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The following is adapted from the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church
ZOSIMUS (d. 418), Bishop of Rome from 417. He was a Greek by birth. His brief pontificate was marked by blunders. Thus his attempt to establish a vicariate of Arles, in disregard of already existing metropolitan rights in Gaul, had to be abandoned by his successor, and his policy twice suffered defeat in N. Africa. Having reopened the case of Pelagius and his supporters (condemned by Innocent I), he was forced by an Imperial edict to come into line with the views of Saint Augustine and the African Church and issue his ‘Tractoria’ condemning Pelagianism. He was again outmanœuvred when, citing as Nicene and therefore of oecumenical authority a canon which properly belonged to the Council of Sardica (343), he tried to quash the sentence passed on the African priest Apiarius by the Bishop of Sicca. Several of his letters survive. Feast day, 26 Dec.
Epp. ed. P. Coustant, OSB, Epistolae Romanorum Pontificum, 1 (1721), cols. 933–1006; repr. J. P. Migne, PL 20. 639–704; see also Suppl. (ed. A. Hamman, OFM), 1 (1958), cols. 797 f. LP(Duchesne), 1, pp. 225 f. (Eng. tr. [1989], p. 33). F. Floëri, ‘Le Pape Zosime et la doctrine augustinienne du péché originel’, in Augustinus Magister: Congrès International Augustinien, Paris, 21–24 Septembre 1954. Communications, 2 [1954], pp. 755–61. C. Pietri, Roma Christiana: Recherches sur l’Église de Rome … (311–440) (Bibliothèque des Écoles françaises d’Athènes et de Rome, 224; 1976), pp. 1212–44. J. E. Merdinger, Rome and the African Church in the Time of Augustine (New Haven and London [1997]), esp. pp. 112–30, with notes pp. 223–30. CPL (3rd edn., 1995), pp. 530 f. (nos. 1644–7). É. Amann in DTC 15 (pt. 2; 1950), cols. 3708–16, s.v.; C. Munier in Dict. Sp. 16 (1994), cols. 1651–8, s.v. ‘Zosime (1)’.
| Denzinger-Hünermann 221. Pope St. Zosimus, Council of Carthage, from the letter Quamvis Patrum traditio to the African bishops, March 21, 418) | Saint Zosime, Ep. 'Quamvis Patrum' ad Concilium Carthag. 21 mars 418.221 109 (n 1) |
| Although the tradition of the Fathers has attributed such great authority to the Apostolic See that no one would dare to disagree wholly with its judgment, | Quamvis Patrum traditio Apostolicae Sedi auctoritatem tantam tnbuerit, ut de eius iudicio disceptare nullus auderet, |
| and it has always preserved this judgment by canons and rules, and current ecclesiastical discipline up to this time by its laws pays the reverence which is due to the name of Peter, from whom it has itself descended . . . ; | idque per canones semper regulasque servaverit et currens adhuc suis legibus ecclesiastica disciplina Petri nomini, a quo ipsa quoque descendit, reverentiam quam debet exsolvat: ... |
| since therefore Peter the head is of such (Treat authority and he has confirmed the subsequent endeavors of all our ancestors, so that the Roman Church is fortified . . . by human as well as by divine laws, and it does not escape you that we rule its place and also hold power of the name itself, | (3) cum ergo tantae auctoritatis et Petrus caput sit et sequentia omnium maiorum statuta firmaverint, ut iam humanis divinisque legibus disciplinisque omnibus finiretur Romanam Ecclesiam, cuius locum regeret (al.: firmetur Romana Ecclesia, cuius locum Nos regere), ipsius quoque potestatem nominis obtinere...: |
| nevertheless you know, dearest brethren, and as priests you ought to know, although we have such great authority that no one can dare to retract from our decision, yet we have done nothing which we have not voluntarily referred to your notice by letters | (4) tamen, cum Nobis tantum esset auctoritatis, ut nullus de Nostra possit retractare sententia, nihil egimus, quod non ad vestram notitiam Nostris ultro litteris referremus, |
| … not because we did not know what ought to be done, or would do anything which by going against the advantage of the Church, would be displeasing. | dantes hoc fraternitati et in commune consulentes, non quia quid deberet fieri nesciremus aut faceremus aliquid, quod contra utilitatem Ecclesiae veniens displiceret, |
| sed pariter vobiscum voluimus habere tractatum de illo (Caelestio accusato). |
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