Letter 6066: Gregory to Athanasius, Presbyter of Isauria. As we are afflicted and mourn for those whom the error of heretical pravity has cut off from the unity of the Church, so we rejoice with those whom their profession of the Catholic faith retains within her bosom. And, as it is our duty to oppose the impiety of the former with pastoral solicitude, so i...

Gregory to Athanasius, Priest of Isauria. As we grieve for those whom the error of heretical wickedness has cut off from the unity of the Church, so we rejoice for those whom their profession of the Catholic faith keeps within her embrace. And as it is our duty to oppose the impiety of the former with pastoral care, so it is fitting for us to extend favor to the devout professions of the latter and to declare their views sound. Accordingly, a suspicion of unsoundness in the faith having arisen against you, Athanasius, priest of the monastery of Saint Mile, called Tamnacus, situated in the province of Lycaonia, you, in order that the integrity of your profession of faith might be established, chose to have recourse to the Apostolic See which we govern — also asserting that, having been subjected to physical coercion, you had done and said certain things unjustly and under duress. Although acts done under compulsion in no way fall under the censure of the canons and are rightly held to be of no effect — since one who compels an unjust confession and action thereby invalidates those acts himself — and although that confession which proceeds from free will is rightly the one to be received and credited, as is evidently the case with the one you made before us — yet to prevent any possibility of uncertainty, we took the precaution of writing about you to our brother and fellow bishop, the bishop of Constantinople, asking him to inform us in writing what had occurred. After repeated urging on our part, he wrote back to the effect that a volume had been found in your possession containing many heretical statements, and that this had provoked his displeasure against you. Having borrowed this volume from him at his wish to satisfy us, we read the early portions carefully — and since we found in them manifest poison of heretical wickedness, we forbade it to be read further. Since, however, you have assured us that you had read it in simplicity, and, to cut off all ground for lingering suspicion, have submitted to us a document in your own hand in which you expound your faith, plainly condemning all heresies in general and everything opposed to the integrity of the Catholic faith and profession; and have declared that you have always received and still receive all that the four holy Ecumenical Councils receive, and have condemned and still condemn what they condemn; and have also promised to accept and hold to the council held in the time of the Emperor Justinian concerning the Three Chapters; and, being forbidden by us to read that volume in which the poison of dangerous error is interwoven, have also rejected and condemned everything said or latently implied in it against the integrity of the Catholic faith, and have promised not to read it again — We, moved by these reasons, your faith having also clearly appeared to us from the document in your own hand to be Catholic — God guarding you — hereby declare you, in accordance with your profession, to be free from all taint of heretical wickedness, and Catholic. We pronounce that you have demonstrated yourself, by the grace of Christ Jesus our Saviour, to be in all things a professor and follower of the undefiled faith; and we grant you full permission to return to your monastery, resuming your place and rank. We intend to write also on this matter to our most beloved brother, the bishop of Constantinople, who has been ordained in the place of the aforesaid holy John. Since it is the custom for us not to write before his synodical letter has reached us, however, we have delayed. But after it arrives, we will inform him of these matters at a suitable opportunity.

Book VI, Letter 66 To Athanasius, Presbyter. Gregory to Athanasius, Presbyter of Isauria. As we are afflicted and mourn for those whom the error of heretical pravity has cut off from the unity of the Church, so we rejoice with those whom their profession of the Catholic faith retains within her bosom. And, as it is our duty to oppose the impiety of the former with pastoral solicitude, so it is fitting for us to bestow favour on the pious professions of the latter, and to declare their views to be sound. And accordingly, a suspicion of unsoundness in the faith having arisen against you, Athanasius, presbyter of the monastery of Saint Mile, called Tamnacus, which is established in the province of Lycaonia, you, in order that the integrity of the profession of faith might appear, elected to have recourse to the Apostolical See over which we preside, asserting also that, having been corporally chastised, you had done some things unjustly and impetuously. And, although things done under compulsion by no means fall under the censure of the canons, and they are rightly accounted to be of no weight (since he himself invalidates them who compels what is unjust to be confessed and done), and though that confession is rather to be received and embraced which is shown to proceed from the spontaneous will, as is known to be the case in that which you made before us — yet still, to avoid the possibility of uncertainty, we took the precaution of writing about you to our brother and fellow bishop, the prelate of the city of Constantinople, that he might inform us by letter of what had been done. He, after being often admonished by us, wrote in reply to the effect that a volume had been found in your possession, which contained many heretical statements, and that on this account he had been incensed against you. He having lent this to us in his desire to satisfy us, we read the earlier portions of it attentively: and inasmuch as we found in it manifest poison of heretical pravity, we forbade its being read any more. But, since you have assured us that you had read it in simplicity, and, in order to cut off all ground for uncertain suspicion, hast handed to us a paper in your own handwriting in which expounding your faith, you have most plainly condemned all heresies in general, or whatever is opposed to the integrity of the Catholic faith or profession, and hast declared that you had always received and still received all that the four holy Ecumenical synods receive, and had condemned and still condemned what they condemn, and hast promised also to accept and hold to that synod which was held in the times of the emperor Justinian concerning the Three Chapters, and, being forbidden by us to read that same volume in which the poison of pestiferous error is interwoven, rejecting also and condemning all that in it is said or latently implied against the integrity of the Catholic faith, you have promised that you will not read it again — we, moved by these reasons (your faith also having clearly appeared to us from the paper under your own hand, God guarding you, to be Catholic), decree you to be, according to your profession, free from all stain of heretical perversity, and Catholic; and we pronounce that you have proved yourself, by the grace of Christ Jesus our Saviour to be in all things a professor and follower of the unadulterated faith: and we give you free licence, notwithstanding all, to return to your monastery, resuming your place and rank. We wish to write also on this matter to our most beloved brother, the prelate of the city of Constantinople, who has been ordained in the place of the aforesaid holy John. But, since it is the custom that we should not write before his synodical epistle has reached us, we have therefore delayed. But, after it has reached us, we will inform him of these things when we find a convenient opportunity. About this page Source. Translated by James Barmby. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 12. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1895.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/360206066.htm>. Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is feedback732 at newadvent.org. (To help fight spam, this address might change occasionally.) Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.