To Athanasius, Presbyter of Isauria, Cleared of Heresy

Gregory to Athanasius, presbyter of Isauria. We are grieved and mourn for those whom the error of heretical depravity has cut off from the unity of the church, and in the same way we rejoice with those whom their profession of the catholic faith keeps within her bosom. And as it is our duty to oppose the impiety of the first with pastoral care, so it is fitting for us to show favor to the devout professions of the second, and to declare their views sound. [a]

Now a suspicion of unsound faith arose against you, Athanasius, presbyter of the monastery of Saint Mile, called Tamnacus, which stands in the province of Lycaonia. So that the soundness of your profession of faith might be made plain, you chose to have recourse to the Apostolic See over which we preside. You also declared that, after being physically punished, you had done some things wrongly and rashly. Things done under compulsion by no means fall under the censure of the canons, and they are rightly counted as of no weight, since the man who compels someone to confess and do what is unjust makes them void himself. And the confession that ought rather to be received and embraced is the one shown to come from free will, as is known to be the case with the one you made before us. Still, to avoid any possibility of doubt, we took the precaution of writing about you to our brother and fellow bishop, who presides over the city of Constantinople, so that he might let us know by letter what had been done. After we had reminded him often, he wrote back to the effect that a book had been found in your possession containing many heretical statements, and that for this reason he had been angered against you. Wishing to satisfy us, he lent it to us. We read its earlier parts attentively, and since we found in it the plain poison of heretical depravity, we forbade it to be read any more.

But you have assured us that you read it in simplicity. And to cut off all ground for doubtful suspicion, you have handed us a paper in your own handwriting. In it, setting out your faith, you have most plainly condemned all heresies in general, and whatever is opposed to the soundness of the catholic faith or profession. You have declared that you always received, and still receive, all that the four holy ecumenical synods receive, and that you condemned, and still condemn, what they condemn. You have also promised to accept and hold to the synod held in the time of the emperor Justinian about the Three Chapters. And when we forbade you to read that same book, in which the poison of pestilent error is woven, you rejected and condemned everything said in it, or hidden within it, against the soundness of the catholic faith, and promised that you will not read it again. Moved by these reasons, then, and since your faith has also plainly appeared to us to be catholic, from the paper in your own hand, God guarding you, we decree that, according to your profession, you are free from every stain of heretical perversity, and catholic. We pronounce that by the grace of Christ Jesus our Savior you have proved yourself in all things a professor and follower of the unadulterated faith. And we give you free leave, despite everything, to return to your monastery and take up again your place and rank.

We wish also to write about this matter to our most beloved brother, who presides over the city of Constantinople, and who has been ordained in place of the holy John mentioned above. But since it is the custom that we do not write before his synodical letter has reached us, we have held back. After it reaches us, we will tell him about these things when we find a suitable opportunity. [e]