Letters 1–10

To the Bishop of Aquileia

I.  Through the negligence of the authorities the Pelagian heresy has been spreading in his province.

From the account of our holy brother and fellow-bishop Septimus which is contained in the subjoined letter, we have understood that certain priests and deacons and clergy of various orders in your province who have been drawn in by the Pelagian or Cælestian heresy, have attained to catholic communion without any recantation of their peculiar error being required of them; and that, whilst the shepherds set to watch were fast asleep, wolves clothed in sheep-skins but without laying aside their bestial minds have entered into the Lord’s sheep-fold:  and that they make a practice of what is not allowed even to non-offenders by the injunctions of our canons and decrees:  to wit that they should leave the churches in which they received or regained their office and carry their uncertainty in all directions, loving to continue wandering and never to remain on the foundations of the Apostles.  For without being sifted by any test or bound by any previous confession of faith, they make a great point of their right to the privilege of going to one house after another under cover of their being in communion with the Church, and corrupting the hearts of many through men’s ignorance of their false name.  And yet I am sure they could not do this, if the rulers of the churches had exercised their rightful diligence in the matter of receiving such, and had not allowed any of them to wander from place to place.

II.  He orders a provincial synod to be convened to receive the recantation of the heretics in express terms.

Accordingly, lest this should be attempted any further, and lest this pernicious habit, which owes its introduction to certain persons’ negligence, should result in the overthrow of many souls, by this our authoritative injunction we charge you, brother, to give diligence that a synod of the clergy of your province be convened, and all, whether priests or deacons or clerics of any rank who have been re-admitted from their alliance with the Pelagians and the Cælestians into catholic communion with such precipitation that they were not first constrained to recant their error, be now at least forced to a true correction, which can advantage themselves and hurt no one, since their deceitfulness has in part been disclosed.  Let them by their public confession condemn the authors of this presumptuous error and renounce all that the universal Church has repudiated in their doctrine:  and let them announce by full and open statements, signed by their own hand, that they embrace and entirely approve of all the synodal decrees which the authority of the Apostolic See has ratified to the rooting out of this heresy.  Let nothing obscure, nothing ambiguous be found in their words.  For we know that their cunning is such that they reckon that the meaning of any particular clause of their execrable doctrine can be defended if they only keep it distinct from the main body of their damnable views.

III.  The Pelagian view of God’s grace is unscriptural.

And when they pretend to disapprove of and give up all their definitions to facilitate evasion through their complete art of deception, unless their meaning is detected, they make exception of the dogma that the grace of God is given according to the merits of the recipient.  And yet surely, unless it is given freely, it is not a gift, but a price and compensation for merits:  for the blessed Apostle says, “by grace ye have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves but it is the gift of God; not of works lest any should perchance be exalted.  For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus in good works, which God prepared that we should walk in them.”  Thus every bestowal of good works is of God’s preparing:  because a man is justified by grace rather than by his own excellence:  for grace is to every one the source of righteousness, the source of good and the fountain of merit.  But these heretics say it is anticipated by men’s natural goodness for this reason, that that nature which (in their view) is before grace conspicuous for good desires of its own, may not seem marred by any stain of original sin, and that what the Truth says may be falsified:  “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”

IV.  Prompt measures are essential.

You must take heed, therefore, beloved, and with great diligence make provision that offences which have long been removed be not set up again through such men and that no seed of the same evil spring up in your province from a doctrine which has once been uprooted:  for not only will it take root and grow, but also will taint the future generations of the Church with its poisonous exhalations.  Those who wish to appear corrected must purge themselves of all suspicion:  and by obeying us, prove themselves ours.  And if any of them decline to satisfy our wholesome injunctions, be he cleric or layman, he must be driven from the society of the Church lest he deal treacherously by others’ safety as well as forfeit his own soul.

V.  The canons must be enforced against clerics who wander from one church to another.

We admonish you also to restore to full working that part of the discipline of the Church whereby the holy Fathers and we have often in former times decreed that neither in the grade of the priesthood nor in the order of the diaconate nor in the lower ranks of the clergy, is any one at liberty to migrate from church to church:  to the end that each one may persevere where he was ordained without being enticed by ambition, or led astray by greed, or corrupted by men’s evil beliefs:  and thus that if any one, seeking his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ, neglect to return to his own people and church, he may be reckoned out of the pale both in respect of promotion and of the bond of communion.  But do not doubt, beloved, that we must be somewhat sorely moved if, as we think not, our decrees for the maintenance of the canons and the integrity of the faith be neglected:  because the short-comings of the lower orders are to be laid at the door of none so much as of those slothful and remiss rulers who often foster much pestilence by shrinking from the application of a stringent remedy.

To Septimus, Bishop of Altinum

Letter II.

To Septimus, Bishop of Altinum.

