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| Synodical letter of Damasus bishop of Rome against Apollinarius and Timotheus.
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Chapter
X.—Synodical letter of Damasus bishop
of Rome against Apollinarius and Timotheus.
When the most praiseworthy Damasus had heard of the rise of this
heresy, he proclaimed the condemnation not only of Apollinarius but
also of Timotheus his follower. The letter in which he made this known
to the bishops of the Eastern empire I have thought it well to insert
in my history.
Letter of Damasus bishop of
Rome.
“Most honourable sons:
Inasmuch as your love renders to the apostolic see the reverence which
is its due, accept the same in no niggard measure for yourselves.850
| 850 This
rendering seems the sense of the somewhat awkward Greek of the text,
and obviates the necessity of adopting Valesius’ conjecture that
the “nobis” of the original Latin had been altered by a
clerical error into “vobis.” If we read nobis, we may
translate “you shew it in no niggard measure to
ourselves.” | For even though in the holy church in which
the holy apostle sat, and taught us how it becomes us to manage the
rudder which has been committed to us, we nevertheless confess
ourselves to be unworthy of the honour, we yet on this very account
strive by every means within our power if haply we may be able to
achieve the glory of that blessedness. Know then that we have condemned
Timotheus, the unhallowed, the disciple of Apollinarius the heretic,
together with his impious doctrine, and are confident that for the
future his remains will have no weight whatever. But if that old
serpent, though smitten once and again, still revives to his own
destruction, who though he exists without the church never ceases from
the attempt by his deadly venom to overthrow certain unfaithful men, do
you avoid it as you would a pest, mindful ever of the apostolic
faith—that, I mean, which was set out in writing by the Fathers
at Nicæa; do you remain on steady ground, firm and unmoved in the
faith, and henceforward suffer neither your clergy nor laity to listen
to vain words and futile questions, for we have already given a form,
that he who professes himself a Christian may keep it, the form
delivered by the Apostles, as says St. Paul, ‘if any one preach
to you another gospel than that you have received let him be
Anathema.’851
For Christ the Son
of God, our Lord, gave by his own passion abundant salvation to the
race of men, that he might free from all sin the whole man involved in
sin. If any one speaks of Christ as having had less of manhood or of
Godhead, he is full of devils’ spirits, and proclaims himself a
child of hell.
“Why then do you again ask
me for the condemnation of Timotheus? Here, by the judgment of the
apostolic see, in the presence of Peter, bishop of Alexandria, he was
condemned, together with his teacher, Apollinarius, who will also in
the day of judgment undergo due punishment and torment. But if he
succeeds in persuading some less stable men, as though having some
hope, after by his confession changing the true hope which is in
Christ, with him shall likewise perish whoever of set purpose
withstands the order of the Church. May God keep you sound, most
honoured sons.”
The bishops assembled in great
Rome also wrote other things against other heresies which I have
thought it necessary to insert in my history. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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