Chapter 5

And not only is it impossible that the Easterns could ever have been in any way in agreement with the Calvinists, but in addition to the annual Excommunication of the Iconoclasts and of the rejecters of the Mysteries, and to their holding the faith in bare words, they have twice in their zeal for the Lord Almighty proceeded Synodically against Cyril,—since Cyril had survived the publication of the chapters six years, and affirmed with an oath that he was not the author of the chapters, nor indeed held the faith contained in the chapters, and, in fine, had taught in the Church what was contrary to the chapters,—only because he did not write against them, alleging as an excuse, which perhaps was true, but which was not without suspicion and unworthy of the good reputation of a true Pastor [Shepherd], that forsooth those chapters lacked all that was requisite for them to be a publication of Cyril’s, or a Confession of the Eastern Church; and as no necessity required that he should engage in controversy upon the matter, he was prohibited by the Fathers from so doing. And this he perhaps said rightly, but it would have been more right for him to have remembered that a tiny spark kindleth a great flame.

Since in theology, especially, from a little beginning set in motion, there are wont to follow great results, it behoved him to know what was the object of the Fathers in prohibiting the continual publication of treatises concerning the faith, and whosoever would from writing inopportunely upon some article of the faith, from which many inconveniences follow, as is the case with the publication of the chapters of Cyril himself (as we are supposing), but that there should be no hindrance, when necessity requireth us to be ready, from giving forth a sound more distinct than the sound of the trumpet concerning the hope that is in us. And if indeed it did not appear meet to Cyril to labour for Christ, yet it was imperative that he should have written a short treatise against his enemies, as was the case with Basil the Great, when calumniated, who, though he did not write against his accusers in many Epistles, yet in one short Epistle to an Orthodox brother did set forth an apology for himself. For it is usual with men, for the most part, not so much to give heed to what is spoken, however true, as to receive what is written, as testimony in such cases, be the accused who he may. Wherefore, it followeth that Cyril, though averring in the manner aforesaid, that he had absolutely no knowledge of the chapters, only because he was unwilling to write against them, was by the zeal of the Easterns regarded as a traitor, and twice by full Synods anathematised, together with the said chapters, in which, though something might seem to be pious, it were only for deception, and unsound to catch the more unwary, as they say the sunken rocks do by the ships.

For neither let our adversaries boast with regard to Cyril, as though he were a Saint; for he was not killed unjustly, as they delight to say, or for the Name of Christ, that he should be so considered; but being possessed by the failing of an excessive ambition, which the great Basil recognised as the disease of Lucifer, having thrice unlawfully, in addition to the first time apparently lawfully, obtained possession of the Throne of Constantinople, with innumerable ejections and vexations of the Clergy (by his insatiate desire for external things, and availing himself of the help of the Dutch Ambassador, for which he became more liable to suspicion with the Church), he incurred that most disgraceful death. Whom, as having practised such things towards the Church of Christ, even though he had been Orthodox, we hold as a sinner, and such a sinner as should receive at the hands of God punishment for the evils which he had inflicted upon the Church of God without scruple; and now, since he is become an author of impiety, as our enemies affirm, we regard not as a Saint, but as a wretch, and as having no part with Christ.

And here are set forth the Acts of the Synods copied out of the codex which is with us, for confirmation of what hath been said; with which we ourselves also agree in all things.

The Decree of the Synod holden in Constantinople, against the Heretical Chapters of Cyril Lucar (1638)

That those who are entrusted with the oversight of public affairs, and especially of what concerneth religion, should use all diligence as to how they hold the rudder, is a precept of the Fathers; or, rather, an ordinance of God, who in the Prophets hath threatened to require at the hands of the shepherds any wrong that happeneth to the flock through their negligence. Therefore, it is necessary to rebuke and to warn as to evil, that the more simple may not through their inexperience cleave to it, as though it were good. And especially when such being put forth not in its nakedness, but as though it were good, is concealed by vain phrases and deceitful veils. For such have been from the beginning the machinations of our enemy, the prime author of evil, and of his followers. Since, therefore, in the realm of dogma such an one was Cyril Lucar, who was brimming over with lethal poison, and incurably sick as to essentials, and did ungodlily and unlawfully lately occupy the Patriarchal See;—for not only did he entertain notions alien to the right form of the faith, but knavishly pretended to men of perverse mind and depraved understanding, that he professed the right teaching held of old by the blameless Eastern Church; so that by such deception the shame of his own fraud hath come to attach itself to the right form of the faith;—we now, by constraining necessity, that are gathered together by divine providence in the queen of cities, Patriarchs and a band of other Bishops, as being required hereafter to give an account of this matter, do deem it right according to the precept and rule of the sacred and Spirit-bearing Fathers, who were distinguished in Synods holden in times of necessity, to publicly denounce this man in all points, and to subject him to anathema; and further, that the actual truth may not be hindered by certain who are in a disorderly manner braying about, to involve in the same bond those who receive his vain assertions as Orthodox.

