Pope Pelagius I writes to patrician Valerian, urging him to take action against the schismatic bishops in the ecclesiastical provinces of Milan and Aquileia and support the papal quest to bring back unity to the Church.
Pelagius Valeriano patricio.
Relegentes autem exemplaria litterarum que in Aquileia ad Paulinum seudo episcopum scripsistis, mirati sumus quoniam hoc aput eum agere voluistis, ut quasi in hoc excessus suos corrigat. Si virum excellentissimum donnum filium nostrum patricium Iohannem ad communionem suam permittat accedere nos a vobis hoc non speravimus. Magis autem ipsi prefato glorioso viro scripsimus, ut gratias Deo agat quare per quamcumque occasionem liberatus est a contagione scismaticorum et omino admonuimus ne illis vel si voluerint communicet, qui ad universali Aecclesia et apostolicis sedebus seperati sunt.
Istud autem est, quod et a vobis et ab illo poposcimus et nunc iterum postulamus, ut et istum Paulinum pseudo episcopum et illum Mediolanensem episcopam ad clementissimum principem sub digna custodia dirigatis, ut et iste qui episcopus nullatenus esse potests quia contra omnem canonicam consuetudinem factus est, alios ultra non perdata. Et ille qui contra morem antiquum eum ordinare presumpsit, debite canonibus vindicte subiaceat. Ista sunt que, sicut dixib, speravimus a gloria vestra, ut studium quod Dei ecclesiis impenditis, dignos glorię vestrę afferat fructus.
Ceterum, absit, ut vel ille vel vos vel quicumque catholicorum iudicum aut quorumlibet christianorum ad illorum communionem accedere debeat, quia nec communio dici potest, que non universalis Aecclesie sed particularis scismatis est. Si quid autem de causac dampnationis trium capitulorum episcopi illarum partium dubitantd, quomodo consuetudo vetus habuit, aut eligant de suis doctos viros duos vel tres, aut unusquisque pro se veniat et rationem a nobis cum Dei gratia conpetenter accipiens ad matris communis sancte catholice Aecclesie viscera revertatur.
Nam quod celsitudo vestra dicit: “Ubi convenire debeamus et quasi synodum facere,” istud canones nulli permittunt, post universalem synodum et post iudicum quod tamquam uno ore prope quatuor milia episcopi tam in metropolitanis suis quam singulares Constantinopoli protulerunt, iterum contentiones ad medium revocare.
Sed nec licuit aliquandoe nec licebit, particularem sinodum a diudicandum generalem synodum congregari. Sed quotiens aliqua de universali sinodo aliquibus dubitatio nascitur, ad recipiendam de eo quod non intellegunt rationem, aut sponte hi qui salutem anime sue desiderant, ad apostolicas sedes pro percipienda ratione conveniunt, aut si forte, sicut de talibus dictum est: “Peccator cum venerit in profundum malorum contempnit”, ita obstinati et contumaces extiterint ut doceri non velint, eos ab eisdem apostolicis sedibus aut atthrari ad salutem quoquo modo necesse est, aut, ne aliorum perdicio esse possint, secundum canones per seculares opprimi potestates.
a) ex provideat corr. B. b) sic B: pro diximus. c) seq. ad exp. B. d) ex ndubitant corr. B. e) seq. licuit aliquando nec licebit exp. sed nec licebit pars constitit.
The fourth in the series of six letters issued by Pope Pelagius I to Byzantine civil officials trying to persuade them to use their authorities to repress the schism and support the papal quest to restore union to the Church (for a full list of these six documents, see the edition of the first letter to patrician John edited here.)
The document shows that neither patrician John nor patrician Valerian acted according to papal instructions - both of them negotiated and communicated with the schismatics, trying to amicably solve the conflict instead of aggressively deny their ecclesiastical prerogatives as advised by the pope. Valerian even proposed a synod to solve the schism, a plan that angered the pope greatly, as the letter hereby edited demonstrates.
The pope, however, continued to agitate and in the next letter to patrician Narses he singled out the schismatic bishop Paulinus of Fossombrone, in addition to the schismatics of Liguria, Venetia and Istria (see the letter here).
The images are of manuscript B, screenshots from the digitized manuscript available on the official web pages of the British Museum.
The editor has subsequently marked the images with red vertical lines simply to denote the parts of the manuscript that are hereby edited.
All images remain under the copyright of their respective institutions.