(Caution must be observed in receiving Pelagians back, and clergy must stay in the church of their ordination.)

From Paschasinus, Bishop of Lilybæum

Letter III.

From Paschasinus, Bishop of Lilybæum.

(About the keeping of Easter in 444; recommending the Alexandrine calculation.)

To the Bishops appointed in Campania, Picenum, Etruria, and all the Provinces

Letter IV.

To the Bishops appointed in Campania, Picenum, Etruria, and all the Provinces.

Leo, bishop of the city of Rome, to all the bishops appointed in Campania, Picenum, Etruria, and all the provinces, greeting in the Lord.

I.  Introduction.

As the peaceful settlement of the churches causes us satisfaction, so are we saddened with no slight sorrow whenever we learn that anything has been taken for granted or done contrary to the ordinances of the canons and the discipline of the Church:  and if we do not repress such things with the vigilance we ought, we cannot excuse ourselves to Him who intended us to be watchmen, for permitting the pure body of the Church, which we ought to keep clean from every stain, to be defiled by contact with wicked schemers, since the framework of the members loses its harmony by such dissimulation.

II.  Slaves and serfs (coloni) are not to be ordained.

Men are admitted commonly to the Sacred Order who are not qualified by any dignity of birth or character:  even some who have failed to obtain their liberty from their masters are raised to the rank of the priesthood, as if sorry slaves were fit for that honour; and it is believed that a man can be approved of God who has not yet been able to approve himself to his master.  And so the cause for complaint is twofold in this matter, because both the sacred ministry is polluted by such poor partners in it, and the rights of masters are infringed so far as unlawful possession is rashly taken of them.  From these men, therefore, beloved brethren, let all the priests of your province keep aloof; and not only from them, but from others also, we wish you to keep, who are under the bond of origin or other condition of service:  unless perchance the request or consent be intimated of those who claim some authority over them.  For he who is to be enrolled on the divine service ought to be exempt from others, that he be not drawn away from the Lord’s camp in which his name is entered, by any other bonds of duty.

III.  A man who has married twice or a widow is not eligible as a priest.

Again, when each man’s respectability of birth and conduct has been established, what sort of person should be associated with the ministry of the Sacred Altar we have learnt both from the teaching of the Apostle and the Divine precepts and the regulations of the canons, from which we find very many of the brethren have turned aside and quite gone out of the way.  For it is well known that the husbands of widows have attained to the priesthood:  certain, too, who have had several wives, and have led a life given up to all licentiousness, have had all facilities put in their way, and been admitted to the Sacred Order, contrary to that utterance of the blessed Apostle, in which he proclaims and says to such, “the husband of one wife,” and contrary to that precept of the ancient law which says by way of caution:  “Let the priest take a virgin to wife, not a widow, not a divorced woman.”  All such persons, therefore, who have been admitted we order to be put out of their offices in the church and from the title of priest by the authority of the Apostolic See:  for they will have no claim to that for which they were not eligible, on account of the obstacle in question:  and we specially claim for ourselves the duty of settling this, that if any of these irregularities have been committed, they may be corrected and may not be allowed to occur again, and that no excuse may arise from ignorance:  although it has never been allowed a priest to be ignorant of what has been laid down by the rules of the canons.  These writings, therefore, we have addressed to your provinces by the hand of Innocent, Legitimus and Segetius, our brothers and fellow-bishops:  that the evil shoots which are known to have sprung up may be torn out by the roots, and no tares may spoil the Lord’s harvest.  For thus all that is genuine will bear much fruit, if that which has been wont to kill the growing crop be carefully cleared away.

IV.  Usurious practices forbidden for clergy and for laity.

This point, too, we have thought must not be passed over, that certain possessed with the love of base gain lay out their money at interest, and wish to enrich themselves as usurers.  For we are grieved that this is practised not only by those who belong to the clergy, but also by laymen who desire to be called Christians.  And we decree that those who have been convicted be punished sharply, that all occasion of sinning be removed.

V.  A cleric may not make money in another’s name any more than in his own.

The following warning, also, we have thought fit to give, that no cleric should attempt to make money in another’s name any more than in his own:  for it is unbecoming to shield one’s crime under another man’s gains.  Nay, we ought to look at and aim at only that usury whereby what we bestow in mercy here we may recover from the Lord, who will restore a thousand fold what will last for ever.

VI.  Any bishop who refuses consent to these rules must be deposed.

This admonition of ours, therefore, proclaims that if any of our brethren endeavour to contravene these rules and dare to do what is forbidden by them, he may know that he is liable to deposition from his office, and that he will not be a sharer in our communion who refuses to be a sharer of our discipline.  But lest there be anything which may possibly be thought to be omitted by us, we bid you, beloved, to keep all the decretal rules of Innocent of blessed memory, and also of all our predecessors, which have been promulgated about the orders of the Church and the discipline of the canons, and to keep them in such wise that if any have transgressed them he may know at once that all indulgence is denied him.

