To
All the Bishops Everywhere, Beloved in the Holy Ghost, Our Venerable,
Most Dear Brethren; and to their Most Pious Clergy; and to All the
Genuine Orthodox Sons of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church:
Brotherly Salutation in the Holy Spirit, and Every Good From God, and
Salvation.
The
holy, evangelical and divine Gospel of Salvation should be set forth by
all in its original simplicity, and should evermore be believed in its
unadulterated purity, even the same as it was revealed to His holy
Apostles by our Savior, who for this very cause, descending from the
bosom of God the Father, made Himself of no reputation and took upon
Him the form of a servant (Phil. ii. 7); even the same, also, as
those Apostles, who were ear and eye witnesses, sounded it forth, like
clear-toned trumpets, to all that are under the sun (for their sound
is gone out into all lands, and their words into the ends of the world);
and, last of all, the very same as the many great and glorious
Fathers of the Catholic Church in all parts of the earth, who heard
those Apostolic voices, both by their synodical and their individual
teachings handed it down to all everywhere, and even unto us. But the
Prince of Evil, that spiritual enemy of man's salvation, as formerly in
Eden, craftily assuming the pretext of profitable counsel, he made man
to become a transgressor of the divinely-spoken command. so in the
spiritual Eden, the Church of God, he has from time to time beguiled
many; and, mixing the deleterious drugs of heresy with the clear streams
of orthodox doctrine, gives of the potion to drink to many of the
innocent who live unguardedly, not giving earnest heed to the things
they have heard (Heb. ii. 10), and to what they have been told by
their fathers (Deut. xxxii. 7), in accordance with the Gospel and in
agreement with the ancient Doctors; and who, imagining that the preached
and written Word of the LORD and the perpetual witness of His Church are
not sufficient for their souls' salvation, impiously seek out novelties,
as we change the fashion of our garments, embracing a counterfeit of the
evangelical doctrine.
§ 2.
Hence have arisen manifold and monstrous heresies, which the Catholic
Church, even from her infancy, taking unto her the whole armor of
God, and assuming the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God (Eph.
vi. 13-17,) has been compelled to combat. She has triumphed over all
unto this day, and she will triumph for ever, being manifested as
mightier and more illustrious after each struggle.
§ 3. Of these heresies, some already have entirely failed, some are in
decay, some have wasted away, some yet flourish in a greater or less
degree vigorous until the time of their return to the Faith, while
others are reproduced to run their course from their birth to their
destruction. For being the miserable cogitations and devices of
miserable men, both one and the other, struck with the thunderbolt of
the anathema of the seven Ecumenical Councils, shall vanish away, though
they may last a thousand years; for the orthodoxy of the Catholic and
Apostolic Church, by the living Word of God, alone endures for ever,
according to the infallible promise of the LORD: the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it (Matt. xviii. 18). Certainly, the
mouths of ungodly and heretical men, however bold, however plausible and
fair-speaking, however smooth they may be, will not prevail against the
orthodox doctrine winning, its way silently and without noise. But,
wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? (Jer. xii. 1.) Why
are the ungodly exalted and lifted up as the cedars of Lebanon (Ps.
xxxvii. 35), to defile the peaceful worship of God? The reason of this
is mysterious, and the Church, though daily praying that this cross,
this messenger of Satan, may depart from her, ever hears from the Lord:
My grace is sufficient for thee, my strength is made perfect
in weakness (2. Cor. xii. 9). Wherefore she gladly glories in her
infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon her, and that they
which are approved may be made manifest (1. Cor. x. 19).
§ 4. Of
these heresies diffused, with what sufferings the LORD hath known, over
a great part of the world, was formerly Arianism, and at present is the
Papacy. This, too, as the former has become extinct, although now
flourishing, shall not endure, but pass away and be cast down, and a
great voice from heaven shall cry: It is cast down (Rev. xii.
10).
§ 5. The
new doctrine, that "the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father and the
Son," is contrary to the memorable declaration of our LORD, emphatically
made respecting it: which proceedeth from the Father (John xv.
26), and contrary to the universal Confession of the Catholic Church as
witnessed by the seven Ecumenical Councils, uttering "which proceedeth
from the Father." (Symbol of Faith).
i. This
novel opinion destroys the oneness from the One cause, and the diverse
origin of the Persons of the Blessed Trinity, both of which are
witnessed to in the Gospel.
ii. Even
into the divine Hypostases or Persons of the Trinity, of equal power and
equally to be adored, it introduces diverse and unequal relations, with
a confusion or commingling of them.
iii. It
reproaches as imperfect, dark, and difficult to be understood, the
previous Confession of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.
iv. It
censures the holy Fathers of the first Ecumenical Synod of Nice and of
the second Ecumenical Synod at Constantinople, as imperfectly expressing
what relates to the Son and Holy Ghost, as if they had been silent
respecting the peculiar property of each Person of the Godhead, when it
was necessary that all their divine properties should be expressed
against the Arians and Macedonians.
v. It
reproaches the Fathers of the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh
Ecumenical Councils, which had published over the world a divine Creed,
perfect and complete, and interdicted under dread anathemas and
penalties not removed, all addition, or diminution, or alteration, or
variation in the smallest particular of it, by themselves or any
whomsoever. Yet was this quickly to be corrected and augmented, and
consequently the whole theological doctrine of the Catholic Fathers was
to be subjected to change, as if, forsooth, a new property even in
regard to the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity had been revealed.
vi. It
clandestinely found an entrance at first in the Churches of the West, "a
wolf in sheep's clothing," that is, under the signification not of
procession, according to the Greek meaning in the Gospel and the
Creed, but under the signification of mission, as Pope Martin
explained it to the Confessor Maximus, and as Anastasius the Librarian
explained it to John VIII.
vii. It
exhibits incomparable boldness, acting without authority, and forcibly
puts a false stamp upon the Creed, which is the common inheritance of
Christianity.
viii. It
has introduced huge disturbances into the peaceful Church of God, and
divided the nations.
ix. It
was publicly proscribed, at its first promulgation, by two
ever-to-be-remembered Popes, Leo III and John VIII, the latter of whom,
in his epistle to the blessed Photius, classes with Judas those who
first brought the interpolation into the Creed.
x. It
has been condemned by many Holy Councils of the four Patriarchs of the
East.
xi. It
was subjected to anathema, as a novelty and augmentation of the Creed,
by the eighth Ecumenical Council,
congregated at Constantinople for the pacification of the Eastern and
Western Churches.
