Letters and Decretals

It has pleased the apostolic see, that if anyone from any part of the Gauls, under whatever ecclesiastical rank, strives to come to us at Rome, or arranges to go elsewhere in the world, he shall not proceed otherwise than after he has received letters formed by the metropolitan bishop of Arles, by whose corroborating writing he may fully declare his priesthood, or the ecclesiastical place which he holds. We have decreed this for this reason: because very many, feigning themselves to be bishops, presbyters, or ecclesiastics, since no document of formed letters exists by which they might be refuted, creep in under the name of veneration, and obtain undeserved reverence. Whoever therefore, dearest brothers, having omitted the aforesaid formed letter, whether bishop, or presbyter, or deacon, or of whatever lower rank besides, shall come to us, let him know that he cannot be received at all. It is manifest that we have sent this authority everywhere, so that it may become known to all regions that what we have decreed is in every way to be observed.

But if anyone shall attempt to violate these things salubriously established, let him know that he has separated himself of his own accord from our communion. This privilege of formed letters, moreover, we have granted specially to our holy brother and fellow bishop Patroclus, in consideration of his merits.

We have moreover commanded that the metropolitan bishop of the city of Arles hold, as he has always held, the chief authority in the ordaining of priests. Let him recall to his pontificate the provinces of Vienne, Narbonensis Prima, and Narbonensis Secunda. But whosoever hereafter, contrary to the statutes of the apostolic see and the precepts of our forefathers, shall, having passed over the metropolitan bishop, presume to ordain anyone in the aforesaid provinces, or he who has allowed himself to be ordained unlawfully, let each of them know that he is deprived of the priesthood. For how can he obtain the authority of the supreme pontiff, who has scorned to preserve what belonged to the pontiff?

We admonish all indeed, that each be content with his own boundaries and territories: for this confusion of usurping what belongs to another is barbarous and impious. We admonish concerning this matter, that a complaint may not further return to us. For the church of Arles has given an example, which rightly desires that the parishes of Citharista and Gargarius, situated within its own territory, be incorporated to itself: so that henceforth no priest may presume upon the injury of another priest. Indeed, since the ancient privilege of the metropolitan city of Arles is by no means to be derogated, to which first from this see the highest bishop Trophimus was sent, from whose fountain all the Gauls received the streams of faith; therefore let it possess with unimpaired authority whatever parishes in whatever territories, even outside its own provinces, as it anciently had. To whose notice, we judge, whatever business arises there should be referred, unless the greatness of the case require our examination as well.

Given the eleventh day before the Kalends of April, in the consulship of Honorius Augustus for the eleventh time and Constantius for the second time.

ZOSIMUS to AURELIUS and to all the bishops established throughout Africa, most beloved brothers in the Lord, greeting.

1. Great matters of examination demand great weight, so that the scale of judgment may not be inferior to the very things that are being transacted. To these is added the authority of the apostolic see, to which, in honor of the most blessed Peter, the decrees of the fathers have sanctioned a certain peculiar reverence. We must pray, therefore, and pray unceasingly, that by the continual grace and perpetual help of God, from this fountain into the whole world the peace of faith and of catholic fellowship may be sent, unclouded by any mists. For charity, which, as it is written, is God, rejoices in the perfect abundance of fullness; while if it should have any suspicion, a contention, whether solicitous through anxious concern for the faith or protracted a long time, is corrected by amendment.

2. The presbyter Coelestius thrust himself upon our examination, seeking to be cleared of those things which had been reported to the apostolic see about him otherwise than was fitting. And although many occupations, with the greater bonds of ecclesiastical business, were drawing away our care and solicitude, nevertheless, lest the expectation of your fraternity concerning the arrival and discussion of the aforesaid should hang longer in suspense, having set aside all else, on the day of hearing we sat in the basilica of Saint Clement, who, imbued with the teachings of the blessed apostle Peter, corrected under such a master the errors of the ancients, and had made such progress that he even consecrated by martyrdom the faith which he had learned and taught: namely, that the authority of so great a priest might be an example to the present inquiry, unto a wholesome chastisement.

3. We therefore discussed all the things which had previously been done, as you will learn from the instruction of the proceedings attached to this letter; and Coelestius having been admitted, we caused his petition, which he had presented, to be read out: nor content with this, we repeatedly examined whether he spoke these things which he had written from the heart, or with the lips only; since the judgment of hidden things of the mind can belong to our God alone, to whom not only thoughts already conceived, but thoughts yet to be conceived, are present. We have judged it more concise that what his words contain be known to your holiness by reading it.

4. One thing indeed moves us, that although you had Coelestius there present, nothing was clearly judged. As to the letters of Heros and Lazarus sent with the former report, it is most evident indeed that this was done in undue haste, out of the fervor of faith.

