Letters and Decretals

From the whole African council to Boniface, Bishop of the city of Rome, sent through Faustinus the bishop and Philip and Asellus the presbyters, legates of the Roman church.

To the most blessed and honorable brother BONIFACE, Aurelius Valentinus of the first see of the province of Numidia, and the rest who were present, numbering 217 of the whole African council.

1. Since it has pleased the Lord that, concerning the matters which our holy brothers, our fellow-bishop Faustinus, and our fellow-presbyters Philip and Asellus, transacted with us, our humble self should write back not to the bishop Zosimus of blessed memory, from whom they brought to us mandates and letters, but to Your Reverence, who has been divinely appointed in his place; we ought briefly to set forth those matters which have been brought to conclusion by the agreement of both parties, not those contained in the lengthy volumes of the proceedings: in which, charity being preserved, we nevertheless lingered not without some small labor of dispute, gathering from the proceedings those things which now pertain to the case.

Although he too, if he were still in the body, would receive this more gladly, seeing it brought to a more peaceful conclusion, lord brother.

2. Apiarius the presbyter, concerning whose ordination, excommunication, and appeal there had arisen no small scandal not only for the church of Sicca but for the whole Church of Africa, having sought pardon for all his faults, has been restored to communion. But our fellow-bishop Urban of Sicca corrected without any hesitation whatever seemed to need correction in him. But because provision had to be made for the peace and quiet of the Church not only for the present but also for the future, since so many such things had preceded, so that either similar or even graver things ought henceforth to be guarded against: it seemed good to us that Apiarius the presbyter should be removed from the church of Sicca—the honor of his rank, of course, being retained—and that, having received a letter of commendation, he should exercise the office of presbyter wherever else he wished and was able.

This we granted without difficulty to him when he himself requested it by his own letter.

3. Indeed, before this case was brought to this conclusion, among other matters over which we were occupied in lengthy disputations, since reason itself demanded that we inquire, in the ecclesiastical acts, of our brothers Faustinus our fellow-bishop, and Philip and Asellus our fellow-presbyters, that they should bring forth whatever had been enjoined upon them to transact with us, they pursued some things indeed by word without any writing; but when we rather insisted on what they carried in writing, they produced a memorandum, which, having been read to us, is also attached to the proceedings which they carry with them to you.

In it four matters were entrusted to them to be transacted with us: one concerning appeals of bishops to the bishop of the Roman Church; a second, that bishops should not opportunely sail to the imperial court; a third, concerning the handling of the cases of presbyters and deacons before neighboring bishops, if they should have been wrongly excommunicated by their own bishops; a fourth, concerning the excommunication of bishop Urban, or even his summons to Rome, unless he should correct what seemed to need correction.

4. Of all these, concerning the first and the third, that is, that it be lawful for bishops to appeal to Rome, and that the cases of clerics be concluded before the bishops of their own provinces, we already took care in the previous year, by our own letter sent to the same bishop Zosimus of venerable memory, to make known that we should for a little while permit these things to be observed without any injury to him, until the inquiry into the decrees of the Council of Nicaea.

And now we ask of Your Holiness, that just as these things were enacted or established by the fathers at Nicaea, you would cause them to be so kept by us, and that you would cause those matters which they brought in the memorandum to be there enacted among you, that is: "If a bishop be accused, and the bishops assembled of that region shall have judged, and shall have cast him down from his rank, and he seems to have appealed, and has fled for refuge to the most blessed bishop of the Roman Church, and wishes to be heard, and it be thought just that the examination be renewed; let him deign to write to those bishops who are in the neighboring and adjacent province, that they themselves diligently investigate everything, and determine according to the faith of truth.

But if he who asks that his case be heard again shall, by his entreaty, move the Roman bishop to send a presbyter from his own side; it shall be in the power of the bishop, what he wishes and what he deems fit. And if he shall decree that men be sent who, being present, may judge together with the bishops, having the authority of him by whom they were appointed, this shall be at his discretion.

But if he shall believe that the bishops suffice to put an end to the matter, he shall do what he shall judge by his most wise counsel." Likewise concerning presbyters and deacons: "If any bishop, being irascible, which ought not to be, is quickly or harshly moved against his presbyter or deacon, and wishes to expel him from the Church, provision must be made lest an innocent man be condemned or lose communion: let the one expelled have the power to appeal to the neighboring bishops, and let his case be heard and treated more diligently, since a hearing ought not to be denied to one who asks it: and let that bishop, who justly or unjustly rejected him, patiently accept that the matter be discussed, so that his sentence be either approved or amended." 5.

These things, at any rate, until the authentic copies of the Council of Nicaea are brought, have been inserted into the proceedings from the truest copies of the Council of Nicaea; which, if there, just as they were established, and just as they are contained in the very memorandum which the brothers sent from the apostolic see alleged, and were kept in that same order also among you in Italy, in no way would we be compelled to tolerate such things as we no longer wish to mention, nor would we suffer things intolerable. But we trust, with the help of the mercy of the Lord our God, that, with Your Holiness presiding over the Roman Church, we shall no longer suffer such arrogance; and there shall be observed toward us those things which, even without our discussing them, ought to be kept with fraternal charity, which, according to the wisdom and justice which the Most High has given you, you yourself also perceive ought to be observed—unless perhaps the canons of the Council of Nicaea are otherwise.

