(NOTE: The electronic text obtained from The Electronic Bible Society was
not completely corrected. EWTN has corrected all discovered errors. If you
find errors or omissions in the text, please notify [email protected].)

Transliteration of Greek words: All phonetical except: w = omega; h serves
three puposes: 1. = Eta; 2. = rough breathing, when appearing initially
before a vowel; 3. = in the aspirated letters theta = th, phi = ph, chi =
ch. Accents are given immediately after their corresponding vowels: acute =
' , grave = `, circumflex = ^. The character ' doubles as an apostrophe,
when necessary.


THE SIXTH ECUMENICAL COUNCIL.

THE THIRD COUNCIL OF CONSTANTINOPLE.

A.D. 680-681; Emperor--Constantine Pogonatus; Pope--Agatho I.

Extracts from the Acts, Session I; The Letter of Pope Agatho to the
Emperor; The Letter of the Roman Synod to the Council; Extracts from the
Acts, Session VIII; The Sentence against the Monothelites, Session XIII;
The Acclamations, Session XVI; The Definition of Faith; Abstract of the
Prosphoneticus to the Emperor; The Synodal Letter to Pope Agatho; The
Imperial Edict in abstract.


EXTRACTS FROM THE ACTS.

SESSION I.

   [After a history of the assembly of the Council, the Acts begin with
the Speech of the Papal Legatee, as follows:]

   Most benign lord, in accordance with the Sacra to our most holy Pope(1)
from your God-instructed majesty, we have been sent by him to the most holy
footsteps of your God-confirmed serenity, bearing with us his suggestion
(anaphora^s, suggestions) as well as the other suggestion of his Synod
equally addressed to your divinely preserved Piety by the venerable bishops
subject to it, which also we offered to your God-crowned Fortitude. Since,
then, during the past forty-six years, more or less, certain novelties in
expression, contrary to the Orthodox faith, have been introduced by those
who were at several times bishops of this, your royal and God-preserved
city, to wit: Sergius, Paul, Pyrrhus, and Peter, as also by Cyrus, at one
time archbishop of the city of Alexandria, as well also as by Theodore, who
was bishop of a city called Pharan, and by certain others their followers,
and since these things have in no small degree brought confusion into the
Church throughout the whole world, for they taught dogmatically that there
was but one will in the dispensation of the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus
Christ, one of the Holy Trinity, and one operation; and since many times
your servant, our apostolic see, has fought against this, and then prayed
against it, and by no means been able, even up to now, to draw away from
such a depraved opinion its advocates, we beseech your God-crowned
fortitude, that such as share these views of the most holy church of
Constantinople may tell us, what is the source of this new-fangled
language.

   [Answer of the Monothelites made at the Emperor's bidding:]

   We have brought out no new method of speech, but have taught whatever
we have  received from the holy Ecumenical Synods, and from the holy
approved Fathers, as well as from the archbishops of this imperial city, to
wit: Sergius, Paul, Pyrrhus, and Peter, as also from Honorius who was Pope
of Old Rome, and from Cyrus who was Pope of Alexandria, that is to say with
reference to will and operation, and so we have believed, and so we
believe, so we preach; and further we are ready to stand by, and defend
this faith.

THE LETTER OF AGATHO, POPE OF OLD ROME, TO THE EMPEROR, AND THE LETTER OF
AGATHO AND OF BISHOPS OF THE ROMAN SYNOD, ADDRESSED TO THE SIXTH COUNCIL.

   (Read at the Fourth Session, November 15, at the request of George,
Patriarch of Constantinople and his Suffragans.)

THE LETTER OF POPE AGATHO.

   Agatho a bishop and servant of the servants of God to the most devout
and serene victors and conquerors, our most beloved sons and lovers of God
and of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Emperor Constantine the Great, and to
Heraclius and Tiberius, Augustuses.

   While contemplating the various anxieties of human life, and while
groaning with vehement weeping before the one true God, in prayer that he
might impart to my wavering soul the comfort of his divine mercy, and might
lift me by his right hand out of the depths of grief and anxiety, I most
gratefully recognize, my most illustrious lords and sons, that your purpose
[i.e. of holding a Council] afforded me deep and wonderful consolation. For
it was most pious and emanated from your most meek tranquillity, taught by
the divine benignity for the benefit of the Christian commonwealth divinely
entrusted to your keeping, that your imperial power and clemency might have
a care to enquire diligently concerning the things of God (through whom
Kings do reign, who is himself King of Kings and Lord of Lords) and might
seek after the truth of his spotless faith as it has been handed down by
the Apostles and by the Apostolic Fathers, and be zealously affected to
command that in all the churches the pure tradition be held. And that no
one may be ignorant of this pious intention of yours, or suspect that we
have been compelled by force, and have not freely consented to the carrying
into effect of the imperial decrees touching the preaching of our
evangelical faith which was addressed to our predecessor Donus, a pontiff
of Apostolic memory, they have through our ministry been sent to and
entirely approved by all nations and peoples; for these decrees Holy Spirit
by his grace dictated to the tongue of the imperial pen, out of the
treasure of a pure heart, as the words of an adviser not of an oppressor,
defending himself, not looking with contempt upon others; not afflicting,
but exhorting; and inviting to those things which are of God in godly wise,
because he, the Maker and Redeemer of all men, who had he come in the
majesty of his Godhead into the world, might have terrified mortals,
preferred to descend through his inestimable clemency and humility to the
estate of us whom he had created and thus to redeem us, who also expects
from us a willing confession of the true faith.

