Letter 1024: Avitus, bishop, to the most excellent Lord Sigismund.

From: Avitus, Bishop of Vienne To: Sigismund, Crown Prince of Burgundy Date: ~505 AD Context: A second letter to Sigismund on the occasion of an apostolic feast — Avitus was the most important Catholic influence on the future king. Avitus, bishop, to the most excellent Lord Sigismund. The feast of the Apostles brings with it, as always, a particular sharpening of the question that stands between us — the question of who Christ is, and what he offers. I want to say something about the apostles that I think applies to your situation. They were men who, at a certain moment, had to choose. They had heard the arguments. They had seen the evidence. The moment came when continuing to defer the question was no longer a genuine option — when remaining uncertain was itself a kind of decision. I am not trying to pressure you. The decision that matters cannot be made under pressure; it can only be made freely. What I am saying is that the arguments are available, the evidence is what it has always been, and the question will continue to demand an answer. I pray for you daily. Not for your political decisions, though those are important. For you — for the question of who you will be before God. Avitus of Vienne

Avitus episcopus domno Sigismundo. Nuper cum officia culmini vestro semper debita pro apostolicae festivitatis con- suetudine destinavi, non minus civilitate pretioso quam declamatione conspicuo sermone dixistis idcirco vos tardius dedisse rescriptum, ut humilitas sui conscia, quae a scri- bendi audacia iure temperat, eo diutius ariditatis supplicia penderet, quo fontem splen- didum vestri alloquii plus sitirem. Vindictae, sicut dignamini scribere, genus esset, ut portitor a me segnius destinatus vobiscum diutius moraretur. O retributio ultionis blandissimae! o sententia crudelitatis optandae! Quis scilicet tam intolerabilem poenam aequanimiter ferat, ut paradiso vestri conspectus inclusus mora beatiore vos videat? Timeo plane, ne frequenter me iubeatis scribere, si disponitis tarditatem taliter vindi- care. Aut si ego certus forem huiusmodi me animadversione plectendum, ipse procul dubio scripta porrigerem, quae iusto rarius exarassem. Et utinam mihi vobiscum posito negaretur celeritas revertendi: verba quae longum tempus sinerer legere, diutius ex ipso meatus tramite donarer audire. Certe deus viderit, quid ego apud iudicium vestrum vel audacia servitii vel trepidatione promerear: tamen officii mei portitoribus reus ero, si eos prolixitate praesentiae vestrae delicti, quo arguitis, emendatione frau- davero.