I have learned with accuracy the whole story of the devout deacon Sannus: and how before coming to the see where your love of God is priest he lived an indis- criminate or disordered life, and how you brought him back to devout habits, and how you laid down an injunction for him to keep. Now after examining the M(hole matter I have found that, because he appro- priated to himself some small sum which formed part of the revenue, you were wroth and angry with him, and removed him from the charge with which he had been entrusted. Therefore I beg you to receive this man, and place him in the same rank, without any difference whatever. If by careful observance he ob- served all the other points on which reform was difficult, and gave up the long-standing practice of disorderly habits, which is like a necessity of nature, and was converted to a devout life, and took upon him the character proper to deacons, let us not upset everything on account of a sin in one single point: for it is im- possible for everything to be reformed at once. This is the practice of teachers also, gently to bear with pupils once and twice and many times, when they are at fault and do not repeat without mistake, until they p. 196. attain to perfection. Physicians also after the same fashion, when they warn patients to abstain from things
I. 58. SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. 177
that are pleasant and harmful, are often defeated and grant them indulgences, allowing them to taste some of the things that they like: and they do not in every point insist upon strict observance of the irksome methods demanded by science, but they treat the patient in accordance with what is possible. This method of gradual treatment and cure was shown in a figurative manner by our Lord and God Jesus Christ also in the Gospels. When He might have healed, one of the blind men who were brought to Him by word only, as He did in the case of that leper, saying in a manner befitting God, "I will be thou clean, ''^ and immediately upon the word completed the cure, He cured him with a certain delay and procrastination. For " He led him," he says, ** out of the village. And, when He had spat on his eyes. He put His hands upon him and was asking him if he saw aught. And, his eyes having been opened, he said, * I see the men walking like trees.' Then He put His hands again upon his eyes and his sight was restored and his eyes were opened, and he saw everything clearly."* There- fore He that is our God and the instructor of our souls by working this cure with a certain wise delay instructs us that the bishops in His holy churches, who are His representatives, ought to make use of gradual modes of treatment in order to bring those whose minds are blinded to the light, until their eyes are p. 197. gradually opened and they see the rays of truth clearly.
* Mt. viii. 3. ^ Mk. viii. 23-25.
12
178 SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. I. 59.
Accordingly do you also adopt this plan, both in this present affair and in others that happen after the same pattern. The end,
522-27. 59. Of the same to Julian the presbyter and archiman- drite of the monastery of the blessed Bassus. {^From. those during banishmentyfrom the ^th book the 52nd letter.)
Those who loyally follow the ascetic and solitary life grow rich in the spirit of understanding, and from it learn the paths of right action. Wherefore also the sacred text of Proverbs says, '*The thoughts of an understanding man are ways of life ": ^ and again ** Let the heart of a man think just things, in order that his steps may be directed by the Lord."* Sharing in this instruction therefore and being guided by the divine Spirit, your religiousness also has not treated church order with contempt: but, when the holy monastery of the blessed Bassus, in which you have been appointed to be governor, was lacking in the needful provision for the ministry of priests and deacons, you properly p. 198. resolved to inform me of this by a letter from you, and from me to obtain a solution of the doubt. Know therefore that in times of persecution anyone soever of the God-loving bishops who is of the same confession and the same communion with us in everything may properly supply the need of any among the orthodox who is in need. On this principle I have written to
1 Pr. XV. 24 2 /^^^ xvi. I.
I. 60. SELECT LETTiERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. 179
the saintly Sergius bishop of Cyrrhus, and to the saintly Marion bishop of the fortress called Sura' to satisfy your need: and under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to apply their sacred hand, and impart to those that are in need the gift that was given them from above, about which Jesus Himself the giver of the Spirit cries in the Gospels, ** Freely ye have received freely give." ^ The end.
60. Of the same to Photius and Andrew the presbyters 519-88. and archimandrites of the holy cloisters in Caria. {From those after banishment^ from the yth book the i^th letter^
Since you loyally fulfil the active part of the ascetic and philosophic life, therefore you also gather the p- »99. fruits of knowledge from your labours, which are sound faith and zeal on its behalf which raises itself to God, and devoutness and a spirit of understanding and of discretion
[You^ also therefore, who through practice in asceti- cism are pure in your minds, in the same manner burn in the spirit, and carry the flame of zeal blazing in you: knowing as you do that all zeal is not praise- worthy, but that which is according to knowledge.
1 V. 15.
2 Mt. X. 8.
^ The bracketed portion is supplied from another version: see text p. 199 note I.
180 SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. I 6o.
For you listen to Paul accusing the Jews and saying, ** For I bear record of them that there is a zeal of God in them: but not according to knowledge '': ^ and you have restrained the ardour of zeal with the cords of devoutness: for ** blessed is the man that feareth all things on account of devoutness.'* ^ The case of the man who was received by you to communion and was converted from the heresy of the Nestorians and the Diphysites and the believers in two persons to the orthodox faith and said that he had received ordination to the diaconate you have thought fit to bring to the p. 200. knowledge of my meanness, and learn whether you received this man lawfully and in accordance with the strictness of the canons or not. We say therefore that, in so far as you required him to anathematize on oath and in writing the heresy of the Nestorians and of the Diphysites, and renounce communion with them, the transaction was good and lawful: and he should not otherwise have shared in the reception of the divine mysteries, unless he had after this model done something to satisfy the mind But neither should he have been presented for the ministry of the diaconate at all, nor on the other hand should he have proclaimed in writing the diaconal rank. For no canon or precept orders that those who have been converted from the heresy of the Nestorians shall receive ordination afresh. If they received ordi- nation afresh, those also besides who were bap-
* Ro. X. 2. > Pr. xxviii. 14.
