Letter 67: Severus tells Anastasius that the communion he sends has one value because the faith is one, regardless of the personal rank of the minister.
Severus of Antioch→Anastasius the count, son of Sergius|c. 520 AD|Severus of Antioch|From Antioch, Syria|AI-assisted
Severus of Antioch; Anastasius son of Sergius; count; communion; oblation; East; Egypt; orthodox faith; sacramental theology
The letter is a compact statement that sacramental communion is measured by the one orthodox faith, not by the personal dignity of the officiant. Source id III.1; Brooks table page 231; page anchor supplied by T246 marker adjudication because the broad concordance marks this row unstable. Source-facing English extracted by explicit body markers from the Archive OCR text; original Syriac source-text backfill remains pending.
See how strongly your father's fervent and pure faith has moved us: we have sent you the communion, or oblation, just as you desired.
Since one and the same faith prevails in the holy churches of the East and in those of Egypt, the communion too must be regarded as one and of the same value. Priests may differ in personal character, some more worthy and some less, but the gift is not measured by that difference. A precious stone does not lose its nature because the hand that holds it is weak, nor does lead become gold because a prestigious person carries it. The operation and grace of the sound faith that completes both are one.
So let no one judge the communion by the greater or lesser character of those who officiate. As I said, overcome by the abundance of your love for Christ, we have done what you asked.
See! overcome by the feryour and purity of your gracious father's faith we have sent you the communion or oblation, as seemed to you to be desirable: because, while one and the same faith prevails in the holy churches in the East and those in Egypt, one must reckon the communion also to be one and of the same value, since priests, whatever they be in their 16 III. I. conduct, cannot increase or diminish the sacrament. This the Theologian Gregory also somewhere says, making use of the following example. As, when two seals, one made of lead and the other of gold, bear one 262. impress without any difference whatever, it of necessity follows that the wax sealed by them will bear the same signet and seal, a man who has not seen being unable to discern from the wax which stamp was made by the gold and which by the lead, so also in the case of priests, so long as they hold one and the same orthodox faith, and consummate a baptism, it may be, or the bloodless sacrifice, it is impossible to discern in which case the consecration or consummation was performed by the man who is golden or pure in his character, and in which by the man who by reason of the faultiness of his character resembles lead.^ For the operation and grace of the sound faith which consummated both of them is one: but let no one look at the greater and less arising from the character of those who officiated. However, as I said, having been overcome by the abundance of fervent love which you have towards Christ, we have done what was commanded by you.
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See how strongly your father's fervent and pure faith has moved us: we have sent you the communion, or oblation, just as you desired.
Since one and the same faith prevails in the holy churches of the East and in those of Egypt, the communion too must be regarded as one and of the same value. Priests may differ in personal character, some more worthy and some less, but the gift is not measured by that difference. A precious stone does not lose its nature because the hand that holds it is weak, nor does lead become gold because a prestigious person carries it. The operation and grace of the sound faith that completes both are one.
So let no one judge the communion by the greater or lesser character of those who officiate. As I said, overcome by the abundance of your love for Christ, we have done what you asked.
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.
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