For although we have read very many codices; yet nowhere in the Latin codices do we read in the Council of Nicaea as it is set forth in the aforesaid memorandum. Nevertheless, since here we could find these things in no Greek codex, we desire the more that they be brought from the Eastern Churches, where the same decrees are said to be able to be found even in authentic copies. For which reason we also beg Your Reverence, that you yourself deign to write to the bishops of those parts, that is, of the Church of Antioch, of Alexandria, and of Constantinople, and to others also if it please Your Holiness, that from there the same canons established by the fathers at the city of Nicaea may come to us, you above all conferring this benefit upon all the Western Churches with the help of the Lord. For who would doubt that those are the truest copies of the Council of Nicaea assembled in Greece, which, brought and compared from such diverse and noble Greek Churches, agree?

Until this is done, we profess that we shall observe, until proof, those things alleged to us in the aforesaid memorandum concerning the appeals of bishops to the bishop of the Roman Church, and concerning the cases of clerics to be concluded before the bishops of their own provinces; and we trust that Your Beatitude will assist us in this, in accordance with the will of God. 6. But the other matters, which were transacted or confirmed in our synod, since our aforesaid brothers Faustinus our fellow-bishop, Philip and Asellus our fellow-presbyters, carry with them, they will, if you shall have deigned, make known to Your Holiness. And in another hand: May our Lord preserve you for us many years, most blessed brother. There also subscribed Alypius, Augustine, Possidius, Marianus, and the other bishops.

BONIFACE the bishop, to PATROCLUS, REMIGIUS, MAXIMUS, HILARIUS, SEVERUS, VALERIUS, JULIAN, CASTORIUS, LEONTIUS, CONSTANTINE, JOHN, MONTANUS, MARINUS, MAURICE, and the rest of the bishops established throughout the Gauls and the seven provinces.

1. The clergy of the city of Valence came to us, setting forth by petition the crimes which, with the whole province as witness, they assert Maximus committed; that though examination had been delegated so many times, he had always evaded the appointed proceedings, nor, being conscience-stricken, had hastened, that if he were innocent, he might be cleared once everything had been examined; which matters, decreed so often, we have also learned from the instruction of our own records. He, on the contrary, proved by his own conduct those things which have been said of him—he who, though summoned by my predecessors, by provincial delegation of inquiry, to refute these charges, which were innumerable, is said to have evaded them, and to have been altogether unwilling to be present.

And no one doubts that just as a guilty man evades judgment in this way, so does an innocent man seek that he be acquitted. But the crafty evasion of those who believe they must act by cunning counsels will never receive the name of innocence. For whoever thinks he can escape judgment by delays confesses to everything. Yet let him at some time come forward into the open, he who is reputed such a one: nor does it profit him to have hidden so often, to have evaded so often, whom his own acts and deeds, wherever he shall have fled, pursue with the crimes charged against him, if they are true.

I ought indeed now to have pronounced a sentence worthy of his accused conduct in our judgment—he who believed he could mock the inquiry and the appointed judgment by so often declining it—but lest anyone should perhaps judge it premature, and say that nothing had been reserved for him who is absent, though he has been sought by us, we preferred that, an interval of time being given, it be deferred, since even his accusers asserted this concerning his intentions and character: that Maximus, feeling so secure, was committing acts the more deserving of condemnation the more slowly he presented himself to the appointed judgment. Whom they charge, wrapped in the darkness of the Manichaeans, to have so long ago defiled his mind by that foul sect that it cannot be washed away—bringing forward, in proof of the charge, the acts of a synod; and, wrapped on every side in committed crimes, to have had no regard for soundness of mind.

Whom, they charge, by his own madness and insane rashness, was subjected even to inquiry before the tribunals of secular judges—a thing most shameful even in a person of low rank—and they assert that he was condemned for homicide, the records having been produced in evidence: and that such a man, after so many and such deeds committed, still claims for himself in his hiding places the name of the episcopate, to the infamy of his own city—they complain with the greatest grief—and wishes, by claiming it for himself, to pollute the sacred name.

2. And therefore, dearest brethren, because this man who ought to be heard was unwilling to present himself, lest perhaps, convicted by the clerics who accuse him, he might at last, when presented to episcopal judgment, be struck by the fitting sentence of pronouncement; (although, when this shall have been made known to him, what loss of this kind can there be to one who is said never to have had shame for the priesthood, and who did not even for a little while keep to his own place?) nevertheless we have granted a delay, and have decreed that judgment concerning him ought to be within the province, and that a synod be gathered before the day of the kalends of November: so that if he shall wish to be present, being present, if he trusts in himself, let him answer to the charges; but if he shall neglect to be present, let him not gain a delay of sentence from his absence.

For it is manifest that he confesses to the crime, who does not use the opportunity of clearing himself when judgment has been granted and so often delegated to him. For it makes no difference whether all the things that have been said are proved in a present examination, since his absence itself, procured so many times, stands as good as a confession. But we are sending letters through all the provinces, lest he offer for himself the excuse of ignorance, so that he may be compelled to come to the province, and there present himself to the judgment constituted there. But whatever your Charity shall have decided ought to be decreed concerning this cause, when it has been reported to us, must, as is fitting, be confirmed by our authority. Given on the day before the ides of June, in the consulship of Monaxius, a most illustrious man.