I. 6o. SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. 181
tized by the same heresy would always be baptized afresh. For, when men who have received ordination from particular heresies receive the laying on of hands ^■
afresh, those also who have been baptized by those very same heresies are baptized afresh: as the synod of the three hundred and eighteen holy fathers ordered in the case of the heresy of Paul of Samosata, and the heresies of those who are like them in impiety.^ And no one has ever been shown to have perfected by a second baptism those who flee from] the Nestorian p- 201. and Diphysite heresy, and have taken refuge in the church of the orthodox. Timothy also of saintly memory, archbishop of the city of the Alexandrines, who wrote in more severe terms from exile owing to the extreme ardour of the people, which would not consent even to cast a glance at those who derived ordination from the Diphysite error, which Proterius introduced there, after his return both communicated with Paul of God-loving memory, high-priest of the city of the Ephesians and head of the holy churches in Asia, in the Encyclical formula, upon his anathe- matizing with the bishops under him the Chalcedonian impiety: and also, after he had reached Alexandria, received those who came from the heresy of the Diphysites in the rank in which they were,^ bishops I mean and presbyters and deacons, upon their anathematizing the heresy itself in writing, and 'accepting such a period of separation for peni-
1 Mansi ii. 676. 2 c/. v. 6.
182 SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. I. 6a
tence only as he judged and determined to be good. In such cases in fact it is in the discretion
p.aoa. of high-priests to shorten and to extend the spaces of time according to the consciousness of the penitents with regard to the sins committed by them. But he has not been shown to have done anything else what- ever as to these men which impairs or disturbs the strictness of the canons in any point whatsoever; no second ordination, no second baptism, no chrism; as some from unreasonable fervour and inconsiderate zeal dared to do, at the beginning immediately after the synod at Chalcedon had been held, and became a cause of schisms and of divisions. For this reason also, after the holy Timothy of whom we are now speaking had thus received those who came from the error of Proterius and of the Diphysite heresy in accordance with the laws of the apostolic church, many men, fired as it were by some disorderly madness and self-willed ardour, separated from communion with him, while they did their best to inflame others also
P*«>3- among those who were more than ordinarily weak> like those who said, ** We have no part in David, neither inheritance in the son of Jesse," ^ and divided Israel into two. Hence also they ascribed to them the name of the Novatians^ who do not accept penitence for sins committed; and for a long time they disturbed the church, although they gradually melted away, and as the book of the Acts says **were scattered and
^ 3 R. xii. 24 I. ' Cf, Zach. Rh. v. 4.
I. 60. SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. 183
came to naught," ^ like the rebellious band and seditious flock of Theudas and of Judias the Galilaean. These things we have related, not because we would reckon acts done by heretics valid (they are in fact invalid and without foundation and unsubstantial), but because we would explain that healing is not applied to converts from heresy in one way only, but accord- ing to the nature of the error: perfection and the cure of the disease being granted to some through baptism and ordination, to others through chrism, to others through their anathematizing the heresy in writing, and repudiating it and showing fruits of penitence. It is in fact absolutely necessary for us to follow the canonical precepts and regulations of the saintly bishops as medical directions given with understand- ing, and from them to apply to each man the cure p. 204« suited to him. Therefore he also who has been received to communion by your love of God, if he scrupulously fulfil the prescribed time in the reforming practice of penitence and you bear witness to it, will be allowed the position of deacon by the orthodox bishops, upon presenting to them a written, petition containing a confession of his sin and an anathema of the heresy. For the voice of a high-priest and bishop and his permission is a law of the Spirit, and full of power to turn the convert into another man, as is written about Saul when he heard the voice of the prophet Samuel, and went in the way that he ordered
^ Ac. V. 36
IM SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. I. 6o.
" him to go: and the sacred scripture speaks thus: " And it was so that, when he turned his shoulder to- go from Samuel, God gave him a changed heart, and all these signs came upon him that day." ^ Those also who are in
P- ^5- the rank of laymen, if they repudiate by anathema the Nestorian and Jewish heresy of the Diphysites, and by sincerely repenting place themselves within the bounds of the orthodox apostolic church, and are included among the sheep of the great God and chief shepherd Christ, will immediately cast from them everyone soever who is an alien, and will be invisibly adorned with the manifestations of the Holy Spirit. If a man on entering by night a house full of torches^ is completely pervaded by the flashing light, who doubts that the church of the orthodox, which is full of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, causes the man who opens the eyes of a repentant heart to be pervaded by the light that is suprasensual and divine? The power of the true church assembled in a pure fashion in the Lord's name is so great that it even constitutes men who come to it prophets, men who have not joined the congregation in order to share in any divine gift, but in order to carry out a royal order. For in the first book of Kingdoms it is written thus: ** And Saul sent messengers to take David. And they saw the church of the prophets, and Samuel was standing at their
p.ao6. head. And the Spirit of God came upon the mes- sengers of Saul, and they prophesy. And it was told
^ 1 R. X. 9. 2 Xa/X7ra8a.
I. 60. SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS, 186
Saul and he sent other messengers and they also prophesy. And Saul again sent a third set of messengers, and they also prophesied." ^ If there- fore at a time when the practices of the legal shadowy service prevailed the Holy Spirit granted such things to the assembly and the name of a church, what great and wonderful thing will it not do in the church that was bought by the divine blood of the Lamb and God, and has nothing shadowy in it, but the whole sun of righteousness flashing upon all the acts that are performed in it? For many other instances might have been added to those mentioned. At the very beginning when I was set over the Christ-loving city of the Antiochenes, and immediately, so to speak, upon my being raised to the episcopal throne (unworthily indeed, but still by God's p. 207. mercy), certain men who were infected with the self- created religion^ of the Re-anointers, following a certain deceiver named Theodotus,* who unlawfully re-anointed converts from the Nestorian heresy to the orthodox faith, composed a petition consisting of uncanonical propositions,* and had this given to me as I was going out into the street by a certain man who was himself also a victim of their disease; and I have composed a certain short treatise against it. Accordingly out of respect for the love of teaching and the strictness of • your religiousnesses I have thought it necessary to look
1 I R. xix. 20, 21. -^ I.e, lOeXoOpria-MLa (Col. i. 23).
^ €/• Zach. Rh. v. 5. * Trporao-cts.
