Letter 19: Acacius, Bishop of Constantinople, to Pope Simplicius (before March).

(Before the month of March. Letter of Acacius of Constantinople to Pope Simplicius. A.D. 478.) [Summary:] That Timothy Aelurus [the Cat] has died (sect. 1), that Peter Mongus [the Hoarse] has fled, and that Timothy Salophaciolus [Wobble-Cap], restored to the see of Alexandria, offers the most joyful hope (sect. 2), and that nothing has been omitted for the safeguarding of ecclesiastical discipline (sect. 3). To our most blessed lord, holy father and archbishop Simplicius, from Acacius. 1. Bearing the care of all the churches, according to the Apostle, you exhort us unceasingly, although we are vigilant of our own accord, and by recurring to us you show, as is your custom, the divine zeal toward us, inquiring more surely into the state of the Alexandrian church: that for the sake of the ancestral canons you may take up the labor, dripping with most pious sweat on behalf of these matters, as has always been your approved practice. But Christ our Lord, who works together for good with those who love him, resting upon our thoughts and knowing that in these matters we have one and the same mind for the sake of his glory, has himself accomplished the whole victory and will make us partners with our most tranquil prince. 2. Timothy indeed, the man from Cherson, breathing forth tempests and disturbing, as has appeared, the ecclesiastical tranquillity, he has withdrawn from human life, saying to him: "Be silent and hold your peace." Peter also, who had risen up from Alexandria in like manner like a storm, he scattered and turned to perpetual flight by the breath of the Holy Spirit, this man too being one of those who long ago had existed and had been condemned beforehand. Just as it was found also in our archives, and from your own record-chests, if you deign to inquire, you will be able to learn what at the time ensued concerning that same man, and what reports were sent back and forth between the Alexandrian bishop and Rome. This Peter, being a son of the night and showing himself a stranger to the works of the flowing day, wholly finding the darkness fit cooperators for carrying out his banditry, at midnight, while the corpse of that man who had subverted the ancestral canons still lay unburied, seized the see (as he himself supposed), with one and one only present, and that man one who was a companion sharing in his madness, so that on this account he might be subjected to greater punishments. Nor was what he hoped for brought to pass. But that man, judging concerning himself in even the least part, nowhere appeared at all. Timothy, however, the guardian of the ancestral canons, who, by the example of David's gentleness and patient even to the end, and restored to his own authority by Christ, rejoices in the honor of his own see and has received the voices of his spiritual sons; he awaits the grace of healing, with honor multiplied upon him by Christ the prince of priests, for whose sake he has also bound upon himself the crown of endurance. 3. Let your beatitude therefore pray more attentively both for the most Christian emperor and for us ourselves. For nothing is omitted of those things which pertain to the safeguarding of ecclesiastical discipline. The whole brotherhood that is with you, both I and those who are with me salute in Christ. And in another hand: May you be preserved in the Lord, most holy and most blessed father! [Critical notes:] In manuscript 10 "most blessed" is wanting. Then D2, D4, D6, D7, F1, N1, O1 read "patriarch-bishop." -- Thus D3, D4, D5, D6, D9, E1, E4, F4, H2 (and 2 others), d4; c2, d1, a3, i1 read "running before," but cod. D4 "to you," D7, D8, D9, E4, E6, F4, H1, N2 "into you," D5 "into us," i1 "and you," d1, d4 "the divine zeal in you as is your custom"; P1 and 4 other manuscripts "but you show yourselves solicitous with divine zeal." Whence Victor of Tunnuna also writes that this heretic, after Basiliscus had usurped the empire, returned from his exile at Cherson. Hormisdas seems to have had regard to this passage of Acacius in epistle 18 to the bishops of Epirus, sect. 2, when he wrongly calls Timothy "the Chersonese" as though he were a native of Cherson, unless perhaps he is believed to have been banished thither, whence he had drawn his origin. Certainly that he wrote there a rather lengthy work in defense of his heresy we learn from Eustathius the monk (in Angelo Mai, Scriptores veteres, vol. VII, p. 277) and from the author of the Dogmatic Panoply, question 8, no. 5 (in Angelo Mai, Patrum nova bibliotheca, vol. II, p. 630), who quote a passage of his. The letters of Timothy Salophaciolus, both to Zeno and to Simplicius, are mentioned by Liberatus in the same place, chapter 