To Cyril, surnamed Lucar, who in the title of his lawless chapters calumniously averreth that the whole Eastern Church of Christ thinketh as the Calvinists do, Anathema!

To Cyril putting forth as a dogma, and holding that the Holy Church of Christ is capable of giving utterance to falsehood—for he saith in his second chapter that she is not taught by the Holy Spirit, but by man; and that man by reason of his ignorance is liable to err, and to deceive, and to be deceived; and in the twelfth of the same chapters, ‘It is true and certain that the Church while on its way is liable to err; and, instead of truth, to choose falsehood.’ Since from such cavilling, or rather from such manifest folly, it might necessarily be inferred that Jesus the God-man, and the very truth, might have lied, and not continue with us, that is with the Church, until the end of the world, as He promised; and that the Spirit of God did not speak in her, and that the gates of Hades (the heresies of the godless forsooth) had prevailed against the Church; and in addition to this every one might be in doubt and perplexity as to whether the divine Gospel which we have in our hands is true, and which is of the Holy Spirit, as delivered by the Church, or otherwise. For the Church, saith he, is liable to deceive, and be deceived; and, instead of truth, to choose falsehood. To such a most wicked heretic we say, Anathema!

To Cyril putting forth as a dogma, and holding, that the good God before the foundation of the world chose some to glory, and predestinated them irrespectively of works; and that he rejected others before the world was, without cause, and that works are in no wise sufficient to procure a reward at the tribunal of Christ, as appeareth in his third and thirteenth chapters; since it would result, either that God was the author of evil, and unjust, or that not all that were involved in Adam’s sin could be saved; and further, that the Gospels lied in saying, ‘I was hungry, and ye gave Me to eat;’ and, ‘Come ye blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you;’ also Paul, the mouth-piece of Christ, and James, the brother of Christ—the one in affirming that not the hearers of the law but the doers are righteous; and the other that faith without works is dead: Anathema!

To Cyril putting forth as a dogma, and holding, though very obscurely and deceitfully, in his eighth chapter, that the Saints are not mediators and intercessors for us with God; by saying that Jesus is the only mediator, and alone careth for His own; as a being, a subverter of many oracles of the Spirit (for saith God, ‘I will protect this city, for the sake of David, My servant.’ And the undefiled children in the furnace, ‘Do not deliver us up utterly, for the sake of Abraam, Thy beloved, and for the sake of Isaac, Thy servant, and for the sake of Israel, Thy holy one.’ And Peter saith: ‘Moreover, I will give diligence always, that ye may be able after my decease to call these things to remembrance.’ For how could he give diligence after his decease, except by interceding and praying unto God? But, moreover, the decree of the Seventh Holy, Great, and Œcumenical Synod holden at Nicæa enacteth that we should keep without innovation all the written and unwritten Ecclesiastical traditions which have been delivered unto us, under pain of anathema; of which the invocation of the Saints is one): Anathema!

To Cyril putting forth as a dogma, and holding, that every man is not possessed of free-will, as is manifest by his fourteenth chapter; but that every one hath the power of committing sin, but not at all of [doing] good; as one that maketh void the divine utterances of the Spirit in the Prophets and in the Gospels:—‘If ye will be willing and will hearken unto Me;’ and, ‘Draw near unto Him, and be ye enlightened;’ ‘Whosoever is willing to follow after Me;’ ‘Come unto Me all ye;’ and such like; and in addition to these, the daily exhortations to good: Anathema!

