Roman Letters

Letter 1

Pope John III→Unknown|c. 567 AD|pope john iii
◆

POPE JOHN III
TO THE BISHOPS OF THE PROVINCES OF GERMANY AND GAUL

**Summary of contents:**

I. First, he rebukes certain reckless chorepiscopi [chorepiscopos: auxiliary bishops serving rural areas], already long condemned, for presuming too much authority in the laying on of hands.

II. Next, he demonstrates that Clement I governed the apostolic see after the blessed Peter, this office having been entrusted to him by Peter himself.

III. Third, he explains what great care and diligence must be undertaken by those who shepherd the flock of Christ.

---

John, bishop, to all those established throughout the provinces of Germany and Gaul: greetings in the Lord.

I had indeed wished, dearest brothers, out of the love of our fellowship, that all priests of the Lord would persist in unified devotion, and that no one would pursue forbidden favor or the patronage of priests, or stray from the right path. And although we believe that your Beloved community is prepared and devoted to every good work, it nonetheless seemed fitting to us — so that you might become more effective, and so that we might follow in the footsteps of our predecessors — to admonish you by letters of the apostolic see: to carry out manfully the divine precepts and the decrees of the apostolic see, and not to touch what is forbidden, but to guard against it. Let no one ever be permitted to abandon the teaching of the Fathers while enjoying the honor of the priesthood.

**I.** It has been reported to the apostolic see that a forbidden and thoroughly uprooted practice — condemned long ago by both Saint Damasus [Pope Damasus I, r. 366–384] and Saint Leo [Pope Leo I, r. 440–461], men of apostolic standing, as well as by all the bishops acting under synodal authority — has resurfaced and come back to life. This reprehensible and utterly useless custom is that certain chorepiscopi (who were forbidden by the fathers and predecessors of the aforementioned holy apostolic men, and by those men themselves, and by us — as their decrees still attest to this day), overstepping their proper limits, are conferring the gift of the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands, and performing other acts that belong solely to bishops — contrary to divine law.

For in the Church, they bear the likeness of the seventy disciples [the seventy disciples sent out by Christ in Luke 10:1–17]. Let it be read how the gift of the Holy Spirit was handed down through the laying on of hands. That this office of conferring the Holy Spirit belongs exclusively to the apostles and their successors, the Acts of the Apostles teaches us (Acts 8). Moreover, at the Council of Caesarea [Council of Neocaesarea, c. 315, canon 15], it is written concerning chorepiscopi as follows: "The chorepiscopi appear to be modeled on the pattern of the seventy. As co-ministers, they are to be honored on account of their zeal for the care of the poor."

If indeed you consider yourselves better and holier than the holy apostles, then do what they did not do, and exalt yourselves above them. But if you are of the same order and wish to make yourselves their equals, do not do what they did not do. Rather, imitate, as best you can, their examples and follow in their footsteps. For the apostles, at the Lord's command and by his instruction — that they and their successors alone should confer the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands — never permitted any of the seventy to confer the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands. They knew it would be unlawful for those whose role the chorepiscopi bore in the Church (before they were forbidden), thus giving an example to their successors never to presume such things.

Therefore it is written in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 8): "When the apostles who were in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For the Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit."

So then — as has already been said — they did not send any of the seventy to accomplish this task, even though the apostles were few in number. Instead, they sent Peter and John, apostles, to confer the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands. It is the bishops who hold the apostles' office in the Church, not the chorepiscopi, who before their prohibition bore the likeness of the seventy disciples. What they did not do, you must not do either, lest you appear unlike them and unworthy of their succession and ministry. For as the Lord says in the Gospel: "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters" (Luke 11:23).

**II.** Furthermore, if Peter, the prince of the apostles, took Linus and Cletus as his assistants, he nonetheless did not hand over to them the power of the pontificate — neither the authority to bind nor to loose — but rather to his successor, holy Clement [Pope Clement I, traditionally r. c. 88–99], who earned the right to hold the apostolic see after Peter and the pontifical power, as it was entrusted to him by the blessed Peter himself. Linus and Cletus, however, attended to external matters, while Peter, the prince of the apostles, devoted himself to the word and to prayer — duties which fittingly pertain to the conferring of the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands.

**III.** If it should prove difficult, or if pressing necessity demands it — [the text breaks off here in the source]

Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.

Translation source →

Related Letters

Pope Pelagius I→Unknownc. 559 · pelagius i #62
Pope Pelagius I→Unknownc. 559 · pelagius i #31
Pope Pelagius I→Unknownc. 558 · pelagius i #89
Pope Pelagius I→Unknownc. 559 · pelagius i #80
Austrasian Court→Austrasian Courtc. 572 · epistulae austrasicae #33