xii. As
soon as it was introduced into the Churches of the West it brought forth
disgraceful fruits, bringing with it, little by little, other novelties,
for the most part contrary to the express commands of our Savior in the
Gospel—commands which till its entrance into the Churches were closely
observed. Among these novelties may be numbered sprinkling instead of
baptism, denial of the divine Cup to the Laity, elevation of one and the
same bread broken, the use of wafers, unleavened instead of real bread,
the disuse of the Benediction in the Liturgies, even of the sacred
Invocation of the All-holy and Consecrating Spirit, the abandonment of
the old Apostolic Mysteries of the Church, such as not anointing
baptized infants, or their not receiving the Eucharist, the exclusion of
married men from the Priesthood, the infallibility of the Pope and his
claim as Vicar of Christ, and the like. Thus it was that the
interpolation led to the setting aside of the old Apostolic pattern of
well nigh all the Mysteries and all doctrine, a pattern which the
ancient, holy, and orthodox Church of Rome kept, when she was the most
honored part of the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.
xiii. It
drove the theologians of the West, as its defenders, since they had no
ground either in Scripture or the Fathers to countenance heretical
teachings, not only into misrepresentations of the Scriptures, such as
are seen in none of the Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church, but also
into adulterations of the sacred and pure writings of the Fathers alike
of the East and West.
xiv. It
seemed strange, unheard of, and blasphemous, even to those reputed
Christian communions, which, before its origin, had been for other just
causes for ages cut off from the Catholic fold.
xv. It
has not yet been even plausibly defended out of the Scriptures, or with
the least reason out of the Fathers, from the accusations brought
against it, notwithstanding all the zeal and efforts of its supporters.
The doctrine bears all the marks of error arising out of its nature and
peculiarities. All erroneous doctrine touching the Catholic truth of the
Blessed Trinity, and the origin of the divine Persons, and the
subsistence of the Holy Ghost, is and is called heresy, and they who so
hold are deemed heretics, according to the sentence of St. Damasus, Pope
of Rome, who says: "If any one rightly holds concerning the Father and
the Son, yet holds not rightly of the Holy Ghost, he is an heretic" (Cath.
Conf. of Faith which Pope Damasus sent to Paulinus, Bishop of
Thessalonica). Wherefore the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church,
following in the steps of the holy Fathers, both Eastern and Western,
proclaimed of old to our progenitors and again teaches today synodically,
that the said novel doctrine of the Holy Ghost proceeding from the
Father and the Son is essentially heresy, and its maintainers, whoever
they be, are heretics, according to the sentence of Pope St. Damasus,
and that the congregations of such are also heretical, and that all
spiritual communion in worship of the orthodox sons of the Catholic
Church with such is unlawful. Such is the force of the seventh Canon of
the third Ecumenical Council.
§ 6.
This heresy, which has united to itself many innovations, as has been
said, appeared about the middle of the seventh century, at first and
secretly, and then under various disguises, over the Western Provinces
of Europe, until by degrees, creeping along for four or five centuries,
it obtained precedence over the ancient orthodoxy of those parts,
through the heedlessness of Pastors and the countenance of Princes.
Little by little it overspread not only the hitherto orthodox Churches
of Spain, but also the German, and French, and Italian Churches, whose
orthodoxy at one time was sounded throughout the world, with whom our
divine Fathers such as the great Athanasius and heavenly Basil
conferred, and whose sympathy and fellowship with us until the seventh
Ecumenical Council, preserved unharmed the doctrine of the Catholic and
Apostolic Church. But in process of time, by envy of the devil, the
novelties respecting the sound and orthodox doctrine of the Holy Ghost,
the blasphemy of whom shall not be forgiven unto men either in this
world or the next, according to the saying of our Lord (Matt. xii. 32),
and others that succeeded respecting the divine Mysteries, particularly
that of the world-saving Baptism, and the Holy Communion, and the
Priesthood, like prodigious births, overspread even Old Rome; and thus
sprung, by assumption of special distinctions in the Church as a badge
and title, the Papacy. Some of the Bishops of that City, styled Popes,
for example Leo III and John VIII, did indeed, as has been said,
denounce the innovation, and published the denunciation to the world,
the former by those silver plates, the latter by his letter to the holy
Photius at the
eighth Ecumenical Council,
and another to Sphendopulcrus, by the hands of Methodius, Bishop of
Moravia. The greater part, however, of their successors, the Popes of
Rome, enticed by the antisynodical privileges offered them for the
oppression of the Churches of God, and finding in them much worldly
advantage, and "much gain," and conceiving a Monarchy in the Catholic
Church and a monopoly of the gifts of the Holy Ghost, changed the
ancient worship at will, separating themselves by novelties from the old
received Christian Polity. Nor did they cease their endeavors, by
lawless projects (as veritable history assures us), to entice the other
four Patriarchates into their apostasy from Orthodoxy, and so subject
the Catholic Church to the whims and ordinances of men.
§ 7. Our
illustrious predecessors and fathers, with united labor and counsel,
seeing the evangelical doctrine received from the Fathers to be trodden
under foot, and the robe of our Savior woven from above to be torn by
wicked hands, and stimulated by fatherly and brotherly love, wept for
the desolation of so many Christians for whom Christ died. They
exercised much zeal and ardor, both synodically and individually, in
order that the orthodox doctrine of the Holy Catholic Church being
saved, they might knit together as far as they were able that which had
been rent; and like approved physicians they consulted together for the
safety of the suffering member, enduring many tribulations, and
contempts, and persecutions, if haply the Body of Christ might not be
divided, or the definitions of the divine and august Synods be made of
none effect. But veracious history has transmitted to us the
relentlessness of the Western perseverance in error. These illustrious
men proved indeed on this point the truth of the words of our holy
father Basil the sublime, when he said, from experience, concerning the
Bishops of the West, and particularly of the Pope: "They neither know
the truth nor endure to learn it, striving against those who tell them
the truth, and strengthening themselves in their heresy" (to Eusebius of
Samosata). Thus, after a first and second brotherly admonition, knowing
their impenitence, shaking them off and avoiding them, they gave them
over to their reprobate mind. "War is better than peace, apart from
God," as said our holy father Gregory, concerning the Arians. From that
time there has been no spiritual communion between us and them; for they
have with their own hands dug deep the chasm between themselves and
Orthodoxy.
