The Book of Prayers Against Damasus

After eight years, in the consulship of Valentinian and Valens, on the tenth day before the Kalends of December, Felix died: Liberius showed mercy to the clergy who had perjured themselves, and received them again into their own places. Likewise, on the eighth day before the Kalends of October, in the consulship of Gratian and Dagalaifus, Liberius was removed from human affairs. Then the presbyters and deacons, Ursinus, Amantius, and Lupus, together with the holy people who had kept faith with Liberius while he was in exile, began to hold processions in the basilica of Julius, and demanded that Ursinus the deacon be ordained bishop in the place of Liberius. But the perjurers, in the church of Lucina, demanded Damasus for themselves as bishop in the place of Felix: Paul, bishop of Tibur, consecrated Ursinus.

When Damasus, who had always aspired to the episcopate, learned of this, he stirred up with money all the charioteers and the ignorant multitude, and, armed with clubs, broke into the basilica of Julius, and raged with great slaughter of the faithful for three days. After seven days, with all the perjurers and the sand-diggers whom he had corrupted with a huge bribe, he seized the Lateran basilica, and was there ordained bishop, and, bribing Viventius the judge of the City, and Julian the prefect of the grain supply, he brought it about that Ursinus, a venerable man who had earlier been ordained pontiff, together with the deacons Amantius and Lupus, was sent into exile. When this was done, Damasus began to press the Roman populace, who refused to march in procession with him, with clubs and various slaughter. He also strove, through officials, to drive out of the City seven presbyters who had been detained. But the faithful people, running to meet them, rescued these presbyters, and without delay brought them to the basilica of Liberius.

Then Damasus, with the perfidious, called in the sand-diggers, the charioteers, and the grave-diggers, and all the clergy, with axes, swords, and clubs, and besieged the basilica at the second hour of the day, on the seventh day before the Kalends of November, in the consulship of Gratian and Dagalaifus, and stirred up a grievous battle. For, the doors having been broken open, and fire set beneath, he sought an entrance by which he might break in. Some also of his household, tearing down the roof of the basilica, killed the faithful people with tiles. Then all the followers of Damasus, rushing into the basilica, killed a hundred and sixty of the people, both men and women, and wounded very many more, of whom many died: but of the party of Damasus not one died. After three days, however, the holy people, gathering together, began to recite against him the commandments of the Lord, saying: Fear not them who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul.

They sang also among their praises, and said: They have given the dead bodies of thy servants to be meat for the fowls of the air, the flesh of thy saints for the beasts of the earth. They have shed their blood like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them. Often, therefore, the same people, gathered together in the basilica of Liberius, cried out, saying: Christian emperor, nothing is hidden from thee. Let all the bishops come to Rome: let the cause be heard; Damasus has now made war a fifth time: away with the murderers from the seat of Peter. And the people of God besought the bishops with many prayers to assemble, that they might drive out by a just sentence one so stained with such great impiety—a man whom the matrons loved so much that he was called the ear-tickler of matrons. IV. The voices of the people, then, were brought to the emperor Valentinian, who, moved by piety, granted the return of the exiles.

Then Ursinus, with the deacons Amantius and Lupus, returned to the City on the seventeenth day before the Kalends of October, in the consulship of Lupicinus and Jovinus; whom the holy people gladly met. But Damasus, conscious of such great crimes of his own, shaken with no small fear, bought up the whole palace, lest his deeds be revealed to the emperor. The emperor, not knowing what Damasus had perpetrated, extended the edict, so that Ursinus being relegated to exile, no further wicked contention might set the peoples at odds. Then Ursinus, a holy and blameless bishop, taking counsel for the people, delivered himself into the hands of the wicked, and on the sixteenth day before the Kalends of December, by the emperor's order, hastened of his own accord into exile. But the people, fearing God and wearied by no persecutions, feared neither the emperor, nor the judge, nor even the very author of the crimes and murderer Damasus, but kept their stations through the cemeteries of the martyrs without the clergy.

Whence, when many of the faithful had gathered at the shrine of St. Agnes, Damasus, armed with his satellites, rushed in, and cast down very many in the slaughter of his devastation. This most cruel deed displeased the bishops of Italy exceedingly. Whom also, when he had solemnly invited them to his own feast day, and some of them had assembled, he labored with prayers and money to induce them to pronounce sentence against holy Ursinus. But they answered: We have assembled for the feast day, not to condemn one unheard. Thus his wicked intention failed of the effect at which it aimed. From that time the presbyters, afflicted in various ways, were scattered through exiles and foreign places, among whom the presbyters Marcellinus and Faustinus, on account of the confession of the true faith, the manifestation of holy communion, and the persecution of the adversaries of truth, presented petitions to the emperors Valentinian, Theodosius, and Arcadius in the following book of prayers.

We beseech your clemency, most pious emperors, Valentinian, Theodosius, and Arcadius, that you may deign untiringly to read these things in contemplation of Christ the Son of God, who aids your empire. Your sublime kingdom then ascends to more sublime things, by the help of God the almighty Father and of Christ his only-begotten Son, when you neither despise truth in lowly men, nor uphold falsehood in the many or the powerful. For this is most just and most salutary in a kingdom of justice, that persons be approved by the merit of truth, not that truth be presumed from the power of persons. Since indeed the law of the age was written for this reason, that power or multitude should not prevail against what is true or equitable, even if it be vindicated by the lowly.

But if this great care must be observed even in the affairs of the commonwealth, by the provision of your tranquility, that against every force and power, even in the least matters, the right of truth may hold, so that the commonwealth entrusted to your rule may flourish by the will of God: how then, in divine matters of the holy faith, is the truth obscured and oppressed by a band of the impious and by their most fraudulent circumventions? Especially since you, princes of the Roman empire, vindicate the pious faith and purity of the Christian religion by so many of your constitutions. Wholly indeed, because as worshippers of Christ the Son of God, you decree for the catholic faith, and with all your strength you enact by the authority of your empire against heretics and the perfidious.

Not as though attempting anything new of your own opinion, as certain earlier princes attempted to their own ruin and that of others, but that you might show that your judgments and your faith agree with the sacred sentences of the divine Scriptures and with pious confessions. II. But this, though it ought rather to help the holy Church, especially after the most atrocious persecutions of the former time, rather afflicts her, since these same distinguished bishops, who formerly persecuted her under the assertion or assent of heresy, now also persecute her under the authority of the catholic name, and by as much as they now do this more fraudulently under a feigned profession of the pious faith, by so much more perniciously do they rage, and the more sorrowfully does truth burn, because even under you emperors, who defend the pious faith, she is not yet permitted to breathe. But lest we seem to refer this to ill will without proof of the matter, we set forth the case as we are able.

We beg, however, as suppliants, that you lend your royal ears to us, the least of men, while we show that we are not heretics, and yet are grievously afflicted as though heretics: since not even those who grievously afflict us, or their associates, can now say or prove that we are heretics. But not even can they deny of themselves that in an earlier time they either most fiercely vindicated heresy, with intolerable suffering of the faithful, or certainly gave their hand to it, having condemned the catholic faith which they had before asserted, while they feared to endure exile for Christ the Son of God, for whom even the lay believer must undergo whatsoever most atrocious death: because it has been granted to us, as the Apostle says, for Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him. For such a death or suffering is an occasion of immortality. III.

It does not escape your clemency and your devoted religion toward God, how impious and how pestilent is the Arian heresy, against which it was written with special force by our fathers at Nicaea: so that the pious confession of the apostolic faith might be preserved, and the perpetual condemnation of that same heresy might be confirmed, lest any in posterity might be deceived. But Arius, like the heart of Pharaoh, not believing that the divine sentence then given against him was true, by I know not what means insinuated himself with Constantine, hoping that, by his favor, the sentence of the special priests being rescinded, he might be received back into the Church.

