LXXXIV. To the Bishops of Cilicia. 1779
Your piety has heard of the calumnies directed against me. The opponents of the truth allege that I divide our one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, into two sons, and it is said by some that a ground for their calumny is derived from a handful of men among you who hold these opinions, and who divide God the Word made man into two sons. They ought to listen to those words of the Apostle which openly declare “one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things,” 1780 and again “one Lord, one faith, one baptism.” 1781 They ought to have followed the Master’s teaching, for the Lord Himself says “And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in Heaven.” 1782 And again “If ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where He was before.” 1783 And the tradition of holy baptism teaches us that there is one Son, just as there is one Father and one Holy Ghost. I hope then that your piety will deign, if there really are any, though I cannot believe it, who disobey the apostolic doctrines to close their mouths, to rebuke them as the laws of the Church require, and teach them to follow the footsteps of the holy Fathers and preserve undefiled the faith laid down at Nicæa in Bithynia by the holy and blessed Fathers, as summing p. 281 up the teaching of Evangelists and Apostles. For it becomes you who love God to give heed both to God’s glory and our common credit, and not to overlook the attacks which are made upon us all through the ignorance or contentiousness of these few men—if they really are guilty, and if they are not, like ourselves, suffering from the whetted tongues of false accusers.
Deign to remember us in your prayers to God, for so the law of love ordains.
This encyclical is probably of the same date as the preceding.
280:1780 280:1781 280:1782 280:1783