Damasus’s Letter Against Apollinarius and Timothy

When the most praiseworthy Damasus heard of the rise of this heresy, he pronounced the condemnation not only of Apollinarius but also of Timothy, his follower. I have thought it well to insert in my history the letter in which he made this known to the bishops of the eastern empire. [a] The letter of Damasus, bishop of Rome.

“Most honored sons: since your love gives the apostolic see the reverence that is its due, receive the same yourselves in no grudging measure. For in the holy church in which the holy apostle sat, and taught us how we ought to handle the rudder committed to us, we confess ourselves unworthy of the honor. Yet for this very reason we strive by every means in our power, in the hope that we may be able to attain the glory of that blessedness. “Know, then, that we have condemned Timothy, the unholy disciple of Apollinarius the heretic, together with his impious doctrine, and we are confident that from now on what is left of him will carry no weight at all. But if that old serpent, though struck once and again, still comes back to life to his own destruction, he who, though he exists outside the church, never stops trying to overthrow certain unfaithful people with his deadly venom, then avoid it as you would a plague. Be always mindful of the apostolic faith, I mean the faith that was set out in writing by the Fathers at Nicaea. “Stand on steady ground, firm and unmoved in the faith, and from now on do not allow either your clergy or your laity to listen to empty words and futile questions. For we have already given a form, so that whoever professes himself a Christian may keep it: the form handed down by the apostles, as Saint Paul says, ‘If anyone preaches to you a gospel other than the one you received, let him be anathema.’ “For Christ the Son of God, our Lord, by his own suffering gave abundant salvation to the human race, so that he might free from all sin the whole man who was caught up in sin. If anyone speaks of Christ as having less of manhood or of Godhead, he is full of the spirits of demons and declares himself a child of hell. [b] “Why then do you ask me again for the condemnation of Timothy? He has been condemned here, by the judgment of the apostolic see, in the presence of Peter, bishop of Alexandria, together with his teacher Apollinarius, who will also undergo due punishment and torment on the day of judgment. But if he succeeds in persuading some less stable people, as though he had some hope, after changing by his confession the true hope that is in Christ, then whoever deliberately resists the order of the church will likewise perish with him. May God keep you sound, most honored sons.” [d]

The bishops gathered in great Rome also wrote other things against other heresies, which I have thought it necessary to insert in my history.