Letter 11: Symmachus, bishop, to the beloved bishops of the Gallic churches.

The Eastern bishops to Symmachus. The year 512. [Summary: An earnest entreaty that he come to the aid as soon as possible of the Eastern churches, which are suffering from schism, and that he grant them communion, since they profess the catholic faith and by name condemn the heresies of Nestorius and Eutyches, even though, because of those who do not acquiesce in the condemnation of certain men who have been bound by anathema, they do not yet think they ought to separate themselves, for the benefit of the Church.] The Eastern Church to Symmachus, bishop of Rome. 1. That good Lord of ours and lover of mankind, Jesus Christ, who out of his goodness, bowing the heavens toward us and descending to the earth, cries out this daily in the spotless Gospels: "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" [Matthew 9:12-13]. And, wishing to open up still further the works of his clemency, he added in what follows, saying: "Which of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, does he not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one that is lost, until he find it? [Luke 15:4] And, finding it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing, and coming to his own house, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying: 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.'" And, that what is said might become clearer, he soon added the parable of the woman who had found the lost drachma, joining the two together and saying: "Amen I say to you, that so shall there be joy in heaven over one sinner doing penance." These things I have said, most holy one, daring to make supplication not for the loss of one sheep nor for the loss of one drachma, but for the dear salvation of you all [pro amica vobis salute] -- and not of the Eastern regions only, but of nearly three quarters of the inhabited world, redeemed not by corruptible silver or gold from the vain way of life handed down by their forefathers, but by the precious blood of God [1 Peter 1:18-19], even as the blessed prince of the glorious apostles taught -- whose chair Christ the best shepherd entrusted to your beatitude, that prince who came seeking and freeing what had perished, and laying down his own life as a ransom for many [Matthew 20:28]. 2. Imitating him, then, most holy and most blessed ones, hasten to help us, even as the blessed Paul, your teacher, once hastened to the aid of the Macedonians. And indeed he, recognizing in a vision that the Macedonians were in peril, made haste to help them in truth [Acts 16:9]; but you, an affectionate father toward your sons, perceiving with spiritual eyes not in a vision but in truth that we are perishing in the prevarication of our father Acacius, do not delay, but rather, so to speak, like the prophet, do not sleep, but hasten to deliver us [Psalm 44:23-24]; for not in binding only has power been given to you, but in loosing also those long bound, after the imitation of the Master; nor in uprooting or tearing down, but in planting and building up, according to the blessed Jeremiah [Jeremiah 1:10]; and rather according to Christ the savior of the world, in whose figure that prophet existed; nor in handing over to Satan only for the destruction of the flesh, but also in forming with charity those cast down by long aversion [1 Corinthians 5:5]: lest -- which God forbid -- when we have been swallowed up by Satan through too great a sorrow, you should seem to have suffered loss [2 Corinthians 2:7]. For you are not ignorant of his cunning, you who are daily told by your holy teacher Peter to feed the sheep of Christ entrusted to you throughout the whole inhabited world, drawn together not by force but willingly, you who with the most learned Paul cry out to those subject to you and say: "For we do not lord it over you in the faith" [2 Corinthians 1:24] ... we have been cast down on account of Acacius. [Epistola 12] ... we are bound in joy [reading the close of section 2 into 3]. Wherefore we beg that our new bond may be broken asunder, even as our savior and leader Christ broke asunder that old one [Colossians 2:14]: that we may no longer, after the laver of regeneration, lie subject to the offenses of our evils, but that, as for him who ate the sour grape his teeth were set on edge, according to the prophecy of the blessed Ezekiel [Ezekiel 18:2] -- since, then, the Savior fulfilled that parable in truth by his saving advent, most holy and most blessed one, by the disobedience of Acacius who ate the sour grape, have the teeth of us, that is of his own sons, been set on edge through so long a course of years? If one man sinned, why does the divine anathema press upon the whole region, or rather upon the whole inhabited world? Where, then, is the promise of God, which says: "The fathers shall not bear the sins, nor the parents those of their sons, but each one shall die in his own sin" [Deuteronomy 24:16]? 