186 SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. I. 6o.
for this and copy it out and send it you, in order that nothing bearing upon this subject ^ may remain unknown to you, so far as the power and the limited capacity that has fallen to the lot of my meanness extends. For we must ** walk in the royal road," as it is written,^ and ** not % turn aside to the right or to the left." For many, start- ing from considerations that are rather upon the right side than otherwise, have been led into excess, and so fallen into the very pit of destruction. For this reason p. ao8. also the text of the law commands that he that pursues after justice shall pursue it justly: ^ that is, know the principles of justice and be instructed in them when you pursue that which is just: and be free from all passion, and be in this respect a just seeker of justice, and restrain yourself on all sides, and stand within the bounds of justice. Many by the very fact of wishing to be just have become mentally drunk, and have injured justice through their justice which had the appearance of being strict. Whence also the wise Koheleth, or rather the teacher of wisdom (for the true Koheleth is Christ, the head of the church and the wisdom and the sublime and substantial power of God and the Father), checking excess, even if directed to the right side, gives admonition, saying, ** Be not very righteous nor contrive superfluous wisdom, lest thou be astonied."* On all points therefore I praise your religiousnesses for having informed us of this present question, in order that you may wisely follow the precepts of the Holy
^ Nu. XX. 17. De. xvi. 20 * Ec. vii. 17.
I. 60. SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. 187
Spirit: for it is written, " The wise turn not aside from the mouth of the Lord: but they reason in assem- blies."^ Accordingly, when a man is not so minded, p.ao^ but, making his will laWj does what comes into his mind, death is the penalty \ For he that said these things said also this: " Death lights upon the uninstructed."^ In answer to your other question I shrink and hesitate to say anything, and I tardily and reluctantly bring myself to answer, lest I be thought to be a cruel and harsh man, when I bring forward the strictness of the church tradition. For indeed this custom has prevailed in the holy churches up to the present day, I mean that after the reading of the holy revered book of the Gospels there should be a petition on behalf of the catechumens, one of the deacons proclaiming the names, and the presbyter thereupon offering a prayer applying to those whose names have been proclaimed, in order that they may receive the laver of regeneration and the communion of the holy mysteries, and that imme- diately afterwards another proclamation and prayer should follow on behalf of those that are possessed, in order that they also may be freed from the possession of evil spirits, and may receive the communion of the all-holy body and blood. Further, when the holy symbols that are consecrated in the mysterious sacrifice are about to be brought out into the church, and to be placed on the holy altar, the first of the deacons, look- p. aio. ing out of the door of the deacons' chamber, utters the
1 Pr. xxiv. 7, 8. 2 ^rjfua, ^ Pr. xxiv. 8.
188 SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. I. 6o.
fearful and awful words, " No catechumen, no possessed person, no one that is incapable \" and so those that consecrate and those that have been consummated begin the ineffable sacred sacrifice, and send upwards the mysterious words. But I have nowhere found in the divine canons that such a distinction as this con- cerning those that are possessed is contained in them, the tenor of which is that if a man fights with a fierce demon, and is in the habit of assailing and attacking those who come in his way, and rends chains and fetters asunder like the man mentioned [in the Gospels . .
. • ]
which^ Paul the great also in writing to the Corinthians commands men to do, and to discern what is the power of the all-holy body, and to consider its greatness, and what the disposition ^ is in the heart of him who is to communicate in it. This is what he says: ** But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he that eateth and drinketh when he is unworthy eateth and drinketh condemna- tion to himself, in that he hath not discerned the Lord's body. For this cause the sick and diseased among you are many, and there are many that sleep. For, if we judged ourselves, we should not be judged. p. an. gy|-^ being judged by the Lord, we are chastised, that we may not be condemned with the world: " * even as
* Le* under penance; cf. Liturgy of Antioch ap. Brightman Litur- gies, i. 471, 472.
* The subject of this fragment seems to show that it belongs to this letter. ^ Sto^co-ts. * i Co. xi. 28-32.
I. 60. SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. 189
He that cares for our souls and is their benign instructor directs everything to this end, that He may not condemn us on the day on which He will judge the world and the earth in righteousness, in the last condemnation to which there is no end. Those that do not judge themselves, but communicate without fear in the holy body and blood He judges for a time, chastising them with sicknesses and with diseases that they may come to conversion and penitence. And some, even when they are incorrigible, He removes from life, in order that they may not be afflicted by endless torments of greater severity and greater bitterness in the world to come. Blessed therefore is he who has been visited here and been chastised as by an instructor and been moved to prepare for the better life, and does not ** owing to his hardness and impenitent heart," as the Apostle says, " lay up " for himself ** a store of wrath for the day of wrath, and for the revelation of the just judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds." ^ Therefore he also who is possessed by an invasion of evil spirits must submit to the canon of the apostolic church, and endure the chastening with devoutness, and take upon him thoughts and expressions of thanksgiving and make confession to the Lord and say, " I have submitted to the Lord and made supplication to him ": and He will assuredly have pity upon him (for "He is one that loveth mercy," as the prophet Micah says*), and will
