THE
FULL TEXT OF LETTER 350:
John, bishop and servant of the servants of God, to
Photius, most reverend and Catholic brother, Patriarch of Constantinople: Grace
from above granting works of salvation!
We are not unaware that some among you, who are little
concerned with peace, speak ill of our Church and of us personally disregarding
the truth. And matters have progressed to the point that your fraternity is
close to thinking poorly of us and of those subject to us. Indeed, they have
taken advantage of what I would affirm to be a fitting opportunity for their
purpose, but the truth itself remains unadulterated and unstained, as shall
become evident in the discourse that follows, and God Himself will confirm this
to us by His testimony from above. Like those who adulterate wine by mixing it
with water, they introduce certain falsehoods of their own invention and fabrication.
For it is necessary that the devil, who from the beginning was the creator of
evil and set enmity between us and God, and later separated our first parent
from the love of God and made him hostile to his Creator, should even now have
some ministers of his own, and drive these individuals to stir up some scandal
between the Churches.
But I, directing my gaze rather to God, the author and
bestower of peace, who put to death the enmity, even on HIs cross, strive with
all my might to silence the mouths of those who delight in evil. And for this
reason, even before your fraternity indicates anything to me, I have decided to
make these matters clear to you, so that, being well-informed about our
situation, you may lend less of an ear to those who seek to provoke conflict
and offend; instead, you should reject and disown them, and ensure that others
do not believe their words.
Your fraternity also knows that when the one sent by you
recently came to us and consulted us on the holy symbol, he found that we have
preserved it unshaken, just as it was handed down to us from the beginning,
without adding or removing anything, as we know well that a grave condemnation
awaits those who dare to do such things. Therefore, we inform your reverence
once again that regarding this addition in the symbol (from the Son [ex
Filio], specially), not only do we not proclaim it, but we also condemn
those who, in their madness, first dared to proclaim it as transgressors of the
divine word, as those who subvert the theology of our Lord Christ, and as
enemies of the holy Fathers who, meeting in council, delivered the holy symbol
to us. We place these transgressors alongside Judas, not because they delivered
the Lord’s body to death, but because, by schism, they separated and divided
among themselves the faithful of God, who are His members, casting them, and themselves
even more so, headlong into eternal fire, as did that aforementioned Judas, the
unworthy disciple of Christ, who hung himself.
We believe that your reverence, endowed as you are with
wisdom and learning, rightly knows that while we strive with all our strength to
ensure that the rest of our bishops share this understanding with us, this task
causes us considerable distress. Truly, no one could easily or quickly change so
grave a matter, even if it had arisen recently and had not been established many
years! For this reason, we have judged it fitting and reasonable that no one
should be compelled by force from you to abandon that addition, which he
himself has added to the symbol, but rather that such people should be
admonished with gentleness and gradually recalled form blasphemy. As the chief
of the apostles, Peter, says, “Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking
care of it, not by constraint but willingly. . . . neither as lording it over
the clergy but being made a pattern of [an example for] the flock” (1 Peter
5:2-3). Therefore, those who accuse us, as though we hold such matters in
error, do not accuse us justly.
Your fraternity should not suffer any offense against us,
nor be separated from the rest of the body of the Church, but rather endure
with us the trials of faith with prudence and patience, and recall those who
have turned from the truth so that they may embrace it, so that you may receive
the same reward with us. Farewell in the Lord, most reverend and Catholic brother.
(“Appendix II: Pope John VIII’s Letter to Photius Condemning the Filioque
(Letter 350),” in The Acts of the Eighth Ecumenical Council [trans.
Gregory Heers; Uncut Mountain Press, 2025], 406-7; translation is taken from PL 126:944-46.
See pp. 398-405 for a discussion of the background of this letter and a defense
of its authenticity)
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