but on these matters [I have spoken] at greater length in the book written privately against the same man.”
A 48. There follow there the wicked deeds done by that heresiarch Praxeas, and what Tertullian reproaches him with, then the same man’s deceitful repentance and shameful relapse: whether all these things refer to the times of St. Victor, is not certain, nor can it be sufficiently discerned which Roman pontiff Tertullian implies, having been deceived by false reports about Montanus. Moreover, that Praxeas spread his errors while St. Victor was living is certain enough, so that it may safely be said that throughout the entire decade of his pontificate that most vigilant pastor was exercised by these and many other heresies; as is evident from another synod, which is the last held at Sabbeus, and which rightly condemned either Valentinus or Sabellius in Praxeas, or the latter in them. The phrase is the same as the one above: “A divine and holy provincial synod, gathered at Rome by the most blessed Pope Victor; which condemned Sabellius and Noetus, who were disseminating a contraction and commingling of the persons concerning the divinity subsisting in three persons; and likewise Valentinus, who, beyond other absurdities, asserted that the body of Christ was celestial.” Furthermore, whether Tertullian was in Rome in St. Victor’s time, or rather reached the ravings of Montanus under Zephyrinus, at which time he also fell into a most shameful defection, is not something that has yet been defined with sufficient clarity.
19. And here an equally obscure question is raised, whether among the bishops said to have been ordained by him in twelve different places, some one was also sent by him to the Caledonians or Scots, a matter on which Blanchinus has inquired not a little in his *Anastasius*, Volume II, page 161 (1), where he adduces Boethius as a witness, and investigates other matters learnedly, which I prefer to have read in his own work rather than to discuss at greater length here: B I will certainly grant this easily, that neither St. Victor nor his successors, the Roman pontiffs, neglected the British islands more than the rest of the Catholic Church of the whole world. As for the writings of the holy pontiff, this testimony of St. Jerome’s *De viris illustribus* exists: “Victor, the thirteenth bishop of the city of Rome, writing on the question of Easter and certain other opuscula, ruled the Church under the emperor Severus for ten years.” Perhaps he alludes to the epistles, which there is no doubt were written by him; but whether those which are attributed to him in the *Collections* of the councils are genuine is easily gathered from the latest Constantian edition. Now, only that overarching debate remains concerning his pontificate, which the praised writers and others have illustrated with sufficient studious care, while others, conversely, have disparaged certain things in St. Victor.
20. It must indeed be admitted that Baronius has learnedly and clearly discussed and arranged the series and order of this controversy up to the year 198, through seventeen whole articles, and catholic writers who have followed him have proved it throughout. For we are not delaying here over the heterodox or other hyper-heretics who, from the stubbornness of Polycrates, who opposed St. Victor, believed that an opportunity had been offered to them by which they might either disparage or gnaw away at the pontifical authority with a completely hollow effort. It is also a matter of admission that not all have entered upon the same path in explaining the pontifical excommunication launched by St. Victor against Polycrates and the Asian bishops; with Baronius and others acknowledging that it was indeed vibrated [i.e., launched], while others assert that only threats were intended: all of which the illustrious man Emmanuel Schelstratius set forth in his *Antiquitas illustrata*, published at Antwerp in 1678, Part II, chapter 3.
ST. VICTOR I, POPE, EPISTLES
(Mansi, *Concil. ampl. Collect.*, I, 698.)
EPISTLE I.
TO THEOPHILUS, BISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA.
On Easter and baptism: on the accusation and judgment of bishops and on unanimity of concord.
VICTOR, Archbishop of the Roman and universal Church, to Theophilus, bishop, and all the brethren in D Alexandria serving the Lord, greeting in the Lord.
I have much rejoicing, most beloved brethren, because it is manifest (as we desire) that by the grace of God the light of evangelical clarity is shining, and the night of pernicious error has now been driven from the Church for the most part, and the fruit of the stewardship entrusted to us is growing and increasing in the Lord.
I. Concerning the celebration of Easter and Baptism.
A The celebration of holy Easter 1 should be held on the Lord’s day, and our predecessors have already decreed it, and we mandate that it be celebrated by you solemnly on the same day, because it is not fitting that members should deviate from the head, nor behave in ways contrary to it. Indeed, from the fourteenth moon of the first month, up to the twenty-first day of the same month, the same feast is to be celebrated. At the same time, Catholic baptism is to be celebrated; yet, if there is necessity, or the danger of death arises, may those coming to the faith, in whatever place or moment, wherever it may happen, whether in a river, in the sea, or in fountains—provided it has been clarified by the Christian confession of faith—be baptized. It must be strictly observed that what they have promised in baptism, they must attend to, so that they may be found not as infidels, but as faithful. Those, however, who are stained with the mark of infidelity are rendered infamous, and are by no means reckoned among the faithful. These statutes must not be torn down by any wickedness, nor changed by any novelty; for there is one rationale for secular affairs, and another for divine ones.