4. If on account of the friends of the Alexandrians, or rather of the Eutychians, who turn away from and anathematize the most holy and most blessed pope Leo or the synod held at Chalcedon, Acacius has been anathematized, why are we judged heretics by you and placed under anathema, we who embrace that one epistle and those things that were spoken in the holy synod, we who on account of the preaching of your dogma are daily assailed, and who are anathematized as heretics by those who agree with Eutyches? Do not pass an unjust judgment, you who judge the whole earth, lest you destroy the just with the wicked, and the just be before you as the wicked, and the orthodox and the heretics be not judged equally by you -- both those who anathematize the aforesaid holy epistle and your right holy synod, and those who are anathematized along with you, and who pray to die daily for the right faith that is preached by you. And indeed Jesus son of Nave [Joshua], when the uncircumcised and the servants of idols, fleeing to him under a falsehood, were being assailed by Adonizedek or by the other four princes with him, because they had fled to him, with God working together with him strenuously avenged them, lest the name of his God be blasphemed as though he were not powerful to help them [Joshua 10:6]. You, then, most holy men, disciples and imitators of Jesus, the great God and Savior our hope, who took upon himself the form of a servant that he might make us free from the sin that reigned in us, seeing us assailed and put to death -- not as the uncircumcised Gibeonites, but circumcised along with you in the circumcision of Christ, nor servants of idols nor their emulators, but, though sinners, yet Christians and with you wise in all things in Christ -- do not despise us nor any longer hold us in contempt, you pious fathers; but, even as the most blessed aforesaid Jesus son of Nave preferred not only those, but even Rahab the harlot, before them, on account of her reception of the two spies [Joshua 6:22-23], so do you also vigilantly take us up, with the help of God, on account of the handing down of the two natures, which was directed by you, through the epistle of pope Leo, set among the saints, against the ravings of Eutyches. And she indeed, receiving the spies, hid them in the flax-stalks of her house [Joshua 2:6]; but we, receiving the confession of your right faith, have not hidden it in our heart, but in the assemblies of the churches we proclaim it, by the mercy of God, with authority. And she indeed, when questioned, through fear denied that she had them; but we pray that we may never through human fear deny the truth of our right doctrine, and we will stand for it even unto blood, if it so befall. 5. Wherefore let it not weary us to help us, nor hold us in hatred on account of the communion of those who oppose us: for whereas very many, hindered from this by their property and having no care for many souls, have held back, yet those to whom the care of many souls has been committed do communicate in the churches entrusted to them, having none who oppose them in communion with them, and fearing to leave the sheep to the wolves on account of the word of the Lord who says: "But the hireling, and he who is not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf seizes them and scatters them, because he is a hireling and has no care for the sheep" [John 10:12-13]. Since, then, very many of the priests do this not as men captivated by love of their own life, but caring for the salvation of the sheep, your paternity will be able, with God revealing it, to learn from what follows. For certain of those who are set in the priesthood, seeing orthodox presbyters and holy men sent into exile, [who] wished of their own accord to withdraw themselves from the churches without necessity and to follow them, did not yield to them to do this, but adjured them to remain in the holy churches entrusted to them, for the protection of the orthodox people, taking upon themselves what is reckoned to belong to those men's discretion. As Rebecca once said to Jacob: "Upon me be your sin, my son" [Genesis 27:13], so they said to those who wished of their own accord to depart from the churches entrusted to them: "Upon us let the sin of your discretion come, only do not leave the sheep of Christ to the wolves without necessity, lest the heretics, entering into your places like wolves, tear the sheep asunder. Or surely, [as for those who are] driven away by their very own sheep on account of the right faith, and [those who are] not driven away but desire of their own accord to depart, lest they communicate with any of the adversaries, with such faith [we say], speaking thus: do you suppose these men do this out of love of life, or out of love of souls, in imitation of their Lord, our first shepherd, Jesus Christ, the great God and Savior our hope, who laid down his own life for his sheep?" 