At length Constantine himself had ordered that the holy bishop Alexander, of blessed memory, should communicate with him: not that Alexander who was bishop of the divine faith in Alexandria, who, full of wisdom and fervent in the Holy Spirit, was the first to expose and expel that same Arius, and condemned him forever; but this other Alexander, who was in this city of Constantinople, himself also an admirable bishop. He, when he saw that Arius relied upon the support of the king of this age, cried out from the depth of his grief of heart, standing in the place of the sanctuary, to Christ the true and eternal King and Lord of all kings, that he might not allow that stain to enter into the Church. How steadfast his prayer was, how faithful, is proved by this, that the same Arius, before he could enter the Church, paid new and most grievous penalties even to a shameful death.

For on the day before he thought, with the emperor's help, that he, an impious man, would enter the holy Church, though he suffered no weakness, no pain in his body, but—what is more grievous—was incurably sick only with a disease of the mind, he sought, according to human custom, a place of retirement, and there, as he sat, suddenly seized with the most grievous pain, he poured out all his inward parts, and even his very heart, which was the treasury of impiety, into the filth; and thus, wondrous to relate, all his inner parts having been emptied out, he was so wasted, and in a moment so dissolved as by the corruption of a foully diseased body, that through the narrow openings of the hole and the seat his whole self slipped away. A fitting punishment this for the impious, a fitting death this for the most shameful heretic, and, from the spirit of the devil, a fitting burial for his most fetid members.

For by a new example he deserved both to be tortured and to perish, who had devised new impieties against the only-begotten Son of God, saying that he was not truly born of the Father: and that there was a time when he was not: and that he was made out of nothing, lest he should be believed to be of the same substance, and divinity, and eternity, and omnipotence, as that of the Father, whose Son he is. IV. We have reported this for this reason to your august mercy, that your prudence, truly attentive, may perceive how venerable is the faith that was written at Nicaea against Arius, to which God gave testimony not only through the authority of the divine Scriptures, but also through the most sacred prayer of holy Alexander: and how execrable is the impious doctrine of Arius, which the divine sentence condemned in Arius himself by a new kind of punishment, not awaiting in him the day of judgment, so that others, terrified by the example of his penalty, might take heed.

By which example, indeed, this too must not be doubted: that those also are condemned before God who believed that the impious doctrine of Arius ought to be renewed or embraced. For how does perpetual punishment separate those whom impious doctrine does not separate? Even by your own laws, equal culprits are enclosed in one prison, and struck by one sentence. But this too cannot be doubted: that those are truly Catholics who, through exiles, through kinds of punishments, through the atrocity of death, vindicate that faith without deceit which was written at Nicaea according to evangelical and apostolic reasoning, which God most openly approved by the punishment of Arius who impugned it. But if these things are true among you which are confirmed as true by the divine Scriptures, consider, most pious and most religious emperors, in what guilt those are who, under these divine rules and professions, have consecrated their faith and devotion to Christ God, placing no fear before the fear of God.

But although Arius is buried in filth, he has nevertheless left behind some heirs of his impiety. Indeed, worms were not lacking, which were born from his putrid corpse. Through whom the deeds wrought by the devil, that artificer of error, it would take long to recount, even if we were able to recount them: for they are infinite and incredible, yet not false.

But now we set forth that which pertains to the present cause: that those who, by fraudulent disputation, made the emperor Constantius a participant in Arian impiety, would have paid the penalty for it even at present, were it not necessary, according to the sentence of the Apostle, that there also be heresies, so that those who are approved might become manifest. Having, therefore, the royal power assenting to them, these worms of Arius whom we have mentioned strove first man by man for the overthrow of the Catholic faith and for the destruction of the sacred religion, on behalf of Arian impiety: so that they assailed those who resisted with calumnies, or tortured and killed them with punishments or exile.

When they had raged still further through their own madness, and had made themselves a terror everywhere, no longer content to go man by man, at last they compelled bishops to gather together from everywhere into one place, and a place was given for a synod: for the Easterners, Seleucia in Isauria; for the Westerners, the city of Ariminum. And there at first the bishops, coming for the sake of the holy faith, confirmed that exposition which was written at Nicaea, so that nothing should be diminished from it, since it expounded the evangelical faith in unassailable words, and condemned the impious doctrine of Arius by divine authority. Then at length, when a formula of faith of this kind was offered by Ursacius, Valens, Germinius, and Gaius—one which both rejected the Catholic faith and absolved Arius, indeed even introduced his pestilent doctrine—they execrated and condemned so impious a faith of theirs.

Indeed they judged it to be an inexpiable crime if they should violate the venerable faith of the fathers, if the Church should suffer such impious men and their impious formula. They also sent ten legates to the emperor Constantius, writing what had been done, and exhorting him likewise to preserve inviolate, for the sake of the venerable faith, the decrees of the Fathers against the heretics. The heretics too, indeed, sent legates, whom Constantius then received most familiarly, as his own. These true legates, who had come on behalf of the Catholic faith against the heretics, he rejects, and through his own men now invites them with favor, now terrifies them with threats, and meanwhile racks them with mere delay, until at last, when they fear the king's wrath, when they do not deign to endure exile for Christ the Son of God, when they are charmed by their own sees and the most pernicious possessions of the churches, they rescind what they had piously vindicated, and take up what they had condemned as impious.

Let it be permitted, in this matter before you, religious emperors, in the cause of God, to groan the more grievously: the bishops feared the wrath of an earthly king more than Christ, the true God and everlasting King. They believed temporal exile to be more grievous than the eternal punishment of the unsleeping worm, according to Isaiah, and the unquenchable fire. They held their own homes and possessions sweeter than a blessed and everlasting dwelling in the kingdom of Christ. But Constantius, not content with the ruin and fall of the ten legates, sent men to Ariminum, so that all the bishops there might likewise be turned. And they too, by that evil example of their own legates, rejected the pious faith of the fathers which they had vindicated, subscribing to that faith of the Arians which they had condemned by whole and free judgment. Your wisdom perceives that the synod of Ariminum was begun most piously, but ended most impiously. The same impiety was committed also by the bishops at Seleucia in Isauria.

Judge, most pious and most religious emperors, in what they are guilty, and in what they deserve to be afflicted, who refuse to associate with such bishops: who, though at first they vindicated the whole faith and rejected the impious faith, afterward, when they feared exile, when they were charmed by their possessions and their sees, reversed their judgments, condemning at the nod of a heretical emperor that apostolic faith which they had vindicated, or embracing that impiety of Arius which they had rejected.

Ought they not to have counted it a grace, if indeed they believed that a future judgment of God would come, to suffer all evils rather than be betrayers of the venerable faith, whose truth had been approved both by the prayers of holy Alexander and by the punishment of Arius? Especially since the example of a glorious passion had already preceded, though of very few bishops, who, lest they violate the evangelical and apostolic faith, lest they acquiesce to the impious, refused neither exile, nor punishment, nor any atrocity of death. Indeed, before the synod of Ariminum, Paulinus of Trier, a most steadfast bishop, was given over to exile, vindicating the pious faith and execrating fellowship with the Arians.

But also the apostolic man Lucifer, bishop of Caralis in Sardinia, on account of the fact that he was well recognized through his contempt of the world, through his zeal for the sacred letters, through purity of life, through constancy of faith, through divine grace, was sent as legate from the Roman Church to Constantius, and because he vindicated the venerable faith, because he uncovered and convicted the heretics, was led into exile with every atrocity of injuries. Likewise also Eusebius of Vercelli, and also Dionysius of Milan, who was at first familiar with the emperor Constantius, while he still did not know him to be a favorer of heretics, afterward, however, when it became known and proved to him that he favored the heretics, rejected the impious familiarity of the king, preferring exile, lest he lose the friendship of Christ God, lest he not have fellowship with the saints.

But Rhodanius too was sent into exile, and also Hilary, who also published writings against the heretics and the prevaricators: although afterward indeed he interrupted this, favoring the prevaricators, so that we need not say meanwhile that he was where he had also been among the heretics, against whom he had pleaded with the powers of his eloquence. Maximus too of Naples in Campania, since he was of a weak stomach and a rather delicate body, was first long afflicted with injuries so that he might fall; then, when he was not overcome by weakness of the flesh on account of his constancy of mind and the virtue of his faith, he was led into exile, and there, a martyr, he rested in the peace of the Lord. But also Rufinianus, of remarkable simplicity indeed, but more admirable in defending the faith, forestalled exile by the shedding of his own blood.