Dated 10th of October, in the consulship of the illustrious Maximus (a second time) and Paterius (a.d. 443).

To the Metropolitan Bishops of Illyricum

Letter V.

To the Metropolitan Bishops of Illyricum.

(Appointing Anastasius of Thessalonica his Vicar in the province, and expressing his wishes about its government, for which see Letter VI.)

To Anastasius, Bishop of Thessalonica

Letter VI.

To Anastasius, Bishop of Thessalonica.

Leo to his beloved brother Anastasius.

I.  He is pleased to have been consulted by the bishopsof Illyricum on important questions.

The brotherly love of our colleagues makes us read with grateful mind the letters of all priests; for in them we embrace one another in the spirit as if we were face to face, and by the intercourse of such epistles we are associated in mutual converse.  But in this present letter the affection displayed seems to us greater than usual:  for it informs us of the state of the churches, and urges us to a vigilant exercise of care by a consideration of our office, so that being placed, as it were, on a watch-tower, according to the will of the Lord, we should both lend our approval to things when they run in accordance with our wishes, and correct, by applying the remedies of compulsion, what we observe gone wrong through any aggression:  hoping that abundant fruit will be the result of our sowing the seed, if we do not allow those things to increase which have begun to spring up to the spoiling of the harvest.

II.  Following the examples of his predecessors he nominates Anastasius Metropolitan of Illyricum.

Now therefore, dear brother, that your request has been made known to us through our son Nicolaus the priest, that you, too, like your predecessors, might receive from us in our turn authority over Illyricum for the observance of the rules, we give our consent and earnestly exhort that no concealment and no negligence may be allowed in the management of the churches situated throughout Illyricum, which we commit to you in our stead, following the precedent of Siricius of blessed remembrance, who then, for the first time, acting on a fixed method, entrusted them to your last predecessor but one, Anysius of holy memory, who had at the time well deserved of the Apostolic See, and was approved by after events:  that he might render assistance to the churches situated in that province whom he wished kept up to discipline.  Noble precedents must be followed with eagerness that we may show ourselves in all things like those whose privileges we wish to enjoy.  We wish you to imitate your last predecessor but one as well as of your immediate predecessor who is known equally with the former to have both deserved and employed this privilege:  so that we may rejoice in the progress of the churches which we commit to you in our stead.  For as the conduct of matters progresses creditably when committed to one who acts well and carries out skilfully the duties of the priestly position, so it is found to be only a burden to him who, when power is entrusted to him, uses not the moderation that is due.

III.  Ordinees must be carefully selected with especial reference to the Canons of the church.

And so, dear brother, hold with vigilance the helm entrusted to you, and direct your mind’s gaze around on all which you see put in your charge, guarding what will conduce to your reward and resisting those who strive to upset the discipline of the canons.  The sanction of God’s law must be respected, and the decrees of the canons should be more especially kept.  Throughout the provinces committed to thee let such priests be consecrated to the Lord as are commended only by their deserving life and position among the clergy.  Permit no licence to personal favour, nor to canvassing, nor to purchased votes.  Let the cases of those who are to be ordained be investigated carefully and let them be trained in the discipline of the Church through a considerable period of their life.  But if all the requirements of the holy Fathers are found in them, and if they have observed all that we read the blessed Apostle Paul to have enjoined on such, viz., that he be the husband of one wife, and that she was a virgin when he married her, as the authority of God’s law requires, [then ordain them].  And this we are extremely anxious should be observed, so as to do away with all place for excuses, lest any one should believe himself able to attain to the priesthood who has taken a wife before he obtained the grace of Christ, and on her decease joined himself to another after baptism.  Seeing that the former wife cannot be ignored, nor the previous marriage put out of the reckoning, and that he is as much the father of the children whom he begot by that wife before baptism as he is of those whom he is known to have begotten by the second after baptism.  For as sins and things which are known to be unlawful are washed away in the font of baptism, so what are allowed or lawful are not done away.

IV.  The Metropolitans must not ordain hastily nor without consulting their Primate.

Let one be ordained a priest throughout these churches inconsiderately; for by this means ripe judgments will be formed about those to be elected, if your scrutiny, brother, is dreaded.  But let any bishop who, contrary to our command, is ordained by his metropolitan without your knowledge, know that he has no assured position with us, and that those who have taken on themselves so to do must render an account of their presumption.  But as to each metropolitan is committed such power that he has the right of ordaining in his province, so we wish those metropolitans to be ordained, but not without ripe and well-considered judgment.  For although it is seemly that all who are consecrated priests should be approved and well-pleasing to God, yet we wish those to have peculiar excellence whom we know are going to preside over the fellow-priests who are assigned to them.  And we admonish you, beloved, to see to this the more diligently and carefully, that you may be proved to keep that precept of the Apostles which runs, “lay hands suddenly on no man.”