§ 8. Yet
the Papacy has not on this account ceased to annoy the peaceful Church
of God, but sending out everywhere so-called missionaries, men of
reprobate minds, it compasses land and sea to make one proselyte, to deceive one of the Orthodox, to corrupt the doctrine of our LORD, to
adulterate, by addition, the divine Creed of our holy Faith, to prove
the Baptism which God gave us superfluous, the communion of the Cup void
of sacred efficacy, and a thousand other things which the demon of
novelty dictated to the all-daring Schoolmen of the Middle Ages and to
the Bishops of the elder Rome, venturing all things through lust of
power. Our blessed predecessors and fathers, in their piety, though
tried and persecuted in many ways and means, within and without,
directly and indirectly, "yet confident in the LORD," were able to save
and transmit to us this inestimable inheritance of our fathers, which we
too, by the help of God, will transmit as a rich treasure to the
generations to come, even to the end of the world. But notwithstanding
this, the Papists do not cease to this day, nor will cease, according to
wont, to attack Orthodoxy,—a daily living reproach which they have
before their eyes, being deserters from the faith of their fathers.
Would that they made these aggressions against the heresy which has
overspread and mastered the West. For who doubts that had their zeal for
the overthrow of Orthodoxy been employed for the overthrow of heresy and
novelties, agreeable to the God-loving counsels of Leo III and John
VIII, those glorious and last Orthodox Popes, not a trace of it, long
ago, would have been remembered under the sun, and we should now be
saying the same things, according to the Apostolic promise. But the zeal
of those who succeeded them was not for the protection of the Orthodox
Faith, in conformity with the zeal worthy of all remembrance which was
in Leo III., now among the blessed.
§ 9. In
a measure the aggressions of the later Popes in their own persons had
ceased, and were carried on only by means of missionaries. But lately,
Pius IX., becoming Bishop of Rome and proclaimed Pope in 1847, published
on the sixth of January, in this present year, an Encyclical Letter
addressed to the Easterns, consisting of twelve pages in the Greek
version, which his emissary has disseminated, like a plague coming from
without, within our Orthodox Fold. In this Encyclical, he addresses
those who at different times have gone over from different Christian
Communions, and embraced the Papacy, and of course are favorable to him,
extending his arguments also to the Orthodox, either particularly or
without naming them; and, citing our divine and holy Fathers (p. 3,
1.14-18; p. 4, 1.19; p. 9, 1.6; and pp. 17, 23), he manifestly
calumniates them and us their successors and descendants: them, as if
they admitted readily the Papal commands and rescripts without question
because issuing from the Popes is undoubted arbiters of the Catholic
Church; us, as unfaithful to their examples (for thus he trespasses on
the Fold committed to us by God), as severed from our Fathers, as
careless of our sacred trusts, and of the soul's salvation of our
spiritual children. Usurping as his own possession the Catholic Church
of Christ, by occupancy, as he boasts, of the Episcopal Throne of St.
Peter, he desires to deceive the more simple into apostasy from
Orthodoxy, choosing for the basis of all theological instruction these
paradoxical words (p. 10, 1.29): "nor is there any reason why ye refuse
a return to the true Church and Communion with this my holy Throne."
§10.
Each one of our brethren and sons in Christ who have been piously
brought up and instructed, wisely regarding the wisdom given him from
God, will decide that the words of the present Bishop of Rome, like
those of his schismatical predecessors, are not words of peace, as he
affirms (p. 7,1.8), and of benevolence, but words of deceit and guile,
tending to self-aggrandizement, agreeably to the practice of his
antisynodical predecessors. We are therefore sure, that even as
heretofore, so hereafter the Orthodox will not be beguiled. For the word
of our LORD is sure (John x. 5), A stranger will they not follow, but
flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers.
§11. For
all this we have esteemed it our paternal and brotherly need, and a
sacred duty, by our present admonition to confirm you in the Orthodoxy
you hold from your forefathers, and at the same time point out the
emptiness of the syllogisms of the Bishop of Rome, of which he is
manifestly himself aware. For not from his Apostolic Confession does he
glorify his Throne, but from his Apostolic Throne seeks to establish his
dignity, and from his dignity, his Confession. The truth is the other
way. The Throne of Rome is esteemed that of St. Peter by a single
tradition, but not from Holy Scripture, where the claim is in favor of
Antioch, whose Church is therefore witnessed by the great Basil (Ep. 48
Athan.) to be "the most venerable of all the Churches in the world."
Still more, the second Ecumenical Council, writing to a Council of the
West (to the most honorable and religious brethren and fellow-servants,
Damasus, Ambrose, Britto, Valerian, and others), witnesseth, saying:
"The oldest and truly Apostolic Church of Antioch, in Syria, where first
the honored name of Christians was used." We say then that the Apostolic
Church of Antioch had no right of exemption from being judged according
to divine Scripture and synodical declarations, though truly venerated
for the throne of St. Peter. But what do we say? The blessed Peter, even
in his own person, was judged before all for the truth of the Gospel,
and, as Scripture declares, was found blamable and not walking
uprightly. What opinion is to be formed of those who glory and pride
themselves solely in the possession of his Throne, so great in their
eyes? Nay, the sublime Basil the great, the Ecumenical teacher of
Orthodoxy in the Catholic Church, to whom the Bishops of Rome are
obliged to refer us (p. 8, 1.31), has clearly and explicitly above (§ 7)
shown us what estimation we ought to have of the judgments of the
inaccessible Vatican:—"They neither," he says, "know the truth, nor
endure to learn it, striving against those who tell them the truth, and
strengthening themselves in their heresy." So that these our holy
Fathers whom his Holiness the Pope, worthily admiring as lights and
teachers even of the West, accounts as belonging to us, and advises us
(p. 8) to follow, teach us not to judge Orthodoxy from the holy Throne,
but the Throne itself and him that is on the Throne by the sacred
Scriptures, by Synodical decrees and limitations, and by the Faith which
has been preached, even the Orthodoxy of continuous teaching. Thus did
our Fathers judge and condemn Honorius, Pope of Rome, and Dioscorus,
Pope of Alexandria, and Macedonius and Nestorius, Patriarchs of
Constantinople, and Peter Gnapheus, Patriarch of Antioch, with others.
For if the abomination of desolation stood in the Holy Place, why
not innovation and heresy upon a holy Throne? Hence is exhibited in a
brief compass the weakness and feebleness of the efforts in behalf of
the despotism of the Pope of Rome. For, unless the Church of Christ was
founded upon the immovable rock of St. Peter’s Confession, Thou art
the Christ, the Son of the Living God (which was the answer
of the Apostles in common, when the question was put to them, Whom
say ye that I am? (Matt. xvi. 15,) as the Fathers, both Eastern and
Western, interpret the passage to us), the Church was built upon a
slippery foundation, even on Cephas himself, not to say on the Pope,
who, after monopolizing the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, has made such
an administration of them as is plain from history. But our divine
Fathers, with one accord, teach that the sense of the thrice-repeated
command, Feed my sheep, implied no prerogative in St. Peter over
the other Apostles, least of all in his successors. It was a simple
restoration to his Apostleship, from which he had fallen by his
thrice-repeated denial. St. Peter himself appears to have understood the
intention of the thrice-repeated question of our Lord: Lovest thou
Me, and more, and than these?. (John xxi. 16;) for,
calling to mind the words, Thou all shall be offended because of
Thee, yet will 1 never be offended (Matt. xxvi. 33), he was
grieved because He said unto him the third time, Lovest thou Me?
