Letters

Siricius to Himerius, bishop of Tarragona, greeting. The report of your brotherliness addressed to our predecessor Damasus, of holy memory, found me already established in his see, because the Lord so ordained. When we read it with great care in an assembly of the brothers, we found as many things deserving rebuke and correction as we would have wished to learn were praiseworthy. And because it was necessary for us to succeed to the labours and cares of him whom by the grace of God we succeeded in honour, having first given notice, as was fitting, of my promotion, we do not refuse to give your inquiry a fitting answer on each point, as the Lord has deigned to inspire. For in view of our office we have no freedom to dissemble or to keep silent, on whom a greater zeal for the Christian religion lies than on all; we bear the burdens of all who are weighed down. Indeed, the blessed apostle Peter bears these things in us, who, as we trust, protects and guards us in all things as heirs of his administration.

In the very first part of your letter, then, you indicated that very many who had been baptized by the impious Arians are hastening to the Catholic faith, and that some of our brothers wish to baptize them again. This is not lawful, since the Apostle forbids it to be done, the canons oppose it, and the general decrees sent to the provinces by my predecessor Liberius, of venerable memory, after the council of Ariminum was annulled, prohibit it. Such persons we join to the assembly of Catholics, together with the Novatianists and other heretics, as was laid down in the synod, through the invocation of the sevenfold Spirit alone, by the laying on of the bishop's hand; this the whole East and West also keeps, and from this path it is by no means fitting for you to deviate hereafter, if you do not wish to be separated from our fellowship by synodal sentence.

There follows the unacceptable confusion, needing correction, about the different times for baptizing, as it has pleased each one. This is presumed by our fellow bishops (we say it with emotion) not on the ground of any authority but by rashness alone: so that indiscriminately and freely, on the feasts of the Nativity of Christ or of the Epiphany, and also of the Apostles or the Martyrs, innumerable people, as you assert, receive the mystery of baptism; whereas both with us and with all the churches the Lord's Pascha, together with its Pentecost, specially claims this privilege for itself. On these days alone in the year it is fitting for the general sacraments of baptism to be given to those who flock to the faith; and only to those chosen who have given in their names forty days or more beforehand and have been purified by exorcisms and daily prayers and fasts, so that the apostolic precept may be fulfilled, that the old leaven being purged out, a new lump may begin. Just as, then, we say that the reverence due to Pascha is in no way to be diminished, so we wish that infants, who cannot yet speak because of their age, or those who in any necessity have need of the sacred water of baptism, be helped with all speed, lest it tend to the ruin of our souls if, the saving font being denied to those who desire it, each one leaving this world lose both the kingdom and life. Whoever, too, has fallen into the danger of shipwreck, the attack of an enemy, the uncertainty of a siege, or despair in any bodily sickness, and asks to be helped by the one aid of faith, let them obtain the reward of the regeneration they seek at the very moment they ask. Let it suffice that there has been error on this point until now; now let all bishops hold the rule stated above who do not wish to be torn from the solidity of the apostolic rock on which Christ built the universal church.

It has been added too that some Christians, passing over to apostasy (which is wicked to say), have been profaned by the worship of idols and the pollution of sacrifices. These we order to be cut off from the body and blood of Christ, by which they had once been redeemed in being reborn. And if, coming to their senses, they should perhaps at some time be turned to lamentation, they must do penance as long as they live, and the grace of reconciliation is to be granted them at their very end; because, as the Lord teaches, we do not wish the death of the sinner, but only that he turn and live.

You asked further about the violation of marriage: whether a man may take in marriage a girl betrothed to another. We forbid this to be done in every way, because that blessing which the priest lays on a bride is, among the faithful, like a kind of sacrilege if it is violated by any transgression.

Your love has, not inappropriately, thought that the apostolic see should be consulted about those who, after doing penance, like dogs and swine returning to their former vomit and wallowing places, have again sought the belt of military service, the pleasures of the shows, new marriages, and forbidden intercourse, whose professed incontinence the sons born after their absolution have revealed. Concerning these, since they no longer have the refuge of penance, we have thought it should be decreed that they be joined with the faithful within the church only in prayer, and be present at the sacred celebration of the mysteries, though they do not deserve it, but be separated from the banquet of the Lord's table; so that, rebuked at least by this deprivation, they may both punish their own errors in themselves and give an example to others, that they may be drawn back from obscene desires. Yet to these, since they have fallen through the frailty of the flesh, we wish that help be given by the gift of the viaticum, through the grace of communion, when they begin to set out to the Lord. We judge that the same form is to be kept concerning women who after penance have bound themselves to such pollutions.

Moreover, some monks and nuns, having cast off their purpose of holiness, have sunk into such wantonness of licence that at first they mingled secretly, as if under the pretext of the monasteries, in unlawful and sacrilegious union, and afterwards, led into the abyss by despair of conscience, freely begot children from their unlawful embraces, which both the public laws and ecclesiastical rights condemn. We order, then, that these unchaste and detestable persons be expelled from the company of the monasteries and the assemblies of the churches, so that, shut up in their cells and bewailing so great a crime with continual lamentation, they may burn it away in the purifying fire of penitence, so that at least at death, out of regard for mercy alone, pardon may come to their help through the grace of communion.

