Letter 85: Severus gives Dionysius a rule for receiving Mark without allowing divided communion.

Severus concludes that Mark, the presbyter and monk, should be given an opportunity for repentance. Mark must put his renunciation in writing, anathematizing both the teaching that divides the one Lord Jesus Christ into two natures after the union and the Massalian error, together with the persons and doctrines involved. Severus says he had already made Mark draw up a written satisfaction in this form. He supports the decision from precedent. During the Arian crisis, some people left the communion of the holy fathers, fell into heretical error, and were later converted without being rejected. The church therefore has room to receive someone who repents. But Severus immediately adds a limit: Mark must understand that he cannot keep communion both with Severus' circle and with those who do not think the same way. Paul and John both warn believers to avoid communion that undermines the truth. This is not severity for its own sake. Severus' rule gives Mark a path back while making the path honest. Repentance cannot mean standing in two communions at once, and written renunciation is not paperwork; it is a public break with errors that have public consequences. The letter shows Severus at his characteristic intersection of law and mercy. He wants to receive the fallen, but only in a way that teaches the church that truth and communion belong together. The contrast is important. If Mark is rejected absolutely, repentance is treated as powerless. If he is received without a break from contrary communion, repentance is treated as unnecessary. Severus rejects both mistakes. The written statement is the hinge between them: it makes mercy visible as conversion, not as forgetfulness.

Therefore my conclusion and judgment is that an opportunity for penitence be given to the said devout presbyter and monk Mark, in order that he may anathematize in writing the heresies in which he has shared, viz., that of those who divide our one Lord and God Jesus Christ into two natures after the union, and that also of the Massalians with the persons themselves and the doctrines, as we also here caused him to draw up a form of satisfaction - here in writing. For indeed we find certain men in the times of the Arians who removed themselves from the communion of the holy fathers and fell away to the error of the heretics, and were again converted and were not repelled. How- ever the devout Mark must henceforth be cautious and know clearly that it is not possible for him to retain our communion and that of those who do not think the same as we do, seeing that Paul who had Christ speaking in him warns us to shun even com- munications with such men, saying, [Here follows the citation given on ]. And John the speaker of divine things writing an epistle and holding the same opinion speaks thus; [Here follows the citation given on ]. And Basil, who was moved by the same Spirit as these, and is an accurate teacher of the sacred laws, wrote in the letter to Urbicius the monk as follows; [Here follows the citation given on ], If the circumstances of the present case^ concerned ^ He. iii. 13. ~ TrX-qpoi^opCa. ^ VTroOea-ts. only the person of the devout presbyter and monk Mark, I would perhaps have closed the letter with these texts. But, since it is a habitation of many brethren, and a headship of rational souls that have taken upon them the philosophic life, in singing of the comeliness of which and the pleasure that it gives to God and in chanting those harmonious spiritual songs the prophet David sang crying, " Behold! what is good and what beautiful except that brethren should dwell together, as ointment upon the head that runs down upon the beard, the beard of Aaron? ",^ it is your sanctity's duty to look at the number of the brethren dwelling in the monastery, and to comply with the opinion of those who are the majority, provided firstly that the often- mentioned devout Mark did not intrude himself by force and violence, and secondly that he is not by his association disturbing and dissolving the bond of unity, to speak in the language of the Apostle,^ and the concord of those who are living a life that has no association with the world's confusions, and is beautiful and lovely and resembles ointment. Repentance is not a thing of the same kind as the spiritual headship and super- intendence of a monastery. Such men must be of approved character, and men who have walked in all virtue, according to the utterance of the Lord which says in the Gospels, "Who then is the faithful and wise bondman, whom his lord set over his house to give them the food in due season? blessed is the bondman 1 Ps. cxxxi. I, 2. 2 Eph. iv. 3 (?). V. 5- whom his lord shall come and find so doing." ^ I therefore upon the devout monk and presbyter Mark showing penitence in canonical form and confessing his sin have opened to him the door of repentance. But it rests with you, as I said, to determine the question of the headship and superintendence of the monastery, according to the opinion of the brothers who form the majority: because in such cases it is the more fitting course to acquiesce in the wish of the greater number. This I say because I have received a written petition pleading for the devout presbyter and monk Mark, and containing signatures given by the devout clergymen and monks of the same said monastery, which are in number ten only. Therefore, since it was not my part, being at a distance, to give a judgment upon the details of such a question, I have of necessity committed to your holiness the duty of making a detailed investigation of the matter. Con- sidering therefore both points, I mean the superin- tendence of the cloister, and the o-ain or loss in regard to the brothers themselves, give a proper decision upon the disputed questions with help and inspiration and grace from above, without which it is impossible for any right action to be done. As to the devout presbyter Julian, the brother of the God-loving bishop Serenus,^ I forbear to say anything, being convinced that after such an ex- perience he would never have dared to convey false ^ Mt. xxiv. 45, 46. " Cf. information to the pious ears of our serene Christ- loving king. If in addition to what has already been done he have presumed to do this also, he falls by divine and human laws, from which there is no possibility of escape.