Bonifacius to his most beloved brother Rufus.

1. The blessed apostle Peter, to whom the citadel of the priesthood was granted by the voice of the Lord, is exalted into immense rejoicing, as often as he sees that the sons of the honor and undefiled peace granted to him by the Lord are kept as guardians. For what should he weigh with greater joy than that he recognizes that the rights of the power received are preserved unharmed? For truly the consultation directed by various persons concerning whatever affairs requires an immovable foundation, that consultation which consults the secret of that see which is agreed to have been raised up by the favor of the spiritual rock.

2. Frequently, then, as the records of our archive show, letters have flowed from that source to your charity, by which it is certain that the care of the churches situated throughout Macedonia and Achaia has been entrusted to your Fraternity, who, we know, keeps ecclesiastical discipline by the knowledge of the canons.

Nor do we consider this to have been done without merit. For the apostolic see bestows this favor upon your Love by the office of one who is careful. Whence it comes that we make your Holiness aware of this matter, which has been brought to our ears as having occurred from that province, the care of which has long since been committed to your prudence.

3. For the Corinthians, once praised by the preaching of blessed Paul, whose prayers we thought should rather be submitted than narrated, desire Perigenes, a man holy and strong in the quality of excellent conduct, as is attested by a document already long since directed by the holy synod concerning his name, as bishop of their city—not so much to receive as to retain him.

If I should think the order of his ordination ought to be set forth in full sequence, it must necessarily add to his praise; and it will surely profit this matter if we make mention, in a straight course, either of the one who ordained or of the one ordained. For who would doubt that this is to be attributed to his merits; who would deny that it was a matter of divine judgment, that he was not received in due time by the Patrensians, and was long held in suspense, after the matter had been referred, with great deliberation, so that he might become the pastor of that small flock, in whose fold he had spent his life from the cradle? The judgments of God are a great abyss: an example we fittingly apply here, and no one would have believed that he could ever be substituted into the place of his own ordainer, since he had been ordained by others. I do not doubt that this was then the sentence of heaven.

4. By which consent—or by the consent of those there who represented the authority of the apostolic see—we receive him into the number of our brethren: and it is necessary that we exercise the vigor of censure against those who are said, contrary to what we have done, to be stirring up the people afterward without our knowledge, if they persist. This indeed we wish your Love also to carry out against them by our command: so that we may restrain the license of those to whom we have entrusted no such thing.

Bonifacius to his most beloved brother Rufus.

1. We believed that, after the letters sent by us for the observance of ecclesiastical discipline, every access to presumptuous acts would be shut off, since we had furnished a due response to the consultation of your Love, according to the assessment of the causes; establishing that those things ought to be kept which ecclesiastical discipline requires. But how much your Holiness's report has now made clear to us—that what we wrote had force among most, but among some our admonition, we have learned, was ineffective. Nor can we impute this to your Fraternity, since we perceive, both from affairs and from your letters, that you are anxious concerning the care of the churches entrusted to you.

We praise the diligence of your vigilance, who, lest you seem to neglect what has been entrusted to you, do not fail to indicate by letter what the censure of the apostolic see ought to correct: professing that you have this fear of our God, which is fitting to be present in a most prudent priest; which will then be able to be glorious for you, if we shall have found by experience that the things committed to your care profit the churches. For the most blessed apostle Peter watches you, as you yourself have faithfully spoken in your letters, with his own eyes, to see how you exercise the office of the highest ruler. Nor can he fail to be near to you, who has been established as the perpetual shepherd of the Lord's sheep; nor can he fail to care for any church situated anywhere, in whom we read that the foundation of the universal church has been placed.

2. To you, therefore, dearest brother, belongs all the care of those churches which you will recognize as entrusted to you by us in place of the apostolic see: so that you may both correct what is wrong and set in order what has been scattered; and if any causes should arise among the bishops, that you may resolve them under fear of divine judgment: so that you may justly and prudently use, against all the waves of arising storms, the helm entrusted to you by the apostolic see.

3. You have said that you conveyed our letters to the notice of individuals to whom we had already written, telling them what course they ought to keep: to which very many of the priests, mindful of the sacred traditions, have professed to give their due consent; whom we have embraced with brotherly love. Such we know our fellow bishop Adelphius to be, or brother Perigenes, to whom the sentence of the blessed council has already long since come as a confirmer.

To the watchtower of the episcopate, I say, the sentence of God was already calling him, whose favors we often believe to be contrary; and we turn to adversity what afterward we recognize to have been profitable. This the example of the present matter confirms. Our fellow bishop Perigenes was without doubt sad, when no one would receive him once ordained. Was it not expedient for him that the Patrensian people should, with united voice of contradiction, keep him from their city? But by as much as he was cast down, when, once ordained, no one received him, by so much is he now the more exalted, since he who had been refused by strangers is now sought by his own. For it is a clear and manifest judgment of God, who wished him to wait for that time when he would be worthy to preside over this church, in which he is affirmed both to have been born and reborn.