But when he was questioned about these matters, he asserted that he had never had any conversation about such contentions with the aforesaid; nor had he been known to them by sight before they wrote about him; Lazarus indeed he knew only in passing; but Heros too, having offered satisfaction, had parted with him graciously, because he had thought otherwise of one unknown and absent. It was without doubt fitting, given so frail and groundless a basis for an unknown accusation, that the character of such men, which had proved so windy and light, should be inquired into, if only it were established that they had some accounting of their place and of their life, such that trust ought to be given to the absent concerning the absent, and such weight placed in their letters as to merit the authority of testimony.

It became clear that these men, ordinations having been disregarded, with people and clergy protesting, unknown and foreigners, had claimed priesthoods within the Gauls, which they themselves abdicated by their own sentence; and we, though following other matters too, yet chiefly their own repentance and confession concerning themselves, removed them from the priestly office and from all communion. It weighs heavily enough that the case proceeded from such men, by letters, in an accusation against one absent, when he defends himself present, when he expounds his faith, when he challenges his accuser.

5. It has never been regretted to have turned a judgment toward the better.

A youth, and an instrument of the Holy Spirit, found Susanna, condemned by the falsehood of the elders, to be innocent. She who is feigned unchaste by the aged is brought back from punishment, chaste, through a boy. Not every spirit, therefore, as it is enjoined, is to be believed; but it must be weighed and examined with lengthy deliberation, especially concerning the faith of a man, where his standing and his whole life are at stake. Nor did the inquiry of truth deceive Solomon in the dispute over the childbirth. For he did not at once, when the two women were quarrelling with each other, adjudge the one pledge: but there the arbiter, hesitant in trust, found where he perceived the affection of true piety. It is quite rare that a long and chastened hesitation does not arrive at the resting-place of truth. It is the mark of the best mind to believe evil things with greater difficulty.

For many, to whose good confession about themselves credence is given too reluctantly, are forced by necessity into the abyss of that very error; and an irremediable wound is made of what is despaired of being healed.

6. Hence in the present case we have judged nothing premature or immature, but have made known to your holiness our examination concerning the settled faith of Coelestius: to whom also the earlier petition, made by him within Africa, ought to have been available to you as testimony, lest credence be given too readily to unexamined things bandied about by rumor. Wherefore, within the second month, either let those come who will refute him as present, as holding otherwise than he has set forth in his petitions and profession; or let your holiness know that, after these things so open and manifest which he has brought forward, no doubt remains settled.

7. Coelestius himself indeed, and whatever priests were present at the time from various regions, I admonished, that these snares of questions and idle contests, which do not build up but rather tear down, flow forth from that contagion of curiosity; while each one abuses, by his own wit and intemperate eloquence, the above-mentioned matters: since in this even the writings of great men sometimes come into peril, along with their very authors, after a long series of ages, at the discretion of the interpreter: so that it was divinely foretold that sin is not avoided by much speaking; and holy David rightly asked for a watch upon his lips, and a guard upon his mouth.

8. I admonish your charity, both by the authority of the apostolic see and by mutual affection of love, that your minds now submit themselves to the precepts and observances of all the holy Scriptures, which have been received according to the tradition of the fathers and forefathers. What is not abundant there?

What is not full of the Spirit of God and of his voices? Unless one prefers each to trust more in himself, and to use his own judgment about himself. Given, in the consulship of Honorius Augustus for the eleventh time and Flavius Constantius.

Zosimus bishop to Aurelius and to all the bishops established throughout Africa, most beloved brothers in the Lord, greeting.

1. After the presbyter Coelestius was heard by us, and clearly expressed what he held concerning the faith, and confirmed by repeated professions the same things which he had set forth in his petition, we sent a fuller writing to your love concerning his case.

2. Behold, we have received the letter of Praylius, bishop of Jerusalem, who was ordained bishop in the place once held by holy John, who intervened as a most earnest supporter of the cause of Pelagius. The same Pelagius likewise sent his own letter containing his vindication most abundantly, in which he heaped up, without any disguise, the faith of his profession—what he followed, what he condemned—so that the snares of every kind of interpretation might cease. There was a public reading of these letters: they contained matters altogether equal, and formed with the same sense and sentiments, as those which Coelestius had earlier set forth.

Would that any of you, most beloved brothers, could have been present at the reading of the letters! What joy there was among the holy men who were present! What amazement in each! Some could scarcely restrain themselves from weeping and tears, that men of such settled faith could even have been defamed. Is there any place where the grace of God, or his help, has been omitted? For whoever can even in mind conceive of anything apart from that same grace, he too is not exempt from that heavenly sentence which was passed concerning the Holy Spirit, that neither here nor in the world to come shall pardon or remission be granted him.

3. I see also that this Pelagius is being defamed by the writings of Heros and Lazarus. Has it then, most beloved brothers, not even reached your ears, by common report, who these whirlwinds and storms of the Church are? Has the life and condemnation of these men truly remained hidden from you?

