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title: A Reply to the Epistle of Pope Pius IX, "to the Easterns"
date: 1848-05
source: https://orthocath.wordpress.com/2010/11/03/pope-patriarchs-the-1848-letters-of-pope-pius-ix-and-the-orthodox-patriarchs/
---
*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 I 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 I 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
the 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 few 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 fathers, 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 means 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 be 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

9
src/page/ecumen/index.md
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@ -13,8 +13,17 @@ I have made only such edits as are necessary for the sake of presentation
(i.e. formatting the source text into Markdown or adding hyperlinks).
Any errors are my own.
## 16th century
* The [Union of Brest](./union-of-brest.md)
## 19th century
* Pope Pius IX — [On the Supreme Throne of the Apostle Peter](./pius9-1848-suprema.md)
* [Encyclical of the Eastern Patriarchs](./encyclical-eastern-1848.md)
## 20th century
* Joint International Dialogue — [Munich document](./jictd-1982-munich.html)
* North American Consultation — [Response to Munich](./naoctc-1983-munich.html)
* Joint International Dialogue — [Bari document](./jictd-1987-bari.html)

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---
title: On the Supreme Throne of Peter the Apostle
date: 1848-01-06
author: Pope Pius IX
source: https://orthocath.wordpress.com/2010/11/03/pope-patriarchs-the-1848-letters-of-pope-pius-ix-and-the-orthodox-patriarchs/
comment: Translation from [the French](http://www.archive.org/details/InSupremaPetriApostoliSede), published in *Irenikon*.
---
Placed by divine disposition on the supreme seat of the Apostle Peter, and burdened with
responsibility for all the Churches despite Our unworthiness, We have never ceased since the
outset of Our pontificate from casting Our loving gaze upon the Christian peoples of the East and
their surrounding lands, whatever their rite, for they seemed for a number reasons to stake a
special claim on Our solicitous attention. It is in the East that the only Son of God appeared,
made man for us men, and who through His life, death and resurrection deigned bring about the
work of human redemption. It is in the East that the Gospel of light and peace was first preached
by the divine Saviour Himself and by His disciples, and where blossomed the numerous
Churches, illustrious by virtue of the names of the apostles who founded them. In the years that
followed and over the span of centuries, famous bishops and martyrs and many others reputed
for their sanctity and doctrine gushed forth from among the peoples of the East. The whole world
sings the praises of Ignatius of Antioch, of Polycarp of Smyrna, of the three Gregories of
Neocaesarea, Nyssa and Nazianzus, of Athanasius of Alexandria, of Basil of Caesarea, of John
Chrysostom, of the two Cyrils of Jerusalem and Alexandria, of Gregory the Armenian, of
Ephrem of Syria, of John Damascene, of Cyril and Methodius, apostles to the Slavs, not to
mention a host of others, or also of those who shed their blood for Christ, or who acquired
immortal fame through their learned writings and holy works. Yet another glory of the East is the
memory of its numerous assemblies of bishops, and especially the celebrated first ecumenical
councils held under the presidency of the Roman Pontiff, and at which the catholic faith was
preserved from the innovators of the time and confirmed through solemn judgments. Ultimately,
down to these most recent times, even as (sadly!) far too great a number of Eastern Christians
distanced itself from communion with this Holy See and as a consequence from the unity of the
Catholic Church, and even as these lands fell under the domination of peoples foreign to the
Christian religion, many men mustered there who have testified, through the assistance of divine
grace and amidst all the endlessly repeated calamities and perils, of an unshakable determination
in the true faith and Catholic unity. We wish in particular to praise most highly those Patriarchs,
Primates, Archbishops and Bishops who have spared nothing in sheltering their flock in the
profession of Catholic truth. Their pains, blessed by God, have been such that, after the storm
and in less troubled times, one has found them still maintaining in Catholic unity a considerable
flock amidst the desolation.