V.  Points which cannot be settled at the provincial synod are to be referred to Rome.

Any of the brethren who has been summoned to a synod should attend and not deny himself to the holy congregation:  for there especially he should know that what will conduce to the good discipline of the Church must be settled.  For all faults will be better avoided if more frequent conferences take place between the priests of the Lord, and intimate association is the greatest help alike to improvement and to brotherly love.  There, if any questions arise, under the Lord’s guidance they will be able to be determined, so that no bad feeling remains, and only a firmer love exists among the brethren.  But if any more important question spring up, such as cannot be settled there under your presidency, brother, send your report and consult us, so that we may write back under the revelation of the Lord, of whose mercy it is that we can do ought, because He has breathed favourably upon us:  that by our decision we may vindicate our right of cognizance in accordance with old-established tradition and the respect that is due to the Apostolic See:  for as we wish you to exercise your authority in our stead, so we reserve to ourselves points which cannot be decided on the spot and persons who have made appeal to us.

VI.  Priests and deacons may not be ordained on weekdays any more than bishops.

You shall take order that this letter reach the knowledge of all the brethren, so that no one hereafter find an opportunity to excuse himself through ignorance in observing these things which we command.  We have directed our letter of admonition to the metropolitans themselves also of the several provinces, that they may know that they must obey the Apostolic injunctions, and that they obey us in beginning to obey you, brother, our delegate according to what we have written.  We hear, indeed, and we cannot pass it over in silence, that only bishops are ordained by certain brethren on Sundays only; but presbyters and deacons, whose consecration should be equally solemn, receive the dignity of the priestly office indiscriminately on any day, which is a reprehensible practice contrary to the canons and tradition of the Fathers, since the custom ought by all means to be kept by those who have received it with respect to all the sacred orders:  so that after a proper lapse of time he who is to be ordained a priest or deacon may be advanced through all the ranks of the clerical office, and thus a man may have time to learn that of which he himself also is one day to be a teacher.  Dated the 12th of January, in the consulship of Theodosius (18th time) and Albinus (444).

To the Bishops throughout Italy

Letter VII.

To the Bishops throughout Italy.

Leo to all the bishops set over the provinces of Italy greeting.

I.  Many Manichæans have been discovered in Rome.

We call you to a share in our anxiety, that with the diligence of shepherds you may take more careful heed to your flocks entrusted to you that no craft of the devil’s be permitted:  lest that plague, which by the revealing mercy of the Lord is driven off from our flocks through our care, should spread among your churches before you are forewarned, and are still ignorant of what is happening, and should find means of stealthily burrowing into your midst, and thus what we are checking in the City should take hidden root among you and grow up.  Our search has discovered in the City a great many followers and teachers of the Manichæan impiety, our watchfulness has proclaimed them, and our authority and censure has checked them:  those whom we could reform we have corrected and driven to condemn Manichæus with his preachings and teachings by public confession in church, and by the subscription of their own hand, and thus we have lifted those who have acknowledged their fault from the pit of their iniquity by granting them room for repentance.  A good many, however, who had so deeply involved themselves that no remedy could assist them, have been subjected to the laws in accordance with the constitutions of our Christian princes, and lest they should pollute the holy flock by their contagion, have been banished into perpetual exile by public judges.  And all the profane and disgraceful things which are found as well in their writings as in their secret traditions, we have disclosed and clearly proved to the eyes of the Christian laity that the people might know what to shrink from or avoid:  so that he that was called their bishop was himself tried by us, and betrayed the criminal views which he held in his mystic religion, as the record of our proceedings can show you.  For this, too, we have sent you for instruction:  and after reading them you will be in a position to understand all the discoveries we have made.

II.  The bishops of Italy must not allow those Manichæans who have quitted the city to escape or lie concealed.

And because we know that a good many of those who are involved here in too close an accusation for them to clear themselves have escaped, we have sent this letter to you, beloved, by our acolyth:  that your holiness, dear brothers, may be informed of this, and see fit to act with diligence and caution, lest the men of the Manichæan error be able to find opportunity of hurting your people and of teaching their impious doctrines.  For we cannot otherwise rule those entrusted to us unless we pursue with the zeal of faith in the Lord those who are destroyers and destroyed:  and with what severity we can bring to bear, cut them off from intercourse with sound minds, lest this pestilence spread much wider.  Wherefore I exhort you, beloved, I beseech and warn you to use such watchful diligence as you ought and can employ in tracking them out, lest they find opportunity of concealment anywhere.  For as he will have a due recompense of reward from God, who carries out what conduces to the health of the people committed to him; so before the Lord’s judgment-seat no one will be able to excuse himself from a charge of carelessness who has not been willing to guard his people against the propagators of an impious misbelief.  Dated 30 January, in the consulship of the illustrious Theodosius Augustus (18th time) and Albinus (444).

