A should properly speak. “Take,” he said, “this money, and give me the power of your dignity, so that whomever I lay my hands upon may receive the Holy Spirit.” Moreover, he had been baptized in the name of Jesus. To him the body of the apostles answered: “Begone, O man; the grace of God cannot be sold.” And when he continued to knock at their doors with such speeches, they said again: “Why do you buy what you will find gratis, if you live worthily?” But when he considered the labors of life and the sluggishness of his own mind, and the uncertain outcome of the matter, he again brought gold forth from his purse, thinking that he would ensnare the disciples of the Savior with this enticement. At this, that One who grasps the wise in their own craftiness was indignant, and spoke through the mouth of Peter, saying: “Thy money be with thee into perdition, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money” (Act. viii, 20). To this he imposed the remedy of penance, preparing him in patience, “Repent,” he said (ibid., 22 and 23), “if perchance the thought of thy heart may be forgiven thee. For I see thee to be in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” For God, the lover of souls, does not desire the death of the sinner (Ezech. xviii, 32). Having demonstrated to the best of my ability all those things which I had spoken, O Theodore of great name, and minister of the mysteries of truth, hear now those things which you preferred to know from us. B DIAC. From where do you now come to us? BISH. From the East, clearly; for I see Rome now for the first time. DIAC. What cause especially led you? BISH. The sole love of your peace. DIAC. Is it, then, another from yours? BISH. Not another, indeed, but clearly the same which the Savior gave from heaven, saying to the apostles: “My peace I give unto you” (Joan. xiv, 27). For the confirmation of a firmer grace He said again: “My peace I leave with you”; referring this word, “I give,” to Himself, but that word, “I leave,” to the Holy Spirit, so that in the Spirit, through Christ, they might reveal the knowledge of the Father to the nations. But just as in paralyzed limbs the operations of the soul recur to the sounder parts of the members, so the unhappy Church of the East suffers. For its members being paralyzed, and not being able to perform their duties on account of broken harmony, many of us who are unencumbered and inflamed by a desire for it, wander as exiles from our country, we who cannot dwell in our foster-mother [Church] without danger and tranquility on account of the love of truth, so that in whatever way we might live the few days of life that still remain to us among you according to the Gospel. DIAC. As it seems, venerable Father, by divine providence, as you see, you have been sent; for I find your grief to be in sympathy with our own anxieties. I believe, moreover, that you are of the company of John of Constantinople. C BISH. It is as you have said. DIAC. I ask that, with God as your witness, you tell us truly those things which we greedily desire to know one by one; certain of this, that if you report to us anything beyond the truth, you will have God as your investigator and judge; you shall also be refuted by us who have received [the account] differently: for it is not one or another, or three, or ten, or men of any sort who have told us what happened at Constantinople, but more, and of those, some were bishops, others presbyters, and some of the order of monks. But if you wish, I will briefly set forth what has reached the Roman Church. The first of all to come to us was an Alexandrian reader with the letters of Pope Theophilus, in which he reported that he had deposed John. When these were read, the blessed Pope Innocent D was only a little away from being horrified by condemning the temerity and pride of Theophilus, because he had written alone, and had not sent a clear notification of the matter, or why, or with what companions assumed, he had deposed John. To this he remained in doubt of mind, not wishing to write back on account of the frivolity of the acting party. Meanwhile, a certain Eusebius, deacon of the Constantinopolitan Church, who was then at Rome for the sake of ecclesiastical business, approached Pope Innocent and gave suppliant appeals, adjuring him to wait a short time: for it would be, that in a short while he would see the faction exposed. In the meantime, after three days, there arrived four bishops from the parts of John, religious men, Pansophius of Pisidia, Pappus of Syria, Demetrius of Galatia the Second, Eugenius of Phrygia, who delivered three letters: one indeed from Bishop John, another from forty bishops concerning the communion of John, the third truly from the clergy of John: all agreeing among themselves, and signifying the tumult of certain lawless men. But the context of the letter of John was as follows:
CHAP. II. To my lord, venerable and most holy Bishop Innocent, John in the Lord sends greetings.