6. But in every way, both those who are seen to communicate, the orthodox, and those who abstain themselves from communion -- all of us, after God, await the light of your visitation and reception. Wherefore hasten to help the East, from which the Savior directed to you the two great lights of the day, Peter and Paul, for the illumination of the whole world. Render to it, then, a good recompense, which it itself gave to you: illumine it with the light of the right faith, even as through it you also were once illumined with the light of divine knowledge. For just as, when the whole world was sick in sins, wearied by the offense of one man, in the cure of the sickness the disciples of that good physician, calling their own master, the heavenly physician and prince of shepherds, to the cure of that sickness, would say at one time: "Lord, bow down your heavens, and descend" [Psalm 144:5]; and at another, in turn: "You who rule Israel, give heed; you who sit upon the Cherubim, appear; stir up your power and come, that you may deliver us" [Psalm 80:1-2]: so we now, who are cast down in the iniquity of the new prevarication of our father, flee to your beatitude, that you also, existing as an imitator of the Son of God, may come at our entreaty to [our] deliverance. In imitation of that same heavenly Father, who makes his sun to rise upon the good and the evil, and rains upon the just and the unjust [Matthew 5:45], hasten to our aid, knowing, most holy one, as was said in the beginning, that the healthy have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 7. But if the sickness were a small one, we would perhaps run to our own spiritual physician, so far as both to venerate the sufferings of the good physicians -- that is, of the glorious disciples of Christ and your teachers -- and to adore your holy footsteps, that we might receive from your holy mouth both the medicine of the prevarication and the loosing of the bonds and the remission of the offense. But because there is no ulcer or wound or swelling sore, but the whole is an ulcer from the feet even to the head, as the blessed Isaiah said, lamenting the ancient prevarication [Isaiah 1:6]: you now, good physicians, and most certain planters of that true physician or of his good disciples, hasten to the cure of the loosened members of the ecclesiastical body, that you may raise up our loosened hands and our loosened knees, and make straight courses for our feet: that what is lame may not be further distorted, but rather be cured by your strenuousness and excellent diligence [Isaiah 35:3]. 8. For just as to our master, the lord Paul, the glorious apostle, on account of certain unbelievers, while he was loath to speak the word of the Lord in Corinth, the Lord standing by said: "Speak and do not be silent, for I have a numerous people in this city" [Acts 18:9-10]; so now his benignity says to your beatitude: "Hasten, and be not slow to the help of the East," and rather to the greater parts of the inhabited world, because your medicine, after God, is awaited in hope not only by a hundred and twenty thousand men set in a great city, Nineveh, but by far more [Jonah 4:11]. For if Leo the archbishop, set among the saints, who preceded your beatitude, did not deem it unworthy to run in person to Attila, then a wandering barbarian, in order to correct a bodily captivity -- and that not of Christians only, but, as is credible, also of Jews and of pagans -- how much more does it belong to your sanctity to hasten, not to the correction and conversion of a bodily captivity, which comes about by war, but of souls, which have been taken captive or are daily taken captive! And between the two ways of the diabolical error, that of Eutyches and that of Nestorius, may you show us more expressly a third, nay rather a middle way, of the true and right dogma. 9. Our sins have made it doubtful, some reckoning that no middle way of salvation can be found between Nestorius and Eutyches, but that it is altogether necessary that one be either of the one or of the other. On account of this, hasten, after God, to help us: and just as, between Arius, who divided and separated the one nature and substance of the Deity, and Sabellius, who confounded the persons and lessened the number of the Trinity, the most holy fathers showed the middle way of truth, demonstrating in the confession of the Divinity one substance, nature, and power against Arius, and against Sabellius three persons and, of equal power, one truth: so do you also now, most holy and most blessed ones, illumine us with the light of your spiritual knowledge, which is the true confession of the right faith between Eutyches -- who, in imitation of Sabellius, confounds the natures and substances -- and Nestorius -- who, in imitation of Arius, divides the persons and substances -- handed down to us by pope Leo, set among the saints, and [by] the holy fathers, disciples at Chalcedon: the unity of two substances or natures in one and the same person and one substance of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. For they themselves taught us, by the divine scriptures, that one nature of the flesh is visible and palpable and passible, and another nature invisible, impassible, and incomprehensible, in one person and substance of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ: the one coming from the substance and nature of his mother, born according to the flesh of the seed of David, Abraham, and Adam; the other begotten before the morning star from the substance and nature of the Father. But lest again, on account of the two natures and substances of the immaculate birth, those who are wise according to Nestorius, seizing the occasion, should wrongly introduce two persons or two sons or two Christs, those holy and blessed fathers taught us to know one person and an inseparable unity of substances out of two substances and natures and in two substances and natures of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. 