Letter 2001: Avitus, bishop, to Faustus and Symmachus, senators of the city of Rome.

Avitus, bishop, to Faustus and Symmachus, senators of the city of Rome. Ideally, the state of affairs would have been such that we ourselves might in person have sought out the city revered by the world, to discharge our duties both divine and human. But since for reasons of the times that has long ceased to be possible, we would have wished, it must be admitted, at least to approach with enough security that your eminence might learn, from a formal report of the priests of Gaul gathered together, what ought to be petitioned in the common cause. But since our province, hemmed in by the fixed borders of the kingdoms, leaves us unable to attain even this wish, I beg above all with suppliant prayer that this page does not stir up any disdain in your most renowned order, as though directed by one man alone: for, burdened by all my Gallic brothers no less through their mandates than through their letters for this very purpose, I alone have undertaken to set before you whatever we all seek from you. While we were exceedingly anxious and trembling over the cause of the Roman church, sensing as we did that our own standing was tottering with the head that had been assailed, all of us being men whom a single accusation would surely have struck, without any unpopularity attaching to the multitude, if it had overwhelmed the standing of our chief: there was brought to our concern, from copies sent out of Italy, the sacerdotal form of decree which the bishops of Italy, assembled at the city, issued concerning Pope Symmachus. Although the assent of so numerous and reverend a council renders this constitution worthy of regard, we nevertheless understand that the holy Pope Symmachus, if he had first been accused before the secular world, ought rather to have received the consolation of these fellow priests than their judgment. For just as the arbiter of heaven bids us be subject to earthly powers, foretelling that we shall stand before kings and princes on whatever accusation, so it is not easy to grasp by what reasoning or law one who is more eminent may be judged by his inferiors. For since the apostle cries out in his celebrated precept that an accusation ought not to be received even against a presbyter [1 Timothy 5:19], what is to be judged about charges brought against the headship of the universal church? Foreseeing this, the venerable synod itself, by a praiseworthy constitution, more safely reserved for the divine examination the case which, be it said with all due reverence for it, it had almost rashly undertaken to investigate; yet it noted, as briefly as it could, that nothing of those things which were alleged against the pope had been made evident either to itself or to the most glorious man King Theoderic. Knowing these things, I, as it were a Christian bishop, call you to witness as it were Roman senators: if by the gift of the divinity you worship the prosperity you long for attends your times, if the dignity in which you flourish preserves for the whole world, for a falling world, the semblance of the Roman name, then let the standing of the church be no less in your sight than the standing of the republic. And what God has granted you the power to do, let it profit us also: nor should you cherish the seat of Peter, your church, any less than the pinnacle of the world within the city. If with that profound counsel of your deliberation you regard the matter, then it is not only the case being conducted at Rome that must be considered: in the other priests, if anything should perhaps have wavered, it can be set right. But if the pope of the city is called into doubt, then it will appear that the episcopate, not merely a bishop, is wavering. You know well amid what storms of heresies we are steered, like winds blowing round about, in the ship of faith. If you dread perils of this kind together with us, it is fitting that you protect your helmsman by sharing the labor. Otherwise, what retribution is there if the sailors have been left without a master? Not without peril to themselves does one yield to this crisis. Let him who presides over the Lord's sheepfold render account by what stewardship he dispenses the care of the lambs committed to him. But for the rest, it is not the shepherd's proper role to terrify the flock, but the judge's. Therefore restore to us the chief harmony, if indeed it has not yet been restored. For this reason we have laid the labor of this exertion upon your client, the venerable presbyter Symmachus, that he might bring back to us, in the response of your letters, through a messenger of peace made whole again, the effect of our supplication.

Avitus episcopus Fausto et Symmacho senatoribus urbis. Primum fuerat talis status rerum desiderandus, ut ipsi per nos urbem orbi venera- bilem pro dependendis divinis humanisque expeteremus officiis. Sed quia istud iam dudum per rationem temporum fieri posse cessavit, vellemus, quod fatendum est, vel ea securitate accedere, ut, quae in causa communi supplicari oportet, amplitudo vestra congregatorum Galliae sacerdotum relatione cognosceret. Sed quoniam huius quoque nos voti non compotes reddit provincia praefixis regnorum determinata limitibus, quam primum supplici prece posco, ne celeberrimo ordini vestro pagina haec aliquod moveat, quasi ab uno directa. fastidium: quoniam a cunctis Gallicanis fratribus meis, ad hoc ipsum non minus per mandata quam per litteras oneratus, quaecumque a vobis omnes ambimus, unus suggerenda suscepi. Dum de causa Romanae ecclesiae anxii nimis ac trepidi essemus, ut pote nutare statum nostrum in lacessito vertice sentientes, quos omnes una criminatio utique sine invidia multitudinis percusserat, si statum principis obruisset: perlata est sollicitudini nostrae ab Italiae exemplaribus sacerdotalis forma decreti, quam de papa Symmacho. apud urbem collecti Italiae antistites ediderunt. Quam constitutionem licet observabilem numerosi reverendique concilii reddat adsen- sus, intellegimus tamen sanctum Symmachum papam, si saeculo primum fuerat accu- satus, consacerdotum horum solacium potius adsciscere quam recipere debuisse iudi- cium. Quia sicut subditos nos esse terrenis potestatibus iubet arbiter caeli, staturos nos ante reges et principes in quacumque accusatione praedicens: ita non facile datur intellegi, qua vel ratione vel lege ab inferioribus eminentior iudicetur. Nam cum celebri praecepto apostolus clamet accusationem vel in presbyterum recipi non debere, quid in principatum generalis ecclesiae criminationibus Heere censendum est? Quod synodus ipsa venerabilis laudabili constitutione prospiciens causam, quam, quod salva eius reverentia dictum sit, paene temere susceperat inquirendam, divino tutius serva- vit examini, perstringens tamen, prout breviter potuit, nihil vel sibi vel gloriosissimo viro Theoderico regi de his, quae papae dicebantur obiecta, patuisse. Quibus cognitis quasi senatores ipse Romanos quasi Christianus episcopus obtestor, si divinitatis, quam colitis, dono temporibus vestris prosperitas optata succedat, si dignitas, in qua floretis universo orbi, speciem nominis Romani mundo labenti contineat, ut in conspectu vestro non sit ecclesiae minor quam rei publicae status. Quodque vobis deus posse prae- stitit, prosit et nobis: nec minus diligatis ecclesiae vestrae sedem Petri, quam in civi- tate apicem mundi. Si profundo illo tractatus vestri consilio rem videtis, non ea tantum modo, quae Romae geritur, causa cogitanda est: in sacerdotibus ceteris potest, si quid forte nutaverit, reformari. At si papa urbis vocatur in dubium, episcopatus iam vide- bitur, non episcopus, vacillare. Nostis bene, inter quas baeresum tempestates, veluti ventis circumflantibus, fidei puppi ducamur. Si nobiscum huiusce modi pericula formi- datis, expedit, ut gubernatorem vestrum participato labore tueamini. Alias autem quae ultio est, si nautae sine magistro fuerint? 'Non sine illorum periculo ceditur isti discrimini. Reddat rationem, qui ovili dominico praeest, qua commissam sibi curam agnorum administratione dispenset. Ceterum non est gregis pastorem proprium terrere, sed iudicis. Quapropter reddite nobis principalem, si tamen necdum est restituta, concordiam. Quando clienti vestro, venerabili Symmacho presbytero, idcirco laborem huius fatigationis iniunximus, ut nobis in vestrarum oraculo litterarum per redintegra- tae pacis nuntium supplicationis nostrae referret effectum.