Indeed, when he persisted in the integrity of the faith, Epictetus, that fierce and dire bishop of Centumcellae, forced him to run before his carriage, and when he had run a long time, thus, his vital organs burst on the road, pouring out his blood he expired. The people of Naples in Campania know this, where the relics of his blood afflict demons in possessed bodies: by the grace, surely, of that faith for which he shed his blood. There were also other bishops from Egypt, though very few, of whom some turned to flight, others were given into exile, because they refused to associate with impious and cruel bishops. VIII. How salutary indeed it would have been, how beautiful, how glorious, if all those bishops, with equal virtue and like unanimity, had preserved to the end the faith which they had always rightly vindicated, fearing neither exiles nor punishments, in order to attain that future everlasting blessedness in the kingdom of Christ God!

And we pass over in silence that perhaps they would have made it understood how great a price that faith carried, for which no bishop should refuse exile, proscriptions, torments, and death. But, terrified for a little while, so great a number of bishops gave their hands to impiety in troops, and impiety inclined to yet greater madness at so easy a slaughter of the multitude. This is no less sacrilege, this is no less impiety, than if a sacrifice had been made to an idol under a pagan persecutor: since to subscribe, terrified by heresy, is to sacrifice to demons. For, as the divine Scriptures teach, heresy is the doctrine of demons, just as is idolatry.

Meanwhile, because among some the multitude is preferred to the truth, on the ground that it has but few followers, and on this account we are afflicted, because we follow the inviolable faith among few, and avoid the many on account of impious heresies and the sacrilegious subscriptions of the prevaricators: what do you judge in this cause, O most just emperors and vindicators of the Catholic faith, to which of these two parties do you give the verdict? There is one party, in which are many bishops. But where there are many, there the sacred faith of Christ has been violated through prevarication, though always before defended; there, through fear of the king, the impiety of Arius has been embraced, though always before condemned. But where there are very few, there through exiles, through torments, through the shedding of blood, through death itself, the faith of Christ is vindicated, and the impiety of Arius and every heresy, as the supreme evil, are execrated.

But even though it is not to be doubted that few bishops are precious by reason of their confession and inviolable faith, while the many are made worthless by reason of heresy or prevarication, since in a matter of truth, especially in a matter of religion and sacred faith, number is not to be compared to number, but that pure apostolic faith, proved by exiles, proved by torments though of but one, must be preferred to the unfaithfulness of many; nevertheless it is necessary also to bring forward the present divine proof of condemned prevarication: and just as in Arius his impious sect, punished by divine visitation, prejudges also concerning his followers, that the same punishment awaits them by which Arius is tormented: so concerning the prevaricators it has been determined by present punishments by divine judgment.

Potamius, bishop of the city of Lisbon, at first indeed vindicating the Catholic faith, afterward, however, for the reward of a fiscal estate which he had coveted to possess, prevaricated in the faith. Him Hosius of Cordova, among the churches of the Spains, both exposed and repelled as an impious heretic. But Hosius himself, summoned to the emperor Constantius by the complaint of Potamius, and terrified by threats, and fearing lest, being old and rich, he should suffer exile or proscription, gave his hands to impiety, and after so many years prevaricated in the faith, and returned to the Spains with greater authority, having the terrible command of the king, that if any bishop should refuse to communicate with him, now made a prevaricator, he should be sent into exile. But to holy Gregory, bishop of the city of Elvira, a most steadfast man, a faithful messenger brought news of the impious prevarication of Hosius. Wherefore he did not consent, mindful of the sacred faith and of the divine judgment, to his nefarious communion.

But Hosius, who would be tormented all the more by this, if anyone, while he himself had already fallen, should stand firm, vindicating the whole faith with unshaken steadfastness of footing, caused the most steadfast-minded Gregory to be brought forth by public authority, hoping that by the same terror by which he himself had yielded, this man too might be able to yield. Now at that time Clementinus was vicar, who, by arrangement with Hosius and by the general command of the king, ordered holy Gregory to be brought forth to Cordova through his office.

Meanwhile the report, upon knowledge of the matter, disturbs everyone, and there is frequent talk among the peoples: Who is that Gregory, who dares to resist Ossius? For very many were still ignorant of Ossius's prevarication, and who the holy Gregory was they had not yet clearly learned. He was, even among those who perhaps knew him, still an unproven bishop, though before Christ no untested champion of the faith, by merit of his sanctity. But behold, matters came before the vicar, and many of the officials were present, and Ossius sits as judge, indeed as one above the judge, relying on royal authority; and holy Gregory, after the example of his Lord, stands as though accused, not from a guilty conscience, but according to the condition of the present trial: for the rest he was free in faith. There was great expectation among all as to which side victory would incline. And Ossius indeed relies on the authority of his age, while Gregory relies on the authority of truth.

The one indeed on confidence in an earthly king, the other on confidence in the everlasting King. And Ossius relies on the emperor's writ, but Gregory holds fast the writings of the divine voice. And when Ossius is confuted on every point, so that he was refuted by his own words which he had earlier written for the faith and truth, he, moved to anger, said to Clementinus the vicar: The inquiry was not entrusted to you, but the execution: you see how he resists the royal decrees: carry out, then, what has been commanded, send him into exile. But Clementinus, though he was not a Christian, nevertheless showing reverence to the name of bishop, especially in this man whom he saw to prevail reasonably and faithfully, answered Ossius: I do not dare, he said, to send a bishop into exile, so long as he continues in the name of bishop.

But you yourself first give sentence, casting him down from the honor of the episcopate, and only then will I carry out against him, as against a private person, what you desire done by the emperor's order. But when holy Gregory saw that Ossius wished to give sentence, so that he might appear as though deposed, he appealed to the true and mighty Judge, Christ, crying out with all the strength of his faith: Christ God, who art to come to judge the living and the dead, suffer not today a human sentence to be pronounced against me, thy least servant, who, standing as accused for the faith of thy name, offer this spectacle. But do thou thyself, I beseech thee, judge today in thy own cause; do thou thyself deign to pronounce sentence by vengeance. I do not desire this as one fearing exile, since for the sake of thy name no punishment is not sweet to me: but that many may be freed from the error of prevarication, when they see a present and immediate vengeance.

And when he besought God with words even more resentful and holy, behold, suddenly Ossius, as he attempts to pronounce the sentence, twists his mouth, distorting his neck likewise, is thrown from his seat to the ground, and there expires, or, as some would have it, becomes speechless. Thence, however, he is carried out as one dead. Then, with all amazed, even Clementinus, that pagan, was terrified. And though he was the judge, yet fearing lest he too be judged by a similar punishment, he prostrated himself at the feet of the holy man, beseeching him to spare him, who had sinned against him through ignorance of the divine law, and not so much by his own will as by the command of one giving orders. There was then astonishment in all, and admiration of the divine power: for what we know was seen in that whole spectacle.

For he who wished to pronounce a human sentence soon suffered a graver divine one; and the judge who had come to judge, now pale and guilty, feared to be judged; and he who had stood as though accused, to be sent into exile, was besought by the prostrate judge to spare him, as though he were the judge. Hence it is that Gregory alone, of the number of those defending the whole faith, was neither put to flight nor suffered exile, so that everyone thereafter feared to take vengeance against him.

Do you see the wondrous proofs of prevarication condemned by God? All Hispania knows better that we do not invent these things. But neither did Potamius's prevarication of the sacred faith go unavenged. For when he hastens to the estate which he had merited to obtain from the emperor for his impious subscription of the faith, giving new punishments to the tongue by which he blasphemed, he dies on the way, gaining no fruits of the estate even by sight. This was no light torment for a greedy man. He dies who, for desire of a fiscal estate, had violated the sacred faith, and while hastening to the estate, he is overtaken by a punitive death, lest he obtain even the solace of a glance. In the holy Gospel we read the words of reproach to the rich man, who was vainly boasting of his stores: Fool, he says, this night thy soul shall be required of thee; then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?

