Simplicius, bishop, to Zeno Augustus.
Simplicius Gives Thanks for the Restoration of the Alexandrian Church and Claims Special Joy as the One Who Bears the Care of All the Churches
Through Peter, the distinguished count of the most noble lady Pacidia, the glory of your triumphant reign in the Lord is magnified, long since, with the exultation of divine gifts, since I recall having offered the letters of my humble self together with the joy of the universal Church. Nor among all the priests of the Catholic faith could I either be the only one to remain silent about the works of our Lord, or the first [to speak]: because, following the blessed Apostle Paul, sustaining the care of all the Churches (2 Cor. 11:28), I have specially claimed for myself the greatest joy from their peace, restored through Your Clemency — that, with the aid of the Divinity, the enemies of both religion and the empire having been cast down, We have merited to have you as victors; and in one and the same outcome — with Christ conquering everywhere through you — both the worship of the true faith and the condition of the empire have been restored.
Both of these had been disturbed for a time (with the devil inserting himself), so that with the adversaries of each scattered, the praises of the victor might be the greater. Having therefore obtained the fruit of such splendid virtue, I now also, together with the joy of the universal Church, do this without ceasing: I cannot be silent about the undying gratitude owed, because you have restored the Alexandrian Church to the ancient and true faith in [the person of] Our brother and fellow bishop Timothy. His letters, recently reaching me, report that — with the profanity of the condemned Eutyches and Dioscorus having been expelled — he has returned to govern the orthodox at the see of blessed Peter and the evangelist Mark, as was previously known — urging Us, who were willing, to convey these very things to Your Piety’s senses.
Simplicius Urges Zeno to Guard What He Has Restored and to Command the Exile of Peter Mongus
So that the tranquility of your reign may be perpetual and firm, guard with watchful protection the peace you have granted to all in the aforementioned Church; and what you have done, with the Lord helping you, for the salvation of innocent souls, protect with more religious zeal and more attentive diligence — because it is no less glory to preserve what you have established than to grant it. And it is proven to all that as much divine favor has been bestowed upon you as your piety has shown diligence toward the Christian religion.
And although your foresight would not cease, in every part of your realm, to prefer the tranquility of the Church to public concerns in matters beneficial to the divine worship: I pray nevertheless that you heed what [the situation] seriously demands through Us — or rather, what We ourselves more specially supplicate — that Peter, the invader of the Alexandrian Church and for this reason justly condemned, who is reported to be lurking in the city of Alexandria (as has been written to Us) and plotting certain things against what you have established — be commanded by your most pious decree to be transferred to distant places: lest he infect some who are of weak faith (which he is reported to be doing) and draw them over to the instruments of his perversity. Let pernicious contagions be far from the innocent, so that through you, within the sheepfold of the Lord’s flock, there may be the purity which only imperial authority can maintain.
Footnotes
- ↩ The Latin is Petrum virum spectabilem comitem Pacidiae nobilissimae feminae — “Peter, the distinguished man, count of Pacidia the most noble lady.” Vir spectabilis is a specific rank in the late Roman senatorial hierarchy, below vir illustris and above vir clarissimus. Pacidia is likely a member of the imperial household — possibly a descendant of the Theodosian dynasty — whose comes (count, or household steward) served as the bearer of Simplicius’s earlier letters to Zeno. The phrase olim (“long since”) indicates that these letters had been sent some time before, and Simplicius is here following up.
- ↩ The sollicitudo omnium ecclesiarum formula appears again, and Simplicius pairs it with specialiter vindicavi — “I have specially claimed for myself.” His joy at the restoration of the Alexandrian Church is not merely one bishop’s joy among others; it is the specific joy of the one who bears the universal pastoral responsibility. The distinction between Simplicius and the other priests of the Catholic faith is precisely the Pauline burden: they all rejoice, but he rejoices in a governing capacity because the care of all the Churches is specifically his. This is the same formula Leo used throughout his correspondence and that Acacius acknowledged in his recent letter to Simplicius.
- ↩ The phrase beati Petri et evangelistae Marci sedem — “the see of blessed Peter and the evangelist Mark” — is noteworthy for attributing the Alexandrian see to Peter as well as to Mark. The reader who has followed the Leo corpus will recognize the Petrine-Mark derivation argument from Leo’s Letter IX to Dioscorus: Mark was Peter’s disciple, founded the Alexandrian church under Peter’s authority, and Alexandria’s tradition is therefore Petrine tradition. By naming the see as “of blessed Peter and the evangelist Mark,” Simplicius continues the same derivation: Alexandria’s apostolicity runs through Peter, and its see is Peter’s see through Mark. The formula subordinates Alexandria to Rome’s apostle even as it honors Alexandria’s own evangelist.
- ↩ Peter Mongus (“the Stammerer”), whose brief usurpation and flight Acacius had reported in his recent letter to Simplicius. Simplicius now reveals that he has received further intelligence — sicut ad nos scriptum est, “as has been written to us” — that Peter has not in fact vanished but is secretly present in Alexandria, plotting against Zeno’s settlement. This is the first indication in the Simplicius correspondence that Peter Mongus remained a live threat rather than a fugitive who had permanently disappeared. The reader who knows what comes next will note that Peter Mongus would eventually be installed as patriarch of Alexandria under the Henoticon (482), with Acacius’s support — precisely the outcome Simplicius is here trying to prevent by urging Zeno to exile him to distant places.
- ↩ The closing phrase — quam sola tenere potest imperialis auctoritas, “which only imperial authority can maintain” — attributes to imperial power alone the capacity to secure the purity of the Lord’s flock. The statement is not an ecclesiological concession but a practical recognition: only the emperor has the coercive power to exile Peter Mongus from Alexandria. Simplicius’s own authority can condemn and excommunicate; the emperor’s authority can physically remove the threat. The closing is therefore a request that the emperor use the specific instrument that only he possesses — exile by imperial decree — in the service of what Simplicius’s preceding letters have already determined by ecclesiastical judgment.
Historical Commentary