Letter 270: I am distressed to find that you are by no means indignant at the sins forbidden, and that you seem incapable of understanding, how this raptus, which has been committed, is an act of unlawfulness and tyranny against society and human nature, and an outrage on free men. I am sure that if you had all been of one mind in this matter, there would h...
I am dismayed to find that you are not the least bit indignant about a crime that is explicitly forbidden, and that you seem incapable of understanding that this abduction is an act of lawlessness and tyranny against society, against human nature, and against the freedom of every person.
I am certain that if you had all been of one mind on this matter, this wicked custom would have been driven from your region long ago.
Now is the time to show the zeal of a Christian. React as the offense demands. Wherever you find the girl, insist on removing her and restoring her to her parents. Bar the abductor from the prayers of the church and make him excommunicate. His accomplices, in accordance with the canon I have already published, are to be cut off -- together with their entire households -- from the prayers. The village that received the girl after the abduction and kept her, or even resisted her return, is to be shut out with all its inhabitants from the prayers.
Let everyone know that we regard the abductor as a common enemy -- like a snake or any other wild beast -- to be hunted down and driven out, and that we stand ready to help those he has wronged.
Human translation — New Advent (NPNF / ANF series)
Latin / Greek Original
[Πρός: Ἀνεπίγραφος, ὑπὲρ ἁρπαγῆς]
Πάνυ λυποῦμαι ὅτι οὐχ εὑρίσκω ὑμᾶς ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀπηγορευμένοις οὔτε ἀγανακτοῦντας οὔτε δυναμένους λογίζεσθαι, ὅτι εἰς αὐτὸν τὸν βίον καὶ τὴν ζωὴν τὴν ἀνθρωπίνην παρανομία ἐστὶ καὶ τυραννὶς ἡ γινομένη αὕτη ἁρπαγή, καὶ ὕβρις κατὰ τῶν ἐλευθέρων. οἶδα γὰρ ὅτι, εἰ τοιαύτην εἴχετε γνώμην πάντες, οὐδὲν ἐκώλυε πάλαι τοῦ κακοῦ τὴν συνήθειαν τούτου ἐξελαθῆναι τῆς πατρίδος ἡμῶν· ἀνάλαβε τοίνυν ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος ζῆλον Χριστιανοῦ, καὶ κινήθητι ἀξίως τοῦ ἀδικήματος. καὶ τὴν μὲν παῖδα, ὅπουπερ ἂν εὕρῃς, ἀφελόμενος πάσῃ εὐτονίᾳ ἀποκατάστησον τοῖς γονεῦσι· καὶ αὐτὸν δὲ ἐκεῖνον ἐξόρισον τῶν εὐχῶν, καὶ ἐκκήρυκτον ποίησον· καὶ τοὺς συνεπελθόντας αὐτῷ, κατὰ τὸ ἤδη προλαβὸν παρʼ ἡμῶν κήρυγμα, τριετίαν πανοικεὶ τῶν εὐχῶν ἐξόρισον. καὶ τὴν κώμην τὴν ὑποδεξαμένην τὴν ἁρπαγεῖσαν, καὶ φυλάξασαν, ἤτοι ὑπερμαχήσασαν, καὶ αὐτὴν ἔξω τῶν εὐχῶν πανδημεὶ ποίησον· ἵνα μάθωσι πάντες, ὡς ὄφιν, ὡς ἄλλο τι θηρίον, κοινὸν ἐχθρὸν ἡγούμενοι τὸν ἅρπαγα, οὕτως ἀποδιώκειν αὐτὸν καὶ προΐστασθαι τῶν ἀδικουμένων.
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