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| To Constantius, Bishop.
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Epistle
III.
To Constantius, Bishop.
Gregory to Constantius, Bishop of Mediolanum.
It has come to my knowledge that certain bishops
of your diocese, seeking out rather than finding an occasion, have
attempted to sever themselves from the unity of your Fraternity, saying
that thou hadst given a security1524
| 1524 Cautionem
fecisse. See Ep. 2, note 2. | at the Roman
city for thy condemnation of the three Chapters. And the fact is
that they say this because they do not know how I am accustomed to
trust thy Fraternity even without security. For if there had been
need for anything of the kind, your mere word of mouth could have been
trusted. I, however, do not recollect any mention between us of
the three Chapters either in word or in writing. But as for them,
if they soon return from their error, they should be spared, because,
according to the saying of the Apostle Paul, They understand neither
what they say nor whereof they affirm (1 Tim. i. 7). For we, truth guiding us
and our conscience bearing witness, declare that we keep the faith of
the holy synod of Chalcedon in all respects inviolate, and venture not
to add anything to, or to subtract anything from, its
definition1525
| 1525 The contention of
those who disapproved of the condemnation of “The Three
Chapters” by the fifth council was not only that the condemnation
of deceased persons was wrong as well as useless, but also that it
impugned the faith of the Council of Chalcedon. For that Council
had not condemned the writers who were now condemned; and two of them,
Theodoret of Cyrus and Ibas of Edessa, had even appeared before it, and
been accepted as orthodox. Further, the condemnation was regarded
as a concession to the Monophysites who had been condemned at
Chalcedon, the writers in question having been peculiarly obnoxious to
the Monophysite party. And it does appear to be the case that a
main motive of the Emperor Justinian in forcing the condemnation of The
Three Chapters on the Church had been to conciliate the Monophysites,
and to induce them to conform. Hence Gregory’s anxiety to
shew that what had been done at the fifth did not touch the faith as
previously defined. | . But, if any
one would fain take upon himself to think anything, either more or
less, contrary to it, and to the faith of this same synod, we
anathematize him without any hesitation, and decree him to be alien
from the bosom of Mother Church. Any one, therefore, whom this my
confession does not bring to a right mind, no longer loves the synod of
Chalcedon, but hates the bosom of Mother Church. If then those
who appear to have been thus daring have presumed thus to speak in zeal
of soul, it remains for them, having received this satisfaction, to
return to the unity of thy Fraternity, and not divide themselves from
the body of Christ, which is the holy universal
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