SUPPLENDA AD ANNUM MCCCLXIX.
JOANNIS PALEOLOGI IMPERATORIS [1355-1391] PROFESSIO FIDEI
(Apud Leonem Allatium De utriusque Ecclesiæ consensu, p. 843 (a)).
A In the name of the Lord. Amen. Be it known to all those who shall see the present letters and public instrument, that the most reverend Fathers and lords by the grace of God, William, Bishop of Ostia, and Bernard of the church of the Twelve Apostles, and Francis of the church of St. Sabina, presbyters, and Raynald, deacon of St. Adrian, cardinals, commissaries deputed for the matters written below by the lord Urban the Fifth, Pope by divine providence, received the apostolic letters of the same, fortified by his leaden bull, of the following tenor:
• Urban the bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his venerable brother William, bishop of Ostia, and to his beloved sons Bernard of the church of the Twelve Apostles, and Francis of the church of St. Sabina, presbyters, and to Raynald, deacon of St. Adrian, greeting and the apostolic benediction. Since the magnificent prince John B, the illustrious Emperor of the Greeks, has recently come to the City out of devotion and the fervor of the Catholic faith, intending to visit the holy apostolic see and to observe, and in accordance with the arrangement of that same...
A see and the commands concerning the aforesaid faith, as a son of the Catholic Church, he is worthily going to yield; we, wishing to receive the same emperor at his first vision and reception as a Catholic prince, and the other Greeks as well, both clergy and religious, as also prelates and laity who have come with him and have wished to come to the unity of the same Church, in the kiss of peace and otherwise becomingly and righteously, and to honor him with fitting honors, by the profession of the aforesaid faith and by the taking of an oath according to the due form, as in another instance, formerly kept under the Emperor of the Greeks of bright memory, Michael Palaiologos, the predecessor of the same emperor, in a similar case—and concerning our own sincerity toward the aforesaid faith and this deliberation, having in the Lord full confidence in you, and to each of you, we grant full authority, by the apostolic power and by the force of the present letter, so that you may receive in our name, and in the name of the aforesaid Church, from the same emperor and other Greeks, both ecclesiastics and religious, even those holding any office of prelation whatsoever, this profession, oath, and abjuration according to the forms contained in our apostolic letters, which we send to you with these present, and that public instruments and letters may be drawn up from there, of the same Emperor and of others who shall make profession and abjuration, fortified with seals and signs; we grant full faculty by this tenor of the present. Given at Viterbo, the Nones of October, in the seventh year of our pontificate. B
The same most reverend Fathers, assigned to the aforesaid matters, chose as interpreters in this part the reverend Father, Lord Paul, by the grace of God Patriarch of Constantinople, and the brother Lord Nicholas, Bishop of Arenopolis, and the religious man Brother Anthony of Athens, of the Order of Friars Minor, knowing both the Latin and Greek languages and grammars; who, in the hands of the said Lord Francis, Cardinal, with the consent of the other aforesaid lords, the cardinals, swearing to the holy Gospels of God, promised to translate faithfully into the Latin language the words of the aforesaid emperor and of the other Greeks who had come with the said emperor and wished to make profession. And here is the profession of the emperor: C
The profession of the Emperor
«In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. I, John, in Christ God faithful Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans, Palaiologos, illuminated by the light of the Holy Spirit, wishing to provide for the salvation of my soul, have come of my own free will to the sacred City of Rome, to see the most holy Father, the Lord Urban, by divine providence the fifth Pope, and to visit the holy apostolic see, and to observe, and in the hands of the same Lord Pope, or of another, or of others assigned by him in this part, to recognize and profess the faith D
which the most holy Roman and universal Church professes, holds, and teaches, and to be fully and practically subject to the mandates of the aforesaid lord Pope and his successors, the Roman Pontiffs, regarding the perpetual observance of this same faith. And therefore, in the presence of you, most reverend Fathers—Lord William, Bishop of Ostia, and Bernard, priest of the church of the Twelve Apostles, and Francis, priest of the title of Saint Sabina, and Raynald, deacon of Saint Adrian, cardinals, commissioners appointed for this purpose by the aforesaid lord Pope—and of the venerable men, notaries of the same see, and the witnesses underwritten, being personally present, I confess and believe in the holy Trinity, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one almighty God, and the whole Trinity in the Godhead, coexistent, and consubstantial, coeternal, and co-omnipotent, A of one will, power, and majesty, the Creator of all creatures, from whom are all things, through whom are all things, in whom are all things, that are in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, corporeal and spiritual. Likewise, I believe each single person in the Trinity to be one true God, full and perfect.
B I believe the Son of God himself, the Word of God, existing eternally, born of the Father, consubstantial, of one and the same omnipotence and equal in all things to the Father in divinity; conceived in time by the Holy Spirit, born of Mary the ever-virgin with a rational soul; having two births: one from the Father, eternal; the other from the Mother, temporal; true God and true man, proper in each nature and perfect; not adoptive, nor according to phantasm, but the true and only Son of God, in two and from two natures, the divine and the human, but in the unity of one person; impassible and immortal by his divinity, but in his humanity having suffered for us and for our salvation by a true passion of flesh; dead and buried; and having descended into hell; and on the third day having risen from the dead by a true resurrection of the flesh; and on the fortieth day after the resurrection, with the flesh in which he rose and with his soul, having ascended into heaven, and sitting at the right hand of God C the Father; from whence he shall come to judge the living and the dead, and shall render to each one according to his works, whether they have been good or evil. I believe also the Holy Spirit, full and perfect true God, proceeding from the Father and the Son, the same and coexistent, and coequal, and coeternal in all things with the Father and the Son. I believe this holy Trinity, not three gods, but one God almighty, eternal, invisible, and unchangeable.