4. Dearest brother, since the weight of things enjoined or delegated rests upon your prudence, the petition of the suppliants also concerns you, whether by reason of your long-chosen diligence or of your proximity. This petition indeed we read not without admiration, because it was deprived of your letters. When all things have been carried out in the order that the matter requires, send us some writing: for we do not wish to direct our letter to our fellow bishop Perigenes before we receive your letters, to whose ordination all things seem to have been delegated. You will hasten to do this on account of the desire of the petitioners. For you know better that they burn in this prayer only, as I think, out of devotion toward religion: especially since they assert that he has continued irreproachably in the honor of the priesthood for innumerable years, and has come to the highest peak not by an undue leap, but step by step.

To him, for the fullness of the confirmation of his episcopate, this alone remains—that he has not yet received our address in his honor. I do not doubt that your love understands this not without admiration, that we seem not to have sent our letter to him also, while we have furnished a response to the suppliants. This has been done by us, so that both the authority of the apostolic see and the honor due to your Love might be preserved. Given on the 13th of the kalends of October, in the consulship of Monaxius, a most illustrious man.

From Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, to Pope Bonifacius.

1. I had indeed come to know you, most celebrated fame proclaiming it, and from most frequent and most truthful reports I had learned how full of the grace of God you were, most blessed and venerable Pope Bonifacius. But after my brother Alypius also saw you present in bodily presence, and, most kindly and most sincerely received by you, exchanged mutual conversation with you dictated by love, and, living with you, even though for a short time, joined to you by a great affection, poured himself together with me into your soul, and brought you back to me in his own—so much greater did the knowledge of your Holiness become to me, as the friendship became more certain. For you do not disdain, you who savor not high things, though you preside more highly, to be a friend of the humble, and to repay the love bestowed.

For what else is friendship, which takes its name from nothing other than love, and is nowhere faithful except in Christ, in whom alone it can also be everlasting and happy? Whence also, having received through that brother, through whom I learned you more intimately, with greater confidence, I have dared to write something to your Beatitude concerning those matters which at this time, with a more recent stimulus, stir up episcopal care, if there is any in us, to vigilance for the Lord's flock.

2. For I know that the heretics, enemies of the grace of God which is given to small and great through Jesus Christ our Lord, although they are now more clearly shown, by more open refutation, to be persons to be guarded against, do not nevertheless cease to tempt, by their writings, the hearts of the less cautious or the less learned.

To whom, certainly, a reply ought to be made, lest they confirm themselves or their own in that wicked error, even if we did not fear that they might deceive any of the Catholics by plausible speech. But since they do not cease to roar at the folds of the Lord's flock, and to search out entrances from every side for tearing apart the sheep redeemed at so great a price, and since the pastoral watchtower is common to all of us who exercise the office of the episcopate (although you yourself preeminently occupy it at a loftier height), I do for my part what I can, so far as the Lord deigns to grant it to me, your prayers assisting, so that against their pestilent and insidious writings I may put forth writings that heal and fortify, by which the rabid madness in which they rage may either itself be cured, or be kept from injuring others.

3. But these things which I answer in two letters of theirs—one namely which Julianus is said to have sent to Rome, I believe so that through it he might either find or make his own men; the other, which eighteen, as if bishops, sharers of his error, dared to write not to just anyone, but to the bishop of that very place, to be tempted by their cunning, and, if it could be done, drawn over to their side—to Thessalonica: these things, then, which I answer in this disputation to those two letters of theirs, as I have said, I have determined to direct especially to your holiness, not so much to be learned from as to be examined, and, where perhaps something has displeased you, to be corrected. For my brother indicated to me that you yourself deigned to give him those letters which could not have come into your hands except by the most vigilant diligence of our brothers, your sons.

And I give thanks for your most sincere benevolence toward us, in that you were unwilling that those letters of the enemies of the grace of God should remain hidden from me, in which you found my name expressed with calumny and evident malice.

BONIFACE bishop to HONORIUS the august emperor. The care of my Church, to whose service our God has assigned my priesthood while you govern human affairs, constrains me lest, though I am still detained by bodily infirmity, I should be absent from the ears of the most Christian prince in matters concerning her, when she is beset by the assemblies and disturbances of all the priests and clergy and the Christian people. For if anything should happen otherwise than is fitting, it will not be you who do it, who order all things with equitable moderation; but we, by our silent negligence, shall appear to have permitted that which could overturn the quiet of the city and the peace of the Church.

For since, as a worshipper of the divine religion, you preside over human affairs by the favor of the Lord, it will be our fault if that which has been maintained through the course of so many years, and even under those emperors whom no concern for our religion bound—that is, the pagans—is not preserved with firm and stable right under your glory, which is certain always to have favored things divine with a most ready mind, and if, under the empire of your Clemency, what is unlawful is in no way to be feared. For the Church herself, through my words indeed, but with her own venerable affection, calls you her devoted son, most Christian Emperor, whom Christ our God, the faithful ruler and governor of your empire, keeps betrothed to Himself alone and an untouched virgin, lest you should suffer any waves of insidious storms to dash against her, and her calm countenance be troubled by the swelling of an unaccustomed tempest, most glorious and most tranquil august Emperor.