The Ordinance of Valentinian III. concerning the Manichæans

Letter VIII.

The Ordinance of Valentinian III. concerning the Manichæans.

(The Manichæans are to be turned out of the army and the City, and to lose all their rights as citizens.)

To Dioscorus, Bishop of Alexandria

Letter IX.

To Dioscorus, Bishop of Alexandria.

Leo, the bishop, to Dioscorus, bishop of Alexandria, greeting.

I.  The churches of Rome and Alexandria should be at one in everything.

How much of the divine love we feel for you, beloved, you will be able to estimate from this, that we are anxious to establish your beginnings on a surer basis, lest anything should seem lacking to the perfection of your love, since your meritorious acts of spiritual grace, as we have proved, are already in your favour.  Fatherly and brotherly conference, therefore, ought to be most grateful to you, holy brother, and received by you in the same spirit as you know it is offered by us.  For you and we ought to be at one in thought and act, so that as we read, in us also there may be proved to be one heart and one mind.  For since the most blessed Peter received the headship of the Apostles from the Lord, and the church of Rome still abides by His institutions, it is wicked to believe that His holy disciple Mark, who was the first to govern the church of Alexandria, formed his decrees on a different line of tradition:  seeing that without doubt both disciple and master drew but one Spirit from the same fount of grace, and the ordained could not hand on aught else than what he had received from his ordainer.  We do not therefore allow it that we should differ in anything, since we confess ourselves to be of one body and faith, nor that the institutions of the teacher should seem different to those of the taught.

II.  Fixed days should be observed for ordaining priests and deacons.

That therefore which we know to have been very carefully observed by our fathers, we wish kept by you also, viz. that the ordination of priests or deacons should not be performed at random on any day:  but after Saturday, the commencement of that night which precedes the dawn of the first day of the week should be chosen on which the sacred benediction should be bestowed on those who are to be consecrated, ordainer and ordained alike fasting.  This observance will not be violated, if actually on the morning of the Lord’s day it be celebrated without breaking the Saturday fast:  for the beginning of the preceding night forms part of that period, and undoubtedly belongs to the day of resurrection as is clearly laid down with regard to the feast of Easter.  For besides the weight of custom which we know rests upon the Apostles’ teaching, Holy Writ also makes this clear, because when the Apostles sent Paul and Barnabas at the bidding of the Holy Ghost to preach the gospel to the nations, they laid hands on them fasting and praying:  that we may know with what devoutness both giver and receiver must be on their guard lest so blessed a sacrament should seem to be carelessly performed.  And therefore you will piously and laudably follow Apostolic precedents if you yourself also maintain this form of ordaining priests throughout the churches over which the Lord has called you to preside:  viz. that those who are to be consecrated should never receive the blessing except on the day of the Lord’s resurrection, which is commonly held to begin on the evening of Saturday, and which has been so often hallowed in the mysterious dispensations of God that all the more notable institutions of the Lord were accomplished on that high day.  On it the world took its beginning.  On it through the resurrection of Christ death received its destruction, and life its commencement.  On it the apostles take from the Lord’s hands the trumpet of the gospel which is to be preached to all nations, and receive the sacrament of regeneration which they are to bear to the whole world.  On it, as blessed John the Evangelist bears witness when all the disciples were gathered together in one place, and when, the doors being shut, the Lord entered to them, He breathed on them and said:  “Receive the Holy Ghost:  whose sins ye have remitted they are remitted to them:  and whose ye have retained, they shall be retained.”  On it lastly the Holy Spirit that had been promised to the Apostles by the Lord came:  and so we know it to have been suggested and handed down by a kind of heavenly rule, that on that day we ought to celebrate the mysteries of the blessing of priests on which all these gracious gifts were conferred.

III.  The repetition of the Holy Eucharist on the great festivals is not undesirable.

Again, that our usage may coincide at all points, we wish this thing also to be observed, viz. that when any of the greater festivals has brought together a larger congregation than usual, and too great a crowd of the faithful has assembled for one church to hold them all at once, there should be no hesitation about repeating the oblation of the sacrifice:  lest, if those only are admitted to this service who come first, those who flock in afterwards, should seem to be rejected:  for it is fully in accordance with piety and reason, that as often as a fresh congregation has filled the church where service is going on, the sacrifice should be offered as a matter of course.  Whereas a certain portion of the people must be deprived of their worship, if the custom of only one celebration be kept, and only those who come early in the day can offer the sacrifice.  We admonish you, therefore, beloved, earnestly and affectionately that your carefulness also should not neglect what has become a part of our own usage on the pattern of our fathers’ tradition, so that in all things we may agree together in our beliefs and in our performances.  Consequently, we have given this letter to our son Possidonius, a presbyter, on his return, that he may bear it to you, brother; he has so often taken part in our ceremonials and ordinations, and has been sent to us so many times that he knows quite well what Apostolic authority we possess in all things.  Dated 21 June (? 445).