   And this it is that the blessed Peter, the prince of the Apostles,
teaches: "Feed the flock of Christ which is among you, not by constraint,
but willingly, exhorting it according to God." Therefore, encouraged by
these imperial decrees, O most meek lords of all things, and relieved from
the depths of affliction and raised to the hope of consolation, I have
begun, refreshed somewhat by a better confidence, to comply with promptness
with the flyings which were sometime ago bidden by the Sacra of your
gentlest fortitude, and am endeavouring in obedience therewith to find
persons, such as our deficient times and the quality of this obedient
province permit, and taking advice with my fellow-servant bishops, as well
concerning the approaching synod of this Apostolic See, as concerning our
own clergy, the lovers of the Christian Empire, and, afterwards concerning
the religious servants of God, that I might exhort them to follow in haste
the footsteps of your most pious Tranquillity. And, were it not that the
great compass of the provinces, in which our humility's council is situated
had caused so great a loss of time, our servitude a while ago could have
fulfilled with studious obedience what even now has scarcely been done. For
while from the various provinces a council has been gathering about us, and
while we have been able to select some persons of those from this very
Roman city immediately subject to your most serene power, or from those
near by, others again we have been obliged to wait for from far distant
provinces, in which the word of Christian faith was preached by those sent
by the predecessors of my littleness; and thus quite a space of time has
elapsed: and I pass over my bodily pains in consequence of which life to a
perpetually suffering person is neither possible nor pleasant. Therefore,
most Christian lords and sons, in accordance with the most pious jussio of
your God-protected clemency, we have had a care to send, with the devotion
of a prayerful heart (from the obedience we owe you, not because we relied
on the [superabundant] knowledge of those whom we send to you), our fellow-
servants here present, Abundantius, John, and John, our most reverend
brother bishops, Theodore and George our most beloved sons and presbyters,
with our most beloved son John, a deacon, and with Constantine, a subdeacon
of this holy spiritual mother, the Apostolic See, as well as Theodore, the
presbyter legate of the holy Church of Ravenna and the religious servants
of God the monks. For, among men placed amid the Gentiles, and earning
their daily bread by bodily labour with considerable distraction, how could
a knowledge of the Scriptures, in its fulness, be found unless what has
been canonically defined by our holy and apostolic predecessors, and by the
venerable five councils, we preserve in simplicity of heart, and without
any distorting keep the faith come to us from the Fathers, always desirous
and endeavouring to possess that one and chiefest good, viz.: that nothing
be diminished from the things canonically defined, and that nothing be
changed nor added thereto, but that those same things, both in words and
sense, be guarded untouched? To these same commissioners we also have given
the witness of some of the holy Fathers, whom this Apostolic Church of
Christ receives, together with their books, so that, having obtained from
the power of your most benign Christianity the privilege of suggesting,
they might out of these endeavour to give satisfaction, (when your imperial
Meekness shall have so commanded) as to what this Apostolic Church of
Christ, their spiritual mother and the mother of your God-sprung empire,
believes and preaches, not in words of worldly eloquence, which are not at
the command of ordinary men, but in the integrity of the apostolic fifth,
in which having been taught from the cradle, we pray that we may serve and
obey the Lord of heaven, the Propagator of your Christian empire, even unto
the end. Consequently, we have granted them faculty or authority with your
most tranquil mightiness, to afford satisfaction with simplicity whenever
your clemency shall command, it being enjoined on them as a limitation that
they presume not to add to, take away, or to change anything; but that they
set forth this tradition of the Apostolic See in all sincerity as it has
been taught by the apostolic pontiffs, who were our predecessors. For these
delegates we most humbly implore with bent knees of the mind your clemency
ever full of condescension, that agreeably to the most benign and most
august promise of the imperial Sacra, your Christlike Tranquillity may deem
them worthy of acceptance and may deign to give a favourable hearing to
their most humble suggestions. Thus may your meekest Piety find the ears of
Almighty God open to your prayers, and may you order that they return to
their own unharmed in their rectitude of our Apostolic faith, as well as in
the integrity of their bodies. And thus may the supernal Majesty restore to
the benign rule of your government through the most heroic and
unconquerable labours of your God-strengthened clemency, the whole
Christian commonwealth, and may he subdue hostile nations to your mighty
sceptre, that there may be satisfaction from this time forth to every soul
and to all nations, because what you deigned to promise solemnly by your
most august letters about the immunity and safety of those who came to the
Council, you have fulfilled in all respects. It is not their wisdom that
gave us confidence to make bold to send them to your pious presence; but
our littleness obediently complied with what your imperial benignity, with
a gracious order, exhorted to. And briefly we shall intimate to your
divinely instructed Piety, what the strength of our Apostolic faith
contains, which we have received through Apostolic tradition and through
the tradition of the Apostolical pontiffs, and that of the five holy
general synods, through which the foundations of Christ's Catholic Church
have been strengthened and established; this then is the status [and the
regular tradition(1)] of our Evangelical and Apostolic faith, to wit, that
as we confess the holy and inseparable Trinity, that is, the Father, the
Son and the Holy Ghost, to be of one deity, of one nature and substance or
essence, so we will profess also that it has one natural will, power,
operation, domination, majesty, potency, and glory. And whatever is said of
the same Holy Trinity essentially in singular number we understand to refer
to the one nature of the three consubstantial Persons, having been so
taught by canonical logic. But when we make a confession concerning one of
the same three Persons of that Holy Trinity, of the Son of God, or God the
Word, and of the mystery of his adorable dispensation according to the
flesh, we assert that all things are double in the one arm the same our
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ according to the Evangelical tradition, that
is to say, we confess his two natures, to wit the divine and the human, of
which and in which he, even after the wonderful and inseparable union,
subsists. And we confess that each of his natures has its own natural
propriety, and that the divine, has all filings that are divine, without
any sin. And we recognize that each one (of the two natures) of the one and
the same incarnated, that is, humanated (humanati) Word of God is in him
unconfusedly, inseparably and unchangeably, intelligence alone discerning a
unity, to avoid the error of confusion. For we equally detest the blasphemy
of division and of commixture. For when we confess two natures and two
natural wills, and two natural operations in our one Lord Jesus Christ, we
do not assert that they are contrary or opposed one to the other (as those
who err from the path of truth and accuse the apostolic tradition of doing.
Far be this impiety from the hearts of the faithful!), nor as though
separated (per se separated) in two persons or subsistences, but we say
that as the same our Lord Jesus Christ has two natures so also he has two
natural wills and operations, to wit, the divine and the human: the divine
will and operation he has in common with the coessential Father from all
eternity: the human, he has received from us, taken with our nature in
time. This is the apostolic and evangelic tradition, which the spiritual
mother of your most felicitous empire, the Apostolic Church of Christ,
holds. This is the pure expression of piety. This is the true and
immaculate profession of the Christian religion, not invented by human
cunning, but which was taught by the Holy Ghost through the princes of the
Apostles. This is the firm and irreprehensible doctrine of the holy
Apostles, the integrity of the sincere piety of which, so long as it is
preached freely, defends the empire of your Tranquillity in the Christian
commonwealth, and exults [will defend it, will render it stable; and
exulting], and (as we firmly trust) will demonstrate it full of happiness.
Believe your most humble [servant], my most Christian lords and sons, that
I am pouring forth these prayers with my tears, or its stability and
exultation [in Greek exaltation]. And these things I (although unworthy and
insignificant) dare advise through my sincere love, because your God-
granted victory is our salvation, the happiness of your Tranquillity is our
joy, the harmlessness of your kindness is the security of our littleness.
And therefore I beseech you with a contrite heart and rivers of tears, with
prostrated mind, deign to stretch forth your most clement right hand to the
Apostolic doctrine which the co-worker of your pious labours, the blessed
apostle Peter, has delivered, that it be not hidden under a bushel, but
that it be preached in the whole earth more shrilly than a bugle: because
the true confession thereof for which Peter was pronounced blessed by the
Lord of all things, was revealed by the Father of heaven, for he received
from the Redeemer of all himself, by three commendations, the duty of
feeding the spiritual sheep of the Church; under whose protecting shield,
this Apostolic Church of his has never turned away from the path of truth
in any direction of error, whose authority, as that of the Prince of all
the Apostles, the whole Catholic Church, and the Ecumenical Synods have
faithfully embraced, and followed in all things; and all the venerable
Fathers have embraced its Apostolic doctrine, through which they as the
most approved luminaries of the Church of Christ have shone; and the holy
orthodox doctors have venerated and followed it, while the heretics have
pursued it with false criminations and with derogatory hatred. This is the
living tradition of the Apostles of Christ, which his Church holds
everywhere, which is chiefly to be loved and fostered, and is to be
preached with confidence, which conciliates with God through its truthful
confession, which also renders one commendable to Christ the Lord, which
keeps the Christian empire of your Clemency, which gives far-reaching
victories to your most pious Fortitude from the Lord of heaven, which
accompanies you in battle, and defeats your foes; which protects on every
side as an impregnable wall your God-sprung empire, which throws terror
into opposing nations, and smites them with the divine wrath, which also in
wars celestially gives triumphal palms over the downfall and subjection of
the enemy, and ever guards your most faithful sovereignty secure and joyful
in peace. For this is the rule of the true faith, which this spiritual
mother of your most tranquil empire, the Apostolic Church of Christ, has
both in prosperity and in adversity always held and defended with energy;
which, it will be proved, by the grace of Almighty God, has never erred
from the path of the apostolic tradition, nor has she been depraved by
yielding to heretical innovations, but from the beginning she has received
the Christian faith from her founders, the princes of the Apostles of
Christ, and remains undefiled unto the end, according to the divine promise
of the Lord and Saviour himself, which he uttered in the holy Gospels to
the prince of his disciples: saying, "Peter, Peter, behold, Satan hath
desired to have you, that he might sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for
thee, that (thy) faith fail not. And when thou art converted, strengthen
thy brethren." Let your tranquil Clemency therefore consider, since it is
the Lord and Saviour of all, whose faith it is, that promised that Peter's
faith should not fail and exhorted him to strengthen his brethren, how it
is known to all that the Apostolic pontiffs, the predecessors of my
littleness, have always confidently done this very thing: of whom also our
littleness, since I have received this ministry by divine designation,
wishes to be the follower, although unequal to them and the least of all.
For woe is me, if I neglect to preach the truth of my Lord, which they have
sincerely preached. Woe is me, if I cover over with silence the truth which
I am bidden to give to the exchangers, i.e., to teach to the Christian
people and imbue it therewith. What shall I say in the future examination
by Christ himself, if I blush (which God forbid!) to preach here the truth
of his words? What satisfaction shall I be able to give for myself, what
for the souls committed to me, when he demands a strict account of the
office I have received? Who, then, my most clement and most pious lords and
sons, (I speak trembling and prostrate in spirit) would not be stirred by
that admirable promise, which is made to the faithful: "Whoever shall
confess me before men, him also will I confess before my Father, who is in
heaven"? And which one even of the infidels shall not be terrified by that
most severe threat, in which he protests that he will be full of wrath, and
declares that "Whoever shall deny me before men, him also will I deny
before my Father, who is in heaven"? Whence also blessed Paul, the apostle
of the Gentiles, gives warning and says: "But though we, or an angel from
the heaven should preach to you any other Gospel from what we have
evangelized to you, let him be anathema." Since, therefore, such an
extremity of punishment overhangs the corruptors, or suppressors of truth
by silence, would not any one flee from an attempt at curtailing the truth
of the Lord's faith? Wherefore the predecessors of Apostolic memory of my
littleness, learned in the doctrine of the Lord, ever since the prelates of
the Church of Constantinople have been trying to introduce into the
immaculate Church of Christ an heretical innovation, have never ceased to
exhort and warn them with many prayers, that they should, at least by
silence, desist from the heretical error of the depraved dogma, lest from
this they make the beginning of a split in the unity of the Church, by
asserting one will, and one operation of the two natures in the one Jesus
Christ our Lord: a thing which the Arians and the Apollinarists, the
Eutychians, the Timotheans, the Acephali, the Theodosians and the Gaianitae
taught, and every heretical madness, whether of those who confound, or of
those who divide the mystery of the Incarnation of Christ. Those that
confound the mystery of the holy Incarnation, inasmuch as they say that
there is one nature of the deity and humanity of Christ, contend that he
has one will, as of one, and (one) personal operation. But they who divide,
on the other hand, the inseparable union, unite the two natures which they
acknowledge that the Saviour possesses, not however in an union which is
recognized to be hypostatic; but blasphemously join them by concord,
through the affection, of the will, like two subsistences, i.e., two
somebodies. Moreover, the Apostolic Church of Christ, the spiritual mother
of your God-founded empire, confesses one Jesus Christ our Lord existing of
and in two natures, and she maintains that his two natures, to wit, the
divine and the human, exist in him unconfused even after their inseparable
union, and she acknowledges that each of these natures of Christ is perfect
in the proprieties of its nature, and she confesses that all things
belonging to the proprieties of the natures are double, because the same
our Lord Jesus Christ himself is both perfect God and perfect man, of two
and in two natures: and after his wonderful Incarnation, his deity cannot
be thought of without his humanity, nor his humanity without his deity.
Consequently, therefore, according to the rule of the holy Catholic and
Apostolic Church of Christ, she also confesses and preaches that there are
in him two natural wills and two natural operations. For if anybody should
mean a personal will, when in the holy Trinity there are said to be three
Persons, it would be necessary that there should be asserted three personal
wills, and three personal operations (which is absurd and truly profane).
Since, as the truth of the Christian faith holds, the will is natural,
where the one nature of the holy and inseparable Trinity is spoken of, it
must be consistently understood that there is one natural will, and cue
natural operation. But when in truth we confess that in the one person of
our Lord Jesus Christ the mediator between God and men, there are two
natures (that is to say the divine and the human), even after his admirable
union, just as we canonically confess the two natures of one and the same
person, so too we confess his two natural wills and two natural operations.
But that the understanding of this truthful confession may become clear to
your Piety's mind from the God-inspired doctrine of the Old and the New
Testament, (for your Clemency is incomparably more able to penetrate the
meaning of the sacred Scriptures, than our littleness to set it forth in
flowing words), our Lord Jesus Christ himself, who is true and perfect God,
and true and perfect man, in his holy Gospels shews forth in some instances
human things, in others, divine, and still in others both together, making
a manifestation concerning himself in order that he might instruct his
faithful to believe and preach that he is both true God and true man. Thus
as man he prays to the Father to take away the cup of suffering, because in
him our human nature was complete, sin only excepted, "Father, if it be
possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not as I will, but as
thou wilt." And in another passage: "Not my will, but thine be done." If we
wish to know the meaning of which testimony as explained by the holy and
approved Fathers, and truly to understand what "my will," what "thine"
signify, the blessed Ambrose in his second book to the Emperor Gratian, of
blessed memory, teaches us the meaning of this passage in these words,
saying: "He then, receives my will, he takes my sorrow, I confidently call
it sorrow as I am speaking of the cross, mine is the will, which he calls
his, because he bears my sorrow as man, he spoke as a man, and therefore he
says: 'Not as I will but as thou wilt.'" Mine is the sadness which he has
received according to my affection.(1) See, most pious of princes, how
clearly here this holy Father sets forth that the words our Lord used in
his prayer, "Not my will," pertain to his humanity; through which also he
is said, according to the teaching of Blessed Paul the Apostle of the
Gentiles, to have "become obedient unto death, even the death of the
Cross." Wherefore also it is taught us that he was obedient to his parents,
which must piously be understood to refer to his voluntary obedience, not
according to his divinity (by which he governs all things), but according
to his humanity, by which he spontaneously submitted himself to his
parents. St. Luke the Evangelist likewise bears witness to the same thing,
telling how the same our Lord Jesus Christ prayed according to his humanity
to his Father, and said, "Father, if it be possible let the cup pass from
me; nevertheless not my will but thine be done,"--which passage Athanasius,
the Confessor of Christ, and Archbishop of the Church of Alexandria, in his
book against Apollinaris the heretic, concerning the Trinity and the
Incarnation, also understanding the wills to be two, thus explains: And
when he says, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me,
nevertheless not my will but thine be done," and again, "The spirit is
willing, but the flesh is weak;" he shews that there are two wills, the one
human which is the will of the flesh, but the other divine. For his human
will, out of the weakness of the flesh was fleeing away from the passion,
but his divine will was ready for it. What truer explanation could be
found? For how is it possible not to acknowledge in him two wills, to wit,
a human and a divine, when in him, even after the inseparable union, there
are two natures according to the definitions of the synods? For John also,
who leaned upon the Lord's breast, his beloved disciple, shews forth the
same self-restraint in these words: "I came down from heaven not to do mine
own will but the will of the Father that sent me." And again: "This is the
will of him that sent me, that of all that he gave me I should lose
nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day." Again he introduces
the Lord as disputing with the Jews, and saying among other things: "I seek
not mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." On the meaning of
which divine words blessed Augustine, a most illustrious doctor, thus
writes in his book against Maximinus the Arian. He says, "When the Son says
to the Father 'Not what I will, but what thou wilt,' what doth it profit
thee, that thou broughtest thy words into subjection and sayest, It shews
truly that his will was subject to his Father, as though we would deny that
the will of man should be subject to the will of God? For that the Lord
said this in his human nature, anyone will quickly see who studies
attentively this place of the Gospel. For therein he says, 'My soul is
exceeding sorrowful even unto death.' Can this possibly be said of the
nature of the One Word? But, O man, who thinkest to make the nature of the
Holy Ghost to groan, why do you say that the nature of the Only-begotten
Word of God cannot be sad? But to prevent anyone arguing in this way, he
does not say 'I am sad;' (and even if he had so said, it could properly
only have been understood of his human nature) but he says 'My soul is
sad,' which soul he has as man; however in this also which he said, 'Not
what I will' he shewed that he willed something different from what the
Father did, which he could not have done except in his human nature, since
he did not introduce our infirmity into his divine nature, but would
transfigure human affection. For had he not been made man, the Only Word
could in no way have said to the Father, 'Not what I will.' For it could
never be possible for that immutable nature to will anything different from
what the Father willed. If you would but make this distinction, O ye
Arians, ye would not be heretics."