She therefore, who, though betrothed to One, is yet your mother, the Church, addresses your piety by this embassy which she has entrusted to her priests, recalling both the past and the present. Under your religious rule, she says, the people are now safe, as faithful to God as to you, a Christian prince. For behold, amid her very mysteries, amid the prayers which she offers for the felicity of your empire—with holy Peter as witness, in whose presence and concerning whose see this matter is treated—she cries out with anxious voices for the observance of religion: prayer is mingled with anxious petition, lest, once torn away, discord, at the tempter's instigation, should draw these things apart into various matters from their accustomed worship. She would do more, most Christian prince, were she not secure of her causes in your presence, and had she not always triumphed, in the suppression of idols, in the correction of heretics, through your faith, together with the divine worship ever flourishing along with the empire.

She has a refuge, the mind of your gentleness joined with reverence for her religion: since whatever profits her, you do, you confer, through my brothers and fellow-priests, most approved men, sent by me and by all who make up this Church, to you as legates: whom, we beseech, as they pursue the cause of the sacred religion, in the city of your gentleness, with that same mind with which you grant what is asked, you would provide for forever, for the settled state of the universal Church. Given on the kalends of July.

Victor HONORIUS, illustrious triumphator, ever august, to the holy and venerable BONIFACE, pope of the Eternal City.

We have received the writings of your Beatitude with due and grateful reverence, upon reading which we gave the greatest thanks to almighty God, because we learned that your holiness, after a long illness, has been restored to the health you desired. And so, as the venerable men return, we mark our joy with the attestation of our sacred letters, and we ask that your apostleship deign, in daily prayers, to devote its zeal and vow to our welfare and empire. But know that this has been fully pleasing to our piety, that your holiness is concerned about the disturbance of the churches or of the people. That this may in no way come to pass, our clemency has believed it sufficiently provided for. Finally, we wish this, at the preaching of your Beatitude, to come to the knowledge of all clergy: that if by chance—which we do not wish—something human should befall your religion, all should know that ambitions must cease.

And if perchance two, contending against right by rash temerity, should be ordained, neither of these shall be a priest at all; but he alone shall remain in the apostolic see whom, by a new ordination from the body of the clergy, divine judgment and the consent of all shall have chosen. Wherefore this must be observed, that all keep a tranquil mind and peaceable spirits by the admonition of our serenity, nor attempt anything by seditious conspiracies, since it is certain that such zeal will profit no party.

THEODOSIUS augustus to PHILIP, Praetorian Prefect of Illyricum. All innovation ceasing, we command that the antiquity and the ancient ecclesiastical canons, which have held sway up to now, be observed throughout all the provinces of Illyricum: so that, if any doubt should arise, it must be reserved, not without the knowledge of the most reverend man, the prelate of the sacred law of the city of Constantinople, which rejoices in the prerogative of old Rome, to the assembly of priests and to holy judgment. Given on the day before the ides of July, in the consulship of Eustathius and Agricola.

In all matters indeed in which our aid is sought, we cannot deny our intercession before the ears of your Clemency: but we necessarily owe greater care and zeal to those matters in which the desires of the holy apostolic see are contained. For since our empire is always governed by divine favor, without doubt that city's church is to be venerated by us with a special worship, from which we have received both the Roman principate and the beginning of the priesthood. Indeed, the embassy sent has asked nothing else of our piety except that it accord with the discipline and equity of the catholic faith. For it asks that these privileges, which were long ago established by the fathers and have been observed up to our times, remain unshaken. In this matter your Serenity considers that nothing at all should be derogated from the ancient decrees, if any things are written in the rules of the canons; nor should the reverence of so many ages now be wounded by new prejudices, my lord.

Wherefore let your Majesty, having reviewed the words of our piety, mindful of that Christianity which heavenly mercy pours into our hearts, set aside all things which are said to be obtained through Illyricum by the surreptitious acts of various bishops; and command that the ancient order be preserved: lest, under Christian princes, the Roman Church lose what it did not lose under other emperors.

Whoever seems to bring the words of the perennial prince to our clemency deserves worthy judgment, holy lord, venerable august father, especially in view of the Christian religion, which is so infused into the venerable senses of your Majesty that it is preserved more widely spread through our hearts. For God the author has therefore made the descendants of Christian princes to be overseers, that, all surreptitious dealing being frustrated, what was established by our forefathers may be preserved. And although not only in those matters which divine favors have kept uncorrupted are the words of your Perennity received by us with swift affection and every veneration, but especially in this matter; because the name of that renowned city preserves hitherto the safety of the age and of our whole realm. Wherefore, with all surreptitious dealing of the bishops petitioning through Illyricum removed, we decree that what the ancient apostolic discipline and the old canons declare be observed.

Concerning which matter, according to the form of the oracle of your Perennity, we have sent letters to the illustrious men, the praetorian prefects of our Illyricum, that, the surreptitious dealings of the bishops ceasing, they should especially cause the ancient order to be preserved: lest the venerable church of the most holy City lose the privileges established of old, which have consecrated to us the perennial empire of her name.

BONIFACE, bishop of the city of Rome, to HILARY, bishop of Narbonne.