If anyone considers that this Scripture applies also to Potamius, he will understand that judgment fell upon him not lightly, suffering especially the punishment of the tongue, by which also that rich man in hell is more vehemently tormented. But Florentius too, who knowingly communicated in a certain place with Ossius and Potamius, now prevaricators, likewise received new punishments. For when he sat in his throne in an assembly of the people, suddenly he was thrown down and convulsed, and being carried outside he regained his strength. And again, another time, when he had entered and sat, he suffered the same thing, still not understanding the punishments of his stained communion. Nevertheless, afterward, when he persisted in entering, he was thrown from the throne a third time, so that he seemed repelled as unworthy of the throne, and, dashed to the ground, he was so tormented convulsing that his spirit was wrenched from him with a certain hardness and great agonies. And thence he was now carried away, not to be revived as usual, but to be buried.

This the great city of Emerita, in whose church the people saw this very thing with their own eyes, knows to be what we relate. But this too must be considered, that Florentius suffered these things though he had not yet subscribed to the impiety, but only because he communicated with the prevaricators of the faith, not being ignorant of their prevarication. We have related this so that those may see what they must do who, though they have not subscribed as prevaricators, have only been joined to prevaricators known to them by communion. And I think they will understand what they ought to fear from Florentius's example.

But it would be tedious to relate other proofs also of prevarication condemned by present punishments, which divine judgment has exercised in various places; to this end, namely, that whoever does not regard the divine Scriptures in some measure, may understand by present vengeance and divine visitation what he ought to pursue or what to avoid. God wished to take vengeance, without doubt, even in a few cases, and for this reason, lest what is threatened by divine Scripture concerning the future punishments of prevaricators be thought a fable, if he now avenged it upon no one in this age. Let all bishops who are prevaricators of the faith understand now for how very grievous punishments they are reserved, since vengeance was taken upon their own associates even in this age, to the astonishment of all.

For this reason we have set forth the present punishments of prevarication, so that what has been avenged upon a few may be believed to be avenged also upon all who are like them, especially since divine Scripture affirms this very thing, which has also been demonstrated by present proofs. And let this be considered, most pious emperors, in what guilt those are who do not join the divine sacraments with such men, whose perpetual punishments are read in the sacred books, and whose examples of punishments are seen in the world. But we beg your wondrous benevolence, that for the contemplation of Christ God you may still grant us your untiring patience in listening, while we set forth, though summarily, to what extent impiety has grown.

For the execrable Arians, in the regions of the East, and especially in Egypt, were not content with this alone, that bishops, their whole faith condemned, should turn aside into their impious opinion: but those very men who had first been ordained by catholic bishops, once they had subscribed according to their desires, they demanded be reduced to the number of laymen, and afterward these same heretics ordained them again as bishops; so that they might seem to condemn not only the catholic faith, but the ordination performed by catholic bishops. Observe in this, as it were, a triumph of heretics against catholics, and into a wretched and, as it were, final and most foul captivity—in these bishops, the pious faith having been condemned, and the catholic bishops as well—they surrendered themselves to their dominion and delusion out of fear of exile, and so that they might seem to retain the name of bishop among men, which indeed they no longer held before God after their impious subscriptions.

But the authority of that name, even with all disgrace, was sought for this reason, lest the possessions of the Church be taken from them—possessions which the Church would that she had never possessed, so that, living in the apostolic manner, she might possess the whole faith inviolably. And now not to communicate with such men is called the utmost impiety; and this under you, the emperors, who, as your constitutions declare, judge the divine sanctity of the venerable Church: it is not surprising, however, if, occupied with the provisions of the state, you are unaware of such atrocious deeds of theirs.

Execrating these impieties of theirs, the bishops who were suffering the penalties of exile for the faith, or who had betaken themselves to flight, though separated in body by the distances of regions, yet joined in one in spirit, decree by mutual letters, with apostolic vigor, that in no way can communion be had with such bishops as have betrayed the faith in the manner we have related above, unless they seek lay communion, grieving for their impieties.

But when Constantius, the patron of the heretics, had died, Julian alone held the empire, by whose command all the catholic bishops were released from exile. Divinity is accustomed to do this, that even through adversaries of the Christian religion it may provide for its own, so that all the more the worshippers of Christ may labor for the faithful. But not long after Julian was slain, Jovian was made emperor, who, vindicating the catholic faith, gave his vote to the catholic bishops. But those distinguished bishops, who under Constantius had vindicated the whole faith, condemned it by heretical subscription, seeing that at the emperor's whim bishops now become heretics from catholics, and the same bishops return from heretics to the catholic faith. But even if certain confessors, worn out, believed at the last that they should join the communion of such men, overturning perhaps those decrees which they had earlier established against them by prophetic and apostolic authority, can this overturn the divine truth? Can this prejudice the evangelical teachings?

Can it undermine the apostolic pronouncements, and especially that voice of God saying: He that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved? But also the voice of the Apostle Paul, that vessel of election, pronounced by Christ the Lord, whose words to the Galatians are these: But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema. Whence also the same Apostle, further on in the same epistle, continues, saying: For if I build again the things which I have destroyed, I make myself a prevaricator. He has indeed been made a confessor by the Gospels, by the voices of the Prophets, by the teachings of the Apostles, who doubts that the faithful then have no merit of confession, if, subverting the rights of the divine Scriptures, he begins to build up what the Gospels destroy.

Or are the divine Scriptures not assailed when peace is joined to the Church with bishops who deny the Son of God? For who is there who, considering the force of divine religion, could trust that the peace of the perfidious is pleasing to God, unless—as has been decreed by the Fathers—they hand themselves over grieving to the number of laymen for their perfidy? But grant that they have peace with the unbelievers: yet in what do they offend, in what do they injure the emperors, in what do they trouble the commonwealth, those who, out of regard for the divine judgment, reject a peace of this sort, which receives the sacrilegious, honors betrayers of the faith, favors hypocrites, despises the truth, sets up deniers of Christ the true Son of God as though lords of the Church, contaminates the people with the stain of perfidy, and overturns the Gospel?

For this we are held guilty, for this, under the authority of your name, we suffer persecutions from those bishops who, defending heresy at the nod of the former emperor, sinned against the catholic faith. Alas, what groans! These same bishops set the rights of the catholic emperors above the faithful and the defenders of the catholic faith. We say these things weeping with grief from the depths of our being: not because it is not glorious for the faithful to suffer under any boy-emperor whatsoever; but because there is such stupor in the world that this impiety of theirs, wrapped in such great perfidies, is not recognized, so that no one understands how they continually deceive even the royal ears in the vexation of Christians and of faithful priests. But under the name of peace impiety is concealed, and the fair name of truth is set up as a patronage for the perfidious.

But it is well that the Savior himself explained the power of his own peace, lest anyone be caught by the mere word "peace," and join it to the impieties of the world, saying: "My peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world gives, give I unto you". He distinguished his own peace from the peace of the world. For if this peace is pleasing to God which receives unbelieving bishops into the Church, what need is there to endure the heat of persecutions, to bear prison, to go to meet the sword, and to endure all kinds of tortures and death; since, after denial, after the sacrileges of perfidy, on account of this peace which they trust is pleasing to God, each of the unbelievers is received secure, as though unstained, with his episcopal honor intact? By this reasoning the martyrs too must now be judged vain. For to what end did they prefer to bear penalties and death?

For if those who denied the Son of God out of fear of persecution incur no penalty, but rather are honored; then the martyrs ought not to have hoped for the crown of their passion, but rather should pay the penalty of their rashness. For this must necessarily follow. It cannot be that contrary things should be judged there otherwise. Is it not manifest to what conclusion they are driven by the word "peace," or what they are compelled to declare—that if the deniers of the Son of God are rightly confirmed in honor, the martyrs must be believed to have been punished for their own rashness? But far be it: far be it that Christian conscience should admit this. For we believe the Son of God when he declares: "Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father: and whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I also confess before my Father".

Yet in this matter also learn that the divine judgment has been proved by present evidence, lest anyone should think the peace of such bishops ought to be accepted, even if they should return to the confession of the true faith after impious subscriptions or nefarious communions with heretics, to which they knowingly submitted, lest they lose either the possessions of the Church or their honors. The holy man Maximus, bishop, whom we mentioned above, defending the right faith and rejecting fellowship with heretics, was led into exile. In his place the prevaricators ordain one named Zosimus, who himself too had previously defended the catholic cause. This affair took place in the city of Naples in Campania. Holy Maximus learns of this, and writing from exile pronounces sentence against him, not only by episcopal authority, but also enjoying the zeal and power of martyrdom, to the divine glory.

But after some years the blessed Lucifer, going to Rome from his fourth exile, entered Naples in Campania: to whom Zosimus attempted to come, perhaps with that confidence, namely that he now seemed to have corrected his impiety. But Lucifer the confessor refused to receive him, not unaware of what he had done: indeed, with the fervor of the Holy Spirit he carries out more forcefully the sentence of the bishop and martyr, saying that the very episcopate which he claims for himself as an adulterer he shall not have, by a special judgment of God, and thus too he shall feel the penalty of his impiety. And not long after, this same Zosimus, when he wished to perform the priestly office in the assembly of the people, in the very midst of the sacred words his tongue protruded, nor could he draw it back within the passage of his mouth, since contrary to the manner of nature it hung outside his mouth, like that of a panting ox.

But when he saw that he had lost the use of his tongue, he went out of the basilica; and, wondrous thing, outside his tongue was again restored to its office. And at first indeed it was not understood that the sentence of the martyr and confessor was being fulfilled in him: but when he suffered this same thing again as many times as he attempted to enter the basilica on different days, he himself at last recognized that his tongue was denied to him during the solemn words of the pontifical office for this reason, that he might prove the sentence rightly pronounced against him by the holy bishops. At length he yielded up the episcopate, so that the tongue which had failed him might be restored. We are not relating ancient matters, which are apt for some reason to be called into doubt. For Zosimus is even today alive in the body, no longer losing the use of his tongue, since he preferred to live grieving over his own impieties, with the loss of the episcopate.

Has it not also been proved beforehand concerning similar cases, that it profits them nothing that they persist as though under the correction of a bishop? For this is not correction, but delusion, to change one's faith according to the times of the emperors. This, this very thing deceived even the emperor Valens, when he saw constancy of defense among the heretics, but among these outstanding catholics an inconstancy of faith. For it was indeed proved to him that those who claimed to be catholics had previously subscribed with the heretics, condemning the very faith which they had at first defended; and the heretics said: "If our faith is bad, why was it subscribed under Constantius by those who now call themselves catholics, defending this faith, which, though they at first defended it, they condemned under Constantius when convicted by reasoning?" Moved by these things, Valens, ignorant of the power of the true faith, and comparing constancy with inconstancy, defended the impiety of the heretics with a certain semblance of justice.

And we pass over in silence that even under Valens certain ones again handed themselves over to the heretics, whom nonetheless we now see named among the catholics. From this it comes about that even the populations of the heretics have been strengthened in their impious faith, while the heretics persevere in evil, and those who are thought catholic depart from the good, sometimes yielding to the heretics. By what authority, then, do such bishops preach against heresy, when they cannot deny that they have subscribed to it? And with what confidence do they strive to persuade the people of the catholic faith, when it is established that they have rejected it by impious subscriptions?

Do you not see, even in your own times (but, as we believe, without your knowledge), that the pious faith—and would that it were truly so, but even if it is truly so—is nevertheless defended with a certain injustice, when through unworthy bishops it is defended to the affliction of the priests who defend the pious faith, and to the ruin of the faithful laity? But it is thought a crime to depose so many prevaricators, to reject a crowd consenting to injustice. And where is the justice of true religion, if it must be adjudicated to an impious multitude, and this under most pious and most religious emperors? Not thus was it judged in the flood, that the crowd of unbelievers should prevail. But Noah, that most just man, was the more pleasing to God for this reason, that in that destruction of the world he alone was found just.

Likewise also in Sodom and Gomorrah the impious multitude paid grave penalties: whence Lot alone, the hospitable one, was delivered on account of his justice, with only his two daughters. Nor was even Elijah, the zealous one of God, who was singular, overwhelmed, when four hundred fifty false priests were sent against him. But that whole impious crowd of priests paid the penalty at the hand of one faithful man, and this while King Ahab hoped for it, who impiously defended the false priests. Nor did Jehu, king of Israel, defer to the impious multitude of priests. Finally, having gathered together all the false priests who had been in high position under king Ahab, by a pious deceit, into the house of impious religion, as though he were about to reward them after the rites of their religion, he ordered them to be killed, so that none of them survived.

And we read that on account of this deed it so pleased the Lord, that the sons of that same king sat upon the throne of Israel unto the fourth generation.

There are also many other quite similar examples. These indeed we do not relate as though we wished anyone's blood to be shed. Far be this from our wishes: for whoever desires this to happen departs from the Christian laws. It was done then, indeed, because at that time it was permitted by divine law for this very thing to be done, when everything was still carried on bodily, until spiritual instruction should grow. But though it is not now lawful for good and faithful men to desire the blood of false priests, it does not follow that the faithful should be handed over to false priests, so as to be afflicted by their most grievous persecutions.

What we say would seem false, if the churches of the faithful priests had not in various places been invaded here and destroyed there: if the holy men had not, at their instigation, been seized, and long shut up under injuries, and at length sent into exile: if certain others also had not, some in prison, others dragged off and slain by violence, given up their souls, for no other cause than that, from fear of the divine judgment, they refused to communicate with the perfidious or with the associates of the perfidious.

In Spain, Vincentius the priest, a champion of the true faith, what atrocities of the prevaricators did he not suffer, because he refused to be an associate of their impious prevarication, because he communicated with the blessed Gregory?—that Gregory, I say, whose faith and virtue we have related above as best we could. Against him they first stirred up the consular governor of the province of Baetica: then finally, under the guise of a requested intercession, a plebeian multitude is gathered from other places: and they rush into the church on the Lord's day, and indeed do not find Vincentius, because he, forewarned, had also told the people beforehand not to proceed that day, since they were coming with slaughter. For he thought it better to do this, so as to give room to their wrath. But those who had come prepared for slaughter, lest their fury should seem to have come without cause, so beat with clubs certain ministers devoted to Christ God who were found there, that not long after they expired.

But because the holy people of Vincentius the priest prayed to them all the more after those slaughters which were done on the Lord's day, the bishops go forth, so that the whole people might be terrified, beginning with the leading citizens themselves. Finally they demand the surrender of the decurions of that city, that they be shut up in prison: of whom one, a leading man of his own city, because he firmly held the faith as a faithful man in God, execrating the stain of prevarication, was, chained among them, killed by hunger and cold, amid the groaning and weeping of that province which knew well his honorable life. The distinguished and catholic bishops Lucosus and Hyginus were the authors of this cruelty, and meanwhile they indeed invaded the basilica, but they could not invade the faith of the people. Finally, elsewhere, in a small field, that same people built for themselves a basilica, to which they would gather with holy Vincentius.

But Satan, who nowhere suffers Christ to be piously worshipped, inflames them, and again, a petition having been laid down, a plebeian multitude of decurions is gathered from various cities. At the same time also his presbyters come to the place. They break down the doors of that church, plundering from it whatever pertained to the sacred ministries. And finally—a thing horrible to relate—to crown the sacrilege they had committed, they took the very altar of God, removed from the Lord's house, and placed it in the temple under the feet of an idol.

