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| To the Bishops of Cilicia.
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LXXXIV. To the Bishops of
Cilicia.1779
| 1779 This encyclical is probably of the same date as the
preceding. |
Your piety has heard of the
calumnies directed against me. The opponents of the truth allege that I
divide our one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, into
two sons, and it is said by some that a ground for their calumny is
derived from a handful of men among you who hold these opinions, and
who divide God the Word made man into two sons. They ought to listen to
those words of the Apostle which openly declare “one Lord Jesus
Christ by whom are all things,”1780
and again “one Lord, one faith,
one baptism.”1781
They ought to
have followed the Master’s teaching, for the Lord Himself says
“And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down
from heaven, even the Son of man which is in Heaven.”1782
And again “If ye shall see the
Son of Man ascend up where He was before.”1783
And the tradition of holy baptism
teaches us that there is one Son, just as there is one Father and one
Holy Ghost. I hope then that your piety will deign, if there really are
any, though I cannot believe it, who disobey the apostolic doctrines to
close their mouths, to rebuke them as the laws of the Church require,
and teach them to follow the footsteps of the holy Fathers and preserve
undefiled the faith laid down at Nicæa in Bithynia by the holy and
blessed Fathers, as summing up the teaching of Evangelists
and Apostles. For it becomes you who love God to give heed both to
God’s glory and our common credit, and not to overlook the
attacks which are made upon us all through the ignorance or
contentiousness of these few men—if they really are guilty, and
if they are not, like ourselves, suffering from the whetted tongues of
false accusers.
Deign to remember us in your
prayers to God, for so the law of love ordains. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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