Letter 4

From: The Council of Aquileia (led by Ambrose of Milan) To: Emperors Gratian, Valentinian II, and Theodosius Date: ~381 AD Context: The Council thanks the emperors for restoring Catholic churches throughout the empire, but reports alarming divisions among the Eastern Catholics themselves, and requests a general council at Alexandria. To the most merciful, Christian, and glorious princes Gratian, Valentinian, and Theodosius — from the Council assembled at Aquileia. However abundantly we might give thanks, most merciful Emperors, we could never match the scale of your generosity to the faith. After so many years of persecution inflicted on Catholics by the Arians — most savagely by Lucius [the Arian bishop of Alexandria who attacked monks and virgins], and by Demophilus [the Arian patriarch of Constantinople], that terrible fountainhead of faithlessness — all the churches of God, especially those in the East, have now been restored to Catholic hands. In the Western provinces, only two heretics in a remote corner could be found to oppose the holy Council. Who could claim to give adequate thanks for such a transformation? Yet though we cannot express your kindness in words, we hope to repay it in prayers. In our individual churches we keep daily vigils before God for your empire; and now, gathered together — a privilege we consider unmatched — we give thanks to Almighty God for your rule, your peace, and your safety, because through you concord has been restored to us. In the West, the faith faces opposition only in two corners of Riparian Dacia and Moesia — and we trust that, after the Council's ruling and with the support of your Clemency, these too will soon be remedied. Throughout every other region, district, and settlement, right to the ocean, there remains one unbroken and unblemished communion of the faithful. But in the East, we have learned with both joy and grief that while Arians have been ejected and the temples of God are now frequented solely by Catholics, serious divisions have broken out among the Catholics themselves. The discord tears us apart. We hear that innovations have been introduced, and that the very people who should have been helped — those who steadfastly remained in communion with us — are now the ones being oppressed. We therefore ask your Clemency to order a council at Alexandria, where these matters can be resolved by the assembled bishops of East and West together. The faith that was preserved through persecution must not be torn apart in peacetime.

EPISTOLA XII. Aguntur imperatoribus gratiae ob restitutam Ecclesiae tranquillitatem, eisdemque episcoporum preces promittuntur. Tum nuntiatis quibusdam catholicorum discidiis, rogantur iidem principes, ut Alexandriae jubeant coire concilium, cui et auxilium suum impendere non dedignentur, magnum episcopis collaturi beneficium. Imperatoribus clementissimis christianisque, et gloriosis, beatissimisque principibus GRATIANO, VALENTIANO, et THEODOSIO sanctum Concilium quod convenit Aquileiae. 1. Quamlibet etiam redundantibus gratiarum actionibus, nequaquam tamen possumus beneficia vestrae pietatis aequare, imperatores clementissimi, atque beatissimi et gloriosissimi principes Gratiane, Valentiniane et Theodosi dilecti Deo Patri, et Filio ejus Domino nostro Jesu Christo. Nam cum post multa tempora, et persecutiones varias, quas Catholicis intulerunt Ariani, maximeque [vel Lucius ille monachorum et virginum impia caede grassatus, sed etiam Demophilus dirum perfidiae caput, omnes Ecclesiae Dei, maxime quae per Orientem, Catholicis restitutae sint: in Occidentalibus autem partibus vix duo haeretici, qui obviare possint sancto concilio, sint reperti; quis est qui putet se gratiarum vestrarum fore idoneum relatorem? 2. Sed tamen etsi beneficia vestra verbis explicare non possumus, votis tamen concilii compensare desideramus: qui licet per singulas quasque ecclesias quotidianas apud Deum nostrum pro imperio vestro celebremus excubias; tamen conducti in unum, quo munere 813 nihil esse pulchrius opinamur, Deo nostro omnipotenti et pro imperio, et pro pace ac salute vestra gratias agimus, quod per vos nobis pax et concordia ita sit refusa. 3. Equidem per Occidentales partes duobus in angulis tantum, hoc est, in latere Daciae Ripensis, ac Moesiae, fidei obstrepi videbatur: quibus tandem nunc post concilii sententiam, vestrae favore clementiae opinamur illico consulendum. Per omnes autem tractus atque regiones, et vicorum claustra usque ad oceanum manet una et intemerata fidelium communio. In Orientalibus autem partibus cognovimus quidem summo gaudio atque laetitia, ejectis Arianis qui Ecclesias violenter invaserant, sacra Dei templa per solos catholicos frequentari. 4. Sed tamen quoniam invidia diaboli numquam quiescere solet, inter ipsos catholicos audimus crebras dissensiones esse, impacatamque discordiam; totoque confundimur affectu, quod innovata pleraque comperimus, eosque gravari nunc, quos oportuit adjuvari, qui in nostra semper communione durabant. Denique Alexandrinae Ecclesiae Timotheus episcopus, sed et Antiochenae Paulinus, qui semper communionis nobiscum intemeratam habuere concordiam, dissensionibus aliorum, quorum fides superioribus temporibus haesitabat, feruntur urgeri. Quos quidem, si fieri potest, et fides plena commendat, ad consortia nostra optamus adjungi: sed ita ut vetustae communionis sociis sua praerogativa servetur, quorum nobis non superflua cura est: primo omnium, quia communionis societas nullam debet habere offensam: deinde, quia utriusque partis dudum accepimus litteras, praecipueque illorum, qui in Antiochena Ecclesia dissidebant. 5. Et quidem nisi hostilis impedimento fuisset irruptio, aliquos etiam de nostro numero disposueramus illo dirigere, qui sequestres et arbitri refundendae, si fieri posset, pacis existerent. Sed quia studia nostra tunc temporis habere effectum per tumultus publicos nequiverunt, oblatas pietati vestrae opinamur preces nostras, quibus juxta partium factum poposcimus ut altero decedente, penes superstitem Ecclesiae jura permanerent, nec aliqua superordinatio vi attentaretur. Ideoque petimus vos, clementissimi et christiani principes, ut et Alexandriae sacerdotum catholicorum omnium concilium fieri censeatis, qui inter se plenius tractent atque definiant quibus impertienda communio quibusque servanda sit. 814 6. Nam etsi Alexandrinae Ecclesiae semper dispositionem ordinemque tenuerimus, et juxta morem consuetudinemque majorum, ejus communionem indissolubili societate ad haec usque tempora servemus; tamen ne aut aliqui videantur esse posthabiti, qui etiam pacto, quod stare volumus, communionem nostram rogarunt: aut illius pacis et societatis fidelium neglecta compendia; id obsecramus, ut cum inter se coetu pleniore tractaverint, etiam auxilia decretis sacerdotalibus vestrae pietatis aspirent. Et nobis deferri in notitiam censeatis; ne titubanti nutemus affectu, sed laeti atque securi pietati vestrae apud Deum omnipotentem agamus gratias, non solum quia exclusa perfidia est, sed quia catholicis fides et concordia est restituta. Quod a vobis Africanae et Gallicanae Ecclesiae per legatos obsecrant, hoc est, ut toto vobis faciatis in orbe episcopos debitores; licet non mediocre sit debitum, quod virtuti vestrae debetur. 7. Ad deprecandam autem clementiam vestram, et impetranda quae poscimus, legatos fratres et compresbyteros nostros direximus, quos petimus ut et clementer audire dignemini, et redire maturius censeatis.