1. We do indeed grant belief only with difficulty to complaints by which the intent of the Lord's priests is assailed, especially when they say that some priest has attempted something contrary to the statutes of the fathers: but often, as now, a multitude of complainants asserts this. For behold, as your charity recognizes from the enclosed documents, the order of the clergy and of the people of the church of Lodève has sent to us, as far as can be understood, with great grief, their prayers and tears, saying that our fellow-bishop Patroclus, without their petition, has ordained I know not whom, in place of the deceased bishop, in another province, the metropolitan having been passed over, contrary to the rules of the fathers. This we can by no means bear patiently: because it behooves us to be diligent guardians of the paternal sanctions.

For the constitution of the Council of Nicaea is unknown to no one, which so ordains—that we may set down its very words—that in each province the metropolitans alone should have their proper right, and that no church should be subject to two. This, since it cannot be believed otherwise, they themselves decreed, at the Holy Spirit's suggestion, was to be observed.

2. Wherefore, dearest brother, if this is how matters stand, and the aforesaid church is included within the bounds of your province, being admonished by our authority—though indeed you ought to do this of your own accord, out of regard for the desires of the petitioners and their will—go to that same place where such an ordination is said to have been celebrated, fortified by the right of metropolitan and relying on our instructions: understanding that whatever must be done according to the rules of the fathers is granted by us to your judgment; so that, when all has been accomplished, whatever you decide may become clear to the apostolic see by your own report—to which it is evident the ordination of the whole province has been entrusted. Let no one, then, boldly and rashly overstep their bounds, nor let anyone defend, to the injury of others, parts which are not seen to be granted to him.

Let such presumption cease, being suppressed by our authority, of those who extend the limit of their dignity beyond what is lawful. We say this so that your charity may perceive how much we observe the precepts of the canons, so that our own decree likewise determines that every province should always await the ordination of its own metropolitan in all matters. Given on the 5th of the ides of February, in the consulship of our lords Honorius, for the 13th time, and Theodosius, for the 10th time, august emperors.

To my most beloved brother RUFUS, BONIFACE.

1. What was formerly enjoined upon your predecessors concerning the provinces of the apostolic see ought to be diligently fulfilled by your charity. For the causes of the churches situated throughout those provinces are to be tended with vigilant circumspection. For thus indeed the blessed apostle Peter committed all things, in his own turn, to the church of Thessalonica, that it might understand that the solicitude of many remains upon it: which solicitude new attempts, which can have no force, ought not to diminish. For one must not yield to the endeavors of those whom the novelty of things and desire for undue dignity inflame: but effort must be made, and, with God granting favor, a struggle waged, so that whoever strives against what is lawful may recognize that he is opposed on every side. Wherefore, dearest brother, relying now on the authority long since received by you, arm yourself, a fitting soldier of our God, against the hostile ranks. You will fear no doubt here, you will dread no uncertain outcome.

You have the blessed apostle Peter, who, before you, is able to fight back with his own power. I do not wish you to be frightened by the disturbance of the raging sea. For the faith which you carry in the secret of your breast is certainly greater than all things. In nothing will the whirlwind, in nothing will the storm, vex you at all. That fisherman does not allow the privilege of his see to perish while you labor. Every swelling of the waves, every storm shall cease, He favoring your efforts, for whom alone the sea was passable. He will surely be present, and, with God as author, will restrain the violators of the canons and the enemies of ecclesiastical law, He who always frustrates the desires of such minds.

2. Exercise also the right of the power granted to you against the other contumacious ones. For you see no place left idle by us. To the Thessalonians we have sent letters full of threat and rebuke.

To the synod which is said to be unlawfully assembling concerning the case of our brother and fellow-bishop Perigenes, whose status we have written cannot in any way be disturbed, we have directed such letters, by which all the brothers may understand, first, that they ought not to have assembled at all without your knowledge; and second, that what has been judged by us is not to be reconsidered. For it has never been lawful for a matter once settled by the apostolic see to be treated again. In which letter, as was fitting, we have preserved the honor due to your Sanctity, as your charity will learn by reading it.

3. Moreover, we wish your charity to hear diligently the matter of our fellow-bishop Perrhevius, of which a petition sent by him to us has given us notice—whose fellow-priests are said to be exceedingly troublesome to him, so much so that they thought he should be driven from his church—when the aforesaid fellow-bishops of ours, whose violence he laments enduring, have been summoned.

Then at last, so that they may understand that if anything was done by them contrary to custom must first be annulled, let your charity, having investigated all things, hasten to report to us; so that the judgment pronounced by your fraternity may be confirmed by our sentence.

4. Indeed, in the letter sent to the Thessalonian brothers, we wish you to recognize that we have written this: that Pausianus, Cyriacus, and Calliopus are to be entirely removed from our communion; so that they may know that the remedy is solely the grace of your intervention. But Maximus, whom your charity reported was wrongly ordained, we judge to be deprived entirely of the honor of the priesthood.

5. It is your charity's part to dismiss, with all speed, once everything has been accomplished, Severus, the notary of the apostolic see, most acceptable to our mind, sent from our own side; so that we may know the order of what has been done, once he returns swiftly.

Given on the 5th of the ides of March, in the consulship of Honorius, for the 13th time, and Theodosius, for the 10th time, august emperors.

To the most beloved brethren, all bishops established throughout Thessaly, BONIFACE.