But although the special authority of the apostolic see has removed them from all communion, learn also from this letter, though briefly, the character of these men. It is an old habit of Lazarus to accuse innocence. Through many councils the devilish accuser was found against our holy fellow bishop Britius of the city of Tours. From Proculus of Marseilles, in the synod of the town of Turin, he received the sentence of a calumniator. By this same Proculus, after many years, he is made a priest, the defender of a tyrant's judgment, of the city of Aix: when the sentence, passed under compulsion, was being resisted, he burst into the very sanctuary and priestly throne, well-nigh besprinkled with the blood of the innocent. And there the shadow of priesthood stood in him thus far, so long as the image of empire stood in the tyrant: from which place, after the destruction of his patron, he stripped himself of his own accord, and condemned himself by his own resignation.

Concerning Heros likewise all things are similar: the same tyrant his patron, slaughters, tumults, the chains and imprisonments of the presbyters who resisted, and the condemnation of the whole city, a like penitence in the abdication of priesthood. It is a marvel if these men, who contrived so much against their brothers and fellow bishops, who brought back so many storms upon the Church, refrained from striking down with false letters a layman striving toward good fruit by long service to God. It is not fitting for episcopal authority, and especially for your prudence, to hang upon the writings of light whisperers. Behold, Pelagius and Coelestius are ready with their letters and their confessions before the apostolic see: where is Heros, where is Lazarus, names to be blushed at for their deeds and for so many condemnations? Where are those young men, that is, Timasius and James, who, as was asserted, wrote certain things?

Judge for yourselves, if such men make confessions of this kind before the apostolic see, whether it is fitting that those things which have been bandied about concerning the same men by wicked and light authors and by doubtful rumor should be believed.

4. Love peace, cherish charity, strive for concord. For it is written: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Who are more each other's neighbors than all who ought to be one in Christ? Not every wind that enters your ears is a messenger of truth: and therefore a mind ever presiding and set as if on watch is always needed, lest everything be granted to rumor, everything to witnesses. Recall the sacred Scriptures and the divine records: false witnesses have occupied the greatest part, wherever we find either an accusation or perils of the saints: the greatest part, I say, nay rather the whole, since against our very Lord and Savior himself, the sacrifice and saving high priest of the whole world, false witnesses rose up, who pretended that they had heard blasphemy from him.

Consider then what deceit can now be thought incapable of passing, which has made its assault, by perjuries, upon faith in God itself, nay upon faith and truth themselves.

5. We have written these things for this reason, that henceforth, if any absent persons and persons less well known shall lie about anyone in such matters out of malice, your feet may stand firm against the ram of deceit. Whence also the holy man prays for a lamp for his feet and a light for his paths: that is, lest amid deceitful darkness our steps be blind and wandering. And in the Gospel: Does our law judge a man, unless it have first heard from him, and known what he does? Also in the Old Testament: Thou shalt not believe an empty rumor, and thou shalt not consent to become an unjust witness in league with the wicked.

And lest perchance one should believe the multitude of detractors before the examination of judgment, he adds, saying, Thou shalt not follow a multitude in evildoing, and thou shalt not accept sin through them. And again elsewhere: Before thou inquire, blame no man; and when thou hast inquired, rebuke justly. And again: Speak what thine eyes have seen. And in the Acts of the Apostles, against the chief priests and elders of the Jews demanding the condemnation of the absent apostle Paul, the gentile tribune Festus pronounced a most just sentence, which it is fitting that we too set before the face of believers to their shame, saying, It is not the custom of the Romans to condemn any man before the accused has his accusers present, and receives opportunity of defense to clear away the charges. If then one placed outside the enclosure of our faith held to this moderation, against the priestly sense of shame, altogether unworthy is the credulity of the absent toward the absent.

For how few indeed will be found free of a wound, if to every blow of the striker a credulous breast is laid open.

6. Let earthly moderation teach us—what care there is, in secular judgments and causes, first about the very choosing and rejecting of judges, and how much delay; how many postponements are interposed; how often the continuance of the case is checked: even at the very end of the contest the trials are extended for an innocent defendant. Recourse is had to the sea and to evidence from beyond the sea, so that trust, which in the present is often strangled by narrower straits, may at least come from afar. May I be found a liar in all this, unless these things were devised for the protection of guarding innocence. For it is more tolerable that any innocent man be found more slowly, than that he be quickly condemned as guilty.

7. It was a burden for Lazarus and Heros to be the bearers of their own letters.

Did they not know that your charity would refer the matter to the apostolic see? To this place, by the surest shortcut of calumny, they would have sailed. Where the seeking of a bishopric is at stake, they scour seas and lands, and omit no support they can gather. But where the reputation of the innocent is being struck down, idle and pampered men, whether accusers or witnesses (for in both cases those who deceive bear an infamous name), abuse letters from their couches and little beds; and these two plagues, to satisfy their own lusts, cloud over all Africa, and the whole tranquil serenity of catholic peace. Before the tribunal of Christ we shall all stand: there no one will be able to be absent, nor can anyone decline the judgment of the Lord, whose immensity is present in all places and all things.