16, and likewise the letters 12 and 13 of Simplicius himself. He is moreover recorded as having been condemned in the acts concerning the name of Acacius (Gelasius, treatise 1, no. 6) together with Timothy Aelurus, whose helper he had been in the murder of Timothy. While the corpse lay unburied, that is, lying without burial or not yet entombed. Evagrius narrates the matter thus, Ecclesiastical History III, 11: "When Timothy had paid the debt of nature, they elect a certain Peter surnamed Mongus as bishop on their own authority." To which, when this was said, he immediately adds: "When this was announced to Zeno, it greatly disturbed him, and Zeno decided that Peter indeed should be punished with death." Perhaps Acacius hints at this sentence of Zeno in what he soon adds: "so that on this account he might be subjected to greater punishments." Thus D4, H2, N1, I, O, and the printed editions; d1 "existed as one and one only." Several manuscripts read "showing," less aptly. He seems to have judged himself worthy of the darkness, who damned himself to the hiding-places. -- A little before, d4 reads "nor however"; d1 omits "concerning," which with the printed editions and manuscripts D1, I, O (H2 has "his" in its place) we retain. a3, c2 add "is subjected," certain manuscripts "subjected," which word is absent from the better manuscripts. Next, d4 "example," D5 "to the example." Timothy Salophaciolus is compared to David both for his innate gentleness and for the former authority restored to him. Concerning whose gentleness Liberatus, in the same place, chapter 16, recorded this: "since he was so very mild in his episcopate that he was even accused before the emperor by his own communicants as too lax and too placid toward the heretics." Thus d1 according to his codices, with which D1, D4, D5, D8, H1 agree, except that D5 reads "with voices," D8, D9 "of the voice." The printed editions and a3 read "receiving," d1 "received the grace of healing by the prayers of his sons. Therefore he awaits the reward, with it multiplied" -- which reading seems hardly genuine and interpolated. But what those voices of the spiritual sons may be, by which Timothy received as it were a glad assent to his restoration and a sign of the future healing of the Alexandrians, is understood from these words of Liberatus in the same place, chapter 16: "The Alexandrians loved him and cried out in the streets and in the churches: 'Even if we do not commune with you, nevertheless we love you.'" Whence by the name of "spiritual sons" are to be understood not those who live according to the spirit, but those over whom Timothy held spiritual power and paternal authority, even though at that time they were acting outside his communion, lacking the grace of healing. Which grace seemed the more to be hoped for by Timothy, the more he felt himself loved by them with greater affection. Thus D4, H2, N1, I, O, and the printed editions; d1 "with one alone... he had been existing."

(ante m. Mart. Aeacii Constantinopolitani ad Simpliciuni papam. a.478.) Timotheum Aelurum mortuum esse (». 1), fugisse Petrum Afongum, l^imOtkeMm ] Salophakiolum autem, Alexandrinae sedi restitutum, spem laetissimam cttratianiM seductorum praehere (n. 2), nec q^idquam ad custodiam disdplinae ecdeHoMiicat omitti (n. 3). Domino beatissimo^) sancto patri archiepiscopo Simplicio Acacius. ^^oi*- 1. SoIIicitudinem omnium ecclesiarum secundum apostolum 11 28 ... ' ' circumferentes nos iiidesinenter hortamini quamvis sponte vigilantes, ac recurrentes^) in nos divinum zelum solito demonstratis, statum Alexandrinae ecclesiae certius requirentes: ut pro patemis canoni- bus suscipiatis laborem, piissimo stillantes sudore pro his, sicut sem- 8^28 P^^ ^^^ approbatum. Sed Christus Dominus noster, qui diligentibus se in bonum cooperatur insidens cogitationibus nostris^ et unam nobis in his mentem atque eamdem^) pro gloria sua esse cognoscenSy Augustum otteruntur. «) In mss. 10 deest beatissimo. Subinde D« D^ D« D^ F» N» 0' patriarekat episcopo. ») Ita D> D« D5 D« D» E> E« F« IP 2 ^ d«; c^ d» a» i« praecurrentes sed vot. D« ad vos, D' D» D9 E« E« F« H» N« in vos, D« in nos, i« et vos, d' d« dimnumqMt ze- lum in vohis solito; PP aliiquc 4 mss. sed vos divino zelo sollicitos demonstratiM* EPISTOLAE 7. 8. 193 omnein Ticioriam ipse perfecit, consortes nos cum tranquillissimo a. 478. principe faciet*). 