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'As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.' Therefore each one of us shall give account of himself to God. Let us not then judge one another any more; but judge this rather, that you put no stumbling-block or scandal before a brother. The blessed Apostle therefore admonishes us, that by presuming judgment concerning those of whom none can judge more truly or better than God, no one should in this matter usurp rash daring for himself, and on this account the peace and unity of the Church be torn apart. For also in the Book of Kingdoms it is said (1 Kings XVI): 'Not as man sees does God see, for man looks on the face, but God looks on the heart.' Likewise in the First Book of Paralipomenon (1 Par. XXVIII):
'And now, Solomon, know the God of your fathers, and serve him with a perfect heart and a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts, and knows every thought.' Likewise in Ezekiel the Lord says these things (Ezek. XI): 'Thus you have said, O house of Israel, and the thoughts of your spirit I know.' Whence also of the Lord as Judge it is said in the Gospel: 'But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said: Why do you think evil in your hearts?' That especially in the Church the name of Acacius be passed over in silence. III.
We therefore beseech your Clemency that the name which, for many reasons, has stirred up scandal or a stumbling-block in the Church, be by a special enactment passed over in silence; since, as we have said, in the generality of priests the merit of each one cannot lie hidden from that Judge—what is to be assigned to each according to the reckoning of his merits—to whom alone even men's thoughts are manifest.
But how many excesses and presumptions Acacius committed, lest it perhaps seem burdensome to lay them before your Clemency one by one, to Cresconius and also to Germanus, my brothers and fellow-bishops, whom we have sent to your Serenity, we have given a most full instruction concerning the several causes of Acacius—what manner of man he was—to be more particularly reviewed by your Clemency, if it shall please your Piety to investigate this more curiously, lest the truth of our representation should seem in any point to have been lacking; so that by your divine wisdom you may clearly be able to see that it was not by pride or by an exaltation of the apostolic see that such a sentence proceeded against Acacius, but rather (as far as we, outside that judgment which alone cannot err, can estimate) one arisen from certain crimes by zeal for the Godhead.
That contention is greatly to be avoided. IV. But we, humbly supplicating, do not wish controversy to remain in the Church, since contention is rather to be shunned, as is said in Proverbs (Chap. x): 'Hatred stirs up strife. But friendship protects all who do not contend.' For the Apostle too says to the Corinthians (1 Cor. III): 'For whereas there are emulations and contentions among you, are you not carnal, and walk according to man?' Likewise to the Philippians (Chap. II):
'If therefore there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of charity, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender affections and mercies, fulfill my joy, that you all say the same thing, having the same charity, doing nothing through contention, nor through vainglory, but in humility of mind esteeming one another better than themselves; each one looking not to his own interests, but to those of others.' That the emperor should admonish the Alexandrians to return to sincere faith and catholic peace. V.
This, however, I especially urge upon your Serenity, most glorious and most clement son Augustus: that when the causes of the Alexandrians have become plain to your most pious ears, you may by your authority, wisdom, and divine admonitions make them return to the sincere and catholic faith. As to what is to be held in the catholic religion according to the definitions of the Fathers and the preaching of all the priests who have flourished in the Church—if you should command this also—we will renew it for the knowledgeable by committing it to memory, and we offer it to the ignorant for their learning, in keeping with the office of our instruction, so that no boastfulness or depravity of clever invention beyond these things may be heard. The emperor is admonished to obey the constitutions of the apostolic see. VI.
But this in particular, out of love for your empire and for the blessedness which the kingdom will be able to attain, we proclaim by virtue of our apostolic office: that, as is fitting and as the Holy Spirit dictates, obedience be rendered to our admonitions, so that all good things may accrue to your commonwealth, as is promised in Exodus (Exod. xv): 'If you will hear the voice of the Lord your God, and do what pleases him before him, and obey his precepts, and keep all his righteousness, none of the infirmity which I brought upon the Egyptians will I bring upon you: for I am the Lord who saves you.' And there again the most mighty trumpet is sounded:
'And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, other than that you fear the Lord your God, and walk in all his ways, and love him, and serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul (Deut. x)? Keep the precepts of the Lord your God, and his ordinances, which I command you.' Let not your Piety despise me as I suggest these things rather frequently, having before your eyes the words of the Lord in the Gospel: 'He who hears you, hears me, and he who despises you, despises me; and he who despises me, despises him who sent me' (Luke x). For the Apostle too, agreeing with our Savior, speaks thus: 'Wherefore he who despises these things despises not man, but God, who has given his Holy Spirit in us' (1 Thess. iv).
