THE COUNCIL
 of  CHALCEDON (451)
 

 Pope Leo Confronts Attila the Hum

     Surprised as we were at the late arrival of your charity’s letter, we read it and examined the account of what the bishops had done. We now see what scandal against the integrity of the faith had reared its head among you. What had previously been kept secret now became clearly revealed to us.

Eutyches, who was considered a man of honour because he had the title of priest, is shown to be very rash and extremely ignorant. What the prophet said can be applied to him: He did not want to understand and do good: he plotted evil in his bed. What can be worse than to have an irreligious mind and to pay no heed to those who are wiser and more learned?

Quibus Eutyches, qui presbyterii nomine honorabilis videbatur, multum inprudens et nimis inperitus ostenditur, ut etiam de ipso dictum sit a propheta: noluit intellegere ut bene ageret; iniquitatem meditatus est in cubili suo. Quid autem iniquius quam impia sapere et sapientioribus doctoribus que non cedere?

The people who fall into this folly are those in whom knowledge of the truth is blocked by a kind of dimness. They do not refer to

Sed in hanc insipientiam cadunt qui cum ad cognoscendam veritatem aliquo inpediuntur obscuro,

     * the sayings of the prophets, nor to

non ad propheticas voces,

     * the letters of the apostles, nor even to

non ad apostolicas litteras

     * the authoritative words of the gospels,

nec ad evangelicas auctoritates,

     but to themselves. By not being pupils of the truth, they turn out to be masters of error.

sed ad semet ipsos recurrunt et ideo magistri erroris existunt, quia veritatis discipuli non fuerunt.

A man who has not the most elementary understanding even of the creed itself can have learnt nothing from the sacred texts of the New and Old Testaments. This old man has not yet taken to heart what is pronounced by every baptismal candidate the world over!

Quam enim eruditionem de sacris novi et veteris testamenti paginis adquisivit qui ne ipsius quidem symboli initia conprehendit et quod per totum mundum omnium regenerandorum voce depromitur, istius adhuc senis corde non capitur?

     He had no idea how he ought to think about the incarnation of the Word of God; and he had no desire to acquire the light of understanding by working through the length and breadth of the holy scriptures. So at least he should have listened carefully and accepted the common and undivided creed by which the whole body of the faithful confess that they believe in

Nesciens igitur quid deberet de verbi dei incarnatione sentire, nec volens ad promerendum lumen intellegentiae in sanctarum scripturarum latitudine laborare illam saltem communem et indiscretam confessionem sollicito recepisset auditu, qua fidelium universitas profitetur credere se

     1. God the Father almighty and in

in deum patrem omnipotentem

     2. Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord,

et in Iesum Christum filium eius unicum, dominum nostrum,

     3. who was born of the holy Spirit and the virgin Mary.

qui natus est de spiritu sancto et Maria virgine,

     These three statements wreck the tricks of nearly every heretic.

quibus tribus sententiis omnium fere haereticorum machinae destruuntur.

When God is believed to be both almighty and Father, the Son is clearly proved to be co-eternal with him, in no way different from the Father, since he was born God from God, almighty from the Almighty, co-eternal from the Eternal, not later in time, not lower in power, not unlike in glory, not distinct in being. The same eternal, only-begotten of the eternal begetter was born of the holy Spirit and the virgin Mary. His birth in time in no way subtracts from or adds to that divine and eternal birth of his: but its whole purpose is to restore humanity, who had been deceived, so that it might defeat death and, by its power, destroy the devil who held the power of death.

Cum enim deus et omnipotens et pater creditur, consempiternus eidem filius demonstratur, in nullo a patre differens, quia de deo deus, de omnipotente omnipotens, de aeterno natus est coaeternus, non posterior tempore, non inferior potestate, non dissimilis gloria, non divisus essentia. Idem vero sempiterni genitoris unigenitus sempiternus natus est de spiritu sancto et Maria virgine, quae nativitas temporalis illi nativitati divinae et sempiternae nihil minuit, nihil contulit, sed totam se reparando homini, qui erat deceptus, inpendit, ut et mortem vinceret et diabolum, qui mortis habebat imperium, sua virtute destrueret.

