Letter 26: Simplicius congratulates the emperor and urges him to continue in his defense of the Catholic faith.

Simplicius, bishop, to Zeno Augustus [emperor]. 1. I received with joy the venerable pages of Your Piety concerning the church of Antioch, ever to be revered by me, in which we find that, with your inborn zeal for the catholic religion, after the defense of the faith which preserves and guards you, the audacity of impiety and the crimes perpetrated at Antioch have been curbed: rejoicing that there dwells in you the spirit of a most faithful priest and prince, so that the imperial authority, joined also to Christian devotion, might become more acceptable to God, and that its integrity might appear, when those who have engaged in the sacrilegious slaughter that brought about the deaths of bishops are ordered to perish by fitting punishments. In this you will provide both for the peace of the church and for your own empire: because, when the insult done to God has been avenged, it is the grace of the avenger, and the help of divine favor is won for those whose care has not left the sacrilege unpunished. 2. But, that I may speak with confidence to a Christian prince, if the sequence of my earlier letters - which I remember I wrote long ago to my brother and fellow bishop Acacius concerning Peter and the others by name - had been observed, the matter could not have come to that point which it has now rightly deserved to be punished. For I had instructed that, once a representation had been made to Your Piety, the aforesaid man, together with the rest who through the occasion of tyrannical domination had seized upon the churches of God, should be driven beyond the bounds of your empire, lest with sacrilegious mouth they pour their pestilent notions, like a poison, into certain simpler souls, and with impious words wound the more innocent souls against the orthodox faith. As far as appears, when these things are too little attended to and are believed to be trifling, it has come about that, as you report, among the very altars now not only the common people perished through their persuasions, but the very prelates and preachers of the faith - priests - perished by deadly swords. Wherefore, if any other remnants of them are found under your empire, order them even now to be driven into outer lands, lest hereafter there be in this matter any necessity and occasion for punishment; for it is better to have blocked the entrance than to have exacted the penalty of sin. 3. And since, with most religious purpose, you judged that the seditions of Antioch could be settled in no other way than that, without prejudice to that venerable Council of Nicaea, a bishop should be ordained at Constantinople at the request of those same petitioners - which you have stated was undertaken in his person only in such a way that hereafter, according to the definitions of the Fathers, the appointment of the bishop of Antioch should be reserved to the Eastern synod, and that this should not be held as constituting any injury, since it was done for the sake of removing dissension - blessed Peter the apostle holds this pledge of Your Piety, and holds that the mind of a most Christian and most faithful prince has sworn in these words: that hereafter, the ancient custom being preserved in the city of Antioch, a bishop be ordained by his fellow provincials, lest what my brother and fellow bishop Acacius has now carried out at your bidding should pass into the practice of posterity and confound the statutes of the Fathers, which above all you keep unimpaired. Wherefore, what has been ordained by you, out of love of peace, in a holy and religious manner, we cannot disapprove, lest the standing of the church of Antioch should seem made doubtful by our hesitation; especially since he who is recorded as having been ordained is supported by the testimony of Your Clemency and by such great commendation that, in him, set apart from the pain of these wounds, we may glory both for ourselves and for the church which deserved him. 4. These things I have taken care to answer with words weighed in return and with the office of veneration, so that you may order such great frauds and crimes of the heretics - which are to be prosecuted by divine and secular laws, and which you have rather often proved to be so harmful - to be removed from the memory and intercourse of men, whose impiety, as far as you see, can be restrained by no authority. Given on the tenth day before the Kalends of July, after the consulship of the illustrious and most distinguished man.

