The Letters and Decrees of Pope Siricius

The decrees of Liberius. The manner of receiving heretics into the Church. In the very opening of your letter, then, you have signified that very many baptized by the impious Arians are hastening to the Catholic faith, and that certain of our brethren wish to baptize these same persons again: which is not lawful, since the Apostle forbids this to be done, and the canons contradict it, and, after the Council of Ariminum was annulled, the general decrees sent to the provinces by my predecessor of venerable memory, Liberius, prohibit it—whom, together with the Novatians and other heretics, as has been established in synod, we join to the Catholic assembly by the invocation alone of the sevenfold Spirit, through the laying on of the bishop's hand, which practice the whole East and West likewise observes: from which path it is by no means fitting that you also should henceforth deviate, unless you wish to be separated from our synodal college by sentence.

The times and rites for receiving baptism. To whom baptism ought to be conferred immediately.

There follows next the reprehensible and correctable confusion of those to be baptized, as it pleases each one, which is presumed by our fellow-priests—we say it with agitation—not by reason of any authority, but by mere temerity alone, so that everywhere and freely, on the Nativity of Christ, or on the Epiphany, and also on the feasts of the Apostles or Martyrs, innumerable multitudes, as you assert, obtain the mystery of baptism; whereas this privilege is claimed specially, both with us and in all churches, by the Lord's Day together with its Pentecost and its Easter; on which days alone in the year it is fitting that the general sacraments of baptism be given to those flocking to the faith—only to those elect, namely, who have given their names forty days or more beforehand, and have been purified by exorcisms and by daily prayers and fasts; so that that Apostolic precept may be fulfilled, that, the old leaven being purged out, there may begin to be a new mixture.

Just as, therefore, we say that the sacred reverence of Easter is in no way to be diminished, so we wish that infants, who by reason of age cannot yet speak, or those who in any necessity may have need of the wave of sacred baptism, be succored with all speed; lest it tend to the ruin of our souls, if, the saving font being denied to those desiring it, each one departing from this world should lose both the kingdom and life. Whoever also may fall into the peril of shipwreck, an incursion of the enemy, the uncertainty of a siege, or the despair of any bodily sickness, and shall ask to be helped by this sole aid of faith, let them obtain the reward of the regeneration they seek at the very moment they ask for it. Let the error committed thus far in this matter suffice: now let all priests hold to the aforesaid rule, who do not wish to be torn away from the solidity of that apostolic rock upon which Christ built the universal Church.

Apostates are to be cut off from the body of Christ, but pardon is not to be denied to the penitent at the end of life. It has also been added that certain Christians, passing over to apostasy—which is unspeakable to say—have been defiled by the worship of idols and the contamination of sacrifices. These we command to be cut off from the body and blood of Christ, by which they had formerly been redeemed through rebirth. And if perchance, coming to their senses, they should at some time be turned to lamentation, penance must be performed by them as long as they live, and at their last end the grace of reconciliation is to be granted them: because, as the Lord teaches, we do not desire the death of the sinner, but only that he be converted and live. It is lawful for no one to take another's betrothed as wife.

You have also inquired concerning the veiling of marriage, whether one who has been betrothed to another as a girl may be taken in marriage by a different man. This we forbid in every way to be done: because that blessing which the priest imposes upon the bride is, among the faithful, in the manner of a kind of sacrilege, if it should be violated by any transgression.

The laws concerning the penitent. Concerning those, indeed, your charity has not unfittingly believed that the Apostolic See should be consulted, who, penance having been performed, like dogs and swine returning to their former vomit and wallowing-place, have sought again the military belt, and frivolous pleasures, and new marriages, and again the intercourse that had been forbidden, whose professed incontinence the children born after their absolution have revealed. Concerning these, since they no longer have recourse to penance, we have judged it right to decree this: that they be joined with the faithful only in prayer within the church, that they be present at the sacred celebration of the mysteries, although they do not deserve it; but that they be separated from the banquet of the Lord's table; so that, being restrained at least by this severity, they may both correct their own errors in themselves, and afford an example to others, so that they may be drawn back from foul desires.

These, however, since they have fallen through carnal frailty, we wish to be relieved, when they begin to depart to the Lord, by the viaticum gift, through the grace of communion. Which form we judge to be observed also in regard to women who after penance have bound themselves to such pollutions.

Which monks or nuns are to be punished for violating the resolve of chastity. Moreover, you affirm that certain monks and nuns, having cast aside the resolve of holiness, have been plunged into such wantonness, that at first secretly, as it were under the pretext of the monasteries, they have mingled themselves in unlawful and sacrilegious contagion; but afterward, being led into the abyss of desperation of conscience, they have freely begotten children from unlawful embraces—which both the public laws and the ecclesiastical rights condemn. We command, therefore, that these shameless and detestable persons be expelled from the assembly of the monasteries and the gatherings of the churches; so that, shut away in their own places of confinement, bewailing so great a crime with continual lamentation, they may be able to consume it away by the purifying fire of penitence, so that to them, at least at death, out of mercy alone, indulgence may be able to come through the grace of communion.

The incontinence of clerics. Let us come now to the most sacred orders of clerics, whom, to the injury of our venerable religion, we find so trampled upon and thrown into confusion throughout your provinces, as your charity has intimated, that we must say with the voice of Jeremiah: Who will give water to my head, or a fountain of tears to my eyes? And I will weep for this people day and night. If, then, the blessed Prophet says that tears cannot suffice him to mourn the sins of the people, with how much greater grief may we be struck down, when we are compelled to lament the crimes of those who are within our own body! Especially we, upon whom, according to the blessed Paul, the daily pressure and the care of all the churches unceasingly weighs. For who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I do not burn?

For we have learned that very many priests of Christ and Levites, after long periods since their consecration, have begotten offspring both from their own wives and even from foul intercourse, and defend their crime by this plea, that in the Old Testament the priests and ministers are read to have been granted the faculty of begetting.