Overcoming the originator of sin and death would be beyond us, had not he whom sin could not defile, nor could death hold down, taken up our nature and made it his own. He was conceived from the holy Spirit inside the womb of the virgin mother. Her virginity was as untouched in giving him birth as it was in conceiving him.

Non enim superare possemus peccati et mortis auctorem, nisi naturam nostram ille susciperet et suam faceret quem nec peccatum contaminare nec mors potuit detinere. Conceptus quippe est de spiritu sancto intra uterum virginis matris, quae illum ita salva virginitate edidit quemadmodum salva virginitate concepit.

     But if it was beyond Eutyches to derive sound understanding from this, the purest source of the christian faith, because the brightness of manifest truth had been darkened by his own peculiar blindness, then he should have subjected himself to the teaching of the gospels. When Matthew says, The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham, Eutyches should have looked up the further development in the apostolic preaching. When he read in the letter to the Romans, Paul, the servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for God’s gospel, which he had formerly promised through his prophets in the holy writings which refer to his Son, who was made for him of David’s seed according to the flesh, he should have paid deep and devout attention to the prophetic texts. And when he discovered God making the promise to Abraham that in your seed shall all nations be blessed, he should have followed the apostle, in order to eliminate any doubt about the identity of this seed, when he says, The promises were spoken to Abraham and his seed .

Sed si de hoc Christianae fidei fonte purissimo sincerum intellectum haurire non poterat, quia splendorem perspicuae veritatis obcaecatione sibi propria tenebrarat, doctrinae se evangelicae subdidisset et dicente Matthaeo liber generationis Iesu Christi filii David filii Habraham, apostolicae quoque praedicationis expetisset instructum et legens in epistula ad Romanos Paulus servus Christi Iesu, vocatus apostolus segregatus in evangelium dei quod ante promiserat per prophetas suos in scripturis sanctis de filio suo, qui factus est ei ex semine David secundum carnem ad propheticas paginas piam sollicitudinem contulisset et inveniens promissionem dei ad Habraham dicentis in semine tuo benedicentur omnes gentes, ne de huius seminis proprietate dubitaret, secutus fuisset apostolum dicentem Habrahae dictae sunt promissiones et semini eius.

He does not say “to his seeds”--as if referring to a multiplicity--but to a single one, “and to thy seed “ which is Christ. His inward ear should also have heard Isaiah preaching Behold, a virgin will receive in the womb and will bear a son, and they will call his name Emmanuel, which is translated “God is with us”. With faith he should have read the same prophet’s words, A child is born to us, a son is given to us. His power is on his shoulders. They will call his name “Angel of great counsel, mighty God, prince of peace, father of the world to come”. Then he would not deceive people by saying that the Word was made flesh in the sense that he emerged from the virgin’s womb having a human form but not having the reality of his mother’s body.

Non dicit: et seminibus, quasi in multis sed quasi in uno: et semini tuo, quod est Christus; Esaiae quoque praedicationem interiore adprehendisset auditu dicentis ecce virgo in utero accipiet et pariet filium et vocabunt nomen eius Emmanuhel, quod est interpretatum nobis cum deus eiusdem que prophetae fideliter verba legisset puer natus est nobis, filius datus est nobis, cuius potestas super humeros eius, et vocabunt nomen eius magni consilii angelus, deus fortis, princeps pacis, pater futuri saeculi, nec frustratorie loquens ita verbum diceret carnem factum, ut editus utero virginis Christus haberet formam hominis et non haberet materni corporis veritatem.

     Or was it perhaps that he thought that our lord Jesus Christ did not have our nature because the angel who was sent to the blessed Mary said, The holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most High will overshadow you, and so that which will be born holy out of you will be called Son of God, as if it was because the conception by the virgin was worked by God that the flesh of the one conceived did not share the nature of her who conceived it? But uniquely wondrous and wondrously unique as that act of generation was, it is not to be understood as though the proper character of its kind was taken away by the sheer novelty of its creation.