But his successors, from self-interest, understand the expression as
indicative of St. Peter's more ready mind.
§12. His
Holiness the Pope says (p. viii. 1.12.) that our LORD said to Peter
(Luke xxii. 32), I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and
when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. Our LORD so prayed
because Satan had sought to overthrow the faith of all the disciples,
but the LORD allowed him Peter only, chiefly because he had uttered
words of boasting, and justified himself above the rest (Matt. xxvi. 33):
Though all shall be offended, because of thee, yet will I never be
offended. The permission to Satan was but temporary. He began to
curse and to swear: I know not the man. So weak is human
nature, left to itself. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
It was but temporary, that, coming again to himself by his return in
tears of repentance, he might the rather strengthen his brethren who had
neither perjured themselves nor denied. Oh! the wise judgment of the
LORD! How divine and mysterious was the last night of our Savior upon
earth! That sacred Supper is believed to be consecrated to this day in
every Church: This do in remembrance of me (Luke xxii. 19), and
As often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show
the LORD's death till he come (1 Cor. xi. 26). Of the brotherly love
thus earnest1y commended to us by the common Master, saying, By this
shall all men know that ye are my disciple, if ye have love one to
another (John xiii. 35), have the Popes first broken the stamp and
seal, supporting and receiving heretical novelties, contrary to the
things delivered to us and canonically confirmed by our Teachers and
Fathers in common. This love acts at this day with power in the souls of
Christian people, and particularly in their leaders. We boldly avow
before God and men, that the prayer of our Savior (p. ix. l.43) to God
and His Father for the common love and unity of Christians in the One
Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, in which we believe, that they
may be one, ever as we are one (John xvii. 22), worketh in us no
less than in his Holiness. Our brotherly love and zeal meet that of his
Holiness, with only this difference, that in us it worketh for the
covenanted preservation of the pure, undefiled, divine, spotless, and
perfect Creed of the Christian Faith, in conformity to the voice of the
Gospel and the decrees of the seven holy Ecumenical Synods and the
teachings of the ever-existing Catholic Church: but worketh in his
Holiness to prop and strengthen the authority and dignity of them that
sit on the Apostolic Throne, and their new doctrine. Behold then, the
head and front, so to speak, of all the differences and disagreements
that have happened between us and them, and the middle wall of
partition, which we hope will be taken away in the time of is Holiness,
and by the aid of his renowned wisdom, according to the promise of God
(St. John x. 16): "Other sheep I have which are not of this fold:
them also 1 must bring and they shall hear my voice (Who
proceedeth from the Father "). Let it be said then, in the
third place, that if it be supposed, according to the words of his
Holiness, that this prayer of our LORD for Peter when about to deny and
perjure himself, remained attached and united to the Throne of Peter,
and is transmitted with power to those who from time to time sit upon
it, although, as has before been said, nothing contributes to confirm
the opinion (as we are strikingly assured from the example of the
blessed Peter himself, even after the descent of the Holy Ghost, yet are
we convinced from the words of our LORD, that the time will come when
that divine prayer concerning the denial of Peter, "that his faith might
not fail for ever" will operate also in some one of the successors of
his Throne, who will also weep, as he did, bitterly, and being sometime
converted will strengthen us, his brethren, still more in the Orthodox
Confession, which we hold from our forefathers;—and would that his
Holiness might be this true successor of the blessed Peter! To this our
humble prayer, what hinders that we should add our sincere and hearty
Counsel in the name of the Holy Catholic Church? We dare not say, as
does his Holiness (p. x. 1.22), that it should be done "without any
delay;" but without haste, utter mature consideration, and also, if need
be, after consultation with the more wise, religious, truth-loving, and
prudent of the Bishops, Theologians, and Doctors, to be found at the
present day, by God's good Providence, in every nation of the West.
§ 13.
His Holiness says that the Bishop of Lyons, St. Irenaeus, writes in
praise of the Church of Rome: "That the whole Church, namely, the
faithful from everywhere, must come together in that Church, because of
its Primacy, in which Church the tradition, given by the Apostles, has
in all respects been observed by the faithful everywhere." Although this
saint says by no means what the followers of the Vatican would make out,
yet even granting their interpretation, we reply: Who denies that the
ancient Roman Church was Apostolic and Orthodox? None of us will
question that it was a model of orthodoxy. We will specially add, for
its greater praise, from the historian Sozomen (Hist. Eccl. lib. iii.
cap. 12), the passage, which his Holiness has overlooked, respecting the
mode by which for a time she was enabled to preserve the orthodoxy which
we praise:—"For, as everywhere," saith Sozomen, "the Church throughout
the West, being guided purely by the doctrines of the Fathers, was delivered from contention and deception concerning these things."
Would any of the Fathers or ourselves deny her canonical privilege in
the rank of the hierarchy, so long as she was guided purely by the
doctrines of the Fathers, walking by the plain rule of Scripture and
the holy Synods! But at present we do not find preserved in her the
dogma of the Blessed Trinity according to the Creed of the holy Fathers
assembled first in Nicea and afterwards in Constantinople, which the
other five Ecumenical Councils confessed and confirmed with such
anathemas on those who adulterated it in the smallest particular, as if
they had thereby destroyed it. Nor do we find the Apostolical pattern of
holy Baptism, nor the Invocation of the consecrating Spirit upon the
holy elements: but we see in that Church the eucharistic Cup, heavenly
drink, considered superfluous, (what profanity!) and very many other
things, unknown not only to our holy Fathers, who were always entitled
the catholic, clear rule and index of Orthodoxy, as his Holiness,
revering the truth, himself teaches (p. vi), but also unknown to the
ancient holy Fathers of the West. We see that very primacy, for which
his Holiness now contends with all his might, as did his predecessors,
transformed from a brotherly character and hierarchical privilege into a
lordly superiority. What then is to be thought of his unwritten
traditions, if the written have undergone such a change and alteration
for the worse ? Who is so bold and confident in the dignity of the
Apostolic Throne, as to dare to say that if our holy Father, Sr.