   In this disputation this venerable Father shews that when the Lord says
"his own" he means the will of his humanity, and when he says not to do
"his own will," he teaches us not chiefly to seek our own wills but that
through obedience we should submit our wills to the Divine Will. From all
which it is evident that he had a human will by which he obeyed his Father,
and that he had in himself this same human will immaculate from all sin, as
true God and man. Which thing St. Ambrose also thus treats of in his
explanation of St. Luke the Evangelist.

   [After this follows a catena of Patristic quotations which I have not
thought worth while to produce in full. After St. Ambrose he cites St. Leo,
then St. Gregory Nazianzen, then St. Augustine. (L. & C., col. 647.)]

   From which testimonies it is clear that each of those natures which the
spiritual Doctor has here enumerated has its own natural property, and that
to each one a will ought to be assigned. For an angelic nature cannot have
a divine or a human will, neither can a human nature have a divine or an
angelic will. For no nature can have anything or any motion which pertains
to another nature but only that which is naturally given by creation. And
as this is the truth of the matter it is most certainly clear that we must
needs confess that in our Lord Jesus Christ there are two natures and
substances, to wit, the Divine and human, united in his one subsistence or
person, and that we further confess that there are in him two natural
wills, viz.: the divine and the human, for his divinity so far as its
nature is concerned could not be said to possess a human will, nor should
his humanity be believed to have naturally a divine will: And again,
neither of these two substances of Christ must be confessed as being
without a natural will; but his human will was lifted up by the omnipotency
of his divinity, and his divine will was revealed to men through his
humanity. Therefore it is necessary to refer to him as God such things as
are divine, and as man such things as are human; and each must be truly
recognized through the hypostatic union of the one and the same our Lord
Jesus Christ, which the most true decree of the Council of Chalcedon sets
forth--[Here follows citation.] This same thing also the holy synod which
was gathered together in Constantinople in the time of the Emperor
Justinian of august memory, teaches in the viith. chapter of its
definitions. [Here follows the citation,] Moreover it is necessary that we
should faithfully keep what those Venerable Synods taught, so that we never
take away the difference of natures as a result of the union, but confess
one Christ, true and perfect God and also true and perfect man, the
propriety of each nature being kept intact. Wherefore, if in no respect the
difference of the natures of our Lord Jesus Christ has been taken away, it
is necessary that we preserve this same difference in all its proprieties.
For whoso teaches that the difference is in no respect to be taken away,
declares that it must be preserved in all things. But when the heretics and
the followers of heretics say that there is but one will and one operation,
how is this difference recognized? Or where is the difference which has
been defined by this holy Synod preserved? While if it is asserted that
there is but one will in him (which is absurd), those who make this
assertion must needs say that that will is either human or divine, or else
composite from both, mixed and confused, or (according to the teaching of
all heretics) that Christ has one will and one operation, proceeding from
his one composite nature (as they hold). And thus, without any doubt, the
difference of nature is destroyed, which the holy synods declared to be
preserved in all respects even after the admirable union. Because, though
they taught that Christ was one, his person and substance one, yet on
account of the union of the natures which was made hypostatically, they
likewise decreed that we should clearly acknowledge and teach the
difference of those natures which were united in him, after the admirable
union. Therefore if the proprieties of the natures in the same our one Lord
Jesus Christ were preserved on account of the difference [of the natures],
it is congruous that we should with full faith confess also the difference
of his natural wills and operations, in order that we may be shown to have
followed in all respects their doctrine, and may admit into the Church of
Christ no heretical novelty.

   And although there exist numerous works of the other holy Fathers,
nevertheless we subjoin to this our humble exposition a few testimonies out
of the books which are in Greek, for the sake of fastidiousness.(1)

   [Here follows a catena of passages from the Greek fathers, viz.: St.
Gregory Theologus, St. Gregory Nyssen, St. John bishop of Constantinople,
St. Cyril, bishop of Alexandria. (L. & C., col. 654.)]

   From these truthful testimonies it is also demonstrated that these
venerable fathers predicated in the one and the same Lord Jesus Christ two
natural wills, viz.: a divine and a human, for when St. Gregory Nazianzen
says," The willing of that man who is understood to be the Saviour," he
shows that the human will of the Saviour was deified through its union with
the Word, and therefore it is not contrary to God. So likewise he proves
that he had a human, although deified will, and this same he had (as he
teaches in what follows) as well as his divine will, which was one and the
same with that of the Father. If therefore he had a divine and a deified
will, he had also two wills. For what is divine by nature has no need of
being deified; and what is deified is not truly divine by nature. And when
St. Gregory Nyssen, a great bishop, says that the true confession of the
mystery is, that there should be understood one human will and another a
divine will in Christ, what does he bid us understand when he says one and
another will, except that there are manifestly two wills?

