Letter 6

From: Nicetius of Trier, bishop To: Justinian I, Emperor of the Romans Date: ~550 AD Context: Bishop Nicetius of Trier [in modern Germany], a forthright Frankish bishop, writes directly to the Emperor on the danger of Arianism [the heresy that held Christ was subordinate to, not equal with, God the Father], which had spread among the Germanic peoples. This letter is notable for its frank criticism of imperial religious policy. To the most Christian Emperor Justinian, from Nicetius, bishop of Trier, greetings in the Lord Jesus Christ, I write to you with the frankness that the gravity of the matter demands, and I ask you to receive it as the counsel of a bishop who has served the church in the German-speaking provinces for many years and who knows from the inside the challenges that face the faith here. The Arian heresy [which denies the full divinity of Christ, holding him to be a created being subordinate to the Father] has deep roots among the Germanic peoples. The Visigoths, the Burgundians, the Lombards — these are peoples who were brought to Christianity through Arian missionaries and who have held to that form of the faith for generations. The conversion of these peoples to orthodox Christianity is one of the great tasks of our time, and it will not be accomplished by imperial decree alone. What it requires is patient pastoral work: good bishops, well-educated clergy, close relationships with the Gothic leadership, and the demonstration through the quality of Christian life that orthodoxy is not merely a Roman political position but a truer and richer form of the faith they already hold. I raise this with you, most pious Emperor, because I believe the imperial court has occasionally treated the Arian question primarily as a political problem — a matter of enforcing doctrinal conformity through administrative pressure. This approach has had mixed results. Where it has worked, it has worked slowly and incompletely. Where it has failed, it has produced resentment that made the eventual conversion harder. I counsel patience, generosity, and the long view. Nicetius, by God's will bishop of Trier