Letter 21: Simplicius writes to the emperor urging him to act so that the statutes of the Council of Chalcedon are preserved...

Bishop Simplicius to Zeno Augustus. By the hand of Peter, a man of distinguished rank, count of the most noble lady Placidia. 1. Once, amid the rejoicing over the divine gifts, when the triumphal glory of your reign had been spread abroad in the Lord, I remember that, with the joy of the universal Church, I offered a letter from my own humble person; nor, among all the priests of the catholic faith, could I alone, or first, keep silent about the works of our Lord: for, according to the blessed apostle Paul, bearing the care of all the churches, I claimed for myself in particular the highest measure of joy at the quiet restored to them through your clemency, because, by the help of the Divinity, with the enemies of religion and of the realm cast down, we have deserved to stand as victors, and in one and the same outcome, with Christ conquering everywhere in you, both the worship of the true faith and the condition of the empire were repaired; both of which had therefore been thrown into confusion, the devil for a time interposing himself, so that, the adversaries of both being scattered, the proclamations of the victor might be made the greater. Hence, having obtained the fruit of so excellent a power, with the joy of the universal Church now also — which I do without ceasing — I cannot keep silent, rendering, without doubt, perpetual thanks, because you have restored the Alexandrian church to the ancient and true faith in my brother and fellow-bishop Timothy; whose letter, lately reaching me, related that, the profanity of Eutyches and Dioscorus, men condemned, having been expelled, he had received the see of the blessed Paul and of the evangelist Mark for the governing of the orthodox — a thing established beforehand — urging us, who were willing, to report these very things to the mind of your piety. 2. Therefore, that the tranquillity of your reign may be perpetual and fixed, guard with ever-watchful protection the quiet which you have bestowed upon all in the said church; and what you have done, with the Lord aiding you, for the salvation of innocent souls, protect with more religious zeal and more attentive diligence: for it is of no lesser glory to preserve what you have founded than to found it, and it has been proved to all that as much of divine favour has been expended upon you as zeal has been shown to the Christian religion by your piety. And although in every part of his realm your providence, which will be of profit to divine worship, will not cease to set the tranquillity of the Church before the cares of state, I nevertheless pray that what through us I earnestly request — nay rather what we ourselves more particularly beseech — you would command by most pious decree: that Peter, the usurper of the Alexandrian church and on that account justly condemned (because he is reported to be plotting certain things while lurking in the city of Alexandria, as has been written to us, against those things which have been ordained by you), be transferred to the outer regions, lest he infect any of little faith, as he is said to do, and draw them over to the instruments of his perversity. Far be the destructive contagions from the innocent, that through you there may be sincerity within the sheepfold of the Lord's flock, which imperial authority alone can preserve.

etnOct^ Siiiiplieii papae ad Zeuoiiem iniperatorem. ' Imperatori gratias agit ob Timotheum .Alexandrinae ecctesiae resiiiuium (n. 1), p. eumque rogut^ ut Pctrum ejusilem ecctesiae pcrturbatorem hinc tongius ejcpelii Jubeat (n. 2). Simplicius episcopus Zeiioiii Augusto. Per^) Petmni viram speotabilem comitemPlacidiae nobilissimae feminae. 1. Olim diviiiorum exsuliatione munerum triumphalis in Do- mino regni vestri gloria dilatata'^), cum universalis Eeclesiae gaudio mediocritatis meae litteras obtulisse memini, nec inter universcis catholicae fidei sacerdotes opera Domini nostri vel solus potui taeere 2 Cor. vel primus : quia secundum beatmn Pauhim apostohim ecclesiarum ' * omnium curam sustinens, mihi summam gaudii de reddita per^) ele^ mentiam vestram earum quiete specialiter vindicavi, quod vos Divi- nitatis auxilio dejectis religionis et regni hostibus meruerimus habere victores, et in uno eodemque proventu, Christo in vobis nbique vin- cente, et cultus verae fidei et status esi reparatus imperii; quod utrumque ideo fuerai diabolo se ad tempus interserente turbatum^ ut alt^rutrius adversariis dissipatis, praeconia fierent majora viu- centis. Unde tam praechirae fructum virtutis adeptus^ cum laetitia universalis Ecclesiae nunc quoque, quod^) sine cessatione facio, tacere non possum gratias sine dubio perennes, quod antiquae veraeque fidei in fratre et coepiscopo meo Timotheo Alexandrinam ecclesiam red- didistis; cujus ad me nuper litterae commeantes, expulsa profauitate Eutychetis atque Dioscori damnatorum, ad regendos orthodoxos beati ' Pauli et evangehstae Marci sedem, quod ante compertum est, se recepisse memoravit^), incitans nos volentes, ut haec ipsa pietatis vestrae sensibus referremus. •) Male httctenus hujus epistolae exordium ab liis verbia ductum est, qaibiu haud dubie is designatur, eujus opera transmissa est, sicut diserte epist. sequ. n, "2 Simplicius testatur, Occasionem filii nostri Petri, inquieus, viri speeiabilis comitis quasi ex sententia proficiscentis amplexi etc. Hinc et observare libet, quo4 jam alias diximus, hiyusmodi notas litterannu subscriptionibus subjici non prae- poni solere. Jam quo tempore haec scripta sit, commodius in sequentem epi- stolam discutiemuB (cf. supra pag. 7). '-*) Ita G* G', nisi quod (»• nostrae; editi cummemoravit . . . vesiris sensibus, Faulo ante G' omittit nd i^nte regendos). EPISTOLAE 10. 11. 197 2. Ut ergo traiiqiiillitas vestri perpetiia et fixa sit regui^ quie- a. 478. tem, quam ciinctis in memorata ecclesia praestistis, pervigili prote- ctione munite*); et quod juvante vos Domino pro innoeentium salute fecistis animarum^ religiosiore studio et diligentia attentiore protegite: quia non minoris est gloriae, quod condideris ser\'are quam con- dere'), et omnibus est probatum, tantum vobis divini favoris impen- sum, quantum Christianae religioni a vestra pietate est sedulitatis exhibitum. Et quamvis in omni parte regni sui profutura divino*^) cultui providentia vestra non desistet curis publicis tranquillitatem Eeclesiae praeferre, precor tamen^ ut quod ])er nos serio postulat, immo quod ipsi specialius supplicamus, Petrum Alexandrinae eccle- siae pervasorem et ob hoc jure danmatimi, quia moliri quaedam la- tens in Alexandrina, 'sicut ad nos scriptum est, civitate contra haec quae a vobis sunt statuta memoratur, ad exteriora transferri piissima praeceptione jubeatis, ne aliquos modicae fidei, quod facere perhi- betur, inficiat et ad perversitatis suae instrumenta traducat. Longe sint ab innocentibus perniciosa contagia, ut per vos intra dominici gregis ovile sit sinceritas, quam sola tenere potest imperialis au- ctoritas.