   [He next proceeds to comment upon the passage cited from St. John, then
upon that from St. Cyril of Alexandria. After this follow quotations from
St. Hilary, St. Athanasius, St. Denys the Areopagite, St. Ambrose, St. Leo,
St. Gregory Nyssen, St. Cyril of Alexandria, which are next commented on in
their order. He then proceeds: (L. & C., col. 662.)]

   There are not lacking most telling passages in other of the venerable
fathers, who speak clearly of the two natural operations in Christ, not to
mention St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. John of Constantinople, or those who
afterwards conducted the laborious conflicts in defence of the venerable
council of Chalcedon and of the Tome of St. Leo against the heretics from
whose error the assertion of this new dogma has arisen: that is to say,
John, bishop of Scythopolis, Eulogius, bishop of Alexandria, Euphraemius
and Anastasius the elder, most worthy rulers of the church of Theopolis,
and above all that emulator of the true and apostolic faith, the Emperor
Justinian of pious memory, whose uprightness of faith exalted the Christian
State as much as his sincere confession pleased God. And his pious memory
is esteemed worthy of veneration by all nations, whose uprightness of faith
was disseminated with praise throughout the whole world by his most august
edicts: one of these, to wit, that addressed to Zoilus, the patriarch of
Alexandria, against the heresy of the Acephali to satisfy them of the
rectitude of the apostolic faith, we offer to your most tranquil
Christianity, sending it together with this paper of our lowliness through
the same carriers. But lest this declaration should be thought burdensome
on account of its length, we have inserted in this declaration of our
humility only a few of the testimonies of the Holy Fathers, especially
[when writing to those] on whom the care and arrangement of the whole world
as on a firm foundation are recognized to rest; since this is altogether
incomparable and great, that the care of the whole Christian State being
laid aside for a little out of love and zeal for true religion, your august
and most religious clemency should desire to understand more clearly the
doctrine of apostolical preaching. For from the different approved fathers
the truth of the Orthodox faith has become clear although the treatment is
short. For the approved fathers thought it to be superfluous to discourse
at length upon what was evident and clear to all; for who, even if he be
dull of wit, does not perceive what is evident to all? For it is impossible
and contrary to the order of nature that there should be a nature without a
natural operation: and even the heretics did not dare to say this, although
they were, all of them, hunting for human craftiness and cunning questions
against the orthodoxy of the faith, and arguments agreeable to their
depravities.

   How then can that now be asserted which never was said by the holy
orthodox fathers, nor even was presumptuously invented by the profane
heretics, viz.: that of the two natures of Christ, the divine and the
human, the proprieties of each of which are recognized as being preserved
in Christ, that anyone in sound mind should declare there was but one
operation? Since if there is one, let them say whether it be temporal or
eternal, divine or human, uncreated or created: the same as that of the
Father or different from that of the Father. If therefore it is one, that
one and the same must be common to the divinity anti to the humanity (which
is absurd), therefore while the Son of God, who is both God and man,
wrought human things on earth, likewise also the Father worked with him
according to his nature (naturaliter, phusikw^s); for what things the
Father doeth these the Son also doeth likewise. But if (as is the truth)
the human acts which Christ did are to be referred to his person alone as
the Son, which is not the same as that of the Father; in one nature Christ
worked one set of works, and in the other another, so that according to his
divinity the Son does the same things that the Father does; and likewise
according to his humanity, what things are proper to the manhood, those
same, he as man, did because he is truly both God and man. For which reason
we rightly believe that that same person, since he is one, has two natural
operations, to wit, the divine and the human, one uncreated, and the other
created, as true and perfect God and as true and perfect man, the one and
the same, the mediator between God and men, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Wherefore from the quality of the operations there is recognized a
difference void of offence (apro'skopos) of the natures which are joined in
Christ through the hypostatic union. We now proceed to cite some passages
from the execrable writings of the heretics hated of God, (1) whose words
and sayings we equally abominate, for the demonstration of those things
which our inventors of new dogma have followed teaching that in Christ
there is but one will and one operation.

   [Then follow quotations from Apollinaris, Severus, Theodosius of
Alexandria.]

   Behold, most pious lords and sons, by the testimonies of the holy
Fathers, as by spiritual rays, the doctrine of the Catholic and Apostolic
Church has been illustrated and the darkness of heretical blindness, which
is offering error to men for imitation, has been revealed. Now it is
necessary that the new doctrine should follow somebody, and by whose
authority it is supported, we shall note.

   [Here follow quotations from Cyrus of Alexandria, Theodore of Pharon,
Sergius of Constantinople, Pyrrhus, Paulus his successor, Peter his
successor.]

   Let then your God-rounded clemency with the internal eye of
discrimination, which for the guidance of the Christian people you have
been deemed worthy to receive by the Grace of God, take heed which one of
such doctors you think the Christian people should follow, the doctrine of
which one of these they should embrace so as to be saved; for they condemn
all, and each one of them the other, according as the various and unstable
definitions in their writings assert sometimes that there is one will and
one operation, sometimes that there is neither one nor two operations,
sometimes one will and operation, and again two wills and two operations,
likewise one will and one operation, and again neither one, nor two, and
somebody else one and two.

   Who does not hate, and rage against, and avoid such blind errors, if he
have any desire to be saved and seek to offer to the Lord at his coming a
right faith? Therefore the Holy Church of God, the mother of your most
Christian power, should be delivered and liberated with all your might
(through the help of God) from the errors of such teachers, and the
evangelical and apostolic uprightness of the orthodox faith, which has been
established upon the firm reek of this Church of blessed Peter, the Prince
of the Apostles, which by his grace and guardianship remains free from all
error, [that faith I say] the whole number of rulers and priests, of the
clergy and of the people, unanimously should confess and preach with us as
the true declaration of the Apostolic tradition, in order to please God and
to save their own souls.

   And these things we have taken pains to insert in the tractate of our
humility, for we have been afflicted and have groaned without ceasing that
such grievous errors should be entertained by bishops of the l Church, who
are zealous to establish their own peculiar views rather than the truth of
the faith, and think that our sincere fraternal admonition has its spring
in a contempt for them. And indeed the apostolic predecessors of my
humility admonished, begged, upbraided, besought, reproved, and exercised
every kind of exhortation that the recent wound bright receive a remedy,
moved thereto not by a mind filled with hatred (God is my witness) nor
through the elation of boasting, nor through the opposition of contention,
nor through an inane desire to find some fault with their teachings, nor
through anything akin to the love of arrogance, but out of zeal for the
uprightness of the truth, and for the rule of the confession of the pure
Gospel, and for the salvation of souls, and for the stability of the
Christian state, and for the safety of those who rule the Roman Empire. Nor
did they cease from their admonitions after the long duration of this
domesticated error, but always exhorted and bore record, and that with
fraternal charity, not through malice or pertinacious hatred (far be it
from the Christian heart to rejoice at another's fall, when the Lord of all
teaches, "I desire not the death of a sinner, but that he be converted and
live;" and who rejoiceth over one sinner that repenteth more than over
ninety-and-nine just persons: who came down from heaven to earth to deliver
the lost sheep, inclining the power of his majesty), but desiring them with
outstretched spiritual arms, and exhorting to embrace them returning to the
unity of the orthodox faith, and awaiting their conversion to the full
rectitude of the orthodox faith: that they might not make themselves aliens
froth our communion, that is from the communion of blessed Peter the
Apostle, whose ministry, we (though unworthy) exercise, and preach the
faith he has handed down, but that they should together with us pray Christ
the Lord, the spotless sacrifice, for the stability of your most strong and
serene Empire.

   We believe, most pious lords [singular in the Latin] of all things,
that there has been left no possible ambiguity which can prevent the
recognizing of those who have followed the inventors of new dogma. For the
sweetness of spiritual understanding with which the sayings of the Fathers
are full has become evident to the eyes of all; and the stench of the
heretics, to be avoided by all the faithful, has been made notorious. Nor
has it remained unknown that the inventors of new dogma have been shewn to
be the followers of heretics, and not the walkers in the footsteps of the
holy Fathers: therefore whoever wishes to colour any error of his whatever,
is condemned by the light of truth, as the Apostle of the Gentiles says,
"For everything that doth make manifest is light," for the truth ever
remains constant and the same, but falsehood is ever varying, and in its
wanderings adopting things mutually contradictory. On this account the
inventors of the new dogma have been shewn to have taught things mutually
contradictory, because they were not willing to be followers of the
Evangelical and Apostolic faith. Wherefore since the truth has shone forth
by the observations of your God-inspired piety, and falsity which has been
exposed has attained the contempt which it deserved, it remains that the
crowned truth may shine forth victoriously through the pious favours of
your God-crowned clemency; and that the error of novelty with it inventors
and with those who follow their doctrine, may receive the punishment due
their presumption, and be cast forth from the midst of the orthodox
prelates for the heretical pravity of their innovation, which into the
holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ they have endeavoured to
introduce, and to stain with the contagion of heretical pravity the
indivisible and unspotted body of the Church [of Christ]. For it is not
just that the injurious should injure the innocent, nor that the offences
of some should be visited upon the inoffensive, for even if in this world
to the condemned mercy is extended, yet they who are thus spared reap for
that sparing no benefit in the judgment of God, and by those thus sparing
them there is incurred no little danger for their unlawful compassion.