10. For we, O most holy and most blessed Symmachus, hold the same one to be both out of two natures and in two natures, and not, as they say, one nature out of two natures after the union, but in two subsisting natures with unity -- not to confess that he suffers [as one nature], so as to teach that they are imitators of the Arians, who say that the Father is glorified through the Son, but that the Son is not glorified together with him. But just as against those men your brothers, the most holy fathers, taught that we say "through whom" and "with whom" suffer equally, since "through whom" signifies the humanity and "with whom" the divinity of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ: so now too, when those men say "out of two natures indeed" but do not confess "in two," we say "out of two" and "in two" alike. For saying "out of two," out of which the unity subsists, and "in two," in which he was seen and was handled and was taken up after the passion and resurrection, we confess [him], and [he is the one] in which he will come to judge the living and the dead. For neither could the bare Divinity be either handled or crucified for the life of the world, nor could the simple humanity, lying subject to death, by death confound him who held death, that is the devil. Whence also after the resurrection, the Word of God and our God, seen in his immaculate flesh, said to his own disciples: "See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see me having" [Luke 24:39]. "Having," he said, that he might not be thought to have been changed into it, but that he might be believed to have in truth taken it up. To the blessed Thomas also, who doubted, he cries out: "Put in your finger and see my hands, and give your hand and put it into my side, and be not unbelieving but believing" [John 20:27]. Whence, while he was being taken up, two men were seen by the disciples in white garments, who cried out and said: "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, shall so come, as you have seen him going into heaven" [Acts 1:11]: so that when he shall have come in every way in the glory of the Father with the holy angels on the terrible day of just judgment, the unbelieving Jews shall thus see him whom they pierced; but my fellow sinners [shall see] him who had mercy on them and freed them, but was neglected by them. But according to you, the holy and the just shall see him whom their soul loved, and shall rejoice with ineffable and glorious joy, receiving the consummation of their faith unto the salvation of their souls, and hearing his most sweet voice that says: "Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world" [Matthew 25:34]. Of which blessed voice may Christ our Lord deign [to make] us also, unworthy as we are, [worthy], together with your beatitude, through all things, most holy father!

Orientalium episcoporum ad Symmaclium. a. 512. 97. Enixe peiurU, ut Orientalibus ecclesiis schismate lahorantibus quam primum sub- veniaty sihique communionem impertiat, ut qui fidem catholicam profiteantur ac nominaiim Nestorii et Eutychetis haereses damneni, quamvis ab iis, qui in*quO' rttmdam addictorum damnatione non acqidescant, necdum sibi discedendum pro- pter utilitaiem Ecclesiae pulent, Ecclesia Orientalis ad Symmachum episcopum Romanum. 1. Bonus ille et amator hominum Dominus noster Jesus Chri- sius, qui propter^bonitatem suam in nos inclinans coelos et descen- dens ad terras, immaculatis evangeliis quotidie illud clamat: ^owM**th.9, est opus valcniibus medico, sed male habentibus ; non veni vocare justos, sed peccatores ad poenitentiam. Plus autem volens aperire opera suae clementiae, adjecit in sequentibus dicens: Quis autem vestrum.habens Luc. X4t 4: 88 centum oves, si perdiderit ovem unam ex iis, nonne relinquit nonaginta ' novem in deserto, et vadit ad perditam, quamdiu inveniat illam? Et . inveniens imponit illam gaudens in humeris suis, et veniens domum suam, convocat amicos suos et vicinos, dicens: „congaudete mihi, quia inveni ovem meam perditam''. Et ut clarius fieret quod dicitur, mox adjecit parabolam mulieris, quae perditam invenerat drachmam, ' utrisque adjungens et dicens : Amen dico vobis, quia sic fiet gaudium in coelis de uno peccatore poenitentiam agente, Haec dixi^), sanctissime, audens supplicare non pro perditione unius ovis neque pro perditione unius drachmae, sed pro amica ') Pro littera H Baronius substituit iV, coquo monogrammate Emiodium intelligendum arbitratur. Verum is veterum mos erat, qui nonnifli