(479?)^a Simplicii papae ad Zeuonem imperatorem. — . cMi. Sintp/irius Zenoms laudat studium in punicndis caedis episcopi Antiocheni, «wcio- p.l rihus (n. 1). J/inc recolit. (/uam neccssaria fuerint sua ipsitts consilia de peltendis crtra impcrii mctas hujusmodi hominibus ( «. 2). Antiocheni episcopi ordinaiioHem Constantinopoti factani ohlatis conditionihus confinnat {n. 3). Ut hacreticos ab hominum societate auferri Zeno jubeat repetito sermone instat (n. 4). Simplicius episcopus Zenoni Augusto. 1 . De ecclesia Antiochena venerandos mihi semper vestrae pie- liic locus a Nicolao I op. 47 ad llincmanim, sicut a Gratiano c. 7 D. 74 et (eed ibi falsc ex Regesto Gregorii im?cript.) c. 63 C. XI qu. 3. ') 11® noster. ®) cc ejc co, rectius \V W IV^ h' h* a' ab eo h. e. si vel ipse pro se vel alii advcrsus eum nostrum examcn petant, adco ut SimpUcnis sibi ejua causaB re- servet, sive reus sit sive actor. lo^ Ipo secunda manu cofLsulimus, moxque in omuibus mss. ibi datum, '«) Sic plerique mss. (etiam IP 1P<') et h' h«. At IV cc /// Kal. Unde au- tcm Barouius hauc ei^istolam X Kalendas Julias scriptam dixerit, U08 fugit. EPISTOLAE 14. 15. 203 tatis apices gavisus aecepi^ quibus iiigenit<j vobis studio catholicae a. 482 religiouis post defensiouem fidei, quae vos servat ac custodit, ini- ^*^^^*^^ pietatis audaciam et facinora apud Antiochiani perpetrata coercita reperimus: exsultantes, vobis inesse animum fidelissimi sacerdotis et principiSy ut imperialis auctoritas et jimcta Christianae devotioni acceptabilior Deo fieret, et appareret integritas, quum hi, qui in epi- seoporum neees*) sacrilega caede versati sunt, dignis jubentur per- ire supplieiis. In quo et quieti ecclesiasticae et vestro consuletis imperio : quia vindicata Dei contumelia ulciscentis est gratia, et con- cdliatur his divini favoris auxilium, quorum cura sacrilegium non reliquerit impunitum. 2. Sed ut loquar fiducialiter principi Christiano, si praeterita- nmi litterarum ^), quas de Petri aliorumque nomine jamdu(him ad fratrem et coepiscopum meum Acacium scripsisse niemini, ordo teiie- retur, ad hoc non potuit pervenire, quod jure nunc meruit vindi-^ care. Mandaveram namque, ut facta suggestione pietati vestrae, praedictus ut^) et ceteri, qui per occasionem tyrannicae dominatio- nis invaserant ecclesias Dei, extra metas vestri j)ellerentur imperii, ne pestiferi*) sensus quibusquam simplicioribus ore sacrilego virus infuaderent, et verbis impiis contra fidem ortliodoxam innocentiores auimas sauciarent. Quantum '') apparet, quum niinus ista curantur et levia esse creduntur, actum est, ut, quemadmodum })erhil)etis, inter altaria non jam plebs persuasionibus eorum, sed ipsi quoque . praesules et praedicatores fidei perirent funestis gladiis sacerdotes. Unde si quae et aliae reiiquiae sub vestro rej)eriuntur innierio, eas vel nunc in exteriores terras jubete j)ropelli, ne qua deinceps in eo sit necessitas et causa supplicii 5 quia inelius est aditum obstruxisse quam poenam exegfsse peccati. 3. Et quoniam seditiones Antiochenas religiossissimo j)roj)osit« sedandas non aliter existimastis, iiisi praeter praejudicium veiierandi illius coHcilii Nicaeni apud Constantinoj)olim iisdem jietcntibus or- '> Episcoporum neces pro Stephani Antioclieni nece dictuni ad majoreni em- phasim; id quod Simplicio est familiare, ut in snj)crioribu8 litteris in unum Basiliscum inveheng tyrannos, incubatores casuros et Himilia indamat. Stcjihanum aiitem praeacutis Antiochensiiun puerorum calamis miserabiliter confoHdum et iiiteifectimi fui^e, Evagrius H. E. III, 10 ex Johanne rhetore tradit, quibus Theophauea coucinit et Bynodicns hbellus. Unde infra Simj)licius, ubi eum inter altaria giadiit peremptum iimuit, generali gladiorum vocabulo cruentam omnino Docem indicare volnisae intelligendus est. Hoc facinus Theophanes patratum €«8« docet in s. martyris Barlaam baptisterio. ») cf. supra epist. 