Letter 3

From: The Council of Aquileia (led by Ambrose of Milan) To: Emperors Gratian, Valentinian II, and Theodosius Date: ~381 AD Context: The Council of Aquileia reports its proceedings against the Arian heresy and warns the emperors against the schismatic Ursinus, who has been conspiring with Arians to seize the Roman bishopric. To the most merciful Emperors, the Christian and most glorious princes Gratian, Valentinian, and Theodosius — from the Council assembled at Aquileia. Most merciful Emperors, your decrees have ensured that Arian faithlessness [the heresy denying the full divinity of Christ] can no longer hide or spread. The Council's rulings will not lack effect: in the entire West, only two men were found brazen enough to defy the assembled bishops — men accustomed to disturbing nothing more than a corner of Riparian Dacia [a frontier province along the Danube]. But another matter troubles us more deeply, and since we have convened, it demands proper attention. We must ensure that the whole body of the Church, spread throughout the world, is not thrown into disorder by Ursinus [a rival claimant to the Roman see who had stirred violent factions]. Although we have frequently reported that he has failed to deceive your piety — though he never permits the peace to last, and attempts his shameless approaches even amid your military emergencies — we still feel compelled to beg you, lest his pretended flattery soften your holy judgment. We shudder not only at what he might do in the future, but at what his recklessness has already accomplished. For if he finds any opening for his audacity, what will he not throw into confusion? Consider this: which of us could share communion with a man who has tried to seize a rank that was never his by right — and who now attempts, with even greater impudence, to reclaim what he pursued so shamelessly the first time? Repeatedly condemned for inciting riots, he still walks about as though his past record should frighten no one. We have learned, moreover, at this very Council, that he was allied with the Arians during the period when he tried to throw the church of Milan into turmoil with his detestable faction — meeting secretly in Arian houses, joining his people with theirs, and since he could not appear openly in their assemblies, coaching and directing them on how to disrupt the peace of the Church. We therefore implore your Clemency: look to the safety of the Roman clergy and of all the faithful. Do not allow this man to approach the city. Protect the peace that your own laws have established.

EPISTOLA XI. Imperatoribus, quid in synodo actum fuerit, significant; eosque monent, ne Ursinum sibi patiantur obrepere, ipsum turbarum auctorem, nec non infami crimine accusatum asservantes. Rogant denique ut Romani cleri, ac simul omnium incolumitati prospiciant. Imperatoribus clementissimis, et principibus christianis, gloriosissimis ac beatissimis GRATIANO, VALENTINIANO, et THEODOSIO Concilium quod convenit Aquileiae. 1. Provisum est quidem, clementissimi principes, vestrae tranquillitatis statutis, ne Arianorum perfidia possit ulterius vel latere, vel serpere; etenim effectum concilii decretis putamus minime defuturum: nam quantum ad partes spectat occidentis, duo tantum reperti sunt, qui auderent profanis et impiis vocibus obviare concilio, vix angulum Ripensis Daciae turbare consueti. 2. Aliud est quo magis angimur, de quo, quoniam convenimus, fuit rite tractandum; ne posset totum corpus Ecclesiae toto orbe diffusum, et universa turbare. Nam licet frequenter convenerimus Ursinum non potuisse obrepere pietati vestrae (quamvis quietum nihil esse patiatur, et inter tot bellicas necessitates obreptio importuna tentetur), tamen ne sancta mens vestra, animique tranquillitas, quae omnibus consulere gestit, importuni hominis simulata adulatione flectatur, deprecandos vos et obsecrandos, si dignanter ducitis, aestimamus, non solum praecaventes futura, sed etiam praeterita, quae jam ipsius temeritate gesta sunt, perhorrescentes. Nam si aliquam viam nactus fuerit audaciae, quid non ille confundat? 3. Sed si unius miseratio vos inflectere potest, multo magis vos precatio omnium moveat sacerdotum. Quis enim nostrum ei communionis societate jungetur, cum indebitum sibi gradum usurpare conatus sit, nec jure ad eum potuerit pervenire; et quem importune affectavit, importunissime 811 repetere moliatur? Turbarum toties damnatus, incedit adhuc quasi praeteritis non perhorrescendus exemplis. Qui plerumque (sicut in hoc concilio cognovimus, et vidimus) cum Arianis copulatus atque conjunctus erat eo tempore, quo turbare Mediolanensem Ecclesiam coetu detestabili moliebatur cum Valente: nunc ante Synagogae fores, nunc in Arianorum domibus miscens occulta concilia, et suos eis jungens; et quoniam ipse aperte in eorum congregationes prodire non poterat, instruens et informans quemadmodum pax Ecclesiae turbaretur: quorum furore respirabat, quod eorum posset fautores et socios emereri. 4. Cum igitur scriptum sit: Haereticum post unam correptionem devita (Tit. III, 10); cum et alius vir sancto locutus Spiritu, dixerit declinandas hujusmodi bestias, nec salutatione recipiendas (II Joan. 10), neque congressu: quomodo fieri potest, ut eum quem societati eorum insertum vidimus, non etiam assertorem perfidiae judicemus? Quid etiam si deforet? tamen totius orbis Romani caput Romanam Ecclesiam, atque illam sacrosanctam Apostolorum fidem, ne turbari sineret, obsecranda fuit clementia vestra; inde enim in omnes venerandae communionis jura dimanant. Et ideo petimus et rogamus ut obrependi ei adimere dignemini facultatem. 5. Scimus clementiae vestrae sanctum pudorem; ne auditu vestro indigna ingerat, non aliena ab officio et nomine sacerdotis interstrepat, non inverecunda vobis loquatur: quem cum habere oportuerit testimonium etiam ab his qui foris sunt (I Tim. III, 7), quali testimonio et cives proprii prosecuti sunt, clementia vestra meminisse dignetur. Pudet enim dicere, inverecundum est recensere quam turpis fama ejus convicio sauciaverit. Quo saltem pudore constrictus conticescere debuisset; et si haberet aliquam conscientiam sacerdotis, pacem Ecclesiae, concordiamque ambitioni suae et studio praeoptaret. Verum longe alienus ab omni verecundia, per abscissum hominem Paschasium, signiferum furoris sui, missis litteris, serit turbas, gentiles 812 quosque ac perditos homines concitare conatur. 6. Oramus igitur, ut jam et populo Romano, qui post relationem praefecti Urbis pendet incertus, et nobis sacerdotibus securitatem interdictam importunissimi hominis abjectione tribuatis. Quo impetrato, apud Deum omnipotentem Patrem, et Christum et Dominum Deum gratias jugi continuatione celebremus.