8. If it was dear to the heart of our God, for the sake of the lost sheep, that the Word be made flesh, and that from being the Lord he should take on the form of a servant, so as to restore a liberty long intercepted; let it be your joy to recognize that those whom false judges accused had never been separated from our body and the catholic truth. Surely this, which your expectation desired, has come to light—that those things worthy of condemnation should be condemned, and those worthy of being followed should be followed. If the father of the household rejoiced at the return of his son, who had been dead and came to life again; who had been lost, and was found; and ordered that a clean robe be brought for his use, that is, the mark of a bright mind, and the fatted calf; how much richer is this exultation of faith, that they of whom false things were spread abroad are neither dead, nor lost?

We have therefore sent to your charity copies of the writings which Pelagius sent: the reading of which, we do not doubt, will bring you joy in the Lord concerning his absolved faith. Given on the 11th day before the Kalends of October.

Zosimus to Aurelius and all the bishops established throughout Africa, to all the bishops established throughout Gaul and the seven provinces, to all the bishops established throughout Spain, greeting as to equals.

1. When one comes against the decrees of the fathers, injury is done not only to the prudence and judgment of those who sanctioned things to endure for ages, but in a certain manner to the faith itself and to catholic discipline. For what is so holy and venerable as not to deviate at all from the path of our forefathers, whose canonical decrees are, as it were, certain foundations laid to bear the weight of the faith?

But nothing less has been done by Ursus and Tuentius, of whom one, though treated by the constant medicine of this see, could not attain to the health of an amended error; the other indeed, some years ago removed on account of an accusation brought against him, as the writings of citizens attest or as documents submitted have shown, even received the rank of chief priest from that very man by whom he had before been condemned. Blind error in both, so that—which is the chief point in all this—he neither wishes to hold to others' judgment concerning Tuentius, nor his own concerning Ursus.

2. But suppose that the men's characters were honorable and their endorsements approved: what of this, that our brother Patroclus, metropolitan bishop of the city of Arles, being passed over—without whose authority, according to the canons of our forefathers, absolutely no ordination could be celebrated—priesthoods are thrust tumultuously and in disorder upon the undeserving?

Not even were the bishops of the same province called together, so that the error might at least be covered by some veil: but Lazarus, long ago condemned as a slanderer by the sentences of the gravest bishops in the council of Turin, when he had assailed the life of the innocent bishop Britius with false accusations, afterward obtained an undeserved priesthood from that same Proculus, who had sat among the others in the synod of his condemnation, from which he himself, by the conscience of his own life, removed himself of his own accord by letters of abdication. It was in truth incongruous that a man, unfit for the priesthood, stripped of it by his own confession, and passing over the metropolitan, should likewise ordain a priest. And that nothing might be done otherwise than out of season, not even the lawful day of ordination is observed: namely, so that those who lacked everything else should also lack the lawful time.

What can be added to so many and so great things set aside by wicked usurpation, except this final thing, which surpasses the whole error—that they were installed in territories not their own, which from ancient times belong to the city of Arles? If a single fault of this kind had occurred in such matters, the authority of the apostolic see would have overturned even the rest as well. Here many things concur: the ordination of wicked and condemned men, the passing-over of the metropolitan, and likewise of the provincial priests, the most shameless usurpation of others' territories, not even the solemnity of the day observed, and Lazarus admitted as partner in the illicit ordination. All these things have been examined among us with records and testimonies.

3. And would that in Tuentius only depraved morals, and not also the Priscillianist superstition, had been exposed! Which the kindness and mercy of this see formerly wished to provide for in his case, that he might remain more amended thereafter.

If he had wished to observe more carefully this benefit granted to him almost without precedent, it behooved him to repent of his past error, not to hasten with such headlong impulse to the priesthood, so as neither to observe the ancient solemnity of the day, which ought especially to have been kept, nor to believe that he must abstain from an undue place.

4. Concerning which matter we have directed letters to your holiness and throughout the whole world, wherever and into whatever lands the sound of the catholic religion has gone forth, dearest brethren, that you may not consider Tuentius and Ursus to be received into the communion of the Church, in whatever ecclesiastical rank, from which they are altogether anathematized. For they are said to be wandering impostors, as we have recognized from the sentences pronounced by priestly authority in their condemnation, which they incurred in various regions. Rotten flesh must be removed from the holy body, and sour and detestable leaven from the mass of sanctification.

Of which matters it was a matter of modesty to write more, since it was no matter of shame to them to have done such things.

5. We have, however, ordered that the metropolitan bishop of Arles retain the preeminence which he has always had.

6. We indeed admonish all, that each be content with his own boundaries: for it is a barbarous and impious confusion to lay claim to what belongs to another. Concerning this matter, let it not come to us again. Given on the 10th day before the Kalends of October, in the consulship of Honorius Augustus for the 11th time and Constantius for the 2nd time.

Zosimus to the bishops of the province of Vienne and of Narbonensis Secunda, greeting as to equals.

