You wrote that you anathematize the blasphemies of Theodore
that we sent you, or whosever they may be, but you hesitate to anathematize
Theodore himself since before he died he was in communion with the Church, or
so you say. Well now, understand that whoever would say it is improper to
anathematize Theodore since he died in communion with the Church, as you say,
and that he should be numbered with the bishops, should also include Judas in
the list of apostles. For since he thought he could deceive God who knows the
hidden things of men he received communion from him with the other disciples.
Now, if we follow those who make these claims, then we should condemn the
apostles who judged him and condemned him after his death, and established
another in his place. Not only that, but since his name is read along with the
other apostles in the holy Gospels, he should also be received as an apostle
and be freed from the condemnation of the anathema!
Therefore, you should understand that he dies in communion
with the Church who has reserved the orthodox faith in his life to the end. For
even if a Manichaeus, or an Arius, or a Nestorius, or a Eutyches, or any other
such heretic should join himself to some pagan vanity and escape notice and die
in communion with the Church, then after death is judged a heretic either from
his writings or from some other source, even so the orthodox faith will not for
this reason suffer harm, nor will that one be free from condemnation, even if
he is said to have died in the peace of the Church.
Nor will death free anyone from condemnation whose impious
teachings are congenial to heretics but he will be condemned because he did not
repent when he was living. That heretics who during their life did not repent
are condemned even after their death is revealed from many instances. And just
as Eunomius, Apollinaris, Bonosos, and in more ancient times Valentinus,
Basilides, Marcion, and Cerinthus, and many others, were not anathematized
during their life, but were condemned after their death and anathematized by
the catholic Church because they died in their error, so also those who during
their life were unjustly condemned were recalled by the catholic Church [after
their death], such as John and Flavian, the holy archbishops of Constantinople.
But now, according to your understanding those heretics who died in their error
would remain free, and those orthodox Christians who were unjustly condemned
could not be reinstated after their death. But this is utterly perverse.
These statements make it clear that it is the tradition
of the Church to condemn and anathematize heretics even after their death.
However, we can demonstrate this from the Apostolic Constitutions as well.
After it exhorts to pray for the repose of those who have died that they might
be granted mercy, it then adds: "We say these things of the pious; but of
the impious, even if they should have given their worldly goods to the poor it
profits them nothing. For most assuredly is the Deity set against them in death
as well as in life.” (“A Letter on the Three Chapters,” c. 544/545, in On
the Person of Christ: The Christology of Emperor Justinian [trans. Kenneth
Paul Wesche; Crestwood, N.Y.: St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1991], 154-55)
There are some adherents to the views of Theodore, however,
who, when one brings out his impious writings pretend that perhaps they are
heretical after all because there is blasphemy in them. And yet they refuse to
anathematize the one who disgorged the impiety. We marvel at how empty their minds
are, for they dare to oppose themselves to the divine Scripture which says
quite plainly, "Both the godless and their wickedness are equally
abhorrent to God." In other words, both the deed and the doer of the deed
are punished, and if God despises both the godless man and his wickedness, then
clearly this man Theodore has already been separated from God and rightly
subjected to anathema. For anathema means nothing else than to be separated
from God, as is plainly revealed in the administration of the anathema in both the
Old and New Testaments. When in the Gospel of John the Lord refutes the Jews
and says, "Everyone who sins is a slave to sin, and the slave does not
remain in the house forever, but the Son remains forever," he means that
those who do not abide in the Word of his Truth are separated from the Church,
for, as the apostle attests in his first letter to Timothy, the divine
Scripture calls the "house" to which the Lord refers the "Church
of the Living God."
So if there is anyone who would maintain that it is not right
to anathematize Theodore after his death, then the defender of such a heretic
should be informed that justice demands that every heretic persisting in his
error even to his death be subjected to eternal anathema even if he has already
died. This has been done to heretics from times past as well as recently: for
example, Valentinus, Basilides, Marcion, Cerinthus, Manichaeus, Eunomius, and
Bonosus.
But in fact, this has already been done to Theodore for he
was accused even while he lived, and anathematized by the holy fathers after he
died. If, however, they choose to remain unconvinced by the facts that the
defenders of Theodore are heretics, then they should at least be convinced by this
godless letter they defend. For while it especially defends Theodore, it also
unambiguously states that he was condemned by the holy fathers of the Church,
for a major inquest was conducted concerning his writings and they were shown to
be full of impiety. At the time, this was done by the fathers of the Church
lest the more simple-minded chance upon his impious writings and be misled from
the true faith.
At any event, one can prove from the holy Synods that godless
men can be anathematized by the catholic Church even after their death, even
though they did not receive the anathema in person when they were alive. The
Synod of Nicea, for example, anathematized those who held to the godless
opinions of Arius without naming them, just as the Synod of Constantinople
subjected to anathema the wicked heresy of Macedonius [without naming him]. The
holy Church of God, however, later anathematized Arius and Macedonius by name,
after they had died.
When the defenders of Theodore and his godless teachings
are convicted of their impiety by all these arguments, they flee in vain to
another futile argument, and maintain that he should not be anathematized
because he died in communion with the Church. They need to understand, however,
that those die in communion with the Church who uphold to the end the pious
doctrine proclaimed in common by the catholic Church. But this man [Theodore]
was expelled from the whole Church because he died in his impiety. Indeed, the whole
Church of Mopsuestia, where it is said that he was bishop, removed his name
from the diptychs of the priests of his Church, for because of his blasphemy
the holy fathers numbered him with the pagans, the Jews, and the Sodomites: this
is shown from the synodal minutes recorded of this man in the same city of that
eparchy. We marvel then that the defenders of Theodore would receive him and
his impiety as their own when his own Church of which he was bishop cast him
out long ago as a heretic.
However, the defenders of Theodore are the cause of their
own condemnation as we learn from the same terrible judgment that fell upon
Judas. He thought he could escape the notice of the One who knows the secrets
of men, and with the apostles he partook of the mysteries, and yet his compact with
hypocrisy gained him nothing. Not even the fact that the disciples are called
the twelve after his death-as John the evangelist says when he writes,
"But Thomas, who is called Didymus, one of the twelve was not with them
when Jesus came”-clears Judas from condemnation, nor does it allow him to be
numbered with the apostles. For after the Ascension of the Lord the apostles
voted to condemn Judas even after his death and to appoint another in his
place.
But let us demonstrate even further from the words of Our
Lord how worthless is the argument they present us when they maintain that
heretics should not be anathematized after their death. He said that the wicked
are dead though they are yet alive, for he said, "Let the dead bury their
own dead." Conversely, he said that the righteous are alive though they
have died, for concerning Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob he said, "He is not
God of the dead, but of the living." (“The Edict on the True Faith,” 551,
in On the Person of Christ: The Christology of Emperor Justinian [trans.
Kenneth Paul Wesche; Crestwood, N.Y.: St Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1991], 190-93;
notice also that Justinian believes that Judas partook of the Eucharist at the
Last Supper in this letter)
To Support this Blog:
Email for Amazon Gift
card: ScripturalMormonism@gmail.com
Email for Logos.com Gift
Card: IrishLDS87@gmail.com