It is thus principally to you that We address Our words, Catholic Bishops, Venerable
Brothers and beloved sons, and to you clergy in all orders who have persevered, unshakable in
the faith and communion with this Holy See, or who, no less praiseworthy, have returned to it
having recognized your error. Though We have already made haste in responding to many of you
who sent us letters of congratulations for Our elevation to the sovereign Pontificate, and though
We have written to all the Catholic Bishops throughout the world in Our encyclical of 9
November, 1846 , We further insist on sending you an especial assurance of both the burning
love We bear for you and Our solicitude for all that concerns you. We find in this a favourable
opportunity to express these sentiments to you, as We send Our venerable brother Innocent,
Archbishop of Saida, as ambassador to the Sublime Porte in order to compliment on Our behalf
the right-powerful Sultan of the Turks and to thank him for the gracious embassy he took the
lead in sending to us. We have enjoined in the most pressing manner our venerable brother to
commend earnestly to this Sultan both your persons and interests, as well as the interests of the
Catholic Church over throughout whole extent of the vast Ottoman empire. We have no doubt
that this Sultan, who has already proven his good will towards you, will be increasingly
favourably disposed to you, and that among his subjects no one will need suffer on behalf of the
Christian religion. The Archbishop of Saida will inform you all the more strongly of the depth of
Our love for you through the Bishops and Primates of your respective peoples whom he will be
able to meet in Constantinople; before returning to us, he will travel, as time and circumstances
permit, to various parts in the East so as to visit on Our behalf the Catholic Churches of all the
rites in these lands, as We have commanded him, and to testify of Our affection and words of
consolation for their concerns to those among Our venerable brothers and beloved sons whom he
will meet there.
The same Archbishop will transmit to you and will bring to general attention the letter
that We have addressed to you as testimony to Our love for your Catholic works; you will find
within assurance that We have nothing closest to our heart than to merit these from you and from
the Catholic religion as it exists in your lands. And as it has been reported to us among other
things that, in the ecclesiastic structures amongst your peoples, certain issues, as a result of an
unfortunate past, remain either uncertain or resolved other than appropriately, We shall employ
Ourselves with joy, by virtue of Our apostolic authority, so that all shall henceforth be disposed
and ordered in conformity with the sacred canons and the traditions of the Holy Fathers. We
shall maintain intact your particular Catholic liturgies; as We value them greatly, even as they
differ in some ways from the Latin liturgy. Our predecessors always held them in great esteem
due to the venerable antiquity of their origin, the languages employed by the Apostles and the
Fathers and in which they are written down, as well as the magnificence of their rites, truly
suited as they are to nourishing the piety of the faithful and to imbue them with respect for the
divine mysteries.
Various Decrees and Constitutions issued by the Roman Pontiffs for the conservation of
the Eastern liturgies testify to the sentiments of the Apostolic See in this regard. It suffices to cite
the apostolic letters of Our predecessor Benedict XIV, and especially that of 26 July 1735[^1],
beginning with these words: *Allatae sunt*. Eastern priests who find themselves in the West are
completely free to celebrate in the Latin churches according to the rite proper to their people, and
have at their disposal in various places, but especially in Rome, shrines specifically assigned to
their use. Furthermore, there is no shortage of monasteries associated with the Eastern rite, nor of
houses devoted to Easterners, nor of colleges erected to receive their sons, either individually or
together with other young people, so that raised in the sacred arts and sciences and formed in
clerical discipline, they might become able to exercise subsequently ecclesiastical functions,
each among his own people. And while the calamities of recent years may have led to the
destruction of some of these institutions, several are still operating and flourishing; is not their
continued existence, Venerable Fathers and beloved sons, manifest evidence of the singular
affection the Apostolic See bears for you, to you, and to all that concerns you?
[^1]: See the bulls of Benedict XIV, Tome IV, No 44; also other constitutions from the same Pontiff on this subject,
Tome I, No 87 and Tome III, No 44.
As is already known to you, Venerable Brothers and most dear sons, We also make use of
the works of that Congregation of the holy Roman Church that draws its name from the purpose
for which it was established, *a Propaganda fide*, to exercise greater vigilance for your religious
concerns. Yet many more in Our illustrious city, whether Roman or foreign, strive on behalf of
your interests. Thus, some Bishops of the Latin rite, joined to Bishops from the Eastern rites and
other religious personages, have formed not too long ago under the authority of the Congregation
we have just mentioned, a pious association the purpose of which is to contribute in all ways,
with the help of daily prayers and alms, to the progress and development of the Catholic religion
among you. As soon as We were apprised of this pious project, We praised and approved it,
pressing its authors to set their hand to the task without delay.
