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| To Anatolius the Patrician.
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CXI. To Anatolius the
Patrician.1864
| 1864 This letter is in reply to that written by Anatolius on the
receipt of Letter XCII. Garnerius, who places the decree of relegation
earlier than Tillemont, dates it at about the end of April
448. |
Your excellency will be
recompensed for the kindness you have shewn me by the God of all, for all that is
done for His sake has its reward. I laugh at all my slanderers. The
bodies of them who are most severely scourged do not feel the pain,
because the scourged flesh is deadened. Still I lament over them whose
unrestrained mouths utter such lies. In what way have the accusers of
the godly bishop Ibas1865
| 1865 The leaders of the attack on Ibas, (bishop of Edessa and
metropolitan, in 436) were four presbyters, Samuel, Cyrus, Eulogius,
and Maras. The cabal chose the moment for action when Domnus visited
Hierapolis for the enthronization of Stephen, and in 445 Ibas was
summoned by Domnus to Antioch, but did not come. In 448 the eighteen
charges—some frivolous, some of gross heresy—were formally
heard, and Domnus decided in favor of Ibas. cf. p. 283,
note. | been wronged by
me that they should utter such calumnies against me? To begin with, I
was not even one of the judges, for in obedience to the imperial decree
I was living at Cyrus. Moreover, as I have heard from many, they all
along treated my absence as a grievance, for I had arranged for their
partaking of the Holy Communion at the Easter feast of salvation,1866
| 1866 i.e. recommended Ibas not to excommunicate his
accusers. | and as they often expressed a wish to
meet me, I received them with kindness and advised them as to the
proper course to take. But that I may also speak in the defence of the
very godly bishop the lord Domnus, what was the proper course for him
to take? He was openly attacked; he saw men deposed by a synodical
sentence sent into another diocese, and resuming their priestly
functions in violation of the laws of the Church; he saw things holy
and divine laughed at and turned into ridicule by the enemies of the
Church; what was he to do? When he knew this he handed over the case to
others, and not only to the very godly lord Ibas, but also to the holy
lord bishop Symeon of Amida, that the metropolitans of the two
provinces might hear the charges. What fairness is there in charging
the same persons with cruelty and kindness? If we excommunicate, we run
into danger; if we do not excommunicate, we do not escape it. We alone
of all the world are objects of attack. Other dioceses are at peace. We
alone are exposed to calumniators,—specially I myself, though I
took no part in the trial, and am absolutely without responsibility in
the matter.
Thus have I been forced to write
on reading your lordship’s letter, and on learning from it how
for these reasons a great commotion has been made against me, a man
confined to my diocese; a man of peace; one not even deliberating with
the godly bishops of the province. As a matter of fact, although there
have been already two episcopal ordinations in our province, I took
part in neither. Were I not restrained by the imperial decree I would
have gone away, and spent the remainder of my days in some remote spot.
I am faint for the plots hatched against me. I am sure those Edessenes
never put together their slander against me of their own accord. They
were prompted to these attacks on me by their truly truthful
neighbours. I thank our Saviour that he has deemed me worthy of the
beatitudes of the Gospel, all unworthy though I be. For this reason I
have gladly accepted the sentence of relegation. I am ready for exile,
and, for the sake of the “hope laid up for me,”1867
welcome whatever fate they may
inflict. I pray without ceasing for your excellency, and beseech all
the saints to share in my petitions.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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