LETTER I. LETTERS. TO THE BISHOP OF AQUILEIA. I. Through the negligence of the authorities the Pelagian heresy has been spreading in his province. 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 From the account of our holy brother many souls, by this our authoritative injunction and fellow-bishop Septimus which is contained we charge you, brother, to give diligence that in the subjoined letter', we have understood a synod of the clergys of your province be that certain priests and deacons and clergy convened, and all, whether priests or deacons of various orders in your province who have or clerics of any rank who have been re-adbeen drawn in by the Pelagian or Calestian mitted from their alliance with the Pelagians heresy, have attained to catholic communion and the Cælestians into catholic communion without any recantation of their peculiar error with such precipitation that they were not first being required of them; and that, whilst the constrained to recant their error, be now at shepherds set to watch were fast asleep, wolves least forced to a true correction, which can clothed in sheep-skins but without laying advantage themselves and hurt no one, since aside their bestial minds have entered into their deceitfulness has in part been disclosed. the Lord's sheep-fold: and that they make Let them by their public confession condemn a practice of what is not allowed even to the authors of this presumptuous error and non-offenders by the injunctions of our canons renounce all that the universal Church has and decrees3 to wit that they should leave repudiated in their doctrine: and let them the churches in which they received or re- announce by full and open statements, signed gained their office and carry their uncertainty by their own hand, that they embrace and in all directions, loving to continue wandering entirely approve of all the synodal decrees and never to remain on the foundations of which the authority of the Apostolic See has the Apostles. For without being sifted by any ratified to the rooting out of this heresy. Let test or bound by any previous confession of nothing obscure, nothing ambiguous be found faith, they make a great point of their right in their words. For we know that their cunto the privilege of going to one house after ning is such that they reckon that the meaning another under cover of their being in com- of any particular clause of their execrable docmunion with the Church, and corrupting the trine can be defended if they only keep it hearts of many through men's ignorance of distinct from the main body of their damnable their false name. And yet I am sure they views 7. 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. It is to be supposed that the letter of Septimus, bp. of Altinum, was sent with this letter. See Lett. XVIII. n. 3. 2 Viz. members of the "minor orders" as they are now called, subdeacons, exorcists, &c. 3 It had been the rule at least since the council of Nicæa (325) that the clergy should stay in the church (or diocese as we should call it) of their ordination, cf. Canons of Nicæa xxi. de his qui Ecclesias deserunt et ad alias transeunt, and xxii. de non suscipiendis alterius Ecclesia clericis. And we often find Leo insisting on the observance of the rule. Inscientiam: the general reading being scientiam, the sense of which is not clear. VOL. XII. 5 Sacerdotum: I am in doubt as to what this term here includes, but think it probable that all ranks of the clergy were to be summoned. The words sacerdos and antistes in early ecclesiastical Latin very often mean the bishop (episcopus) specifically rather than the presbyter (sacerdos secundi ordinis), because it was the bishop who offered the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving" (i.e. the Eucharist), and the presbyter only in his default; but the term sacerdos does certainly often include the presbyters and also the deacons (sacerdotes tertii ordinis) when in connexion with the priests and bishops, and it seems likely that the whole body of the clergy of the province would be summoned to the synod: see Bright's note 110: also Bingham, Antiq., Bk. II., chap. xix., §§ 14, 15.. Superbi (proud): the epithet is well chosen and not a random one: for pride and presumption are at the root of the Pelagian views as birth-sin and baptismal grace: perfectionism is little in accordance with Christian humility. 