These things, to be sure, are done by those who were received into catholic discipline as penitents from an impious subscription, for the sake of the good of peace and unity. What worse would a pagan worshipper of idols do, if he had license to persecute the Church? But among the Treviri, Bonosus the presbyter, shut up, without recourse, an old man, for a long time paid the penalty on account of his observance of the unstained faith—for which also the illustrious Paulinus, bishop of that same city, gave up his soul as a martyr in exile. In the city of Rome itself too, what grievous persecutions were inflicted upon the faithful, where also the blessed bishop Aurelius, communicating with the most blessed Gregory, was afflicted! But this holy man, although often afflicted, nevertheless rested by his own summons. But against Macarius the presbyter many crimes of the impious were committed.

He was, in that same city of Rome, a presbyter of wondrous continence, not relieving his stomach with wine, not tending his body with the delicacy of meat, but softening his coarser foods with oil alone, given to fastings and prayers. Indeed, for the merit of his faith and abstinence he had the grace of the Holy Spirit in this, that he cast out demons from possessed bodies. We have recalled his life and merit for this reason, that all the more may those be judged impious who do not allow such men to live in the Roman empire.

At the same time a grave persecution had bristled up against our people, with Damasus, that distinguished archbishop, pressing the attack, so that faithful priests were not freely permitted on sacred days to convoke the assembly of the people to serve Christ God. But because, according to the condition of affairs, at whatever time the sacraments of our salvation must be performed, even if in secret, that same holy priest Macarius arranged night vigils to be held in a certain house, so that the holy people might, even at night, strengthen their faith by divine readings. But the devil, who favors the impious, since the impious in turn favor the devil, does not suffer the divine sacraments to be celebrated even in secret.

In the end the clergy of Damasus set an ambush, and when they learned that the priest Macarius was celebrating the sacred vigils with the people, they burst into that house together with officials, and scattered the people, who offered no resistance, and having seized the priest himself, they did not deign now merely to lead him away, but dragged him over the flint stones, so that a dangerous wound was made in his hip: and on another day they set him before the judge, as one guilty of a great crime. The judge indeed strove, as it were under an imperial rescript and by threats, to extort from him that he should come to an agreement with Damasus. But the priest, mindful of the divine judgment, fearing not the judge present before him, refused communion with perfidy; and therefore he was sent into exile; and while he was at Ostia, he died from the atrocity of that wound.

His sanctity indeed was so great that even the bishop of that place, named Florentius, who was in communion with Damasus, looked upon him with a certain veneration. For when the brethren had buried him in a certain old tomb, that same Florentius would not suffer him to lie there, where the burial seemed unworthy: but transferring him from there, he buried him in the basilica of the Martyr Asterius, where the priests have their place near the tomb: by this pious observance of his, as far as he was able, he strove to keep himself apart from the crime of Damasus.

Let your Tranquillity take note, whether you wish this to be done in the Roman empire against holy and faithful men, by those who are prevaricators; is there not fear lest the blood of the faithful weigh down the Roman empire? For that same Damasus, having obtained royal authority, pursued also other catholic priests, and laymen as well, and sent them into exile, pleading this very cause through pagan advocates, with the judges favoring him: although surely your constitutions are decreed against heretics, not against catholics, and indeed against such catholics as have left their faith whole even under heretical emperors, and have indeed suffered many grievous things. But recently he also attempted gravely to persecute the most blessed bishop Ephesius, burning with zeal for the holy faith, ordained for the untainted people of Rome by the most steadfast bishop Taorgius, a man himself of unblemished faith, under the odium of a falsely imposed surname, appealing through his own advocates to the judge Bassus, as though against Luciferians.

But Bassus, having long venerated the catholic faith, knew that there was no depravity of heresy in Lucifer; since indeed he knew well that for the catholic faith he had endured ten years of exiles, and, for the integrity of his own constancy, rejected the accusations of Damasus, declaring that he would not persecute catholic men and men of unblemished faith: saying especially that the very constitutions of the emperors seemed to have been promulgated only against heretics, not against those who preserve the most holy faith without worldly ambition.

And then for the first time Damasus blushed, because a judge was found who alone, interpreting the imperial writings most faithfully, upheld them. For this too is necessary, that we should discuss the odium of the false surname, by which they cast at us the name Luciferians. Who does not know that the surname of a man is given to his followers when some new doctrine has been handed down to disciples by the authority of a teacher's magisterium? But for us Christ is the teacher: we follow his doctrine, and therefore we are marked by the sacred appellation of his name: so that we ought rightly to be called nothing else than Christians, since we follow nothing else than what Christ taught through the Apostles. Heresies, however, are for this reason marked with the names of men, because they have handed down the inventions of men as well. For he loses in himself the appellation of the Christian name who does not follow the discipline of Christ.

Let them say now what new thing Lucifer taught, which was not handed down from the teaching of Christ, which was not transmitted to posterity by the Apostles, the disciples of the Savior. And it is well that he wrote books to Constantius, not, as many do, seeking glory of talent, but most fittingly gathering divine testimonies against heretics, and against the very patron of heretics, inflamed with divine zeal for love of the Son of God. Let them point out what there is contrary to the Scriptures, what new thing he wrote as though a heretic. These books indeed, since he composed them throughout with complete integrity, even Athanasius admired, as true vindications, and translated them into the Greek style, lest so great a good should be lacking to the Greek tongue. It is not too much to say that Athanasius himself, in his own letters, proclaims these same books as woven together out of the doctrines of the Prophets and Evangelists and Apostles, and out of pious confession.

And although he is exalted by very many praises, yet the praise does not equal the merit of his commendation, since indeed he could not praise him more: so far does the superabundance of the matter surpass whatever tongue would praise it.

But Lucifer, though ignorant of artful eloquence, nevertheless, that he might write in prophetic and evangelic and apostolic manner, which is above all human eloquence, had the grace of the Holy Spirit by merit of right faith and most sincere conscience, through which he also wrought divine powers, not only in Sardinia, but also in his four exiles themselves: to such a degree that his adversaries called him great, since they could not deny that apostolic powers were wrought through him. To him also came holy Gregory, and he marveled at so great a doctrine of the divine scriptures in him, and at his very life, truly as if established in the heavens. Now how great a man Lucifer was, since even Gregory marvels at him, who is admirable among all, not only from that collision with Ossius, but also from the divine powers which he exercises, having in himself the grace of the Holy Spirit! Why then are they impious even in this?

Since Lucifer believed, and taught, and lived according to the divine scriptures, and in the name of Christ wrought powers; to oppress the vindicators of the true faith they impose the name of Lucifer, not knowing, wretched men, that they are committing the utmost sacrilege, when they designate the doctrine of Christ under the appellation of a man; just as they are also impious in this, when they defend sacrilegious institutions, published at the will of men, under the authority of the Christian name. Is it not the utmost impiety to vindicate one's own iniquities and sacrilege under the name of Christ? Is it not impiety to mark with human appellations the pious doctrine consecrated under the name of Christ? But this fraud, this atrocity, is carried on against the faithful in Spain, and among the Treveri, and at Rome, and in the various regions of Italy.

It is now necessary to relate what has been done in these regions; where distinguished bishops, clothed not with the truth of the faith, but only with the appellation of the catholic name, harass faithful and true catholics not only through judges, nor merely through the hand of the soldiery, but sometimes also, with the judges unaware or even pretending not to notice, through their own clergy, atrociously. And what end will there be, if we recount all the things which each one of the faithful has suffered and is suffering? Yet one atrocious deed of persecution must be related for the sake of brevity, which was committed in Egypt at Oxyrhynchus, with the whole city as witness. There is a certain portion of the holy people at Oxyrhynchus, in whose sacred number very many, the more earnestly they have applied study or care to divine things, the more anxiously and diligently they strive to keep the catholic faith inviolate: so that they mingle themselves through the divine sacraments with no heretics and no prevaricators.