longe post Symmachi tempora mutari coepit, ut quum vagum aliquod nomen exprimere vo- lebant, illud non sola littera y sed nota i7/. designarent. Quapropter magiB cum Sirmondo retinere placet litterain H, eaque Hormisdam tunc diaconum ac j^ostea Symmachi successorem designatum interpretari. intiujcil. a. 512. uobis salute^ uou Orieutalium partiuui tautuui; sed trium^) piope plagarum habitabilis muudi^ non corruptihili argenio atU auroredm' ptarum de vana conversatione a parentibus iradita, sed preiwso sanguinc 1 Petr. j4gfii ])ei^ sicut docuit beatus gloriosonmi apostolorum princep8i ' * cujus cathedram beatitudiui tuae credidit Christus optimus pastor, 18 11 ^^ veuit quaereus et liberaus quod perierat^ et poueus anJTnftiu 2o|28. suam iu redemptiouem pro multis. 2. Quem imitautes^); sauctissimi beatissimique ^ festinate ad adjuvaudum uos^ sicut beatus Paulus doctor vester ad auxiliom quau- doque Macedouum festiuavit. Et quidem ille iu visioue cognosceus periclitari Macedoues^ iu veritate adjuvare eos properavit*); tu autem affectuosus iu filios pater^ uou iu visioue sed iu veritate spiritualibus cerueus oculis pereuutes iu praevaricatioue patris nostri Acacii; uoli remorari, magis autem^ ut ita dicam sicuti propbeta, Psalm. YiQfi dormites, sed festina ad liberandum nos: quia nou in ligando ' ' tautum potestas est tibi data^ sed iu solveudo quoque diu vinctos ad imitatiouem magistri ; ueque iu eradicaudo vel diruendo^ sed in plan- Jer.1,10. taudo et aedificaudo^ secundum beatum Jer^miam; magis secundam salvatorem muudi Christum, in cujus ille exstitit typo; ueque in iCor.5,6.tradendo tautum Satauae iu interitum carnis, sed et in caritate for- mando louga adversioue^) dejectos: [ne, quod absit; majori tristiti» 2Cor.2 7. absorptis nobis a Sataua videamiui pertulisse dispendium. Noneniio iguoras ejus ingenium, qui quotidie a sacro doctore tuo Petro d< ceris oves Christi per totiuu habitabilem mundum creditas tibi p^ scere, non vi sed spoute coactas, qui cum doctissimo Paulo clam»^ V^,?»' uobis subjectis et dicis : Non enim dominamur voNs in fide, s^^ •) AUudere videtur ad tres Orientis •patriarchaa , quos Xent^as in seilib ^^ Buis quietoB non sinebat, Macedonium Constantinopohtanum, Flavianum An " ochenum et Eliam Jerosolymitanum. ') b c* seq. imilatus sanctissime beatissimeque , mutata primacva lectione. ^ ista quidem locutionc majoris rcverentiac significationem affectari arbitnuna^^^ Neque enim iis, qui lianc epistolam non ad unum Symmachum, sed et ff^'^^^^ Occidentis opiscopos mi88am esse hinc conjectant, assentiri nos subnexa tiuutur. Acaciiun dcjecti sumus. Quamvis antmac/ver^to minus latinum ait, elegans taBeft cst advertere in aiiquem pro punire, Quare minime cum b c* oeq. praeierendum est aversione. EPISTOLA 12. 711 ramur in gaudio. Quare deprecamur disrumpi noyum chiro- a. 512. lum nostrum^ sicut salvator et dux noster Christus vetus illud Col. 2, t i. ice disrupit: ne ultra post lavacrum regenerationis malorum irum subjaceamus delictis^ sed ut ejus, qui comedit^ uva^) acerba rit dentes, secundum beati Ezechielis prophetiam. Quum ergo || ^ ritate parabolam istam salutari adventu suo Salvator impleve- ur^ sanctissime ac beatissime, Acacii inobedientia uvam acer- ^omedentiS; nostri, id est filiorum ipsius^ in tam longo anno- lursu ligati sunt dentes? Si unus homo peccavit, quare toti ogae aut magis toti habitabili mundo per^) anathema divinus incumbit? Ubi ergo Dei promissio, quae dicit: Non percipient ^^^^, irenium peccata, neque parentes filiorum suorum, sed unusquisque Deut. ur in suo peccato? 24,16. . Si propter Alexantbinorum ^) aut magis Eutychianorum ami- L^ qui aversantur et anathematizant sanctissimum et beatissi- papam Leonem vel in Calchedone synodum habitam^ anathe- itus est Acacius^ quare nos a vobis aestimamur haeretici et athemate sumus nos^ qui amplectimur solam^) illam epistolam ic dicta sunt iu sancta synodo, qui propter praedicationem dogmatis vestri quotidie oppugnamur; et ut haeretici anathe- wnur ab iis, qui Eutycheti consentiunt? Noli facere judicium lum, qui cunctam judicat terram, ne perdas justum cum impio^ at apud te justus ut impius, nec aequaliter judicentur a te loxi et haeretici, vel qui anathematizant praedictam sanctam lam sanctamque synodum vestram rectam^ et ii qui vobiscum { anathematizantur, et qui orant mori quotidie pro recta fide a vobis praedicatur. . Et Jesus quidem Nave incircumcisos et idolorum servitoresjo8.io,6. )uitas cum mendacio fugientes ad se, dum oppugnarentur ab elech vel ceteris quatuor cum eo principibus, pro eo quod ad joufugerant, Deo cooperaute strenue vindicavit, ne blasphema- nomen Dei ejus tamquam non eos adjuvare praevalentis. Vos i, sanctissimi viri, Jesu magni Dei et Salvatoris spei nostrae b c* seq. uua acerba ligaverit. Secundum illud Domini apud Ezechielem Vivo ego dicit Dominus DeuSj si erit uitra vobis parabota haec in prover- \\iO vulgo dicebatur: patres comederunt uvam, et dentes filiorum obstupescunt, , ut ejus unius, qui coniedit, dcntcs ligentur et obstupescant, hoc est Ue poenani experiatur, qid deliquit. Nulli anathema dictuni ost propter uuius Acacii