To the Bishops of the Province of Vienne. In the matter of Hilary, Bishop of Arles

Letter X.

To the Bishops of the Province of Vienne.  In the matter of Hilary, Bishop of Arles.

To the beloved brothers, the whole body of bishops of the province of Vienne, Leo, bishop of Rome.

I.  The solidarity of the Church built upon the rock of S. Peter must be everywhere maintained.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, Saviour of mankind, instituted the observance of the Divine religion which He wished by the grace of God to shed its brightness upon all nations and all peoples in such a way that the Truth, which before was confined to the announcements of the Law and the Prophets, might through the Apostles’ trumpet blast go out for the salvation of all men, as it is written:  “Their sound has gone out into every land, and their words into the ends of the world.”  But this mysterious function the Lord wished to be indeed the concern of all the apostles, but in such a way that He has placed the principal charge on the blessed Peter, chief of all the Apostles:  and from him as from the Head wishes His gifts to flow to all the body:  so that any one who dares to secede from Peter’s solid rock may understand that he has no part or lot in the divine mystery.  For He wished him who had been received into partnership in His undivided unity to be named what He Himself was, when He said:  “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church:”  that the building of the eternal temple by the wondrous gift of God’s grace might rest on Peter’s solid rock:  strengthening His Church so surely that neither could human rashness assail it nor the gates of hell prevail against it.  But this most holy firmness of the rock, reared, as we have said, by the building hand of God, a man must wish to destroy in over-weaning wickedness when he tries to break down its power, by favouring his own desires, and not following what he received from men of old:  for he believes himself subject to no law, and held in check by no rules of God’s ordinances and breaks away, in his eagerness for novelty, from your use and ours, by adopting illegal practices, and letting what he ought to keep fall into abeyance.

II.  Hilary is disturbing the peace of the Church by his insubordination.

But with the approval, as we believe, of God, and retaining towards you the fulness of our love which the Apostolic See always, as you remember, expends upon you, holy brethren we are striving to correct these things by mature counsel, and to share with you the task of setting your churches in order, not by innovations but by restoration of the old; that we may persevere in the accustomed state which our fathers handed down to us, and please our God through the ministry of a good work by removing the scandals of disturbances.  And so we would have you recollect, brethren, as we do, that the Apostolic See, such is the reverence in which it is held, has times out of number been referred to and consulted by the priests of your province as well as others, and in the various matters of appeal, as the old usage demanded, it has reversed or confirmed decisions:  and in this way “the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace” has been kept, and by the interchange of letters, our honourable proceedings have promoted a lasting affection:  for “seeking not our own but the things of Christ,” we have been careful not to do despite to the dignity which God has given both to the churches and their priests.  But this path which with our fathers has been always so well kept to and wisely maintained, Hilary has quitted, and is likely to disturb the position and agreement of the priests by his novel arrogance:  desiring to subject you to his power in such a way as not to suffer himself to be subject to the blessed Apostle Peter, claiming for himself the ordinations of all the churches throughout the provinces of Gaul, and transferring to himself the dignity which is due to metropolitan priests; he diminishes even the reverence that is paid to the blessed Peter himself with his proud words:  for not only was the power of loosing and binding given to Peter before the others, but also to Peter more especially was entrusted the care of feeding the sheep.  Yet any one who holds that the headship must be denied to Peter, cannot really diminish his dignity:  but is puffed up with the breath of his pride, and plunges himself into the lowest depth.