9. The authority of the Old Testament is vainly alleged. Let him tell me now, whoever he is, this follower of lusts and teacher of vices: if he supposes that in the law of Moses the reins of luxury were everywhere loosened by the Lord for the sacred orders, why does He forewarn those to whom the holy of holies were entrusted, saying: Be ye holy, for I also am holy, the Lord your God? Why also were the priests commanded to dwell far from their own homes, in the temple, during the year of their course?

Namely for this reason, lest they might have carnal intercourse even with their wives, so that, shining with integrity of conscience, they might offer an acceptable gift to God. To these, when the time of their service was completed, the use of their wives had been permitted for the sake of succession alone; because no one, except from the tribe of Levi, had been commanded to be admitted to the ministry of God.

10. Priests and deacons are bound by an unbreakable law of continence. Whence also the Lord Jesus, when He had illumined these matters by His coming, declares in the Gospel that He came to fulfill the Law, not to destroy it. And therefore He willed that the pattern of chastity should shine with the splendor of the Church, whose bridegroom He is, so that on the day of judgment, when He shall come again, He may find her, as He established through His Apostle, without spot or wrinkle.

By these sanctions all we priests and Levites are bound by an unbreakable law, that from the day of our ordination we should devote both our hearts and our bodies to sobriety and chastity, provided that in all things we may please our God in these sacrifices which we offer daily. But those who are in the flesh, as the vessel of election says, cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. And where can the Spirit of God dwell, save in bodies that are, as we read, holy?

11. To those who have lapsed through ignorance, honor is preserved; otherwise for others.

And because some of those of whom we speak, as your holiness has related, lament that they have fallen through ignorance: to these we say that mercy is not to be denied, on this condition, that without any increase of honor, they persevere as long as they live in the office in which they have been detected, provided, however, that henceforth they shall have striven to show themselves continent. But those who rely on the excuse of an unlawful privilege, so as to claim that this was granted them by the old law, let them know that they have been cast down by the authority of the Apostolic See from every ecclesiastical honor which they have unworthily used, and that they can never again touch the venerable mysteries, of which they have deprived themselves while they gaped after foul desires.

And because present examples warn us to take precaution for the future: whatever bishop, priest, or deacon—which we do not desire—shall henceforth be found such, let him now understand that every avenue of indulgence through us is closed to him: because it is necessary that wounds be cut away with the knife which have not felt the medicine of poultices.

A man twice married is not to be ordained priest or deacon.

We have learned also that men of unexamined life, freely and licentiously, even men who have had numerous marriages, aspire, as it pleases each one, to the aforesaid dignities. This we impute not so much to those who attain to these things by immoderate ambition, as especially to the metropolitan bishops, who, by conniving at forbidden presumptions, despise, so far as is in them, the precepts of our God. And, to say nothing of what we suspect at a deeper level, where is that which our God established through the law given by Moses, saying, "My priests shall marry but once"? And in another place: "Let the priest take a virgin wife, not a widow, not a divorced woman, not a harlot"? Which the Apostle, following this, having turned from persecutor to preacher, commanded that he who is to become both priest and deacon should be the husband of one wife. All these things are so disregarded by the bishops of your regions, as if they had rather been established to the contrary.

And because we must not neglect matters of this kind of usurpation, lest the just voice of the indignant Lord rebuke us, which says: "You saw a thief, and ran with him, and you cast your lot with adulterers"—we decree by general pronouncement what is to be followed henceforth by all the churches, and what is to be avoided.

The age of those to be ordained.

Whoever, therefore, has devoted himself from his infancy to the service of the Church, ought to be baptized before the years of puberty, and to be joined to the ministry of readers. He who, upon reaching adolescence, up to the thirtieth year of his age, if he shall have lived commendably, being content with one wife only, and that one whom, as a virgin, he received with the common blessing given through the priest, ought to be acolyte and subdeacon; and afterward let him proceed to the rank of deacon, if he shall first have proved himself worthy by continence going before. Where, if he shall have ministered creditably beyond five years, let him fittingly obtain the priesthood. Thence, after a decade, he will be able to attain the episcopal chair, provided, however, that through these periods the integrity of his life and faith shall have been approved.

But whoever, already advanced in age, roused by the conversion to a better resolve, hastens from the laity to the sacred militia, shall not obtain the fruit of his desire otherwise than by being at once, at the very time he is baptized, joined to the number of readers or exorcists, provided however it be established that he has had, or has, but one wife, and that he took her a virgin. When he shall have been initiated, upon completion of two years, let him, for another five years, become acolyte and subdeacon, and thus, if during these periods he shall have been judged worthy, let him be advanced to the diaconate. From that point, with the further passage of time, he will not unworthily obtain the presbyterate or the episcopate, if the choice of clergy and people shall have selected him.

Assuredly, whatever cleric has married either a widow, or certainly a second wife, let him immediately be stripped of every privilege of ecclesiastical dignity, only lay communion being granted to him; which he will be able to retain only on this condition, that he afterward commit nothing on account of which he might lose it.

We permit no women to be in the houses of clerics, save only those whom the Nicene synod permitted to dwell with them for reasons of kinship alone.

Monks also, whom nevertheless gravity of morals and holy instruction of life and faith commend, we both wish and desire to be gathered to the offices of clerics; so that those who are within the thirtieth year of age be promoted, as time increases, through each single grade among the lesser orders: and thus, at the consecration of mature age, let them attain to the insignia of the diaconate or presbyterate. Nor let them leap to the summit of the episcopate, unless in their case those same periods of time which we have set above for each dignity shall have been observed.

It is granted to no cleric to do penance.

This also it was fitting for us to provide, that just as it is not granted to any of the clergy to do penance, so also after penitence and reconciliation it may never be lawful for any layman to attain the honor of the clerical state: because, although they are cleansed from the contagion of every sin, nevertheless those who have formerly been vessels of vices ought to receive no instruments for the performance of the sacraments.

