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| On the Spoliation or Expulsion of certain Bishops.
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I.
On the Spoliation or Expulsion of certain Bishops.
It has been reported at the seat of the apostles
by your delegates,2707
| 2707 By these
apocrisarii are meant the deputies of the bishops, and their
locum tenentes, as it were, who manage the affairs of the
Church, hear the cases of individuals, and refer them to the
bishops. They are therefore called apocrisarii, i.e.,
responders, from ἀποκρίνομαι, to respond. Mention is made of them in Justinian Novell.,
Quomodo oporteat Episcopos, chap. xii. Albericus
understands by them the legates of the Pope. [Note 3.] | that certain of
our brethren, bishops to wit, are being expelled from their churches
and seats, and deprived of their goods, and summoned, thus destitute
and spoiled, to trial; a thing which is void of all reason, since the
constitutions of the apostles and their successors, and the statutes of
emperors, and the regulations of laws, prohibit it, and the authority
of the seat of the apostles forbids it to be done.
It has been ordained, indeed,
in the ancient statutes, that bishops who have been ejected and spoiled
of their property should recover their churches, and, in the first
place, have all their property restored to them; and then, in the
second place, that if any one may desire to accuse them justly, he
should do so at the like risk; that the judges should be discreet, the
bishops right-minded and harmonious in the Church, where they should be
witnesses for every one who seemed to be oppressed; and that they
should not answer till all that belonged to them was restored to them,
and to their churches by law without detriment. Nor is it
strange, brethren, if they persecute you, when they persecuted even to
death your Head, Christ our Lord. Yet even persecutions are to be
endured patiently, that ye may be known to be His disciples, for whom
also ye suffer. Whence, too, he says Himself, “Blessed are
they which are persecuted for righteousness’
sake.”2708
Sustained by these testimonies, we ought not greatly to fear the
reproach of men, nor be overcome by their up-braidings, since the Lord
gives us this command by Isaiah the prophet, saying, “Hearken
unto me, ye that know righteousness, my people, in whose heart is my
law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their
revilings;”2709
considering what
is written in the Psalm, “Shall not God search this out? for He
knoweth the secrets of the heart,2710
and the
thoughts of such men, that they are vanity,”2711
“They spoke vanity every one with
his neighbour: with deceitful lips in their heart, and with an
evil heart they spoke. But the Lord shall cut off all deceitful
lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things; who have said, Our
lips are our own; who is Lord over us?”2712
For if they kept these things in
memory, they would by no means break forth into so great
wickedness. For they do not this by laudable and paternal
instruction (probabili et paterna doctrina), but
that they may wreak their vengeful feeling against the servants of
God. For it is written, “The way of a fool is right in his
eyes;”2713
and,
“There are ways which seem right unto a man, but the end thereof
leads to death.”2714
Now we
who suffer these things ought to leave them to the judgment of God, who
will render to every man according to his works;2715
who also has thundered through His
servants, saying, “Vengeance is mine, I will
repay.”2716
Assist
ye, therefore, one another in good faith, and by deed and with a hearty
will; nor let any one remove his hand from the help of a brother, since
“by this,” saith the Lord, “shall all men know that
ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”2717
Whence, too, He speaks by the
prophet, saying, “Behold how good and how pleasant it is for
brethren to dwell together in unity!”2718
In a spiritual dwelling, I
interpret it, and in a concord which is in God, and in the unity of the
faith which distinguishes this pleasant dwelling according to truth,
which indeed was more beauteously illustrated in Aaron and the
priests2719
| 2719 The
ms. reads, “and those wearing the
priestly dignity.” | clothed with
honour, as ointment upon the head, nurturing the highest understanding
and leading even to the end of wisdom. For in this dwelling the
Lord has promised blessing and eternal life. Apprehending,
therefore, the importance of this utterance of the prophet, we have
spoken this present brotherly word for love’s sake, and by no
means seeking, or meaning to seek, our own things. For it is not
good to repay detraction with detraction, or according to the common
proverb to cast out a beam with a beam (excutere palum
palo). Be it far from us. Such manners are not
ours. May the Godhead indeed forbid it. By the just
judgment of God, power is given sometimes to sinners to persecute His
saints, in order that they who are aided and borne on by the Spirit of
God may become more glorious through the discipline of
sufferings. But to those very persons who persecute, and
reproach, and injure them, there will doubtless be woe. Woe, woe
to those who injure the servants of God; for injury done to them
concerns Him whose service they discharge, and whose function they
execute. But we pray that a door of enclosure be placed upon
their mouths, as we desire that no one perish or be defiled by their
lips, and that they think or publish with their mouth no hurtful
word. Whence also the Lord speaks by the prophet, “I said I
will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my
tongue.”2720
May the
Lord Almighty, and His only-begotten Son and our Saviour Jesus Christ,
give you this incitement, that with all means in your power you aid all
the brethren under whatsoever tribulations they labour, and esteem, as
is meet, their sufferings your own. Afford them the utmost
assistance by word and deed, that ye may be found His true disciples,
who enjoined all to love the brethren as themselves.
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