Let us come now to the most sacred orders of the clergy, which, as your charity informs us, we find so trampled upon and confounded throughout your provinces, to the injury of our venerable religion, that we must say with the voice of Jeremiah: “Who will give water to my head, and to my eyes a fountain of tears, and I will weep for this people day and night?” If, then, the blessed prophet says that tears could not suffice him to mourn the sins of the people, with what grief can we be struck, when we are compelled to deplore the crimes of those who are in our own body, on whom above all, according to blessed Paul, the daily pressure and the care of all the churches unceasingly lie? “Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn?” For we have learned that very many priests of Christ and Levites, long after their consecration, have begotten offspring both from their own wives and from shameful intercourse, and defend their crime by this plea: that in the Old Testament the power of begetting is read to have been granted to priests and ministers. Let whoever that follower of lusts and teacher of vices is tell me now: if he thinks that in the law of Moses the reins of luxury were loosed indiscriminately by our Lord for the sacred orders, why does he warn those to whom the holy of holies was entrusted, saying, “Be holy, because I too am holy, the Lord your God”? Why also were the priests commanded to live in the temple, far from their homes, in the year of their turn? For this reason, obviously: that they might not have carnal intercourse even with their wives, so that, shining with integrity of conscience, they might offer an acceptable gift to God. To them, when the time of their service was completed, the use of their wives had been relaxed solely for the sake of succession, because no one except from the tribe of Levi had been commanded to be admitted to the ministry of God. Hence also the Lord Jesus, when he had enlightened us by his coming, testifies in the Gospel that he came to fulfil the law, not to destroy it. And therefore he willed that the church, whose bridegroom he is, fair in form, should shine with the splendour of chastity, so that on the day of judgment, when he comes again, he may find her without spot or wrinkle, as he instituted through his apostle. By the indissoluble law of these ordinances all of us priests and Levites are bound, so that from the day of our ordination we give over both our hearts and our bodies to sobriety and chastity, provided that we please our God in all things in the sacrifices we offer daily. “But those who are in the flesh,” as the Vessel of election says, “cannot please God; but you are not now in the flesh but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.” And where can the Spirit of God dwell except in holy bodies, as we read? And because some of those of whom we speak (as your holiness has reported) lament that they fell through ignorance, we say that mercy is not to be denied them on this condition: that without any advancement in honour they remain, as long as they live, in the office in which they were found, provided that hereafter they strive to show themselves continent. But those who rely on the excuse of an unlawful privilege, and assert that this was granted them by the old law, let them know that by the authority of the apostolic see they are cast down from every ecclesiastical honour which they have used unworthily, and can never handle the venerable mysteries, of which they deprived themselves while they gaped after obscene desires. And because present examples warn us to take precautions for the future, if any bishop, presbyter, or deacon (which we do not wish) is found such hereafter, let him understand now that every approach to indulgence through us is closed to him; for wounds that have not felt the medicine of poultices must be cut out with the knife.

We have learned also that men of unexamined life, who have even had numerous marriages, aspire licentiously and freely to the dignities mentioned, as it pleases each. We impute this not so much to those who reach these things by immoderate ambition as especially to the metropolitan bishops, who, while they connive at forbidden presumption, despise, as far as in them lies, the precepts of our God. And to say nothing of what we suspect more deeply, where is that which our God established in the law given through Moses, saying, “My priests are to marry once”? And in another place, “Let the priest take a virgin as wife, not a widow, not one divorced, not a harlot.” Following this, the Apostle, from persecutor become preacher, commanded that both a priest and a deacon must be made the husband of one wife. All these things are so despised by the bishops of your regions as if they had rather been established to the contrary. And because we must not neglect usurpations of this kind, lest the just voice of the indignant Lord rebuke us, which says, “You saw a thief and ran with him, and put your portion with adulterers,” we decree by a general pronouncement what is to be followed and what avoided by all the churches hereafter.

Whoever, then, has vowed himself to the service of the church from his infancy ought to be baptized before the years of puberty and associated with the ministry of the lectors. If he has lived approvedly from the onset of adolescence up to the thirtieth year of his age, content with one wife only, and her a virgin whom he received with the common blessing through the priest, he should be an acolyte and subdeacon; after which let him come to the grade of the diaconate, if he has first proved himself worthy by continence going before. If he has ministered there laudably for more than five years, he will fittingly obtain the presbyterate, and thence after ten years he may attain the episcopal chair, provided that through these periods the integrity of his life and faith has been approved.

But one who, already advanced in age and called by the conduct of a better purpose, hastens from being a layman to come to the sacred service, will not obtain the fruit of his desire unless, at the very time he is baptized, he is at once joined to the number of the lectors or exorcists; provided that it is established that he has had or has one wife, and that he took her as a virgin. When he has been initiated, after two years have passed, let him become an acolyte and subdeacon for another five years, and so let him be promoted to the diaconate, if he has been judged worthy through these periods. Thence, with the passage of time, he will not undeservedly obtain the presbyterate or the episcopate, if the choice of the clergy and people calls him.

Any cleric indeed who marries either a widow or a second wife is to be stripped at once of every privilege of ecclesiastical dignity, being granted lay communion only, which he may keep only if he commits nothing afterwards for which he would lose it.

We do not allow women to be in the houses of clerics other than those only whom the Nicene synod permitted to live with them solely for reasons of kinship.

Monks too, provided that seriousness of character and a holy ordering of life and faith commend them, we both desire and wish to be added to the offices of the clergy; in such a way that those who are under the thirtieth year of age are promoted in the lesser orders through each grade as time goes on, and so arrive at the insignia of the diaconate or presbyterate by consecration at a mature age, and do not at once ascend by a leap to the summit of the episcopate, unless the same intervals which we have set above for each dignity have been kept in their case.