Irenaeus, were alive again, seeing it was fallen from the ancient and
primitive teaching in so many most essential and catholic articles of
Christianity, he would not be himself the first to oppose the novelties
and self-sufficient constitutions of that Church which was lauded by him
as guided purely by the doctrines of the Fathers? For instance,
when he saw the Roman Church not only rejecting from her Liturgical
Canon, according to the suggestion of the Schoolmen, the very ancient
and Apostolic invocation of the Consecrating Spirit, and miserably
mutilating the Sacrifice in its most essential part, but also urgently
hastening to cut it out from the Liturgies of other Christian Communions
also,—his Holiness slanderously asserting, in a manner so unworthy of
the Apostolic Throne on which he boasts himself, that it "crept in after
t.he division between the East and West" (p. xi. 1.11)—what would not
the holy Father say respecting this novelty ? Irenaeus assures us (lib.
iv. c. 34) "that bread, from the ground, receiving the evocation of God,
is no longer common bread," etc., meaning by "evocation"
invocation:
for that Irenaeus believed the Mystery of the Sacrifice to be
consecrated by means of this invocation is especially remarked even by
Franciscus Feu-Ardentius, of the order of popish monks called Minorites,
who in 1639 edited the writings of that saint with comments, who says
(lib. i. c. 18, p. 114,) that Irenaeus teaches "that the bread and mixed
cup become the true Body and Blood of Christ by the words of
invocation." Or, hearing of the vicarial and appellate jurisdiction of
the Pope, what would not the Saint say, who, for a small and almost
indifferent question concerning the celebration of Easter (Euseb. Eccl.
Hist. v. 26), so boldly and victoriously opposed and defeated the
violence of Pope Victor in the free Church of Christ? Thus he who is
cited by his Holiness as a witness of the primacy of the Roman Church,
shows that its dignity is not that of a lordship, nor even appellate, to
which St. Peter himself was never ordained, but is a brotherly privilege
in the Catholic Church, and an honor assigned the Popes on account of
the greatness and privilege of the City. Thus, also, the fourth
Ecumenical Council, for the preservation of the gradation in rank of
Churches canonically established by the third Ecumenical Council (Canon
8),—following the second (Canon 3), as that again followed the first
(Canon 6), which called the appellate jurisdiction of the Pope over the
West a Custom,—thus uttered its determination: "On account of
that City being the Imperial City, the Fathers have with reason given it
prerogatives" (Canon 28). Here is nothing said of the Pope's special
monopoly of the Apostolicity of St. Peter, still less of a vicarship in
Rome's Bishops, and an universal Pastorate. This deep silence in regard
to such great privileges—nor only so, but the reason assigned for the
primacy, not "Feed my sheep," not "On this rock will I build
my Church," but simply old Custom, and the City being the Imperial
City; and these things, not from the LORD, but from the Fathers—will
seem, we are sure, a great paradox to his Holiness entertaining other
ideas of his prerogatives. The paradox will be the greater, since, as we
shall see, he greatly honors the said fourth Ecumenical Synod as one to
be found a witness for his Throne; and St. Gregory, the eloquent, called
the Great (lib. i. Ep. 25), was wont to speak of the four (Ecumenical
Councils [not the Roman See] as the four Gospels, and the four-sided
stone on which the Catholic Church is built.
§14. His
Holiness says (p. ix. 1.12) that the Corinthians, divided among
themselves, referred the matter to Clement, Pope of Rome, who wrote to
them his decision on the case; and they so prized his decision that they
read it in the Churches. But this event is a very weak support for the
Papal authority in the house of God. For Rome being then the center of
the Imperial Province and the chief City, in which the Emperors lived,
it was proper that any question of importance, as history shows that of
the Corinthians to have been, should be decided there, especially if one
of the contending parties ran thither for external aid: as is done even
to this day. The Patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem, when
unexpected points of difficulty arise, write to the Patriarch of
Constantinople, because of its being the seat of Empire, as also on
account of its synodical privileges; and if this brotherly aid shall
rectify that which should be rectified, it is well; but if not, the
matter is reported to the province, according to the established system.
But this brotherly agreement in Christian faith is not purchased by the
servitude of the Churches of God. Let this be our answer also to the
examples of a fraternal and proper championship of the privileges of
Julius and Innocent Bishops of Rome, by St. Athanasius the Great and St.
John Chrysostom, referred to by his Holiness (p. ix. 1. 6,17), for which
their successors now seek to recompense us by adulterating the divine
Creed. Yet was Julius himself indignant against some for " disturbing
the Churches by not maintaining the doctrines of Nice" (Soz. Hist. Ec.
lib. iii. c. 7), and threatening (id.) excommunication, "if they ceased
not their innovations." In the case of the Corinthians, moreover, it is
to be remarked that the Patriarchal Thrones being then but three, Rome
was the nearer and more accessible to the Corinthians, to which,
therefore, it was proper to have resort. In all this we see nothing
extraordinary, nor any proof of the despotic power of the Pope in the
free Church of God.
§15.
But, finally, his Holiness says (p. ix. l.12) that the fourth Ecumenical
Council (which by mistake he quite transfers from Chalcedon to
Carthage), when it read the epistle of Pope Leo I, cried out, "Peter has
thus spoken by Leo." It was so indeed. But his Holiness ought not to
overlook how, and after what examination, our fathers cried out, as they
did, in praise of Leo. Since however his Holiness, consulting brevity,
appears to have omitted this most necessary point, and the manifest
proof that an Ecumenical Council is not only above the Pope but above
any Council of his, we will explain to the public the matter as it
really happened. Of more than six hundred fathers assembled in the
Counci1 of Chalcedon, about two hundred of the wisest were appointed by
the Council to examine both as to language and sense the said epistle of
Leo; nor only so, but to give in writing and with their signatures their
own judgment upon it, whether it were orthodox or not. These, about two
hundred judgments and resolution on the epistle, as chiefly found in the
Fourth Session of the said holy Council in such terms as the
following:—"Maximus of Antioch in Syria said: 'The epistle of the holy
Leo, Archbishop of Imperial Rome, agrees with the decisions of the three
hundred and eighteen holy fathers at Nice, and the hundred and fifty at
Constantinople, which is new Rome, and with the faith expounded at
Ephesus by the most holy Bishop Cyril: and I have subscribed it."
And
again:
"Theodoret,the
most religious Bishop of Cyrus: 'The epistle of the most holy
Archbishop, the lord Leo, agrees with the faith established at Nice by
the holy and blessed fathers, and with the symbol of faith expounded at
Constantinople by the hundred and fifty, and with the epistles of the
blessed Cyril. And accepting it, I have subscribed the said epistle."'