And because for all these things which come up for reproof, the sole excuse of ignorance is put forward, to which we must for the present, out of regard for piety alone, mercifully grant pardon: whoever, being a penitent, whoever a bigamist, whoever the husband of a widow, has crept improperly and incompetently into the sacred militia, let him understand pardon to be relaxed to him by us on this condition, that he ought to reckon it a great benefit if, all hope of advancement being taken from him, he remains with perpetual stability in that order in which he shall be found: the chief bishops of all provinces are to know hereafter that if they believe any of such persons ought to be admitted further to sacred orders, a fitting sentence will be issued from the apostolic see both concerning their own standing and concerning the standing of those whom they shall have advanced contrary to the canons and to our prohibitions. 20. That Himerius should make these statutes known to other churches.

We have explained, as I think, dearest brother, all the matters which have been set forth by way of complaint: and to each of the cases concerning which, through our son the presbyter Bassianus, you referred to the Roman Church, as to the head of your body, we have given, I think, sufficient answers. Now we urge the mind of your fraternity more and more to the observance of the canons and the holding fast of the decretal constitutions, that you cause these things which we have written back in reply to your consultation to be brought to the notice of all our fellow bishops, and not only of those who are established in your diocese, but also to all the Carthaginians and Baeticans, the Lusitanians and Gallicians, or those who border on the provinces adjoining you on this side and that; let these things, which have been arranged by us with wholesome ordination, be sent under the accompaniment of your letters.

And although it is free to no priest of the Lord to be ignorant of the statutes of the apostolic see or of the venerable definitions of the canons, yet it will be more useful, and, in view of the antiquity of your priesthood, it can be altogether glorious for your charity, if those things which have been written to you generally under a special name are brought, through the diligence of your unanimity, to the knowledge of all our brethren: so that both the things which have been wholesomely established by us, not without consultation, but providently under great caution and deliberation, may remain inviolate, and that access to all excuses hereafter—which indeed can lie open to none among us—may be shut off. Given the third day before the Ides of February, in the consulship of Arcadius and Bauto.

Even long ago, dearest brother, through bishop Candidianus, who has gone before us to the Lord, we had given letters of this kind, that there should be no license for anyone to presume to ordain bishops in Illyricum without your consent: whether these reached you I could not know. For many things have been done there through contention by bishops in making ordinations, as your charity knows better. And therefore you ought to act with care, lest, as has happened, they seem, contending with one another, while they presume to ordain unworthy persons in one church, to have made, as it were, three bishops.

For your diligence ought to be watchful to suppress all audacity of this kind, the Holy Spirit burning within you: so that either you yourself, if you can, or those whom you shall judge suitable bishops, you may direct with letters, consent having been given, who may be able to ordain, in the place of him who has died or been deposed, a catholic bishop, proven in life and morals, according to the statutes of the Nicene synod, or a cleric of the Roman church of deserving standing from the clergy.

To the most beloved brothers and fellow bishops throughout Africa, SIRICIUS.

1. When very many of us brothers had come together to the relics of the holy Apostle Peter, through whom both the apostolate and the episcopate took their beginning in Christ, and it pleased us, on account of the many emerging causes, which in some cases were not causes but crimes, that henceforth each one should have such care in the Church, as the Apostle Paul preaches, that such a Church should be presented to God, not having spot or wrinkle, lest by the breath of some diseased sheep our conscience should appear contaminated. On this matter, by better counsel, it was resolved.

Especially on account of those who at present, by reason of bodily infirmity or weary age, were quite unable to be present, that a perpetual form of this kind might be preserved, it pleased us to give letters of this sort, not such as command any new precepts, but by which we desire that those things which through the sloth and negligence of some have been neglected be observed, which nevertheless have been established by apostolic and paternal constitution, as it is written: Stand, and hold the traditions which you have been taught, whether by word or by letter. This surely ought more vehemently to shake your mind, most beloved brothers, that we may come free and secure from every stain of this age into the sight of God. For we shall not be immune because we preside over the peoples; since it is written, To whom much has been entrusted, of him more will be required.

Therefore since we are compelled to render account not for ourselves only, but for the people entrusted to us, we ought to instruct the humble people with divine discipline. For there have arisen some who, not holding the statutes of their forefathers, have by their presumption violated the chastity of the Church, following the will of the people, and not fearing the judgment of God.

2. Therefore, lest we should seem in like manner to connive in silence and give consent to such persons, whereby we might incur the punishments of Gehenna, the Lord saying, You saw a thief, and you ran with him, and you cast in your lot with adulterers: these are the things which it is fitting, henceforth, in view of the divine judgment, for all catholic bishops to observe.

First, that outside the knowledge of the apostolic see, that is of the primate, let no one dare to ordain. For that judgment is whole and sound which is confirmed by the opinion of very many.

Let not one bishop presume to ordain a bishop, out of arrogance, lest it seem a benefit stealthily granted. For this was established and defined in the Nicene synod.

Likewise, if anyone after the remission of sins should be received by the laying on of hands, except those whom they rebaptize.

3. Furthermore, what is worthy and modest and honorable we urge, that priests and levites should not come together with their wives: because they are occupied in ministry, in the daily necessities of ministry. For Paul writes thus to the Corinthians, saying: Abstain yourselves, that you may be free for prayer. If, then, abstinence is enjoined on the laity, that they may be heard when they pray, how much more ought a priest to be at every moment ready, secure in purity of cleanliness, lest he either offer sacrifice or be compelled to baptize while unclean? And if he shall have been contaminated by carnal concupiscence, what shall he do? Will he make excuse? With what shame, with what mind will he presume it? With what conscience, with what merit does he believe himself heard here, when it has been said: All things are clean to the clean, but to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is clean?

Wherefore I exhort, I admonish, I ask, let this reproach be removed, which even paganism can justly reproach. Perhaps this is believed because it is written, The husband of one wife. He did not mean one remaining in the concupiscence of begetting, but on account of future continence. For he did not exclude even the unmarried who said: But I would that all men were even as I myself am. And he declares more openly, saying: But they who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit.

