Letter 1: Severus tells Constantine not to let a reconciliation formula be diluted into vague or polluted language.

Severus answers Constantine with humility, but the humility does not soften the seriousness of the issue. Constantine had praised him with language from the Song of Songs, and Severus says the words are too high for him. Then he turns at once to the danger before them: a formula of satisfaction had been sent to Flavian of Antioch, and certain people were trying to weaken, trim, or muddy it so that its confession would no longer protect the faithful. Severus treats that as pastoral sabotage. Sheep who have learned the voice of the Good Shepherd need clean water, not a stream fouled by the feet of those who want confusion. The central story concerns John of Claudiopolis. Severus had spoken with him in the capital in the house of Patrick, master of the soldiers, and the conversation exposed the stakes. John wanted a form of reconciliation broad enough to include people who remained attached to the council Severus rejects. Severus answers that unity cannot be built by shaving away the exactness of the faith. If words are made vague enough to satisfy everyone, they no longer guard anyone. The point of a formula is not to create a diplomatic fog; it is to say plainly where the church stands. Severus then gives Constantine the biography of a model confessor. The man had been trained in ascetic discipline, had lived in angelic virginity, and had been made bishop of Magydum in Pamphylia during the struggle over imperial religious policy. When bishops who once rejected Chalcedon later returned to it and overturned their earlier witness, he left his throne rather than share in the reversal. Severus admires him because he understood that office is not worth keeping at the cost of confession. A bishop who abandons the truth may still hold a seat, but he has lost the reason for having one. This example lets Severus make his broader argument about discernment and courage. The question is not whether peace is desirable; peace is always desirable when it is peace in the truth. The question is whether the faithful will let opponents rename surrender as moderation. Severus wants Constantine and the other shepherds to recognize this difference. They must not let pastoral patience become permission for a document to say less than the church needs it to say. The closing is both affectionate and militant. Peter the presbyter has already reported on Severus' affairs, but Severus still asks for Constantine's prayers. He and his allies have passed through fire and water and need God to bring them into refreshment. Constantine and the other watchful shepherds must stand firm, act with courage, and keep all things in orthodox order. Severus believes their first-fruits can draw the whole lump with them, but only if they refuse to let the confession be diluted at the very moment when clarity matters most. The letter also shows why Severus treats language as a pastoral instrument. A phrase can look generous while hiding a surrender of meaning. That is why he returns to images of water, shepherding, and leaven. Clean water keeps the sheep alive; polluted water spreads illness. A good first-fruit can help the whole mass rise; a corrupted beginning can affect everything kneaded into it. Constantine is being asked to guard the starting point before the damage becomes ordinary.

The contents of your sanctity's former epistle to me are as far from applying to my vileness as the heaven is far from the earth, to use the words of the prophet.^ For you thought fit to recite to me the passage of the Song of Songs, I mean, " Thou art all fair, my neigh- bour, and there is no spot [in thee."* •. • ■ ■.. ■. -• ]■ I [am turned] into another man, as it is written " and prophesy, and that not one of all your words shall fall ^ (.KKoyaL. - titAo?. ^ Ps. cii. II.. ^ Ca. iv. 7. 5 I R. - of satisfaction '" which seemed good to the pious king, which he also sent to Flavian, the prelate of the city of Antiochus, and either altogether to remove and abolish it, or to cut away some of its exactitude, because they do not intend to drink the still water, as says Ezekiel, but strive to foul it with their own feet,^ in order that the sheep which have learned to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd, and to drink "the water of Shiloah that goeth softly,"* may not be able to avoid the pollution of the drink. Which John of Claudiupolis also tried to do when he came here. When he received me in the house of the glorious Patrick, the Master of the Soldiers,^ and conversed with me by order of our pious king, he said, " There ouofht to be introduced into the formula of satisfaction ^ ^ Nu. vi. 27. '" irXTqpoffiOpia, 3 Eze. xxxiv. 18. ■• Is. viii. 6, ^ <TTpaTr]XaTrj<;, this Statement, * We receive the synod at Chalcedon, not as a definition of faith, but as a rejection of Nestorius and of Eutyches.'^ Thus both those that are pleased with the Synod will not be angry, and you will receive contentment in that the doctrines which offend you are rejected." But I said, " This argument is silly, and the offspring of a drunken mind. Who is there among right-minded persons who will accept and praise us on account of this disturbance and confusion? If the Synod of Chalcedon intro- duced the doctrine of Nestorius into the churches, thouofh it called Nestorius 'of small intellig'ence ' "^ in order to entice and deceive those that are more simple, how can we say that it rejected the opinion p 5. of Nestorius? But, if the formula of satisfaction^ in so many words rejects the doctrines of the Synod and of the impious Tome of Leo, which are the life blood of the abomination of Nestorius, how can we honestly say that we accept this synod as against Nestorius?... rather we shall be tripped up as by..." " What then? Were not those at Chalcedon rightly moved against Eutyches? why, [if] you accept them on this point, do you think them fit... an anathema?" [But] I said, "What I am about to say is strange, but nevertheless true. It is especially for this reason that we say that they are men that deserve anathema, because they unnecessarily extended the ^ Cf. Zach. Rh. ix. 20 ad fin.; Evag. iii. 31. '" Mansi vii. 113. ^ TrXrjporfyopia. I. I. heresy of Eutyches. Owing to the fact that they wished to heal the disorder in an unintelHgent way by means of an opposite infection, I mean by the evil impiety of Nestorius, thenceforward those who were infected with the belief in a phantasy, seeing that they were inviting them to man-worship, recoiled from this vicious remedy, and thought themselves all the more pious, and carried their own corruption further. But, if they had been cured and healed by means of right doctrines, they would perhaps have abandoned their