From: Ennodius, Bishop of Pavia
To: Pope Symmachus
Date: ~502 AD
Context: Ennodius — the eloquent bishop and letterwriter — writes to Symmachus congratulating him on his vindication at the synod and extolling his qualities.
Ennodius, bishop, to the most holy Pope Symmachus.
As the good emperor maintains certain boundaries which he never allows to be violated, so the ruler of the church, inspired by divine contemplation, reflects the immovable constancy of God himself. What was shaken has been restored; what was obscured has been made plain; and the dignity of the apostolic see stands as it always has and always will.
I write to express what I believe and what the church of the north Italian bishops believes: that what has been done to you in the past years — the accusations, the trials, the spectacle of the bishop of Rome subjected to judgment by those who had no authority to judge him — was a wrong done to the church, not merely to a person. The chair of Peter is not the chair of a fallible man subject to factions and politics; it is the chair of an office that stands above such things, and what attacks the office attacks the faith of the church in what that office represents.
You have endured. The church is grateful.
Your servant in Christ,
Ennodius of Pavia
Ennodii episcopi Tieinensis ad Symniachuni papam.
Ut boni imperatoris instar certamen contra scMsmaticos susttneai, hortabR
Ennodius Sjmmacho papae.
1. Boni imperatoris est, probatam in acie militis animarc
tutem, ut fortitudo laudis pabulis invitata in secundis congres
dediscat lucis aflFectum. Cujus robur ducis praeconio non nutr
Quibus se denegent etiam minus valida tironis membra confiict
quando rectoris testimonio videt sibi non perire quod gesserit?
via est, qua ad praeliandum crescat intentiO; quotiens bene (
non delet oblivio. Utinam Divinitas vestris mota precibus diaboli
veteri canonum coUectione, quam Morbacense mouasterium asservat, Um
quibusdam verbis, superioris synodi capitulo VIII prozime Bubjicitar ho(
cretum. Undc colligitur, et Symmachum dedisse operam, ut quod de i
Ecclesiae non alienandis decreverat, senatus Romani coiisalto firmareto]
seuatum iUum apud Tbeodoricum cgissc, ut suum ipsius ea de re sdton
illc apx^robaret. Hinc negavcrit nemo, subnezam legem ad praemissam i
dum maxime attinere, adeoque minime hic fuisse omittendam. OptaDdam
ut integrior ad nos pervenisset.
ntnn^ situm cui salva voluerint etr
EPISTOLAB 6 APPENDIX. EPISTOLAB 7. 8. 697
*i^iunen interiiuat! Utinam devotionein meam in pace manifestet^ a. 507.
oujns studium resignavit adyersitas^ illius concordia commendet
seqnium!
2. Ad Marcellianum episcopum directa est a fratre^) vestro
^lzructa legatio; sed quid promoverit, ipse rescripsit. Quod restat,
rxectis salutationis precor officiis, ut quidquid aegrum est, medica
kidone curetis, et inter latentium secreta morborum, qui in gene-
«m necem salvatur, ferro spiritali resecetis errorem. Vale.
◆
From:Ennodius, Bishop of Pavia
To:Pope Symmachus
Date:~502 AD
Context:Ennodius — the eloquent bishop and letterwriter — writes to Symmachus congratulating him on his vindication at the synod and extolling his qualities.
Ennodius, bishop, to the most holy Pope Symmachus.
As the good emperor maintains certain boundaries which he never allows to be violated, so the ruler of the church, inspired by divine contemplation, reflects the immovable constancy of God himself. What was shaken has been restored; what was obscured has been made plain; and the dignity of the apostolic see stands as it always has and always will.
I write to express what I believe and what the church of the north Italian bishops believes: that what has been done to you in the past years — the accusations, the trials, the spectacle of the bishop of Rome subjected to judgment by those who had no authority to judge him — was a wrong done to the church, not merely to a person. The chair of Peter is not the chair of a fallible man subject to factions and politics; it is the chair of an office that stands above such things, and what attacks the office attacks the faith of the church in what that office represents.
You have endured. The church is grateful.
Your servant in Christ, Ennodius of Pavia
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.