It was right for us also to provide this: that, just as no cleric is allowed to do penance, so also after penance and reconciliation no layman may ever be allowed to obtain the honour of the clergy; because, although he has been cleansed from the contagion of all sins, those who were once vessels of vices ought not to take up any instruments for administering the sacraments. So if, through ignorance, a penitent, or a twice-married man, or the husband of a widow has been made a cleric, let them not be promoted.

And because for all these things that come under rebuke only the excuse of ignorance is put forward, which for the present we must mercifully acknowledge out of regard for compassion alone: any penitent, any twice-married man, any husband of a widow who has crept into the sacred service undeservedly and improperly, let him understand that pardon is granted him by us on this condition, that he should count it a great kindness if, every hope of promotion taken from him, he remains with lasting stability in the order in which he is found. And let the chief bishops of all the provinces know hereafter that if they think anyone of such men is to be taken into the sacred orders any more, a fitting sentence will be pronounced by the apostolic see both on their own standing and on that of those whom they have promoted against the canons and our prohibitions. We have set out, I think, dearest brother, everything that was laid out in complaint, and to each of the matters which you referred to the Roman church, as to the head of your body, through our son Bassianus the presbyter, we have given sufficient answers, as I believe. Now we urge the mind of your brotherliness more and more to keep the canons and to hold the decretal ordinances; so that you bring what we have written in reply to your inquiry to the notice of all our fellow bishops, and not only of those established in your diocese, but also that these things which we have arranged by a salutary ordinance be sent, accompanied by your letters, to all the Carthaginians and Baeticans, Lusitanians and Gallicians, and those who border on you in the neighbouring provinces on either side. And although no bishop of the Lord is free to be ignorant of the statutes of the apostolic see or the venerable definitions of the canons, yet it will be very glorious for your love, also in view of the antiquity of your episcopate, if the things that have been written to you by name but for all are brought through the care of your unanimity to the notice of all our brothers; so that what has been established by us not inconsiderately but providently, with great caution and deliberation, and for salvation, may remain inviolate, and access for all excuses in future, which can now lie open to no one with us, may be shut off. Given on the third day before the Ides of February, in the consulship of Arcadius and Bauto, most distinguished men (AD 385).

Siricius to his dearest brother Anysius.

Some time ago, dearest brother, through Bishop Candidianus, who has gone before us to the Lord, we had sent a letter to this effect: that no one should have licence to presume to ordain bishops in Illyricum without your consent. Whether it reached you I have not been able to learn. For many things have been done there through contention by bishops in carrying out ordinations, as your charity knows better. And therefore you must act with care, lest, as has happened, while they vie with one another in presuming to ordain unworthy men in one church, they appear to have made, as it were, three bishops. Your diligence must watch to suppress every audacity of this kind, with the Holy Spirit burning in you: so that either you yourself, if you can, or bishops whom you judge fit, sent with letters once your consent has been given, may ordain in the place of one who has died or been deposed a catholic bishop approved in life and conduct, according to the statutes of the synod of Nicaea, or a deserving cleric of the Roman church from the clergy.

Siricius to his dearest brothers and fellow bishops throughout Africa.

When many of us brothers had come together at the relics of the holy apostle Peter, through whom both the apostolate and the episcopate in Christ took their beginning, it was resolved, because of the very many cases that were arising, which in some instances were not cases but crimes, that for the future each one in the church should take care of matters of this kind, as the apostle Paul preaches, that a church must be presented to God "having no spot or wrinkle," lest our conscience should seem defiled by the breath of some diseased sheep. On this matter the better counsel prevailed. Chiefly for the sake of those who could not be present on this occasion because of bodily ill health or tired age, so that a perpetual pattern of this kind may be kept, it was resolved to send such a letter: not one that commands any new precepts, but one by which we desire that those things be observed which have been neglected through the sloth and idleness of some, things which nevertheless were established by apostolic and patristic constitution, as it is written: "Stand firm and hold our traditions, whether by word or by letter." This certainly ought to stir your minds more strongly, dearest brothers, so that we may come free from every stain of this world, and without anxiety, into the sight of God. For we shall not be free from guilt because we preside over peoples, since it is written: "To whom much has been entrusted, more will be required of him." Since, then, we are compelled to render account not for ourselves only but for the people entrusted to us, we must instruct the people to be humble by a godly discipline. For there have been some who, not holding to the statutes of our forefathers, have violated the chastity of the church by their presumption, following the will of the people and not fearing the judgment of God.

So, lest we seem in like manner to connive by silence and give our consent to such men, whereby we could incur the punishments of Gehenna, as the Lord says, "You saw a thief and ran with him, and you put your portion with adulterers," these are the things which henceforth, in view of the divine judgment, it is expedient for all catholic bishops to keep. I. First, that no one dare to ordain without the knowledge of the apostolic see, that is, of the primate. For that judgment is sound which is confirmed by the sentence of many. II. That one bishop should not presume to ordain a bishop, because of arrogance, lest the favour seem to have been granted by stealth. For this was laid down and defined in the synod of Nicaea (canon 4). III. Likewise, if anyone after the remission of sins has worn the belt of secular military service, he ought not to be admitted to the clergy. IV. That a cleric should not take as wife a woman, that is, a widow. V. That one who as a layman has married a widow should not be admitted to the clergy. VI. That no one should usurp the ordaining of a cleric from another church (Council of Nicaea canon 7, Antioch canon 22, Sardica canons 18 and 19). VII. That another church should not admit a cleric who has been cast out (Council of Nicaea canon 5, Antioch canon 6, Sardica canon 16). VIII. That those coming from the Novatianists or the Montenses be received by the laying on of hands, except those whom they rebaptize.