And thus
all in succession: "The epistle corresponds," "the epistle is
consonant,"the epistle agrees in sense," and the like. After such great
and very severe scrutiny in comparing it with former holy Councils, and
a full conviction of the correctness of the meaning, and not merely
because it was the epistle of the Pope, they cried aloud, ungrudgingly,
the exclamation on which his Holiness now vaunts himself: But if his
Holiness had sent us statements concordant and in unison with the seven
holy Ecumenical Councils, instead of boasting of the piety of his
predecessors lauded by our predecessors and fathers in an Ecumenical
Council, he might justly have gloried in his own orthodoxy, declaring
his own goodness instead of that of his fathers. Therefore let his
Holiness be assured, that if, even now, he will write us such things as
two hundred fathers on investigation and inquiry shall find consonant
and agreeing with the said former Councils, then, we say, he shall hear
from us sinners today, not only, "Peter has so spoken," or anything of
like honor, but this also, "Let the holy hand be kissed which has wiped
away the tears of the Catholic Church."
§16. And
surely we have a right to expect from the prudent forethought of his
Holiness, a work so worthy the true successor of St. Peter, of Leo I,
and also of Leo III, who for security of the orthodox faith engraved the
divine Creed unaltered upon imperishable plates—a work which will unite
the churches of the West to the holy Catholic Church, in which the
canonical chief seat of his Holiness, and the seats of all the Bishops
of the West remain empty and ready to be occupied. For the Catholic
Church, awaiting the conversion of the shepherds who have fallen off
from her with their flocks, does not separate in name only, those who
have been privily introduced to the rulership by the action of others,
thus making little of the Priesthood. But we are expecting the "word of
consolation," and hope that he, as wrote St. Basil to St.Ambrose, Bishop
of Milan (Epis. b6), will "tread again the ancient footprints of the
fathers." Not without great astonishment have we read the said
Encyclical letter to the Easterns, in which we see with deep grief of
soul his Holiness, famed for prudence, speaking like his predecessors in
schism, words that urge upon us the adulteration of our pure holy Creed,
on which the Ecumenical Councils have set their seal; and doing violence
to the sacred Liturgies, whose heavenly structure alone, and the names
of those who framed them, and their tone of reverend antiquity, and the
stamp that was placed upon them by the Seventh Ecumenical Synod (Act
vi.), should have paralyzed him, and made him to turn aside the
sacrilegious and all-daring hand that has thus smitten the King of
Glory. From these things we estimate into what an unspeakable labyrinth
of wrong and incorrigible sin of revolution the papacy has thrown even
the wiser and more godly Bishops of the Roman Church, so that, in order
to preserve the innocent, and therefore valued vicarial dignity, as well
as the despotic primacy and the things depending upon it, they know no
other means shall to insult the most divine and sacred things, daring
everything for that one end. Clothing themselves, in words, with pious
reverence for "the most venerable antiquity" (p. xi. 1.16), in reality
there remains, within, the innovating temper; and yet his Holiness
really hears hard upon himself when he says that we "must cast from us
everything that has crept in among us since the Separation," (!) while
he and his have spread the poison of their innovation even into the
Supper of our LORD. His Holiness evidently takes it for granted that in
the Orthodox Church the same thing has happened which he is conscious
has happened in the Church of Rome since the rise of the Papacy: to wit,
a sweeping change in all the Mysteries, and corruption from scholastic
subtleties, a reliance on which must suffice as an equivalent for our
sacred Liturgies and Mysteries and doctrines: yet all the while,
forsooth, reverencing our "venerable antiquity," and all this by a
condescension entirely Apostolic!—"without," as he says, "troubling us
by any harsh conditions"! From such ignorance of the Apostolic and
Catholic food on which we live emanates another sententious declaration
of his (p. vii. 1. 22): "It is not possible that unity of doctrine and
sacred observance should be preserved among you," paradoxically
ascribing to us the very misfortune from which he suffers at home; just
as Pope Leo IX wrote to the blessed Michael Cerularius, accusing the
Greeks of changing the Creed of the Catholic Church, without blushing
either for his own honor or for the truth of history. We are
persuaded that if his Holiness will call to mind ecclesiastical
archaeology and history, the doctrine of the holy Fathers and the
old Liturgies of France and Spain, and the Sacramentary of the ancient
Roman Church, he will be struck with surprise on finding how many other
monstrous daughters, now living, the Papacy has brought forth in the
West: while Orthodoxy, with us, has preserved the Catholic Church as an
incorruptible bride for her Bridegroom, although we have no temporal
power, nor, as his Holiness says, any sacred "observances," but by the
sole tie of love and affection to a common Mother are bound together in
the unity of a faith sealed with the seven seals of the Spirit (Rev. v.
1), and by the seven Ecumenical Councils, and in obedience to the Truth.
He will find, also, flow many modern papistical doctrines and mysteries
must be rejected as "commandments of men" in order that the Church of
the West, which has introduced all sorts of novelties, may be
changed back again to the immutable Catholic Orthodox faith of our
common fathers. As his Holiness recognizes our common zeal in this
faith, when he says (p. viii. l.30), "let us take heed to the doctrine
preserved by our forefathers," so he does well in instructing us (l. 31)
to follow the old pontiffs and the faithful of the Eastern
Metropolitans. What these thought of the doctrinal fidelity of the
Archbishops of the elder Rome, and what idea we ought to have of them in
the Orthodox Church, and in what manner we ought to receive their
teachings, they have synodically given us an example (§ 15), and the
sublime Basil has well interpreted it (§ 7). As to the supremacy, since
we are not setting forth a treatise, let the same great Basil present
the matter in a f'ew words, "I preferred to address myself to Him who is
Head over them."
§ 17.