To Cyril putting forth as a dogma, and holding, that the Mysteries of the Church are not seven, namely, Baptism, Chrism, Repentance, Eucharist, Priesthood, Prayer-oil, and Marriage, according to the direction of Christ, and the tradition of the Apostles, and the custom of the Church; but falsely affirming that there were delivered by Christ in the Gospel two only, that is to say, Baptism, and the Eucharist, as may be seen in his fifteenth chapter: Anathema!

To Cyril putting forth as a dogma, and holding, that the bread upon the Prothesis, and the wine too, are not changed by the blessing of the Priest, and the illapse of the Holy Spirit into the true Body and Blood of Christ (for it is written in the seventeenth of these heretical chapters: ‘The Body of the Lord is not what is seen in the Mystery with the eyes and received’): as one that maketh no account of the plain oracles of the Spirit, and wilfully refuseth to listen to the teaching of the God-man: ‘Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His Blood, ye have not life in yourselves’; and, ‘He that eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood abideth in Me, and I in him’; and, ‘Take, eat ye, This is My Body’; and, ‘Drink ye all of It, This is My Blood’; nor of Paul that was caught up even to the third heaven, and that said: ‘He took bread, and when He had given thanks, He break It, and said: Take, eat ye, This is My Body’; and, ‘Drink ye all of It, This is My Blood’; nor yet of the Spirit-bearing three hundred and eighteen God-bearing Fathers that assembled in Nicæa, whose Ecclesiastical Constitutions define in so many words: ‘By faith let us perceive how that there lieth upon that sacred Table the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world, sacrificed by the Priests after an unbloody manner, and that there is truly received His precious Body and Blood’; and, as further despising the like ordinance of the Spirit made by the great Seventh Synod (as may be seen in the Sixth Act, tom. III), which clearly saith that after the consecration they are properly called the Body and Blood, and are, and are believed to be: Anathema!

To Cyril putting forth as a dogma, and holding, though obscurely, in his eighteenth chapter, that after death those that with a pious end and in repentance have fallen asleep, are not benefited by the alms deeds of their relations, and by the prayers which the Church maketh for them; as though forsooth the righteous were in possession of perfect enjoyment, and the sinful absolutely condemned; and, further, as doing away with the general judgment and retribution that is to be at the last terrible day; which is foreign to the divinely inspired Scriptures, and entirely at variance with the teaching of theologians: Anathema!

To Cyril, the new Iconoclast and worst of all: Anathema!

To Cyril that rejected the honour due to the venerable Eikons, and the relative adoration of them, and would have done away with the same, but was unable, as he confesseth in his fourth answer: Anathema!

To Cyril that in his fourth question calleth what hath been ordained by the Holy Synods concerning the holy Eikons vain reasonings, and, therefore, despiseth the Seventh Sacred, Holy, and God-inspired Synod, which was the second assembled at Nicæa: Anathema!

To those that read the chapters of Cyril Lucar, lyingly written in the name of the Eastern Church, as though they might perhaps contain something that were right, and that drink in the venom that is concealed in them (for though there may be in them something that superficially seemeth to be Orthodox, yet from within there springeth up unawares heresy): [1] Anathema!

To those that do not acquiesce in the sentence of the Great Church against the said Cyril as being lawful and right, and that call or think him Orthodox, and that this Synod of the Church lieth against him: Anathema!

In the year of salvation 1638, on the 24th [day] of September, the seventh Indiction.

I, Cyril, of Berrhoea, by the mercy of God, Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome, and Œcumenical Patriarch, ratify [the decrees of] the Synod assembled against Cyril Lucar, and subject to anathema as well the chapters written by him, as Cyril [himself] the writer, and any that believe the same to be Orthodox.

Metrophanes, by the mercy of God, Pope and Patriarch of the Great City of Alexandria. Theophanes, by the mercy of God, Patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem. Parthenios, of Adrianople [he was that was Patriarch of Constantinople, and was the elder of the name, under whom was held the Synod at Jassy]. Gregory, of Larissa. Daniel, of Serra. Parthenios, of Joanninus [he was that was Patriarch of Constantinople, and was the younger of the name]. Joannicius, of Berrhoea [he became Patriarch of Alexandria]. Daniel, of Didymotichus. Joannicius, of Heracloea [he became Patriarch of Constantinople]. Daniel, of Athens. Benjamin, of Paronascia. Antony, of Dristra. Joasaph, of Corinth. Theophanes, of Phanarius. Callinicus, of Thessalonica. Joachim, of Coos [he became Pope of Alexandria]. Parthenios, formerly of Iconium. Porphyrius, of Poliana. Anthimus, of Samos. Dorotheos, of Talantius. Gabriel, of Zervenus. Meletius, formerly of Adamerius.