III.  Celidonius has been restored to his bishopric, the charges against him having been found false.

Accordingly the written record of our proceedings shows what action we have taken in the matter of Celidonius, the bishop, and what Hilary said in the presence and hearing of the aforesaid bishop.  For when Hilary had no reasonable answer to give in the council of the holy priests, “the secrets of his heart” gave vent to utterances such as no layman could make and no priest listen to.  We were grieved, I acknowledge, brothers, and endeavoured to appease the tumult of his mind by patient treatment.  For we did not wish to exasperate those wounds which he was inflicting on his soul by his insolent retorts, and strove rather to pacify him whom we had taken up as a brother, although it was he who was entangling himself by his replies, than to cause him pain by our remarks.  Celidonius, the bishop, was therefore acquitted, for he had proved himself wrongfully deposed from the priesthood, by the clear replies of his witnesses made in his own presence:  so that Hilary, who remained with us, had no opposition to offer.  The judgment, therefore, was rescinded, which was brought forward and read to the effect that, as the husband of a widow, he could not hold the priesthood.  Now this rule we, maintaining the legal constitutions, have wished scrupulously adhered to, not only in respect of priests but also of clergy of the lower ranks:  that those who have contracted such a marriage, or those who are proved not to be the husbands of only one wife contrary to the apostle’s discipline, should not be suffered to enter the sacred service.  But though we decree that those, whom their own acts condemn, must either not be admitted at all, or, if they have, must be removed, so those who are falsely so accused we are bound to clear after examination held, and not allow to lose their office.  For the sentence pronounced would have remained against him, if the truth of the charge had been proved.  And so Celidonius, our fellow-bishop, was restored to his church and to that dignity which he ought not to have lost, as the course of our proceedings, and the sentence which was pronounced by us after holding the inquiry testifies.

IV.  Hilary’s treatment of Projectus does not redound to his credit.

When this business was so concluded, the complaint of our brother and fellow-bishop, Projectus, next came before us:  who addressed us in a tearful and piteous letter, about the ordaining of a bishop over his head.  A letter was also brought to us from his own fellow-citizens, corroborated by a great many individual signatures, and full of the most unpleasant complaints against Hilary:  to the effect that Projectus, their bishop, was not allowed to be ill, but his priesthood had been transferred to another without their knowledge, and the heir brought into possession by Hilary, the intruder as if to fill up a vacancy, though the possessor was still alive.  We should like to hear what you, brothers, think on the point:  although we ought not to entertain any doubt about your feelings, when you picture to yourselves a brother lying on a sick-bed and tortured, not so much by his bodily weakness as by pains of another kind.  What hope in life is left a man who is visited with despair about his priesthood whilst another is set up in his place?  Hilary gives a clear proof of his gentle heart when he believed that the tardiness of a brother’s death is but a hindrance to his own ambitious designs.  For, as far as in him lay, he quenched the light for him; he robbed him of life by setting up another in his room, and thus causing him such pain as to hinder his recovery.  And supposing that his brother’s passage from this world was brief, but after the common course of men, what does Hilary seek for himself in another’s province, and why does he claim that which none of his predecessors before Patroclus possessed? whereas that very position which seemed to have been temporarily granted to Patroclus by the Apostolic See was afterwards withdrawn by a wiser decision.  At least the wishes of the citizens should have been waited for, and the testimony of the people:  the opinion of those held in honour should have been asked, and the choice of the clergy—things which those who know the rules of the fathers are wont to observe in the ordination of priests:  that the rule of the Apostle’s authority might in all things be kept, which enjoins that one who is to be the priest of a church should be fortified, not only by the attestation of the faithful but also by the testimony of “those who are without,” and that no occasion for offence be left, when, in peace and in God-pleasing harmony with the full approval of all, one who will be a teacher of peace is ordained.

V.  Hilary’s action was very reprehensible throughout, and we have restored Projectus.

But Hilary came upon them unawares and departed no less suddenly, accomplishing many journeys with great speed, as we have ascertained, and traversing distant provinces with such haste that he seems to have coveted a reputation for the swiftness of a courier rather than for the sobriety of a priest.  For these are the words of the citizens in the letter that has been addressed to us:—“He departed before we knew he had come.”  This is not to return but to flee, not to exercise a shepherd’s wholesome care, but to employ the violence of a thief and a robber, as saith the Lord:  “he that entereth not by the door into the sheep-fold, but climbeth up some other way, is a thief and a robber.”  Hilary, therefore, was anxious not so much to consecrate a bishop as to kill him who was sick, and to mislead the man whom he set over his head by wrongful ordination.  We, however, have done what, as God is our Judge, we believe you will approve:  after holding counsel with all the brethren we have decreed that the wrongfully ordained man should be deposed and the Bishop Projectus abide in his priesthood:  with the further provision that when any of our brethren in whatsoever province shall decease, he who has been agreed upon to be metropolitan of that province shall claim for himself the ordination of his successor.

These two matters, as we see, have been settled, though there are many other points in them which seem to have violated the principles of the Church, and ought to be visited with just censure and judgment.  But we cannot linger on them any further, for we are called off to other matters on which we must carefully confer with you, holy brethren.