peccatum, nisi iis, qui i consortio recedere nolentes, peccati ejus participes facti sunt. Hoc ideo dicunt, qiua Acacius propter hoc maxime damnatuB fuerat, ctri pseudoepiscopi Alexandrini saepius damnati amicitiam communionem- scepisset. Legeudum vidctur totam vel sanctam; quod postremum eo magis placct, lox eamdem epistolam sanctam vocent. a. 512. discipuli imitatoresque ejus, qui figuram servi assumpsit, ut noe li ^^ • ros redderet a peccato quod regnabat in nobis, videntes oppiign^^^^ nos et mortificari, uon sicut Gabaonitas incircumcisos, sed vobisci^^ . circumcisos in Christi cicumcisione , neque idolorum servitorea ^ *. aemulos, etsi peccatores, tamen Christianos et vobiscum omnia "^^ Christo sapientes, non despiciatis neque C(mtenmatis ultra, pii patrefe^ Jo8.6,2*2. sed sicut beatissimus praedietus Jesus Nave non illos tantum, se^^ et Raab meretricem illis anteposuit propter duorum exploratonu*:^-' susceptionem, ita et vos nos vigilanter assumite cum Dei juvamiu propter duarum naturarum traditionopi , quae a vobis per epistol inter sanctos constituti papae Leonis contra Eutychetis deliramenti Jos.2,6. directa est. *Et illa quidem suscipiens explorantes, in stuppam linr suae domus abscondit; nos autem rectae fidei vestrae suscipientea-^^ confessionem, in corde Jiostro non abscojidimus, sed in ecclesianuQCK^ domatibus^^) Dei misericordia eam cum auctoritate praedicamus. E^^( illa quidem rogata per metum eos se habere negavit: nos auten^^ oramus, ne unquam humano metu negemus rectae doctrinae nostra^^^ yeritatem*, et usque ad sanguinem pro ea stabimus, si ita continga^^^^ 5. Unde non taedeat nos adjuvare, neque odio habeatis pn)pt<=Ser adversantium conmiunionem^^): quum se ab hac plurimi facultatib^^_>Qg impechti et non habentes sollicitudinem multarum animarum susp^^^. derint, quibus vero muUarum animarum cura commissa est, in C— ._j^ ditis sibi communicent ecclesiis, nuUum contrarium habentes c(^»> in- municantem sibi, et metuentes relinquere lupis oves propter voc- -^m 10 12. Domini dicentem: Mercenarius auiem et qui non esi pastor, ct^jusr^^m sunt oves propriae, videt iupum venientem, el relinquit oves et fugU^ et lupus rapit eas atque dispergit, quia mercenarius est et non htm^-^t ovium curam. Quia ergo non amore vitae capti, sed ovium salufcv-^m curantes plurimi sacerdotum hoc faciunt, de^^) insequentibus rante Deo cognoscere poterit tua patemitas. Quidam enim de iis, qui in sacerdotio constituti sunt, spect-* tes*^) in exsilio mitti presbyteros orthodoxos et sanctos viros, voL^^*' i^) In prius Yulgatis dogmatihus. Restitueudum duximuB domaiibus, k^^^^' tum enim est, oos respicere tum ad factum Baab, quat feeit adseendere t:wmrot ad solarium domus suae, tum maxime ad praeceptum Domini, qoi Matth. 10 ^* ^ qnod in tenebris docuerat, praedicari juBsit super iecia (graece inl t»9 liat<ov. >') Uoc cst: proptcrca quod non omnino abjiciamus commnniouem qui Acacii damnatiom adversantur cique nolunt eubBcribere. Deinde fbrte dum quum se ab hac plurimi sacerdotiis expediti. **) Hoc est ex consequentibus. b Bubstituit deinceps. *^) Edit. Basil. et Bom. sperantes; ac subinde sub arbiiroj pro «no Praefcrenda visa est Barouii correctio. Hoc enim aibi vult: eoM, qui rent in exUium mitii presbyteros orihodoxos et sanctos viros, wlebani $e necessiiatem ab ecclesiis suo arbitrio subducere eosque seqtd, non sioenmt koe fd^^^ EPISTOLA 12. 713 se praeter necessitatem ab ecclesiis suo arbitrio subducere ipsos- a. 512. c|\x€? ^equi, non cesserunt eis hoc facere, adjurantes eos, ut manerent \ix creditis sibi sanctis ecclesiis ad populi raunimen orthodoxi, in se suscipiendo quae putantur discretionis illorum. Sicut Rebecca quon- dsLJH dicens Jacob: In me peccalum tmm, fiii; ita illi ab ecclesiis ,^®^.j 8il>i creditis discedere sponte volentibus dixerunt: In nos veniat pec- caitan discretionis vestrae, tantummodo oves Christi praeter necessita- tem lupis non relinquatis, ne in loca vestra haeretici ingredientes, lupi discerpant oves, Aut certe ab ipsis ovibus suis propter rectam fidem fugati et his, qui non fugantur sed sponte discedere cupiunt, ne cui adversantium communicent, tali fide dicentes'^): putas isti amore vitae hoc faciunt, an amore animanun, ad imitationem Do- miiLi sui primi pastoris nostri Jesu Christi magni Dei et Salvatoris spei nostrae, qui animam suam posuit pro ovibus suis? 6. Omnimodo autem et qui videntur communicare orthodoxi, et qui se a eommunione abstinent, omnes post Deum tuae lumen visitationis et assumptionis operimur. Quare festina juvare Orien- tem, ex quo vobis duo grandia diei lumina Petrum et Paulum ad illuminationem totius mundi Salvator direxit. Reddite ergo ei bonam retaibutionem , quam ipse vobis dedit: illuminate eum rectae fidei lomin^, sicut per ipsum vos quondam divinae cognitionis liunine idem illuminavit. Sicut enim quando toto mundo in peccatis aegro- tante, unius hominis delicto lassati, in aegritudinis curatione boni iUiusmedici discipuli, ipsum coeiestem medicum et principem pasto- rem magistrum suum ad curam vocantes aegritudinis ipsius, ali- quajido dicebant: Domine, inclina coelos tuos, et descende; aliquando j|*^?