From all this, every one nourished in sound Catholic doctrine,
particularly his Holiness, must draw the conclusion, how impious and
anti-synodical it is to attempt the alteration of our doctrine and
liturgies and other divine offices which are, and are proved to be,
coeval with the preaching of Christianity: for which reason reverence
was always bestowed on then, and they were confided in as pure even by
the old orthodox Popes themselves, to whom these things were an
inheritance in common with ourselves. How becoming and holy would be the
mending of the innovations, the time of whose entrance in the Church of
Rome we know in each case; for our illustrious fathers have testified
from time to time against each novelty. But there are other reasons
which should incline his Holiness to this change. First, because those
things that are ours were once venerable to the Westerns, as having the
same divine Offices and confessing the same Creed; but the novelties
were not known to our Fathers, nor could they be shown in the writings
of the orthodox Western Fathers, nor as having their origin either in
antiquity or catholicity. Moreover, neither Patriarchs nor Councils
could then have introduced novelties amongst us, because the protector
of religion is the very body of the Church, even the people themselves,
who desire their religious worship to be ever unchanged and of the same
kind as that of their fathers: for as, after the Schism, many of the
Popes and Latinizing Patriarchs made attempts that came to nothing even
in the Western Church; and as, from time to time, either by fair means
or foul, the Popes have commanded novelties for the sake of expediency
(as they have explained to our f'athers, although they were thus
dismembering the Body of Christ): so now again the Pope, for the sake of
a truly divine and most just expediency, forsooth (not mending the nets,
but himself rending the garment of the Savior), dare to oppose the
venerable things of antiquity,—things well fitted to preserve religion,
as his Holiness confesses (p. xi. l.16), and which he himself honors, as
he says (lb. 1.16), together with his predecessors, for he repeats that
memorable expression o one of those blessed predecessors (Celestine,
writing to the third Ecumenical Council): "Let novelty cease to
attack antiquity." And let the Catholic Church enjoy this benefit
from this so far blameless declaration of the Popes. It must by all
rneans be confessed, that in such his attempt, even though Pius IX be
eminent for wisdom and piety, and, as he says, for zeal after Christian
unity in the Catholic Church, he will meet, within and without, with
difficulties and toils. And here we must put his Holiness in mind, if he
will excuse our boldness, of that portion of his letter (p. viii. L.32),
"That in things which relate to the confession of our divine religion,
nothing is to be feared, when we look to the glory of Christ, and the
reward which awaits us in eternal life." It is incumbent on his Holiness
to show before God and man, that, as prime mover of the counsel which
pleases God, so is he a willing protector of the ill-treated evangelical
and synodical truth, even to the sacrifice of his own interests,
according to the Prophet (Is. lx. 17), A ruler in peace and a bishop in righteousness.
So be it! But until there be this
desired returning of the apostate Churches to the body of the One, Holy,
Catholic, and Apostolic Church, of which Christ is the Head (Eph.
iv. 15), and each of us "members in particular," all advice
proceeding from them, and every officious exhortation tending to the
dissolution of our pure faith handed down from the Fathers is
condemned,as it ought to be, synodically, not only as suspicious and to
he eschewed, but as impious and soul-destroying: and in this category,
among the first we place the said Encyclical to the Easterns from
Pope Pius IX, Bishop of the elder Rome; and such we proclaim it to be in
the Catholic Church.
§ 18.
Wherefore, beloved brethren and fellow-ministers of our mediocrity, as
always, so also now, particularly on this occasion of the publication of
the said Encyclical, we hold it to be our inexorable duty, in accordance
with our patriarchal and synodical responsibility, in order that none
may be lost to the divine fold of the Catholic Orthodox Church, the most
holy Mother of us all, to encourage each other, and to urge you that,
reminding one another of the words and exhortations of St. Paul to our
holy predecessors when he summoned them to Ephesus, we reiterate to each
other: take heed, therefore, unto yourselves, and to all the flock,
over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the
Church of God, which He hath purchased with His own Blood. For
know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among
you not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise,
speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
Therefore,watch. (Acts xx.28-31.) Then our predecessors and Fathers,
hearing this divine charge, wept sore, and falling upon his neck, kissed
him. Come, then, and let us, brethren, hearing him admonishing us with
tears, fall in spirit, lamenting, upon his neck, and, kissing him,
comfort him by our own firm assurance, that no one shall separate us
from the love of Christ, no one mislead us from evangelical doctrine, no
one entice us from the safe path of our fathers, as none was able to
deceive them, by any degree of zeal which they manifested, who from time
to time were raised up for this purpose by the tempter: so that at last
we shall hear from the Master: Well done, good and faithful servant,
receiving the end of our faith, even the salvation of our souls, and
of the reasonable flock over whom the Holy Ghost has made us shepherds.
§ 19.
This Apostolic charge and exhortation we have quoted for your sake, and
address it to all the Orthodox congregation, wherever they be found
settled on the earth, to the Priests and Abbots, to the Deacons and
Monks, in a word, to all the Clergy and godly People, the rulers and the
ruled, the rich and the poor, to parents and children, to teachers and
scholars, to the educated and uneducated, to masters and servants, that
we all, supporting and counseling each other, may be able to stand
against the wiles of the devil. For thus St. Peter the Apostle
exhorts us (1 Pet.): Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary the
devil, as a roaring lion walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. Whom
resist, steadfast in the faith.
§ 20.
For our faith, brethren, is not of men nor by man, but by revelation of
Jesus Christ, which the divine Apostles preached, the holy Ecumenical
Councils confirmed, the greatest and wisest teachers of the world handed
down in succession, and the shed blood of the holy martyrs ratified. Let us hold fast to the confession
which we have received
unadulterated from such men, turning away from every novelty as a
suggestion of the devil. He that accepts a novelty reproaches with
deficiency the preached Orthodox Faith. But that Faith has long ago been
sealed in completeness, not to admit of diminution or increase, or any
change whatever; and he who dares to do, or advise, or think of such a
thing has already denied the faith of Christ, has already of his own
accord been struck with an eternal anathema, for blaspheming the Holy
Ghost as not having spoken fully in the Scriptures and through the
Ecumenical Councils. This fearful anathema, brethren and sons beloved in
Christ, we do not pronounce today, but our Savior first pronounced it
(Matt. xii. 32): Whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it
shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world
to come. St. Paul pronounced the same anathema (Gal. i. 6): I
marvel that ye are so soon removed from Him that called you into the
grace of Christ, unto another Gospel: which is not another; but
there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the Gospel of Christ.
But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto
you, than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. This same anathema the Seven Ecumenical Councils and the whole choir of
God-serving fathers pronounced. All, therefore, innovating, either by
heresy or schism, have voluntarily clothed themselves, according to the
Psalm (cix. 18), ("with a curse as with a garment,")
whether they be Popes, or Patriarchs, or Clergy, or Laity; nay, if any
one, though an angel from heaven, preach any other Gospel unto you than
that ye have received, let him be accursed. Thus our wise fathers,
obedient to the soul-saving words of St. Paul, were established firm and
steadfast in the faith handed down unbrokenly to them, and preserved it
unchanged and uncontaminate in the midst of so many heresies, and have
delivered it to us pure and undefiled, as it came pure from the mouth of
the first servants of the Word. Let us, too, thus wise, transmit it,
pure as we have received it, to coming generations, altering nothing,
that they may be, as we are, full of confidence, and with nothing to be
ashamed of when speaking of the faith of their forefathers.
§ 21.