4. These things, therefore, brethren, if observed by all with full vigilance, ambition will cease, dissension will grow quiet, heresies and schisms will not arise, the devil will find no place to rage, unanimity will remain, iniquity, once overcome, will be trodden underfoot, charity will burn with spiritual fervor, peace preached by the lips will agree with the will: peace, that is, of our God, which the Saviour himself, already near to his passion, commanded to be kept, and left to us as a hereditary right, saying: My peace I give you, my peace I leave with you: and the saying of the Apostle, that we should remain unanimous, of one mind, in Christ, claiming nothing for ourselves through contention, nor through vain glory, and that we should please not men, but our God and Saviour. If we shall wish to obey all these precepts faithfully, the Lord will guard our bodies and our souls until the day on which he is to render to each according to his works.

If, indeed, anyone, puffed up with the mind of his flesh, should wish to stray from this rule of the canon, let him know that he is cut off from our communion, and shall have the punishments of Gehenna.

5. Moreover, mercy ought to be joined with judgment. For a hand ought to be extended to such as are falling, so that they who thus run may not be dragged into ruin. Given at Rome in a council of 80 bishops, on the 8th day before the Ides of January, after the consulship of Arcadius Augustus and Bauto, most illustrious man.

Pope Siricius to the orthodox throughout the various provinces.

To Siricius belongs the care of all the churches. As we reflect, most beloved brothers, upon the fear of the divine judgment, and that after this life each one will receive according to what he has done, it was not permitted us to be silent as to what comes into complaint, but necessity compelled us to speak, the prophet saying, Lift up your voice like a trumpet. And to him upon whom lies the care of all the churches, if I should dissemble, let me hear the Lord saying: "You reject the commandment of God, that you may establish your own traditions." For what else is it to reject the commandment of God, than to take more free delight, by private judgment and human counsel, in establishing new things?

2. He does not allow the statutes of our forefathers to be violated. Great care must be applied in the ordinations of clerics.

It has come, then, to the knowledge of the apostolic see that certain persons presume against the ecclesiastical canon, and that those things which have been so ordained by our forefathers that they ought not to be violated even by a slight whisper, are being replaced by certain new observances of their own devising; and that, the foundation being neglected, they wish to build upon sand, though the Lord says: You shall not remove the boundaries which your fathers established. This the holy Apostle also, preacher of the New and the Old Testament, in whom Christ spoke, admonishes, saying: Stand fast, and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word or by epistle. Wherefore your sincerity sees how great a care and diligent watchfulness of priests ought to be observed in sacred ministries or in your ordinations. Finally he says to Timothy: Lay hands hastily on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins.

This is mentioned for this reason, that, an examination having been held, he who is called forth to be able to receive the highest priesthood may be more commendable both for probity of character and for ecclesiastical labor—approved by judgment, not by favor; received by truth, not by grace; supported by apostolic order, not by rash will.

3. Siricius does not yield to ambitious men. Concerning which matter, dearest to me, letters of this kind have been sent before your sincerity, with the great consent of the brethren and fellow-priests, so that, this disposition of the ecclesiastical canon which was treated at Nicaea being confirmed by your subscription, it might remain most firmly established according to its merit: namely, that such men be permitted to come to the ecclesiastical order as apostolic authority commands—not such, I say, as those who once gloried, bound by the belt of secular military service.

These men, after they have exulted in worldly pomp, or have chosen to serve in the affairs of the republic, or to handle the cares of the world, having procured for themselves the aid of certain hands, and surrounded by the favor of their neighbors, are frequently thrust upon my ears as candidates to be bishops—men who, by tradition and evangelical discipline, cannot be so. With how great forces has this sometimes been contended for! But nothing of the sort could be extorted which reason does not compel. Let those to be ordained come even from afar, that they may be able to be approved worthy both by the judgment of the people and by ours.

Wandering monks are ordained by bishops so that they may spare expenses. How unlawful this is cannot be estimated—that transient persons (whether they pretend to be monks, or truly are what they call themselves), whose life we cannot know nor their baptism, whose faith we hold as unknown and unproven, are unwilling to assist with expenses, but are hastened at once either to be made deacons, or ordained priests, or, what is more grave, are not afraid to be established as bishops. Dearer to them is the giving of an expense to a passer-by than the priesthood. Not being restrained, they are thereby exalted into pride, and thence also quickly fall into faithlessness; because strangers, wandering over the whole world, are not said to learn the true faith in ecclesiastical matters.

Let not that be taken as law which necessity once or twice extorted. Certainly this too was not to be passed over: that what necessity, on account of heretics, has once or twice brought in contrary to apostolic precepts, should not be presumed to have begun to be lawful as though by law—namely, to ordain, without due consideration, a neophyte or a layman who has performed no ecclesiastical office, either as priest or as deacon: as though they were better than the Apostles, whose precept they dare to change. And he who has not learned is already compelled to teach. Is no one found fit among the clerics? Is none found, either among the deacons or among the other clerics, who may be held worthy of the priesthood; but is a layman demanded to the condemnation of the Church? I admonish that this be done no further. I proclaim that, having one faith, we ought also to be of one mind in tradition, proving ourselves unanimous and harmonious, peaceable in Christ, and to have charity in apostolic observances.

Therefore, in the midst of the Father and His only-begotten Son, and the Holy Spirit, and the Trinity of one Godhead, I entreat that in these things the catholic faith and our discipline may remain. Nor let anyone think that ordinations are made as if they were earthly matters, since the priesthood is heavenly, so that glory of the same dignity may remain to the faithful, and that hereafter, before the tribunal of Christ, he may have nothing to be accused of.

What sort of doctrine Jovinian's is, with the devil as its author. I would always wish, dearest brethren, to announce to the sincerity of your love and peace matters of joy, so that, letters running back and forth in turn, you might be aided by the report of my well-being. But because the ancient enemy, a liar from the beginning, the enemy of truth, the rival of man—whom, in order to deceive, he first deceived himself—does not allow us to rest quietly free from his attack; the adversary of chastity, the master of luxury, is fed by cruelty; deserving to be punished by abstinence, he hates fastings, his ministers preaching, while he says they are superfluous, having no hope of things to come, struck back by the sentence of the Apostle, who says: Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die.