   But we believe that Almighty God has reserved for the happy days of
your gentleness the amending of these things, that filling on earth the
place and zeal of our Lord Jesus Christ himself, who has vouchsafed to
crown your rule, ye may judge just judgment for his Evangelical and
Apostolical truth: for although he be the Redeemer and Saviour of the human
race yet he suffered injury, and bore it even until now, and inspired the
empire of your fortitude, so that you should be worthy to follow the cause
of his faith (as equity demanded, and as the determination of the Holy
Fathers and of the Five General Synods decreed), and that you should
avenge, through his guardianship, on the spurners of his faith, the injury
done your Redeemer and Colleague in reigning, thus fulfilling magnanimously
with imperial clemency that prophetic utterance with which David the King
and Prophet, spake to God, saying, "The zeal of thine house hath eaten me
up." Wherefore having been extolled for so God-pleasing a zeal, he was
deemed fit to hear that blessed word spoken by the Creator of all men, "I
have found David, a man after my heart, who will do all my will." And to
him also it was promised in the Psalms, "I have found David, my servant,
with my holy oil have I anointed him: My hand shall aid him and my arm
shall comfort him," so that the most pious majesty of your Christian
clemency may work to further the cause of Christ with burning zeal for the
sake of remuneration, and may he make all the acts of your most powerful
empire both happy and prosperous, who hath stored up his promise in the
Holy Gospels, saying," Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these
things shall be added unto you." For all, to whom has come the knowledge of
the sacred heads, (1) have been offering innumerable thanksgivings and
unceasing praises to the defender of your most powerful dominion, being
filled with admiration for the greatness of your clemency, in that you have
so benignly set forth the kind intention of your august magnanimity; for in
truth, as most pious and most just princes, you have deigned to treat
divine things with the fear of God, having promised every immunity to those
persons sent to you from our littleness.

   And we are confident that what your pious clemency has promised, you
are powerful to carry out, in order that what has been vowed and promised
to God by the religious philanthropy beyond your Christian power, may
nevertheless be fulfilled by the aid of his omnipotency.

   Wherefore let praise by all Christian nations, and eternal memory, and
frequent prayer be poured forth before the Lord Christ, whose is the cause,
for your safety, and your triumphs, and your complete victory, that the
nations of the Gentiles, being impressed by the terror of the supernal
majesty, may lay down most humbly their necks beneath the sceptre of your
most powerful rule, that the power of your most pious kingdom may continue
until the ceaseless joy of the eternal kingdom succeeds to this temporal
reign. Nor could anything be found more likely to commend the clemency of
your unconquerable fortitude to the divine majesty, than that those who err
from the rule of truth should be repelled and the integrity of our
Evangelical and Apostolic faith should be everywhere set forth and
preached.

   Moreover, most pious and God-instructed sons and lords, if the
Archbishop of the Church of Constantinople shall choose to hold and to
preach with us this most unblameable rule of Apostolic doctrine of the
Sacred Scriptures, of the venerable synods, of the spiritual Fathers,
according to their evangelical understanding, through which the form of the
truth has been set forth by us through the assistance of the Spirit, there
will ensue great peace to them that love the name of God, and there will
remain no scandal of dissension, and that will come to pass which is
recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, when through the grace of the Holy
Spirit the people had come to the acknowledging of Christianity, all of us
will be of one heart and of one mind. But if (which God forbid!) he shall
prefer to embrace the novelty but lately introduced by others; and shall
ensnare himself with doctrines which are alien to the rule of orthodox
truth and of our Apostolic faith, to decline which as injurious to souls'
these have put off, despite the exhortation and admonitions of our
predecessors in the Apostolic See, down to this day, he himself should know
what kind of an answer he will have to give for such contempt in the divine
examination of Christ before the judge of all, who is in heaven, to whom
when he cometh to judgment also we ourselves are about to give an account
of the ministry of preaching the truth which has been committed to us, or
for the toleration of things contrary to the Christian religion: and may we
(as I humbly pray) preserve unconfusedly and freely, with simplicity and
purity, whole and undefiled, the Apostolic and Evangelical rule of the
right faith as we have received it from the beginning. And may your most
august serenity, for the affection and reverence which you bear to the
Catholic and Apostolic right faith, receive the perfect reward of your
pious labours from our Lord Jesus Christ himself, the ruler with you of
your Christian empire, whose true confession you desire to preserve
undefiled, because nothing in any respect has been neglected or omitted by
your God-crowned clemency, which could minister to the peace of the
churches, provided always that the integrity of the true faith was
maintained: since God, the Judge of all, who disposes the ending of all
matters as he deems most expedient, seeks out the intent of the heart, and
will accept a zeal for piety. Therefore I exhort you, O most pious and
clement Emperor, and together with my littleness every Christian man
exhorts you on bended knee with all humility, that to all the God-pleasing
goodnesses and admirable imperial benefits which the heavenly condescension
has vouchsafed to grant to the human race through your God-accepted care,
this also you would order, for the redintegration of perfect piety, to
offer an acceptable sacrifice to Christ the Lord your fellow-ruler,
granting entire impunity, and free faculty of speech to each one wishing to
speak, and to urge a word in defence of the faith which he believes and
holds, so that it may most manifestly be recognized by all that by no
terror, by no force, by no threat or aversion any one wishing to speak for
the truth of the Catholic and Apostolic faith, has been prohibited or
repulsed, and that all unanimously may glorify your imperial (divinam)
majesty, throughout the whole since of their lives for so great and so
inestimable a good, and may pour forth unceasing prayers to Christ the Lord
that your most strong empire may be preserved untouched and exalted. The
Subscription. May the grace from above keep your empire, most pious lords,
and place beneath its feet the neck of all the nations.

THE LETTER OF AGATHO AND OF THE ROMAN SYNOD OF 125 BISHOPS WHICH WAS TO
SERVE AS AN INSTRUCTION TO THE LEGATES SENT TO ATTEND THE SIXTH SYNOD.

   To the most pious Lords and most serene victors and conquerors, our own
sons beloved of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ, Constantine, the great
Emperor, and Heraclius and Tiberius, Augustuses, Agatho, the bishop and
servant of the servants of God, together with all the synods subject to the
council of the Apostolic See.

   [The Letter opens with a number of compliments to the Emperor, much in
style and matter like the introduction of the preceding letter. I have not
thought it worth while to translate this, but have begun at the doctrinal
part, which is given to the reader in full.]

   We believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and
of all things visible and invisible; and in his only-begotten Son, who was
begotten of him before all worlds; very God of Very God, Light of Light,
begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father, that is of the
same substance as the Father; by him were all things made which are in
heaven and which are in earth; and in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and giver of
life, who proceedeth from the Father, and with the Father and the Son
together is worshipped and glorified; the Trinity in unity and Unity in
trinity; a unity so far as essence is concerned, but a trinity of persons
or subsistences; and so we confess God the Father, God the Son, and God the
Holy Ghost; not three gods, but one God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Ghost: not a subsistency of three names, but one substance of three
subsistences; and of these persons one is the essence, or substance or
nature, that is to say one is the godhead, one the eternity, one the power,
one the kingdom, one the glory, one the adoration, one the essential will
and operation of the same Holy and inseparable Trinity, which hath created
all things, hath made disposition of them, and still contains them.

   Moreover we confess that one of the same holy consubstantial Trinity,
God the Word, who was begotten of the Father before the worlds, in the last
days of the world for us and for our salvation came down from heaven, and
was incarnate of the Holy Ghost, and of our Lady, the holy, immaculate,
ever-virgin and glorious Mary, truly and properly the Mother of God, that
is to say according to the flesh which was born of her; and was truly made
man, the same being very God and very man. God of God his Father, but man
of his Virgin Mother, incarnate of her flesh with a reasonable and
intelligent soul: of one substance with God the Father, as touching his
godhead, and consubstantial with us as touching his manhood, and in all
points like unto us, but without sin. He was crucified for us under Pontius
Pilate, he suffered, was buried and rose again; ascended into heaven, and
sitteth at the right hand of the Father, and he shall come again to judge
both the quick and the dead, and of his kingdom there shah be no end.

   And this same one Lord of ours, Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of
God, we acknowledge to subsist of and in two substances unconfusedly,
unchangeably, indivisibly, inseparably, the difference of the natures being
by no means taken away by the union, but rather the proprieties of each
nature being preserved and concurring in one Person and one Subsistence,
not scattered or divided into two Persons, nor confused into one composite
nature; but we confess one and the same only-begotten Son, God the Word,
our Lord Jesus Christ, not one in another, nor one added to another, but
himself the same in two natures--that is to say in the Godhead and in the
manhood even after the hypostatic union: for neither was the Word changed
into the nature of flesh, nor was the flesh transformed into the nature of
the Word, for each remained what it was by nature. We discern by
contemplation alone the distinction between the natures united in him of
which inconfusedly, inseparably and unchangeably he is composed; for one is
of both, and through one both, because there are together both the height
of the deity and the humility of the flesh, each nature preserving after
the union its own proper character without any defect; and each form acting
in communion with the other what is proper to itself. The Word working what
is proper to the Word, and the flesh what is proper to the flesh; of which
the one shines with miracles, the other bows down beneath injuries.
Wherefore, as we confess that he truly has two natures or substances, viz.:
the Godhead and the manhood, inconfusedly, indivisibly and unchangeably
[united], so also the rule of piety instructs us that he has two natural
wills and two natural operations, as perfect God and perfect man, one and
the same our Lord Jesus Christ. And this the apostolic and evangelical
tradition and the authority of the Holy Fathers (whom the Holy Apostolic
and Catholic Church and the venerable Synods receive), has plainly taught
us.

   [The letter goes on to say that this is the traditional faith, and is
that which was set forth in a council over which Pope Martin presided, and
that those opposed to this faith have erred from the truth, some in one
way, and some in another. It next apologizes for the delay in sending the
persons ordered by the imperial Sacra, and proceeds thus: (Labbe and
Cossart, col. 686; Migne, col. 1224).]

