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| To Eulogius, Alexander, and Harpocration, bishops of Egypt, in exile.
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Letter CCLXV.3199
To Eulogius, Alexander, and Harpocration, bishops of
Egypt, in exile.
1. In all things we
find that the providence exercised by our good God over His Churches is
mighty, and that thus the very things which seem to be gloomy, and do
not turn out as we should like, are ordained for the advantage of most,
in the hidden wisdom of God, and in the unsearchable judgments of His
righteousness. Now the Lord has removed you from the regions of
Egypt, and has brought you and established you in the midst of
Palestine, after the manner of Israel of old, whom He carried away by
captivity into the land of the Assyrians, and there extinguished
idolatry through the sojourn of His saints. Now too we find the
same thing, when we observe that the Lord is making known your struggle
for the sake of true religion, opening to you through your exile the
arena of your blessed contests, and to all who see before them your noble
constancy, giving the boon of your good example to lead them to
salvation. By God’s grace, I have heard of the correctness
of your faith, and of your zeal for the brethren and that it is in no
careless or perfunctory spirit that you provide what is profitable and
necessary for salvation, and that you support all that conduces to the
edification of the Churches. I have therefore thought it right
that I should be brought into communion with your goodness, and be
united to your reverences by letter. For these reasons I have
sent my very dear brother the deacon Elpidius, who not only conveys my
letter, but is moreover fully qualified to announce to you whatever may
have been omitted in my letter.
2. I have been specially moved to desire
union with you by the report of the zeal of your reverences in the
cause of orthodoxy. The constancy of your hearts has been stirred
neither by multiplicity of books nor by variety of ingenious
arguments. You have on the contrary, recognised those who
endeavoured to introduce innovations in opposition to the apostolic
doctrines, and you have refused to keep silence concerning the mischief
which they are causing. I have in truth found great distress
among all who cleave to the peace of the Lord at the divers innovations
of Apollinarius of Laodicea. He has all the more distressed me
from the fact that he seemed at the beginning on our side. A
sufferer can in a certain sense endure what comes to him from an open
enemy, even though it be exceedingly painful, as it is written,
“For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have
borne it.”3200
But it is
intolerable, and beyond the power of comfort, to be wronged by a close
and sympathetic friend. Now that very man whom I have expected to
have at my right hand in defence of the truth, I have found in many
ways hindering those who are being saved, by seducing their minds and
drawing them away from direct doctrine. What rash and hasty deed
has he not done? What ill considered and dangerous argument has
he not risked? Is not all the Church divided against herself,
specially since the day when men have been sent by him to the Churches
governed by orthodox bishops, to rend them asunder and to set up some
peculiar and illegal service? Is not ridicule brought upon the
great mystery of true religion when bishops go about without people and
clergy, having nothing but the mere name and title, and effecting
nothing for the advancement of the Gospel of peace and salvation?
Are not his discourses about God full of impious doctrines, the old
impiety of the insane Sabellius being now renewed by him in his
writings? For if the works which are current among the Sebastenes
are not the forgery of foes, and are really his composition, he has
reached a height of impiety which cannot be surpassed, in saying that
Father, Son, and Spirit are the same, and other dark pieces of
irreverence which I have declined even to hear, praying that I may have
nothing to do with those who have uttered them. Does he not
confuse the doctrine of the incarnation? Has not the œconomy
of salvation been made doubtful to the many on account of his dark and
cloudy speculations about it? To collect them all, and refute
them, requires long time and much discussion. But where have the
promises of the Gospel been blunted and destroyed as by his
figments? So meanly and poorly has he dared to explain the
blessed hope laid up for all who live according to the Gospel of
Christ, as to reduce it to mere old wives’ fables and doctrines
of Jews. He proclaims the renewal of the Temple, the observance
of the worship of the Law, a typical high priest over again after the
real High Priest, and a sacrifice for sins after the Lamb of God Who
taketh away the sin of the world.3201
He
preaches partial baptisms after the one baptism, and the ashes of a
heifer sprinkling the Church which, through its faith in Christ, has
not spot or wrinkle, or any such thing;3202
cleansing of leprosy after the painless state of the resurrection; an
offering of jealousy3203
when they neither
marry nor are given in marriage; shew-bread after the Bread from
heaven; burning lamps after the true Light. In a word, if the law
of the Commandments has been done away with by dogmas, it is plain that
under these circumstances the dogmas of Christ will be nullified by the
injunctions of the law.3204
At these
things shame and disgrace have covered my face,3205
and heavy grief hath filled my
heart. Wherefore, I beseech you, as skilful physicians, and
instructed how to discipline antagonists with gentleness, to try and
bring him back to the right order of the Church, and to persuade him
to despise the wordiness of his own works; for he has proved the
truth of the proverb “in the multitude of words there wanteth
not sin.”3206
Put boldly
before him the doctrines
of orthodoxy, in order that his amendment may be published abroad,
and his repentance made known to his brethren.
