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| To Anatolius the Patrician.
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CXXXVIII. To Anatolius
the Patrician.1980
| 1980 This is the last of the series of Theodoret’s letters to his
illustrious friend. It expresses his gratitude for his restitution by
Marcian and begs Anatolius to use his best endeavours to get a council
called to settle the difficulties of the Church. The letter thus dates
itself in the year 451 and indicates that the calling of the council of
Chalcedon was to some extent due to Theodoret’s initiative. At
the earlier sessions at Chalcedon Marcian was represented by Anatolius,
and it was partly the authority of Anatolius which overbore the
protests of Dioscorus and his party against the admission of
Theodoret. |
I have cordially welcomed the
rest which has fallen to my lot, and am harvesting its beneficial and
pleasant results. Our Christ-loving Emperor,1981
| 1981 Marcian was crowned Emperor on August the 24th 450. Theodosius II.
had died on the preceding 28th of July. | after reaping the empire as fruit of his
true piety, has offered as first-fruits of his sovereignty to Him that
bestowed it, the calm of the storm-tossed churches, the triumph of the
invaded faith, the victory of the doctrines of the Gospel. To these he
has added the righting of the wrong done to me. Of a wrong so great and
of such a kind who ever heard? What murderer was ever doomed in his
absence? What violator of wedlock was ever condemned without a hearing?
What burglar, grave-breaker, wizard, church-robber, or doer of any
other unlawful deed, was ever prevented, when eager to appeal to the
law, and slain when far away by the sentence of his judge? In their
cases nothing of the kind was ever known. For, by our law, plaintiff
and defendant are bidden to stand face to face before the judge, while
the judge has to wait for the production of plain truth, and then and
not till then, either dismiss the accused as innocent, or punish him as
being reached by the indictment. In my case the course pursued has been
just the opposite. The emperor’s letter forbade me to approach
the far-famed synod, and the most righteous judges condemned me in my
absence, not after fair trial, but after extravagant laudation of the
documents which were produced to incriminate me. Neither the law of God
nor shame of man staved the deed of blood. Orders were given by the
president,1982
| 1982 “Dioscorus presided, and next to him Julian, or Julius, the
representative of the ‘most holy bishop of the Roman
Church’ then Juvenal of Jerusalem, Domnus of Antioch, and, his
lowered position indicating what was to come, Flavian of
Constantinople.” Canon Bright in Dict. Christ. Biog. i. 856;
Mansi. vi. 607. | flinging the truth to the winds,
and courting the power of the hour. He was obeyed by men who think as I
do, whose doctrines are my doctrines, and who had expressed admiration
of me and mine. None the less did that day convict some men of
treachery; some of cowardice; while to me a ground of confidence was
given by my sufferings for the truth’s sake. And to me our master
Christ hath granted the boon “not only of believing on Him but
also of suffering for His sake.”1983
For the greatest of all gifts of grace
are sufferings for the Master’s sake, and the divine Apostle puts
them even before great marvels.
In these boons I too glory,
humble and insignificant as I am, and having no other ground of
boasting. And I beseech your excellency to offer on behalf of my poor
self expressions of thanksgiving to the emperor, lover of Christ, and
to the most pious Augusta,1984
| 1984 cf. p. 155 n. “A sudden and total revolution at once took
place. The change was wrought,—not by the commanding voice of
ecclesiastical authority,—not by the argumentative eloquence of
any great writer, who by his surpassing abilities awed the world into
peace,—not by the reaction of pure Christian charity, drawing the
conflicting parties together by evangelic love. It was a new dynasty on
the throne of Constantinople. The feeble Theodosius dies; the masculine
Pulcheria, the champion and the pride of orthodoxy, the friend of
Flavianus and Leo ascends the throne, and gives her hand, with a share
of the empire, to a brave soldier Marcianus.” Milman, Lat.
Christ. 1. 264. | dear to God,
instructress of the good, for that she has requited our generous Lord
with such gifts, and has made her zeal for true religion the foundation
and groundwork of her sway. Besides this, beg their godly majesties to
complete the work that has been so well marked out, and to summon a
council, not, like the last, composed of a turbulent rabble,
but—kept quite clear of all of these—of men who decide on
and highly value divine things, and esteem all human affairs as of less
account than the truth. If their majesties wish to bring about the
ancient peace for the churches, and I am sure that they do, beg their
pious graces to take part in the proceedings, that their presence may
overawe those of a contrary mind and the truth may have none to gainsay
her, but may herself by her own unaided powers examine into the
position of affairs, and the character of the apostolic
doctrines.
I make this request to your
excellency, not because I long to see Cyrus again, for your lordship
knows what a solitary town it is, and how I have somehow or other
managed to conceal its ugliness by my great expenditure on all kinds of
buildings, but to the end that what I preach may be shewn to be in
agreement with apostolic doctrines while the inventions of my
opponents are counterfeit and base. Once let this come to pass, by
God’s help be it spoken, and I shall pass the remainder of my
days in cheerful contentment, wherever the Master may bid me dwell. To
you who have been brought up in the true religion, and are dowered with
the wealth of goodness it is becoming to make this effort, and by your
urgent counsel to render yet more zealous our most pious emperor and
the Christ-loving Augusta, zealous already as they are to strengthen
their glorious empire by laudable and rightful energy. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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