An forte ideo putavit dominum Iesum Christum non nostrae esse naturae, quia missus ad beatam Mariam angelus ait: spiritus sanctus superveniet in te et virtus altissimi obumbrabit tibi ideo que quod nascetur ex te sanctum, vocabitur filius dei, ut quia conceptus virginis divini fuit operis, non de natura concipientis fuerit caro concepti? sed non ita intellegenda est illa generatio singulariter mirabilis et mirabiliter singularis, ut per novitatem creationis proprietas remota sit generis.

It was the holy Spirit that made the virgin pregnant, but the reality of the body derived from body. As Wisdom built a house for herself, the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us: that is, in that flesh which he derived from human kind and which he animated with the spirit of a rational life.

Fecunditatem virginis spiritus sanctus dedit, veritas autem corporis sumpta de corpore est, et aedificante sibi sapientia domum verbum caro factum est et habitavit in nobis, hoc est in ea carne quam sumpsit ex homine et quam spiritu vitae rationalis animavit.

 Lowliness was taken up by majesty, weakness by strength, mortality by eternity. To pay off the debt of our state, invulnerable nature was united to a nature that could suffer; so that in a way that corresponded to the remedies we needed, one and the same mediator between God and humanity the man Christ Jesus, could both on the one hand die and on the other be incapable of death. Thus was true God born in the undiminished and perfect nature of a true man, complete in what is his and complete in what is ours.

suscepta est a maiestate humilitas, a virtute infirmitas, ab aeternitate mortalitas, et ad resolvendum conditionis nostrae debitum natura inviolabilis naturae est unita passibili, ut quod nostris remediis congruebat, unus atque idem mediator dei et hominum homo Christus Iesus et mori posset ex uno et mori non posset ex altero.

In integra ergo veri hominis perfecta que natura verus natus est deus, totus in suis, totus in nostris.

By “ours” we mean what the Creator established in us from the beginning and what he took upon himself to restore. There was in the Saviour no trace of the things which the Deceiver brought upon us, and to which deceived humanity gave admittance.

Nostra autem dicimus quae in nobis ab initio creator condidit et quae reparanda suscepit; nam illa quae deceptor intulit et homo deceptus admisit, nullum habuerunt in salvatore vestigium.

His subjection to human weaknesses in common with us did not mean that he shared our sins.

Nec quia communionem humanarum subiit infirmitatum, ideo nostrorum fuit particeps delictorum.

He took on the form of a servant without the defilement of sin, thereby enhancing the human and not diminishing the divine. For that self-emptying whereby the Invisible rendered himself visible, and the Creator and Lord of all things chose to join the ranks of mortals, spelled no failure of power: it was an act of merciful favour.

Adsumpsit formam servi sine sorde peccati, humana augens, divina non minuens, quia exinanitio illa qua se invisibilis visibilem praebuit et creator ac dominus omnium rerum unus voluit esse mortalium, inclinatio fuit miserationis, non defectio potestatis.

So the one who retained the form of God when he made humanity, was made man in the form of a servant. Each nature kept its proper character without loss; and just as the form of God does not take away the form of a servant, so the form of a servant does not detract from the form of God.

Proinde qui manens in forma dei fecit hominem, in forma servi factus est homo; tenet enim sine defectu proprietatem suam utraque natura et sicut formam servi dei forma non adimit, ita formam dei servi forma non minuit.

     It was the devil’s boast that humanity had been deceived by his trickery and so had lost the gifts God had given it; and that it had been stripped of the endowment of immortality and so was subject to the harsh sentence of death. He also boasted that, sunk as he was in evil, he himself derived some consolation from having a partner in crime; and that God had been forced by the principle of justice to alter his verdict on humanity, which he had created in such an honourable state. All this called for the realisation of a secret plan whereby the unalterable God, whose will is indistinguishable from his goodness, might bring the original realisation of his kindness towards us to completion by means of a more hidden mystery, and whereby humanity, which had been led into a state of sin by the craftiness of the devil, might be prevented from perishing contrary to the purpose of God.