What we have just said is addressed to all Our Eastern sons, but our words now turn,
especially, to those of you who enjoy authority over others. Whatever your office, O Venerable
Brothers, Catholic Bishops of these lands, may this exhortation be for you as a spur, exciting
again your zeal and that of your clergy. We thus exhort you in the Lord our God, to watch over,
fully confident of heavenly assistance and with an even greater ardour, the safety of your dear
flock, to be without ceasing its light through both word and example so that that it may journey
with dignity in accordance with God's will, yielding the fruit of all manner of good works. So
that the priests who are in your care devote themselves fully to these same cares: press especially
those who have the care of souls, so that they might hold close to their heart the dignity of the
house of God; that they might stimulate the piety of the people; that they might administer in
holiness the things that are holy; and that, without neglecting their other duties, they might apply
all their attention to instructing the young in the articles of Christian doctrine and to distributing
to the other faithful the bread of the divine word, to each according to his capacity. They must,
and you yourselves also must, deploy the greatest vigilance so that all the faithful might be
dilligent in conserving the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, giving thanks to the Lord of
light and to the Father of mercies for what He has deigned to allow, by an act of His grace, in
spite of such a great upsetting of all things, that they should have remained firm in the Catholic
communion of the unique Church of Christ, or who have entered into it while such a great
number of their fellows are still erring outside the unique fold of Christ abandoned by their
forebears such long a time ago.
After having spoken to you thus, We cannot restrain ourselves back from addressing the
words of charity and peace to those Easterners who, though glorying in the name of Christian,
keep themselves apart from communion with the see of Peter. The charity of Jesus Christ prods
us forward, and in conformity with its warnings and its examples We hurry forth after the sheep
lost along paths both arduous and inaccessible, striving to bring them succour in their frailty so
that they may enter at last within the fold of the Lord's flocks.
Pray listen to Our words, all you who, in the lands of the East and on its margins, bear the
glory of the name Christian yet who nevertheless are not in communion with the holy Roman
Church; and you especially who, charged with the sacred tasks or bearing the highest
ecclesiastical dignities, have authority over these peoples. Recall the ancient state of your
Churches, when these were joined amongst themselves and with the other Churches of the
Catholic universe through the bond of unity. Then consider what ends those divisions that
followed have served, the result of which has been to break the unity of either doctrine or
ecclesiastic order not only with the Western Churches, but even among your own. Recall the
words of the creed, in which you confess with us: belief in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic
Church. Seek to find whether it is possible to ascertain this unity of the catholic, holy and
apostolic Church among such division as exist between your Churches, as you decline to
recognize it in the communion of the Roman Church under whose authority such a great number
of Churches are united and have been so always in all parts of the world. And to clearly
understand this feature of the unity that must mark the Church catholic, meditate upon this prayer
given to us in the Gospel of St John[^2], in which Christ, the only Son of God, prays to his Father
on behalf of his disciples: "Holy Father, keep them in thy name whom thou has given me; that
they may be one, as we also are"; and He adds immediately following : "And not for them only
do I pray, but for them also who through their word shall believe in me; that they all may be one,
as thou, Father, in me, and I in thee; that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe
that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou hast given me, I have given to them; that they
may be one, as we also are one: I in them, and thou in me; that they may be made perfect in one:
and the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast also loved
me."
[^2]: John 17: 11, 20 et seqq.
Thus, the author himself of human salvation, Christ Our Lord, laid the foundation of his
one Church, against which the gates of Hell shall not prevail, in the Prince of the Apostles: Peter,
to whom He gave the keys of the kingdom of Heaven[^3]; for whom He prayed, so that his faith
might never fail, commanding him, as well, to confirm his brothers in the same faith[^4]; on whom
He laid the charge to feed His lambs and sheep[^5], in other words: the whole Church consisting of
the true lambs and sheep of Christ. And these prerogatives similarly belong to the Bishops of
Rome, successors of Peter: as, since the death of Peter, the Church, she that must last till the end
of time, cannot be deprived of the foundation on which she was built by Christ. This is why St.
Irenaeus, disciple of Polycarp who before him had received the teachings of the Apostle John --
Irenaeus, later bishop of Lyons whom those in the East as well as those in the West number
among the principal lights of Christian antiquity -- wishing to refute the heretics of his time in
order to demonstrate the doctrine transmitted by the apostles, believed it superfluous to spell out
the succession in all the Churches of apostolic origin; it seemed sufficient to him to set the
doctrine of the Church of Rome against the innovators, as he wrote "For it is a matter of
necessity that every Church should agree with this Church, on account of its pre-eminent
authority, that is, the faithful everywhere, inasmuch as the apostolical tradition has been
preserved continuously by those who exist everywhere."[^6]
[^3]: Matthew 16: 18-19.
[^4]: Luke 22: 31-32.