Besides this, we urge what is worthy and chaste and honourable: that priests and Levites should not have intercourse with their wives, because in the ministry they are occupied with the daily necessities of the ministry. For Paul writes thus to the Corinthians, saying: "Abstain, so that you may be free for prayer." If, then, abstinence is commanded to laymen so that they may be heard when they pray, how much more must a priest be ready at every moment, secure in the purity of cleanness, lest he have to offer the sacrifice or to baptize? If he has been defiled by carnal desire, what will he do? Will he excuse himself? With what shame, with what mind will he take it upon himself? With what conscience, by what merit does he believe that he will be heard here, when it has been said: "To the clean all things are clean, but to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is clean"? Therefore I exhort, I admonish, I ask: let this reproach be taken away, which even the Gentiles can rightly charge. Perhaps this is believed because it is written, "the husband of one wife." He did not say this of one persisting in the desire of begetting, but on account of the continence to come. For he who says, "I would that all men were as I myself am," did not refuse to admit those who were unmarried. And he declares it more plainly, saying: "Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are no longer in the flesh, but in the spirit."

If these things, then, brothers, are observed by all with full vigilance, ambition will cease, dissension will be quieted, heresies and schisms will not arise, the devil will find no room to rage, unanimity will remain, iniquity will be overcome and trodden underfoot, love will blaze with spiritual fervour, the peace proclaimed by the lips will agree with the will: the peace, surely, of our God, which the Saviour himself, when already near to his passion, commanded to be kept, and left us by hereditary right, saying: "My peace I give you, my peace I leave you"; and the saying of the Apostle, that we should remain in Christ of one mind, thinking the same thing, claiming nothing for ourselves through contention or empty glory, and pleasing not men but God our Saviour. If we are willing faithfully to obey all these precepts, the Lord will guard our bodies and our souls unto the day on which he will render to each according to his works. But if anyone, puffed up by the mind of his flesh, wishes to stray from this rule of the canon, let him know that he is cut off from our communion and will have the punishments of Gehenna.

Moreover, mercy must go with judgment. For we ought to stretch out a hand to those who are falling, and such as do not drag the one running into ruin. Given at Rome in a council of eighty bishops, on the eighth day before the Ides of January, after the consulship of Arcadius Augustus and Bauto, men of the highest rank.

Pope Siricius to the orthodox throughout the various provinces.

As we think on the fear of the divine judgment, dearest brothers, and that after this life each will receive according to what he has done, it was not lawful to keep silent about what comes up for complaint, but necessity commanded us to speak, as the prophet says: "Lift up your voice like a trumpet." And if I, who have the care of all the churches, should dissemble, I would hear the Lord saying: "You reject the commandment of God, so as to establish your traditions." For what else is it to reject the commandment of God than to delight more freely in establishing new things by private judgment and human counsel?

It has been reported, then, to the knowledge of the apostolic see, that against the church's canon some presume to introduce certain new observances of their own in matters that were so ordered by our forefathers that they ought not to be violated even by a light whisper, and, leaving aside the foundation, to wish to build on sand, though the Lord says: "You shall not move the boundaries which your fathers set." The holy Apostle too, the preacher of the New and Old Testaments, in whom Christ spoke, warns of this: "Stand firm," he says, "and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word or by letter." Therefore your sincerity sees how much great care and diligent concern priests ought to observe in the sacred ministries, or in our ordinations. Finally he says to Timothy: "Lay hands hastily on no one, nor share in other men's sins." This is recalled so that, after examination has been held, he who is called forward to receive the high priesthood may be the more commended by uprightness of conduct and by labour in the church: approved by judgment, not by favour; received by truth, not by influence; supported by apostolic order, not by headlong will.

On this matter, dearest ones, a letter of this kind came before your sincerity with the agreement of many brothers and fellow priests, so that, confirmed by your subscription, the regulation of the church's canon which was dealt with at Nicaea might remain confirmed and most firmly founded on its own merit: namely, that such men should be allowed to approach the church's order as apostolic authority commands, not such as I describe, or those who once gloried in being bound by the belt of secular military service. Men who, after they have exulted in worldly pomp, or have chosen to serve in the affairs of the state, or to handle the care of the world, having engaged the help of certain people and surrounded by the favour of their neighbours, are often thrust upon my ears so that they may be bishops, men who by tradition and the discipline of the gospel cannot be. With what strength has this been fought over on several occasions! But nothing of the kind could be extracted that reason does not compel. Let those to be ordained come even from far away, so that worthy men may be approved by the judgment both of the people and of ourselves.

How unlawful it is cannot be estimated, that some, instead of helping travellers (whether they pretend to be, or are, monks, as they call themselves), whose life we cannot know nor their baptism, whose faith is unknown and unproved to us, with their expenses, hasten at once either to make them deacons or to ordain them presbyters, or, what is more serious, do not fear to appoint them bishops. To them it seems a dearer thing to give a traveller expenses than the priesthood. Not being held back, they are lifted up into pride, and then quickly fall into faithlessness, because, as wanderers through the whole world, they are not taught the true faith in the churches.