Nam quia gloriabatur diabolus hominem sua fraude deceptum divinis caruisse muneribus et inmortalitatis dote nudatum duram mortis subisse sententiam se que in malis suis quoddam de praevaricatoris consortio invenisse solatium, deum quoque iustitiae exigente ratione erga hominem, quem tanto honore condiderat, propriam mutasse sententiam, opus fuit secreti dispensatione consilii, ut incommutabilis deus, cuius voluntas non potest sua benignitate privari, primam erga nos pietatis suae dispensationem sacramento occultiore conpleret et homo diabolicae iniquitatis versutia actus in culpam contra dei propositum non periret.

     So without leaving his Father’s glory behind, the Son of God comes down from his heavenly throne and enters the depths of our world, born in an unprecedented order by an unprecedented kind of birth. In an unprecedented order, because one who is invisible at his own level was made visible at ours. The ungraspable willed to be grasped.

Ingreditur ergo haec mundi infima filius dei de caelesti sede descendens et a paterna gloria non recedens novo ordine, nova nativitate generatus, novo ordine, quia invisibilis in suis visibilis est factus in nostris, inconprehensibilis voluit conprehendi,

Whilst remaining pre-existent, he begins to exist in time. The Lord of the universe veiled his measureless majesty and took on a servant’s form. The God who knew no suffering did not despise becoming a suffering man, and, deathless as he is, to be subject to the laws of death. By an unprecedented kind of birth, because it was inviolable virginity which supplied the material flesh without experiencing sexual desire.

ante tempora manens esse coepit ex tempore, universitatis dominus servilem formam obumbrata maiestatis suae immensitate suscepit, inpassibilis deus non dedignatus est homo esse passibilis et inmortalis mortis legibus subiacere; nova autem nativitate generatus, quia inviolata virginitas concupiscentiam nescivit, carnis materiam ministravit.

What was taken from the mother of the Lord was the nature without the guilt. And the fact that the birth was miraculous does not imply that in the lord Jesus Christ, born from the virgin’s womb, the nature is different from ours.

Adsumpta est de matre domini natura, non culpa, nec in domino Iesu Christo ex utero virginis genito, quia nativitas est mirabilis, ideo nostri est natura dissimilis.

The same one is true God and true man.

Qui enim verus est deus, idem verus est homo.

There is nothing unreal about this oneness, since both the lowliness of the man and the grandeur of the divinity are in mutual relation.

Et nullum est in hac unitate mendacium, dum in invicem sunt et humilitas hominis et altitudo deitatis.

As God is not changed by showing mercy, neither is humanity devoured by the dignity received.

Sicut enim deus non mutatur miseratione, ita homo non consumitur dignitate.

The activity of each form is what is proper to it in communion with the other: that is, the Word performs what belongs to the Word, and the flesh accomplishes what belongs to the flesh.

Agit enim utraque forma cum alterius communione quod proprium est, verbo scilicet operante quod verbi est, et carne exequente quod carnis est.

One of these performs brilliant miracles the other sustains acts of violence.

Unum horum coruscat miraculis, aliud subcumbit iniuriis.

As the Word does not lose its glory which is equal to that of the Father, so neither does the flesh leave the nature of its kind behind. We must say this again and again: one and the same is truly Son of God and truly son of man. God, by the fact that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; man, by the fact that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. God, by the fact that all things were made through him, and nothing was made without him, man, by the fact that he was made of a woman, made under the law.

Et sicut verbum ab aequalitate paternae gloriae non recedit, ita caro naturam nostri generis non relinquit; unus enim idem que est, quod saepe dicendum est, vere dei filius et vere hominis filius, deus per id quod in principio erat verbum et verbum erat apud deum et deus erat verbum, homo per id quod verbum caro factum est et habitavit in nobis; deus per id quod omnia per ipsum facta sunt et sine ipso factum est nihil, homo per id quod factus est ex muliere, factus sub lege.

The birth of flesh reveals human nature; birth from a virgin is a proof of divine power. A lowly cradle manifests the infancy of the child; angels’ voices announce the greatness of the most High.

Nativitas carnis manifestatio est humanae naturae, partus virginis divinae est virtutis indicium; infantia parvuli ostenditur humilitate cunarum, magnitudo altissimi declaratur vocibus angelorum.

Herod evilly strives to kill one who was like a human being at the earliest stage the Magi rejoice to adore on bended knee one who is the Lord of all.

