To Flavian, Bishop of Constantinople, on the Slanders Against Him

Most God-beloved lord, in these days I have been battered by many waves, but I have called on the great Helmsman and have been able to stand firm against the storm. The attacks now made on me, however, go beyond any story in a tragedy. In view of the attacks being plotted against the apostolic faith, I thought I would find an ally and fellow worker in the most godly bishop of Alexandria, the lord Dioscorus. So I sent him one of our pious presbyters, a man of remarkable good sense, with a synodical letter. It informed his piety that we stand by the agreement made in the time of Cyril, of blessed memory, and that we accept the letter Cyril wrote, as well as the one written by the most blessed and holy Athanasius to the blessed Epictetus, and, before these, the statement of the faith laid down at Nicaea in Bithynia by the holy and blessed fathers. We urged him to persuade those who are unwilling to stand by these documents to do so at once. But one of the opposing party, who keep these disturbances going, has tricked some of the people on the spot, invented countless slanders against me, and stirred up a wicked agitation against me. [a]

The most godly bishop Dioscorus has written us a letter such as should never have been written by one who has learned from the God of all not to listen to empty words. He has believed the charges brought against me as though he had personally looked into every one of them and reached the truth after questioning, and so he has condemned me. I, however, have borne the slanderous charge bravely. I have written him a courteous letter in reply, pointing out to his piety that the whole charge is false, and that not one of the godly bishops of the East holds opinions contrary to the apostolic decrees. What is more, the pious clergy he sent as messengers have been convinced by the plain evidence of the facts. Yet he has sent them away unheard, and, lending his ears to my slanderers, he has acted in a way that would be quite unbelievable if the whole church did not bear witness to it. He put up with those who were shouting “Anathema” against me. More than that, he stood up in his place and confirmed their words by adding his voice to theirs. Besides all this, as we have learned, he sent certain godly bishops to the imperial city, hoping to increase the agitation against me. [c]

For my part, first of all I have as my champion the one who sees all things, for it is on behalf of the divine decrees that I am wrestling. Next after him, I call on your holiness to fight in defense of the faith that is under attack, and to do battle on behalf of the canons that are being trampled underfoot. When the blessed fathers assembled in that imperial city, in harmony with those who had sat in council at Nicaea, they set out the boundaries of the dioceses and assigned to each diocese the management of its own affairs. They expressly ordered that no one should intrude from one diocese into another. They ordered that the bishop of Alexandria should govern Egypt alone, and each diocese its own affairs. Dioscorus, however, refuses to abide by these decisions. He is turning the see of the blessed Mark upside down. And he does this though he knows perfectly well that the metropolis of Antioch holds the throne of the great Peter, who was the teacher of the blessed Mark, and the first and leader of the chorus of the apostles. [e] But I know the dignity of the see, and I know myself and take my own measure. I learned the humility of the Apostles from the beginning. I beg your holiness not to overlook the trampling of the holy canons underfoot, and to come forward eagerly as champion of the divine faith. For in that faith we have hope of our salvation, and because of it we are confident that we will find mercy.

So that your holiness may not be unaware of this, know, my lord, that he has shown ill will toward me ever since I gave my assent, in obedience to the canons of the holy fathers, to the synodical letters issued from your see in the time of Proclus, of blessed memory. He has rebuked me for this more than once, on the grounds that I was violating the rights of the church of Antioch and, as he says, of the church of Alexandria. Remembering this, and finding what he thinks is an opportunity, he has shown his hostility openly. But nothing is stronger than the truth. The truth usually wins even with few words. I beg your holiness to remember me in your prayers to the Lord, so that I may have strength to prevail against the waves that are tossing me this way and that. [f]