II. That no one should judge uncertain matters.
B For we have heard that diverse judgments are made among you and your people, and that uncertain matters are being judged. Let us by no means judge uncertain matters, dearly beloved, until the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things hidden in darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts. For although they may be true, they are not to be believed unless they are proven by manifest evidence, unless they are convicted by manifest judgment, and unless they are published in a judicial order.
III. Concerning the settlement of the causes of bishops.
C Similarly, it has been referred to the Apostolic See that you judge these things—that is, the causes of bishops—which it is not permitted for you to define beyond our authority. D Hence, it is evident that it has been established from the time of the apostles and thereafter, that it has pleased that if a bishop, having been accused or judged by those of his own province in any matter, shall freely appeal and approach the pontiff of the Apostolic See, he himself, either by himself or through his vicars, should see to the retrial of the business. And while the pontiff handles his case in a secondary judgment, no other bishop is to be placed or ordained in his stead; since, even if it is permitted for the causes of a pontiff who has been accused by provincial bishops to be examined, it is not permitted for them to be defined without consulting the Roman pontiff, since to blessed Peter the apostle, it was granted by the Lord himself: "Whatever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven." And elsewhere it is read in the apostolic institutes: "If anyone shall think that he is burdened by his own metropolitan, he should be judged before the patriarch or the primate of the diocese, or before the see of the universal apostolic Church." Such presumption, brothers, is nothing other than to transgress the boundaries of the apostles and their successors, and to violate their decrees. For brothers are blamed, as it is written, who presume to judge otherwise concerning bishops than it has pleased the pope of the Apostolic See. And who is it that judges him, whom the Lord has willed to be reserved for judgment by Himself and this holy see? For the Lord says through the prophet Isaiah: "The Lord God is my helper; therefore have I not been confounded. Therefore I have set my face as a most hard rock, and I know that I shall not be confounded. He is near that justifies me; who will contradict me? Let us stand together; who is my adversary? Let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord God is my helper: who is it that shall condemn me? Behold, they shall all be destroyed as a garment, the moth shall eat them up. Who is there among you that feareth the Lord, that heareth the voice of his servant? Who hath walked in darkness, and hath no light? Let him hope in the name of the Lord, and lean upon his God. Behold, all you that kindle a fire, compassed with flames, walk in the light of your fire, and in the flames which you have kindled. This is done to you by my hand; in sorrows shall you sleep." Hear me, you that follow what is just, and seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence you are hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you are dug out. Look unto Abraham your father, and to Sarah that bore you: for I called him one, and blessed him, and multiplied him. The Lord therefore will comfort Sion, and will comfort all the ruins thereof: and he will make her desert as a place of delights, and her wilderness as the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of praise. Hearken unto me, O my people, and my tribe, give ear to me: for a law shall go out from me, and my judgment shall rest for a light of the peoples. My just one is near at hand, my saviour is gone out, and my arm shall judge the peoples. The islands shall wait for me, and shall patiently wait for my arm. Lift up your eyes to heaven, and look down to the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish like smoke, and the earth shall be worn away like a garment, and the inhabitants thereof shall perish in like manner. But my salvation shall be for ever, and my justice shall not fail. Hearken to me, you that know what is just, my people; my law is in their hearts. Fear not the reproach of men, and be not afraid of their blasphemies. For the worm shall eat them up as a garment: and the moth shall consume them as wool: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my justice shall not fail.
13 One must resist the many allurements of this world and its many vanities, so that the integrity of true charity and continence may be obtained. For the Lord wishes no one to perish, but for all to be saved. I am certain, however, that with the Lord’s help you will make progress in amending or defending these things. Given on the thirteenth of the Kalends of August, under the consulship of the most illustrious Commodus and Glabrio.
EPISTLE II
TO THE AFRICANS
Concerning the causes mentioned above
VICTOR, Archbishop of the Roman Church and City, to all bishops established throughout Africa, greetings in the Lord.