The breast of your Clemency is the sanctuary of public felicity, so that through your diligence (which he commanded to preside as his vicar upon the earth) the evangelical and apostolic precepts may not be resisted by harsh pride, but through obedience the things that are salvific may be fulfilled. That no portion of harm should touch those whom Acacius either baptized or ordained after his condemnation. VII.
For according to the custom of the catholic Church, let the most sacred breast of your Serenity recognize that none of those whom Acacius either baptized, or whom he ordained—whether priests or levites—according to the canons, should be touched by any portion of harm from the name of Acacius, by which perchance the grace of the sacrament, handed down through an unjust man, might seem less firm. For baptism too, though it be far from the Church, whether it has been given by an adulterer or by a thief, comes to the one who receives the gift undefiled, because that voice which sounded through the dove excludes every stain of human pollution. This is declared when it is said (John I): 'This is he who baptizes in the Spirit and in fire.'
For if the rays of this visible sun, when they pass through the most fetid places, are stained by no defilement of contact, much more is the power of him who made this visible sun constrained by no unworthiness of the minister. For Judas too, though he was a sacrilegious man and a thief, whatever he did among the apostles according to the dignity entrusted to him—the benefits given through an unworthy man—suffered no detriment from this, the Lord himself declaring this very thing in a most clear voice (Matt. XXIII): 'The scribes,' he says, 'and the Pharisees sit upon the chair of Moses; what they say, do; but what they do, do not do; for they say, and do not do.'
Whatever, then, any minister in the Church, according to his office, seems to perform for the advancement of men—that the whole of this is contained in the fulfilling of the divine effect—Paul, through whom Christ speaks, thus affirms (1 Cor. III): 'I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. Therefore neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.' And from God it is not asked who, or of what sort, preaches, but whom he preaches—so as to confirm that even the envious preach Christ well. By which evil the devil himself was cast down, and yet by this very thing he does not cease to preach. That the wicked, by ministering good things, harm only themselves, and do not defile the sacraments of the Church. VIII.
Therefore also in this case, the man whose name we say ought to be kept silent, by ministering good things ill, harmed only himself. For the inviolable sacrament, which was given through him, obtained for others the perfection of its own power. Since this is so, the curious suspicion of some extends so far that it imagines that, once judgment was pronounced by Pope Felix, Acacius thereafter acted ineffectually in the sacraments which he usurped; and accordingly that those who received the mysteries handed down—whether in consecrations or in baptism—should fear lest the divine benefits seem void. Let them remember that in this matter likewise the superior treatment prevails, because he acted in this not without usurpation of the priesthood, being already adjudged.
In which—the mysteries retaining their own power—in this too the guilty person did not harm others; for it pertained to himself, as is sung by the trumpet of David: 'Nevertheless God shall crush the heads of his enemies, the hairy crown of those who walk on in their sins' (Ps. LXVII). For pride always makes ruin for itself, not for another, as the whole authority of the heavenly Scriptures testifies, as is also said through the Holy Spirit in the prophet: 'He who works pride has not dwelt in the midst of my house' (Ps. c).
Hence, since he claimed for himself the name of priest, being condemned, the swelling of pride was inflicted upon his own head; because it was not the people, who thirsted for the gift of God in the mysteries, who were shut out, but only that soul which had sinned was, by just judgment, properly liable—a thing which the abundant instruction of the Scriptures everywhere testifies. Wherefore, with men's zeal or cunning set aside, for those still placed in this present frailty, according to our prayers, by the effort and imperial authority, with our God offering it, may there be one catholic and apostolic Church, because this alone is that in which you can triumph without end, not only on earth but also in heaven. Subscription: