innocent, bishop, to presbyters and deacons, and to all the clergy and people of the
church of constantinople, the brethren beloved who are subject to the bishop john, greeting.
From the letters of your love which ye have sent by the hands of Germanus the presbyter,
and Casianus the deacon, I have studied with anxious care the scene of calamity which ye
have placed before my eyes, and by repeated perusal of your description I thoroughly per-
ceived under what great distress and toil your faith is labouring: and this is a matter which
can be cured only by the consolation of patience: for our God will speedily grant an end to
such great afflictions, and He will aid you in your endurance of these things. Moreover
whilst praising the statement of your case which contains many testimonies encouraging
to patience I notice this necessary consolation placed at the beginning of the epistle of your
love: for the consolation which we ought to have written to you, ye have anticipated by your
letter. For this is the kind of patience which our Master is wont to supply to those who are
in distress, in order that the servants of Christ when they are in affliction may console
themselves by reflecting that the things which they themselves are suffering have happened
to the saints also in former times. And we also from your letter shall be able to derive con-
solation: for we are not estranged from sympathy with you, inasmuch as we also are chastised
in your persons. For who will be able to endure the offences committed by those men who
ought to be specially zealous promoters of the tranquillity of the Church and of concord itself.
At the present time, by a perversion of custom, guiltless priests are expelled from the pres-
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idency of their own Churches. And this is what your chief brother, and fellow minister,
John, your bishop has unjustly suffered, not having obtained any hearing: no crime is charged
against him, none is heard. And what is the object of this iniquitous device? that no pretext
for a trial may occur, or be sought, other men are introduced into the places of living priests,
as if those who start from an offence of this description could be judged by any one to have
anything good or to have done anything right.966 For we understand that such deeds have
never been perpetrated by our fathers; or rather that they were prevented by the fact that
no one had authority given him to ordain another to take the place of one who was still living.
For a spurious ordination cannot deprive the priest of his rank: seeing that neither can he
be a bishop who is wrongfully substituted for another. And as regards the observance of the
canons we lay it down that we ought to follow those, which were defined at Nicæa, to which
alone the Catholic Church is bound to pay obedience and recognition. And if others are
brought forward by certain men, which are at variance with the canons framed at Nicæa,
and are proved to have been composed by heretics, let them be rejected by the Catholic
bishops. For the inventions of heretics ought not to be appended to the Catholic canons;
for by their adverse and unlawful decrees they are always intending to weaken the design
of the canons of Nicæa. Not only therefore do we say that these ought not to be followed,
966 I have followed the Latin here. The Greek version of the passage seems to me hopelessly confused.
Innocent, Bishop, to Presbyters and Deacons, and to All the Clergy and People of the Church of Constantinople, the Brethren Beloved Who Are Subject to the Bishop John, Greeting.
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Innocent, Bishop, to Presbyters and Deacons, and to All the Clergy and People…