Certainly this too should not be passed over: that what necessity caused by heretics once or twice brought in against the apostolic precepts is beginning to be presumed lawful as if by law, namely, to ordain inconsiderately as presbyter or deacon a neophyte or a layman who has held no church office: as if they were better than the apostles, whose precept they dare to change. And he who has not learned is compelled already to teach. Is no one of the clergy found fit? Is no one found among the deacons or among the other clerics who is held worthy of the priesthood, but a layman is asked for, to the condemnation of the church? I admonish that this be done no more. I proclaim that, having one faith, we ought also to think one thing in tradition, proving ourselves to have love, of one mind and in concord, peaceful in Christ and in the apostolic observances. And so, with the Father and his only-begotten Son and the Holy Spirit, the Trinity of one divinity, as witness, I call on you to see that in these things the catholic faith and our discipline remain. Nor let anyone think that ordinations are made like earthly ones, since the priesthood is heavenly, so that the glory of the same dignity may remain to the faithful, and that, from now on, he may have nothing to accuse before the judgment seat of Christ.

I would wish always, dearest brothers, to announce joys to the sincerity of your love and peace, so that, as letters ran back and forth, you might be helped by news of our well-being. But since the ancient enemy does not allow us to be free from his assaults in quiet, he who is a liar from the beginning, the enemy of truth, the rival of man, whom he deceived himself first in order to deceive him; the adversary of chastity, the teacher of luxury, he feeds on cruelties; deserving to be punished by abstinence, he hates fasts, saying through his ministers who preach it that they are superfluous, having no hope of things to come. He is struck back by the sentence of the Apostle, who says: "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."

O unhappy audacity! O cunning of a desperate mind! The hitherto unknown talk of the heretics was creeping within the church like a cancer, so that, seizing the breast, it might cast the whole man headlong into death. And had not the Lord of hosts broken the snare which he had prepared, the stage-play of so great an evil and the hypocrisy, made public, would have drawn the hearts of many simple people into ruin; because the human mind is easily led over to the worse part, wishing to flit about through wide spaces rather than to travel with labour the road of the narrow way.

On this matter it was quite necessary, my dearest ones, to send what has been done here to your knowledge, lest through the ignorance of any priest the contagion of the worst of men, breaking into the church under a religious name, should violate it; as it is written, the Lord saying: "Many will come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves; by their fruits you will know them." These are the men, namely, who subtly boast themselves Christians, so that, walking under the veil of a devout name, having entered the house of prayer, they may pour out the speech of serpentine disputation, "to shoot in the dark at the upright of heart," and, turning them away from the catholic truth, lead them over in the devil's manner to the madness of their own teaching, and cheat the simplicity of the sheep. We have indeed learned from the apostles until now, and found by experience, the malignity of many heresies; but never have such dogs wearied the mystery of the church with their barking as these enemies of the faith who have now suddenly broken out, and, a doctrine of faithlessness having sprouted, have revealed by the fruits of their words whose disciples they are. For whereas other heretics, by misunderstanding, have set themselves to tear up and pluck at single kinds of questions in the divine institutions, these men, not having the wedding garment, wounding catholics, perverting, as I said, the continence of the New and Old Testaments and interpreting it by a diabolical spirit, have begun with enticing and feigned speech to lay waste some Christians already and to make them partners of their madness, while keeping within themselves the poison of their wickedness. But, being found out, they made their blasphemies public by a rash writing, and, driven by the fury of a desperate mind, published them everywhere to win the favour of the pagans. But by most faithful Christians, men of the best family and distinguished in religion, a horrifying writing was suddenly brought to my humility, so that, having been detected by priestly judgment as contrary to the divine law, it might be blotted out by a spiritual sentence. We indeed do not spurn but accept the vows of marriage, at which we are present with the veil; but virgins, whom marriages produce, devoted to God, we honour with greater esteem. A presbytery having therefore been held, it was established that their teaching was contrary to ours, that is, to the Christian law.

Hence, following the Apostle's precept, since they were preaching otherwise than what we have received, know that the sentence of all of us, presbyters and deacons as well as the whole clergy, was one: that Jovinian, Auxentius, Genialis, Germinator, Felix, Plotinus, Martianus, Januarius and Ingeniosus, who were found to be the instigators of the new heresy and blasphemy, condemned for ever by the divine sentence and by our judgment, should remain outside the church. Not doubting that your holiness will keep this, I have sent this writing through my brothers and fellow presbyters Crescens, Leopardus and Alexander, who can fulfil with fervent spirit the devout office of faith.

I have received your letter about Bishop Bonosus, in which you wished to ask our sentence, whether for the sake of truth or of modesty. But since the judgment of the council of Capua was of this kind, that the neighbouring bishops should be given as judges to Bonosus and his accusers, and above all the Macedonians, who with the bishop of Thessalonica were to examine his deeds, we have noted that the form of judging could not belong to us. For if the synod were still sitting today, we would rightly decide about the things which the content of your letter covers. It is for you, then, who have received this judgment, to pass sentence on everything, and not to give either the accusers or the accused the chance of escaping or slipping away. For you have received the place of the synod, you whom the synod chose to examine the case.

Finally, when Bishop Bonosus, after your judgment, had sent to our brother Ambrose to consult his opinion whether he might break into and enter the church that had been forbidden him, he was answered that nothing should be rashly done, but all things carried out modestly, patiently, and in order, and that nothing should be attempted against your sentence; so that you might decide what seemed to you to accord with justice, you to whom the synod had given this authority. Therefore the first thing is that those should judge to whom the power of judging has been given; for you, as we have written, decide in the place of the whole synod; it does not befit us to judge as though by the synod's authority.