Similis est rudimentis hominum quem Herodes impie molitur occidere, sed dominus est omnium quem magi gaudent suppliciter adorare.

And when he came to be baptised by his precursor John, the Father’s voice spoke thunder from heaven, to ensure that he did not go unnoticed because the divinity was concealed by the veil of flesh: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Iam cum ad praecursoris sui Iohannis baptismum venit, ne lateret quod carnis velamine divinitas tegeretur, vox patris de caelo intonans dixit: hic est filius meus dilectus, in quo mihi bene conplacui.

Accordingly, the same one whom the devil craftily tempts as a man, the angels dutifully wait on as God.

Quem itaque sicut hominem diabolica temptat astutia, eidem sicut deo angelica famulantur officia.

Hunger, thirst, weariness, sleep are patently human. But to satisfy five thousand people with five loaves; to dispense living water to the Samaritan woman, a drink of which will stop her being thirsty ever again; to walk on the surface of the sea with feet that do not sink; to rebuke the storm and level the mounting waves; there can be no doubt these are divine.

Esurire sitire lassescere atque dormire evidenter humanum est, sed quinque panibus quinque milia hominum satiare et largiri Samaritanae aquam vivam, cuius haustus bibenti praestet ne ultra iam sitiat, supra dorsum maris plantis non desidentibus ambulare et elationes fluctuum increpata tempestate consternere sine ambiguitate divinum est.

So, if I may pass over many instances, it does not belong to the same nature to weep out of deep-felt pity for a dead friend, and to call him back to life again at the word of command, once the mound had been removed from the four-dayold grave; or to hang on the cross and, with day changed into night, to make the elements tremble; or to be pierced by nails and to open the gates of paradise for the believing thief. Likewise, it does not belong to the same nature to say I and the Father are one, and to say The Father is greater than I.

Sicut ergo, ut multa praeteream, non eiusdem naturae est flere miserationis affectu amicum mortuum et eundem remoto quadriduanae aggere sepulturae ad vocis imperium excitare redivivum aut ligno pendere et in noctem luce conversa omnia elementa tremefacere aut clavis transfixum esse et paradisi portas fidei latronis aperire, ita non eiusdem naturae est dicere ego et pater unum sumus et dicere pater maior me est.

For although there is in the Lord Jesus Christ a single person who is of God and of man, the insults shared by both have their source in one thing, and the glory that is shared in another.

Quamvis enim in domino Iesu Christo dei et hominis una persona sit, aliud tamen est unde in utroque communis est contumelia, aliud unde communis est gloria.

For it is from us that he gets a humanity which is less than the Father; it is from the Father that he gets a divinity which is equal to the Father.

De nostro enim illi est minor patre humanitas, de patre illi est aequalis cum patre divinitas.

So it is on account of this oneness of the person, which must be understood in both natures, that we both read that the son of man came down from heaven, when the Son of God took flesh from the virgin from whom he was born, and again that the Son of God is said to have been crucified and buried, since he suffered these things not in the divinity itself whereby the Only-begotten is co-eternal and consubstantial with the Father, but in the weakness of the human nature.

Propter hanc ergo unitatem personae in utraque natura intellegendam et filius hominis legitur descendisse de caelo, cum filius dei carnem de ea virgine de qua est natus, adsumpserit, et rursum filius dei crucifixus dicitur ac sepultus, cum haec non in divinitate ipsa qua unigenitus consempiternus et consubstantialis est patri, sed in naturae humanae sit infirmitate perpessus.

That is why in the creed, too, we all confess that the only-begotten Son of God was crucified and was buried, following what the apostle said, If they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of majesty.

Unde unigenitum filium dei crucifixum et sepultum omnes etiam in symbolo confitemur secundum illud apostoli si enim cognovissent, numquam dominum maiestatis crucifixissent.