2. How pernicious it was while it lay hidden.—O unhappy audacity! O cunning of a desperate mind!

Already the unknown speech of the heretics was creeping within the Church like a crab, so that, seizing the breast, it might cast the whole man headlong into death. And unless the Lord of Sabaoth had broken the snare which he had prepared, the show of so great an evil and the hypocrisy, once made public, would have drawn the hearts of many simple people into ruin: because the human mind is easily led toward the worse part, wishing to fly through open spaces rather than to pass with labor along the narrow way.

3. These things, having been detected and condemned.

Priests are present at weddings.—Wherefore it was sufficiently necessary, most beloved to me, to send word of what has been done here to your knowledge, lest, through the ignorance of any priest, the Church, invaded by the worst of men under a religious name, should be defiled by contagion: as it is written, the Lord saying: Many will come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves; by their fruits you shall know them. These, namely, are they who cunningly boast themselves Christians: so that, walking under the veil of a pious name, having entered the house of prayer, they pour forth the speech of serpentine disputation; that they may shoot at the upright of heart in darkness, and, turning them away from catholic truth, lead them over, in devilish fashion, to the madness of their own doctrine, and defraud the simplicity of the sheep.

And indeed we have learned the malice of many heresies from the apostles' time until now, and have proved it by experience: but never have such dogs wearied the mystery of the Church with their barking as those who now suddenly break forth as enemies of the faith, the doctrine of perfidy having sprouted, betraying by the fruits of their words whose disciples they are. For whereas other heretics have proposed to tear apart and rend, each some particular kind of questions, by misunderstanding the divine institutions; these men, not having the wedding garment, wounding Catholics, perverting the continence of the New and the Old Testament, as I have said, and interpreting by a devilish spirit, with seductive and feigned speech have begun already to lay waste a good many Christians, and to associate them with their own madness, holding within themselves the poison of their wickedness. But indeed they published their blasphemies by a rash writing, made public, and, roused by the fury of a desperate mind, spread them abroad everywhere in favor of the pagans.

But by most faithful Christians, men of the best birth, distinguished for their religion, a horrifying writing seemed suddenly to be brought to my humble self: so that, being detected by priestly judgment as contrary to the divine law, it might be blotted out by a spiritual sentence. We indeed do not spurn the vows of marriages, receiving them, at which we are present with a veil: but virgins whom marriage produces, devoted to God, we reward with greater honor. A council of presbyters, therefore, having been held, it was established that it was contrary to our doctrine, that is, to the Christian law.

4. The instigators of the new heresy are condemned.

Whence, following the precept of the Apostles, because they were announcing something other than what we received, know that there was one sentence of all of us, both of the priests and deacons, and also of the whole clergy, that Jovinian, Auxentius, Genialis, Germinator, Felix, Plotinus, Martianus, Januarius, and Ingeniosus, who were found to be the instigators of the new heresy and blasphemy, should, by divine sentence and by our judgment, remain forever condemned outside the Church. Not doubting that your holiness will keep this, I have directed these writings by my brothers and fellow-presbyters Crescens, Leopardus, and Alexander, who may be able to fulfill this religious office of faith with a fervent spirit.

To the most beloved brethren ANYSIUS and the other bishops established throughout Illyricum, SIRICIUS.

1. Judges given to Bonosus and his accusers.—I have received your letter concerning Bishop Bonosus, by which, whether for the sake of truth or of modesty, you wished to ascertain our judgment. But since the judgment of the Council of Capua was of this sort, that judges near at hand should be given to Bonosus and to his accusers, and especially Macedonians, who together with the bishop of Thessalonica might take cognizance of his acts: we perceive that the form of judging could not properly belong to us. For if the synod were still whole today, we would rightly decide upon the matters which the tenor of your writings comprises. It is yours, therefore, who have received this judgment, to pass sentence on all matters, and not to give opportunity of escaping or slipping away either to the accusers or to the accused. For you have received the place of the synod, you whom the synod chose for examining the matter.

2. Bonosus, planning to break into the church forbidden to him, is dissuaded by Ambrose.—Furthermore, when Bishop Bonosus, after your judgment, had sent to our brother Ambrose, to consult his opinion about breaking into and entering the church forbidden to him, it was answered him that nothing should be rashly attempted, but that everything should be conducted modestly, patiently, and in order, and that nothing should be tried against your sentence; that what seemed to you to accord with justice, you should decree, to whom the synod had given this authority. Therefore it is first of all necessary that those judge to whom the faculty of judging has been given: for you, as we have written, decide in the place of the whole synod; it is not fitting for us to judge as though by the authority of the synod.

3. Bonosus's error concerning the sons of Mary.

He favors the Jews.—We cannot indeed deny that it was rightly reprehended concerning the sons of Mary, and that your holiness deservedly abhorred that, from that same virginal womb from which Christ was born according to the flesh, another birth should have been poured forth. For the Lord Jesus would not have chosen to be born through a virgin, if he had judged her to be so incontinent that she would defile that genital chamber of the Lord's body, that hall of the eternal King, with the seed of human intercourse. For whoever asserts this asserts nothing else than the perfidy of the Jews, who say that he could not have been born of a virgin. For if they should receive this authority from priests, so that Mary might seem to have poured forth many offspring, they will strive with greater zeal to assail the truth of the faith.

4. He is refuted.—And where is that which is written, the Lord saying to his mother concerning John the Evangelist, Woman, behold your son: and again to John concerning Mary, Behold your mother? What does this mean, that when the Lord, placed on the cross, was taking away the sin of the world, he also pronounced concerning his mother's integrity? Or what else is meant, except that he might close the mouth of perfidy, and silence it, lest it dare to defile the mother of the Lord with any reproach? He himself, then, is a witness, the same arbiter, the same defender of maternal modesty, that she had been betrothed only to her husband Joseph, yet had known nothing of the rights of the marriage bed by any custom of conjugal intercourse. For he would not have wished to separate her, if she were to bear children by Joseph, from the companionship of her husband. But if this is too little, the Evangelist added his testimony, saying that the disciple took her into his own home.

