Letter 1

Vigilius (Pope)Unknown|pope vigilius
From: Pope Vigilius, Bishop of Rome
To: Mennas, Patriarch of Constantinople
Date: ~540 AD
Context: Vigilius writes to the Patriarch of Constantinople establishing the basis for their collaboration — Vigilius was a deeply problematic pope who would eventually be abducted by Justinian and coerced into the Three Chapters condemnation.

Vigilius, bishop, to the most beloved brother Mennas.

Although we have now, with God's help, done everything we could to settle and confirm all things according to the direction and in accordance with our dispositions, we nonetheless think it necessary to address you separately on the matters that continue to require our mutual attention.

The peace between the eastern and western churches that was restored after the long darkness of the Acacian Schism is a treasure that we are both charged to maintain. I say this at the outset because the questions before us — the question of certain theological writings, the question of the relationship between the Chalcedonian definition and the formulas that preceded it — have the potential to disrupt that peace, and disruption of that peace would be a grave harm to the body of Christ.

My commitment to you is this: I will work with you and with the emperor toward whatever resolution genuinely serves the unity of the church and the orthodoxy of the faith. I ask in return that Rome's voice be genuinely heard in that process — not as a veto, but as the voice of the tradition of Peter, which speaks with an authority that the church recognizes and that serves the whole, not any particular party.

I hold you in my prayers and in my fraternal affection.

Vigilius, bishop of Rome

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