1. The universal institution of the nascent Church took its beginning from the honor of blessed Peter, in whom its government and sum reside. For from his ecclesiastical discipline, as the cultivation of religion was already growing, a flow spread through all the Churches, as if from a fountain. The decrees of the Nicene synod attest nothing else: so much so that it did not dare to ordain anything concerning him beyond what was already established, seeing that nothing could be conferred beyond his merit: for it knew that all things had been granted to him by the Lord's own word. It is therefore certain that this See is, as it were, the head of its members, the Churches spread throughout the whole world: whoever cuts himself off from her becomes an exile from the Christian religion, since he has ceased to belong to that same structure.

2. I hear that certain bishops, having despised apostolic right, are attempting something new contrary properly to the precepts of Christ, striving to separate themselves from the communion of the apostolic see, and, to speak more truly, from its authority, seeking the aid of those to whom the sanction of ecclesiastical rules has not granted greater power. For the precepts of our forefathers are read; and we find to what extent they gave any right to the Churches. Now he is a violator of ecclesiastical discipline, whoever creeps into its laws, when nothing is owed to him, claiming for himself those things which appear to have been denied to him by the fathers.

3. Receive, therefore, our admonition and correction, of which we offer one to the bishops, the other to those in dissent. For thus says the Apostle: What will you? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in charity and in a spirit of gentleness?

For you know that both were possible for blessed Peter, that is, to be gentle in mildness, and to rebuke the proud with the rod.

4. Therefore preserve the honor owed to the head: because we do not wish the members to contend among themselves, so that their strife should be extended even up to us; while you judge our brother and fellow-bishop Rufus worthy of contempt: to whom our authority grants nothing new, but follows the favor of our predecessors, by which the care of the churches has often been seen to be enjoined upon him. This deed we wish to be kept inviolate in the future, just as the form of this arrangement has been preserved by the fathers. It does not befit brothers to be bitten by another's dignity.

Certainly if in anyone's case correction beyond what was owed seemed to occur, since the apostolic see holds the primacy for this very reason, that it may receive the complaints of all who bring them freely; it would have been fitting that we be appealed to concerning this by a delegation sent to us, whom you see charged with the care of all matters. Let novel presumption cease. Let no one dare to hope for what is not permitted. Let no one presume to tamper with what has been done by the fathers, and preserved through so long a span of time. Let whoever recognizes himself as a bishop obey our ordinance. Let no one presume to ordain bishops throughout Illyricum without the knowledge of our fellow-bishop Rufus. Given the 5th of the Ides of March, in the consulship of Honorius for the 13th time and Theodosius for the 10th, Augusti.

To the most beloved brethren Rufus and the other bishops established throughout Macedonia, Achaia, Thessaly, Old Epirus, New Epirus, Praevalitana, and Dacia, Boniface.

1. The solicitude for the universal Church, undertaken by blessed Peter the Apostle through the Lord's own sentence, remains; since, as the Gospel witnesses, he knows it to be founded upon himself: nor can his honor ever be devoid of cares, since it is certain that the sum of things depends on his deliberation. This matter extends my mind even as far as the regions of the East, which through that very solicitude we in some manner behold. For unceasingly I inquire of each one coming from there concerning the peace of the brethren, that is, concerning the quiet of the bishops, which is wont, whenever the devil envies it, to be disturbed by someone's presumption.

Since, therefore, report has hitherto brought word to us that all things were being preserved in their proper order, we were greatly amazed, astonished at this matter, as the account of what was reported demanded, at what a new intention has attempted to the injury of the fathers.

2. For we have learned by certain report that at Corinth, which we say has been troubled, a synod is to be assembled to discuss the status of him whom the apostolic see, after examining and discussing all matters, established as priest for the Corinthians; following the will of God, who willed this same man, as far as can be learned by the delays of time, to be the shepherd of that fold in which he had grown up and for which he had grown up.

Had your charity been ignorant of this ordination, I would gladly retell from its origin what has been done concerning him in the past; so that to those whose view of the matter has been made obscure not through ignorance but through deliberate effort, it might become clear through manifestation that the judgment concerning him was specifically divine, by which, as we have said, heavenly judgment preserved for the Church of the Corinthians him as its own nursling. This matter the assent of all the citizens and clergy expressly demanded of us. Nor yet did our decree establish this abruptly: but, as ecclesiastical discipline required, we ordered our brother and fellow-bishop Rufus to examine more diligently the inner details of the matter, and to weigh the sum of the petition by his own moderation from close at hand; so that nothing might seem to be done rashly by this see, which has often restrained the presumptions of others.

After some interval of time, letters came to us from the aforesaid bishop, agreeing with the desires previously expressed: following their most evident reasoning, we gave this man to be the bishop of that Church, in which he had also spent his past life through each grade of honors.

3. To accomplish this matter I forthwith sent a second communication to the aforementioned bishop, directed by my authority, which pleased the whole presbytery, following the earlier predecessors, who considered the Church of Thessalonica, always familiar to themselves and serving in the charity of fellowship, worthy of this honor, as the trust of the archives affirms. This the grace of the apostolic see grants also for the future to brother Rufus; following the Lord, who exalts the humble, and always humbles the exalted; giving grace to the former, resisting the latter.

4. How great, then, is the gift of humility, which is weighed in the balance of divine grace? And how great is the punishment of pride, which the Lord and ruler of the whole world specifically opposes?

