Letter 2: never boni aliquid contentionem fecisse in the church testifies apostolus and therefore haereticorum correptiones...
Pope Innocent I to Jerome, Priest (in Bethlehem).
Innocent observes that the Apostle testifies that contention never produces anything good in the Church, and therefore orders that the first step against heretics should be rebuke rather than prolonged debate. When this rule is neglected, the evil that should be checked is not avoided but increased. Since, however, Jerome's pain and grief so shake the pope's inmost feelings, he writes first to address Jerome's distress over the disorders caused at Bethlehem by adherents of Pelagianism, and promises to take action.
AI-assisted translation — This translation was produced with AI assistance and has not been peer-reviewed. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek below for scholarly use.
Latin / Greek Original
DILECTISSIMO FILIO HIERONYNO PRESBYTERO INNOCENTIUS. Num- quam boni aliquid contentionem fecisse in ecclesia testatur apostolus et ideo haereticorum correptiones primas fieri iubet magis quam diuturna duci conlatione. quae regula dum neg- legenter aspicitur, malum non uitatur, quod cauendum est, sed augetur. tamen quoniam dolor gemitusque tuus ita ui- scera quatit nostra, ut non « « tractandi consulendique sit, pri-
14 sq. Tit. 8, 9 sq.
1 anathematizet g* editiones 2. sentit V 8. hat V D illi perti- natia V uoluerint V 6 persistere Q 7 suos Q iliV 8cum V: cuius Q 9 et alia manu om. Q 10 VI Q (cf. epistulas Innocentii eodem die daias quae extant apud Ballerin. III 144 et 164): om. V
febroarii gt Ῥ cohf cheodofin aug' & iunn qr: palladí uc. V: om. Q
15
10
15
Epist. XXXXI 12 — XXXXIII 2. 97
mum constantiae tuae adloquor fidem. pro ueritate quisque iniuria aut, ut dicis, periculo percelletur, quia expectet beati- tudinem, multis saepe narrasti et tuarum te praedicationum
bene memorem commonemus. item excitati tanta malorum 3. Scena arripere auctoritatem sedis apostolicae ad omne com- primendum nefas festinauimus, sed, in. quem insurgeremus, . nec nomine appellatum legimus nec criminis aliqua ratione taxatum. quod ergo possumus, condolemus. si deposueris.. autem apertam manifestamque in homines aliquos accusationem, :. aut iudices conpetentes tribuam aut, si aliquid urgentius
sollicitiusque nobis fieri potest, non retardabo, fili dilectissime. tamen episcopo fratri meo Iohanni scripsi, ut. cireumspectius agat, ne quid circa ecclesiam sibi creditam adhue tale aliquid fiat, quale prouidere et propellere ne accidat etiam ipsi sit et ὁ postea molestissimum. |
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