Letter 139

From: Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrrhus To: Aspar, Consular and Patrician [a powerful barbarian-born general and kingmaker at the Constantinople court] Date: ~451 AD Context: Theodoret thanks the influential patrician Aspar for intervening with the emperor to reverse his unjust condemnation, and urges him to push for a proper council. To Aspar, Consular and Patrician, To your excellency's many good deeds must be added this: that you informed our pious and most Christian emperor -- whom God's grace has appointed for the blessing of his subjects -- of the enormous wrong done to me, and by a righteous decree annulled an edict that was anything but righteous. With divine Providence's support, I turned what they meant as punishment into a benefit and welcomed my rest with delight. But I was nonetheless treated unjustly and illegally, guilty in no single point of the errors my enemies slanderously charged me with, yet made to suffer the penalty of the worst criminals. In fact, my fate was harder than theirs. I was judged without a trial. I was condemned in my absence. Forbidden by imperial orders from going to Ephesus, I received the "most righteous" sentence of my holy judges. All of this has now been undone by his most serene majesty, through your excellency's active intervention. I would be wrong to keep silent and not offer my thanks. Through this letter I beg your excellency to speak warmly on my behalf to the victorious and Christian emperor and to the most pious and godly Augusta. On their behalf I pray to our good Lord as earnestly as I can: that He may guard their empire in security, make it a source of protection for their subjects and of dread for their enemies, and establish honorable peace for all. May your excellency also petition them to put an end to the agitation in the Church and order the assembling of a council -- not, like the last, composed of unruly men who throw proceedings into chaos, but rather a peaceful assembly of members learned in divine things, who are accustomed to confirming apostolic decrees and rejecting whatever is counterfeit and contrary to the truth. I express this hope so that your excellency may reap the good that such a course is likely to produce.

Letter 139 Please help support the mission of New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more — all for only $19.99... To Aspar, Consular and Patrician. To the other good deeds of your excellency must be added your having acquainted our pious and most christian emperor, whom God's grace has appointed for the blessing of his subjects, of the enormous wrong done against me, and your having by a righteous edict annulled an edict which was nothing of the kind. Supported by divine Providence I have made what they reckoned a punishment a means of good, and I have welcomed my rest with delight; but none the less I have been wrongly and illegally treated, though in no single point guilty of the errors which the enemies of the truth slanderously laid at my door, but yet made to suffer the penalty of the greatest criminals. Nay, my fate has been yet harder than theirs. I was judged without a trial; I was doomed in my absence; when forbidden by the emperor's orders to go to Ephesus I received the most righteous sentence of my holy judges. All this has now been undone by his most serene majesty, through the active interposition of your excellency. I, for my part, feeling that I should be wrong to keep silent and not offer you my thanks, have availed myself of this letter, whereby I beseech your excellency to speak in warm terms in my behalf both to the victorious and Christian emperor and to the very godly and pious Augusta. On their behalf I implore our good Lord as earnestly as lies in my power to guard their empire in security, and to grant that it may be at once a source of loving protection for their subjects, and of terror to their foes, and establish honourable peace for all. May your excellency be induced to petition them completely to put an end to the agitation of the Church, and order the assembling of the council; not, like the last, of men who from their habits of unruliness throw the synod into confusion, but, in peace and quiet, of members instructed in divine things, and in the habit of confirming the apostolic decrees and rejecting what is spurious and at variance with the truth. And I express this hope to the end that your excellency may reap the good which such a course of conduct is likely to produce.