And when our Lord and Saviour himself was questioning his disciples and instructing their faith, he says, Who do people say 1, the son of man, am? And when they had displayed a variety of other people’s opinions, he says, Who do you say I am ? --in other words, I who am the son of man and whom you behold in the form of a servant and in real flesh: Who do you say I am? Whereupon the blessed Peter, inspired by God and making a confession that would benefit all future peoples, says, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. He thoroughly deserved to be declared “blessed” by the Lord. He derived the stability of both his goodness and his name from the original Rock, for when the Father revealed it to him, he confessed that the same one is both the Son of God and also the Christ. Accepting one of these truths without the other was no help to salvation; and to have believed that the Lord Jesus Christ was either only God and not man, or solely man and not God, was equally dangerous.

Cum autem ipse dominus noster atque salvator fidem discipulorum suis interrogationibus erudiret: quem me, inquit, dicunt homines esse filium hominis? cum que illi diversas aliorum opiniones retexuissent, vos, ait, quem me dicitis esse? me utique, qui sum filius hominis et quem in forma servi atque in veritate carnis aspicitis, quem esse me dicitis? ubi beatus Petrus divinitus inspiratus et confessione sua omnibus gentibus profuturus: tu es, inquit, Christus filius dei vivi, nec inmerito beatus est pronuntiatus a domino et a principali petra soliditatem et virtutis traxit et nominis qui per revelationem patris eundem et dei filium est confessus et Christum, quia unum horum sine alio receptum non proderat ad salutem et aequalis erat periculi dominum Iesum Christum aut deum tantummodo sine homine aut sine deo solum hominem credidisse.

After the Lord’s resurrection--which was certainly the resurrection of a real body, since the one brought back to life is none other than the one who had been crucified and had died--the whole point of the forty-day delay was to make our faith completely sound and to cleanse it of all darkness.

Post resurrectionem vero domini, quae utique veri corporis fuit, quia non alter est resuscitatus quam qui fuerat crucifixus et mortuus, quid aliud quadraginta dierum mora gestum est quam ut fidei nostrae integritas ab omni caligine mundaretur?

Hence he talked to his disciples and lived and ate with them, and let himself be touched attentively and carefully by those who were in the grip of doubt; he would go in among his disciples when the doors were locked, and impart the holy Spirit by breathing on them, and open up the secrets of the holy scriptures after enlightening their understanding; again, he would point out the wound in his side, the holes made by the nails, and all the signs of the suffering he had just recently undergone, saying, Look at my hands and feet--it is I. Feel and see, because a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have. All this was so that it would be recognised that the proper character of the divine and of the human nature went on existing inseparable in him; and so that we would realise that the Word is not the same thing as the flesh, but in such a way that we would confess belief in the one Son of God as being both Word and flesh.

Conloquens enim cum discipulis suis et cohabitans atque convescens et pertractari se diligenti curioso que contactu ab eis quos dubietas perstringebat, admittens ideo et clausis ad discipulos ianuis introibat et flatu suo dabat spiritum sanctum et donato intellegentiae lumine sanctarum scripturarum occulta pandebat et rursus idem vulnus lateris, fixuras clavorum et omnia recentissimae passionis signa monstrabat dicens: videte manus meas et pedes quia ego sum; palpate et videte quia spiritus carnem et ossa non habet sicut me videtis habere, ut agnosceretur in eo proprietas divinae humanae que naturae individua permanere et ita sciremus verbum non hoc esse quod carnem, ut unum dei filium et verbum confiteremur et carnem.

This Eutyches must be judged to be extremely destitute of this mystery of the faith. Neither the humility of the mortal life nor the glory of the resurrection has made him recognise our nature in the only-begotten of God. Nor has even the statement of the blessed apostle and evangelist John put fear into him: Every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ came in the flesh is from God, and every spirit which puts Jesus asunder is not from God, and this is Antichrist.

Quo fidei sacramento Eutyches iste nimium aestimandus est vacuus, qui naturam nostram in unigenito dei nec per humilitatem mortalitatis nec per gloriam resurrectionis agnovit nec sententiam beati apostoli et evangelistae Iohannis expavit dicentis omnis spiritus qui confitetur Iesum Christum in carne venisse, ex deo est et omnis spiritus qui solvit Iesum, ex deo non est, et hic est antichristus.

But what does putting Jesus as under consist in if not in separating his human nature from him, and in voiding, through the most barefaced fictions, the one mystery by which we have been saved?

