fifth, Vigil;[1] in the sixth, Oaphanius,[2] a venerable man, and learned in the Holy Scriptures; in the seventh, the holy Pope Adrian,[3] who first sent Peter as bishop and abbot of the monastery of St. Sabas, whence have subsequently arisen dissensions between us and you, which have principally prevailed in ancient Rana. Truly, there are many evil things done by you contrary to the divine laws and statutes, of which we will briefly write to thy charity. First, concerning the unlawful observance of fasting on the Sabbath; secondly, concerning the great fast from which ye cut off a week, and eat meats, and allure men to you by the gluttony of feasting. You reject also those priests who lawfully marry wives. Ye also anoint a second time those who have been anointed in baptism by the presbyters, and say that baptisms may not be performed by simple priests but by bishops only. So likewise with respect to unwholesome unleavened bread, which manifestly indicates Jewish service or worship. And, which is the chief of all evils, ye have begun to alter and pervert those things which were ratified by the holy synods, and say of the Holy Ghost, that he not only proceeds from the Father but also from the Son, with many more things, concerning which your Blessedness ought to refer to your spiritual brother, the Patriarch of Constantinople, and to use all diligence that such errors should be at some time removed, and that we should be united in spiritual harmony, as St. Paul says in his instructive words, ‘I beseech you, therefore,
- ↑ Vigil held the second Council of Constantinople, A.D. 553, against Origen and Evagrius, who denied the Resurrection, and maintained that the soul is created before the body. In this synod it was ordered that the Blessed Virgin should be called Θεοτοκος, or Deipara, to express her being the mother of God as well as man.
- ↑ This Oaphanius must be Agathon, who held the sixth recognized œcumenical council of the Greek church—which was the third Council of Constantinople—A.D. 680, against the Monothelites, who asserted that Christ had only one will and one nature.
- ↑ Adrian I held the second Council of Nicæa, A.D. 787, against the iconoclasts.