^ Ro. ii. 5, 6. " Mi. vii. 18,
190 SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. I. 6o.
P- *"• rebuke the operation of the evil spirit, and will deliver His creature. For a man to be contemptuously dis- posed, and to communicate in the sacraments or take part in the sacred ministry contrary to what is com- manded makes the assault of man-hating spirits yet more fierce. This is also confirmed by the wise John who was bishop of Constantinople, in the sermon entitled ** On the treason of Judas and on the Pass- over and on the institution of the mysteries, and concerning the principle that we should not retain anger," in that he wrote as follows: ** For then also it was after Judas had received the oblation that the devil assailed him; not that he despised the Lord's body, but that he despised Judas on account of his presumption: in order that you may learn that it is especially those who communicate in the divine mysteries without being worthy that the devil con- stantly assails and attacks, as he attacked Judas then. For privileges benefit those who are worthy: but, when men enjoy them undeservedly, they expose them to greater punishment. And these things I do not say in order to frighten, but in order to secure.** ^ As I said before, the intention of the disciplinary regula- tions of the canons is to preserve the visible appear- ance of the church blameless. For this reason they forbade those also who are possessed by an invasion
p. 213. of demons to communicate in the holy mysteries: but invisible and secret afflictions [they left] to the
^ P.G. xhx. 380.
L 6l. SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. 191
conscience of each man. ......
6l 619-26.
a law-court, or to cry out or to annoy in return those who annoyed him, or to insult in return those who insulted him, or to bring an action against them for the insult to him, similarly and much more is it unbecom- ing for him who has just received the high-priestly chrism upon the crown of his head, and from whom the sweet savour therefrom is newly breathing, to in- volve himself in any of the said matters. Do not think to yourself, because the man who was ordained high- priest is not clad in white raiment, that he is without the garments that are suprasensual and shine more brightly than the brilliancy of the sun, and are as much better than those of men who have just been baptized as a high-priest is greater than one who is among the people, and as a shepherd is higher than a sheep.
And again after other things. But you say that the devout brother Joseph told you such-and-such a thing about the devout brother John, and the devout father Zacharias such-and-such a thing about another topic.^ But know that in every matter it is not the word of one man that is needed, but that of two or three witnesses. For the sacred law says of everyone soever who is tried, whether he be good or whether he p. 214, be evil, that ** under two or under three witnesses he shall die that dieth: he shall not die under one wit-
192 se;lect letters of the holy severus. I. 6i.
ness: ^ and again, ** One witness shall not continue to testify against a man, [in all] iniquity and in all sin and in all sinfulness soever that he commit. At the mouth of two witnesses, and at the mouth of three witnesses shall every word be established.'** I have used these arguments not in order to show that your religiousness is lying (I am convinced that you wrote as you heard): but in order to establish the fact that, according to church regulations and the precepts of the holy fathers, and the laws of the God-inspired scripture, I cannot upon this report pronounce a sentence of censure or of condemnation against anyone, while I am far away. Your love of God ought therefore to have devoted that evening to thoughts of patience: and on the next day taken with you in the morning the saintly bishops the lord Constantine and the lord Victor, as in fact you actually did, and [with] all gentleness and humility^ [and with] God .... also present .... at the discussion [first described] the circumstances of the annoyance that. the deaconess and archimandritess Heracliana inflicted upon you, and the insults which, as you write, were levelled against you by brother John; and thus your sanctity would have judged, with p. 215. the awful tribunal of Christ, before which we shall all stand, before your eyes, whether it was right for your love of God on account of the annoyance that you justly felt to remove those sisters from the monastery of the religious Heracliana as persons who were suffer-
^ De. xvii. 6. * /^., xix. 15.
I. 62. SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. 193
ing injury or not, and what method of treatment ought to be devised (?) for the affair in order to remedy the injury; and the use of this method would have been decreed y and besides this fitting punishment would also have fallen upon brother John, inasmuch as he would have been shown by proofs to be an utterer of insults, and a man who is living an unchaste and indis- criminate life. If these things had been thus decided by discussion, and made known to my meanness, I would without any hesitation have confirmed them, seeing that they would have been carried out in accord- ance with the custom of the holy churches, and in accordance with the rules of the monastic life.
And again after other things. But, since these things are thus recorded and supported by evidence, if any- thing displeasing to God be done in secret, know that it is not possible that until the end ....
62 619-38.
And it seems to me that it was owing to this modera- tion of character and humility of mind that the God- inspired scripture in Omissions named Moses **the p. 216. man of God," the words of the context being as follows: **And Moses, the man of God. And his sons were called to the observance^ of Levi.''^ As to your^ saying, ''We were afraid on account of the present
^ The translator therefore read ^vko.Ki]v for ^vky\v. * I Pa. xxiii. 14. ^ Fem. pi.; so throughout.
i3
194 SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. I. 62.
time of confusion and persecution, lest we and the places in which we live should lack bishops to ordain," as far as the ordination of a presbyter or of a male deacon, by whom the bloodless sacrifice is of necessity per- formed, is concerned, this plea would have been good; But in the case of a female deaconess, especially in monasteries, ordination is received not so much for the sake of the requirements of the mysteries, but for the sake of honour only (for the deaconesses in the cities are in the habit of ministering to the divine laver of regeneration in the case of females who are baptized). These things I have been compelled to repeat owing to my wish and prayer that in accordance with your high and praiseworthy character you may do everything in a lawful manner and, as it is written in Proverbs and in the Apostle, ** provide things honest not only before the Lord but also before men,"^ so that, in accordance with the testimony of our God and Saviour Jesus, ''your light may shine before men'' and **they may glorify your Father in heaven,"^ and we ourselves may justly boast of you. And, now that these words have been thus spoken, we pray that God may grant a good ending to the things which have once in whatever way been done by you, and may cover them with the abundance of His graciousness. Not the end,
^ Pr. iii. 4; 2 Co. viii. 21. * Mt. v. 16.