Did he, then, make a divorce? Did he lead her away and take her from her husband? He, therefore, who reads this in the Gospel, how does he stagger and waver like a shipwrecked man? This, then, is the testament of the Son concerning the mother's integrity, this is Mary's rich inheritance of unspotted modesty, this is the very end and consummation of all. Finally, having said this, he gave up his spirit, consummating the whole mystery with a good outcome of devotion.

5. The governance of the Church committed.—We have also read and gone through everything concerning that matter, that Senecio has been given to our brother and fellow-bishop Bassus as a partner in ruling the Church, and concerning the other matters, on which we await the rule of your judgment.

That the knowledge of truth is to be sought; that one arrives at it by prayers. The Lord, among the other salutary commandments by which he exhorts and admonishes his disciples the apostles unto the hope of life, just as the words of the Gospel have taught us, also commands this: that we labor with care to arrive at the knowledge of truth. And first let us understand that things unknown are not to be attained by empty striving, but by labor and diligence, and that things not yet known are to be sought out by prayers. He commanded that things more known but nevertheless difficult be sought earnestly; that things which are closed are to be opened by the power of faith, knocking, and by seeking them through prayers, they ought to be unlocked. For thus it is written: Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.

Surely no one who does not ask receives, and he who does not seek finds not; and he who has not knocked, to him it cannot be opened. For this reason, since what is asked in faith is granted, and what was obscure becomes manifest to the understanding while it is being investigated, and what was closed to us is revealed by frequent knocking, that is, by asking. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened: wherefore to repeat the same things is indeed no trouble to me, for to you it is necessary. 2. That by the changing of traditions one falls into heresy. That answers to the traditions are rendered to the questions proposed.

We know, dearest brothers, that many bishops throughout various churches, to the very ill fame of their own name, have hastened by human presumption to change the tradition of the fathers, and through this cause have fallen into the darkness of heresy, while they delight rather to seek the glory of men than to obtain the rewards of God. Now therefore, since it is not for the sake of testing, but for the sake of confirming the faith, that your holiness has deigned to inquire, by the authority of the apostolic see, both concerning the knowledge of the law and concerning the traditions, wishing that the exposition of the questions proposed be made known to us more freely—which you seek sincerely and with longing—hear, as much as the divine condescension shall grant, though in humble speech yet with sound understanding, what is to be spoken to correct all those diversities which arrogance alone has presumed to set at variance, the divine Scripture saying: You have rejected the commandment of God, that you may establish your own traditions.

If therefore you desire with whole faith to recognize the true observances, deign to attend willingly to what I say. First in order is set forth the matter for the sake of modesty and chastity. Then the many questions gathered together shall be given forth. And so, to each proposition in its own order, the traditions must be rendered.

Concerning the veiled virgin who changed her resolve, what has been judged. It is asked concerning veiled virgins who have changed their resolve, what has thereupon been judged.

If a virgin already veiled to Christ, who having professed her integrity by public testimony, received the veil of blessing from the priest with prayer poured forth, whether she has committed incest secretly, or, wishing to cover the crime, has given the name of husband to the adulterer, taking away the members of Christ and making them the members of a harlot; so that she who had been the bride of Christ should be called the wife of a man: in such a woman, as many as are the causes, so many are the guilts; the resolve of integrity changed, the veil lost, the first faith depraved and rendered void. What and how great satisfaction is needed here! How great the penance of her who has incurred the death of the flesh! It is no small fault to have left God and to have gone after a man.

Wherefore she must weep for very many years, so that, by the fruit of a worthy penance accomplished, she may at some time be able to attain pardon, provided that, being penitent, she does the things that pertain to penance. 4. What is to be said of a girl not yet veiled, who likewise has fallen from her resolve. Likewise, a girl who is not yet veiled, but had proposed so to remain—although she is not veiled to Christ, yet because she had made the resolve, and is not veiled in marriage—such marriages are called clandestine, for the reason that she did not keep the precept of the heavenly marriage, love hastening on to the blindness of lust.

And for these a time of penance must be established: since, whether taken by force or willingly, she consented in perverse order to go to a man, and neither with the testimony of relatives nor of priests summoned did such women keep, with chaste modesty, the solemn order of the veil; but they acted contrary to the precept of the Old Testament. Those whom the Law commanded to be stoned are now, that vengeance having ceased, struck spiritually: so that, as though dead, they cannot enter the Church. Yet they have place for doing penance, though not quickly for pardon; since, if the girl had cried out according to the law, and having long protested had kept herself, she would certainly have been free from fault. It is therefore fitting for both, under the same fixed period of time, to be suspended from communion, to perform worthy penance, and by weeping, humility, fasting, and mercy to redeem the crime committed.

That bishops, priests, and deacons are bound by the law of continence. And indeed already our discourse on such matters has often flowed through many churches, especially concerning priests, whose merit requires that they be a model to the peoples of good works. But as far as I understand, since Scripture says: Speak to the ears of those who hear, we will pour instruction into ears. While the same things are often repeated, which are neglected by individuals, truly this is that which was said of the adulterous sex: Always learning, and never coming to the knowledge of the truth. For when what is usefully admonished is not observed, apostolic commands are despised as though unknown: yet the judgment concerning what they have committed cannot be changed. This concerning priests.

First in order it has been established concerning bishops, priests, and deacons, whose duty it is to be present at the divine sacrifices, through whose hands both the grace of baptism is conferred and the body of Christ is made; whom not only do we, but also the divine Scripture compels to be most chaste, and the fathers also ordered that they ought to keep bodily continence; wherefore let us not pass over this, but let us also state the reason. For with what shame has a bishop or priest dared to preach integrity or continence to a widow or a virgin, or to persuade her to keep a chaste bed, if he himself has pressed more toward begetting children for the world than for God? Adam, who did not keep the precept, was cast out of paradise and lost the kingdom; and do you think a transgressor can arrive at the heavenly kingdoms?