Meletios Syrigus, Hiero-Monk, and Doctor of the Great Church. Nicephorus Claruzavnos, Priest and Theologian of the Great Church [he became Patriarch of Alexandria]. [2] Michael, Priest, Vestarcha, and Doctor of the Great Church. Gabriel, Hiero-Monk, surnamed Buastus, and Doctor of the Great Church. The Great Protosyncellus of the Great Church. Benedict, Hiero-Monk, the Jerusalemite, Doctor of the Great Church. Michael, Great Rhetor of the Great Church. Manuel, Priest, Great Chartophylax of the Great Church. Theologus, Priest, Minor Sacellarius of the Great Church. Sophianus, Great Protecdic of the Great Church. Matthias, Great Primmicerius of the Great Church. Parascevos, Priest, Nomophylax of the Great Church. Eustathius, Priest, Great Protopope of the Great Church. Philip, formerly Protonotary of the Great Church. Constantine, Commentariensis of the Great Church. Michael, Rhetor of the Great Church. Scules, Domestic Logothetes. Michael, Logothetes of the Public Treasury of the Great Church. Rales, Primmicerius of the Notaries. Ignatius, Archdeacon of the Great Church. Constantine, Notary of the Great Church.

ACTS OF THE SYNOD HOLDEN AT JASSY, BEING THE SECOND AGAINST THE CHAPTERS OF CYRIL.

Synodical Letter to the Local Synod convened at Jassy

Parthenios, by the mercy of God, Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome, and Œcumenical Patriarch.

Our Mediocrity presiding Synodically, and there being gathered together therewith the most sacred and honoured High Priests, the beloved brethren thereof in the Holy Spirit, and fellow ministers, and the most honourable Clergy of our Great Church of Christ, there have been brought into our midst certain chapters bearing the name of the elder Lord Cyril that was Patriarch before us, concerning which enquiry hath been made, as to whether they should be regarded as Orthodox, and be retained, or whether they should be rejected as foreign to our Eastern and Apostolic Church of Christ. Wherefore, this entire Sacred Synod, having carefully gone through every one of these, and examined the sense of what is written, they have found them all, with the exception of the seventh, adhering to the heresy of Calvin, and very far indeed from the Christian profession of the Easterns.

I. For in the first, he supposeth the eternal and substantial procession of the Holy Spirit to be from the Father and the Son, contrarily to the mind of the Eastern Church.

II. And in the second, receiving the holy Scriptures stripped as it were of the expositions of the holy Fathers of the Church, he calumniateth what hath been proclaimed by the Œcumenical Synods under the direction of God the Spirit, and rejecteth the traditions which have obtained all along from the beginning throughout the whole world, without which our preaching would be reduced to an empty name, as saith Basil.

III. And in the third, he supposeth God to be most unjust, and using tyrannical authority, in saying that for His will alone He predestinateth some to glory, but rejecteth others to punishment, without having regard to their works; than which, what could be more impious?

IV. And the fourth is entirely opposed to the preceding. For if God be not the cause of evil, how could He purposely of His own will induce the reprobate to do evil?

V. And in the fifth he perversely treateth of divine providence, ascribing thereto as properly and their original cause what hath been by its permission done by evil men and demons, as is proved by the testimonies he adduceth. But this exceedeth all blasphemy.

VI. And the sixth, which includeth all human nature under sin,—not only original sin, as our Church confesseth, but also actual and mortal sin, which floweth out therefrom, and which it calleth the fruits thereof, and doth not exempt from this (mortal sin which procureth for those that commit it condemnation) any; neither him that was greatest among those that have been born of women, nor her that was blessed among women, the blameless and ever-virgin Mary, nor certain Forefathers, Prophets, and Apostles,—is, as being foreign to our faith, condemned.

VIII. And in the eighth he doth away with the mediation of the Saints, and the protections of the Angels, and also indeed the petitions and mediations of the Priests for the whole world, by which we believe the Church to be preserved.