To this observance very many of them were trained by the example and admonition of blessed Paul, who lived in the same times as that most famous Antony, of no less life nor zeal, nor divine grace, than holy Antony. This the city of Oxyrhynchus itself knows, which to this day most devoutly celebrates the holy memory of Paul. But that same portion of the people, when it saw that the bishop of that city, named Theodore, had fallen into impious prevarication, so that he not only condemned the whole faith, nor merely subscribed impiously, but allowed himself to be made a layman by the impious George, and then again to be ordained bishop by that same heretic, execrated communion with him, keeping with itself presbyters and deacons of that unblemished faith, through whom it enjoyed the divine sacraments, together with the aforementioned most blessed Paul.

But afterward it also ordained for itself a bishop, through the catholic bishops of that time, holy Heraclidas, all the more fit as he ought to be ordained the more firmly against heretics and prevaricators, a man conspicuous in his life, serving God from his earliest age, having despised worldly goods, and existing perfect in faith and in doctrine. Whence, for his apostolic faith, and for his evangelical teaching, and for his heavenly manner of life, he is venerable among all there, displeasing only to heretics and prevaricators. Whence also he pleases God the more, the more he displeases such men. But this man, so great and of such quality, began to exercise his priesthood in such a way that, on account of the repute of his faith and teaching, and of his own most holy manner of life, very many even from the most distant regions came to him, execrating the nefarious fellowship of the prevaricators, and desiring his most sacred communion. But that distinguished twice-bishop does not suffer this.

And first indeed he harasses him through public authorities: so that on one occasion he had him snatched away by soldiers with lances at dead of night and carried off from the city. But since those same authorities did not persist in what they had rashly begun—for what right could they have against a catholic bishop?—they justly ceased from the persecution they had begun, especially since one of them was warned even by a divine stroke. Then that distinguished twice-bishop, relying now on his own strength, sends a mob of clerics against the church of blessed Heraclidas, the catholic bishop, and overturns it, destroying the walls on every side: so that he even smashed the very altar of God with axes, amid the horror and groaning of the whole city, because that church was being overthrown whose bishop even men of the opposing party confessed to be of right and unblemished faith. XXVII.

Take note, we beg you, most pious emperors and vindicators of the right faith, do you perhaps set forth edicts on behalf of such impious bishops, that those should be afflicted who, on account of the merit of their faith and most holy life, are more precious than the world itself? Believe, most religious emperors, that blessed Heraclidas is one of that number of saints of whom the divine Scripture speaks, saying: They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted in tribulations and sorrows, of whom the world was not worthy. For how is blessed Heraclidas not such a man, who, rejecting all worldly delights, through the very bitternesses of this rugged life, emulating the Lord’s footsteps, pursues, naked and unencumbered, the saving path of the virtues; who so conspires for the love of the divine faith, just as we read the saints conspired, having nothing of the world except, for the sake of the faith, tribulations and sorrows, living thus, walking thus, just as those saints of whom testimony was given above?

Rightly, therefore, blessed Gregory and the other holy bishops are, as it were, relieved by divine consolations, in the evils of the afflicted Church, through the venerable fellowship of such sanctity. Nor has Theodore raged only against so venerable a bishop, but also against his own most holy people, who were formed by the teaching and morals of a most sincere and most faithful priest. And it would take long to relate what he attempted against the modesty and purpose of the sacred virgins, whose monasteries the city itself venerates for the merit of their holiness. But he also sometimes afflicted with atrocious injuries the very servants of God whom he had found to be more holy. But what wonder is it if, like a wolf, he afflicted the sheep, when he frequently afflicts their good shepherd? XXVIII. Behold, one who, under you, pious emperors, and coming forward on behalf of the catholic faith, boasts that he is catholic, overturning the church of the catholics, persecuting catholic priests and servants of Christ, and also impiously afflicting his sacred virgins.

This is that distinguished and most holy bishop, who, having first been ordained bishop by catholic bishops, was afterward reduced to the rank of laymen by the impious George, and nevertheless was ordained bishop by that same George, amid the harassment of the faithful: sitting and communing in one and the same city with Apollonius, bishop of the Meletians, who consented to the impieties of George, and together with that same Apollonius this same Theodore persecuted blessed Heraclidas, the vindicator of the catholic faith. Behold, to him, as if to a catholic, the basilica of Apollonius has now been handed over by the authority of your general edict: whereas indeed that same Theodore, who as if a catholic received the basilica of the heretic Apollonius, acted just as impiously as Apollonius acted: except that Theodore acted more atrociously, since, from a catholic bishop he became a layman, condemning the pious faith, and subscribing to Arian impiety, in order to be ordained bishop again by a heretic.

Indeed, he wishes to appear catholic on this account, that he himself now, by some persuasion, makes certain presbyters or deacons of Apollonius laymen, and ordains them again, so that he may seem to repay in kind the most shameful ordination which he himself suffered. Does this not exceed every sacrilege, to vindicate these mockeries under the catholic name, to the affliction of faithful priests and laymen?

But also in Palestine, in Eleutheropolis, there is a sacred virgin of Christ, named Hermione, born indeed of noble parentage, but made much nobler by faith and holiness, adorning her very virginity with contempt of worldly things and human glory, which very many aspire to, even those who boast that they have renounced the world and the concupiscence of the flesh. As much as she guards the chastity of her body with sacred rigor, so much does she preserve the purity of her soul by the chaste observance of pious faith: communing neither with heretics nor with prevaricators; because she understands that virginity of body profits nothing, unless the integrity of the soul also be guarded by sacred confession, fleeing the stain of adulterous communion, and following the saving sacraments of faithful priests. Accordingly she petitions by devout letters to blessed Heraclidas, that she might be helped by his sacred visitations.

But in place of blessed Heraclidas, holy Ephesius visits, who at that time, for the sake of ecclesiastical concerns, had come from the city of Rome to bishop Heraclidas. This is that Ephesius whom we said above had been ordained bishop of the unblemished people of Rome by the most steadfast bishop Taorgius. But when he had come to Eleutheropolis, not only was Hermione, with her sacred monastery, relieved, but also certain most faithful servants of God. Among them also a member of the noble household of the religious Severus, of the tribunes, who for a long time indeed had not communed with heretics and prevaricators, but had not yet found the sacred communion of the catholics. But when he saw holy Ephesius, and after many examinations found him to be catholic, he gave himself over to him into sacred communion, judging himself blessed, that divine mercy had unexpectedly visited his house: led into such admiration by the coming of the holy priest, not only by the purity of his life, but also by certain heavenly proofs.

For blessed Ephesius is of such faith and holiness that, wherever he goes, divine grace accompanies him. This the holy people at Oxyrhynchus also proved, communing with blessed Heraclidas, who, bound to him by pious affection for the merit of divine grace, escorted him on his departure with great weeping, as once the Asians escorted the apostle Paul on his journey.

We say these things not out of eagerness to praise, but so that you may know how holy and faithful souls, under the authority of your name, are afflicted with the gravest persecutions by those who, unbeknownst to you, are confirmed even now to be either heretics, or prevaricators, or associates of such men. But against holy Ephesius, those to whom the sacred truth is burdensome, having attempted some small thing in Palestine, afterward desisted, fearing in him both the freedom of the faith and the constancy of his mind, and considering this very thing, that their heresy and impiety could be all the more exposed, if under you, catholic emperors, they had more sharply harassed a bishop of whole and constant faith.

But when that same blessed Ephesius, invited by the letters of the faithful, sailed to Africa, giving us, in apostolic fashion, the charge that we should devote ourselves to the holy brotherhood with divine and ecclesiastical offices, that same holy brotherhood there demanding it, the distinguished Turbo, bishop of the city of Eleutheropolis, despising our smallness, began to wish to accomplish against us what he had not dared to accomplish against holy Ephesius, not knowing that the grace of Christ God grants patronage even to his very least servants, especially those laboring for the cause of the right faith. For this Turbo, after he heard that certain persons were joining themselves to the whole faith, and that, by the grace of God, the matter of truth was increasing, threatens us with destruction, and causes disturbance. He also threatened with fire the house of Severus, hostile to the truth, who all the more vindicates the faith of God, the more faithfully he has served in the Roman army.

