Letter 24: Gelasius praises the constancy of these bishops in preserving the faith and in avoiding the neighboring...

Gelasius, bishop, to all the bishops throughout Dardania and Illyricum. 1. Hearing of the orthodox constancy of your love in Christ, and that you so cling to the traditions of the ancient faith and sincere communion that the neighboring contagion of the transgressors has in no way infected a mind devoted to Christian truth, we magnified the Lord and were eager with all the longing of our heart to address your love through letters sent by the religious men, our sons Cyprianus and Macarius, deacons. For on account of the primacy of the apostolic see, whose divinely delegated solicitude is owed to all churches, we live if you stand in the Lord, and we triumph with great joy when we learn that throughout the world the Lord of Hosts has left the seed of a pure confession — seed which, falling not upon rocky ground, was not dried up by the heat of temptation, nor fell near the path exposed to wandering enemies, nor rushed into thorns to be choked, but, dispersed by heavenly sowing into the good soil of your devout devotion, has advanced to thirtyfold and sixtyfold and hundredfold fruit — designating by mystical speech the progress of the Lord's wheat. 2. Wherefore with exultant hearts we more confidently urge you to wisely keep your hearts inviolate from the assault of the Eutychian pestilence: since now he who perseveres to the end shall be saved. The Lord is near; be anxious for nothing — since greater is He who is in us than he who is in this world, and it is certain from the testimony of Scripture that the kingdom of the Lord is within us. And that you may guard against the harmful association of those who are established in error, receive into your fellowship by no subterfuge anyone who communicates with such people. For just as in every heresy, when the author of the depravity has been condemned, his successors and accomplices and all those polluted by communion with the followers of such things must be avoided by Catholic integrity, so with Eutyches, Dioscorus, Timothy Aelurus, and Peter of Alexandria together with his communicant Acacius, and also Peter of Antioch with all their associates — all are entirely to be rejected. Nor should anyone, even if he promises to lay aside his depravity, be permitted by any means to enter the flocks uncontaminated by sacrilege, so long as he consents to the recitation of the names of the lost or of those who recite them, and is not separated in communion — so that the Church of our God, which bears no spot or wrinkle, may remain inviolate. Let the dire commerce of the viper's head be far from the faithful in Christ, and let mortal poisons be driven far from the heavenly pastures, so that the saving nourishment of that bread which came down from heaven may lead the faithful who partake of it to eternal life. 3. And that we may provide for these things by mutual exhortation, let your love take care both to disclose to us more frequently the wished-for good health of your love and the urgency of our common faith, so that encouraging one another with mutual instruction, we may be able to find the reward of the Lord's legitimate priests. Let your love also vigilantly insist on making these same things known throughout the neighboring provinces, so that those who stand firm in the sincerity of Catholic communion may be strengthened by fitting addresses, and those who may have deviated from this rectitude may be brought back to the integrity of Christian doctrine by salutary counsel. 