Duo Sunt

Words to reflect on

As the Holy Father begins his eleven-day African tour in Algeria, we thought it was (for many reasons) an auspicious time to recall the words of a previous Vicar of Christ, Pope Saint Gelasius I, who was reputedly born in the Roman province of Africa (today Tunisia).

An extract from Pope Gelasius I’s letter to the Roman Emperor Anastasius I, Famuli vestrae pietatis, issued in AD 494:

“For there are two, O emperor Augustus, by which the world is principally ruled: the sacred authority of pontiffs and the royal power. Among which how much heavier is the burden of priests, such that they will have to render an account to the Lord at the time of judgment even for those very kings.

For you know, O most merciful son, that although by dignity you preside over the human race, nevertheless you devoutly bow your neck to the leaders of divine matters, and from them you await the causes of your salvation, and you recognize that, in partaking of the celestial sacraments, and being disposed to them (as is appropriate), you must be submitted to the order of religion rather than rule over it. Therefore you know that in these matters you depend on their judgement, not willing to force them to your will.

For if, inasmuch as it pertains to the order of public discipline, even the bishops themselves obey your laws, knowing that rule [imperium] has been bestowed to you from on high, lest they seem in mundane things to oppose the eminent sentence; with what passion, I ask, does it become you to obey those, who have been assigned for the distribution of the venerable mysteries? Just as the danger does not fall upon pontiffs lightly, to have been silent on behalf of the cult of the Divinity, which is fitting; thus there is no slight peril to those who (perish the thought!) when they ought to obey, look askance.

And if it is settled that the faithful submit their hearts to all the priests in general who pass on divine things rightly, how much more must they submit to the prelate of that See, whom the highest Divinity willed also to be preeminent above all priests, and which the piety of the universal Church subsequently celebrated.”

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Full text available here: https://thejosias.com/2020/03/30/famuli-vestrae-pietatis/#_edn1