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| To Julian, Bishop of Cos.
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Letter
CIX.
To Julian, Bishop of Cos.
Leo, the pope, to Julian, the bishop.
I. He laments over the recent rioting in
Palestine.
The information which you give, brother, about the
riotous doings of the false monks467
| 467 These were the monks
of Palestine who immediately on Theodosius’ return from the Synod
stirred up great riots first in Jerusalem and then throughout
Palestine. | is serious
and to no slight degree lamentable; for they are due to the war which
the wicked Eutyches by the madness of deceivers is waging against the
preaching of the Gospel and the Apostles, though it will end in his own
destruction and that of his followers: but this is delayed by the
long-suffering of God, in order that it may
appear how greatly the enemies of the cross of Christ are enslaved to
the devil; because heretical depravity, breaking through its ancient
veil of pretence can no longer restrain itself within the limits of its
hypocrisy, and has poured forth all its long-concealed poison, raging
against the disciples of the Truth not only with pen but also with
deeds of violence468
| 468 Letters of the
Emperor Marcion (quoted by Ball.) speak (1) of a letter written by
Theodosius quas solus poterat fingere diabolus; and (2) of
cruelties, tortures, and insults committed particularly in mulieres
honestas et nobiles, whereby the rioters had not hesitated to force
many to acquiesce in their wicked teaching. | , in order to
wrest consent from unlearned simplicity or from panic-stricken
faith. But the sons of light ought not to be so afraid of the
sons of darkness, as being sane to acquiesce in the ideas of madmen or
to think that any respect should be shown to men of this kind; for, if
they would rather perish than recover their senses, provision must be
made lest their escape from punishment should do wider harm, and long
toleration of them should lead to the destruction of many.
II. The ringleaders must be removed to a
distance.
I am not unaware what love and favour is due to
our sons, those holy and true monks, who forsake not the moderation of
their profession, and carry into practice what they promised by their
vows. But these insolent disturbers, who boast of their insults
and injuries to priests469
| 469 They had slain
Severian, Bishop of Scythopolis, and would also have slain Juvenal,
Bishop of Jerusalem, if he had not taken refuge in flight (Ball.). | , are to be held
not the slaves of Christ, but the soldiers of Antichrist, and must be
chiefly humiliated in the person of their leaders, who incite the
ignorant mob to uphold their insubordination. And hence, seeing
that our most merciful Prince loves the catholic Faith with all the
devotion of a religious heart, and is greatly offended at the
effrontery of these rebel heretics, as is everywhere reported, we must
appeal to his clemency that the instigators of these seditions be
removed from their mad congregations; and not only Eutyches and
Dioscorus but also any who have been forward in aiding their
wrongheaded madness, be placed where they can hold no intercourse with
their partners in blasphemy: for the simpleness of some may
chance to be healed by this method, and men will be more easily
recalled to soundness of mind, if they be set free from the incitements
of pestilential teachers.
III. He sends a letter of S. Athanasius
to show that the present heresy is only a revival of former exploded
heresies.
But lest the instruction necessary for the
confirmation of faithful spirits or the refutation of heretics should
be wanting or not expressed, I have sent the letter of bishop
Athanasius of holy memory addressed to bishop Epictetus470
| 470 A portion of this
letter is among the quotations added at the end of Letter CLXV.
See also Vol. IV. p. 570. | , whose testimony Cyril of holy memory made
use of at the Synod of Ephesus against Nestorius, because it has so
clearly and carefully set forth the Incarnation of the Word, as to
overthrow both Nestorius and Eutyches by anticipation in the heresies
of those times. Let the followers of Eutyches and Dioscorus dare
to accuse such an authority as this of ignorance or of heresy, who
assert that our preaching goes astray from the teaching and the
knowledge of the Fathers. But it ought to avail for the
confirmation of the minds of all the Lord’s priests, who, having been already detected
and condemned of heresy in respect of the authorities they followed,
now begin more openly to set forth their blasphemous dogma, lest, if
their meaning were hid beneath the cloke of silence it might still be
doubtful whether the triple error of Apollinaris471
| 471 What this triple
error was will be found in Lett. LIX., chap. v. (q.v.): cf. also
Lett. CXXIV. and CLXVII. | , and the mad notion of the Manichees was
really revived in them. And as they no longer seek to hide
themselves but rise boldly against the churches of Christ, must we not
take care to destroy all the strength of their attempts,
observing, as I have said,
such discrimination as to separate the incorrigible from the more
docile spirits: for “evil conversations corrupt good
manners472
,” and “the wise man will be
sharper than the pestilent person who is chastised473
;” in order that in whatever way
the society of the wicked is broken up, some vessels may be snatched
from the devil’s hand? For we ought not to be so offended
at scurrilous and empty words as to have no care for their
correction.
IV. He expresses a hope that
Juvenal’s timely acknowledgment of error will be imitated by the
rest.
But bishop Juvenal, whose injuries are to be
lamented, joined himself too rashly to those blasphemous heretics, and
by embracing Eutyches and Dioscorus, drove many ignorant folk headlong
by his example, albeit he afterwards corrected himself by wiser
counsels. These men, however, who drank in more greedily the
wicked poison, have become the enemies of him, whose disciples they had
been before, so that the very food he had supplied them was turned to
his own ruin: and yet it is to be hoped they will imitate him in
amending his ways, if only the holy associations of the neighbourhood
in which they dwell will help them to recover their senses. But
the character of him474
who has usurped
the place of a bishop still living cannot be doubted from the character
of his actions, nor is it to be disputed that he who is loved by the
assailants of the Faith must be a misbeliever. Meanwhile,
brother, do not hesitate to continue with anxious care to keep me
acquainted with the course of events by more frequent letters.
Dated November 25th in the consulship of Herculanus
(452).E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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