[^5]: John 21: 15 et seqq.
[^6]: Irenaeus, Contra Haereses, Book III, chapter 3.
As We know well, all of you are intent to hold to the doctrine preserved by your
forebears. You should then follow the ancient Bishops and Christians of all the lands of the East;
innumerable are their monumental works that attest, in agreement with Westerners, to their
respect for the authority of the Roman Pontiffs. Among the more remarkable documents that the
ancient East has left us on this subject (aside from the testimony of Irenaeus cited above), We
would draw attention to the fourth century events relating to Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria,
no less illustrious for his holiness than for his doctrine and pastoral zeal. Unjustly condemned by
the Eastern Bishops, most particularly at the council held in Tyre, and expelled from his Church,
he came to Rome to which also journeyed other Eastern Bishops who were like him unjustly
despoiled of their sees. "The Bishop of Rome (Julius, Our predecessor), having examined the
cause of each and finding them all faithful to the Nicaean faith and in full agreement with him,
received them into communion. And as, from the dignity of his See, all being under his care, he
confirmed each in his respective Church. He also wrote to the Eastern Bishops, reprimanding
them because they had failed to decide justly in the causes of these Pontiffs and so troubled the
peace of the Church."[^7] At the beginning of the fifth century, John Chrysostom, Bishop of
Constantinople and no less illustrious than Athanasius, condemned in a sovereign injustice by a
council at Chalcedon, appealed through letters and envoys to Our Apostolic See and was
declared blameless by Our predecessor Saint Innocent I.[^8]
[^7]: Sozomen, Historia Ecclesiastica, Book III, chapter 8; see also Athanasius, Apologia Contra Arianos, passim.
[^8]: See the letters of St. Innocent to St. John Chrysostom, and the letters of St. John Chrysostom to St. Innocent, the
clergy, and the people of Constantinople.
The Council of Chalcedon, held in 451, is another celebrated monument to the veneration
of your forebears for the authority of the Roman Pontiffs. The six hundred Bishops who
attended, almost all (bar a few rare exceptions) from the East, after having heard in the second
session the reading of a letter from the Roman Pontiff, Saint Leo the Great, all cried out as one :
*Peter has spoken from the mouth of Leo*. And the assembly presided over by the Papal Legates
having then separated, the Council Fathers, in the report on the proceedings that they forwarded
to Saint Leo, affirmed that he himself through his Legates had commanded the gathered Bishops
*as the head does the limbs*.[^9]
[^9]: Labbe, Tome IV, pp. 1235 and 7755, Venice edition.
And it is not only from the canons of the Council of Chalcedon, but also from the canons
of all the other ancient Councils of the East, that We could claim and for which it is a constant
that the Roman Pontiffs always held the first place in the Council -- especially the Ecumenical
Councils – for which their authority was invoked, and this both before the holding of the
Councils and after their dissolution. In addition to these Councils, there are furthermore a great
number of passages found in the writings of the ancient writers and Fathers of the East, as well
as many historical examples, from which it is evident that the supreme authority of the Roman
Pontiffs had always from the time of your forefathers been in force throughout the East. But it
would take too long to cite in detail all this testimony; such as we have noted should anyway
suffice in highlighting the truth, and We shall limit ourselves to recalling how, even in Apostolic
times, the faithful of Corinth behaved when dissensions severely troubled their Church. The
Corinthians appealed to Saint Clement who, but few years after the death of Peter, had been
made Pontiff of the Roman Church.[^10] They wrote to him on this subject and charged Fortunatus
to bear their letters to him. Clement, after having closely examined the matter, charged this same
Fortunatus, to whom he joined his own envoys Claudius Ephebus and Valerius Vito, to bear to
Corinth that famous letter from the holy Pontiff and the Roman Church in which the Corinthians
and all other Easterners set such store that it was read publicly in many churches over the
centuries that followed.[^11]
[^10]: Bibliotheca veterum patrum, a Gallandio edita, Tome I, p. 9 et seqq.
[^11]: Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica., Book III, chapter 16. See also in Book IV, chapter 23, the witness of Bishop
Dionysius of Corinth
We thus exhort you, and We entreat you to return without delay -- to enter into communion with
the Holy See of Peter in which lies the foundation of the true Church or Christ as affirmed by
both the tradition of your forebears and the tradition of the other ancient Fathers, as well as the
very words of Our Lord Jesus Christ found in the holy Gospels and that we cited to you. For it is
not, and never will be possible for those who wish to be separate from the Rock [*Pierre*] on
which the Church was divinely built, to be in communion with the One, Holy, Catholic and
Apostolic Church.
