Celestine’s Letter to the Council

Celestine the bishop, to the holy synod assembled at Ephesus, brothers beloved and most longed for: greetings in the Lord. [a]

A synod of priests bears witness to the presence of the Holy Spirit. For what we read is true, since the Truth cannot lie: I mean the promise of the Gospel, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” And since this is so, if the Holy Spirit is not absent from so small a number, how much more may we believe that he is present when so great a multitude of holy ones are assembled together! Every council is holy because of a special veneration that is its due. For in every such council we must have regard to the reverence owed to that most famous council of the apostles which we read about. The Master whom they had received to preach was never missing from it, but was always present as Lord and Master; and those who taught were never deserted by their teacher. For the one who had sent them was their teacher; the one who had commanded what was to be taught was their teacher; the one who declares that he himself is heard in his apostles was their teacher. This duty of preaching has been entrusted to all the Lord’s priests in common. For by right of inheritance we are bound to take up this concern, all of us who preach the name of the Lord in various lands in their place; for he said to them, “Go, teach all nations.” You should notice, dear brothers, that we have received a general command. For he wills that all of us should carry out the office he thus entrusted in common to all the apostles. We must follow our predecessors. Let us all, then, take up their labors, since we are their successors in honor. And we show our diligence by preaching the same teachings that they taught, to which, as the apostle warns, we are forbidden to add anything. For the office of keeping what has been entrusted to us is no less worthy than that of handing it down. [b]

They sowed the seed of the faith. Our care must be that the coming of our great father of the household, to whom alone, surely, this fullness of the apostles is assigned, may find fruit unspoiled and multiplied many times over. For the chosen vessel tells us that it is not enough to plant and to water unless God gives the growth. So we must strive together to keep the faith that has come down to us to this day through the apostolic succession. For we are expected to walk according to the apostle. For now it is not our appearance but our faith that is called into question. The weapons we must take up are spiritual, because the war is one of minds and the weapons are words; so we will be strong in the faith of our King. Now the blessed apostle Paul urges that all should remain in the place where he told Timothy to remain. The same place, then, and the same cause, lay the same duty on us. Let us now also do and study what he then commanded him to do. And let no one think otherwise, and let no one pay attention to strange fables, as he himself ordered. Let us be of one mind, thinking the same thing, for this is to our advantage. Let us do nothing out of rivalry, nothing out of empty glory. Let us be in all things of one mind and one heart, when the faith, which is one, is under attack. Let the whole body grieve and mourn together with us. The one who is to judge the world is called into judgment; the one who is to examine all is himself made the object of criticism; the one who redeemed us is made to suffer slander. Dear brothers, put on the armor of God. You know what helmet must protect our head, and what breastplate our breast. For this is not the first time the camps of the church have received you as their leaders. Let no one doubt that, by the favor of the Lord who makes the two into one, there will be peace, and that arms will be laid down, since the cause itself makes its own defense. [d]

Let us look once more at these words of our teacher, which he speaks expressly about bishops: “Take heed to yourselves and to the whole flock, over which the Holy Spirit has placed you as bishops, to rule the church of God, which he has purchased with his blood.” [g] We read that those who heard this at Ephesus, the very place where your holiness has come together, were called from there. So let your defense of this same faith also be made known to those to whom its preaching was known. Let us show them the steadfastness of our mind, with the reverence due to matters of great importance, things that peace has long guarded with devout understanding. [h] Let what has been kept intact from the apostles be proclaimed by you. For the words of tyrannical opposition are never admitted against the King of kings, nor can the business of truth be crushed by falsehood.

I urge you, most blessed brothers, to have regard to love alone, in which we ought to remain, according to the word of John the apostle, whose relics we venerate in this city. Let common prayer be offered to the Lord. For we can form some idea of how great the power of the divine presence will be at the united intercession of so great a multitude of priests by considering how the very place was shaken where, as we read, the Twelve made their petition together. And what was the point of that prayer of the apostles? It was that they might receive grace to speak the word of God with confidence, and to act by its power; and they received both by the favor of Christ our God. And now what else is your holy council to ask for, except that you may speak the word of the Lord with confidence? What else, than that he would give you grace to keep what he has given you to preach? So that, being filled with the Holy Spirit, as it is written, you may set forth that one truth which the Spirit himself has taught you, though with different voices. [i] Moved, in short, by all these considerations (for, as the apostle says, “I speak to those who know the law, and I speak wisdom among those who are perfect”), stand firm by the catholic faith and defend the peace of the churches. For so it is said to those past, present and future alike, asking for and keeping “the things that belong to the peace of Jerusalem.” [j]

Out of our concern, we have sent our holy brothers and fellow priests, who are of one mind with us and are men of proven worth, the bishops Arcadius and Projectus, and our presbyter Philip, so that they may be present at what is done and may carry out what we have already decreed. We have no doubt that your holiness will agree to its being carried out, when it is seen that what has been decreed is for the security of the whole church. Given on the eighth day before the Ides of May, in the consulship of Bassus and Antiochus. [k]