, who, after the most frequent exhortation and throughout the spaces of so many years persevering in his own perversity, has lost the place of making amends. [Editorial note:] Those who ordained Peter. Nor does it stand as an objection that Felix, in the above letter 8, section 3, writes that Peter was ordained by one alone. For that figurative manner of speaking, by which something that belongs to one is asserted of many, is neither unusual in Felix nor inelegantly employed here. Letters 8-10.

(Hi 484 ^|.^^ xFelicis papao ad episcopos per Aegyptum, Thebaidem, laibyam et Pentapolim constitutos fragmentwn, FeUx papa episcopifl per Aegjrptum , Thebaidem , Libyam et PentapoHm eoiwtitmtif pb 1 post alia. Petnmi^) vero, qui se ab Ecdesiae unitate sub beatae recor- tlationis Proterio sepiinivit *^ ), et in niortera ipsius parricidae Timo- tlieo ad persequendos se junxit orthodoxos, nulla tanti nominis aub lionoris permittimus societate laetari^): quando in creatoribus propiiis non dissimilibus ipso sui exordio caducmn, quod se aestimat, repe- ritur. Est ergo prHcfutus cunctis anathema, nec ab Ecclesia catho- lica credatur unquiun recipi, qui post cohortationem saepissimam et per tot annorum spiitia*) in perversitate propria perseverans locum satisfactionis amisit. Petri ordinatores. Xec obstat, quod Fehx sup. epist. 8 n. 3 Petrum ab uno dumtaxfit ordiuatum scribat. Is enim tropicus loquendi modus, quo de ploii* bus asseriturf quod unius est proprium, uec inusit^atus Felici est nec ineleganter hic adhibetur. BPISTOLAE 8 — 10. 251