Fourth Session

¹ FOURTH ACT.

² In the month of December, on the fifth day, on the eve of the nativity of Christ our God, when Photios our most holy patriarch had kept vigil in the great secretum, and there were seated together with him the most holy representatives both of Elder Rome and of the Eastern sees, and moreover all the most God-beloved metropolitans and bishops, Peter, the most God-beloved deacon and protonotary, said: The metropolitan of Martyropolis, having just arrived from the patriarch of Theoupolis, that is, Antioch, holding his place and bringing with him also letters of the most holy patriarch of Jerusalem, stands before the gates; your holy synod commands that he enter. The holy synod said: Let him enter. And when he had entered, the letter of the most holy patriarch of Jerusalem pleases them; and bearing it with him, the most holy patriarch commands, and the holy synod, that he enter. The holy synod said: Let him enter. And when he had entered, that having paid his reverence to Photios the most holy patriarch, having entered he asked him how fared the patriarch of Antioch, and likewise of Jerusalem. And when he had said that they were in good health, though he had again subjected the patriarch Photios to many dangers; [and asked] how the holy Church of God was disposed, what peace it enjoyed. And when he had answered, “Through your holy prayers it abides in peace and concord,” the greeting was given to him by the most holy representatives of Elder Rome; and being seated in his own place upon the step, he took his rest.

³ After these things he was asked by the most holy representatives for what cause he had come, and by whom he had been sent. Basil, the most God-beloved bishop of Martyropolis and representative of the Church of Antioch, said: My most holy patriarch of Theoupolis, that is, Antioch, Theodosius, sent me as his deputy; and moreover I have been sent for the same purpose by Elias, the present representative of the high-priestly office of Jerusalem. I bear also his letters, and those of the most holy patriarch of Jerusalem. The cause for which I came the letter itself will declare more plainly than my tongue; though I may also say a few things by living voice. My most holy patriarch Theodosius confirmed [Photios as] the rightful holder of this throne, and in all the Church of God held and proclaimed him as most pure and as a fellow-minister. And in all these things [he charged me to do homage] to him who, with such and so great a thing to the ends of the world, holds the most pious mind, [in matters touching] us and our Church, together with you, in those things that are for the peace of God and for the union and good order of the Church.

⁴ …which all must belong to the bishops counted worthy of the hierarchy—those from the lay order; for he who once injured the high-priesthood, when the schisms befell the holy Church, which against your patriarchate, most holy and our fellow-minister, they bark out—and rather, to disclose his own person to him, he consigned to the anathema. And now I have been sent also from him, so that I may make manifest to this holy synod the things of his mind, as they were from the beginning, and are, and shall be. And after these things, rising, he said to Photios the most holy patriarch: If your holiness commands that the letters be received, behold, they are in my hands.