As a result, no reasons can excuse failing to return to the true Church and to communion
with the Holy See. As you know well, in matters touching on the profession of the divine faith
there is nothing so hard that one should not bear it for the glory of Christ and the reward of
eternal life. For Our part, We offer you the assurance that nothing would be sweeter to us than to
see you return to Our communion. Far from seeking to distress you through some prescription
that could seem burdensome, We will receive you with a fatherly kindness and with the most
gentle love, as per the constant custom of the Holy See. We ask of you only those things that are
strictly necessary: return to unity; agree with us in the profession of the true faith that the
Catholic Church holds and teaches; and, along with that of the whole Church itself, maintain
communion with the supreme see of Peter. With respect to your sacred rites, only those things
found in them contrary to catholic faith and unity are subject to correction. Once remedied in this
regard, your ancient Eastern liturgies will remain unchanged. We have already declared in the
first part of this letter how these liturgies are dear to us, and how much they were so also to Our
predecessors, due to their antiquity and the magnificence of their rites, so appropriate for
nurturing the faith.
In addition, with respect to the holy ministers, priests and pontiffs of the peoples of the
East who return to catholic unity, We have considered and decided to follow the same path as
that followed so frequently by Our predecessors, both in the past that immediately precedes Our
own and in earlier times; We shall confirm them in their rank and dignities and We shall count
on them, no less than on the other Eastern Catholic clergy, to maintain and spread the practice of
the catholic faith amongst their peoples. We will apply ourselves in this ceaselessly with the
greatest care to be worthy of one and all.
May the all-merciful God give the force of truth to our words! That these blessings may
enfold those of Our brothers and sons who share Our concern for the salvation of your souls! Oh!
If this consolation were given Us: to see catholic unity reestablished among Eastern Christians,
and to find in this unity a new wind to imbue with increasing force the true faith of Jesus Christ
among the infidels! We will not cease to beseech the God of mercies, Father of light through His
only Son our Redeemer, in the most heartfelt prayers and supplications, invoking the protection
of the very blessed Virgin, Mother of God, and of the holy Apostles, the Martyrs, the Fathers, all
of whom, through their sermons, their blood, their virtue and their writings, conserved and
spread the true religion of Christ throughout the East. Filled with the desire to see you return to
the fold of the Catholic Church, and to bless you as Our brothers and sons, and awaiting the day
when this joy will be given us, We yet again attest Our affection and Our tenderness towards all
the Catholics spread through all the lands of the East, to all Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops,
bishops, clergy and laity, and We confer on them Our apostolic blessing.
Given in Rome, at St. Mary Major, January 6, 1848, in the second year of Our pontificate.
**Pope Pius IX**

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---
title: The Union of Brest-Litovsk
date: 1595-06-01
source: https://stjosaphatugcc.org/full-text-of-the-union-of-brest.php
---
We require prior guarantees of these articles from the Romans before we enter into union with the Roman Church.
[1\.](#1) Since there is a quarrel between the Romans and Greeks about the procession of the Holy Spirit, which greatly impede unity really for no other reason than that we do not wish to understand one another - we ask that we should not be compelled to any other creed but that we should remain with that which was handed down to us in the Holy Scriptures, in the Gospel, and in the writings of the holy Greek Doctors, that is, that the Holy Spirit proceeds, not from two sources and not by a double procession, but from one origin, from the Father through the Son.
{#1}
[2\.](#2) That the divine worship and all prayers and services of Orthros, Vespers, and the night services shall remain intact (without any change at all) for us according to the ancient custom of the Eastern Church, namely: the Holy Liturgies of which there are three, that of Saint Basil, that of Saint Chrysostom, and that of Epiphanius which is served during the Great Lent with Presanctified Gifts, and all other ceremonies and services of our Church, as we have had them until now, for in Rome these same services are kept within the obedience of the Supreme Pontiff, and that these services should be in our own language.
{#2}
[3\.](#3) That the Mysteries of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ should be retained entirely as we have been accustomed until now, under the species of bread and wine; that this should remain among us eternally the same and unchangeable.
{#3}
[4\.](#4) That the Mystery of Holy Baptism and its form should remain among us unchanged as we have served it until now, without any addition.
{#4}
[5\.](#5) We shall not debate about purgatory, but we entrust ourselves to the teaching of the Holy Church.
