Letter 7

From: Avitus, bishop of Vienne; and Victorius, bishop, to Avitus To: Contumeliosus, bishop; then Victorius's reply embedded Date: ~510 AD Context: Two letters in one — first Avitus inviting Bishop Contumeliosus to visit, humbly asking him to judge an unfinished literary work; then a reply from Bishop Victorius asking Avitus to rule on a case of a man who married his dead wife's sister. Avitus, bishop, to Bishop Contumeliosus. The closer the day of my prayer draws near — with you interceding before God on my behalf, such as it may be worth — the more desire and embarrassment wage war in my heart. I beg a blessing on an unfinished work. There might be some small excuse if the greatness of the subject concealed the fault of my laziness. But when something is both small and unpolished, what could be more shameful? One thing alone comforts my anxious mind with bold encouragement: that by your arrival — if God deigns to hear the prayers of the devout — everything will be turned to the better. For there is nothing you cannot either set right through your prayers or excuse through your eloquence. Let us only be as certain of your incomparable devotion's desire as we are glad at the advance news of the visit we have been awaiting. [Embedded: Victorius, bishop, to Bishop Avitus.] The winnowing-fan of your ordination is needed to separate the tares from the wheat on the Lord's threshing-floor. For the one who appointed you to hold the primacy of the leading see wanted us to carry out in action what you command, while what needs to be done, you are to order. A certain citizen, as has now been reported, married his deceased wife's sister some years ago. Since this accuser of so great a crime brought the charge not in secret whispers among accomplices but openly, in the presence of many, before the very man who committed it — and since the man, with the same audacity with which he presumed the forbidden act, practically did not deny it (with you overseeing the case) — prescribe the conditions of penance: whether both should mourn together or separately.

Avitus episcopus Contumelioso episcopo. Quantum vobis apud deum suffragantibus qualiscumque voti mei dies propinquant, tantum animis meis desiderium pudorque decertant. Benedictionem quippe flagito operi imperfecto. Esset fortasse quantulacumque excusatio, si in eo inertiae meae noxam velaret ac tegeret magnitudo. Nunc vero exiguo pariter atque impolito quid potest esse deformius? Vnum igitur est, quod trepidantem animum audaci solatur hor- tatu, vestro scilicet, si pios deus exaudire dignatur, adventu cuncta in melius esse vertenda. Neque enim est, quod non possitis aut orando componere aut perorando excusare. Tantum sicut de incomparatae pietatis voto certi sumus, ita praevio prae- stolatae visitationis nuntio gaudeamus. Victorius episcopus Avito episcopo. Ad separandum a tritico lolium in area domini ordinationis vestrae ventilabra poscenda sunt; quia ille, qui vos constituit tenere loci principis principatum, nos voluit exequi, quod praeceperitis in opere, quod autem operandum est, vos iubere. Quidam enim civium, ut nunc delatum est, ante quam plures annos sororem defunctae coniugis sibi in matrimonium sociavit. Quod ergo nunc sub multorum praesentia auditus ac- cusator tanti criminis non occulta susurratione a sociis facti disseruit qualitatem, sed ipso coram, qui peregit ista, proposuit quique eodem quo illicita praesumpsit ausu, vobis dispensantibus miserabilis prope modum, non negavit. Proinde qua sit abstinen- dus condicione, praecipite: sive ut pariter lugeant, vel si est indicenda sequestratio, vel qui modus paenitentiae, edocete. Nam non est, ut puto, minus in coniugium germanam coniugis quam uxorem fratris adsciri. Vos tamen, ut suggessi, statuite, quod videtur; quia praeter ordinationem vestram de tali causa quid pronuntiari con- veniat, vix decerno. Communioni nempe eum trepide subtraho vel permitto, nisi auctoritate vestra roboratus extitero.