^ nirsum: Qui regis Israel, intende, qui sedes super Cherubim, appare, 79,2. ^^'^^ta potentiam tuam et veni, ut liheres nos: sic nos modo, qui in- "^^■^iiitate *^) novae praevaricationis patris nostri dejicimur, ad tuam <^|**raamus beatitudinem , ut et tu imitator exsistens Filii Dei ad^^) ^^ctionem deprecatione venias. Imitatione ipsius coelestis Patris ^j qui facit solem suum oriri super honos et malos, et pluit super^^^^^- jus/os et injustos, festina in auxilium nostrum, sciens, sanctissime, ' * 0 Hoc est: talia eo siudio ac flde persuadentes putandine sunt, seu qm per- ^*^<, seu quibus hoc persuadeiurj ne gregem suum deserant, amore vitae hoc **) Ed. Bas. et Rom. infirmati novae praevaricationis , b c c infirmitati novae ^'^oaricationis. Abbreviationcm primariam ex ingeuio linguae latinac supple- ™^^8. Coust. mallet infirmati noxa praevaricationis. Jam se superius n. 2 dixe- *♦ pereuntes in praevaricatione patris nostri Acacii. Utrobiquc Acacium ita P^^ievarioatorem fatentur, ut profiteantur et patrem, quia nimirum quod rcgiae ^^ antistiti Calchedonensis synOdus attribuerat ratum habebant. *•) b c c ad marg. ad dejectionem; quae conjectura non arridet. Ipsi euim, T^ iDitio num. 5 rogabant: Neque odio habeatis propter adversantium communionem, ^^ nt ad dilectionem veniat precantur. a. 512. sicut iu priucipiis dictum est^ quia non opus hdbent sani me^Of xd ^ 12' male habenies. 7. Quodsi parva exsisterct aegritudo^ uos forsitau ad spiiitDa- lem uostrom medicum curreremus, quateuus et passioues bononuD mediconmi^ id est gloriosorum Cliristi discipulorum yestrormDqiie doctorum^ et saucta adoraremus^^) tua vestigia^ ut et praeyaricaiio- uis mediciuam et solutiouem viuculorum et delicti remissiouem de tuo saucto ore susciperemus. Sed quia nofi est ulcus aut maadd JvsA.O. neqtte plaga ttmiens, sed totum ulcus est a pedibus usque ad captA^ sicut beatus Isaias autiquam praevaricatiouem defleus dixit: Yosjam boui medici^ et illius veri medici vel bouorum discipulorom ipsiiis certissimi plautatores, festiuate ad curam resolutorum ecclesiastiei JeB.35,3. corporis membrorum, ut dissolutas mauus uostras dissolutaque geniu erigatis, et cursus rectos faciatis pedibus uostris: ue quod claQdum est; amplius distorqueatur^ sed curetur magis per streuuitatem et optimam diligeutiam vestram. 8. Sicut euim magistro uostro domiuo Paulo glorioso apostok) propter iufideles aliquos^ dum eum pigeret sermouem Domini in Act. 18,9. Coriutho loqui, adstaus Domiuus dixit: Loquere et non taceas, ^ multus est mihi populus in hac civitate; et uuuc tuae dicit beatitadim ejus beuiguitas: ^^festiua, et uoli tardare ad Orieutis auxilium'',,magis autem ad majores partes habitabilis muudi, quia uon tantmn pio Jou.4,11. ceutiuu vigiuti piillibus iu magua quaudoque constitutis civitate Niuive, sed a multo pluribus spera exspectari tuam post Deum me- diciuam. Si euim qui praecessit beatitudiuem tuam inter sanctoa coustitutus Leo archiepiscopus ad Attilam tunc erronem barbarum per se currere uou duxit iudiguum, ut captivitatem corrigeret cof- poralem, uec tautum Christiauorum, sed et Judaeorum; ut credibile est, atque pagauorum: quauto magis festiuare ad tuam attinet sau- ctitatem, uou ad corporeae, quae bello fit, captivitatis correctionem atque couversiou^u , sed auimarum, quae captivatae sunt yel quo- tidie captivaiitur! Et iuter duas diabolici vias erroris, £utychet]s atque Nestorii , tertiam immo mediam uobis ostendas expressius veri rectique dogmatis viam. 9. Dubiam eam feceruut uostra peccata, aestimanbibus quiboB- dam uon posse iuter Nestorii et Eutychetis salutis viam mediam re])eriri, sed quod omuiuo uecesse sit, aut illius esse quemquauUy '^ Nottindum advrandi vorbuiu pro rcligiosa obBcrvantia, adoo ut Nicae- num II concilium nihil iniu>itiitum protulisse coiistct, quumact.7 sacns reliqaiii honorariam adorationem tnbuendam deftnivit. Notauda ct iUiuB observantiac, qoi summorum pontificum vcBtigia ailorantur, antiquitas. Paulo autc poMtmmtM h^ norum medicorum uuucupant apostolorimi Totri ct Pauli tuiiiuloe« quibiH pMl paasiones conditi fucrant, qua loquendi ratione ctiam nune Potii rnnftwio mp- pellatur ca Yaticauae ccclesiae pars, in qua corpus ejua jacet. EPISTOLA 12. 715 s^vki, illius. Propter hoc festina post Deum nos adjuvare: et sicuta. 612. iniier Arii divideutis atque separautis unam Deitatis naturam atque 8ii.l>staniiam et Sabellii quoque confundentis personas et minuentis HTUnerom Trinitatis ostenderunt sanctissimi patres viam mediam veiitatis, in confessione Diyinitatis unam substantiam, naturam vir- -fcixtemque demonstrantes^ propter * Sabellium tres personas et aequae ^^?