IX. And in the ninth he assumeth that bare faith without works will save, and that this is not a work of our own, but of Christ alone extrinsically justifying man by his own life and death, lest man should imagine that he contributed something to his own salvation.

X. And in the tenth confounding the Church which is on earth with that which is in Heaven, he doth away with the Pontifical superintendence, and thereby the entire completeness of the Church, than which what could be more unseemly?

XI. And in the eleventh he would have the elect only to be members of the Church here, and not those simply that communicate and partake of her Mysteries with faith; so that even Paul, while making havoc of the Church, was a member thereof, because he was set apart from his mother’s belly; but Judas, though he wrought miracles like the other Apostles, was at the same time not a member thereof.

XII. And in the twelfth the writer, striving to take out of the way the teaching of the Fathers, saith that the Church is taught by the All-holy Spirit, which is true, but wrongly adduced. For our Church is taught, indeed, by the All-holy Spirit; but not immediately, the Spirit making use of human tongues and hands; For both the Prophets and the Apostles were men who preached and wrote the word of the Lord; although those oracles are said to be of the Spirit, and divine, as being thereby inspired, and having nothing human. And the Church, therefore, being taught by the God-inspired oracles of the Fathers, is said to be taught, not by man, but by the Spirit. For they being moved by the Divine Spirit teach us, not according to man, but according to the inspiration which they received from the Spirit; which is evident from their agreement with one another. What, therefore, is asserted in the same chapter, that the Church may err, though possessing the Spirit for her teacher, and Christ for her head, concerning which it is said, that she hath neither spot, nor wrinkle, but is altogether fair and perfect, is denounced as impious.

XIII. And the thirteenth disalloweth the efficacy of works, so depriving of their effect upon man’s salvation, as far as may be, not only every virtue, and a life according to God, but also all sacred Scripture, which exhorteth all to the practice of good works, in order to obtain salvation.

XIV. And the fourteenth in warring against free-will, endeavoureth to overturn human nature, which possesseth as its characteristics reason and free-will.

XV. And in the fifteenth he denieth five Mysteries of the Church, [to wit] the Priesthood, the Sacred Myron [Chrism], the Prayer-oil, Confession through penitence, and honourable Marriage; all which as being sacred and conferring Divine grace, ancient tradition hath bequeathed to us.

XVI. And while admitting in the two next Chapters the two remaining Mysteries, he doth not expound their efficacy soundly. For he imagineth that by Baptism the baptised is so justified as to be in no wise able to perish, being forgetful of those that have not kept the same undefiled, nor preserved their faith unto the end; and, therefore, are nothing benefited by the washing, but are condemned to eternal punishment.

XVII. And the Divine Eucharist he so rendeth as to leave to it nothing else except a bare type, as though we were still serving under the shadow of the old Law. For he doth not acknowledge as the true Body of Christ the Bread that is seen and eaten, when it hath been consecrated, but what is spiritually discerned, or rather, so to speak, imagined; which [notion] is full of all impiety. For Jesus said not, ‘This is a type of My Body,’ but, ‘This is My Body,’ and ‘This is My Blood;’—This, forsooth, Which is seen, and received, and eaten, and broken, when it hath been consecrated and blessed.

XVIII. And last of all, under the pretext, forsooth, of overthrowing [the notion of] the Purgatorial fire, he endeavoureth to do away with the Memorials of the Departed, which are sanctioned by us; through which we hope rest and refreshment may be granted them of God from the afflictions by which they are held.

And further, there have been brought forward also the Questions which he added to his Chapters, and these have been recognised by all this Holy Synod as being in nothing better than the Chapters. For not only doth he reject as above the expositions of the Scriptures which have been carefully produced by our Fathers, but also expungeth therefrom certain of the Books, which the Holy and Œcumenical Synods have received as Canonical. And in addition to all this he rejecteth the relative adoration of the venerable and holy Eikons, which the Seventh Holy Œcumenical Synod ratified.