Quid autem est solvere Iesum nisi humanam ab eo separare naturam et sacramentum per quod unum salvati sumus, inpudentissimis vacuare figmentis?

Once in the dark about the nature of Christ’s body, it follows that the same blindness leads him into raving folly about his suffering too.

Caligans vero circa naturam corporis Christi, necesse est ut etiam in passione eius eadem obcaecatione desipiat.

If he does not think that the Lord’s cross was unreal and if he has no doubt that the suffering undergone for the world’s salvation was real, then let him acknowledge the flesh of the one whose death he believes in.

Nam si crucem domini non putat falsam et susceptum pro mundi salute supplicium verum fuisse non dubitat, cuius credit mortem, agnoscat et carnem.

And let him not deny that a man whom he knows to have been subject to suffering had our kind of body, for to deny the reality of the flesh is also to deny the bodily suffering.

Nec diffiteatur nostri corporis hominem quem cognoscit fuisse passibilem, quoniam negatio verae carnis negatio est etiam corporeae passionis.

So if he accepts the christian faith and does not turn a deaf ear to the preaching of the gospel, let him consider what nature it was that hung, pierced with nails, on the wood of the cross. With the side of the crucified one laid open by the soldier’s spear, let him identify the source from which blood and water flowed, to bathe the church of God with both font and cup.

Si ergo Christianam suscipit fidem et a praedicatione evangelii suum non avertit auditum, videat quae natura transfixa clavis pependerit in crucis ligno et aperto per militis lanceam latere crucifixi intellegat unde sanguis et aqua fluxerit, ut ecclesia dei et lavacro rigaretur et poculo.

Let him heed what the blessed apostle Peter preaches, that sanctification by the Spirit is effected by the sprinkling of Christ’s blood; and let him not skip over the same apostle’s words, knowing that you have been redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your fathers, not with corruptible gold and silver but by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, as of a lamb without stain or spot.

Audiat beatum Petrum apostolum praedicantem quod sanctificatio spiritus per aspersionem fiat sanguinis Christi, nec transitorie legat eiusdem apostoli verba dicentis; scientes quod non corruptibilibus argento et auro redempti estis de vana vestra conversatione paternae traditionis, sed pretioso sanguine quasi agni incontaminati et immaculati Iesu Christi.

Nor should he withstand the testimony of blessed John the apostle: and the blood of Jesus, the Son of God, purifies us from every sin; and again, This is the victory which conquers the world, our faith.

Beati quoque Iohannis apostoli testimonio non resistat dicentis: et sanguis Iesu filii dei emundat nos ab omni peccato et iterum: haec est victoria quae vincit mundum, fides nostra.

Who is there who conquers the world save one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God ?

Quis est qui vincit mundum nisi qui credit quoniam Iesus est filius dei?

It is he, Jesus Christ who has come through water and blood, not in water only, but in water and blood. And because the Spirit is truth, it is the Spirit who testifies. For there are three who give testimony--Spirit and water and blood. And the three are one. In other words, the Spirit of sanctification and the blood of redemption and the water of baptism. These three are one and remain indivisible. None of them is separable from its link with the others. The reason is that it is by this faith that the catholic church lives and grows, by believing that neither the humanity is without true divinity nor the divinity without true humanity.

Hic est qui venit per aquam et sanguinem Iesus Christus, non in aqua solum, sed in aqua et sanguine, et spiritus est qui testificatur, quoniam spiritus est veritas, quia tres sunt qui testimonium dant, spiritus et aqua et sanguis, et tres unum sunt, spiritus utique sanctificationis et sanguis redemptionis et aqua baptismatis, quae tria unum sunt et individua manent nihil que eorum a sui connexione seiungitur, quia catholica ecclesia hac fide vivit, hac proficit, ut nec sine vera divinitate humanitas nec sine vera credatur humanitate divinitas.

When you cross-examined Eutyches and he replied, “I confess that our Lord was of two natures before the union, but I confess one nature after the union”, I am amazed that such an absurd and corrupt declaration of faith was not very severely censured by the judges; and that an extremely foolish statement was disregarded, as if nothing whatever offensive had been heard. It is just as wicked to say that the only-begotten Son of God was of two natures before the incarnation as it is abominable to claim that there was a single nature in him after the Word was made flesh.