I think that even before our letters, your piety heard what iniquity has dared here. For the magnitude of the evils has left almost no part of the world which has not heard of this bitter tragedy; but the fame of the deeds, carried to the ends of the earth, has stirred up many laments and wailings everywhere. But because it is fitting not only to mourn, but also to correct, and to see by what means that most grievous tempest of the Church might be stayed, we deemed it necessary to urge my lords, the most venerable and most religious bishops Demetrium, Pansophius, Pappus, and Eugenius, to leave their churches, and to commit themselves to such a sea, and to undergo a long pilgrimage, and to recur to your charity, and with all things clearly exposed, to prepare a most ready remedy. With whom we have sent the most honorable beloved deacons, Paul and Cyriacus. And they, indeed, as in the form of the letter [I have written], will teach your charity what things have been done here. For Theophilus, prelate of the Alexandrian Church, when he was being touted by certain men before the most pious Emperor, ordered to come alone, having collected a multitude of Egyptians not a few, he arrived: wishing to declare by that prelude, so to speak, that he was coming to war and battle. Then, having entered the great and God-loving city of Constantine, he did not enter the church according to the custom hitherto observed, nor did he meet with us, nor did he make us participants of discourse, of prayers, or of communion; but having gone out of the ship, and having passed by the vestibule of the church, he lodged somewhere outside the city; and although we strongly exhorted that he and those who had come with him should lodge with us (for all things were ready, both the lodgings and other necessaries), neither they nor he acquiesced. As we saw these things, we were in the greatest anxiety, who did not even know the cause of [his action].A unable to find the cause of this unjust hostility, nevertheless performed what was on our part, doing what was fitting for ourselves, and continually beseeching him to meet with us and state the reason why he had ignited a war from the very beginning and scandalized such a great city. But as he did not even then wish to state the cause, and those accusing him pressed on, the most pious Emperor summoned us and ordered us to go across to where he was staying and to hear the matter concerning him. For they were alleging fear, massacres, and ten thousand other things. But we, both reverencing and honoring the laws of the fathers as well as the man himself, and holding his own letters, that cases should not be dragged outside of one's own region, but that matters of the provinces should be trained in the provinces themselves, did not accept the trial, but with much forbearance declined the heavy-handedness. B Yet he, as though striving for his former goals, having called my archdeacon with great authority, as if the Church were already widowed and had no bishop, through him transferred the entire clergy to himself. And the churches were thrown into upheaval, as the clerics in each were led away, and were prepared to provide libels against us, and were anointed for the accusation. And having done these things, he sent and called us to a tribunal, not yet having stripped off the charges against himself; which was most contrary to the canons and to all laws. But we, knowing that we were not coming before a judge (for we would have arrived a thousand times over), but before an enemy and an adversary, just as his preceding and subsequent actions showed, sent bishops to him—Demetrius of Pisinuntum, Eulysius of Apamea, and Luppicianus of Apparia—and the presbyters Germanus and Severus; answering with the moderation befitting us, and saying that we did not refuse judgment, but refused an enemy and a manifest adversary. For he who had not yet received the libels, and had done such things from the beginning, and had torn himself away from the Church and from communion and from prayer, and was anointing accusers, and transferring the clergy, and leaving churches desolate, how could he be fit to ascend the judge's throne, having no claim to it from any quarter? For it was not consistent for one from Egypt to judge in Thrace, and one who was held liable for charges, and an enemy and an adversary. C But he, nevertheless, reverencing none of these things, but hurrying to fulfill what he desired—when we declared that we were ready, even with a hundred or a thousand bishops present, to strip away the accusations and to show ourselves clean, just as we truly are—did not endure it; but while we were absent, and appealing for a synod, and seeking a trial, and not fleeing a hearing, but a manifest hostility, he received accusers, and released those who had been bound by me, and while even those same persons had not yet stripped off the charges, he accepted libels, and engaged in proceedings—all of which were contrary to custom, to the canon, and to the order of things.