   In the first place, a great number of us are spread over a vast extent
of country even to the sea coast, and the length of their journey
necessarily took much time. Moreover we were in hopes of being able to join
to our humility our fellow-servant and brother bishop, Theodore, the
archbishop and philosopher of the island of Great Britain, with others who
have been kept there even till to-day; and to add to these divers i bishops
of this council who have their sees in different parts, that our humble
suggestion [i.e., the doctrinal definition contained in the letters] might
proceed from a council of wide-spread influence, lest if only a part were
cognizant of what was being done, it might escape the notice of a part; and
especially because among the Gentiles, as the Longobards, and the Sclavi,
as also the Franks, the French, the Goths, and the Britains, there are
known to be very many of our fellow-servants who do not cease curiously to
enquire on the subject, that they may know what is being done in the cause
of the Apostolic faith: who as they can be of advantage so long as they
hold the true faith with us, and think in unison with us, so are they found
troublesome and contrary, if (which may God forbid!) they stumble at any
article of the faith. But we, although most humble, yet strive with all our
might that the commonwealth of your Christian empire may be shown to be
more sublime than all the nations, for in it has been rounded the See of
Blessed Peter, the prince of the Apostles, by the authority of which, all
Christian nations venerate and worship with us, through the reverence of
the blessed Apostle Peter himself. (This is the Latin, which appears to me
to be corrupt, the Greek reads as follows: "The authority of which for the
truth, all the Christian nations together with us worship and revere,
according to the honour of the blessed Peter the Apostle himself.")

   [The letter ends with prayers for constancy, and blessings on the State
and Emperor, and hopes for the universal diffusion and acceptance of the
truth.]

EXTRACTS FROM THE ACTS.

SESSION VIII.


   [The Emperor said]

   Let George, the most holy archbishop of this our God-preserved city,
and let Macarius, the venerable archbishop of Antioch, and let the synod
subject to them [i.e., their suffragans] say, if they submit to the force
(ei stoichou^si th(i)^ duna'mei) of the suggestions sent by the most holy
Agatho Pope of Old (1) Rome and by his Synod.

   [The answer of George, with which all his bishops, many of them,
speaking one by one, agreed except Theodore of Metilene (who handed in his
assent at the end of the Tenth Session).]

   I have diligently examined the whole force of the suggestions sent to
your most pious Fortitude, as well by Agatho, the most holy Pope of Old(1)
Rome, as by his synod, and I have scrutinized the works of the holy and
approved Fathers, which are laid up in my venerable patriarchate, and I
have found that all the testimonies of the holy and accepted Fathers, which
are contained in those suggestions agree with, and in no particular differ
from, the holy and accepted Fathers. Therefore I give my submission to them
and thus I profess and believe.

   [The answer of all the rest of the Bishops subject to the See of
Constantinople. (Col. 735.)]

   And we, most pious Lord, accepting the teaching of the suggestion sent
to your most gentle Fortitude by the most holy and blessed Agatho, Pope of
Old Rome, and of that other suggestion which was adopted by the council
subject to him, and following the sense therein contained, so we are
minded, so we profess, and so we believe that in our one Lord Jesus Christ,
our true God, there are two natures unconfusedly, unchangeably,
undividedly, and two natural wills and two natural operations; and all who
have taught, and who now say, that there is but one will and one operation
in the two natures of our one Lord Jesus Christ our true God, we
anathematize.

   [The Emperor's demand to Macarius. (Col. 739.)]

   Let Macarius, the Venerable Archbishop of Antioch, who has now heard
what has been said by this holy and Ecumenical Synod [demanding the
expression of his faith], answer what seemeth him good.

   [The answer of Macarius.]

   I do not say that there are two wills or two operations in the
dispensation of the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, but one will and
one theandric operation.

THE SENTENCE AGAINST THE MONOTHELITES.

SESSION XIII.

   The holy council said: After we had reconsidered, according to our
promise which we had made to your highness, the doctrinal letters of
Sergius, at one time patriarch of this royal god-protected city to Cyrus,
who was then bishop of Phasis and to Honorius some time Pope of Old Rome,
as well as the letter of the latter to the same Sergius, we find that these
documents are quite foreign to the apostolic dogmas, to the declarations of
the holy Councils, and to all the accepted Fathers, and that they follow
the false teachings of the heretics; therefore we entirely reject them, and
execrate them as hurtful to the soul. But the names of those men whose
doctrines we execrate must also be thrust forth from the holy Church of
God, namely, that of Sergius some time bishop of this God-preserved royal
city who was the first to write on this impious doctrine; also that of
Cyrus of Alexandria, of Pyrrhus, Paul, and Peter, who died bishops of this
God-preserved city, and were like-minded with them; and that of Theodore
sometime bishop of Pharan, all of whom the most holy and thrice blessed
Agatho, Pope of Old Rome, in his suggestion to our most pious and God-
preserved lord and mighty Emperor, rejected, because they were minded
contrary to our orthodox faith, all of whom we define are to be subjected
to anathema. And with these we define that there shall be expelled from the
holy Church of God and anathematized Honorius who was some time Pope of Old
Rome, because of what we found written by him to Sergius, that in all
respects he followed his view and confirmed his impious doctrines. We have
also examined the synodal letter of Sophronius of holy memory, some time
Patriarch of the Holy City of Christ our God, Jerusalem, and have found it
in accordance with the true faith and with the Apostolic teachings, and
with those of the holy approved Fathers. Therefore we have received it as
orthodox and as salutary to the holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, and
have decreed that it is right that his name be inserted in the diptychs of
the Holy Churches.

SESSION XVI.

   [The Acclamations of the Fathers.]

   Many years to the Emperor! Many years to Constantine, our great
Emperor! Many years to the Orthodox King! Many years to our Emperor that
maketh peace! Many years to Constantine, a second Martian! Many years to
Constantine, a new Theodosius! Many years to Constantine, a new Justinian!
Many years to the keeper of the orthodox faith! O Lord preserve the
foundation of the Churches!O Lord preserve the keeper of the faith!

   Many years to Agatho, Pope of Rome! Many years to George, Patriarch of
Constantinople! Many years to Theophanus, Patriarch of Antioch! Many years
to the orthodox council! Many years to the orthodox Senate!

   To Theodore of Pharan, the heretic, anathema! To Sergius, the heretic,
anathema! To Cyrus, the heretic, anathema! To Honorius, the heretic,
anathema! To Pyrthus, the heretic, anathema! To Paul the heretic, anathema!
To Peter the heretic, anathema! To Macarius the heretic, anathema! To
Stephen the heretic, anathema! To Polychronius the heretic, anathema! To
Apergius of Perga the heretic, anathema! To all heretics, anathema! To all
who side with heretics, anathema!

   May the faith of the Christians increase, and long years to the
orthodox and Ecumenical Council!

THE DEFINITION OF FAITH.

   The holy, great, and Ecumenical Synod which has been assembled by the
grace of God, and the religious decree of the most religious and faithful
and mighty Sovereign Constantine, in this God-protected and royal city of
Constantinople, New Rome, in the Hall of the imperial Palace, called
Trullus, has decreed as follows.

   The only-begotten Son, and Word of God the Father, who was made man in
all things like unto us without sin, Christ our true God, has declared
expressly in the words of the Gospel, "I am the light of the world he that
followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."
And again, "My peace I leave with, you, my peace I give unto you." Our most
gentle Sovereign, the champion of orthodoxy, and opponent of evil doctrine,
being reverentially led by this divinely uttered doctrine of peace, and
having convened this our holy and Ecumenical assembly, has united the
judgment of the whole Church. Wherefore this our holy and Ecumenical Synod
having driven away the impious error which had prevailed for a certain time
until now, and following closely the straight path of the holy and approved
Fathers, has piously given its full assent to the five holy and Ecumenical
Synods (that is to say, to that of the 318 holy Fathers who assembled in
Nice against the raging Arius; and the next in Constantinople of the 150
God-inspired men against Macedonius the adversary of the Spirit, and the
impious Apollinaris; and also the first in Ephesus of 200 venerable men
convened against Nestorius the Judaizer; and that in Chalcedon of 630 God-
inspired Fathers against Eutyches and Dioscorus hated of God; and in
addition to these, to the last, that is the Fifth holy Synod assembled in
this place, against Theodore of Mopsuestia, Origen, Didymus, and Evagrius,
and the writings of Theodoret against the Twelve Chapters of the celebrated
Cyril, and the Epistle which was said to be written by Ibas to Maris the
Persian), renewing in all things the ancient decrees of religion, and
chasing away the impious doctrines of irreligion. And this our holy and
Ecumenical Synod inspired of God has set its seal to the Creed which was
put forth by the 318 Fathers, and again religiously confirmed by the 150,
which also the other holy synods cordially received and ratified for the
taking away of every soul-destroying heresy.

   The Nicene Creed of the 318 holy Fathers.

   We believe, etc.

   The Creed of the 150 holy Fathers assembled at Constantinople.

   We believe, etc.