We certainly cannot deny that he was rightly reproved concerning the sons of Mary, and that your holiness rightly shrank in horror from the claim that from the same virginal womb from which Christ was born according to the flesh another offspring was poured forth. For the Lord Jesus would not have chosen to be born through a virgin had he judged that she would be so incontinent as to defile with the seed of human intercourse that birthplace of the Lord's body, that hall of the eternal King. For he who asserts this asserts nothing other than the faithlessness of the Jews, who say that he could not have been born of a virgin. For if they receive this authority from priests, that Mary is seen to have brought forth many children, they will strive with greater zeal to attack the truth of the faith.

And where is that which is written, when the Lord said to his mother of John the evangelist, "Woman, behold your son," and again to John of Mary, "Behold your mother"? What does it mean that when the Lord, set on the cross, was taking away the sin of the world, he also made a pronouncement about his mother's integrity? Or what else is said, except that faithlessness should close its mouth and be dumb, so as not to dare to violate the Lord's mother with any insult? The same judge, then, the same defender of his mother's chastity, is witness that she was only betrothed to her husband Joseph, yet knew the rights of the marriage bed by no custom of conjugal intercourse. For he would not have wished to separate from her husband's company one who was going to receive sons from Joseph. But if this is too little, the evangelist added a testimony, saying that the disciple took her to his own. Did he, then, make a divorce? Did he take her away and remove her from her husband? How, then, does one who reads this in the Gospel stagger and waver like a shipwrecked man? This, then, is the son's testament about his mother's integrity; this is Mary's rich inheritance of whole chastity; this is the end of the whole consummation. Finally, he said this, and gave up his spirit, consummating every mystery with a good end of piety.

We have also read and gone through everything, both about Senecio's having been given to our brother and fellow bishop Bassus as a partner in ruling the church, and about the other matters on which we await the rule of your sentence.

The Lord, among the other saving commandments by which he exhorts and admonishes his disciples the apostles to the hope of life, as the words of the Gospel have taught us too, commands this also: that we should labour with care to come to the knowledge of the truth. And first, that we should come to know what is unknown not by empty progress but by labour and care, and that what is not yet known must be searched out by prayers. Things better known but difficult he commanded to be sought insistently; things that are shut, knocking by the power of faith, we ought to ask in prayer to have opened to us. For so it is written: "Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." Certainly no one who does not ask receives, nor does one who does not seek find; nor can it be opened to one who has not knocked. On this matter, since what is asked in faith is granted, and what was obscure, while it is searched out, is gained as plain to the understanding, and what was shut to us is revealed by knocking more often, that is, by asking ("for everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened"), to repeat the same things is not burdensome to me, and for you it is necessary.

We know, dearest brothers, that many bishops in various churches, to the very bad repute of their name, have hastened by human presumption to change the tradition of the fathers, and for this reason have fallen into the darkness of heresy, delighting in the glory of men rather than seeking to have the rewards of God. Now, then, since your holiness has deigned to ask, on the authority of the apostolic see, about the knowledge of the law or the traditions, not for the sake of testing but to confirm faith, wishing us to set out more freely the exposition of the questions proposed, which you seek sincerely and with longing: hear what, as far as the divine favour will fill me, I shall say, in plain speech but with firm sense, things to be held, in order to correct all the differences in which arrogance alone has presumed to disagree; as the divine Scripture says: "You have rejected the commandment of God so as to establish your traditions." If, then, you desire with whole faith to know the true observances, deign to attend willingly to what I say. In the first place the matter of modesty and chastity is set before me. Then, how many questions heaped together are put forward. To each proposition, therefore, the traditions must be returned in their order.

It is asked about veiled virgins who have changed their purpose, what has been judged in this regard. If a virgin already veiled to Christ, who, having professed integrity by public testimony, received the veil of blessing from the priest with prayer poured out, either has committed incest secretly, or, wishing to cover her crime, has put the name of husband on an adulterer, taking the members of Christ and making them members of a harlot, so that she who had been the bride of Christ is called a man's wife: in a woman of this kind there are as many guilts as there are causes: the purpose of integrity changed, the veil lost, the first faith corrupted and made void. What kind and how great a satisfaction is needed here! How great a penance for one who has incurred the destruction of the flesh! It is no small fault to have left God and gone after a man. Hence she must weep for very many years, so that, having borne the fruit of a worthy penance, she may at some time come to pardon, provided that, as a penitent, she does what penitents must do.

Likewise, a girl who has not yet been veiled, but had purposed to remain so: although she has not been veiled in Christ, yet because she so purposed, and she has not been veiled in marriage either, her marriage is called clandestine, because she did not keep the precept of the heavenly marriage, love hastening to the blindness of lust. For these too a time of penance must be fixed: since, whether carried off or willing, she consented to go to a man in perverse order, and, without the testimony of relatives or priests having been sought, such persons did not keep with chaste modesty the order of the solemnity of the veil; but they acted against the precept of the Old Testament. Those whom the law commanded to be stoned are now, that punishment having ceased, struck spiritually, so that they cannot enter the church, as if dead. They have, however, a place for doing penance; they do not quickly have pardon; since if the girl had cried out according to the law, and, protesting for a long time, had held out, she would surely have been free from fault. It is expedient, then, for both to be suspended from communion under the same appointed time, to do worthy penance, and to redeem the crime committed by weeping, humility, fasting and mercy.