I. 63. SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. 195
p. 217,
63. Of the same to Mtsael the deacon, {From those 687. after banishment, from the gth book the ^^rd letter)
I received the letter of your religiousness, which was forwarded to me from Alexandria, from the devout Andrew the reader on the eighth of July. And after other things. The holy Basil also, the teacher of truth, says in his ascetic treatise that he who is entrusted with the duty of ministering to the needs of a monastery, even if it be the archimandrite, ought not to use or spend any of the property of the brother hood on any pious object, for example on the support of the poor and needy or on the ransoming of captives. Therefore neither would the case of the saintly man, though it seems to be a matter of piety, have given you a right to do anything without my consent, if you are certain from the laws and from the will ^ which left the legacy 2 that it is mine. For you must excuse me from adopting the honorary expressions used by friends or by men who are otherwise on familiar terms with one another, ** My things are yours,'* and, ** You are my lord, lord both of my own person and of what I possess." For the subject of the present argument is the true state of the facts. Moreover also the saintly man^ does not need a gift from us, seeing p. 218. that he has the serene queen, who will provide him
^ 8ia0€(ri9. ^ XiyyaTov. ^ Marg. " he speaks of Theodosius."
196 SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. I. 63.
if he wish even with more than he needs, and now he has all the orthodox also on account of his attested steadfastness in the matter of the confession of the faith. These things I have written for the sake of the principles of the evangelic laws, and for the sake of preserving a blameless conscience. If it were not so, I reckon things once given by you just as if they had been given by me.
And after other things. As to the impious Sergius,. who is called Bar Fathya ^ and has become broad in impiety, so far am I from saying that it was by my advice that he was ordained deacon that I evem anathematize him and the man who, if even in this he speaks truth, ordained him: the one for unlawfully sleeping with his father*s wife or concubine, and the other for daring to perform ordinations without wit- nesses in other men's cities which do not belong to him at all, without an invitation and on his own authority, and not even without price but for filthy lucre. Under the same anathema lies also Anatolius, who after ordination to the diaconate has married a second time and is godless in his doctrines, p. 219. even if it is not stated by us, and Podolirius^ who has taught his children to play the harp and dance, and has made them serve the devil, and has fallen under the divine canons of the apostles. To the same anathema those also are liable who cause confusion
^ I,e, son of the broad. Probably a rendering of some Greek. name(Platys?). '^ Sic.
I. 63. SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. 197
besides these, and imagine vain things against the orthodox faith, like those who once ** imagined vain things against the Lord and against his Anointed,"^ and fell from His glory. For these too by always reckoning the belly and the passions that are subject to the belly as a god inflicted a stain and a blot upon us by being numbered with the orthodox. Therefore they must plead not to us but to God, whose name they are profaning among the nations as Isaiah and Paul say.^
And after other things. But I was much dis- tressed that the serene queen presumes to say such grievous, not to say blasphemous, things against the holy fathers in respect of doctrines which she does not understand, and mocks at the holy Alexander the archbishop, who is one of the prelates of the holy synod at Nicaea, and father of the apostolic preacher Athanasius, on the ground that even in the theology of the Trinity he termed person ** nature," and jeers at him as one of those who practise manual crafts, a coppersmith for instance or a carpenter of the name of Alexander, or as she says by way of accusation an p.2aa advocate of the treasure-chambers.^ Let her then mock and jeer at the other saintly Alexander also, who was in the same times bishop of Constantinople, and by stretching out his hands all night and praying brought it about that, when the impious Arius was going to communicate hypocritically with the orthodox, his entrails fell through his belly and he gave up the
^ Ps. ii. I, 2. '^ Is. lii. 5; Ro. ii. 24. ^ I.e. advocatus fisci.
198 SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. I. 63.
ghost; if the fact that a man is called Alexander is a jest, and an occasion and subject^ for jeering. What are we to do about these things, except be silent and grieve our heart, and ask God to have mercy upon our many lawlessnesses? For, though much might have been said in answer to these things, it is better for us to be silent. As to the mischievous words that the heretics invent, the expressions of the holy fathers show what they are, blinding as they do like some lightning-flash their keen eyes, and enlightening the minds of the orthodox and understanding, while the uninstructed and unlearned see that God is glorified and admired among His saints, as David says in song,* for the things at which they jest and against which they blaspheme. I speak the truth and do not lie when I say that, since I wrote the treatise "Against the Grammarian,"* there has been no one among P-**^- the believers who had a high or moderate or small share in divine knowledge who was not astonished when he found such expressions of the holy fathers collected there, some expressed at length others in few words, and stopping the mouth of the blaspheming heretics, who plot against the truth itself. From what you now say, that the serene queen has not shrunk from saying such presumptuous things against the holy fathers, I certainly imagine that she has also spurned and despised, as vain trifling and superfluous futility^
^ vTTo^co-ts. 2 Ps, Ixxxviii. 8.
^ Add. 17,154; cf. Zach, Rh. vii. to.
II. I. SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUa 199
my little treatise on the question whether our Lord and God Jesus Christ should be said to be from two substances even as from two natures, which she thought good to accept when it was copied by you in large letters, or through fear of the king*s laws which were put forth against my writings has not dared to accept it. I wrote to you at that time from Chios and to the magnificent and Christ - loving chamberlain Julian to give it to be copied: but you wrote nothing at all to me upon these matters. He who writes an answer should reply to all the points contained in the letter. Not the end.
II. Second section.^ About his ordination before p. 222. episcopacy; and about the precedence of bishops and another doubtful point regarding them; and about men who give themselves out as bishops and ordain; and about the proper ordination of bishops.
I. Of the same to the patricians. {From those before 508-11. episcopacy^ from, the 3^/ book the ^th letter.)
As the brightness of the stars brings comfort to those who in the depth of night raise their looks towards heaven, so it is good for us also, whose
^ titXos.