7 For the same sentiment cf. Prosper, de ingratis, v. 188. III. The Pelagian view of God's grace is un- working that part of the discipline of the scriptural. Church whereby the holy Fathers and we And when they pretend to disapprove of have often in former times decreed that neiand give up all their definitions to facilitate ther in the grade of the priesthood nor in the evasion through their complete art of decep- order of the diaconate nor in the lower ranks tion, unless their meaning is detected, they of the clergy, is any one at liberty to migrate make exception of the dogma that the grace from church to church to the end that each of God is given according to the merits of one may persevere where he was ordained the recipient. And yet surely, unless it is without being enticed by ambition, or led given freely, it is not a gift, but a price and astray by greed, or corrupted by men's evil compensation for merits: for the blessed beliefs: and thus that if any one, seeking Apostle says, "by grace ye have been saved his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ, through faith, and that not of yourselves but neglect to return to his own people3 and it is the gift of God; not of works lest any church, he may be reckoned out of the pale should perchance be exalted. For we are both in respect of promotion and of the bond His workmanship created in Christ Jesus in of communion. But do not doubt, beloved, good works, which Gon prepared that we that we must be somewhat sorely moved if, should walk in them." Thus every bestowal as we think not, our decrees for the maintenof good works is of God's preparing because ance of the canons and the integrity of the a man is justified by grace rather than by his faith be neglected: because the short-comings own excellence: for grace is to every one the of the lower orders are to be laid at the door source of righteousness, the source of good of none so much as of those slothful and and the fountain of merit. But these heretics remiss rulers who often foster much pestilence say it is anticipated by men's natural goodness by shrinking from the application of a stringent 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 lost1." remedy. 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.) LETTER III. FROM PASCHASINUS, BISHOP OF LILYBEUM. (About the keeping of Easter in 444; recommending the Alexandrine calculation.) LETTER IV. To THE BISHOPS APPOINTED IN CAMPANIA, 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 Leo, bishop of the city of Rome, to all the purge themselves of all suspicion: and by bishops appointed in Campania, Picenum, obeying us, prove themselves ours. And if Etruria, and all the provinces, grecting in the 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 8 The reader need hardly be reminded that in the New Testament grace" (Lat. gratia, Gk. Xápis) signifies "a free gift." 9 Eph. ii. 8-10. 1 S. Luke ix. 10. Between this and the next chapter some of the MSS. and the earlier editions insert a passage from Augustine's Enchiridion, which thus formed chapter iv. 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 2 A reminiscence of Phil. ii. 21. 3 Plebem: this being the regular term for the "laity" in early 1 Christian Latin. 4 Sc. of the clergy. who intended us to be watchmen 5, 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. All such istry 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 who have had several wives, and have led have attained to the priesthood: certain, too, a life given up to all licentiousness, have had Men are admitted commonly to the Sacred all facilities put in their way, and been adOrder who are not qualified by any dignity of mitted to the Sacred Order, contrary to that birth or character: even some who have failed utterance of the blessed Apostle, in which he to obtain their liberty from their masters are proclaims and says to such, "the husband of raised to the rank of the priesthood, as if one wife 9," and contrary to that precept of the sorry slaves were fit for that honour; and it is ancient law which says by way of caution: believed that a man can be approved of GOD "Let the priest take a virgin to wife, not a who has not yet been able to approve himself widow, not a divorced woman." to his master. And so the cause for complaint persons, therefore, who have been admitted is twofold in this matter, because both the we order to be put out of their offices in the sacred ministry is polluted by such poor church and from the title of priest by the partners in it, and the rights of masters are authority of the Apostolic See: for they will infringed so far as unlawful possession is have no claim to that for which they were rashly taken of them 7. From these men, not eligible, on account of the obstacle in therefore, beloved brethren, let all the priests question: and we specially claim for ourselves of your province keep aloof; and not only the duty of settling this, that if any of these from them, but from others also, we wish you irregularities have been committed, they may to keep, who are under the bond of origin be corrected and may not be allowed to occur or other condition of service: unless per- again, and that no excuse may arise from chance the request or consent be intimated of ignorance: although it has never been allowed those who claim some authority over them. a priest to be ignorant of what has been laid For he who is to be enrolled on the divine down by the rules of the canons. These service ought to be exempt from others, that writings, therefore, we have addressed to your he be not drawn away from the LORD's camp provinces by the hand of Innocent, Legitimus in which his name is entered, by any other and Segetius, our brothers and fellow-bishops: bonds of duty. that the evil shoots which are known to have III. A man who has married twice or a widow Sprung up may be torn out by the roots, and 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 min 5 Cf Ezek. iii. 17. 