Letter IV, from Pope Symmachus to Avitus, Bishop of Vienne

To Our most beloved brother Avitus, Symmachus. Chapter I: The Annulment Did Not Prejudice Avitus’s Right; He May Present His Case 1. Your charity ought not to have been offended by the fact that We recently wrote in response to Our brother and fellow bishop Aeonius. No prejudice was made to Your right, most beloved […]

Letter III, from Pope Symmachus to Aeonius, Bishop of Arles

To Our most beloved brother Aeonius, Symmachus. Chapter I: The Vienne Dispute Has Arisen Because Anastasius II’s Ruling Departed from the Older Discipline 1. We have received the letters and directives of Your beloved, brought by Our son Crescentius the presbyter, the intermediary messenger, from which it is established that some struggle has arisen between […]

Letter II, from Pope Symmachus to Aeonius, Bishop of Arles

To Our most beloved brother Aeonius, Symmachus. Chapter I: The Vienne Bishop Obtained a Ruling From Anastasius II by Stealth Procurement; The Case Is to Be Reheard at Rome 1. The report of Your beloved has indeed moved Us, in that it has declared: namely that, contrary to the rules of ecclesiastical order and against […]

Letter XI, from Pope Hilarius to the Bishops Judging Mamertus’s Case

Hilarus, bishop, to his most beloved brothers — Victurus, Ingenuus, Ydatius, Eustasius, Fonteius, Viventius, Eulalius, Veranus, Faustus, Auxanius, Proculus, Ausonius, Paulus, Memorialis, Coelestius, Projectus, Eutropius, Avitianus, Ursus, and Leontius. With Us most solicitous, and suspended in much expectation by those things which the recent and certain report had brought to Us, the letters of your […]

Letter X, from Pope Hilarius to the Bishops of Various Provinces of Gaul

Hilarus, bishop, to his most beloved brothers, the bishops of the provinces of Vienne, Lyons, Narbonensis Prima and Secunda, and the Pennine Alps. Although We remember that your brotherhood retains the things that have been established by Us, and does not conceal any of those things which We have written — namely that, for the […]

Letter IX, from Pope Hilarius to Leontius

Hilarus, bishop, to his most beloved brother Leontius. How Mamertus, bishop of Vienne, has in coming forward transgressed the constitutions of the Apostolic See and exceeded priestly moderation, We have learned from your charity’s report — and on hearing such things, We marveled, wondering how We might bring forward a fitting judgment according to the […]

Letter VIII, from Pope Hilarius to the Bishops of Various Provinces of Gaul

Hilarus, bishop, to his most beloved brothers, the bishops of the provinces of Vienne, Lyons, Narbonensis Prima and Secunda, and the Pennine Alps. Although the extent and character of the wrongs long committed in the churches of Narbonne and Béziers are not hidden from your charity, and the improbity of presumption which has come all […]

Letter VII, from Pope Hilarius to Leontius

Hilarus, pope, to his most beloved brother Leontius. We are astonished that your brotherhood is so forgetful of the Catholic law that, as to iniquitous things done contrary to the statutes of our Fathers in the province which belongs to your metropolitan authority, — if you yourself either will not or cannot act — you […]

Letter VI, from Pope Hilarius to Leontius

Hilarus, pope, to his most beloved brother Leontius. To Our affection — which abounds toward the Gallican Churches and all the Lord’s priests in them, even those placed in the lower ranks — much increase has been added by the fact that the content of your address was delivered to Us through the illustrious man […]

Letter V, from Pope Hilarius to Leontius, Bishop of Arles

Hilarus, bishop, to his most beloved brother Leontius. How much reverence — in the Spirit of God, who indwells the priests subject to Him — is owed to the blessed Apostle Peter and to his See, I judge to be known to all who hold the incorrupt guardianship of paternal traditions. Since therefore We wish […]

Letter IV, from Pope Hilarius to Leontius, Veranus, and Victurus, Bishops

Hilarus, pope, to his most beloved brothers Leontius, Veranus, and Victurus, bishops. We are moved by the rationale of justice — which, though it ought to be guarded by all who hold right views, is especially not to be negligently ignored by the priests of the Lord, by whose institutions the rest are to be […]

Letter III, from Pope Hilarius to Ascanius, Bishop of Tarraconensis

Hilarus, bishop, to his most beloved brother Ascanius. We must be mindful of the divine grace which, through the mercy of its favor, raised Us to the summit of the priestly office for this purpose: that, adhering to its commands and established as watchmen of its priesthood, We may prohibit what is illicit and teach […]

Letter II, from Pope Hilarius to Ascanius and the Bishops of Tarraconensis

Hilarus, bishop, to Ascanius and all the bishops of the province of Tarraconensis. After We received the letters of your charity, in which you sought to curb the presumptions of Bishop Silvanus of the Church of Calaguris, and again asked that the wholly illicit desires of the people of Barcinona be confirmed: letters were also […]

Letter, from the Bishops of Tarraconensis to Pope Hilarius

To the most blessed lord, Pope Hilarus, worthy of apostolic reverence, honored by us in Christ: Ascanius and all the bishops of the province of Tarraconensis. Even if no necessity of ecclesiastical discipline compelled us, we would in truth have sought out that privilege of your See, by which — after the keys of the […]

Letter XIV, from Pope Simplicius to Emperor Zeno

Simplicius, bishop, to Zeno Augustus. Simplicius Praises Zeno’s Punishment of the Antioch Sacrilege and States That the Massacre Would Not Have Occurred If His Earlier Letters Had Been Obeyed I have received with joy the venerable letters of Your Piety concerning the Church of Antioch, in which We find that, with the zeal for the […]

Letter XV, from Pope Gelasius to the Eastern Bishops

To His Most Beloved Brothers, All the Eastern Bishops, Gelasius. Chapter I: The Eastern Bishops Should Have Recognized Petrus the Antiochene as Heretic and Refused His Communion What then about these wise men, with their sharp minds searching out the inner workings of all religion, established in the parts of the East — if they […]

Letter XIII (Forma Brevior), from Pope Gelasius to the Bishops of Dardania

To His Most Beloved Brothers, the Bishops Established Throughout Dardania, Gelasius. This Letter Exists in Two Recensions The text printed below is the forma brevior — the shorter recension — of Letter XIII to the bishops of Dardania. Apart from those points where the shorter form preserves a sharper formulation than the long, the substance […]

Letter XIII, from Pope Gelasius to the Bishops of Dardania

Gelasius, bishop of the city of Rome, to the [bishops of] Dardania. Chapter I: The Astonishment at the Question; The Eutychian Communicators Have Nothing to Say We are greatly astonished that your dilection desires to know — as though it were a new and, as it were, a difficult question, and still as though it […]

Letter XI, from Pope Gelasius to the Bishops of Dardania and Illyricum

Gelasius, bishop, to all the bishops established throughout Dardania or Illyricum. Chapter I: The Apostolic See’s Divinely Delegated Solicitude Rejoices in the Illyrian Bishops’ Constancy Hearing of the orthodox constancy of your charity in Christ — and that you so cleave to the traditions of the ancient faith and of sincere communion that the neighboring […]

Letter II, from Pope Gelasius to Laurentius, Bishop of Lignido

Gelasius to Laurentius, Bishop of Lignido. The Custom of the Roman Church: A Newly Established Pope Prescribes the Formula of Faith to All the Holy Churches In the length of your charity’s letter you have filled us with great joy — in that part where it was said that in the Church of Thessalonica, and […]