7 n. 3 et 11 n. 2. *') Ita G'; volg. quod ium apparet ... quae aliae. a. 482 dinaretur aiitistes; quod iii ejus tai)tummodo persona sic memo- ^ ' rastis assumptuiu, ut deinceps secundum definitiones patrum Orien- tali synodo creatio Antiocheni pontificis reservetur, nec haberi loco ^'ultis injuriae, quod dissensionis gratia factum est auferendae: tenet hanc pietatis vestrac beatus Petrus apostohis sponsionem, et Chri- stianissimi fidelissimique principis nientem in haec verba jurasse, quod posthac in Antiochena urbe veteri more servato®) a compro- vincialibus suis episcopus ordinetur, ne quod nunc frater et coepi- scopus nieus Acacius vobis est jubentibus exsecutus, in usum poste- ritatis veniat, et statuta patruui, quae praecipue praestatis illaesa, confundat. Unde quae a vobis amore quietis sancte et religiote sunt ordinata, reprobare non j)ossumus, ne status Antiochenae ecde- siae sub nostra dubitatione videatur ambiguus; praecipue quum is ,qui legitur ordinatus"), testinionio dementiae vestrae et tanta 8it praedicatione subnixus, ut'') in eo praeter horum vulnerum dolorem posito j)ossinius et ecclesiae, quae ilhmi meruit, gloriari. 4. Haec repensis sermonibus et venerationis officio respondeie curavi, ut tantas haereticonmi fraudes et facinora divinis et saeeo- laribus legibus persequenda, quae saej)ius probatis esse tam noxia^ de memoria et conversatione hominum jubeatis auferri, quorum im- pietas^) nulla, quantum videtis, potest auctoritate compesci. Data i X Calendas Julias post consuhitum ill. viri clarissimi. ') Calondio vidolicot, ut fidom facit nota in G* epistolae sequentia iziKn- ptioni adjuncta. Quam quidom confirmant quum gesta de nom. Acacii, 8ub quo* rum tinem Calondio al) Acacio ordiuatus dicitur, tum Evagrius H. E. III, 10, qi£ Calendionom Stophano martyri succossisso tradit, ac denique alii. Neque vero admitti uUo modo potost Valesii opinio, qui Stophaniun seniorem a perfidii caesimi pouons, quiio hic narrantur in Stophani juuioriB ordinatione contigiMi existimat, ac nihilominus Calondionom Constantinopoli ab Acacio ordinfttnM osso concodit. Sane quam procul Simjdicius ab oxcusanda hujaamodi orduib- \ tionc abfuissot, si hanc sibi rursus Acacius arrogasBot spretis sacramentiB Hdo, quam post Stoj»hani juuioris consocrationom dodissetl Eo intervallo, qood I a 25 Aprilis ad 22 Junii diom oxcurrit, Calondionom ordinatum esse qanm hac epistohi tum ox Martyrologio Roniano, quod ad praedictum Aprilis diem B. Stophani opiscopi Antiochoni mominit, coUigitur. ") (i' corrupto ut in eo et praeter honim vulnerum dolor posito primi (pmi) ei erclesiae; tuni b gratulnri, rejocto ad marginom gloriari, EPISTOLAE 15. 16. 205 Epistola 16. (a 482.) ^ (479?) Simplieii papae ad Acacium Constantiuopolitauuni. 