For which reason Paul says: You are now not in the flesh, but in the spirit; and likewise: And those who have wives, let them be as though they had none? Or does he who exhorts the people, flattering the levites and priests, grant license to perform carnal works, the same one who says: And make no provision for the flesh in its lusts; and elsewhere: But I would that all men were even as I myself? He who serves as a soldier for Christ, who sits in the seat of a master, can he not keep the discipline of his service?

6. That worshippers of idols, about to sacrifice to demons, imposed continence upon themselves. Concerning these three ranks, then, which we read of in the Scriptures, cleanness has been commanded to be observed by the ministers of God, for whom necessity is always at hand. For either baptism must be conferred, or sacrifices must be offered. Will an unclean man dare to defile what is holy, when things that are holy are holy to the holy?

Finally, those who offered sacrifices in the temple, that they might be clean, remained in the temple the whole year, by the sole merit of observance, being utterly ignorant of their own houses. Surely idolaters, that they may practice their impieties and sacrifice to demons, impose upon themselves continence from women, and to preserve widowhood, to keep faith to husbands which he himself did not keep in his former marriage: because certainly the life of the priest ought to outweigh, just as grace outweighs.

They also wish to be purified from foods: and do you ask me whether the priest of the true God, about to offer spiritual sacrifices, ought to be perpetually purified, or whether he, wholly in the flesh, ought to make provision for the flesh? If intercourse is defilement, certainly the priest ought to stand prepared for the heavenly office, he who has been asked on behalf of the sins of others; lest he himself be found unworthy. For if it is said to the laity: Abstain for a time, that you may be free for prayer, and yet they are subject to the creature by generation; priests can have such a name, but they cannot have the merit. But if this is so, and the presumption persists, it is now fitting that bishops or priests or deacons be taught not to be associated with the life of publicans.

Wherefore, dearest to me, I admonish that in men of this sort, defiled and unfaithful, in whom the sanctity of the body seems to be polluted through filth and incontinence, the mystery of God ought not to be entrusted, the very veneration of religion so persuading. For just reason itself separates them. Let them indeed hear: That flesh and blood shall not possess the kingdom of God, nor corruption incorruption. And does a priest or deacon dare to contend to be subject after the manner of animals?

7. That one who serves as a faithful soldier in the world is not thereby free from injustice. Likewise concerning him who has already served as a faithful soldier in worldly warfare, it is well known that he makes use of public liberty. For who can guard him? Who can deny that he has either been present at spectacles, or, driven by love of money, could not have been free from violence and injustice?

That one baptized who has fallen into fornication is not to be admitted to the clergy.

The Roman Church especially observes this: that if any child, baptized as an infant, has kept the integrity of the body, he can be admitted to the clergy; or if anyone, baptized as an adult, has remained chaste, a husband of one wife, he can be made a cleric, if he is bound by no other chains of crimes. But he who has corrupted, by carnal vices, the sacrament of the water, after fornication, even if he take a wife, how shall he be able to assist in the ministry of forgiving sins, he who has repeated the blindness of his former life? How is that understood: Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, and the rest of such, shall possess the kingdom of God, if there is no difference between good and evil, between the just and the impious, between the licentious and the chaste, between one who observes the law and a publican? Such men would become ministers or priests, not of Christ, but rather of Antichrist.

And where is that which the holy apostle Paul, who set forth the pattern of a bishop, of what sort he should be ordained, commanded beforehand, saying: Blameless, sober and chaste. How is he blameless here, who was not able to keep the sacrament of baptism? O new presumption! To this man the priesthood is entrusted, to whom only penance is due, so that, defiled, by long satisfaction he might be able to wash away the benefits of pardon.

9. That there should be one faith and one tradition. That apostolic discipline has established that there should be one confession of Catholic bishops

If therefore there is one faith, one tradition also ought to remain. If there is one tradition, one discipline ought to be observed throughout all the churches. Churches indeed have been founded in diverse regions: but throughout the whole world, by unity of the catholic faith, it is called one. For thus we also read: One is my dove, one is my perfect one, one to her that bore her. I am not therefore now writing back concerning the manner of baptism, but concerning the person of those who administer it.

That outside of Easter it is lawful for priests to confer baptism. That the same license is not granted to deacons.

At the time of Easter, priest and deacon have been accustomed, throughout the parishes, to give remission of sins and to fulfill the ministry, even when the bishop is present they too descend into the font; they are in the office, but the highest completion is granted to his name. But at other times, where the necessity of illness compels someone to seek it, it is specially permitted to the priest to give, through the grace of the saving water, the pardon of sins, since it is also permitted to him to offer the gift for the sake of cleansing; but to deacons no license is found to have been granted: but if it happens that they have once, by chance, presumed to do this, they are said to be excused on account of necessity, not to commit it thereafter with confidence.

11. Whether the anointing with exorcised oil ought to be repeated

Concerning the exorcised oil, whether a brief number of days is to be observed, much discourse profits in this matter. For by his own full faith one is purified. For if the chrism, poured upon the head, imparts its grace to the whole body, no less also, if one examined in the third scrutiny has been touched with oil, not often but once, God works by his own power in due time. 12. That it is not lawful to marry the sister of one's wife. Concerning him who has married the sister of his wife: in the law of the Old Testament it is written that, to raise up seed for a deceased brother, one ought to marry his wife, yet only if he had left no children by her. Hence it is that John the Baptist opposed Herod, because it was not lawful for him to take the wife, since his brother had left children behind.