200 SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. II. I.
mind's eye is darkened by the darkness of sorrow, to look towards you the rational stars of the sacred Senate.^ If we are allowed to enjoy your genial splendour, all the cloud of despondency will pass away, and we shall certainly see the sun also which is surrounded by you shining gently upon us as at hot noonday. It has come to the ears of our p. 223. worthlessness that our pious Christ - loving king believed that some of us without having priestly rank are officiating as priests with profane hands and handling the sacraments. Such reports it is the practice of slanderers to put forth about us: who, being unable to accuse the orthodoxy of our faith for which we were persecuted, betake them- selves to such unholy futilities. But our acts are known to everyone, even if we ourselves keep silent. Although we are sinners, yet we are not unversed in the divine scriptures, nor have we an uninstructed mind with regard to them (I forbear to say that we make these our meditation by night and by day, as we are commanded 2). Trying therefore as we do to direct our own life by them, we know that all who coveted the priestly functions without being in the position of priests suffered sudden death. Such were Dathan and Abiram and the company of Korah: who wished to usurp the high-priestly office of Moses and Aaron, and dared to burn incense, and the earth opened and swallowed some of them up,
1 (TvyicXiTTOs ^ovXrj. '^ Josh. i. 8.
II. I. SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. 201
while others were consumed by the strange fire. Anpther man, because he presumed to touch the sacred ark with profane hand when it leaned over and was about to be dashed to the ground, was immediately struck lifeless. And what of Uzziah the p- 224. king? Is it not the fact that, because he incon- siderately dared to be called a priest, he was smitten with the scab of leprosy between his eyes before he passed the sacred barrier^ or veil, and was thenceforth ashamed even to reign? How then could we who through mercy devote ourselves to the study of such teachings, and so know that there was power even in the legal shadowy service, have presumed to officiate as priests with unconsecrated hands at the heavenly sacrifice, which even to angels is inaccessible, but out of benignance has been made accessible to the priests only, because they typify Christ? For it is in truth He who down to the present time offers Himself every •day on our behalf to God and the Father. Those who minister in the new covenant^ do not offer any new sacrifice upon the altar, but celebrate the memory of that one, in which Christ, God the Word the high- priest, the priesthood, the new and glorious victim, and noble oblation preparative for immortal life, offered Himself. In fact the wise Paul also in his epistle to the Hebrews says of Christ, *' By one offering He hath perfected them that are sanctified r"^ and again, ''So also Christ, having been once offered to bear the sins
1 KdyK€\ov, - hiaBriK-q, ^ He. X. 1 4.
202 SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. II. I.
of many, shall appear a second time without sin, to those who look for Him for salvation through faith." ^ That Christ's mystery is inaccessible even to the
p. 225. sublime hosts Isaiah the loud trumpet of the prophets bears witness who said that one of the suprasensual and immaterial hosts of the seraphs took a coal with the tongs and not in his hand, and laid it on his lips and said, '* This shall purge thy sins.*' ^ That the coal signifies the one Christ made out of two elements, of the Godhead I mean and of the manhood which are each perfect, undoubtedly doe^ not escape your God-loving excellencies. Hold- ing therefore to such right principles, in order to cause perfect confidence in what we say, we lay ourselves under the direst curse, to fall from the glory of the Holy Trinity and not attain to the hope promised to Christians, if we are conscious in ourselves that any such presumptuous deed has been committed by our fathers or is being committed. If anyone presumes to lay hands upon the priesthood without having received the sacred ordination lawfully and in accordance with the apostolic canons, let him be anathema, and let him be ranked with men that rob a sanctuary and lie in wait at altars.^ The other slander also we cast from u5 and assert that no one who has been admitted to the clergy in the churches has been re-ordained among us. Wherefore we even
p. 226. place under anathema the man who re-ordains these,.
^ Id, ix. 28. '^ Is. vi. 6, 7. ^ I,e. Up6<rv\oi and fitafjuoXoxou
II. I. SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. 203
or says that they must be re-ordained. But, if anyone after he has been admitted to the clergy has turned his eye towards the solitary mode of life, and, being trained in the toilsome exercises of philosophy, and desiring to know how to bear contempt for Christ's sake, has debarred himself for a time from the ministry, this is not re - ordination (far be it!), but a philosophic and divine exercise which renders the priest more worthy of reverence. It is in fact the custom of our fathers to look to the souls profit only, and, when men have once taken upon themselves to practise philosophy, whether they be priests or whether they be kings, to lead them on through the perform- ance of humble services, in order that by trampling upon pride they may imitate Him who humbled Himself for our salvation and became flesh and took the form of a slave. For the correct definition of philosophy is this, that a man imitate God as much as possible. Therefore, now that you know these things, we beg your glorious noble eminences to convey them to the ears of our Christ-loving trium- phant king. For it is not just that, when we are near and able to give satisfactory answers to the slanders against us, that we should be condemned by default as if we were absent. The end.
. 204 SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. IL 2.
p. 227.
519-S8. 2. Of the same to John and John the presbyters, {Front those after banishment, from the \ st book the 6th letter,)
Your holinesses' letter, which was brought me by Zenobius the devout deacon, has refreshed me greatly, and has been to me, as in the words of the proverb, "as cool water that relieveth a thirsty soul."^ And after other things. As to what you say about those who are residing in Byzantium, the report that has been received is true, that they contended about pre- cedence. In fact at an earlier time also they discussed this doubtful point, and the proper regulation^ was given. Now however, when they are outside the phantasy^ of worldly sleep, they ought not to have contended as with a shadow and seen dreams. But may the hateful passion of jealousy and envy perish from among men, a passion that goes down with a man even to Hades itself and is a thing unendurable! For this reason the God-inspired scripture says, ** Wrath is merciless and anger sharp, but nothing endureth jealousy."* For both the merciless wrath and the sharp anger eat away and destroy those against whom they are whetted: but still it is sometimes possible for us to assuage them and turn them aside, by lapse of time and by methods of treatment and by gifts. But jealousy there is nothing than can endure. This p. 228. passion knows one relief, the destruction of the man
* Pr. XXV. 25. ^ TVTTo^, ^ <^avracrui. * Pr. xxvii. 4.