8. lia ejccusai SimpHcius, quod Acacius imperatoris Jussu et quietis causa Antioche- num antislitem ordinarit, ut deinceps Antiochenae ecclesiae sua velit jura servari. Simplicius episcopus Acacio eijiscopo Oonstanti- politauo^). Clementissimi principis litteris tuaeque dileetionis de sacrilega et fuiiestissima caede^ quae apud Antioehiam faeta est^ saueiatus et nimium affectus moerore, respondeo: adstruens, si, quae jamdudum de Petro atque^) aliis complicibus eorum scripseram, et ut pietati ejas cmn ceteris qui aderant fratribus suggerere postularam, ut opor- tuerat, ordiuatum fuisset, haereticorum temeritas ad tantuni facinus non veniret, nec^) aliquid necessitatis exsistcret, ut Jion aliter praedi- ctae subveniretur ecclesiae, nisi ut aliquid de jure ejus curatio ipsa mi- nueret. Quamvis enim profecerit ad quieteni, quod Christianissimi principis jussione vel sine praejudicio canonum a tua caritate fuerit Autiochensibus episcopus ordinatus, tamcn non est sine invidia fa- ctvmGL, cujus cavendum deinceps etiam ille testatur, qui praeeepit, hanc esee notam conaularera, monet Pagius ac pro lUi legendum vult Placidi. Certe si quae hic de Antiocheni episcopi nece et de eju8 eonsecratione deliban- tar, cum his, quae in duabuB sequentibus epistolis de eadeni re disaeruntur» ctinferamuB, haec in annum 482, non in a. 479, qui Illi consulatuni excepit, con- Tenire largieudum est. Hinc tamen moveri quis posset, quod (pnun quinque aliaji SiuipUcii epistolas habeamus anuo 18*2 datas, earum nidlae post consuiatum Flaeidij sed onmes excepta una, quae nota chronica caret, Severino cons. con- si^entar. Quamquam recte monet laudatus Pagius, ab usu haud abhorrere, nt idem aniius vel eorum consulum, qui hoc munus gerereut, vel eorum, qui juite ^essissent, nominibus promiscue indicaretur. Ac dihicidatur error, sive ciun Pagio loco Placidi detritis aliquo casu prioribus litteris Illi erronee lectum ▼olueiis, Biye fidem archetypi retiuens vocem ill. loco nostri A'. N. provisorie pro nomine proprio a librario positum fuisse malueris. Quod eo magis arridet, qoia ab Odoacris invasione (anno 47C) per plures annos consulum creatio ita tarbat& eat, ut vel Oriens vel Occidens eorum nomina aut onmino ignoraret, wat cert-e Berius, saepe demum circa finem anni, rescisceret, aut etiam repro- baret itaqne consulto sileret (conf. Rossi Inscript. Christian. Urb. Homae. n. 840, 86d, 878, 882, 899, 900 al.}. Quamq^^am Placidi quidem anni 481 consuUs nomen notum et UBurpatum fuisse iUius aetatis inscrif^tiones fidem faciunt (conf. 1. e. n. 873-^76). Coutra autem Severiui Occideutahs anni 482 consu- i latuB in aula Zenonis aut non innotuisse aut agnitus non fuisse videtur (conf. Ro«BiuB 1. c. pag. 390). >> G' ita inscribit hanc epistolam: Simplicius eps acacio ordinato ab eo Ka- lendione j4ntioeAeno epo. 20G S. SIMPLICII PAPAE a. 482. exemplum. Iii quo pietati ejus gratias (Jigiium est nos referre; quo- (•^79?; jiijiu^ ita gloriae suae moderatus est potestatem, ut fidelissima devo- ticme patnmi regulis submittere^), quae juberet, nec iu auctoritatem recipi, quod sequenti constituit aetate prohiberi: ut scilicet in hae tantummodo persona, quani jussu ejus et studio quietis Antiochen- sibus, non tua usur])ati(>ne, antistitem consecrasti, quod factom est necossitato, sufticerot. In quo tuae dilectionis iiou irrationabilem cognoscinuis fuisso famulatum: quia occlosiarum jura respiciens, diu te non immerito susj)ondisse testaris, ne videreris ambire quod tanto princi^i ot in tam gravi causa non poteras abnegare. i^uaproptery frator carissimo, institutorum vetorum, quae in te sunt probata, non innnemor, sicut veniale judicare non pervides, quod tibi certum est imperatum, ita ipse dans honorem patribus labora, ue neeessitas sit uUa faciendi, quod 0})tas nunc satisfactione purgari'^).