Letter CCLXXXVIII.1512    Placed in the episcopate.

Without address.  Excommunicatory.

When public punishment fails to bring a man to his senses, or exclusion from the prayers of the Church to drive him to repentance, it only remains to treat him in accordance with our Lord’s directions—as it is written, “If thy brother shall trespass against thee….tell him his fault between thee and him;…if he will not hear thee, take with thee another;” “and if he shall” then “neglect to hear, tell it unto the Church; but if he neglect to hear even the Church, let him be unto thee henceforth as an heathen man, and as a publican.”1513    Matt. xviii. 15–17.  Now all this we have done in the case of this fellow.  First, he was accused of his fault; then he was convicted in the presence of one or two witnesses; thirdly, in the presence of the Church.  Thus we have made our solemn protest, and he has not listened to it.  Henceforth let him be excommunicated.

Further, let proclamation be made throughout the district, that he be excluded from participation in any of the ordinary relations of life; so that by our withholding ourselves from all intercourse with him he may become altogether food for the devil.1514    Contrast 1 Tim. i. 20.

ΑΝΕΠΙΓΡΑΦΟΣ ΕΠΙ ΕΚΔΙΚΗΤΑΙΣ

[1] Οὓς τὰ κοινὰ ἐπιτίμια οὐ σωφρονίζει οὔτε τὸ εἰρχθῆναι τῶν εὐχῶν ἄγει εἰς μετάνοιαν ἀνάγκη τοῖς παρὰ τοῦ Κυρίου δοθεῖσι κανόσιν ὑποβάλλειν. Γέγραπται γάρ: »Ἐὰν ὁ ἀδελφός σου ἁμάρτῃ, ἔλεγξον αὐτὸν μεταξὺ σοῦ καὶ αὐτοῦ: ἐάν σου μὴ ἀκούσῃ, παράλαβε μετὰ σεαυτοῦ ἄλλον: ἐὰν δὲ μηδὲ οὕτως, εἰπὲ τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ: ἐὰν δὲ καὶ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας παρακούσῃ, ἔστω σοι λοιπὸν ὡς ὁ ἐθνικὸς καὶ ὁ τελώνης«. Ὃ οὖν ἐγένετο τοῦτο καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦδε. Ἅπαξ ἐνεκλήθη, ἐπὶ ἑνὸς καὶ δευτέρου διηλέγχθη, τρίτον ἐπὶ τῆς Ἐκκλησίας. Ἐπεὶ οὖν διεμαρτυράμεθα αὐτῷ καὶ οὐ κατεδέξατο, λοιπὸν ἔστω ἐκκήρυκτος. Καὶ διαγγελήτω πάσῃ τῇ κώμῃ ἀπρόσδεκτον αὐτὸν εἶναι πρὸς πᾶσαν κοινωνίαν χρήσεως βιωτικῆς, ὡς ἐκ τοῦ μὴ συναναμίγνυσθαι ἡμᾶς αὐτῷ γένηται παντελῶς κατάβρωμα τοῦ διαβόλου.