II. 2. SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. 206
who is its object, and his ruin: and in the same fashion also the death of the man himself who is jealous: especially that of the soul before 'that of the body. For the very wise book of Job says, ** Jealousy slayeth him that is in error/' ^ Such annoyances I received from the two aforesaid men: and He who came down from on high and humbled Himself for our sake and said,t''My peace I give unto you, my tranquillity I leave unto you,'' ^ breathed upon them and extinguished their gall, and even caused them wholly to disappear. Do not wonder if these strove about precedence. Such things indeed happened even in former times. When in old days Helladius succeeded to the see of the men of Caesarea after the great and renowned Basil, a man who lived a virtuous life and was worthy of such a succession, and was one of the holy men of the synod of the hundred and fifty, Cappadocia having been divided into two, Theodore, a man praiseworthy both for faith and for character, was bishop of the other metropolis (this was Tyana): and under him among others was Bosporius, a good man and one who had reached such a high standard of holiness that even his p. 229.. grave performs miracles down to the present day. But, though they were both of such a character and so highly exalted in virtue, they strove with one another about some contemptible claim of right in their parish, and fell into great and long rivalry: and they had the two Gregories, he of Nyssa siding with Helladius and
^ Job V. 5. ^ John xiv, 27.
206 SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. II. 2.
he of Nazianzus with Theodore, and Bosporius the renowned, divided in sympathies, and like armed men bringing help to the generals when they engaged in battle, and writing letters in opposition to one another. If then those towers of the church and men of heavenly minds were convicted of sometimes walking upon earth, what will a man say of ourselves the gnats, who are ever flying over the sores and mire of passions and feeding on them? Nor yet at this must one wonder, I mean that one of the very men who have been men- tioned now uses humble words, saying, ** It is against the things done at Chalcedon, not against the actual p. 230. synod itself, that we must put forth a sentence and anathema.'* For Liberius, the bishop of Rome, re- sisted Constantius even to blood, on behalf of Athan- asius the apostolic preacher of the orthodox faith, and went out to the figurative stadium, and readily allowed himself to be carried into exile: and at last, bent by the long continuance of the sojourn in the place of exile, he gave way, and yielded to the violence of the time. Hosius also the bishop of Corduba (a little city so named), who had always been arrayed on the side of the orthodox, owing to his extreme old age and ad- vanced time of life, was overcome at Nice in Thrace, and submitted to compulsion. And Athanasius the champion ^ of the truth in word and in deed, a man of practised skill in doing service, who discharges the rational shafts against enemies with understanding.
^ dywi/tcmTS.
II. 3- SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. 207
both in epistles and in treatises against the Ariomanita^ calls Hosius " of honourable old age," ^ and mentions him with distinction: while in respect of the contests undergone by Liberius he praises and extols the man; saying not a word of what happened to them under violence, but like a wise man passing rapidly over it)>. 231. with closed eyes, as the saying is. Let us also there- fore, inasmuch as sacred contests lie before us, follow the spiritual captains, and in respect of actions on the right side, both be ourselves edified and edify others thereby, in order that the others also may be strengthened: but human actions let us pass rapidly over. For we are mortal and weak, and we are put under compulsion and led by force by spirits of wicked- ness. Let us pray therefore that the details of our weakness be not greatly exposed. But you for your part have the power of sharing the contest with every- one through your prayers. Not the end.
3. Of the same to the orthodox in Emesa. {From those 518-9. after banishment, from the 2nd book the g2>^d letter.y
Men often think that time is bringing them new and unwonted events. Nevertheless they are not such as are wholly without similar instances in times that have already passed. This is confirmed by Koheleth who
^ Ap. c. Ar. 44 (?). This is in a letter of the Synod of Sardica. * A comparison with ix. i seems to show that this letter was written very soon after banishment.
208 SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. II. J.
•
says, ** There is nothing new under the sun."^ Many indeed have desired the priesthood in an unhallowed manner; of which unlawful thought an instance was provided in time past by Dathan and Abiram, and the company of Korah who rose against Moses and Aaron* the first priests under the shadowy law. A scion of
P- 232. this impious action and of this audacious deed is this also which has just been reported to me in the desert, where I am dwelling unseen for the sake of the com- mon hope and substance of our salvation, which is the orthodox faith. I learn that a certain Gregory and Isaiah, who register their fathers* house the one in Pontus, the other in Armenia, have appeared in the countries of the East and are falsely and lyingly ascribing to themselves the great name and the func- tions of the episcopate: and it is reported that their mad practices do not extend to words only: but Gregory in the great distinguished Christ-loving city of the Antiochenes, and Isaiah in the illustrious believ- ing metropolis of the Emesenes, have laid their pre- sumptuous and illegal hand upon certain men, and by a mockery as in a play will create certain men ridiculous priests for filthy lucre; like those whom Jeroboam the rebel created, after he had led the ten tribes away from the lawful service which was established through Moses the great, and fashioned golden calves, and by one and the same creation instituted at the same time both the
p-233- hateful thing and the falsely-named hierophants^ of
^ Ec. i, 9. ^ Marzane = fivcrrai.