Proculus has been detected to have usurped many things contrary to ancient form, in unduly celebrating the ordinations of certain persons, which we recently examined in a thorough investigation: although he himself, long awaited, disdainfully bearing the delay allotted him, pretends not to come together with us. Yet that presumption moved us not a little, that in the council of Turin, when quite another matter was being treated, he thought fit to steal, to the injury of the apostolic see, an authority—as though he were metropolitan—over the ordaining of priests in the province of Narbonensis Secunda, procuring it by the begged-for connivance of that council. And lest he alone should seem, by shamelessly demanding what was not his due, to have brought this insult upon this see, he took to himself as an ally Simplicius of the city of Vienne, who with no less shamelessness demanded that to himself also, in the province of Vienne, the decision over the creation of priests be permitted.

An unseemly presumption, to be cut off at its very threshold, to extort this from bishops holding a council for definite reasons—that which, against the decrees of the fathers and the reverence due to holy Trophimus, who was first sent as metropolitan of the city of Arles from this see, not even the authority of this see itself could grant or alter. For among us antiquity lives with unshaken roots, to which the decrees of the Fathers have sanctioned reverence. And since we command that what has been interrupted return to its proper order, dearest brethren, let the bishop of the metropolitan city of Arles, from the time of Trophimus onward, possess with inviolable authority—strengthened through the ages—the sequence of ordination in both the Narbonensian provinces and in Vienne. Given on the 3rd day before the Kalends of October, in the consulship of Honorius Augustus for the 11th time and Constantius for the 2nd time.

Zosimus to Hilary, bishop of the province of Narbonensis Prima.

1. We were greatly astonished, when at our more diligent inquiry your report concerning the ordaining of priests in the province Narbonensis Prima was read, that while you wished your assertion and your desires to be provided for, having set aside the truth, you colored your report under the appearance of propriety, asserting that in another's province priests ought not to be made by another: whereas surely you ought to have suggested, not what seemed right to you, but what ancient custom had held. And so that which you are shown to have obtained surreptitiously from the apostolic see is rendered void, since it is sufficiently established that this was granted by ancient institution to the priest of the church of Arles, that he should make bishops not only in the province of Vienne, but also throughout both Narbonensian provinces.

For Trophimus, priest of holy memory, once sent from the apostolic see to the city of Arles, was the first to show forth to those regions the reverence of so great a name, and not undeservedly transferred to other regions that authority which he had received; and this custom of ordaining, and the pontificate of that place which he, first and rightful, had obtained, kept up until quite recent times, is approved by the testimonies of many fellow bishops in records held among us.

2. Therefore, although the records held alone at the apostolic see might have sufficed; nevertheless we constrain you also by this authority, that you may know a limit of just prescription has been set upon your presumption, which you seemed to have raised up against ancient custom, and that you may not think that the pontificate over the ordaining of priests is to be claimed further by you: since you see this conferred upon the bishop of the city of Arles both through the apostolic see, and through the reverence of holy Trophimus, and through ancient custom, and by our own most evident recent decision. If you attempt anything against these things, dearest brother, which have been established by us under the judgment of God: not only will those whom you believe should be made bishops be unable to obtain the episcopate, but you yourself also, separated from catholic communion, will too late lament your illicit presumptions.

Given on the 6th day before the Kalends of October, in the consulship of Honorius Augustus for the 11th time and Constantius for the 2nd time.

ZOSIMUS to Patroclus, bishop of Arles.

1. What I have decided concerning the condemnation of Proculus, your conscience holds fast, since you were present at my examination: nor is the authority of our records unknown to you, nor of the writings which we have directed concerning his condemnation to the various parts of the world. Wherefore consider the dignity and person of the metropolitan in yourself, established also by the authority of the apostolic see: into which place Proculus had furtively crept, usurping it through an undue synod. Whoever, therefore, comes from whatever regions of Gaul, under whatever ecclesiastical name or rank, let them know that formed letters, having been made known through you, are to be sent to us: otherwise they will have themselves to blame, if, this solemn requirement being set aside, they attempt to come to us without consulting you, ineffectually; which it will be fitting to observe from the bishops down to the lowest ecclesiastical rank, dearest brother.

2. And since certain persons, coming to the Church from whatever military service, immediately by a kind of leap aspire to the highest place of religion, which is wont to be deferred, after careful examination, for those who arrive by stages through ecclesiastical stipends: therefore, since we cannot invalidate what has been done in some cases, if any have already been ordained, they must remain in that grade to which they arrived by a sudden leap. For if the Apostle commands that a neophyte not immediately be heaped up with the priesthood, and the statutes of the canons have sanctioned this same thing, we add this by our own decision, that whoever hereafter shall be believed to be advanced either to the highest priesthood, or to the grade of presbyter or of deacon, let him know that he will suffer the loss of his own grade, and that what has been conferred upon him will not be valid for him: so that at least fear may remove henceforth from precipitate ordination those whom examined scrutiny ought to have restrained.