I believe the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic, true Church, in which is given one baptism, and the true remission of all sins. I believe in the true resurrection of this same flesh which I now carry, and eternal life. I believe also in the New and the Old Testament, that is to say,
the law, and the prophets, and the apostles, and that there is one author of them, God and Lord Almighty. I believe this to be the true Catholic faith, and that the A most holy Roman Church holds and preaches this with respect to the aforementioned articles; and because of various heresies, introduced by some out of ignorance and by others out of malice, she says and preaches that those who have fallen into sins after baptism are not to be rebaptized, but that through true repentance for their own transgressions they can obtain forgiveness for their sins. If, indeed, having truly repented and being in a state of charity, they have departed this life before they could satisfy for their committed sins and omissions with fruits worthy of repentance, their souls are B to be purified after death by purgatorial punishments, and that the suffrages of the living faithful—namely, sacrifices, prayers, alms, and other works of piety which have been accustomed to be offered by the faithful for other faithful—are profitable to them for the alleviation and liberation from such punishments, according to the ordinance of the Church. I believe also that the souls of those who, after receiving holy baptism, have incurred absolutely no stain of sin, and those also who, after having contracted the stain of sin, have been purified—either while remaining in their bodies or after having put them off, as has been said above—are immediately received into heaven; but the souls of those who depart in mortal sin or with only original sin descend immediately into hell, to be punished, however, with unequal penalties, as the same C holy Roman Church believes and firmly asserts; and that nevertheless, on the day of judgment, all men will appear before the tribunal of Christ with their own bodies, about to render an account of their own deeds.
Also, I believe, just as the same holy Roman Church holds and teaches, that there are seven ecclesiastical sacraments. One, namely, baptism, of which it has been spoken above. Another is the sacrament of Confirmation, which they confer through the imposition of the bishop's hands, anointing those who are reborn. Another is Penance; another is the Eucharist; another is the sacrament of Orders; another of Matrimony; D another is Extreme Unction, which is administered to the sick according to the teaching of the blessed James. The aforementioned Roman Church celebrates the sacrament of the Eucharist in unleavened bread, holding and teaching that in that same sacrament, the bread is truly transmuted into the Body, and the wine into the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Concerning matrimony, she holds that neither one man is permitted to have several wives at the same time, nor one woman several husbands; but once the law of matrimony has been dissolved by the death of one of the spouses, she says that second and third marriages, and those following in succession, are lawful, if a canonical impediment and some other cause does not stand in the way.
The same most holy Roman Church...
A holds the supreme and full primacy and authority over the whole Catholic Church; which primacy, from the Lord Himself in the person of the most blessed Peter, prince or head of the apostles, of whom the Roman pontiff is the successor, he truly and humbly recognizes that he receives with full power: and just as he is bound above all others to defend the truth of the faith, so also, if any questions concerning the faith should arise, they ought to be defined by his judgment: to whom any person aggrieved in matters pertaining to the ecclesiastical forum may appeal. And indeed, in all causes which pertain to ecclesiastical inquiry, one may have recourse to his judgment, and all Churches are subject to him; and their bishops owe him obedience and reverence: with whom such fullness of power resides that it admits other Churches to a part of the responsibility; and the same Roman Church has honored many of these, especially the patriarchal ones, with diverse privileges, its own preeminent dignity and superiority remaining, however, in general councils as in all others, always intact.
B Whence I recognize the aforementioned truth of the faith, as it has been fully read and faithfully set forth, to be the true, holy, and orthodox faith. I accept this, and I profess it with both heart and mouth; and inasmuch as the most holy Roman Church truly holds, and faithfully teaches and preaches it, I promise to keep it inviolably, and to persevere in it at all times, and never to depart from it at any time, nor to deviate from it in any way, and I renounce every schism. I also promise and confirm, by a corporal oath taken, that I recognize the primacy of this same most holy Roman Church, as it is contained in the aforementioned series, coming spontaneously to the obedience of that same Church: I confess and recognize it, I accept it, and I take it upon myself voluntarily; and I promise to keep and observe all the aforementioned things, both concerning the truth of the faith and concerning the primacy of the said Church, and their recognition, acceptance, reception, observance, and perseverance. So may God help me, and these holy Gospels of God. C And if I should presume to think, confess, or do anything else contrary to this, I recognize myself as a schismatic and anathematized by that very fact, and as subject to the severity of the sacred canons.
For the certainty of the aforementioned things, and for greater caution, I have set forth the present mystical oath and have made the instrument, fortified by the golden Bull. It was written in ancient Rome in the year from the Incarnation of our Lord 1369, D in the seventh indiction, on the tenth day of the month of October, in the presence of the reverend Father, the lord Paul, Patriarch of Constantinople, the lord Nicholas, Bishop of Areopolis, and the religious man, the monk Anthony of [the order of... — *the text breaks off here*]
A Athens, for the purpose of interpreting what had been enjoined, and also there having been chosen the most reverend Fathers, the lords Cardinals as delegates, and these same said lords Cardinals bestowing their authority, they received the aforementioned Emperor with the kiss of peace and gathered him into the bosom of the holy Roman Church, as a true Catholic Christian. Taken from the papal Registers.