   The holy and Ecumenical Synod further says, this pious and orthodox
Creed of the Divine grace would be sufficient for the full knowledge and
confirmation of the orthodox faith. But as the author of evil, who, in the
beginning, availed himself of the aid of the serpent, and by it brought the
poison of death upon the human race, has not desisted, but in like manner
now, having found suitable instruments for working out his will (we mean
Theodorus, who was Bishop of Pharan, Sergius, Pyrrhus, Paul and Peter, who
were Archbishops of this royal city, and moreover, Honorius who was Pope of
the elder Rome, Cyrus Bishop of Alexandria, Macarius who was lately bishop
of Antioch, and Stephen his disciple), has actively employed them in
raising up for the whole Church the stumbling-blocks of one will and one
operation in the two natures of Christ our true God, one of the Holy
Trinity; thus disseminating, in novel terms, amongst the orthodox people,
an heresy similar to the mad and wicked doctrine of the impious
Apollinaris, Severus, and Themistius, and endeavouring craftily to destroy
the perfection of the incarnation of the same our Lord Jesus Christ, our
God, by blasphemously representing his flesh endowed with a rational soul
as devoid of will or operation. Christ, therefore, our God, has raised up
our faithful Sovereign, a new David, having found him a man after his own
heart, who as it is written, "has not suffered his eyes to sleep nor his
eyelids to slumber," until he has found a perfect declaration of orthodoxy
by this our God-collected and holy Synod; for, according to the sentence
spoken of God, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there
am I in the midst of them," the present holy and Ecumenical Synod
faithfully receiving and saluting with uplifted hands as well the
suggestion which by the most holy and blessed Agatho, Pope of ancient Rome,
was sent to our most pious and faithful Emperor Constantine, which rejected
by name those who taught or preached one will and one operation in the
dispensation of the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ who is our very
God, has likewise adopted that other synodal suggestion which was sent by
the Council holden under the same most holy Pope, composed of 125 Bishops,
beloved of God, to his God-instructed tranquillity, as consonant to the
holy Council of Chalcedon and to the Tome of the most holy and blessed Leo,
Pope of the same old Rome, which was directed to St. Flavian, which also
this Council called the Pillar of the right faith; and also agrees with the
Synodal Epistles which were written by Blessed Cyril against the impious
Nestorius and addressed to the Oriental Bishops. Following the five holy
Ecumenical Councils and the holy and approved Fathers, with one voice
defining that our Lord Jesus Christ must be confessed to be very God and
very man, one of the holy and consubstantial and life-giving Trinity,
perfect in Deity and perfect in humanity, very God and very man, of a
reasonable soul and human body subsisting; consubstantial with the Father
as touching his Godhead and consubstantial with us as touching his manhood;
in all things like unto us, sin only excepted; begotten of his Father
before all ages according to his Godhead, but in these last days for us men
and for our salvation made man of the Holy Ghost and of the Virgin Mary,
strictly and properly the Mother of God according to the flesh; one and the
same Christ our Lord the only-begotten Son of two natures un-confusedly,
unchangeably, inseparably indivisibly to be recognized, the peculiarities
of neither nature being lost by the union but rather the proprieties of
each nature being preserved, concurring in one Person and in one
subsistence, not parted or divided into two persons but one and the same
only-begotten Son of God, the Word, our Lord Jesus Christ, according as the
Prophets of old have taught us and as our Lord Jesus Christ himself hath
instructed us, and the Creed of the holy Fathers hath delivered to us;
defining all this we likewise declare that in him are two natural wills and
two natural operations indivisibly, inconvertibly, inseparably,
inconfusedly, according to the teaching of the holy Fathers. And these two
natural wills are not contrary the one to the other (God forbid!) as the
impious heretics assert, but his human will follows and that not as
resisting and reluctant, but rather as subject to his divine and omnipotent
will. For it was right that the flesh should be moved but subject to the
divine will, according to the most wise Athanasius. For as his flesh is
called and is the flesh of God the Word, so also the natural will of his
flesh is called and is the proper will of God the Word, as he himself says:
"I came down from heaven, not that I might do mine own will but the will of
the Father which sent me!" where he calls his own will the will of his
flesh, inasmuch as his flesh was also his own. For as his most holy and
immaculate animated flesh was not destroyed because it was deified but
continued in its own state and nature (o'rw(i) te kai` lo'gw(i)), so also
his human will, although deified, was not suppressed, but was rather
preserved according to the saying of Gregory Theologus: "His will [i.e.,
the Saviour's] is not contrary to God but altogether deified."

   We glorify two natural operations indivisibly, immutably, inconfusedly,
inseparably in the same our Lord Jesus Christ our true God, that is to say
a divine operation and a human operation, according to the divine preacher
Leo, who most distinctly asserts as follows: "For each form (morphh`) does
in communion with the other what pertains properly to it, the Word, namely,
doing that which pertains to the Word, and the flesh that which pertains to
the flesh."

   For we will not admit one natural operation in God and in the creature,
as we will not exalt into the divine essence what is created, nor will we
bring down the glory of the divine nature to the place suited to the
creature.

   We recognize the miracles and the sufferings as of one and the same
[Person], but of one or of the other nature of which he is and in which he
exists, as Cyril admirably says. Preserving therefore the inconfusedness
and indivisibility, we make briefly this whole confession, believing our
Lord Jesus Christ to be one of the Trinity and after the incarnation our
true God, we say that his two natures shone forth in his one subsistence in
which he both performed the miracles and endured the sufferings through the
whole of his economic conversation (di ho'lhs autou^ th^s oikonomkh^s
anastrophh^s), and that not in appearance only but in very deed, and this
by reason of the difference of nature which must be recognized in the same
Person, for although joined together yet each nature wills and does the
things proper to it and that indivisibly and inconfusedly. Wherefore we
confess two wills and two operations, concurring most fitly in him for the
salvation of the human race.

   These firings, therefore, with all diligence and care having been
formulated by us, we define that it be permitted to no one to bring
forward, or to write, or to compose, or to think, or to teach a different
faith. Whosoever shall presume to compose a different faith, or to propose,
or teach, or hand to those wishing to be converted to the knowledge of the
truth, from the Gentiles or Jews, or from any heresy, any different Creed;
or to introduce a new voice or invention of speech to subvert these things
which now have been determined by us, all these, if they be Bishops or
clerics let them be deposed, the Bishops from the Episcopate, the clerics
from the clergy; but if they be monks or laymen: let them be anathematized.

THE PROSPHONETICUS TO THE EMPEROR.

   [This address begins with many compliments to the Emperor, especially
for his zeal for the true faith.]

   But because the adversary Satan allows no rest, he has raised up the
very ministers of Christ against him, as if armed and carrying weapons,
etc.

   [The various heretics are then named and how they were condemned by the
preceding five councils is set forth.]

   Things being so, it was necessary that your beloved of Christ majesty
should gather together this all holy, and numerous assembly.

   Thereafter being inspired by the Holy Ghost, and all agreeing and
consenting together, and giving our approval to the doctrinal letter of our
most blessed and exalted pope, Agatho, which he sent to your mightiness, as
also agreeing to the suggestion of the holy synod of one hundred and
twenty-five fathers held under him, we teach that one of fire Holy Trinity,
our Lord Jesus Christ, was incarnate, and must be celebrated in two perfect
natures without division and without confusion. For as the Word, he is
consubstantial and eternal with God his father; but as taking flesh of the
immaculate Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, he is perfect man,
consubstantial with us and made in time. We declare therefore that he is
perfect in Godhead and that the same is perfect likewise in manhood,
according to the pristine tradition of the fathers and the divine
definition of Chalcedon.

   And as we recognize two natures, so also we recognize two natural wills
and two natural operations. For we dare not say that either of the natures
which are in Christ in his incarnation is without a will and operation:
lest in taking away the proprieties of those natures, we likewise take away
the natures of which they are the proprieties. For we neither deny rite
natural will of his humanity, or its natural operation: lest we also deny
what is the chief thing of the dispensation for our salvation, and lest we
attribute passions to the Godhead. For this they were attempting who have
recently introduced the detestable novelty that in him there is but one
will and one operation, renewing the malignancy of Arius, Apollinaris,
Eutyches and Severus. For should we say that the human nature of our Lord
is without will and operation, how could we affirm in safety the perfect
humanity? For nothing else constitutes the integrity of human nature except
the essential will, through which the strength of free-will is marked in
us; and this is also the case with the substantial operation. For how shall
we call him perfect in humanity if he in no wise suffered and acted as a
man? For like as the union of two natures preserves for us one subsistence
without confusion and without division; so this one subsistence, shewing
itself in two natures, demonstratesas its own what things belong to each.

   Therefore we declare that in him there are two natural wills and two
natural operations, proceeding commonly and without division: but we cast
out of the Church and rightly subject to anathema all superfluous novelties
as well as their inventors: to wit, Theodore of Pharan, Sergius and Paul,
Pyrrhus, and Peter (who were archbishops of Constantinople), moreover
Cyrus, who bore the priesthood of Alexandria, and with them Honorius, who
was the ruler (pro'edron) of Rome, as he followed them in these things.
Besides these, with the best of cause we anathematize and depose Macarius,
who was bishop of Antioch, and his disciple Stephen (or rather we should
say master), who tried to defend the impiety of their predecessors, and in
short stirred up the whole world, and by their pestilential letters and by
their fraudulent institutions devastated multitudes in every direction.
Likewise also that old man Polychronius, with an infantile intelligence,
who promised he would raise the dead and who when they did not rise, was
laughed at; and all who have taught, or do teach, or shall presume to teach
one will and one operation in the incarnate Christ. . . But the highest
prince of the Apostles fought with us: for we had on our side his imitator
and the successor in his see, who also had set forth in his letter the
mystery of the divine word (theologi'as). For the ancient city of Rome
handed thee a confession of divine character, and a chart from the
sunsetting raised up the day of dogmas, and made the darkness manifest, and
Peter spoke through Agatho, and thou, O autocratic King, according to the
divine decree, with the Omnipotent Sharer of thy throne, didst judge.