And indeed our word on such matters has often spread through many churches, especially about priests, whose merit requires that they be a pattern of their good works to the peoples. But, as far as I understand, since Scripture says, "Speak to the ears of those who hear," we shall pour it into the ears by instruction, while they often repeat the same things, which are neglected by individuals; truly this is what was said of the adulterous sex: "Always learning and never coming to the knowledge of the truth." For when what is usefully admonished is not kept, the apostolic commands are despised as if unknown; yet the judgment on what they have committed cannot be changed. So much concerning priests. In the first place it has been laid down concerning bishops, presbyters and deacons, who must be present at the divine sacrifices, through whose hands both the grace of baptism is handed on and the body of Christ is consecrated: not only we but the divine Scripture compels them to be most chaste, and the fathers too commanded that they ought to keep bodily continence. On this matter let us not pass over but state the reason as well. With what shame does a bishop or presbyter dare to preach integrity or continence to a widow or a virgin, or urge her to keep a chaste bed, if he himself has been more intent on begetting children for the world than for God? Adam, who did not keep the commandment, was cast out of paradise and lost the kingdom; and do you think that a transgressor can come to the heavenly kingdom? For which reason Paul says: "You are no longer in the flesh, but in the spirit"; and again: "And let those who have wives be as though they had none." Would he who exhorts the people thus offer licence to Levites and priests, flattering them, to engage in the work of the flesh, he who himself says, "And make no provision for the flesh in its desires," and elsewhere, "I would that all were as I myself am"? He who serves as Christ's soldier, who sits in the teacher's seat, can he not keep the discipline of his service?

Of these three grades, then, which we read of in the Scriptures, cleanness is commanded to be observed by the ministers of God, for whom necessity is always at hand. For either baptism must be given or the sacrifices must be offered. Will an unclean man dare to defile what is holy, when holy things are holy for the holy? Finally, those who offered sacrifices in the temple, in order to be clean, remained in the temple for the whole year by the sole merit of observance, not knowing their homes at all. Certainly idolaters, in order to practise their impieties and sacrifice to demons, impose on themselves continence from women, and wish to be purified from foods too; and you ask me whether a priest of the true God, who is to offer spiritual sacrifices, ought to be purified perpetually, or, wholly in the flesh, ought to make provision for the flesh? If intercourse is pollution, surely the priest must stand prepared for the heavenly office, he who is to intercede for the sins of others, lest he himself be found unworthy. For if it is said to laymen, "Abstain for a time, so that you may be free for prayer," and they at least serve the creature by begetting, priests may have such a name, but they cannot have the merit. And if this is so, and the presumption persists, the order of bishops or presbyters or deacons must now be associated with the life of publicans. Therefore, my dearest ones, I admonish that the mystery of God ought not to be entrusted to men of this kind, defiled and unbelieving, in whom the holiness of the body seems to have been polluted by filth and incontinence, as reverence for religion itself urges. For just reason too sets them apart. Let them hear indeed: "For flesh and blood will not possess the kingdom of God, nor corruption incorruption." And does a presbyter or deacon dare to strive to lie down in the manner of animals?

Likewise, concerning one who, already one of the faithful, has served in secular military service, it is known that he makes use of public freedom. For who can watch over him? Who can deny either that he has been present at the shows, or that, driven by the advantage of money, he could not have been free from violence and injustice?

The Roman church keeps this in particular: that if someone baptized as a small child has kept the integrity of his body, he may be admitted to the clergy; or if someone was baptized as an adult and has remained chaste, the husband of one wife, he may become a cleric, if he is bound by no other chains of crimes. But one who has corrupted the sacrament of the water by carnal vices, even if after sexual immorality he marries a wife, how can he assist in the ministry for forgiving sins, he who has gone back to the blindness of his former life? How is this to be understood, "Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters" and others such "will possess the kingdom of God," if there is no difference between good and evil, between the just and the impious, between the luxurious and the chaste, between one who keeps the law and a publican? Such men will become ministers or priests not of Christ but rather of Antichrist. And where is that which the holy apostle Paul, who gave the pattern of what kind of bishop should be ordained, commanded beforehand, saying, "blameless, sober and chaste," and so on? How is he blameless who could not keep the sacrament of baptism? O new presumption! The priesthood is entrusted to one to whom penance alone is owed, so that, soiled as he is, he may wash away by a long satisfaction and obtain the benefits of pardon.

Apostolic discipline has established that the confession of catholic bishops ought to be one. If, then, faith is one, tradition too ought to remain one. If tradition is one, one discipline ought to be kept through all the churches. Churches have indeed been founded in different regions; but through the whole world, by the unity of the catholic faith, it is called one. For so we read: "One is my dove, one is my perfect one, one is she to her mother." I am not writing back now about the meaning of baptism, then, but about the person of those who administer it.

At the time of Easter the presbyter and the deacon are accustomed to give remission of sins in the parishes and to fulfil the ministry; even when the bishop is present they also go down into the font themselves; they are in the office, but the chief credit of the deed is granted to his name. At other times, however, when the necessity of illness compels anyone to seek it, leave is given specially to the presbyter to give the forgiveness of sins through the grace of the saving water, since he too may offer the gift for the sake of cleansing; but no leave is found to have been granted to deacons. But what they happened once to usurp, they are said to be excused through necessity, but are not to commit it again with security in future.

Concerning the exorcized oil, whether a small number of days must be taken, much discussion bears fruit on this. For each one is cleansed by his own full faith. For if the chrism poured on the head imparts its grace to the whole body, nonetheless, if one who has been examined at the third scrutiny has been touched with the oil, not often but once, God works by his power in due time.