VI.  Hilary’s practice of using armed violence must be suppressed.

A band of soldiers, as we have learnt, follows the priest through the provinces and helps him who relies upon their armed support in turbulently invading churches, which have lost their own priests.  Before this court are dragged for ordination men who are quite unknown to the cities over which they are to be set.  For as one who is well known and approved is sought out in peace, so must one who is unknown, when brought forward, be established by violence.  I beg and entreat and beseech you in God’s name prevent such things, brethren, and remove all occasion for discord from your provinces.  At all events we acquit ourselves before God in beseeching you not to allow this to proceed further.  In peace and quietness should they be asked for who are to be priests.  The consent of the clergy, the testimony of those held in honour, the approval of the orders and the laity should be required.  He who is to govern all, should be chosen by all.  As we said before, each metropolitan should keep in his own hands the ordinations that occur in his own province, acting in concert with those who precede the rest in seniority of priesthood, a privilege restored to him through us.  No man should claim for himself another’s rights.  Each should keep within his own limits and boundaries, and should understand that he cannot pass on to another a privilege that belongs to himself.  But if any one neglecting the Apostle’s prohibitions and paying too much heed to personal favour, wishes to give up his precedence, thinking he can pass his rights on to another, not he to whom he has yielded, but he who ranks before the rest of the priests within the province in episcopal seniority, should claim to himself the power of ordaining.  The ordination should be performed not at random but on the proper day:  and it should be known that any one who has not been ordained on the evening of Saturday, which precedes the dawn of the first day of the week, or actually on the Lord’s day cannot be sure of his status.  For our forefathers judged the day of the Lord’s resurrection as alone worthy of the honour of being the occasion on which those who are to be made priests are given to God.

VII.  Hilary is deposed not only from his usurped jurisdiction, but also from what of right belongs to him, and is restricted to his own single bishopric.

Let each province be content with its own councils, and let not Hilary dare to summon synodal meetings besides, and by his interference disturb the judgments of the Lord’s priests.  And let him know that he is not only deposed from another’s rights, but also deprived of his power over the province of Vienne which he had wrongfully assumed.  For it is but fair, brethren, that the ordinances of antiquity should be restored, seeing that he who claimed for himself the ordinations of a province for which he was not responsible, has been shown in a similar way in the present case also to have acted so that, as he has on more than one occasion brought on himself sentence of condemnation by his rash and insolent words, he may now be kept by our command in accordance with the clemency of the Apostolic See to the priesthood of his own city alone.  He is not to be present then at any ordination:  he is not to ordain because, conscious of his deserts, when he was required to answer for his action, he trusted to make good his escape by disgraceful flight, and has put himself out of Apostolic communion, of which he did not deserve to be a partaker:  and we believe this was by God’s providence, who brought him to our court, though we did not expect him, and caused him to retire by stealth in the midst of holding the inquiry, that he should not be a partner in our communion.

VIII.  Excommunication should be inflicted only on those who are guilty of some great crime, and even then not hastily.

No Christian should lightly be denied communion, nor should that be done at the will of an angry priest which the judge’s mind ought to a certain extent unwillingly and regretfully to carry out for the punishment of a great crime.  For we have ascertained that some have been cut off from the grace of communion for trivial deeds and words, and that the soul for which Christ’s blood was shed has been exposed to the devil’s attacks and wounded, disarmed, so to say, and stript of all defence by the infliction of so savage a punishment as to fall an easy prey to him.  Of course if ever a case has arisen of such a kind as in due proportion to the nature of the crime committed to deprive a man of communion, he only who is involved in the accusation must be subjected to punishment:  and he who is not shown to be a partner in its commission ought not to share in the penalty.  But what wonder that one who is wont to exult over the condemnation of priests, should show himself in the same light towards laymen.

IX.  Leontius is appointed in Hilary’s room.

Wherefore, because our desire seems very different to this (for we are anxious that the settled state of all the Churches and the harmony of the priests should be maintained,) exhorting you to unity in the bond of love, we both entreat, and consistently with our affection admonish you, in the interests of your peace and dignity, to keep what has been decreed by us at the inspiration of God and the most blessed Apostle Peter, after sifting and testing all the matters at issue, being assured that what we are known to have decided in this way is not so much to our own advantage as to yours.  For we are not keeping in our own hands the ordinations of your provinces, as perhaps Hilary, with his usual untruthfulness, may suggest in order to mislead your minds, holy brethren:  but in our anxiety we are claiming for you that no further innovations should be allowed, and that for the future no opportunity should be given for the usurper to infringe your privileges.  For we acknowledge that it can only redound to our credit, if the diligence of the Apostolic See be kept unimpaired among you, and if in our maintenance of Apostolic discipline we do not allow what belongs to your position to fall to the ground through unscrupulous aggressions.  And since seniority is always to be respected, we wish Leontius, our brother and fellow-bishop, a priest well approved among you, to be promoted to this dignity, if it please you that without his consent no further council be summoned by you, holy brethren, and that he may be honoured by you all as his age and good fame demands, the metropolitans being secured in their own dignity and rights.  For it is but fair, and no injury seems to accrue to any of the brethren, if those who come first in seniority of the priesthood should, as their age deserves, have deference paid to them by the rest of the priests in their own provinces.  God keep you safe, beloved brethren.