He also attempts to persecute the sacred virgin Hermione: a woman whom whoever has come to know has admired her as one of the women of the Gospel. But he also lays snares for each and every one who is joined with us in the fellowship of sacred communion: casting it up as a crime, out of that Babylonian law, that within our own dwellings, without the stain of heresy, and without communion of perfidy, according to the evangelical and apostolic traditions, we celebrate the divine sacraments for the faithful who desire them. For with a like fury the Babylonians also pursued holy Daniel with hostile hatred, because in his own house he worshipped God by observance of the divine law. This is that Turbo, who was deacon of Eutychius the heretic, under whom blessed Lucifer of the city of Eleutheropolis suffered exile: who also vehemently afflicted with many atrocities that same Lucifer, freely vindicating the faith.

There are still today in Palestine those who, at that time, when those men were persecuting, paid the gravest penalties, because they assembled with Lucifer, the bishop of the catholic faith. Let them deny, if among their other atrocities they did not break down a locked door with axes: if, rushing in upon Lucifer, the most faithful priest, they did not also overturn the divine sacraments, punishing with impious slaughter each one of those brethren who had assembled there. Let them deny, if they do not today possess among themselves the holy mystical vessels which they then impiously plundered from Lucifer, together with the sacred books. At that time indeed Turbo was consorting with Eutychius the heretic. From that time, calling himself catholic, he persecutes catholics under the authority of your name, in the expectation of that pious hope which vindicates the catholic faith. Do you permit, most pious emperors, that under the authority of your name, impiety should long dominate everywhere against the faithful?

Is it expedient for this Roman empire—yet we say this out of the affection and faith of that observance which we render to Christ our God—that those who piously preach Christ should suffer persecutions and deaths, so that nowhere may it be lawful to set up pious altars to God, or, at least, that when they have been set up, they be destroyed? Under the impious king Ahab of Israel, when the prophets had been slain and the altars destroyed, Elias appealed to God against Israel, saying in the Book of Kings: Lord, they have slain your prophets, they have destroyed your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life. Do you allow this same invidious appeal to be made to God, even in your times, by each and every faithful priest? For even if they be silent, does God not know these very things are being done?

What do we suppose, that these things can be perpetrated against true catholics and against his true Church without offense to God, when things once perpetrated against the servants of God were most gravely avenged by divine visitations? And whence come so many plagues, by which the Roman world is shaken and pressed? There is no need for us now to recount each of the plagues one by one, which your Tranquility recognizes with the anxiety and care of your empire. Let us mitigate this common grief even by silence, lest we seem not so much to sympathize as to inflame the wound.

This we ask, most pious emperors, that you deign to consider from what causes these things arise. Whether it is because the faithful servants of Christ, fearing the divine laws, are unwilling to associate with the unfaithful, or because true catholics are crushed by false priests. For how are they not false priests, who now must be shunned not only for the cause of prevarication set forth above, but also because very many of them even now claim heresies for their own under a pretended profession of the catholic name among you? For who would now fear to preach the impieties of bishops, when impiety so often committed has been honored, when he is by no means cast down from the priesthood? In short, since some of them are Origenists, others Anthropomorphites, others again defenders of the impious sect of Apollinaris, and others, in a threefold band, blaspheming against the Holy Spirit with diverse zeal.

But even those also who are thought among them to believe piously, claiming or rejecting that there are three substances of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, nevertheless all these glory in your edicts, and claim churches for themselves, although our fathers have always condemned these impious sects by apostolic and evangelical authority. To discuss these matters now is not the purpose of the present little work: but we say only what may move your mind, intent upon the true faith, to horror.

One heresy, as we suppose, was received at Ariminum under a heretical king, and now under you, pious catholic emperors, so many heresies are claimed, no less impious than the impiety of Arius. And although each of them writes books or letters against the others, yet all of them communicate with one another, whether directly or by an oblique chain of connection: contending with vain zeal, in the manner of philosophers, by mere disputations, not as Christians out of devotion to the sacrament, avoiding one another as impious; so that now, as in the schools, there seems to be among them a contest of wit, and not the sacred defense of true religion: since they do not separate the sacraments from one another, though they are separated from each other by impious opinions. This they do for this reason, because some of them are devoted to human glory, others indeed to avarice: and hence it is that they collude with one another under impious dissimulation, so that they may lose neither the possessions nor the honors of the Church.

And meanwhile, in order to veil so many of their impieties, for the deception of individuals, putting forward, as it were, tokens of a most benign disposition, they say that they associate themselves in the fellowship of ecclesiastical communion even with those who hold contrary views, lest the good of peace should perish in the Church. As if indeed such a peace as this were pleasing to Christ God, which receives into his Church so many impieties. But let those who think so hear what is written: And the way of peace they have not known; there is no fear of God before their eyes. But more plainly also in Jeremiah we read concerning impious and iniquitous peace, as the following testimony sets forth: From the least of them even to the greatest, all have committed iniquity; from the priest even to the false prophet, all have wrought falsehood, and they meditated the crushing of my people, accounting it as nothing, and saying, Peace, peace; and where is peace?

And it must be noted how terrible are the things he pursues against those who glory in this most vain peace. For it follows: They were confounded because they did such things, and yet, not even then enduring confusion, did they come together, nor did they know their own shame. Therefore they shall fall in their ruin, and in the time of their visitation they shall be brought low.

What evil do we commit, what impiety do we practice, if, keeping our faith to Christ, we reject a peace of this kind, of which such confusion and shame and most grievous ends are described? But these same excellent lovers of peace stir up war against faithful priests. For what does the devil want, except that the impious and the prevaricators of the age should glory in peace? For what does the devil want, except that those who are pious and faithful should be harassed by the persecution of their assailants? We have pursued these matters for this reason, lest through your ignorance the blood of Christians defending the ancient faith should long be shed. For what does it profit, if you are defenders of the catholic faith, and yet permit the followers of the catholic faith to be tormented everywhere? To be driven out everywhere? Nowhere to have the pious faith freely preached?

Let them have basilicas gleaming with gold, and clothed with the ostentation of precious marbles, or raised up with the magnificence of columns; let them also have possessions stretching out at length, on account of which the integrity of the faith has been endangered: why also do they claim for their own empires the cities common to all Romans, so as to permit no one in them to live piously, while in these same cities even vain superstition is worshipped by very many without danger, and is maintained without their envy? Let it at least be permitted to truth, even amid the vilest and most abject mangers, to worship Christ God piously and to adore Him faithfully, in the place where this same Christ, once born according to the flesh, deigned to lie as an infant. This which we ask, we do not ask as though we feared to be slain for the truth.

God is witness, who is the true beholder of the heart, that by the grace of God it is to us both the greatest refreshment and a sure hope of future blessedness, if we should be slain for this faithful assertion. It is not therefore as men who fear to suffer that we have pursued these things, but lest, through the impieties and cruelties of others, the blood of Christians long shed should weigh upon the most pious empire of your sovereignty. Especially under you, most religious Theodosius Augustus, who with wondrous devotion conspire, by a pious confession of the Christian religion, against all heretics: we believed that great punishment before God would await us, if before you, so religious, so most pious an emperor, and consecrated to Christ God with divine and most full fear, whom Christ God has truly chosen for empire, we should keep silent concerning the things that belong to the true faith and the true Church.

After this we do not doubt with what solicitude you act, as father of the empire, lest in the Roman world the sincerity of the professed faith and communion be afflicted. Whatever more holy things you shall have done in the cause of the sacred faith and of professed truth, by so much the more gloriously shall you reign, both here and forever, in the favor of Christ. I, MARCELLINUS, presbyter, wishing to your most happy empire secure quiet, and in the kingdom of Christ and God perpetual blessedness, most pious emperors. I, FAUSTINUS, who cannot be called worthy to be a presbyter of God, wishing that here also you may reign happily for many years by the help of the most clement divinity, and that in the future kingdom of Christ the Son of God you may attain perpetual blessedness with the saints, most glorious emperors.