Holding Fast to the Faith of the Fathers

Whoever, then, contradicts these apostolic and catholic rulings, first of all necessarily insults the memory of holy Celestine, who decreed that novelty should cease to assail antiquity. Next, he treats as nothing the decision of holy Sixtus, whose ruling was, “Let no license be allowed to novelty, since it is not fitting that any addition be made to antiquity.” Moreover, he condemns the judgment of blessed Cyril, who praised highly the zeal of the venerable Capreolus in wanting the ancient doctrines of the faith confirmed and new inventions condemned. Further still, he tramples on the Council of Ephesus, that is, on the decisions of the holy bishops of almost the whole East. Under God’s guidance they decreed that those who came after should believe nothing except what the sacred antiquity of the holy fathers, in agreement in Christ, had held. With one voice and with loud acclaim they testified that these were the words of all, this was the wish of all, this was the judgment of all: that as almost all heretics before Nestorius, despising antiquity and upholding novelty, had been condemned, so Nestorius too, the author of novelty and the assailant of antiquity, should be condemned. Whoever disapproves of their agreed ruling, inspired by the gift of sacred and heavenly grace, must hold that the profaneness of Nestorius was condemned unjustly. Finally, he despises as cheap and worthless the whole church of Christ, and its teachers, apostles, and prophets, and above all the blessed apostle Paul. He despises the church, because she has never failed in loyalty to the duty of cherishing and preserving the faith once for all delivered to her. He despises Saint Paul, who wrote, “O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you, avoiding profane novelties of words,” and again, “If anyone preaches to you anything other than what you have received, let him be accursed.” But if neither the commands of the apostles nor the decrees of the church may be violated, those by which, in keeping with the sacred consent of universality and antiquity, all heretics have always been rightly and deservedly condemned, and last of all Pelagius, Caelestius, and Nestorius, then surely all catholics who are eager to prove themselves true sons of Mother Church must from now on hold fast to the holy faith of the holy fathers, be wedded to it, and die in it. As for the profane novelties of profane men, they must detest them, abhor them, oppose them, and give them no quarter. [a]

These matters, treated more fully in the two preceding Commonitories, I have now put together more briefly by way of summary. In this way my memory, to aid which I wrote them, may on the one hand be refreshed by frequent reference, and on the other may not be wearied by long-windedness.