Letter
CXX.
2397
To Meletius, bishop of Antioch
.
2398
I
have
received a letter
from the very God-beloved bishop Eusebius, in which he enjoins that a
second letter be written to the Westerns about certain Church
matters. He has expressed a wish that the letter should be drawn
up by me, and signed by all those who are in communion. Having no
means of writing a letter about these wishes of his, I have sent on his
minute to your holiness, in order that, when you have read it and can
give heed to the information given by the very dear brother
Sanctissimus, our fellow presbyter, you may yourself be so good as to
indite a letter on these points as seems best to you. We are
prepared to agree to it and to lose no time in having it conveyed to
those in communion with us, so that, when all have signed it may be
carried by the messenger, who is on the point of starting on his
journey to visit the bishops of the West. Give orders for the
decision of your holiness to be communicated to me as quickly as
possible, that I may not be ignorant of your intentions.
As to the intrigue which is now being devised, or has
already been devised against
me, in
Antioch, the same brother will convey intimation to your holiness,
unless indeed the report of what has been done does not anticipate him
and make the position clear. There is ground for hope that the
threats are coming to an end.
I wish your reverence to know that our brother
Anthimus has ordained Faustus, who is living with the pope
2399
as bishop, without having received the
votes, and in place of our right reverend brother Cyril. Thus he
has filled Armenia with schisms. I have thought it right to tell
your reverence this, lest they should lie against me, and I be
responsible for these disorderly proceedings. You will of course
deem it right to make this known to the rest. I think such
irregularity will distress many.
2397
Placed in
373.
2398
Basil keeps up
his support of the claims of Meletius, now in exile in Armenia, to
be recognised as Catholic bishop of Antioch, and complains of the
irregular ordination of Faustus as bishop of an Armenian see by
Basil’s opponent, Anthimus of Tyana. Sanctissimus, the
bearer of the letter, is supposed by Tillemont (vol. ix. p. 219) to
be a Western on account of his Latin name. Maran (
Vit.
Bas
. 26) points out that Orientals not infrequently bore Latin
names, and supposes him to be a presbyter of Antioch.
2399
The title was
not even at this time confined to bishops, and who this papa is is
quite uncertain. The title is not generally limited to the
bishop of Rome until the eighth century. So late as 680 Cyrus
is called pope of Alexandria at the Sixth Council. (Mansi xi.
214.) It was not till 1073 that Gregory VII. asserted an
exclusive right to the name. (Gieseler, vol. 1, 2,
405.)