Concerning one who has married his wife's sister: it is written in the law of the Old Testament that one ought to marry in order to raise up seed for a dead brother, provided, however, that he had left no children by her. For this is why John the Baptist contradicted Herod, because it was not lawful for him to take her as wife, since his brother had left children by her. Yet the constitution of the Law commanded this to be done by a man for the sake of male offspring; concerning women it is nowhere read, but perhaps presumed. For the Law says: "Cursed is he who sleeps with his wife's sister." Is the Christian now not permitted to have what Jacob had, who had two sisters as wives at one time, for the sake of a mystery, and concubines, and all who were born were called patriarchs? Or those who had wives and concubines? But now the Testament does not allow this to be done, where integrity is treated more fully and chastity is praised by Christ's teaching, when he says: "Not all receive the word of God, but those to whom it is given."

Moreover, it is manifest that those who, having obtained secular power, have exercised the law of the world cannot be free from sin. For while the sword is drawn, or an unjust judgment is given, or tortures are applied for the needs of cases, or they take care to prepare pleasures, or are present at those prepared, associating themselves again with the things they renounced, they have changed the discipline of observance that was handed down. They do much for themselves if they do not aspire to the episcopate; but, doing penance for all these things, when a fixed time has been completed, they may deserve to be joined to the altars. The council of Nicaea, with the divine Spirit assenting, when the confession of faith had been rightly confirmed, the bishops gathered together wished the apostolic traditions also to come to the knowledge of all, defining among other things that a eunuch should not become a cleric, since "the eunuch and the effeminate shall not enter the sanctuary of God." Then they commanded that, after the grace of baptism, after the forgiveness of sins, one who has gloried in the service of the world, or one who has delighted in the purple and the fasces, should by no means be admitted to the priesthood by any irruption. For it is by merits and the observances of the law that men come to the summit of such a dignity; no one will be able to reach it by the money of Simon, or by influence, or by popular favour. For what is sought is not what the people wish, but what the discipline of the gospel requires. The people then has the value of a testimony when, rejecting the breeze of favour, it bestows it on the merit of someone worthy.

Likewise concerning one who has married his maternal uncle's wife. It is not lawful to marry the daughter of one's maternal uncle, since the like cause, by the degrees of the father, is separated and purified as from a stranger; but to go back is not lawful. For one who has presumed to violate the bed of father or mother, this is not called marriage but sexual immorality. Whoever, however, has presumed to act against the apostolic canons is to be deprived of the priesthood if he is obstinate; but if he has corrected himself, let what was presumed be abolished, so that, reconciled, he may have our fellowship.

Concerning ordinations it must be observed above all that bishops should always be made from the clergy. For so it is written: "And let these first be proved, and so let them minister." One who is not proved to have ministered in a lesser office in the preceding time, how is he set over the clergy? It is unheard of that a recruit not yet a soldier should take command. That man, then, ought to be made bishop whom age, time, merit and life commend. Or why does the Apostle forbid a neophyte and not allow hands to be laid quickly on anyone?

Likewise concerning those who pass from church to church, they were ordered to be regarded as though they had left their wife and gone to another's; which cannot be unpunished. Such a bishop, an invader of another's chastity, they commanded to be deprived of the episcopate.

Likewise concerning other churches' clerics, it has often been discussed and confirmed in synod, and just reason constrains it, that clerics cast out of the church by their own bishop cannot receive even lay communion in another church; this has been confirmed and made plain, since even an innocent cleric cannot minister in another church without the letters of his bishop, or a formata. But if anyone presumes to do this, to the injury of a priest, and is willing to receive or promote a condemned cleric, let him know that he has shared in other men's sins and has incurred the sentence of the Apostle, who says that guilty are not only those who act against the law but also those who consent to those who do so. Hence it must be left to the conscience of him who judged his own cleric, knowing that God will judge his judgment hereafter. Hear the Lord saying: "Whatever you wish men to do to you, do the same to them." Why do you arm yourself to the injury of a brother and fellow priest? For when a cast-out cleric is not only received but even promoted, the bishop is judged unjust. Whoever does this, let him know that he is shut out from the fellowship of catholics and can no longer have the communion of the apostolic see.

This moreover is very grave, and against the episcopal moderation of the apostolic see: to exceed one's own bounds, to go into another's region, to hasten to celebrate ordinations, not to allow by one's precepts the metropolitan bishop to act in his own diocese together with the neighbouring bishops, as the three hundred and eighteen bishops confirmed, that three or more priests ought to ordain a bishop or appoint the most worthy as successor. If anyone indeed invades the bounds of another's possession, he is judged guilty of violence. Why the running? Why the haste, so that the church's rule may be trampled underfoot? Human laws are kept, and divine precepts despised. The present sword and temporal punishment are feared, but the divine vengeance, which has the perpetual flames of Gehenna, is neglected. You will see what presumption has done. From now on, if anyone dares to presume to make an ordination in another's diocese, let him know that he who has presumed to invade another's church may be endangered in his own standing. It is nothing secular; these are not worldly promotions. Let us hear the Apostle saying: "Lay hands hastily on no one, nor share in other men's sins; keep yourself chaste." If the writings were read and divine fear were in us, all scandals could be put away, and unanimity could stand among all the brothers, peaceful and full of love.

Moreover, it is said that even laymen excluded from communion after their case has been examined have been made clerics by another bishop: this is now beyond every evil. Hence either let those who have dared to do such things be summoned and correct it, so that those on whom orders were unworthily conferred are removed, or let their names be brought to us, so that we may know from whom we ought to abstain.

Let your sincerity know, then, that if all these things are observed in their order as they are established, God is not offended, schisms are not produced, heresies do not arise; but the Gentiles will say that truly God is among us, Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit for eternal ages of ages. Amen.