Patriarch of Constantinople and of the Holy Synod Met with Him to All the Holy Metropolitans and to the Pope of the City of Rome.

To the most beloved of God, fellow-minister, Gennadius and the most holy synod assembled in the royal city which is New Rome, sendeth greeting.

As our Lord without money and without price ordained his Apostles, so should we ordain the clergy, for the Lord has placed us in their grade and in their stead (eij ton ekeinwn baqhon te kai topon). Nor should we use anyingenious sophisms to avoid this plain duty,explicitly laid upon us, not only by the words of the Gospel but also by a canon of the greatEcumenical Synod of Chalcedon.parparpar