{#5}
[6\.](#6) We will accept the new calendar, if the old one cannot be, but without any violation of the Paschalia [the Easter cycle] and our other feasts as they were in the time of unity, because we have some special feasts which the Romans do not have; on the sixth of January we celebrate the memory of the Baptism of the Lord Christ and the first revelation of the One God in Trinity. We call this feast Theophany, and on this day we have a special service of the Blessing of Waters.
{#6}
[7\.](#7) That we should not be compelled to take part in processions on the day of Corpus Christi - that we should not have to make such processions with our Mysteries inasmuch as our use of the Mysteries is different.
{#7}
[8\.](#8) Likewise that we should not be compelled to have the blessing of fire, the use of wooden clappers, and similar ceremonies before Easter, for we have not had such ceremonies in our Church until now, but that we should maintain our ceremonies according to the rubrics and the Typicon of our Church.
{#8}
[9\.](#9) That the marriages of priests remain intact, except for bigamists.
{#9}
[10\.](#10) That the metropolitanate, the episcopate, and other ecclesiastical dignities shall be conferred on no one except the Rus' people or Greeks, who must be of our religion. And since our Canons require that the Metropolitain, the Bishops, and soon, first elected by the clergy, must be worthy people, we ask the King's Grace that the election be free, leaving intact the authority of the King's Grace to appoint the one whom he pleases. This means that as soon as someone has died we should elect four candidates, and the King's Grace will freely chose whom he wishes from among the four. This is necessary, especially so that the persons named to such positions will be worthy and educated, for the King's Grace, who is not of the same religion, cannot know who is worthy of this, and thus it has happened that such uninstructed people were appointed that they were scarcely literate. If the King's Grace should wish to appoint a layman to these spiritual posts, the appointee must receive Holy Orders within no more than three months under pain of losing appointment, according to the Constitution of the Parliament of Grondo and the Articles of King Sigmund Augustus of blessed memory, approved by the present King's Grace, for at the moment there are some who hold certain spiritual appointments in their hands but do not receive Holy Orders even for years, justifying themselves with some sort of royal "exemptions". We ask that in future this should not be.
{#10}
[11\.](#11) That our Bishops should not send to Rome for the sacrae (permission to consecrate), but, if the King's Grace names someone to a bishopric, that according to the old custom the Archbishop-Metropolitain should have the duty and the right to ordain him. The Metro-politain himself, before entering upon the office of metropolitain, should send the sacrae to the Pope. Then, after he has received the sacrae from Rome, let the bishops ordain him, at least two of them, according to their custom. If a bishop is elected Metropolitain, let him not send for the sacrae, because he already has the episcopal cheirotonia; he may take an oath of obedience to the Supreme Pontiff in the presence of the Archbishop of Gniezno (who on that occasion will not be functioning as Archbishop, but as Primate of Poland).
{#11}
[12\.](#12) So that our authority would be greater and we should govern our faithful with greater respect, we ask seats in the Senate of the King's Grace for the Metropolitain and the bishops. We ask this for many reasons for we have the same office and hierarchical dignity as the Roman Bishops.
{#12}
[13\.](#13) And if in time the Lord shall grant that the rest of the brethren of our people and of the Greek Religion shall come to this same holy unity, it shall not be held against us or begrudged to us that we have preceded them in this unity, for we have to do this for definite, serious reasons for harmony in the Christian republic [Poland] to avoid further confusion and discord.
{#13}
[14\.](#14) Most important of all, it is necessary that if in our dioceses presbyters - Archimandrates, Hegumenoi, presbyters, and other clergy, but especially foreigners, even bishops and monks who might come from Greece - of our Religion should not wish to be under our obedience they should never dare to perform any divine service. For if that were allowed then there would never be any order.
{#14}
[15\.](#15) If in the future someone of our Religion should want to join the Roman Church, denying his own Religion and Ceremonies, let him not be accepted, since he is degrading the Ceremonies of the one Church of God, since, being already in one Church, we shall have one Pope.
{#15}
[16\.](#16) That marriages may freely take place between the Roman faithful and the Rus' faithful, without any compulsion as to Religion, for both are already one Church.