3. It is also desirable that I should remind
your reverence about the followers of Marcellus, in order that you may
decide nothing in their case rashly or inconsiderately. On
account of his impious doctrines he has gone out from the
Church.3207
| 3207 Here the Ben.
note is Mirum id videtur ac prima specie vix credibile, Marcellum
ob impios errores ex ecclesia exiisee. Nam S. Athanasius
suspectum illum quidem, sed tamen purgatum habuit, teste Epiphanio,
Hæres. lxxii. lxxii. p. 837. Hinc illius
discipuli communicatorias beatissimi papæ Athanasii litteras
ostenderunt confessoribus Ægyptiis, ibid. p. 843.
Testatur idem Epiphanius varia esse Catholicorum de Marcello
judicia, aliis eum accusantibus, aliis defendentibus, p.
834. Paulinus ejus discipulos sine discrimine recipiebat,
ut in superiore epistola vidimus. Ipse Basilius in epist.
69 queritur quod eum Ecclesia Romana in communionem ab initio
suscepisset. Quomodo ergo exiise dicitur ex Ecclesia qui tot
habuit communicatores? Sed tamen S. Basilii testimonium cum
sua sponte magni est momenti (non enim ut in dijudicandis Marcelli
scriptis, ita in ejusmodi facto proclive fuit errare), tum etiam hoc
argumento confirmatur quod Athanasius extremis vitæ suæ
annis Marcellum a communione sua removerit. Neque enim, si
semper cum eo communicasset Athanasius, opus habuissent illius
discipuli confessione fidei ad impetrandam confessorum
Ægyptiorum communionem: nec Petrus Athanasii successor
canones violatos, concessa illis communione, quereretur, ut videmus
in epistola sequenti, si Ægyptum inter ac Marcellum ejusque
clerum et plebem non fuisset rupta communio. Videtur ergo
Marcellus sub finem vitæ aliquid peccasse, quod Athanasium ab
ejus communione discedere cogeret: et cum jamdudum a tota fere
oriente damnatus esset, amissa Athanasii communione, quæ unicum
fere illius refugium erat, desertus ab omnibus videri debuit, nec ei
nova ignominia notato prodesse poterat concessa olim a Romana
Ecclesia communio. | It is
therefore necessary that his followers should only be received into
communion on condition that they anathematize that heresy, in order
that those who are united to me through you may be accepted by all the
brethren. And now most men are moved to no small grief on hearing
that you have both received them and admitted them to ecclesiastical
communion on their coming to your excellency. Nevertheless you
ought to have known that by God’s grace you do not stand alone in
the East, but have many in communion with you, who vindicate the
orthodoxy of the Fathers, and who put forth the pious doctrine of the
Faith at Nicæa. The Westerns also all agree with you and
with me, whose exposition of the Faith I have received and keep with
me, assenting to their sound doctrine. You ought, then, to have
satisfied all who are in agreement with you, that the action which is
being taken may be ratified by the general consent, and that peace may
not be broken by the acceptance of some while others are kept
apart. Thus you ought to have at the same time seriously and
gently taken counsel about matters which are of importance to all the
Churches throughout the world. Praise is not due to him who
hastily determines any point, but rather to him who rules every detail
firmly and unalterably, so that when his judgment is enquired into,
even at a later time, it may be the more esteemed. This is the
man who is acceptable both to God and man as one who guides his words
with discretion.3208
Thus I have
addressed your reverence in such terms as are possible in a
letter. May the Lord grant that one day we may meet, that so,
after arranging everything together with you for the government of the
Churches, I may with you receive the reward prepared by the righteous
Judge for faithful and wise stewards. In the mean time be so good
as to let me know with what intention you have received the followers
of Marcellus, knowing this, that even if you secure everything, so far
as you yourselves are concerned, you ought not to deal with a matter of
such importance on your own sole responsibility. It is further
necessary that the Westerns, and those who are in communion with them
in the East, should concur in the restoration of these
men.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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