Letter 8: VARIAE, APPENDIX, LETTER 8

Variae, Appendix, Letter 8 — Pope Gelasius I to the Bishop of Nola Felix and Petrus, clergy of the church of Nola, have rebelliously and in violation of established order rushed to the court of my son the king, claiming that violence had been done to them — their clerical office having been passed over in silence — and with barbarians hired for the purpose, against all civility, have set upon their own bishop. [Gelasius takes the bishop's part against clergy who have gone over his head to seek royal intervention. The pope insists that such matters must be resolved within the church's own disciplinary structure, and that the bishop's authority must be respected.]

VIII. GELASIUS QUINIGESIO ET CONSTANTINO EPISCOPIS. [1] Felix et Petrus ecclesiae Nolanae clerici contumaciter et contra constitutum rebelles ad comitatum filii mei regis putaverunt esse properandum dicentes sibi vim fuisse generatam tacito clericatus officio; et auctoritate promerita contra civilitatem redemptis sibi barbaris supra scriptum episcopum suum gravibus iniuriis et dispendiis affecerunt. proinde necessarium fuit, ut ad eundem dominum filium meum supra dictus frater noster Serenus episcopus convolaret ostensaque fraude secundum beatitudinem temporum suorum vir praecellentissimus filius meus Theodoricus rex ad nostrum contumaces clericos remisit examen.