Let our writing come to the notice of all faces; that you may know that not even this itself is permitted to you, which is forbidden to all. Given on the 6th day before the Kalends of October, in the consulship of Honorius XI and Constantius II.

ZOSIMUS to HESYCHIUS, bishop of Salona.

Your love demands the precept of the apostolic see, in which the decrees of the Fathers agree, and you signify that certain persons from the popular assembly of monks, whose solitude is greater than any crowd, but also laymen, hasten toward the priesthood. But it is established that this has been especially forbidden both under our predecessors and recently by us, letters having been sent to Gaul and Spain, in which regions this presumption is habitual, although Africa also is not held to be a stranger to this admonition of ours, lest anyone at all, contrary to the precepts of the fathers, who has not been imbued in order with ecclesiastical disciplines, and instructed by the approval of time in divine stipends, should presume in any way to aspire to the highest priesthood of the Church: and not only should ambition be held ineffective in such a one, but also his ordainers, so that they should be deprived of that order which, without order, contrary to the precepts of the Fathers, they had believed might be presumed.

Whence we marvel that the statutes of the apostolic see had not been brought to your love. We praise, therefore, the constancy of your resolve, dearest brother, nor was any other kind of authority to be expected from the ancient censure of your pontificate, than that you should meet such ambitions, on behalf of the precepts of the Fathers, standing in the front line of the faith.

2. Therefore if you judge that anything was lacking to your authority, which we do not think, we supply it. Resist such ordinations, resist coming pride and arrogance. The precepts of the Fathers stand with you, the authority of the apostolic see stands with you.

For if secular offices confer the foremost place not upon those entering the very threshold of action, but through very many grades tested by time: who is found so arrogant, so shameless, that in the heavenly warfare, which must be weighed more carefully, and, like gold, tested by repeated fires, he should desire immediately to be a leader, when he has not first been a recruit, and wishes to teach before he learns? Let him grow accustomed in the camp of the Lord, first in the grade of readers, to the rudiments of divine service; nor let it seem base to him to become in order exorcist, acolyte, subdeacon, deacon: not by a leap, but by ordination at the times fixed by our elders. Then indeed let such a one approach the summit of the presbyterate, so that his age fulfill the name, and the merit of his uprightness be attested by his past service. Justly from there he ought to hope for the place of the highest pontiff.

3. This excessive laxity of our fellow priests brings this about, who seek the pomp of a multitude, and think that some dignity is acquired for themselves from this crowd. Hence everywhere a numerous popularity of such men is found even in these places where there is solitude, while they desire their parishes to be extended, or grant divine orders to those to whom they can bestow nothing else. This ought always to be a matter of strict judgment. For everything that is great is rare.

Accordingly, lest we should derogate anything from the merits of your love, we have directed this writing chiefly to you, which is to go into the notice of the faces of all our brothers and fellow bishops, not only of those who are in that province, but also of those who are joined to your love from neighboring provinces. Let whoever, having set aside the authority of the Fathers and of the apostolic see, shall have neglected this, know that he will be more strictly punished by us; so that he need not doubt that the account of his place does not stand secure for him, if he thinks that, after so many prohibitions, this can be attempted with impunity. For whatever is so often usurped though forbidden is done out of a desire for insult.

Now these times are to be observed for each individual grade. If from infancy he has given his name to ecclesiastical ministries, let him remain among the readers, by continuous observance, until the twentieth year of his age. If he should come already older and advanced in years, yet so that, immediately after baptism, if he desires to be enlisted in the divine warfare, he be held for a five-year period either among the readers or among the exorcists: from there let him be acolyte or subdeacon for four years; and thus let him approach the blessing of the diaconate, if he merits it; in which order he ought to remain fixed for five years, if he has conducted himself blamelessly. From there, with his services concurring, through so many grades given as proofs of his own fidelity, he shall be able to merit the priesthood of the presbyterate. From which place, if a more exacting life shall have led him on to good morals, he ought to hope for the highest pontificate.

This law, however, being observed, that neither a twice-married man, nor a penitent, may be admitted to these grades. Indeed, that the defenders of the church also, who are made from laymen, be held to the above-mentioned observance, if they shall have merited to be in the order of the clergy. Given on the 9th day before the Kalends of March, our lords Honorius XII and Theodosius VIII, Augusti, being consuls.

Since you have both learned in the present matter, and have yourself been warned by our frequent letters, that by the authority of a metropolitan, which we confirmed to you by the pronouncement of the apostolic see, you should meet by suppression the audacities and attempts of Proculus, by which he still thinks he can disturb certain things, standing firm with the rigor and censure which you had undertaken for the confirmation of the rules, since indeed you knew that our office had been delegated to you, and you knew that he had been condemned: I marvel what is now permitted to Proculus after these things, or that there is leisure for him either to continue what he was accustomed to do, or to commit worse things.

