CLXX. Letter of certain Easterns, who had been sent to Constantinople, to Bishop Rufus.
To our most godly and holy
fellow-minister Rufus, Joannes, Himerius, Theodoretus, and the rest, send greeting in the Lord.
True religion and the peace of
the Church suffer, we think, in no small degree, from the absence of
your holiness. Had you been on the spot you might have put a stop to
the disturbances which have arisen, and the violence that has been
ventured on, and might have fought on our side for the subjection of
the heresies introduced into the orthodox Faith, and that doctrine of
apostles and evangelists which, handed down from time to time from
father to son, has at length been transmitted to ourselves.
And we do not assert this
without ground, for we have learnt the mind of your holiness from the
letter written to the very godly and holy Julianus, bishop of Sardica, for that letter as is right charged the above named very godly bishop to fight for the Faith laid down by the blessed fathers assembled in council at Nicæa, and not to allow any corruption to be introduced into those invincible definitions which are sufficient at once to exhibit the truth and to refute falsehood. So your holiness rightly, justly, and piously advised, and the recipient of the letter followed your counsel. But many of the members of the council, to use the word of the prophet, “have gone aside,” and have “altogether become filthy,” for they have abandoned the Faith which they received from the holy Fathers, and have subscribed the twelve Chapters of Cyril of Alexandria, which teem with Apollinarian error, are in agreement with the impiety of Arius and Eunomius, and anathematize all who do not accept their unconcealed unorthodoxy. To this plague smiting the Church vigorous resistance has been offered by us who have assembled from the East, and others from different dioceses, with the object of securing the ratification of the Faith delivered by the blessed Fathers at Nicæa. For in it, as your holiness knows, there is nothing lacking whether for the teaching of evangelic doctrines, or for the refutation of every heresy.
For the sake of this Faith we
continue to struggle, despising alike all the joys and sorrows of
mortal life, if only we may preserve untouched this heritage of our
fathers. For this reason we have deposed Cyril and Memnon; the former
as prime mover in the heresy, and the latter as his aider and abettor
in all that has been done to ratify and uphold the Chapters published
to the destruction of the Church. We have also excommunicated all that
have dared to subscribe and support these impious doctrines till they
shall have anathematized them, and returned to the Faith of the Fathers
at Nicæa.
But our long-suffering has done
them no good. To this day they continue to do battle for those
pernicious doctrines and have impaled themselves on the law of the
canon which distinctly enacts “If any bishop deposed by a synod, or presbyter or deacon deposed by his own bishop, shall perform his sacred office, without waiting for the judgment of a synod, he is to have no opportunity for defending himself, not even in another synod: but also all who communicate with him are to be expelled from the church.” Now this law has been broken both by the deposed and the excommunicate. For immediately after the deposition and the excommunication becoming known to them, they performed sacred functions, and they continue to do so, in plain disbelief of Him who said “Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.”
With this we have thought well
to acquaint your holiness at once, but in expectation of some
favourable change, we have waited up to the present time. But we have
been disappointed. They have continued to fight for this impious
heresy, and pay no attention to the counsels of the very pious emperor. On five separate occasions he has met us, and ordered them either to reject the Chapters of Cyril as contrary to the Faith, or to be willing to do battle in their behalf, and to shew in what way they are in agreement with the confession of the Fathers. We have our proofs at hand, whereby we should have shewn that they are totally opposed to the teaching of orthodoxy, and for the most part in agreement with heresy.