Yet on account of male generation, the constitution of the Law commanded this to be done by the man: concerning women it is nowhere read, but perhaps only presumed. For the Law says: Cursed is he who has lain with his wife's sister. Was not Jacob, who had two sisters as wives at one time for the sake of a mystery, and concubines, and all who were born of them, called patriarchs—is it now not permitted for a Christian to have the like? Did not those have wives and concubines? But now the New Testament does not allow this to be done, wherein there is dealt with more fully concerning integrity, and chastity is praised, Christ teaching, when he says: Not all receive this word, but they to whom it is given.

That those who have exercised secular authority are not to be admitted to the ministry of the altar.

The taint of simony and popular favor are to be guarded against in elections. Moreover, it is manifest that those who, having obtained secular power, have exercised the right of the secular world, cannot be free from sin. For while the sword is drawn, or an unjust judgment is passed, or tortures are inflicted according to the necessity of causes, or care is taken in preparing pleasures, or one is present at those already prepared, in these things, associating themselves anew with what they had renounced, they have changed the discipline of observance handed down to them. They accomplish much for themselves if they do not aspire to the episcopate; but by doing penance for all these things, once a certain time has been fulfilled, they may deserve to be joined to the altars.

The Nicene Council, with the divine Spirit assenting, once the confession of faith had been rightly established, the bishops gathered together also wished the apostolic traditions to come to the knowledge of all, defining among other things that no one mutilated should be made a cleric, since the mutilated and the effeminate shall not enter into the sanctuary of God. Then, after the grace of baptism, the forgiveness of sins, when someone has gloried in the military service of the world, or him who has taken delight in the purple and the fasces, they ordered that such a one should by no means be admitted to the priesthood by any sudden intrusion. For it is by merits and by observances of the law that men come to the summit of such dignity, not by Simon's money, nor can anyone attain it by favor or by popular grace. For it is not what the people wish that is to be sought, but what the discipline of the Gospel requires.

The people then bear true testimony, whenever, rebuking the breath of favor, they give it to the merit of one who is worthy.

14. That it is not lawful to marry the wife of one's maternal uncle. Likewise concerning him who has married the wife of his maternal uncle. It is not lawful to marry the daughter of a maternal uncle: because a like cause of generation is separated and purged through the degrees of a father not one's own; but it is not lawful to go back again. For whoever presumes to violate the bed of his father or mother, this is not called marriage, but fornication. Whoever, however, has presumed to act contrary to the apostolic canons, is to be deprived of the priesthood, if he is obstinate; but if he corrects himself, let what was presumed be abolished, so that, being reconciled, he may be able to have our fellowship.

15. That laymen are not to be advanced to the episcopate.

In ordinations it must especially be observed that bishops should always be made from among the clergy. For thus it is written: And let these first be proved, and so let them minister. He who has not been proved to have ministered in a lesser office for a preceding time, how is he set before the clergy? It has never been heard of that one not yet a recruit should take up the command of soldiers. He therefore ought to be made bishop whom age, time, merit, and manner of life commend. Or why does the Apostle forbid a neophyte, and not permit that hands be quickly laid upon anyone?

16. That one must not move from church to church.—Likewise concerning those who pass from one church to another, they have been ordered to be regarded as if, having left their wife, they had gone to another; which cannot go unpunished. Such a bishop, an invader of another's honor, they have ordered to be deprived of his episcopate.

That clerics cast out by their own bishop are not to be received or promoted by others.—Likewise concerning clerics belonging to others, it has often been discussed and confirmed by the synod, and just reason constrains, that clerics cast out of the church by their own bishop cannot receive even lay communion in another church, which has been confirmed and made clear, since even one who is innocent cannot minister in another church without letters from his own bishop, or a formal letter. But if anyone presumes to do this to the injury of a priest, and wishes to receive or promote a condemned cleric, let him know that he has shared in the sins of another, and has incurred the sentence of the Apostle, who says that not only those who act against the law are guilty, but also those who consent to those who so act. Hence it must be left to the conscience of him who has judged concerning his own cleric, knowing that God is to judge concerning his judgment in the time to come.

Hear the Lord saying: Whatever you wish that men should do to you, do also the same to them. Why do you arm yourself to the injury of a brother and fellow priest? For when a cast-out cleric is not only received as though guiltless, but even promoted, the bishop is judged unjust. Whoever does this, let him know that he is cut off from the fellowship of Catholics, and can no longer have communion with the Apostolic See.

18. That it is not lawful to celebrate ordinations in another's territory.—This too is grave enough, and contrary to the episcopal moderation of the Apostolic See, that one should exceed his own bounds, hasten to another's region, and celebrate ordinations, not permitting the metropolitan bishop by the precepts to act in his own diocese together with the neighboring bishops, as the 318 bishops confirmed, that three bishops or more ought to ordain a bishop, or substitute the most worthy one. If anyone indeed invades the bounds of another's possession, he is judged guilty of violence.

Why is there such haste? Why such hurry, that the ecclesiastical rule be trampled underfoot? Human laws are kept, and divine precepts are despised. The present sword is feared, and temporal punishment: but divine vengeance, which holds the everlasting flames of Gehenna, is neglected. You have seen what such presumption has done. Hence, if anyone in another's diocese dares to presume to perform an ordination, let him know that he may endanger his own standing, he who has presumed to invade another's church. This is nothing secular, these are not worldly promotions. Let us hear the Apostle saying: Lay hands hastily on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins: keep thyself pure. If the Scriptures are read, and the fear of God is in us, all scandals can be removed, and unanimity, calm and full of charity, can stand firm among all the brethren.

19. That laymen excommunicated by their own bishop are not to be advanced into the clergy by another.—Moreover, it is also said that laymen, having been excluded from communion for a known cause, have been made clerics by another bishop: this is beyond every evil. Hence let those who have dared to do such things either be summoned and correct themselves, so that those upon whom orders have been unworthily conferred may be removed, or let their names be reported to us, that we may know from whom we ought to abstain.

20. Let your sincerity therefore know, that if all these things are observed in their order, as they are established, God is not offended, no schisms are generated, no heresies arise: but the Gentiles will say that truly God is among us—Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with the Father together with the Holy Spirit, for ages everlasting. Amen.