Therefore, brethren, and sons beloved in the LORD, having purified
your souls in obeying the truth (1 Pet. i. 22), let us
give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at
any time we should let them slip. (Heb. ii. 1.) The faith and
confession we have received is not one to be ashamed of, being taught in
the Gospel from the mouth of our LORD, witnessed by the holy Apostles,
by the seven sacred Ecumenical Councils, preached throughout the world,
witnessed to by its very enemies, who, before they apostatized from
orthodoxy to heresies, themselves held this same faith, or at least
their fathers and fathers' fathers thus held it. It is witnessed to by
continuous history, as triumphing over all the heresies which have
persecuted or now persecute it, as ye see even to this day. The
succession of our holy divine fathers and predecessors beginning from
the Apostles, and those whom the Apostles appointed their successors, to
this day, forming one unbroken chain, and joining hand to hand, keep
fast the sacred inclosure of which the door is Christ, in which all the
orthodox Flock is fed in the fertile pastures of the mystical Eden, and
not in the pathless and rugged wilderness, as his Holiness supposes (p.
7.1.12). Our Church holds the infallible and genuine deposit of the Holy
Scriptures, of the Old Testament a true and perfect version, of the New
the divine original itself. The rites of the sacred Mysteries, and
especially those of the divine Liturgy, are the same glorious and
heartquickening rites, handed down from the Apostles. No nation, no
Christian communion, can boast of such Liturgies as those of James,
Basil, Chrysostom. The august Ecumenical Councils, those seven pillars
of the house of Wisdom, were organized in it and among us. This, our
Church, holds the originals of their sacred definitions. The Chief
Pastors in it, and the honorable Presbytery, and the monastic Order,
preserve the primitive and pure dignity of the first ages of
Christianity, in opinions, in polity, and even in the simplicity of
their vestments. Yes! verily, "grievous wolves" have constantly attacked
this holy fold, and are attacking it now, as we see for ourselves,
according to the prediction of the Apostle, which shows that the true
lambs of the great Shepherd are folded in it; but that Church has sung
and shall sing forever: " They compassed me about; yea, they
compassed me about: but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them (Ps.
cxviii. l1). Let us add one reflection, a painful one
indeed, but useful in order to manifest and confirm the truth of our
words:—All Christian nations whatsoever that are today seen calling upon
the Name of Christ (not excepting either the West generally, or Rome
herself, as we prove by the catalogue of her earliest Popes), were
taught the true faith in Christ by our holy predecessors and fathers;
and yet afterwards deceitful men, many of whom were shepherds, and chief
shepherds too, of those nations, by wretched sophistries and heretical
opinions dared to defile, alas! the orthodoxy of those nations, as
veracious history informs us, and as St. Paul predicted.
§ 22.
Therefore, brethren, and ye our spiritual children, we acknowledge how
great the favor and grace which God has bestowed upon our Orthodox
Faith, and on His One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, which, like
a mother who is unsuspected of her husband, nourishes us as children of
whom she is not ashamed, and who are excusable in our high-toned
boldness concerning the hope that is in us. But what shall we
sinners render to the LORD for all that He hath bestowed upon us? Our bounteous LORD and God, who hath redeemed us by his own Blood,
requires nothing else of us but the devotion of our whole soul and heart
to the blameless, holy faith of our fathers, and love and affection to
the Orthodox Church, which has regenerated us not with a novel
sprinkling, but with the divine washing of Apostolic Baptism. She it is
that nourishes us, according to the eternal covenant of our Savior, with
His own precious Body, and abundantly, as a true Mother, gives us to
drink of that precious Blood poured out for us and for the salvation of
the world. Let us then encompass her in spirit, as the young their
parent bird, wherever on earth we find ourselves, in the north or south,
or east, or west. Let us fix our our eyes and thoughts upon her divine
countenance and her most glorious beauty. Let us take hold with both our
hands on her shining robe which the Bridegroom, "altogether lovely," has
with His own undefiled hands thrown around her, when He redeemed her
from the bondage of error, and adorned her as an eternal Bride for
Himself. Let us feel in our own souls the mutual grief of the
children-loving mother and the mother-loving children, when it is seen
that men of wolfish minds and making gain of souls are zealous in
plotting how they may lead her captive, or tear the lambs from their
mothers. Let us, Clergy as well as Laity, cherish this feeling most
intensely now, when the unseen adversary of our salvation, combining his
fraudful arts (p. xi. 1. 2-25), employs such powerful instrumentalities,
and walketh about everywhere, as saith St. Peter, seeking whom he may
devour; and when in this way, in which we walk peacefully and
innocently, he sets his deceitful snares.
§ 23.
Now, the God of peace, "that brought again from the dead that great
Shepherd of the sheep," "He that keepeth Israel," who "shall neither
slumber nor sleep," "keep your hearts and minds," "and direct your ways
to every good work."
Peace
and joy be with you in the LORD.
May,
1848, Indiction 6.
+
ANTHIMOS, by the
Mercy of God, Archbishop of Constantinople, new Rome, and Ecumenical
Patriarch, a beloved brother in Christ our God, and suppliant.
+
HIEROTHEUS, by the
Mercy of God, Patriarch of Alexandria and of all Egypt, a beloved
brother in Christ our God, and suppliant.
+
METHODIOS, by the
Mercy of God, Patriarch of the great City of God, Antioch, and of all
Anatolia, a beloved brother in Christ our God, and suppliant.
+
CYRIL, by the Mercy
of God, Patriarch of Jerusalem and of all Palestine, a beloved brother
in Christ our God, and suppliant.
The Holy Synod in Constantinople:
+
PAISIUS OF CAESAREA
+
ANTHIMUS OF EPHESUS
+
DIONYSIUS OF HERACLEA
+
JOACHIM OF CYZICUS
+
DIONYSIUS OF NICODEMIA
+
HIEROTHEUS OF CHALCEDON
+
NEOPHYTUS OF DERCI
+
GERASIMUS OF ADRIANOPLE
+
CYRIL OF NEOCAESAREA
+
THEOCLETUS OF BEREA
+
MELETIUS OF PISIDIA
+
ATHANASIUS OF SMYRNA
+
DIONYSIUS OF MELENICUS
+
PAISIUS OF SOPHIA
+
DANIEL OF LEMNOS
+
PANTELEIMON OF DEYINOPOLIS
+
JOSEPH OF ERSECIUM
+
ANTHIMUS OF BODENI
The Holy Synod in Antioch:
+
ZACHARIAS OF ARCADIA
+
METHODIOS OF EMESA
+
JOANNICIUS OF TRIPOLIS
+
ARTEMIUS OF LAODICEA
The Holy Synod in Jerusalem:
+
MELETIUS OF PETRA
+
DIONYSIUS OF BETHLEHEM
+
PHILEMON OF GAZA
+
SAMUEL OF NEAPOLIS
+
THADDEUS OF SEBASTE
+
JOANNICIUS OF PHILADELPHIA
+
HIEROTHEUS OF TABOR