II. 3- SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. 209
the creation itself. Gregory, I learn, has created a fraud more plausible than that of Isaiah; having in fact stated of himself that he is bishop of Diocaesarea which is situated in the Pontic diocese, and that he left his throne on account of the sound faith: which, if true, would be worthy of crowns, and of all praise that is warranted by the spiritual laws: and, to speak plainly, a thing preparative for the kingdom of heaven according to the voice of the Lord that cannot lie which cries in the Gospels, ** Blessed are they which have been perse- cuted for righteousness' sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."^ But Isaiah's elaboration is, I learn, twice as abominable: and it has been so badly concocted that, even if the foolish tale were established, he would have no confirmation whatever for his position nor any plausibility. Certain men in Egypt told me that he, says he is a bishop, but, when he alleges ordination to have been performed over him, he produces no evidence or proof, names no city, and says that it was performed by one man, and by him when he was drawing his last breath and lying dead. For, when he kept perversely lying and was asked for proof of what he was saying, he came down to this as the sum of the allegation and tripped himself up. This is in fact established by the sacred text which says, ** He that is incautious with his lips in that he is perverse shall be tripped up."^ Who p- 234. is there who is reckoned among Christians to whom it is not manifest that these things stand outside all
* Mt. V. 10. - Pr. X. 8.
14
210 SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. II. 3.
canonical order and the apostolic church? Indeed from the very beginning those who were disciples and eye-witnesses and ministers of the Word Himself divided the bishops among cities, and to each church as to a spiritual bride figuratively united the bishop as a bridegroom. A witness of this is the divine Paul who writes to Titus and says, '' For this cause left I thee in Crete that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and appoint presbyters in every city as I commanded thee." Here he calls bishops presbyters: for indeed after saying, "In order that thou shouldest appoint presbyters in every city," he went on further to say, ** For the bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God."^ This the holy John also, who was bishop of Constantinople, inter- preted in this way when he wrote as follows about Titus: '' This man was highly approved among those who were with Paul: and, if not, he would not have entrusted the island to him in its entirety, nor have commanded him to supply the things that were want- ing (*in order that thou shouldest set in order the p. 235. things that are wanting '): he would not have entrusted him with the selection of so many bishops, if it had not been that he had great confidence in the man."^ The apostles also divided the peoples by the lots of the Holy Spirit: and each of them took possession of the inheritance that was given to him, and was contented with it: and the gift of it was made to him by inspira-
^ Tit. i. 5, 7. ' P.G. Ixii. 663.
II. 3. SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. 211
tion from above. This gift the singing prophet com- pared to the wings of a dove that are covered with silver and her feathers superbly decorated with gold; and he foretold that this grace would be given them openly and in actual deeds, in that he addresses his words to them thus, *' If ye lie among the lots, there there are the wings of a dove that are covered with silver, and her feathers with the yellowness of gold ": ^ the words manifestly showing this, that, if each apostle had not been satisfied with the lot that fell to him and shown regard for order, the Holy Spirit would not have bountifully bestowed upon them illustrious powers of working signs and wonders, and teaching that shone after the fashion of silver, and the steadfastness in sufferings which gold shows when tried in the fire of the furnace. But the excellent Isaiah does not fear to give himself out as holding a bishopric not obtained by lot and irregular and without a city. Who has seen a marriage-chamber of an unnamed bride, and a foul bridegroom without a consort, or rather one who becomes everything to himself, as the nature of his fiction requires? I hear that those who after the p- 236. fashion of some brute beast have adhered to his error, three or four wicked creatures, bring forward a canon also to substantiate their fraud which is without sub- stance and full of all absurdity. This they also say is a canon of Simon the Cananaean, and it has never pre- vailed in the holy churches and been accepted by holy
^ Ps. Ixvii. 14.
212 SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. II. 3.
synods, or been named in them at all. How could it have been, when the holy canons once for all enact that the ordination of a bishop must not be performed under any other conditions by him who has the right to ordain except when all the bishops of the same province ^ take part in the solemn function, or, if they are not all present, at any rate there shall be no smaller number than three, and the others also shall give their psephisma by their letters, even if they are absent in body? ^ For in ecclesiastical regulations enactments carefully made at a later time in the churches allow no play to those of ancient date. For- p. 237. example Cyprian the divine among bishops, who adorned the chief throne of Africa with all excellencies, but above all with a crown of martyrdom, once assembled a synod of the saintly bishops under him and ruled that converts from heresy must not be accepted, unless they have received the baptism given by the orthodox. And in modern times, now that the high-priests who fed the churches in the West and in the East, as well as the great and holy synod of the three hundred and eighteen, have discussed the quality of heresies, and enacted that we ought not in the case of all of them to accept penitents through baptism, no one presumes contrary to this conclusion to apply baptism to those who come from all heresies, as seemed right at an earlier time to Cyprian: but, if anyone contrary to the law which has prevailed shall
^ cTTGipx"*- '^ Mansi ii. 669.
II. 3- SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. 213
presume to re-baptize, he will fall within the grasp of the canons as having performed unlawful actions. The bishop also of the city renowned for its orthodox faith of the city^ of the Alexandrines was in old times appointed by presbyters. But in modern times, in accordance with the canon which has prevailed every- p- 238. where, the solemn institution of their bishop is performed by bishops: and no one makes light of the accurate practice that prevails in the holy churches and recurs to the earlier condition of things, which has given way to the later clear and accurate, deliberate and spiritual injunctions.^ However, if agreeable, we will also adduce the canon that is given out as having been enacted by Simon the Cananaean, in order that everyone may learn that Isaiah's partners in the idle fiction are stirring up destruction against themselves, as the common saying is. It is said to be as follows: " I also, Simon the Cananaean, command you by how many the bishop ought to be ordained. A bishop should be ordained by two or by three bishops. But, if anyone be ordained by one bishop, let both him and the man who ordained him be deprived. But, if necessity arise for him to be ordained by one, since a large number cannot come, because there is a persecution or some other cause, let him bring a p. 239. psephisma of authority from several bishops." ^ Where then are we to place the fictitious ordination of Isaiah,
1 Misunderstanding of irok^iii^ t^s 'AAc^ai/SpccDv.
* See Joum. of Theol. St. ii. 612, iii. 278. ^ Const. Ap. viii. 27.
214 SELECT LETTERS OF THE HOLY SEVERUS. II. 3.