Letter CCXIX.

(a.d. 436.)

To Proculus and Cylinus, Brethren Most Beloved and Honourable, and Partners in the Sacerdotal Office, Augustin, Florentius, and Secundinus Send Greeting in the Lord.

1. When our son Leporius, whom for his obstinacy in error you had justly and fitly rebuked, came to us after he had been expelled by you, we received him as one afflicted for his good, whom we should, if possible, deliver from error and restore to spiritual health. For, as you obeyed in regard to him the apostolic precept, “Warn the unruly,” so it was our part to obey the precept immediately annexed, “Comfort the feeble-minded, and support the weak.”1521    1 Thess. v. 14. His error was indeed not unimportant, seeing that he neither approved what is right nor perceived what is true in some things relating to the only-begotten Son of God, of whom it is written that, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” but that when the fulness of time had come, “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us;”1522    John i. 1, 14. for he denied that God became man, regarding it as a doctrine from which it must follow necessarily that the divine substance in which He is equal to the Father suffered some unworthy change or corruption, and not seeing that he was thus introducing into the Trinity a fourth person, which is utterly contrary to the sound doctrine of the Creed and of Catholic truth. Since, however, dearly beloved and honourable brethren, he had as a fallible man” been overtaken” in this error, we did our utmost, the Lord helping us, to instruct him “in the spirit of meekness,” especially remembering that when the “chosen vessel “gave this command to which we refer, he added, “Considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted,”—lest some, perchance, should so rejoice in the measure of spiritual progress as to imagine that they could no longer be tempted like other men,—and joined with it the salutary and peace-promoting sentence, “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.”1523    Gal. vi. 1, 3.

2. This restoration of Leporius we could perhaps in nowise have accomplished, had you not previously censured and punished those things in him which required correction. So then the same Lord, our Divine Physician, using His own instruments and servants, has by you wounded him when he was proud, and by us healed him when he was penitent, according to his own saying, “I wound, and I heal.”1524    Deut. xxxii. 39. The same Divine Ruler and Overseer of His own house has by you thrown down what was defective in the building, and has by us replaced with a well-ordered structure what he had removed. The same Divine Husbandman has in His careful diligence by you rooted up what was barren and noxious in His field, and by us planted what is useful and fruitful. Let us not, therefore, ascribe glory to ourselves, but to the mercy of Him in whose hand both we and all our words are. And as we humbly praise the work which you have done as His ministers in the case of our son aforesaid, so do you rejoice with holy joy in the work performed by us. Receive, then, with the love of fathers and of brethren, him whom we have with merciful severity corrected. For although one part of the work was done by you and another part by us, both parts, being indispensable to our brother’s salvation, were done by the same love. The same God was therefore working in both, for “God is love.”1525    1 John iv. 8, 16.

3. Wherefore, as he has been welcomed into fellowship by us on the ground of his repentance, let him be welcomed by you on the ground of his letter,1526    A formal written retractation of his errors, called elsewhere “emendations libellum.” to which letter we have thought it right to adhibit our signatures attesting its genuiness. We have not the least doubt that you, in the exercise of Christian love, will not only hear with pleasure of his amendment, but also make it known to those to whom his error was a stumbling-block. For those who came with him to us have also been corrected and restored along with him, as is declared by their signatures, which have been adhibited to the letter in our presence. It remains only that you, being made joyful by the salvation of a brother, condescend to make us joyful in our turn by sending a reply to our communication. Farewell in the Lord, most beloved and honourable brethren; such is our desire on your behalf: remember us.

EPISTOLA CCXIX . Augustinus aliique Africani patres, Gallicanis episcopis Proculo et Cylinnio qui Leporium monachum in fide incarnationis Verbi errantem ejecerant, ut amplectantur jam Dei gratia poenitentem et correctum.

Dilectissimis et honorabilibus fratribus et consacerdotibus PROCULO et CYLINNIO, AURELIUS, AUGUSTINUS , FLORENTIUS, et SECUNDINUS, in Domino salutem.

1. Filium nostrum Leporium apud vestram Sanctitatem pro sui erroris praesumptione merito idoneeque correptum, cum ad nos, posteaquam inde exturbatus est, venisset, salubriter perturbatum, corrigendum sanandumque suscepimus. Nam sicut vos obedistis Apostolo ut corriperetis inquietos; ita et nos ut consolaremur pusillanimes ac susciperemus infirmos (I Thess. V, 14). Cum enim praeoccupatus esset sicut homo in aliquo delicto, eodemque non parvo, ut de unigenito Filie Dei, quod erat in principio Verbum, et Verbum erat apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum, cum autem venit plenitudo temporis Verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis (Joan. I, 1, 14), non recta quaedam saperet, nec vera sentiret; negans Deum hominem factum, ne videlicet substantiae divinae, qua aequalis est Patri, indigna mutatio vel corruptio sequeretur; nec videns quartam se subintroducere in Trinitate personam, quod a sanitate symboli catholicaeque veritatis prorsus alienum est; cum, sicuti potuimus, adjuvante Domino instruximus in spiritu lenitatis: praesertim quia cum hoc admoneret Vas electionis, adjecit, Intendens teipsum, ne et tu tenteris,0992 ne ita se quidam ad provectum spiritualem pervenisse gauderent, ut se jam non posse tentari tanquam homines putarent; addiditque salubrem pacificamque sententiam, ut alter alterius onera portemus, quoniam sic adimplebimus legem Christi: Qui enim putat se esse aliquid, cum sit nihil, seipsum seducit (Galat. VI, 1-3), dilectissimi et honorabiles fratres.

2. Quam tamen ejus emendationem nequaquam forte implere possemus, nisi vos ante, quae in eo mendosa fuerant, damnaretis. Idem igitur et Dominus et medicus noster utens vasis ac ministris suis, qui dixit, Ego percutiam, et ego sanabo (Deut. XXXII, 39), per vos percussit tumentem, per nos sanavit dolentem. Idem suae domus administrator atque provisor, per vos destruxit male constructa; per nos bene composita restauravit. Idem diligens agricola possessionis suae sterilia per vos eradicavit, et noxia; utilia per nos et fecunda plantavit. Non itaque nobis, sed ejus misericordiae demus gloriam, in cujus manu sumus et nos et sermones nostri. Et sicut in supradicto filio nostro ministerium vestrum humilitas nostra laudavit; sic etiam Sanctitas vestra nostro ministerio gratuletur. Paterno igitur et fraterno corde suscipite a nobis misericordi severitate correctum. Etsi enim aliud per nos, aliud per vos; utrumque tamen fraternae saluti necessarium una charitas fecit. Unus ergo Deus fecit, quoniam Deus charitas est (I Joan. IV, 8, 16).

3. Proinde sicut per suam poenitentiam susceptus est a nobis, sic per suam epistolam suscipiatur a vobis: cui quidem epistolae nostra etiam manu subscribendum putavimus, ipsius esse testantes. Hanc ejus correctionem dilectionem vestram minime dubitamus et gratanter accipere, et eis notam facere quibus ejus error scandalum fuit. Quia et illi qui cum eo venerunt ad nos, cum illo correcti atque sanati sunt, sicut eorum subscriptionibus, quae coram nobis factae sunt, tenetur expressum. Superest ut de fraterna salute laetati, rescriptis Beatitudinis vestrae nos vicissim laetificare dignemini. Optamus vos, dilectissimi et honorabiles fratres, in Domino bene valere memores nostri.