infection. [If] we accept those [who] met together [at] Chalcedon as being adversaries [of] the heresy of Eutyches, and praise them on the ground that they spoke well up to a certain point, and do not rather blame them, it is time for us to accept also the Arian heresy, which contends against the evil opinion of Sabellius, and agrees up to a certain point with the rioht doctrines of the Church, in that it grlori- fies God the unbegotten Father, and in that it does not confound the three substances, but confines them within their own attributes or persons. But we do not extol it on this account, nor do we judge it to deserve a partial anathema. But, because it calls the Son and the Holy Spirit creatures, and degrades them to a servile position, on this account it is utterly re- pudiated by the orthodox doctors of the Church. This same trick we find practised by the other heresies also. By displaying a certain part of the sound faith as a decoy and mixing ^ with this the vanity of their ^ This is the meaning needed, though I cannot sujiply the word. own profane words they thus appear plausible to those that are more innocent and simple; but we do not, on account of the sound part, hold back and shrink from repudiating them, but we anathematize them with all our power." When the good and excellent John had heard these things, he betook himself to another topic.^ He asked me - whether Epiphanius the bishop," who is among the saints, performed our ordinations fitly and in accord- ance with the canon. But I said, " Very well and most properly," and "after the pattern of the doctors and stablishers of the word of the orthodox faith. For he in his boyhood was brought up in monasteries, and practised a virginity modelled on the angelic and un- embodied life, being a citizen of Perga: a man of no ignoble city, as it is written,^ yes, and a man of noble birth also, if these things are not small to the citizens of Jerusalem above. Having been advanced to the bishopric of Magydum (this also is a city in Pamphylia) at the time of the Encyclical which repudiated the impiety that was confirmed at Chalcedon, under which Timothy, who was sent into exile for piety's sake, re- turned to Alexander's city, and received back the presidency of the flock of Mark the Evangelist, which before was unrighteously tended by wolves and torn, when he saw that the bishops had changed, and that they had overthrown the Encyclical by a contrary ^ KeffidXaiov. - C/. Zach. Rh. V. 5. ^ Ac. xxi. 39. I. I document, and had gone back to the Synod of Chal- cedon and its hateful doctrines, he left his throne and Pamphylia, the land of his fathers, and the blessed man came as a fugitive to Alexander's city, and embraced communion with the saintly Timothy, the champion of the right faith, having taken joyfully upon him the spoiling of his goods, and knowing that he had in heaven a better and enduring inheritance, as the wise Paul says.^ But, when Timothy of holy memory had finished his course and kept his faith " and departed to God, the zealots of the orthodox faith were asfain persecuted in Alexander's city, and the correct word was perturbed by certain men's mixture. Then there- fore the blessed Epiphanius withdrew to Palestine, the stranger on the earth, who did not know any city of his own, or rather knew that only as his own in which God over all is purely worshipped. And, having associated with Peter of Iberia of holy memory, the God-clad man, who was bishop of one of the cities in Palestine, and with the other holy fathers and orthodox peoples, he was persuaded by them and ordained priests, not going beyond the meaning of the sacred canons (far be it!) The canon that forbids a bishop to perform an ordination in provinces^ or parishes which do not belong to him * comes into play P- 9 in cases where he forces himself upon other men's countries in a disorderly fashion and without an invita- 1 He. X. 34. ■' 2 Ti. iv, 7. 3 eVapxtas. ■* Mansi ii. 1313, 1317. Theod. H.E. v. 4. ''-2 Ti. ii. 19. I. I. the part of the prelates of the country, and of the worst men of the city who ranged themselves with these; however, the Holy Spirit was bound to conquer: yes, and it does conquer, gaining an easy victory. For from outside the boundaries it stirs up men to anoint, men distinguished and zealous in the matter of piety.' ^ But, if Basil, the teacher of orthodoxy and rule and law of all church discipline, was anointed and received ordination (for this is the anointing of a high-priest) from those outside the boundaries, because the people of the country or province^ were jealous of him, on account of the Arian heresy or for other human reasons, which is a very small thing, how can we say that the ordinations that were performed among us by a man outside the boundaries, when the transoression of Chalcedon and the Nestorian heresy bare rule and prevailed, are not to be approved? and we have such great and wonderful instances of holy men and such as these, whose zeal is resembled by ours. But what shall we for our part say of the ordinations that are now performed in the churches? What canon re- p- "• specting these is not trampled upon? Are not high- priesthoods now everywhere for sale, as we see in the case of civil governorship of cities (the other things I pass over, lest by falling into evil speaking or back- biting and saying things suited to other men I be thought to be choosing for myself matters that do not concern me)? " While I was saying these things, the ^ Or. xliii. 37. - i-n-apx^a. gentle John covered his face. But since perhaps, even after he has returned to you, he will again circulate the same suggestions (for this is the habit of those who cause confusion), I have thought it right to make known to your sanctity the details of our honest and lawful discussion of this matter in this royal city. As to the state of our affairs, I think the religious presbyter Peter has once already given you information by letter upon each several point. Still it is a matter for your saintly prayers that the Lord, as is said in the Psalms, after we have "passed through fire and water" may " bring us out into a place of refreshment." ^ But you as watchful shepherds and strict disciples of the chief shepherd Jesus, who brought us up with Him from among the dead by the blood of the everlasting covenant, "stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, and be strong. Let all your things be done with " ^ orthodoxy or the right opinions. For you have " chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from " ^ you. And we believe that the whole lump also will coalesce with your holy first fruit ^ and be kneaded: for through your prayers we have in all our troubles gained experience of the help of God, and the comfort of hopes of success has not departed from us.