|
(Found in Migne, Pat. Lat., Tom.
LXXXVII., col. 1247 et seqq.; and Labbe and Cossart, Concilia, Tom. VI., col.
1071 et seqq.)
A copy of the letter sent by the
holy and Ecumenical Sixth Council to Agatho, the most blessed and most holy
pope of Old Rome.
The holy and ecumenical council
which by the grace of God and the pious sanction of the most pious and faithful
Constantine, the great Emperor, has been gathered together in this
God-preserved and royal city, Constantinople, the new Rome, in the Secretum of
the imperial (qeiou, sacri) palace called Trullus, to the most holy and most
blessed pope of Old Rome, Agatho, health in the Lord.
Serious illnesses call for greater
helps, as you know, most blessed [father]; and therefore Christ our true God,
who is the creator and governing power of all things, gave a wise physician,
namely your God-honoured sanctity, to drive away by force the contagion of
heretical pestilence by the remedies of orthodoxy, and to give the strength of
health to the members of the church. Therefore to thee, as to the bishop of the
first see of the Universal Church, we leave what must be done, since you
willingly take for your standing ground the firm rock of the faith, as we know
from having read your true confession in the letter sent by your fatherly
beatitude to the most pious emperor: and we acknowledge that this letter was
divinely written (perscriptas) as by the Chief of the Apostles, and through it
we have cast out the heretical sect of many errors which had recently sprung
up, having been urged to making a decree by Constantine who divinely reigns,
and wields a most clement sceptre. And by his help we have overthrown the error
of impiety, having as it were laid siege to the nefarious doctrine of the
heretics. And then tearing to pieces the foundations of their execrable heresy,
and attacking them with spiritual and paternal arms, and confounding their
tongues that they might not speak consistently with each other, we overturned
the tower built up by these followers of this most impious heresy; and we slew
them with anathema, as lapsed concerning the faith and as sinners, in the
morning outside the camp of the tabernacle of God, that we may express
ourselves after the manner of David,(1) in accordance with the sentence already
given concerning them in your letter, and their names are these: Theodore,
bishop of Pharan, Sergius, Honorius, Cyrus, Paul, Pyrrhus and Peter. Moreover,
in addition to these, we justly subjected to the anathema of heretics those
also who live in their impiety which they have received, or, to speak more
accurately, in the impiety of these God - hated persons, Apollinaris, Severus
and Themestius, to wit, Macarius, who was the bishop of the great city of
Antioch (and him we also stripped deservedly of his pastor's robes on account
of his impenitence concerning the orthodox faith and his obstinate
stubbornness), and Stephen, his disciple in craziness and his teacher in
impiety, also Polychronius, who was inveterate in his heretical doctrines, thus
answering to his name; and finally all those who impenitently have taught or do
teach, or now hold or have held similar doctrines.
Up to now grief, sorrow, and many
tears have been our portion. For we cannot laugh at the fall of our neighbours,
nor exult with joy at their unbridled madness, nor have we been elated that we
might fall all the more grievously because of this thing; not thus, O venerable
and sacred head, have we been taught, we who hold Christ, the Lord of the
universe, to be both benign and man-loving in the highest degree; for he
exhorts us to be imitators of him in his priesthood so far as is possible, as
becometh the good, and to obtain the pattern of his pastoral and conciliatory
government. But also to true repentance the most Serene Emperor and ourselves
have exhorted them in various ways, and we have conducted the whole matter with
great religiousness and care. Nor
have we been moved to do so for the
sake of gain, nor by hatred, as you can easily see from what things have been
done in each session, and related in the minutes, which are herewith sent to
your blessedness: and you will understand from your holiness's vicars, Theodore
and George, presbyters beloved of God, and from John, the most religious
deacon, and from Constantine, the most venerable sub-deacon, all of them your
spiritual children and our well-loved brethren. So too you will hear the same
things from those sent by your holy synod, the holy bishops who rightly and
uprightly, in accordance with your discipline, decreed with us in the first
chapter of the faith.
Thus, illuminated by the Holy
Spirit, and instructed by your doctrine, we have cast forth the vile doctrines
of impiety, making smooth the right path of orthodoxy, being in every way
encouraged and helped in so doing by the wisdom and power of our most pious and
serene Emperor Constantine. And then one of our number, the most holy praesul
of this reigning Constantinople, in the first place assenting to the orthodox
compositions sent by you to the most pious emperor as in all respects agreeable
to the teaching of the approved Fathers and of the God-instructed Fathers, and
of the holy five universal councils, we all, by the help of Christ our God,
easily accomplished what we were striving after. For as God was the mover, so
God also he crowned our council.
Thereupon, therefore, the grace of
the Holy Spirit shone upon us, displaying his power, through your assiduous
prayers, for the uprooting of all weeds and every tree which brought not forth
good fruit, and giving command that they should be consumed by fire. And we all
agree both in heart and tongue, and hand, and have put forth, by the assistance
of the life-giving Spirit, a definition, clean from all error, certain, and
infallible; not 'removing the ancient landmarks, as it is written (God forbid!),
but remaining steadfast in the testimonies and authority of the holy and
approved fathers, and defining that, as of two and in two natures (to wit, the
divinity and the humanity) of which he is composed and in which he exists,
Christ our true God is preached by us, and is glorified inseparably,
unchangeably, unconfusedly, and undividedly; just so also we predicate of him
two natural operations, undividedly, incontrovertibly, unconfusedly,
inseparably, as has been declared in our synodal definition. These decrees the
majesty of our God-copying Emperor assented to, and subscribed them with his
own hand. And, as has been said, we rejected and condemned that most impious
and unsubstantial heresy which affirmed but one will and one operation in the
incarnate Christ our true God, and by so doing we have pressed sore upon the
crowd who confound and who divide, and have extinguished the inflamed storm of
other heresies, but we have set forth clearly with you the shining light of the
orthodox faith, and we pray your paternal sanctity to confirm our decree by
your honourable rescript; through which we confide in good hope in Christ that
his merciful kindness will grant freely to the Roman State, committed to the
care of our most clement Emperor, stability; and will adorn with daily yokes
and victories his most serene elemency; and that in addition to the good things
he has here bestowed upon us, he will set your God-honoured holiness before his
tremendous tribunal as one who has sincerely confessed the true faith,
preserving it unsullied and keeping good ward over the orthodox flocks
committed to him by God.
We and all who are with us salute
all the brethren in Christ who are with your blessedness.
|