4. Let your fraternity know that the bishop of the church of Thessalonica, though frequently urged by our admonitions, has never been willing to avoid the contagion of external communion, nor has he condemned before us the name of Acacius or the other similar perfidious ones and those communicating with them with a fitting profession. For this reason it is manifest that he has not received the communion of the apostolic see, since we cannot and ought not provide the commerce of the Church of the blessed apostle Peter to those not purified in understanding and separated from all wicked association. Therefore one must act more cautiously with the aforesaid, lest he creep into the reconciliation of the apostolic see upon Catholic minds, as sometimes happens — a reconciliation which, just as he cannot deceive and circumvent by deceitful arts, so he cannot obtain under the guise thereof. We believe that our authority, which has been directed to the bishops of Dalmatia, should also be directed to you, so that you may know that we hold everywhere one judgment in Catholic truth according to the form of the ancient tradition. And if you learn that any new disturbances are arising, you ought by fraternal solicitude to report them to us, so that we may in turn provide remedies congruent with the rules of the Fathers, with the Lord's help. 5. And let no one at all persuade you that the crime of Acacius's transgression has been relaxed, because he who, after falling back into the fellowship of depravity and being rightly excluded from apostolic communion, died persisting in this same condemnation — the absolution which he neither sought at all nor merited while alive, he can no longer obtain now that he is dead; since to the apostles themselves, by the voice of Christ, it was delegated: What you shall bind upon earth, and what you shall loose upon earth. Moreover, about him who is now placed before the divine judgment, it is not lawful for us to decree anything other than the state in which the last day found him. And therefore, unless his name is repudiated along with the other associates of this error, you must in no way share with any of them the purity of the Lord's table, which our forefathers always carefully guarded as distinct from heretical pollution. 6. But let no one attempt to circumvent you by saying that the contention is not about religion but about conduct, or that the apostolic see is not treating the cause of Catholic communion and faith, but is grieving over an injury, because it appears to have been scorned by Acacius. For these and similar things — that they might deceive any simple folk — those who are established in error do not cease to scatter abroad. For you see, as has already been said above, that through the names of transgressors, if — God forbid — they are believed fit to be recited in the Church, the contagion of transgression is simultaneously introduced. The apostolic see, however, so little grieves over insult and rather defends the faith and sincere communion, that today all who have appeared to burst forth in contempt of it, if they return to the integrity of Catholic faith and communion, it receives them coming with all the affection of the heart and with full charity, according to the path of the paternal rules.

a.494d. Gelasii papae ad episeopos Dardaniae et IUyrici. Praedicat iHorum comtantiam in servanda fide ac vitandis vicinis contagiig («. 1). pi; Apud Reginonem autem lib. 1 eap. 18: Ut si qui, quod absit, facuHates Eerledm ei diocceses ah aliis quibus possidentur episcopis etc, Non dispHceret: ut #i, qnoi ahsit^ ah aliis quihusdtim possidcntur. Certe post verbum dioeeeses supplendom aut dicendum atterius. Hanc Cielasii sententiam illustrat Toletani IV concfla anno 633 habiti .canon 34, in quo praecipitur: Quicunque episcopus aiierims e^ scopi dioeccsim per triyinta annos sine aliqua interpeltatione possederii , quia seemn- dum Jus tegis ejus Jam videtur esse dioecesis^ admittenda non esi conira eum meii§ reposcendi. Ad eamdem re8])icien3 jam amio 617 concilium Hispaleiue II c t sanxerat: Tricennatis oftjectio sitentium ponit; hoc enim et saecularium prineipnm edictn praecipiunt et praesutum liomanorum decrevit auctoritas. Vide et COncflillM Calchedonense c. 17 nec non cod. Theod. hb. 4 tit. 14 uuicam Theodoflii legca (l. 3 C. Vll, 39) et Aniani interpretiitionem atque Valentiniaui noYell. tit. 91 Silendimi hic non eBt, syuodi VIII ab lladriono II anuo 870 habitae captinbui 18, iu quo praescriptio tricennalis finnatur, quum a Gratiano (c. 8 C. XVI qa. ^ tum in ms. Josaphateo ab aimis circiter 500 descripto sub Qelaaii nomna citari cum triplici tanieu varietate: quarmn prima est, quod Z /I' habeni tum t;i scriptis donatay ubi Bynodus addit vel sine scriptis; altera, qnod exliibent ac Jussu praesutis, in synodo exstat ac usu praesulis; pottreina, qiiod quum synodus prae se ierat seu res restituerit et reservaverii , ab iUia abett il reservaverit . -') Regino et Capitularia ut in niB». pro eo. Deinde soli mss. O iieemi mpfff* lare quos, et in uuo secundis curis: pro his (X* pro id) appellare quos, EPIStOLAE 17. 18. 383 Ut earwmy qui ab EutycManorum consortio se non segregant, communionem vitent a. 494. {«. 2), ad ipsum autem de fidei instantibus crebrius scribant^ ipsiusque monita vicims provinciis nota faciant (n. 3). Ut ab artihus caveant episcopi Thessa- lomicensis, qui a recitando nomine Acacii abstinere nolens apostoKcae sedis com- nutnwnem non meruit (n. 4). , Ne persuaderi sibi sinant, Acacio praevaiicationis Muae crimen fuisse laxatum, aut ab apostoiica sede propriam injuriam, non fidei et conmunionis catholicae causam tracturi (n. 5). Gelasius episcopus universis episcopis per Dar- daniam*) sive per Tllyricum constitutis. 1. Audientes orthodoxam vestrae dilectionis in Christo con- stantiam^ atque ita vos antiquae fidei connnunionisque sincerae tra- ditiouibus inhaerentes, ut meutem Christianae deditam veritati nul- latenus infecerint praevaricatorum vicina contagia, magnificavimus Dominum^ caritatemque vestram missis litteris alloqui per religiosos viros filios nostros Cyprianum atque Macarium diacones tota cordis aYiditate curavimus: quoniam pro sedis apostolicae principatu, cujus sollieitudo delegata divinitus cunctis debetur ecclesiis, nos vivimus, - si vos statis in Domino, magnisque gaudiis triumphamus, quum ubi- que terrarum Dominum Sabaoth semen purae confessionis reliquisse cognoscimus, quod non in petrosa deveniens aestu tentationis exa- jl 3^^ Txnty nec viae proximum cecidit vagantibus'^) inimicis expositum, nec in spinis irruit suffocandum, sed in bonam terram piae devotio- nis vestrae coelesti satione dispersum in trigesimum et sexagesimum fructum centenariumque profecit, profectionemque scilicet frumenti clominici mystica locutione designans. 2. Quapfopter exsultantibus animis confidentius incitamus, ut ab Eutychianae pestis incursu pectora vestra sapienter intemerata,, nervetis: quoniam jam qut perseverat usqtte tn fincm, mc saivus eni. 10,22. Jkminus prope esi, nihti soliiciii sitis; siquidem major est, qui'*) in I^*^i*ip- nobis est, quam qui in hoc mundo, regnumque Domini intra nos ' esse Scriptwa testante sit certum. Ut auteni ab eorum, qui in er- ^Y^^' rore sunt positi, uoxia societate caveatis, nullum talibus communi- emntem ad vestrum recipiatis qualibet subreptione consortium: quia flieut in uuaquaque haeresi cum pravitatis auctore damnato succes- sores ejus et complices atque Imjusmodi sectatoribus polluta com- munione permixtos cathdlica vitare debet integritas, ita cum Euty- ehete Dioscorus simulque Timotheus Aelurus et Petrus Alexandrinus ejusque communicator Acacius nec ' non etiam Antiochenus Petrus ■) lia G\ nt jam a^ suspicatus fuerat; at editi vacantibus ... coelesti faclione a. 494. cum Buis sunt omnino participibus abdicandi. Nec qnisquam, etii praTitatem deponere se promittat^)^ recltandis tamen nominibi consentiens perditorum vel eadem recitantium minime communioi discretus, ad immaculata sacrilegiis ovilia quibuscunque modis iJph. 5,27. permittendus intrare, ut Ecclesia Dei nostri, quae maculam rugamq tiori sustinet, inviolata permaneat. Absint ergo a fidelibus Chris^ viperae capitis dira commercia, et procul a coelestibus pascuis mor^ Foh.G,50. tifera venena pellantur, ut salutaris alimonia panis illius, qui d^^ coelo descetiditj fideles hanc sumentes ad vitam perducat aetemam! 3. Quae ut mutua valeamus exhortatione prospicere, det operam vestra dilectio, ut et sospitatem vestrae caritatis optatam et fidei conmiimis instantia nobis crebrius aperire non desin^t: quatenuB alternis nos instnictionibus excitantes, legitimorum Domini sacer- dotum possimus invenire mercedem. Per vicinas quoque provincias haec eadem patefacere v^stra caritas vigilanter insistat, ut et qui catholicae communionis sinceritkte subsistunt, competentibus robo- rentur alloquiis, et quiforsitan ab hujus rectitudine deviarunt, ad integritatem dogmatis Christiani salubribus monitis reducantur. 4. Noverit autem vestra fratemitas, ecclesiae Thessalonicensis antistitem, nostris ^) iidhortationibus saepius incitatum, contagia com- munionis externae nunquam declinare voluisse, nec apud nos noqieu Acacii vel ceterorum similium perfidorum hisque communicantium congma professione damnasse. Quapropler eum communionem sedis apostolicae non recepisse manifestum est, quoniam nisi puris sensi- Jiirrrr) ^® et ab omni nefanda*^) societate *beati Petri apoatoli nec poe- sumu^ nec debemus Ecclesiae praebere commercia. Propterea cautius /fr/fl) agendum est cum praefato, nec catholicis mentibus, *ut fit, apo- stolicae sedis reconciliatione subrepat: quam sicut dolosis artibus ^/^^ ^j„, f allere et circumvenire non praevalet, ita^) *sub cujus non potest obtinere. Auctoritatem quoque nostram, quae ad Dalmatiarum est Alexandrinae ecclesiae lcgatis Anastasii II papae oblato (infra Anast. II ep. 5), quem BaroniuB ad annum 497 refert, manifeBtum est. £x dtata autem FelidB opistola hunc Andream jam tum apostolicae sedis communionem dolose captare conatum esse coUigitur. ') G< ab omni nefande sodetatis, quo sermo etiam mandor apparet (snpplen- dum tunc eonsortio discretis). EPISTOLAE 18. 19. 385 (iijrecta ^ntifices, etiam ad yos credimus dirigendam^ quatenus ina. 494. veiritate catholica secundum formam traditionis antiquae tenere nos cou.so]iam noveritis ubique sententiam. Si quos vero novos didice- ritds motus exsnrgere^ nobis fratema debetis sbllicitudine reserare^ qiio subinde^ quae patrum regulis congruant; praestante Domino remedia procuremus. 5. Nec quisquam onmino vobis persuadeat, Acacio praevaricatio- Tiis suae crimen fuisse laxatum^ quia qui postquam in collegium r^cidens pravitatis jureque meruit ab apostolica communione secludi, w bac eadem persistens damnatione defunctus est, absolutionem^ qTvam superstes nec quaesivit omnino nec meruit, mortuus jam non potest impetrare; siquidem ipsis apostolis Christi voce delegatum €st: Quae ligaveritis super terram, et quae soiveritis super terram. j[g ^g Ceterum jam de eo, qui in divino est judicio constitutus, nobis fas non est aliud decernere praeter id, in quo eum dies supremus in- venit; atque ideo nisi ejus nomine refutato ceterisque consortibus Aojns erroris, cum nullo prorsus eorum participare debetis mensae dominicae puritatem, quam majores nostri semper ab baeretica magnopere servaverunt pollutione discretam. 6. Sed neque vos quisquam^) circumvenire pertentet, quod dicat, non de religione sed de moribus esse certamen, vel aposto- Ucam sedem non causam conununionis catholicae fideique tractare, sed ijijuriam dolere, cur videatur ab Acacio fuisse contempta; quo- niam liaec et hujusmodi, quatenus simplices quosque decipiant, hi qui in errore sunt positi, spargere non quieseuiit. Videtis enim, sicut supra jam dictum est, per nomina praevaricatorum, si, quod absit^ in Ecclesia reeitanda credantur, simul et contagium praevari- catioiiis induci. Sedes autem apostoliea in tantum non contumeliam dolet, sed fidem defendit, communionem sineeram, ut hodie euncti, qui in ejus visi sunt prorupisse despectum, si ad integritatem fidei commumonisque^) catholicae revertantur, secimdum regularum trami- tem patemarum toto cordis afiectu venientes et plena caritate su- acipiat. Data III Nonas Augusti, Asterio et Praesidio viris claris- simis consulibus.