CHAPTER X

REPLIES OF THE BISHOPS.—AND OF SIMEON

ACCORDINGLY, in the first instance, Leo, bishop of the elder Rome, both wrote in defence of the synod at Chalcedon, and declared the ordination of Timotheus to be null, as having been irregularly performed. This epistle the emperor Leo dispatches to Timotheus, president of the church of Alexandria; Diomedes, the silentiary, executing the imperial commission: and Timotheus wrote in rejoinder, excepting to the synod at Chalcedon and the epistle of Leo. Of these documents copies are preserved in the collection called the Circulars: but I have omitted them, to avoid encumbering the matter on hand with too great a number. The bishops, too, of the other cities, expressed their adherence to the determinations framed at Chalcedon, and unanimously condemned the ordination of Timotheus. Amphilochius alone, bishop of Side, wrote an epistle, loudly reprobating the ordination of Timotheus, but also rejecting the synod at Chalcedon. Zacharias the rhetorician has also treated of these transactions, and has inserted the epistle itself of Amphilochius in his work. Simeon, too, of holy memory, wrote two epistles on the occasion; namely, to the emperor Leo, and to Basilius, bishop of Antioch. The latter, as being brief, I insert in this my history, as follows: “To my lord, the most religious and holy servant of God, the archbishop Basilius, the sinful and humble Simeon wishes health in the Lord. Well may we now say, my lord: Blessed be God, who has not rejected our prayer, nor withdrawn his mercy from us sinners. For, on the receipt of the letters of your worthiness, I admired the zeal and piety of our sovereign, beloved of God, which he manifested and still manifests towards the holy fathers and their unshaken faith. And this gift is not from ourselves, as says the holy apostle, but from God, who, through your prayers, bestowed on him this readiness of mind.” And presently he proceeds: “On this account, I also, though mean and worthless, the refuse of the monks, have conveyed to his majesty my judgment respecting the creed of the six hundred and thirty holy fathers assembled at Chalcedon, firmly resolving to abide by the faith then revealed by the Holy Spirit: for if, in the midst of two or three who are gathered in His name, the Saviour is present, how could it be otherwise, than that the Holy Spirit should be throughout in the midst of so many and so distinguished holy fathers?” And afterwards he proceeds: “Wherefore be stout and courageous in the cause of true piety, as was also Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, in behalf of the children of Israel. I beg you to salute from me all the reverent clergy who are under your holiness, and the blessed and most faithful laity.”