6 Sacerdotii, see note 5 on Letter 1. 7 Though no doubt S. Leo's language is here harsh and offensive to modern ears, it is not, I think, substantially out of agree. ment with S. Paul's own teaching (cf. Philemon; 1 Cor. vii. 21; Ephes. vi. 5; Cul. iii. 22; Tit. ii. 9), and certainly not with the spirit of the age. The 73rd Apost. Canon forbids any slave to be ordained without his master's consent, and without previously obtaining his freedom. However, in the times of S. Jerome, S. Basil and S. Greg Nazianzen, we find cases of slaves being ordained. However much we in the latter half of the nineteenth century regret to hear a great father of the Church speak in this way, we must not forget that in the first half of this sel-same century the very same opinion would have been held on the subject in many parts of the civilized world. 8 Qui originali (al. origini) aut alicui condicioni obligati sunt. The class of people here alluded to were the coloni (serfs): such of them as were so by birth were called originarii: and there were other classes of them also (alicui condicioni obligati). The essential difference between all coloni and the ordinary servi was that the latter's service was personal, the former were servi terræ, adscripti glæbe. Thus there is a strong resemblance between them and the villeins (villani) of medieval and modern Europe. For the order concerning them here given, cf. 2nd Council of Orleans (538), which ordains "ut nullus servilibus colonariisque condicionibus obligatus iuxta statuta sedis Apostolicæ ad honores ecclesiasticos admittatur nisi prius aut testamento aut per tabulas legitime constiterit absolutum. 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 3. 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 in 91 Tim. iii. 2, unins uxoris virum with the Vulgate, cf. Letter xii. 3. 1 Lev. xxi. 13, 14, cf a letter of Innocent I. to Victricius, bishop of Rothomagus (Rouen), chap. v., ut mulierem (viduam) clericus non ducat uxorem: quia scriptum est: sacerdos virginem uxorem accipiat non viduam non eiectam," and for the former quotation, cf. ibid. chap. vii. ne is qui secundam duxerit uxorem, clericus fiat: quia scriptum est unius uxoris virum. The 18th Apostolic Canon gives a similar order. All these rules would seem to refer to marriage before, not after, ordination. The latter was against the spirit of the early Church. 2 The older editions bere add pro arbitrio (by dispensation). which Quesnel considers a gloss added later when dispensation was sometimes granted to digamous clerks. 3 The practice of usury and trading generally is often forbidden in the Canons, &c., for the clergy, but its prohibition for the laity is much more unusual: cf., however, Canon V. of the Council of Carthage (419), quod (sc. fenus accipere) in laicis, reprehenditur id multo magis debet et in clericis prædamnari. Scripture terest, 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 4. 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. The brotherly love of our colleagues makes us read with grateful mind the letters of all priests 7; 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 VI. Any bishop who refuses consent to these things when they run in accordance with our rules must be deposed. 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 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 of the harvest. he nominates Anastasius Metropolitan of Illyricum. refuses to be a sharer of our discipline. But II. Following the examples of his predecessors 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 5, 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. certainly is against the clergy participating in lucrative employ ments, though it was not easy always to prevent them: it had become, for instance, a common practice in S. Cyprian's day in the North African Church (cf. de laps. 6). But the secular laws certainly countenanced it in the laity (as Aug. Ep. 154 acknow ledges). Leo the Emperor is said by Grotius to have been the first who existimans omne fenus Christiano interdictum, lege id ipsum communi sanxit' (Quesnel). 4 Crimen suum commodis alienis impendere. I am not sure that this can mean what I say. 5 This was S. Innocent I.. who was Pope from 402 to 417. On of his decretal letters was quoted from in note 1 to chap. iii. o this Letter. 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 6 The letter to the college of bishops was written the same day, and forins No. 5 in the Leonine series (in Migne). 1 Sacerdotum here obviously = episcoporum, see Letter I. note 5. 8 quibus sermone epistolis mutuo commeant bus sociamur: notice the interlaced order of the words in the sentence which is not, I think, without design as quaintly expressing his meaning. 9 Sc. in your province. 1 Sricius was Bishop of Rome 384-398. Damasus, 366-384, is said by Innocent I. to have been the first to do this, but not like Siricius, "acting on a fixed method," certa quadam ratione. |