Why does he not consider whence you have this power of yours, dearest brother, so that we have decreed, and do decree, that whoever of them come to our regions are not to be received without your letters of recommendation, nor is anyone to be approved whom you yourself, being placed in the province, have not approved? After this delegation a rumor came to us that Proculus, as it were sporting in his accustomed way and using his own habits, joined to himself certain men suited to disturbances, and ordained after those things which we had forbidden him. But let those to whose notice we wish this letter to come, know that they can by no means be received, who have been ordained either suddenly contrary to the rules, or after we forbade him. Given on the 3rd day before the Nones of March, Honorius XII and Theodosius VIII, Augusti, being consuls.

I do not marvel that Proculus has grown insolent still with his accustomed brow; I have judged it worth the effort, so that everyone may notice how the writings of the saints may be corrupted, and thus, defiled, may nevertheless sometimes be read with some authority; he rages and, utterly forgetful of shame, commits daily deeds worthy of condemnation, and never to desist, so that, though so often admonished and forbidden, he does not cease. Behold, he confounds the assembly of your love with his own disturbance, by which alone he is known: nor does he allow the Church to be at peace, since he always acts by his own doings, in such a way that, heaping the latest evils upon the former, he makes worse some evil which he had committed before. Though he himself is now no bishop, he makes bishops, and, a generous giver as a mere man, says he can bestow on others what, having been given to him at one time undeservedly, he was unable to retain.

He adds to himself and joins to himself men of restless mind, and those who alone can favor a condemned man, through whom he may accomplish, relying on this fellowship of his, whatever he, eager for disturbances, contrives. But I have, dearest brothers, care for you, being troubled that whatever he does by daily audacities, you, a Christian people, and one that persists in our charity, are able to endure, and not to oppose his deeds, or resist his attempts. Therefore, although I had already entrusted care of you in earlier letters to your metropolitan of the province and our brother and fellow bishop Patroclus, I again entrust it: that, made safe by his counsel and formed according to the rule of discipline, obeying his directions, you may be able to receive a worthy bishop. Given on the 3rd day before the Nones of March, Honorius XII and Theodosius VIII, Augusti, being consuls.

ZOSIMUS to AURELIUS and the rest, who were present at the Council of Carthage, dearest brothers, greeting in the Lord.

1. Although the tradition of the Fathers has granted such authority to the apostolic see, that no one would dare to dispute its judgment, and this has always been preserved through the canons and rules, and ecclesiastical discipline, still running by its own laws, pays to the name of Peter, from whom it also itself descends, the reverence which it owes: for canonical antiquity, by the votes of all, wished so great a power to belong to this Apostle, from the very promise also of Christ our God, that he should both loose things bound, and bind things loosed; an equal condition of power having been given to those who, by his own consent, should have merited the inheritance of his see: for he himself has care both of all Churches, and especially of this one where he had sat; nor does he suffer any privilege or any breath of any opinion to totter, for which he himself has established firm foundations by his own name, foundations blunted by no motions, and which no one may rashly assail without his own peril: since therefore Peter, of such great authority, is the head, and has confirmed the subsequent zeal of all our elders, so that the Roman Church is confirmed by both human and divine laws and by all disciplines, whose place we govern, and hold also the power of his name—this is not hidden from you, but you know it, dearest brothers, and, as priests, you ought to know it: yet although we had such authority that no one could reconsider our sentence, we have done nothing which we did not, of our own accord, refer to your notice by our letters; giving this to your brotherhood, so that, taking counsel together, not because we did not know what ought to be done, or were doing something which, coming against the utility of the Church, would displease; but because we wished to hold discussion equally with you concerning him who, among you, as you yourselves say by letter, had been accused; and he came to our see, not shrinking from judgment by his former appeal, asserting himself innocent, of his own accord demanding his accusers, and condemning the charges which he said had been falsely brought against him by rumor.

We thought and knew that his whole petition was explained in our earlier letters, which we sent to you; and we believed that sufficient answer had been given by those writings which you had written back to those matters.

2. But after the whole volume of the letter sent by Marcellinus, your subdeacon, we unrolled it: and having at length read it through, you so understood the whole text of the letter, as if we had granted Caelestius full credence in everything, and, his words not having been examined, had given assent, so to speak, to every syllable. Things that must be long treated are never rashly permitted; nor is that to be settled without great deliberation, which ought to be disputed by the highest judgment.

Let your brotherhood therefore know that we have changed nothing after those letters of yours which we received above, but have left everything in the same state in which it had long been, when we indicated this by our letters to your holiness, so that the protest which had been sent by you to us might be preserved. I have subscribed. Farewell. Given on the 12th day before the Kalends of April, Honorius Augustus being consul for the 12th time. Received on the 3rd day before the Kalends of May.

Or the constitution of Honorius to Agricola the prefect. That the council of the seven provinces be held every year at Arles.

Or the memorandum of Pope Zosimus to his presbyters and deacons established at Ravenna.