For the irreproachably preordained reparation of the human race has ever remained in the eternal counsel of God, but the order of things to be managed temporally through our Lord Jesus Christ took its beginning from the dispensation of the divine Word. Wherefore it behooves you, brothers, to be of one mind and to offer mutual assistance; thus you must not differ in the true faith and in the divine sacraments, but be concordant; for although you are few in comparison to the wicked, yet if you are concordant, you will easily overcome your ensnarers with the Lord’s help. But if you are discordant—which God forbid!—you will not overcome, but will be overcome. For it has been reported to the apostolic see that some of you wish to harm your brethren and struggle to make them fall. Similarly, that you differ in the sacraments and that on this account contentions and rivalries arise among you, from which dissensions we command you to turn away and in all these things to be concordant and to offer mutual help. For if you neglect to do this quickly, and do not strive to be reconciled with one another, do not doubt that you shall be cut off from the communion of the apostolic see and of the whole Church. And do you not heed, beloved, how the Lord through the prophet Isaiah has threatened such as these, saying: "For the Lord hath spoken this word: The earth mourned and faded away, and was weakened: the world faded, the height of the people of the earth was weakened. And the earth was infected by the inhabitants thereof, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore shall a curse devour the earth, and the inhabitants thereof shall sin. Therefore shall the inhabitants thereof be mad, and few men shall be left. The vintage hath mourned, the vine hath languished away, all they that were glad at heart have sighed. The mirth of timbrels hath ceased, the noise of them that rejoice is ended, the melody of the harp is silent. They shall not drink wine with a song: bitter shall drink be to them that drink it. The city of vanity is broken down, every house is shut up, no man coming in. There shall be a crying for wine in the streets: all mirth is forsaken, the joy of the earth is gone, in the city solitude is left, and calamity shall oppress the gates: for these things shall be in the midst of the earth, in the midst of the people, as if a few olives that have remained should be shaken out of the olive tree, and grapes, when the vintage is at an end; these shall lift up their voice, and shall praise: when the Lord shall be glorified, they shall cry out from the sea. Therefore, in teachings glorify the Lord, in the islands of the sea the name of the Lord God of Israel." And the Lord in the prayer which He taught His disciples to pray, says: "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name." In good and just men is the name of the Lord hallowed, and in the wicked it is blasphemed. And the Truth itself says: "If thou offer thy gift at the altar, and there shalt remember that thy brother hath anything against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go first to be reconciled to thy brother, and then coming thou shalt offer thy gift." Indeed, let no one be permitted to desert the evangelical doctrine and enjoy priestly honor. Given on the Kalends of September, under the consulship of the most illustrious Lateranus and Rufinus.
EPISTLE III
TO DESIDERIUS, BISHOP OF VIENNE
VICTOR, Bishop, to DESIDERIUS, Bishop of Vienne, greetings.
Just as your holy fraternity has been instructed by presbyters who saw the apostles in the flesh, who also governed the Church down to your own times, the Catholic Church has not celebrated the Passover on the fourteenth moon with the Jews, but from the fifteenth to the twenty-first. For it no longer seeks the shadow, but the truth which is celebrated in the shadow of the law. This doctrine Peter and Paul instituted, that the Passover should be celebrated in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. For those who wish to celebrate the Passover with the Jews, what do they love if not the shadow, so that they consume the flesh of the lamb not in truth, but in the shadow that prefigures it? Nor do they hear John the Baptist crying: "Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who taketh away the sin of the world." You know, most blessed brother, that the work of all piety was perfected on the sixth day and the fifteenth moon, when He through whom the world was made cried out on the cross: "It is consummated"; and with the light prevailing, the shadows of death fled away; and in the hope of our salvation the centurion confessed: "Indeed this was the Son of God." Nowhere did Peter, after he said to the Jews: "Do penance, because you have shed the blood of the just," teach us to celebrate the Passover with the Jews. Nowhere did Paul, who that he might gain God counted those observances of the law as dung. Most blessed colleague, Christ’s Church is founded not in the shadow, but in the truth upon the solid rock.
1489 ARCHEUS EPISC. AFRIC. 1490 let us teach what we have received, so that we may hear with the Apostle Peter: A "Blessed are you, Simon bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but my Father who is in heaven." Through your fraternity, therefore, let letters be sent to the presbyters of Gaul, so that they may observe the Pasch, not with the Jews who deny Christ, but with the followers of the apostles who preach the truth of Christ. The college of the brethren salutes you. Salute the brothers who are with you in the Lord. Eubolus, who bears this letter to Vienne, of our college, is prepared to live and die with you; receive him in the Lord Jesus Christ. Farewell.
EPISTOLA IV. TO BISHOP PARACODUS. VICTOR, bishop, to his brother PARACODUS, bishop, greeting. B Our colleague Dionysius, falling asleep, has left you to us as a companion in the Church of Christ. You see, brother, that the Eastern Church is separated from the Western on account of the celebration of the Pasch. It has pleased us, therefore, as followers of the apostles, to write to your unanimity, that (since, according to what is written, "The old things have passed away, behold all things have become new"; and let us not follow darkness, but light) we may heed the prophet: "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light." Therefore, brother and colleague in the Lord, teach through the churches entrusted to you that the Pasch is to be observed from the fifteenth day of the moon, so that the Apostle may say to us: "Christ our Pasch has been sacrificed"; and: "You were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord." May fraternal unanimity salute you in the Lord, saluting on our behalf the brethren who dwell with you at Vienne. Farewell.
FRAGMENT OF ARCHÆUS, BISHOP OF THE AFRICANS, ON CELEBRATING PASCH ON THE LORD’S DAY.
(Mai, Spicileg. Rom., Rome 1840, vol. III, p. 707, from an Arabic codex.)Archæus, who after the disciples of the Lord was bishop of the city of Leptis in Africa. The Pasch must be celebrated on the Lord’s Day; for at such a time the joy of the Catholic Church was made complete, and everyone was destined for eternal life; for on that day the mystery of the Resurrection and of immutable hope, and the inheritance of the kingdom to be received, was confirmed. At this time the Lord triumphed over the death that is the enemy of mankind by raising his own body, which never dies thereafter, but perseveres immutable with the spirit; which body, indeed, having been surrounded with glory, he offered to the Father after the gates of heaven were opened to him.