Letter 1023: Avitus, bishop, to the most excellent Lord Sigismund.

From: Avitus, Bishop of Vienne To: Sigismund, Crown Prince of Burgundy Date: ~505 AD Context: Avitus writes to Sigismund — the prince who will eventually convert from Arianism to Catholicism in 516, largely through Avitus's influence — urging him toward the truth. Avitus, bishop, to the most excellent Lord Sigismund. I have been debtor to the obligation of serving your court for all my years as bishop, and I want to honor that debt in a way that is genuine rather than ceremonial. What I want to say to you is not primarily political, though it has political implications. It is theological. You have been raised in the Arian tradition. You know its arguments; you have heard them from your father and from the clergy who serve your court. I have no illusion that a single letter will change a lifetime's formation. But I want to say, as clearly and honestly as I can, what I believe the Arian tradition gets wrong, and why it matters. The Arian tradition says that Christ is divine, but differently divine from the Father — the first of God's creatures, the greatest of all beings, but still created and therefore not fully God. The Catholic tradition says that Christ is of the same substance as the Father — fully and completely divine, not a secondary divinity. The pastoral difference between these positions is this: if Christ is less than fully divine, then what he offers to humanity is less than full union with God. He can show us the way; he cannot bring us fully into the life of God. The Catholic position is that God became fully human precisely so that humanity could become fully united with God. This is not just a doctrinal nicety. It determines what salvation actually is. I am always available to continue this conversation. Avitus

Avitus episcopus domno Sigismundo. Omni quidem vitae meae tempore debitorem me offerendi officii factum agnosco, sed impensius festivitate praesenti, quae sollicitudinem vestram non minus explorandis haereticorum conatibus quam nostrae partis occupat cultibus celebrandis. Si quidem per annuum quoddam contagium congregatis adversis attento vobis labore curandum est, ne alienae calliditatis fraude pullulet. quod in dei nomine iam vestra victoria celebrabili virtute succidit, quamlibet Christo propitio praesentibus vobis absistat. Hinc illa sollicitudine priscior constipatio Genavensis, quae in morem originis primae virilibus animis virus anguis sibilo feminei sermonis insonuit. Vnde illud, si mereor, quamprimum scire desidero, utrum in domno clementiae vestrae patre mentio illius ordinationis acciderit, quae Bonosiacorum pestem ab infernalibus latebris excitatam catholicis Arrianisque certantibus intromisit; vel si servatur adhuc credulitatis, immo simulationis illius dolor, quem non impressum animis, sed chartulis exaratum paulatim in antiquam sui dogmatis credulitatem revocat litterata promissio. Quae certe si adhuc, ut coeperat, societatis Arrianae communioni inmixta est, claret gloriosior sub principatu vestro noster triumphus, cum duabus haeresibus in unam redactis non minus adquiren- tibus quam convincentibus nobis et scismaticorum numerus decrescit et scismatum. Hinc ergo servitium curiositatis meae dignanter adspicite et de peculiaris patroni vestri apostoli festis expectationi nostrae properatis et compellationis vestrae munera duplicate.