From the report of our brother Archidamus the presbyter, we have learned how you were received and what you have done, or how those men were received who, against the canons, dared with I know not what temerity to wish to go to the Comitatus against us. To them we had formerly sent this writing which we now forward, replying to the letters they had injuriously sent. But since they were not able to remain in their proper place, that is, in our Roman church, together with our fellow-presbyters, we have determined to send to you these letters to be delivered to them, in which we have decreed by our sentence that the aforesaid disturbers of all order have been estranged from the communion of our apostolic see, and have received the sentence pronounced with our subscription. As for those also who wished to lend their assent to this unbridled deed and counsel, it belongs to your charity to judge how they ought to be regarded.

This objection you ought to bring against them: that, contrary to the precepts of the canons, they rushed headlong, and, in a manner unbecoming presbyters, showed themselves rebellious. But we admonish you that you ought to be as watchmen, lest the boldness of any of them break forth whom the holy and apostolic Church knows to be anathematized. But concerning those who joined themselves to their company, what we ought to do we shall treat with better counsel when you have returned. Given on the fifth of the Nones of October, in the consulship of the Emperors Honorius, for the twelfth time, and Theodosius, for the eighth time.

Zosimus the bishop, to brother Faustinus and to sons Philip and Asellus, presbyters.

1. The matters entrusted to you are not unknown to you. Carry out everything as if it were our own affair—indeed, because our presence is there in you—carrying out all things; especially since you may have both this our mandate and the words of the canons, which we have inserted into this Memorandum for fuller confirmation.

For thus, most beloved brothers, they spoke in the Council of Nicaea, when they decreed concerning the appeal of bishops: “It has pleased us, that if a bishop should be accused, and the bishops of that region, having assembled, should judge and depose him from his rank, and he should appear to have appealed, and should take refuge with the most blessed bishop of the Roman Church, and should wish to be heard, and it should be thought just that the examination be renewed, let him deign to write to those bishops who are in the neighboring and adjoining province, that they themselves diligently inquire into all things and determine according to the true faith. But if he who asks that his case be heard again should, by his entreaty, move the Roman bishop to send a presbyter from his own side, it shall be in the power of the Roman bishop what he wishes and what he judges.

And if he should decree that men be sent to judge together with the bishops, present in person, having authority from him by whom they were sent, this shall be in his own discretion. But if he should believe that the bishops suffice to bring the matter to a close, he shall do what he shall have judged in his most wise counsel.”

2. But concerning the appeals of clerics, that is, of lesser rank, there is a sure response of the same synod as to what you are to do. We have thought it right to insert here what you are to do in this matter, which was spoken thus. Bishop Hosius said: “What still moves me I ought not to keep silent. If some bishop, perhaps being angry—which ought not to be—should be quickly or harshly stirred up against his presbyter or deacon, and should wish to expel him from the church, care must be taken lest an innocent man be condemned or lose communion.

Let the one who is expelled have the power to appeal to the neighboring bishops, that his case be heard and more diligently examined; for it is not right to deny a hearing to one who requests it: and let that bishop, whether justly or unjustly he rejected him, accept patiently that the matter be examined, so that his sentence be either confirmed or amended,”

3. Concerning Bishop Urbanus, that he be excommunicated, or even summoned to Rome, unless he should correct those things which seemed to need correction.

Zosimus, to the most beloved brothers, the bishops established throughout Byzacium, greeting in the Lord.

1. I wonder that you show no reverence to the dignity of our name, nor pay such honor to the episcopate as ought to be preserved by those to whom this honor belongs. Laymen sit as judges over bishops, and you call this your council, where not a priest judges a layman, but a layman, by your permission, sits to judge a priest. For a layman, however honored he may be, cannot flatter himself with any honor so great that he should rightly seem to have taken part in what was an ecclesiastical proceeding. Add to this that even the name of tax-collectors, or toll-collectors, is included, and judgment upon a bishop is gathered from such an assembly. Publicans sit, and a bishop is heard, and to you, who allow such men to do what is not lawful, a hearing is given.

Who would not laugh at this, or rather grieve, seeing the ecclesiastical rule thus totter, and the vigor of the canons thus cast down to this? When and where has this been shown to have been done? What age remembers such an example, what priest has ever heard of it?—when there have been countless men who, having renounced the most ample honors, so refused secular power that they preferred to endure even the humblest clerical rank, rather than be judged by any pursuit of former dignity; and let this be a true and certain precedent against such judges. Why do you clerics want the consent of a lay judge, when you blush to hear even that name without the former glory of secular rank?

What is it to you—surely forgive me if I say so—that you sit together as judges with such men?

2. But this too, it seems, ought not to be passed over by us, especially since no harshness of judicial proceedings has ever done this, nor has any order of things recalled it, that a necessity should be imposed on anyone to seek out his adversary and bring him to judgment; whereas he who accuses ought of his own accord to come forward. Therefore we have sent this in turn in writing to your charity through our brother and fellow-bishop Numunianus. Farewell, brothers. Sent from our side on the sixteenth day before the Kalends of December, in the consulship of the Emperors Honorius for the twelfth time and Theodosius for the eighth time.