{#16}
[17\.](#17) Inasmuch as we have lost the possession of many ecclesiastical properties, some of which our predecessors alienated by rights other than the free administration of these goods during their personal lives, so that we find ourselves in such want and poverty that we cannot provide satisfactorily for the needs of the churches, and indeed we ourselves scarcely have the means of subsistence, we require that these properties be returned to our churches. If anyone has legitimately acquired the lifetime usufruct of any ecclesiastical benefice, let him be obliged to pay an annual rent to the Church, and upon his death let the benefice revert to the Church. Such a benefice shall not be granted to anyone without the consent of the bishop and his chapter. Every benefice to which the Church presently has title is to be recorded in the Gospel Books, even if the Church does not exercise any control over some benefices. In that way they will at least belong indisputably to the Church. With this accomplished, the Church can then undertake to regain those benefices which have been alienated at an earlier time.
{#17}
[18\.](#18) Upon the death of the Metropolitain or of a bishop, the wardens and state treasurer shall not interfere in the ecclesiastical properties. As is the custom and tradition of the Roman Church, these properties shall be administered by the chapter until a new Metropolitain or bishop is elected. While this is already guaranteed to us by our privilege, we ask that it be incorporated into the constitution of the kingdom.
{#18}
[19\.](#19) That Archimandrates, Hegumenoi, monks and their monasteries, according to the old custom shall be under the obedience of the bishops of their dioceses, for among us there is only one monastic Rule, which even the bishops use, and we do not have "Provincials".
{#19}
[20\.](#20) That at the tribunal among the Roman Clergy we also should have two of our [clergy] to look after the affairs of our Church.
{#20}
[21\.](#21) That the archimandrates, hegumenoi, priests, archdeacons, and our other clergy be held in the same esteem as the Roman clergy, and should enjoy and make use of the same liberties and privileges which were granted by King Ladislaus; they should be exempt from all taxation, both personal and concerning ecclesiastical property, in contrast to the unjust practice which has hitherto obtained - if they possess some private properties then they should pay taxes on them, whatever is just, as other proprietors do. Any priest and other clergy who possesses ecclesiastical properties within the territories of the senators and nobility are subject to them and must obey them: they should not appeal to the courts or enter into quarrels with the landlords, but must acknowledge the right of patronage. But accusations regarding the person of the clergy and their spiritual functions, are subject only to the bishop, and the misdemeanors of the clergy shall be punished exclusively by the bishop on the complaints of the landlord. Thus everyone, clergy and laity, will have their rights preserved whole and inviolate.
{#21}
[22\.](#22) That the Romans should not forbid us to ring bells in our churches on Good Friday, both in the cities and everywhere else.
{#22}
[23\.](#23) That we should not be forbidden to visit the sick with the Most Holy Mysteries, publicly, with lights and vestments, according to our rubrics.
{#23}
[24\.](#24) That without any interference we might be free to hold proces-sions, as many as are required, on holy days, according to our custom.
{#24}
[25\.](#25) That our Rus' monasteries and churches should not be changed into Roman Catholic churches. And if any Roman Catholic has damaged or destroyed one of our churches or monasteries, in his territory, he shall be obliged to repair it or build a new one for the exclusive use of the Rus' people.
{#25}
[26\.](#26) The spiritual Church Brotherhoods which have recently been erected by the Patriarchs and confirmed by the King's Grace - for example, those in L'viv, in Brest, in Vilnius, and elsewhere - in which we see great benefit for the Church of God and the cultivation of divine worship if they wish to abide in this unity, shall be main-tained in all their integrity under the obedience of their Metropol-itain and of the bishops in whose dioceses they function and to whom each of them is properly ascribed.
{#26}
[27\.](#27) That we shall be free to have schools and seminaries in the Greek and Church-Slavonic languages in the localities where it is most convenient, and that our printing-presses shall be free (of course under the supervision of the Metropolitain and bishops, so that no heresies be propagated and nothing be printed without the knowledge and consent of the Metropolitain and bishops).
{#27}
[28\.](#28) Since there have been great abuses and disobedience on the part of some priests in the dominions of the King's Grace as well as in the lands of the lords and magnates, so that these priests have obtained the protection of the landlords and magnates for their abuses, dissolving marriages, so that the wardens and other officials profit to some extent by the fees from these divorces and therefore shield these priests, not permitting the bishops and the synod to summon such wayward clerics, abusing and even beating our visitators, we request that such abuses should cease, and that we would be free to correct the wayward and keep order, and if someone should be excommunicated because of his disobedience or for an abuse, let the government and the lords, once they have been informed by the bishops or the visitator, not permit such excommunicated clergy to perform clerical functions or serve in the churches until they have been absolved by their pastors from their faults. This shall also be understood for archimadrates and hegumenoi and other ecclesiastics who are subject to the bishops and to their authority.