Cum autem ad interlocutionem examinis vestri Eutyches responderit dicens: confiteor ex duabus naturis fuisse dominum nostrum ante adunationem, post vero adunationem unam naturam confiteor, miror tam absurdam tam que perversam professionem nulla iudicantium increpatione reprehensam et sermonem nimis insipientem ita omissum quasi nihil quod offenderet esset auditum, cum tam impie duarum naturarum ante incarnationem unigenitus dei filius fuisse dicatur quam nefarie postquam verbum caro factum est, natura in eo singularis asseritur.

Eutyches must not suppose that what he said was either correct or tolerable just because no clear statement of yours refuted it. So we remind you, dearest brother, of your charity’s responsibility to see to it that if through God’s merciful inspiration the case is ever settled, the rash and ignorant fellow is also purged of what is blighting his mind.

Quod ne Eutyches ideo vel recte vel tolerabiliter aestimet dictum, quia nulla vestra est sententia confutatum, dilectionis tuae diligentiam commonemus, frater karissime, ut si per inspirationem misericordiae dei ad satisfactionem causa perducitur, inprudentia hominis inperiti etiam ab hac sensus sui peste purgetur.

As the minutes have made clear, he made a good start at abandoning his opinion when, under pressure from your statement, he professed to say what he had not previously said, and to find satisfaction in the faith to which he had previously been a stranger. But when he had refused to be party to the anathematising of his wicked doctrine, your fraternity would have realised that he was persisting in his false belief and that he deserved a verdict of condemnation.

Qui quidem, sicut gestorum ordo patefecit, bene coeperat a sua persuasione discedere, cum vestra sententia coartatus profiteretur se dicere quod ante non dixerat, et ei fidei adquiescere cuius prius fuisset alienus; sed cum anathematizando impio dogmati noluisset praebere consensum, intellexit eum fraternitas vestra in sua manere perfidia dignum que esse qui iudicium condemnationis exciperet.

If he is honestly and suitably sorry about this, and acknowledges even at this late stage how rightly episcopal authority was set in motion, or if, to make full amends, he condemns every wrong thought he had by word of mouth and by his actual signature, then no amount of mercy towards one who has reformed is excessive. Our Lord, the true and good shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep, and who came not to destroy but to save the souls of men and women, wants us to be imitators of his goodness, so that whilst justice represses sinners, mercy does not reject the converted.

De quo si fideliter atque utiliter dolet et quam recte mota sit episcopalis auctoritas, vel sero cognoscit vel si ad satisfactionis plenitudinem omnia quae ab eo male sunt sensa, viva voce et praesenti subscriptione damnaverit, non erit reprehensibilis erga correctum quantacumque miseratio, quia dominus noster verus et bonus pastor qui animam suam posuit pro ovibus suis et qui venit animas hominum salvare, non perdere, imitatores nos suae vult esse pietatis, ut peccantes quidem iustitia coerceat, conversos autem misericordia non repellat.

The defence of the true faith is never so productive as when false opinion is condemned even by its adherents.

Tunc enim demum fructuosissime fides vera defenditur, quando etiam a sectatoribus suis opinio falsa damnatur.

In place of ourself, we have arranged for our brothers, Bishop Julius and the priest Renatus of the church of St Clement, and also my son, the deacon Hilary, to ensure a good and faithful conclusion to the whole case.To their company we have added our notary Dulcitius, of proven loyalty to us. We trust that with God’s help he who has fallen into error might condemn the wickedness of his own mind and find salvation.

Ad omnem vero causam pie ac fideliter exequendam fratres nostros Iulium episcopum et Renatum presbyterum tituli sancti Clementis, sed et filium meum Hilarum diaconum vice nostra direximus, quibus Dulcitium notarium nostrum, cuius nobis fides est probata, sociavimus, confidentes affuturum divinitatis auxilium ut is qui erraverat, damnata sensus sui pravitate salvetur.

God keep you safe, dearest brother.

Deus te incolumen custodiat, frater karissime.