Therefore, both the said Chapters and the Questions, we do by our common vote (the Holy Synod itself speaketh) entirely overthrow, and banish from our Court as being full of heresy, and entirely alien to our Orthodox faith, and do pronounce him that wrote the same to have been a stranger to our religion, declaring unto all how the writer of these belieth us in saying that his own faith is the Eastern Confession of the Christian Faith of the Greeks, the same being that of Calvin, and not ours. And those that read and hold these Chapters, as being forsooth true and pious, defending the same, either by their words, or by writings, as agreeing therewith, and communicating with the heresies of the writer, and as being corrupters of the Church of Christ, we do cast out of the congregation of the Faithful, and order that they be regarded as heathens and publicans, and as having no communion at all with us, be they of what position they may. And do subject them to an eternal anathema, and excommunicated by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the only God, one in nature, both in the present life, and in that which is to come, and cursed, and unforgiven, and unabsolved after death, and partakers of eternal punishment. For neither was our Church ever seduced by such dogmas, nor may she indeed, the grace of the Holy Spirit being her guide and director, ever be reduced to such a condition. And in confirmation of this present act, and for assurance thereof, these presents have been entered in the sacred codex of our Great Church of Christ, being signed by the own hands of the most sacred High Priests and most learned Clerics.

In the year of salvation 1642, in the month of May, the tenth Indiction.

Parthenius, by the mercy of God, Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome, and Œcumenical Patriarch.

To this Synodical Letter of the All-holy Father, our Shepherd, the Patriarch of Constantinople, as agreeing therewith in all things, and assenting to the same, I, Peter Mogila, humble Archbishop, Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia and of all Russia, Exarch of the Holy Apostolic Throne of Constantinople, Archimandrite of the Lavra of Pietzarius, do attach my signature with my own hand, for myself, and on behalf of all the Orthodox and Catholic Church of Christ that is in Little Russia. Athanasius Pusinas, Bishop of Luceortus and Hostrogius. Arsenius Zeliroferoios, Bishop of Leopolius in Halicia, and of Caminicia in Podolia. Silvester Ulesitzius Bautinscius, Bishop of Premislaiis and Samborius. Silvester Cossophus, Bishop of Msteslavia, Orsia, and Mogilavia.

Joannicius, of Heracleea. Gregory, of Larissa. Sophronius, of Chalcedon. Daniel, of Serra.

Curators of the Synod: Anthimos, of Cyzicus. Porphyrius, formerly of Nicæa. Gregory, of Corinth. Gerrasimus, of Philippi. Jeremias, of Chios. Porphyrius, of Nicæa. Chrysanthus, of Prusa. Sophronius, of Bidyna. Gabriel, of Philippopolis. Ignatius, of Lemnos. Varlaam, Metropolitan of Sotzava, and of all Moldavia, and Exarch of Plagiani. Eutoctius, Bishop of Romanus. Anastasius, Bishop of Rhadaiitzius. George, Bishop of Chusius. Sophronius, Hiero-Monk, and Kathhegumen of the chief Monastery of the Three Hierarchs at Jassy in Moldavia. Meletios Syrigus, Hiero-Monk, Preacher of the Gospel. Philotheos, Great Archimandrite of the Great Church. Nicephorus, Great Protosyncellus of the Great Church. Lascaris, Great Logothetes of the Great Church. Christophulus, Priest, Great Œconomus of the Great Church. Theologus, Priest, Great Sacellarius of the Great Church. Eustathius, Priest, Great Chartophylax of the Great Church. Daniel, Great Ecclesiarch of the Great Church. Parascevos, Priest, Nomophylax of the Great Church. George, Minor Sacellarius of the Great Church. Thomas, Protecdic of the Great Church. Philip, Protonotary of the Great Church. Philip, Great Primmicerius of the Great Church. Michael, Diœcophylax of the Great Church. [Name garbled], Interpreter of the Great Church. Nicolas, Logothetes of the Great Church. Constantine, Commentariensis of the Great Church. Constantine, Protapostolary of the Great Church. Chrysosculus, Logothetes of the Public Treasury. Demetrius, Notary of the Great Church.