But I leave it to your Fraternity to understand better who is the teacher of humility, and who of pride. But far be it from the priests of the Lord that any of them should fall into this guilt, that, by attempting some new usurpation, he should make hostile to himself the decrees of his forebears: knowing that he specifically has as his rival him in whom our Christ placed the supreme headship of the priesthood. Whoever rises up in contempt of him will not be able to be a dweller in the heavenly kingdoms. To you, he says, I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven, into which no one shall enter without the favor of the doorkeeper. You are, he says, Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church.

Whoever therefore desires to be reckoned worthy even before our God of priestly dignity—since it is through Peter's reception that one comes to God, in whom, as we have recalled above, it is certain the universal Church is founded—ought to be meek and humble of heart: lest a contumacious disciple, having imitated the pride of his teacher, begin to undergo the teacher's punishment.

5. A synod is being gathered, then—to return to the matter of this injury—whose beloved advocate should always recognize the hidden secret of the council as superior to it: and it will come to pass—what indeed cannot come to pass at all according to the rules—that the honor of our brother and fellow-bishop Perigenes will be rendered doubtful and uncertain, whom our sentence placed in the see of the aforesaid Church. Who then is this accuser who has assailed him, untrained perhaps and only just now returning from abroad? Who indeed among the bishops ordered, upon reading our letters, that a crowd of brethren should assemble?

Since the matter requires it, if it please you to review the sanctions of the canons, you will find which is the second see after the Roman Church, and which is the third. By these the order of things is thus seen to be distinguished, so that the bishops of the other Churches may know, under one and the same priesthood nonetheless, to whom, with charity preserved for the sake of ecclesiastical discipline, they ought to be subject. And indeed this judgment of the canons has endured from antiquity, so that it continues even now, by the favor of our Christ. No one has ever boldly laid hostile hands upon the apostolic summit, of whose judgment it is not permitted to be reconsidered: no one has ever been rebellious in this matter, except one who wished to be judged concerning himself. The great Churches aforesaid preserve their dignities according to the canons, Alexandria and Antioch, having knowledge of ecclesiastical law.

They preserve, I say, the statutes of the elders, deferring in all things, and receiving in return that grace which they know they owe to us in the Lord, who is our peace.

6. But since the matter demands it, it must be proven by documents, that the greatest Churches of the East have always, in great matters requiring greater discussion, consulted the Roman see, and whenever necessity required, have sought its aid. Athanasius and Peter, of holy memory, priests of the Church of Alexandria, sought the aid of this see. When the Church of Antioch labored for a long time, so that journeys were often made thence on this very account, first under Meletius, afterward under Flavian, it is manifest that the apostolic see was consulted. By its authority, after many things were done by our Church, no one doubts that Flavian received the grace of communion; of which he would have been forever deprived, had not letters on this matter proceeded from here.

The emperor Theodosius, of most clement memory, not considering the ordination of Nectarius to have firmness because it had not been within our knowledge, having sent courtiers from his own retinue together with bishops, requested that a formal letter be regularly directed to him from the Roman see, which would confirm his priesthood. A short time ago, that is, under my predecessor of blessed memory Innocent, the bishops of the Eastern Churches, grieving that they had been cut off from the communion of blessed Peter, sought peace through legates, as your charity recalls. At that time the apostolic see granted everything without difficulty, obeying that master who says: But if you have forgiven anyone anything, I also; for what I also have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, for your sakes have I forgiven it in the person of Christ, that we be not overreached by Satan: for we are not ignorant of his devices; that is, because he always rejoices in dissension.

7. Since therefore I judge, most beloved brethren, that what we have said suffices to prove the truth, although many more examples are held in your knowledge; without injury to your fraternity we wish this matter to be met by this letter, which you will see sent from us through Severus, notary of the apostolic see, most acceptable to our mind, dispatched from our own side, assembling, as is fitting, the brethren, lest anyone, wishing to remain in our communion, again bring into question for discussion the name of our brother and fellow-bishop Perigenes: whose priesthood the apostle Peter has already once confirmed by the suggestion of the Holy Spirit, leaving him no further question for the future, since, while he was being established by us throughout the time that the see was vacant, nothing whatsoever was found objected against him. Let the accusation cease, whose author we prove to be envy. Let the engine of falsehood constructed against him be dissolved; because he came to the priesthood by the favor of our God and of all good men.

8. Indeed, since a place must be reserved for the accuser, lest we seem to entirely stifle a hearing, if anything is alleged to have been committed by him, after he was established bishop by our authorities, contrary to the discipline and purpose of the priesthood, our fellow-bishop Rufus, to whom we commit all things in our stead, together with the other brethren whom he himself shall choose, will take care to hear the matter; reporting back to our knowledge everything which the course and order of the matter shall disclose to his examination.

9. This too, since our authority ought not to be lacking in its accustomed admonition, we exhort, and repeating the words again and again we command, that in all things you render obedience to this man's dispositions. Let no one, as we have often said, presume to celebrate anyone's ordination without his knowledge, to whom, as has been said above, we commit all things in our stead.

Certainly the authors of this presumption will impute it to themselves hereafter, when they see themselves exiled from apostolic charity. Given the 5th of the Ides of March, in the consulship of Honorius for the 13th time and Theodosius for the 10th, Augusti.