   But, O benign and justice-loving Lord, do thou in return do this favour
to him who hath bestowed thy power upon thee; and give, as a seal to what
has been defined by us, thy imperial ratification in writing, and so
confirm them with the customary pious edicts and constitutions, that no one
may contradict the things which have been done, nor raise any fresh
question. For rest assured, O serene majesty, that we have not falsified
anything defined by the Ecumenical Councils and by the approved fathers,
but we have confirmed them. And now we all cry out with one mind and one
voice, "O God, save the King! etc., etc."

   [Then follow numerous compliments to the Emperor and prayers for his
preservation.]

LETTER OF THE COUNCIL TO ST. AGATHO.

   A copy of the letter sent by the holy and Ecumenical Sixth Council to
Agatho, the most blessed and most holy pope of Old Rome.

   The holy and ecumenical council which by the grace of God and the pious
sanction of the most pious and faithful Constantine, the great Emperor, has
been gathered together in this God-preserved and royal city,
Constantinople, the new Rome, in the Secretum of the imperial (thei'ou,
sacri) palace called Trullus, to the most holy and most blessed pope of Old
Rome, Agatho, health in the Lord.

   Serious illnesses call for greater helps, as you know, most blessed
[father]; and therefore Christ our true God, who is the creator and
governing power of all things, gave a wise physician, namely your God-
honoured sanctity, to drive away by force the contagion of heretical
pestilence by the remedies of orthodoxy, and to give the strength of health
to the members of the church. Therefore to thee, as to the bishop of the
first see of the Universal Church, we leave what must be done, since you
willingly take for your standing ground the firm rock of the faith, as we
know from having read your true confession in the letter sent by your
fatherly beatitude to the most pious emperor: and we acknowledge that this
letter was divinely written (perscriptas) as by the Chief of the Apostles,
and through it we have cast out the heretical sect of many errors which had
recently sprung up, having been urged to making a decree by Constantine who
divinely reigns, and wields a most clement sceptre. And by his help we have
overthrown the error of impiety, having as it were laid siege to the
nefarious doctrine of the heretics. And then tearing to pieces the
foundations of their execrable heresy, and attacking them with spiritual
and paternal arms, and confounding their tongues that they might not speak
consistently with each other, we overturned the tower built up by these
followers of this most impious heresy; and we slew them with anathema, as
lapsed concerning the faith and as sinners, in the morning outside the camp
of the tabernacle of God, that we may express ourselves after the manner of
David,(1) in accordance with the sentence already given concerning them in
your letter, and their names are these: Theodore, bishop of Pharan,
Sergius, Honorius, Cyrus, Paul, Pyrrhus and Peter. Moreover, in addition to
these, we justly subjected to the anathema of heretics those also who live
in their impiety which they have received, or, to speak more accurately, in
the impiety of these God - hated persons, Apollinaris, Severus and
Themestius, to wit, Macarius, who was the bishop of the great city of
Antioch (and him we also stripped deservedly of his pastor's robes on
account of his impenitence concerning the orthodox faith and his obstinate
stubbornness), and Stephen, his disciple in craziness and his teacher in
impiety, also Polychronius, who was inveterate in his heretical doctrines,
thus answering to his name; and finally all those who impenitently have
taught or do teach, or now hold or have held similar doctrines.

   Up to now grief, sorrow, and many tears have been our portion. For we
cannot laugh at the fall of our neighbours, nor exult with joy at their
unbridled madness, nor have we been elated that we might fall all the more
grievously because of this thing; not thus, O venerable and sacred head,
have we been taught, we who hold Christ, the Lord of the universe, to be
both benign and man-loving in the highest degree; for he exhorts us to be
imitators of him in his priesthood so far as is possible, as becometh the
good, and to obtain the pattern of his pastoral and conciliatory
government. But also to true repentance the most Serene Emperor and
ourselves have exhorted them in various ways, and we have conducted the
whole matter with great religiousness and care. Nor have we been moved to
do so for the sake of gain, nor by hatred, as you can easily see from what
things have been done in each session, and related in the minutes, which
are herewith sent to your blessedness: and you will understand from your
holiness's vicars, Theodore and George, presbyters beloved of God, and from
John, the most religious deacon, and from Constantine, the most venerable
sub-deacon, all of them your spiritual children and our well-loved
brethren. So too you will hear the same things from those sent by your holy
synod, the holy bishops who rightly and uprightly, in accordance with your
discipline, decreed with us in the first chapter of the faith.

   Thus, illuminated by the Holy Spirit, and instructed by your doctrine,
we have cast forth the vile doctrines of impiety, making smooth the right
path of orthodoxy, being in every way encouraged and helped in so doing by
the wisdom and power of our most pious and serene Emperor Constantine. And
then one of our number, the most holy praesul of this reigning
Constantinople, in the first place assenting to the orthodox compositions
sent by you to the most pious emperor as in all respects agreeable to the
teaching of the approved Fathers and of the God-instructed Fathers, and of
the holy five universal councils, we all, by the help of Christ our God,
easily accomplished what we were striving after. For as God was the mover,
so God also he crowned our council.

   Thereupon, therefore, the grace of the Holy Spirit shone upon us,
displaying his power, through your assiduous prayers, for the uprooting of
all weeds and every tree which brought not forth good fruit, and giving
command that they should be consumed by fire. And we all agree both in
heart and tongue, and hand, and have put forth, by the assistance of the
life-giving Spirit, a definition, clean from all error, certain, and
infallible; not 'removing the ancient landmarks, as it is written (God
forbid!), but remaining steadfast in the testimonies and authority of the
holy and approved fathers, and defining that, as of two and in two natures
(to wit, the divinity and the humanity) of which he is composed and in
which he exists, Christ our true God is preached by us, and is glorified
inseparably, unchangeably, unconfusedly, and undividedly; just so also we
predicate of him two natural operations, undividedly, incontrovertibly,
unconfusedly, inseparably, as has been declared in our synodal definition.
These decrees the majesty of our God-copying Emperor assented to, and
subscribed them with his own hand. And, as has been said, we rejected and
condemned that most impious and unsubstantial heresy which affirmed but one
will and one operation in the incarnate Christ our true God, and by so
doing we have pressed sore upon the crowd who confound and who divide, and
have extinguished the inflamed storm of other heresies, but we have set
forth clearly with you the shining light of the orthodox faith, and we pray
your paternal sanctity to confirm our decree by your honourable rescript;
through which we confide in good hope in Christ that his merciful kindness
will grant freely to the Roman State, committed to the care of our most
clement Emperor, stability; and will adorn with daily yokes and victories
his most serene elemency; and that in addition to the good things he has
here bestowed upon us, he will set your God-honoured holiness before his
tremendous tribunal as one who has sincerely confessed the true faith,
preserving it unsullied and keeping good ward over the orthodox flocks
committed to him by God.

   We and all who are with us salute all the brethren in Christ who are
with your blessedness.

THE IMPERIAL EDICT POSTED IN THE THIRD ATRIUM OF THE GREAT CHURCH NEAR WHAT
IS CALLED DICYMBALA.

   In the name of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, our God and Saviour,
the most pious Emperor, the peaceful and Christ-loving Constantine, an
Emperor faithful to God in Jesus Christ, to all our Christ-loving people
living in this God-preserved and royal city.

   [The document is very long, Hefele gives the following epitome, which
is all sufficient for the ordinary reader, who will remember that it is an
Edict of the Emperor and not anything proceeding from the council.]

Hefele's Epitome (Hist. of the Councils, Vol. v., p. 178).

   "The heresy of Apollinaris, etc., has been renewed by Theodore of
Pharan and confirmed by Honorius, sometime Pope of Old Rome, who also
contradicted himself. Also Cyrus, Pyrrhus, Paul, Peter; more recently.
Macarius, Stephen, and Polychronius had diffused Monothelitism. He, the
Emperor, had therefore convoked this holy and Ecumenical Synod, and
published the present edict with the confession of faith, in order to
confirm and establish its decrees. (There follows here an extended
confession of faith, with proofs for the doctrine of two wills and
operations.) As he recognized the five earlier Ecumenical Synods, so he
anathematized all heretics from Simon Magus, but especially the originator
and patrons of the new heresy, Theodore and Sergius; also Pope Honorius,
who was their adherent and patron in everything, and confirmed the heresy
(to`n kata` pa'nta tou'tois sunaire'thn kai` su'ndromon kai` bebaiwth`n
th^s haire'sews, further, Cyrus, etc., and ordained that no one henceforth
should hold a different faith, or venture to teach one will and one energy.
In no other than the orthodox faith could men be saved. Whoever did not
obey the imperial edict should, if he were a bishop or cleric be deposed;
if an official, punished with confiscation of property and loss of the
girdle (zw'nh); if a private person, banished from the residence and all
other cities."


Taken from "The Early Church Fathers and Other Works" originally published
by Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co. in English in Edinburgh, Scotland, beginning in
1867. (LNPF II/XIV, Schaff and Wace). The digital version is by The
Electronic Bible Society, P.O. Box 701356, Dallas, TX 75370, 214-407-WORD.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
  The electronic form of this document is copyrighted.
  Copyright (c) Eternal Word Television Network 1996.
  Provided courtesy of:

       EWTN On-Line Services
       PO Box 3610
       Manassas, VA 20108
       Voice: 703-791-2576
       Fax: 703-791-4250
       Data: 703-791-4336
       FTP: ftp.ewtn.com
       Telnet: ewtn.com
       WWW: http://www.ewtn.com.
       Email address: [email protected]

-------------------------------------------------------------------

You are viewing proxied material from gopher.ratthing.com. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.