^^^ poientiae unam veritatem : sic et vos nunc^ sanctissimi atque beatis- simi^ illuminate nos spiritualis scientiae vestrae lumine, quae est inter*^) * Eutychetis ad imitationem Sabellii naturas atque substan- ^^PPj . . . ... .. confessio- tias confundentis^ et inter Nestorii ad imitationem Arii personas nem atque substantias dividentis vera rectae fidei confessio^ tradita nobis a papa Leone inter sanctos constituto, et*^) discipulonmnin Calche- done sanctorum patrum^ duarum substantiarum aut naturarum uni- tas in una eademque persona et una^^) substantia magni Dei et Salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi. Ipsi enim docuerunt nos divinis scri- ptoris alteram esse visibilem et palpabilem et passibilem camis uatnram, et alteram invisibilem impassibilem et incomprehensibilem natoram in una persona et substantia magni Dei et Salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi: alteram de matris substantia et natura venientem de semine David^ Abrahae et Adae^ secundum carnem uatam, alteram vero ex utero ante Luciferum genitam de substantia et natura Pa- Ws. Sed ne rursus propter immaculati partus duas naturas et sub- 8*antias occasionem apprehendentes, qui secundum Nestorium sapi- ^t, duas personas aut duos filios vel duos Christos male introdu- ^^^t, docuenmt sancti illi et beati patres unam scire personam et ^bstantiarum inseparabilem unitatem ex duabus substantiis et na- ^'^s et in duabus substantiis et naturis magni Dei et Salvatoris \ ^ostri Jesu Christi. 10. Nos enim, o sanctissime et beatissime Symmache, eumdem ®^© existimamus et ex dudbus naturis et in duahus naturis, et non, ^^cut illi dicimt, ex duabus naturis uuam naturam post adunatio- '*) b c c addunt senientiam, glossema. Magis supplendum confcssionem, ••) Orationis series postulat et discipulis in Calchedone sanctis potribus^ nec ^fifsurum est interpretera litterae graocae constructione fuisse deceptum. Au ^^lcliedonenses patres ideo Lconis discipuli vocantur, quia hujus doctrina seu ®P*»tola ad Flavianum ipsis praelecta eorum definitioni praeivit? Suspicio non ^®08t discipulorum loco legendum esse DCXXX. ^ Edit. Basil. et Rom. et unius suhstantiae, quamvis panlo inferius in una ^^^^€ina et una suhstantia retineant. Recte et hic Barouius restituit una snbstan' ^* ita atvox «u^^an/ta non graecao ovata sed vTtoataaig rospoudeat, quae ^^^em vox, ut observavit Augustinus de Trinit. Vll n. 8, licet.latine substantia *^^^atur, nihil apud Graecos aliud, quam quod apud nos persona, sonat. Quam- |^**Ui interpres accuratior hic et infra in una pei^sona et una hypostasi graecum \ ivl MQoemntp xal (ii.a vnoatdasL hitine convertisset, mazime quum ^^^^ eodem substantiae vocabulo graecum ovaia reddat. a. 512. nem^ in duabus autem subsistentibus^^) naturis cum imitate non pati coufiteri*, ut se doeeant Arianorum esse imitatores, dicentiiim per Filium glorifieari ^'^) Patrem, cum Filio autem non pati se eom glorificari. Sed sicut contra illos docuerunt fratres tui sanctissimi patres, „per quem'' et „cum quo" aequaliter pati dicere nos, qnii^ „per quem^' humanitatem^ „cum quo'% divinitatem sigziificant magni Dei et KSalvatoris nostri Jesu Cliristi: sic et nnnc illis, „ex dudbm quidem naiuris'' dicentibus, „m duabus*' autem non confitentibos, nos „ex duabus^* et „tn dmbus" pariter dicimus. Ex duabus enim dicentes^ ex quibus subsistit unitas^ m duabus autem, in quibus visus est et palpatus est et assumptus post passionem et resurrectionem, confitemur, et in quibus veniet judicaturus vivos et mortuos. Neque enim nuda Divinitas poterat aut palpari aut crucifigi pro vita mnndi, nec simplex humanitas morti subjacens per mortem confundere eum, qui obtinebat mortem, hoc est diabolum. Unde et post resurrectio- nem in immaculata came sua visum Verbum Dei et Deus noster *>4 39 ^°^^^ discipulis suis dicebat: Videte manus meas et pedes meoi, quia ego ipse sum; palpate et videte, quia spiritus camem et assa fum habet, sicut me videtis habentem, Habentem dixit, ut non is in iOa mutatus putaretur, sed in veritate assumpsisse crederetur. Beaio *>n !?7 quoque Thomae diffidenti clamat: Infer digitum tuum et vide manm meas, et da manum tuam et mitte in latus meum, et noii esse incre- dulus sed fidelis, Unde dum assumeretur^ duo viri visi discipulis in Act. 1, 11. albis vestibus eiamabant et dicebant: Viri Galiiaei, qtdd statis adspi- cientes in coeium? Hic Jesus, qui ablatus est a vobis in coelum, ita veniet, sicut vidistis euntem in coelum: ut dum venerit onmimodo m i gloria Patris cum sanctis angelis in die terribili justi judicii^ sic infideles Judaei videant in quem compunxerunt, compeccatores^) autem mei eum, qui eorum misertus est et liberavit eos, neglectus autem ab eis est. Secundum vos autem sancti et justi videbnntr .quem dilexit anima eorum^ et laetabuntur laetitia ineffabili ei '') Hoc est: persisteniibus post camis nostrae suscepUonem; quam doctriniB Eutychiani, naturam humanam in Christo vel consumtam vel confnflam seniien- tes, pati nou possunt. In hoc porro imitantur Arianos, qaod cum us vaauoL m. Christo naturam velint, illi quidem solam humanam, ipsi vero aoUun divioim, ambo tamcn unam. Hic autem suhsistentibus minime sic dicitor qnasi proprim subsistentiam habentibus. EPISTOLAE 12. 13. 717 gloriosa ^ accipientes consummationem fidei suae in salutem anima- a. 512. nun suaxum et audientes suavissimam vocem eius dicentis: Veniie,^^^^^' benedicti Patris mei, haereditate paratum vobis regnum ab initio mundi. Oajus beatae vocis cum tua beatitudine et nos indignos dignetur Christus Dominus noster, per omnia sanctissime pater!