{#28}
[29\.](#29) Than the Cathedrals in the main cities and all the parish churches everywhere in the dominions of the King's Grace, of every place and jurisdiction, whether founded by the King, or by the city, or by a local lord, shall be subject to the bishop and under his authority, and that lay people shall not administer them under any pretext, for there are those who meddle against the obedience of the bishop, arranging matters as they wish and who do not want to obey their bishops. Let this not occur in the future.
{#29}
[30\.](#30) And if someone has been excommunicated by his bishops for any offense, let him not be received into the Roman Church but, on the contrary, let his excommunication be proclaimed there also. And we shall do the same with regard to those excommunicated from the Roman Church, for this is a joint concern.
{#30}
[31\.](#31) And when the Lord God by His will and holy grace shall permit the rest of our brothers of the Eastern Church of the Greek tradition to come to the holy unity with the Western Church, and later in this common union and by the permission of the Universal Church there should be any change in the ceremonies and Typicon of the Greek Church, we shall share all this as people of the same religion.
{#31}
[32\.](#32) We have heard that some have departed for Greece to procure ecclesiastical powers and return here to advise and influence the clergy and extend their jurisdiction over us. We, therefore, request the King's Grace to order precautions to be taken on the state borders so that anyone bearing such jurisdictions and excommuni-cations be barred from entering the kingdom. Otherwise, grave mis-understandings could arise between the pastors and the flocks of the Church.
{#32}
[33\.](#33) All these things we the undersigned, desiring holy concord for the praise of God's Name and for the peace of the Holy Church of Christ, we have given these articles which we consider necessary for our Church and for which we require agreement in advance and guarantees from the Holy Father the Pope and from the King's Grace, our merciful lord, for greater security, we have committed our Instructions to our Reverend brothers in God, father Hypatius Potij, the Protothrone, Bishop Volodymyr of Brest, and Father Cyril Terlet-sky, Exarch and Bishop of Lutsk and Ostrih, so that in our name and in their own name they should ask the Most Holy Father the Pope, and also the King's Grace, our merciful lord, to confirm and guarantee beforehand all the articles which we have here given in writing, so that assured as to the faith, the Mysteries, and our ceremonies, we might come to this holy accord with the Roman Church without any violation of our conscience and the flock of Christ committed unto us and likewise that others who are still hesitating, seeing that we retain everything inviolate, might more quickly come after us to this holy union.
{#33}
Given in the Year of God 1595, the month of June, the first day according to the Old Calendar.
MICHAEL, Metropolitain of Kiev and Halych and all Rus' Hypatius, Bishop of Volodymyr and Brest
Cyril Terletsky, by the grace of God Exarch and Bishop of Lutsk and Ostrih
Leontius Pelchytsky, by the grace of God Bishop of Pinsk and Turov
[the seals of eight bishops are added, including Gedeon Balaban of L'viv and Dionysius Zbirujski of Kholm.]

2
src/page/ecumen/zizioulas-filioque-response.md
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@ -3,8 +3,8 @@ title: One Single Source: An Orthodox Response to the Clarification on the Filio
date: 2003-05-27
author: Metropolitan John (Zizioulas) of Pergamon
source: http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/articles/dogmatics/john_zizioulas_single_source.html
comment: I am not sure if the italicized prologue here is part of the original; it is present in all online copies I have found, but each time styled so as to distinguish it from the rest of the text.
comment: The earliest potential date I can find is the article being presented at [a 2003 meeting of the North American Consultation](https://www.usccb.org/news/2003/north-american-orthodox-catholic-theological-consultation-holds-64th-meeting-continues). It may not have been published until it appeared in *The One and the Many* in 2010. I have provisionally dated it to the earlier meeting.
comment: I strongly suspect that the italizied prologue is an editorial comment inserted [here](https://web.archive.org/web/20120514054125/http://home.comcast.net/~t.r.valentine/orthodoxy/filioque/zizioulis_onesource.html) and copied thence. This could be verified from the aforementioned book. Similarly, I suspect the gratuitous markup of phrases is an editorial addition by the linked source above.
---
*(East and West can easily continue dialogue also as regards the Filioque question providing there is full acceptance of the doctrine of tradition on the* ***monarchia*** *of the Father. The* ***monarchia*** *of the Father means that the Father is the sole cause/origin both of the Son and of the Spirit)*