2. Timotheum quidem de Cersone^), spirantem procellas et eccle- siastieam tranquillitatem , sicut apparuit, conturbantem , vitae sub- dnxit*) humanae; dicens ei: Tace et obmuiesce. Petrum quoque, qui^^rc. ab Alezandria more similiter') procellae surrexerat, dissipavit atque ' in aetemam fugam sancto Spiritu flante convertit, unum et ipsum de his^ qui olim fuerant et ante damnati. Sicut et^) in nostris archi- vis inventum est, et de vestris scriniis, si dignamini requirere, pote- ritis a^oscere, quae^) in tempore de eodem subsecuta, ab Alexan- drino episcopo ad Romam alterutram sint relata. Qui Petrus noctis Unde et Victor Tununensis hunc haereticum post usurpatum a Basilisco impe- riam ab cjcsilio Chersona rediisse scribit. Ad hunc Acacii locum respexisse vide- tur Hormisda epist. 18 ad episcopos Epiri u. 2, quum Timotheum Chersonensem perperam nuncupat quasi de Chersona oriundum, nisi forte eo relegatus creda- tur, unde orig^em duxerat. Certe eum ibi longius opusculum pro assertione h&eresis suae scripsiBse, comperimus ex Eustathio monacho* (ap. Angelum Majum Script. vet. t. VII "p. 277) et aiiptore panopliae dogmaticae qu. 8 n. 5 (ap. Ang. Majom Patr. uov. biblioth. t. 11 p. G30), qui ejusdem locum proferunt. Timothei Salophaldoli quum ad Zenonem tum ad Simplicium epistolae a Libe- rato L c. cap. 16 memoratae nec non ipsius Simplieii litt^rae 12 et 13. Damna- tos autem traditur in gestis de nomine Acacii (Gelas. tract. 1 n. 6) cum Timotheo Aeluro, cigus a^jutor in nece Timothei fuerat. ■ PT9TOLAK «OMAlf. POMTIF. I. 13 a. 478. exsistens filius, et oj)erum diei Uuentium alienus apparens, omniiio tenebnis iid latroeinium })eragen(luni ^^) congruas eanim cooperator inveniens, media nocte, adhuc jacente^M cadavere illius, qiii patemos canones subverterat, insepulto, surripuit in sedem sicut ipse arbi- tratus est, uno^*-) et solo praesente et eo, qui consors ipsius insiste> bat insaniae, ita ut propter hoc majoribus suppliciis subderetur. Nec quod sperabat effectum est. Sed ille quidem de se ex parte vel minima judicans'^), nusquam penitus omnino comparuit. Timo- theus autem paternonim custos canonum, qui Davidicae mansuetu- dinis exemplo^^) et usque in fijiem patiens atquP potestati propriae restitutus a (liristo, propriae sedis honore laetatur et spiritualiimi tiliorum voces^**) accepit, gratiam curationis exspectat multiplieato iii se honore a Ohristo principe sacerdotum, propter quem et toleran- tiae coronam sibimet religavit. 3. Attentius igitur oret vestra beatitudo et pro Christianissimo >") d' addit voiis, r)'D«K«FMPN^ sohim ordinem invcrtimt: adlatroeimwm conqruas perniiemhnn (D^ N-^ E* pcraflemU, F* pcrngendis). D* delet carwm coope- raior. Jacenie insepulto, quod jncente sine sepultura vcl necdum tumulaio. Rem ita narrat Evagrius H. E. HI, 11: Quum Timotheus nnturne dehitum pcrsohissei, Petrum qnem- dnm cognomento Mongum sua sihi nuctoritntc cpiscopum eligunt. Quibus dictis sta- tim subdit: Quod ubi Zenoni nuntintum cst. vchf?nenfer eum coidurhavii, ac Petntm quidem Zeno niorte multnndum ccnsuit. Hanc forto Zcnonis Bcntentiam Acacios iis, quae mox adjungit, uisinuat: ita ut propter hoc mnjorihus suppticiis subderetur. ") Ita D« H'» N' I 0 et vulgati; d^ uno soto ..•. cxsistehat. *' Plurea mss. indicans, minus apte. Ipne judicnssc sc videtur tenebris dignnm, qui latebris se ipse damnavit. — Paulo ante d* ncc tnmen; d' omittit de *^, quod cum vulgatis et mss. D' 1 0 (H'' ejus loco est) rotinemus. '^) a^ cc aildunt suhditur, quidam mss. suhdilus^ quod verbum abest a potio- ribus mss. Mox (.1^ exemphnn. D* nd cxemphnn. Davidi comparatur •TimotheuB Salophakioius quum ob insitam mansuetudinem tum ob pristinam potestatem sibi restitutam. De cujus mansuetudine Li])eratus l. c. cap. 16 haec prodidit: quoninm sic mitissimus crat in episcopafu, ut etiam a suis communicntorihus aceusare' lur imperntori tnmqunm nimis remissus et circn hnereticos plncidus. *••) Ita d' secundum suos codices, quibus consentiunt D' D* D^ D** H', nisi quod D^ vocihus, D*' D^ uocis. Vulgati et a' nccipiens^ d' filiorttm votis aceepit grntinm curnfionis. Exspectnt ergo prnemium multiplicnto, quae lectio parum sin- cera videtur et interpolata. Quae vero sint illae voces spiritualium filiorum, quibuft Timotlieus quasi restitutionis suat^ laetum asseusum et futurae Alexandrinorum curalionis signum accepit, ex liis Li])erati I. c. cap. 16 verbis intelligitur: Ama- hnni eum Alcxnndrini et clnmahanl in plnteis ei in ecclesiis: „«»e/ si iihi noH commM' nicnmus. fnmen nmamus te^\ Unde spiritunlium fitiorum nomine non ii iiitelUgendi, qui secundum spiritum vivant, sed in (pios s])iritualis Tiniotlieo poteetas et pa- terna erat auctoritiis, etai etiamtunc extra ejus communionem curationis (pratia egebant. Quao gratia eo magis Timothoo sp(»rauda videbatur, qno se ab illis propensius amari ccniel^at. KPI8TOLAK 8. 9. 195 iniperatore et*^) pro nobis ipsis. Nihil enim praeterinittitur eorum, a. 478. quae ad custodiam ecclesiastieae respiciunt disciplinae. Universam fratemitatemy quae^^) vobiscum est, in Christo et ego et qui mecum sunt salutamus. Et alia manu. In Domino'") conserveris, sanctis- sime et beatissime pater!