Bad Advertisement?
Are you a Christian?
Online Store:Visit Our Store
| To the Presbyter Renatus.
PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP 
CXVI.1893
| 1893 This letter will be of the same date as CXIII. Theodoret was aware
that Leo was to be represented at the Latrocinium by Renatus as well as
by Julius of Puteoli and the archdeacon Hilarius, but had not heard
that he had never reached Ephesus. We are told on the authority of
Felix, the author of the “Breviarium Hæresis
Eutychianæ” that Renatus died at Delos on the way out.
This death is however discredited by Quesnel and some other
authorities. | To the Presbyter
Renatus.
We have heard of the warm and
righteous zeal of your holiness, and the just and lawful boldness of
speech which you employed in condemning the audacious proceedings at
Ephesus. Nor is this known to us alone, but the fame of your orthodoxy
has gone out into all lands, and all men are celebrating your
righteousness, your zeal, your boldness, and your denunciation of my
unfair treatment. And your holiness took this course after seeing one
massacre. If you had seen the others which took place after your
departure you would perhaps have emulated the fervour of the famous
Phinehas.1894
I am one of those who was
subsequently condemned, being forbidden by the imperial order to attend
the council, and sentenced in my absence.1895
| 1895 Hilarius did leave Ephesus before the second session of the
council (Cf. Leo Ep. XLVI) and before the deposition of Theodoret. The
“massacre” may refer to the brutal treatment of Flavian by
the adherents and bullies of Dioscorus. |
Six and twenty years have I been
a bishop; innumerable labours have I undergone; I have struggled hard
for the truth; I have freed tens of thousands of heretics from their
errors and brought them to the Saviour; and now they have stripped me
of my priesthood; they are exiling me from the city. For my old age,
for my hairs grown gray in the truth, they have no respect. Wherefore,
I beseech your sanctity, persuade the very sacred and holy archbishop1896
to bid me hasten to your council. For
that holy see has precedence over all churches in the world, for many
reasons; and above all for this, that it is free from all taint of
heresy, and that no bishop of heterodox opinion has ever sat upon its
throne, but it has kept the grace of the apostles undefiled.1897
| 1897 This is more or less true up to the time of Leo the great, but Leo
the great was the first pope who was an eminent theologian. Liberius is
a doubtful case. Cf. page 76. | Confident in your justice I shall
accept your decisions, whatever they may be, and shall claim to be
judged by my writings. More than thirty books have I written against
Arius and Eunomius, against Marcion, against Macedonius, against the
heathen and against Jews; I have interpreted the holy Scriptures, and
any one who likes may easily learn that I have followed in the steps of
the apostles, proclaiming the one Son, one Father, and one Holy Ghost;
one Godhead of the Trinity, one sovereignty, one power, eternity,
immutability, impassibility, one will;1898
| 1898 The Monothelite Controversy dates from two centuries after
Theodoret, when Heraclius was trying to bring about religious union in
his empire. Pope Honorius asserted two energies, but one will.
Monothelitism was definitely condemned at Constantinople in 681, and
Honorius anathematized. | that the Godhead of the Lord Jesus
Christ was perfect, perfect the manhood taken for our
salvation and for our sakes delivered unto death. I do not know one Son
of man and another Son of God, but one and the same, Son of God and God
begotten of God, and Son of man, through the form of the servant, of
the seed of Abraham and David. These and like doctrines I continue to
teach; these also I have found in the writings of the most holy and
sacred lord archbishop Leo, and I praise the Lord of all that I agree
with his apostolic doctrines. Receive, I beseech you, my supplication,
and do not overlook the wrongs under which I suffer. On this account I
have sent to your holiness the godly presbyters Hypatius and Abramius,
chorepiscopi, and Alypius exarch of our monks, adorned as they are by
good lives, and able by word of mouth to give you exact information as
to the affairs of my insignificant self.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