Letter of the Holy Synod to the Duke of Moldavia

To the most illustrious and exalted Duke, most God-fearing Prince and Ruler of Moldavia, Lord, Lord, John Basil Boibonda, health from God. [3]

Thine it was of a truth, most exalted Duke, to cause to be published these Synodical Letters. For since the Lord hath given thee a charge, to be a defender of His Church, and a strenuous destroyer of heresies, having chosen thee alone from all the Rulers upon earth for this service unto Him; upon whom else was it incumbent to expose these vain notions, except upon thy most God-fearing magnanimity? Who seeing the Churches of Christ disturbed by the Calvinistic Chapters, which have recently appeared, and purport to be ours, intituled The Eastern Confession of the Christian Faith, didst not allow any delay to occur; but rightly using every effort, didst not desist until thou hadst sent for representatives of the Most Holy and Apostolic Œcumenical Throne, and of the whole Sacred Synod thereof, and for Legates from Russia of the Church that is there; with whom thou didst shatter all these spurious dogmas, withal by popular works confirming and ratifying the genuine teachings of the Eastern Church; and now revealing to all Orthodox Christian Children the venom that lurketh in these Chapters, thou hast enacted that it should be publicly known to all what is the doctrine which our Great Church of Christ holdeth with regard to the same; so that the sheep of the Lord may everywhere be able to discern from what foods they ought to abstain, and to what pastures they may without misgiving approach. Wherefore, rendering thanks to God for what He hath done for us through thee, we do beseech Him from our whole soul, that it may be granted unto thee, that thy present life may be long and peaceful, and that the throne of thy rule may continue until the end to be adorned by His grace; and that hereafter thou mayest be taken from an earthly to an heavenly kingdom.

The Legates from Constantinople and Patriarchal Exarchs: Porphyrius, formerly of Nicæa. Meletios Syrigus, Hiero-Monk, and Preacher of the Gospel.

And the Legates from Russia: Esaras Trophimus, Hegumen of S. Nicolas. Ignatius Xenovicius, Preacher of the Gospel. Joseph Cokenovicius, Hegumen of the Holy Theophany.

These are the enactments of the two Synods against Cyril, which most plainly shew the Orthodoxy of the Eastern Church. The latter was held at Jassy in Moldavia, under Basil Boibonda, Ruler of Moldavia, and while Parthenius the elder was Patriarch of Constantinople, a most venerable man, and instructed in divine things from a babe; who having sent to the Synod there sitting a Synodical Letter, it pleased that Synod to simply sign the said Synodical Letter from Constantinople, and confirm the same, and so satisfy the question; although the Synod contended against the Calvinists in many other particulars. But neither did the Synod then sitting at Constantinople by its Synodical Letter anathematise Cyril, nor did that at Jassy; not that they shewed favour to Cyril (for those God-fearing men were not such as to accept persons, or to prefer men, or aught else, before God), but because it was never known by the Eastern Church that Cyril thought with the Calvinists, or otherwise, indeed, than the Eastern Church doth, as hath been shewn above. Therefore, they did not deem it reasonable to subject to anathema, one whom they did not clearly know to be liable to such an accusation; although the writer of those Chapters, they did, without identifying him, subject to anathema and perpetual excommunication; whom we also ourselves do subject to eternal curses, and regard as a stranger to the kingdom of heaven.

And the first was held under Cyril of Berrhoea, Patriarch of Constantinople, and was composed of men eminent for learning and piety; and this did anathematise Cyril by name; not that it knew him to be, or ever recognised him as, an heretic, but because it knew that he had survived the printing of the Chapters six years; and being aware of the confusion which had arisen among the Faithful in Poland and Russia, because it was said by many that the Eastern Church was Calvinistic, since the Patriarch of Constantinople had published such a Confession as that of the Eastern Church, he was unwilling to write against them (I mean the Chapters), although he had been invited and implored to do so by many, as we have said before in the Fifth Chapter. Wherefore, for this reason, concluding that he was not clear from deception against the Orthodox faith, nor forsooth had a care for the flock as he ought, they subjected him by name to anathema, though he may not in fact have been such [i.e., a Calvinist]. These Synods we do not indeed blame for passing a just sentence against him, but rather we commend them as having opportunely and nobly contended for the Orthodox faith, and having in his long silence a reasonable cause for laying upon him this penalty, if only for the correction of others. Him, however, we do not anathematise, but rather we lament that he should by his silence have given occasion to the enemies to wage such a war against the Church. But, if he really was a Calvinistic heretic, and did not repent (for God receiveth all that return unto Him, be they who they may), but continued to the end to believe and hold heretical notions, then we do, without any contradiction, subject him to eternal anathema and excommunication, with all heretics that agree with him.