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English Correspondence

St Boniface, tr. Kylie, 1911

Letter 27: Daniel, Bishop of Winchester, Replies to Boniface. He Urges Him to Persevere.…

To the most reverend lord, deserving of reverence from all orthodox Christians, conspicuously adorned with varied knowledge and the grace of many virtues, Archbishop Boniface, Daniel, servant of the people of God, the most sincere greetings in the Lord, who reigns supreme over all the summits of the heavens.

When we read thy letter we were much moved by sorrow because it seems intolerable to those who love, if a misfortune befalls those by whom they are beloved. But after much reflection we found consolation in this thought that the unfathomable guile of the crafty enemy would never have tried to storm the rites of your faith with such violence or such varied assaults of war or error through the persons of high-placed priests or any other reprobates, if he did not recognise in it the excellence of greater merit. And so it behooves you, first of all, to attend to it, that the glorious undertaking which is, in my opinion, to be compared with the struggles of the apostles, be not abandoned because of the snares of those, who, trained in guile, are accustomed to resist saving doctrine. But the burden of difficulties laid upon us must be the more willingly borne, the more certain we are that for the saints and martyrs there is in the world only distress, but in heaven, by the promise of the Lord, the most abundant recompense. If only we have patience in tribulation we shall deserve to have Him as our helper here,. and there where we shall rejoice with the Lord, as the giver of our reward. Therefore, since thy love has deigned to seek advice from my weakness, we think it will be helpful, if with unconquered patience thou dost try to endure still further what cannot come without the providence of God.

Wherefore, although the danger of attacks from without is cruel and terrible strife within works yet more fearful harm; — and at this I do not wonder, since Jesus Christ once declared that for His name’s sake, brother must be delivered up to death by brother, and the child must be slain by his father and the parents by their children; though they seek to destroy the work of God by superstitious practices in the taking of food, which will perish as surely in the use of men, though, in the pursuit of false gain, or to win flattery or praise for themselves, and abuse for you, they falsely promise the people safety, and with a feigned friendliness keep repeating the name of peace, and according to the prophecy of Isaiah, “call evil good and good evil” and the rest¹; though they try to choke the seed entrusted to you by sowing with it the barren cockle which, as we shall explain more fully below, it is forbidden to root out at any time before it ripens to the harvest; — though, I say, to deceive the hearts of the ignorant they bring forth doctrines hitherto unheard of, which, when introduced for the moment, are likely to escape you, excellently trained in the Holy Scriptures, as little as the arguments which may fittingly be used against them; although, and I shall put it briefly, not to delay thee longer by proceeding from point to point, they try every wicked and factious argument to harass and vanquish you, yet, following the example of the saints who have gone before, you must at least bear with perseverance what you cannot cure by correction.

Concerning the priestly character of homicides and adulterers, who without any repentance, stubbornly persist in their sins, the holy canons and the decrees of the pontiffs give you sufficient explanation. If to homicides, who at the end of their lives do instant penance, absolution, that is the grace of communion with Christ, is granted, how can the care of ruling a Christian community be entrusted to them while they are yet unchanged? But an adulterer, who even late in the day has not repented of his lust, how can he justly usurp the priestly office, when, according to the degrees of Pope Innocent and others, he who marries a widow or a second wife, must be barred, not only from the holding of ecclesiastical office, but even from the clerical state? And while concessions have been granted because of the weakness of the flesh, yet adultery is forbidden by all authorities.

From intercourse with false brethren or priests, what counsel could avail to separate thee in bodily things, unless perchance thou art to withdraw entirely from this world? These persons strive to push in everywhere and always; by such dangers the apostle Paul asserted that he was ensnared. And other founders of the Christian religion confess that they have suffered the like or that it must be borne by posterity.

Thou sayst that thou keepst entirely apart from them in the offering of the holy sacrifice, lest thou mightst seem to give the host to dogs — what Saint Augustine thought on this we shall work in below with the rest of the argument — and that thou dost never dwell among them freely, of thine own will and consent, but only from the force of necessity; concerning which Jerome² declares: “In the gospel the will is desired and even if it has not a result it does not lose its reward.” But if, let us allow for argument’s sake, thou must associate with these in the taking of food or in thy habitation, did not He, “who came not to call the just but sinners to repentance,”³ go to the tables of sinners, that he might have the opportunity of teaching. So if thou must associate with these so far as sometimes to approach the king with them and beg for the peace of the Church, because these pretend generally like true shepherds to intercede for the sheep, let us first of all be assured that what was written must be fulfilled: “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man” and the rest,⁴ and “to all the higher powers” and the rest.⁵

Secondly, it must be considered that the parable of the wheat and the tares is put before us to suggest the mixture of good men and bad. And, as Augustine remarks,⁶ “clean and unclean animals are said to have entered into the ark. Nor did the unclean animals enter in at will through a broken corner of the ark, but undisturbed through one and the same door, which the builder had wrought. There is not given to the good,” he says, “through these figures and analogies any counsel of sloth, by which they may neglect what they ought to check, but the counsel of patience, by which they are to bear, so long as the doctrine of truth is preserved, what they cannot change.” And he says,⁷ “Wherefore when we find in the Church evildoers, whom we cannot correct or repress by ecclesiastical discipline, then let there not ascend into our hearts an unholy and harmful presumption, whereby we think that we may be separated from these, so as not to be defiled by their sins, and that we must try to bring after us clean and holy disciples, withdrawn, as it were, by a common bond from the companionship with the wicked. Let there come into the mind those parables from Scripture, which show that the bad are mingled with the good in the Church and to the end of time and the Day of Judgment, and that no harm will come to the good from a union and share in the sacraments with them because they have not consented to their deeds.”

“But since with those through whom the Church is ruled there rests, without prejudice to peace, the power of discipline to be exercised against the wicked and abandoned, then, lest we should sleep in supineness and neglect, we must be roused by the good spur of the other precepts which enjoin stern repression. As there is a method of dissembling and of tolerating the wicked in the Church, there is likewise a way of castigating and improving them, without losing or driving them from the fold⁸: so that we must not grow slack in the name of patience, nor show undue severity under the pretence of diligence.”⁹

I shall tell thee, too, what I have gleaned from the works of ancient writers; in such dangerous and barbarous times it may usefully be committed to memory. If, perchance, in showing such toleration thou art falsely accused by any one for practising a kind of pretence or even deceit, we read that a useful simulation may be practised on occasion. Employing it Cephas “withdrew and separated himself, fearing them”¹⁰ and the rest. And the vessel of election had his head shorn, and circumcised Timothy. The Son of God Himself made as though He would go farther, and as though He did not know what He knew, as it is written in the gospel, “Who is it that touched Me?”¹¹ and “Where have ye laid him?”¹² And the psalmist changed his countenance before Abimelech¹³; and Joseph spoke in jest to his brothers. So, too, Israel covered his loins with goat skins. This he did that he might be thought to be another than he was; which if studied diligently and faithfully becomes not a lie, but a mystery. By the goat skins are signified the sins and by him who concealed himself in them is denoted one who bears the sins of others.

These things we have written to thy love with much hesitation, not thinking thee unacquainted with the ancient authorities or in need of advice from our ignorance, but in order that we should not fail to meet thy wishes in anything, and because we had learned that thou hadst difficulties with powerful people. Yet we have spoken, urged on rather by love and obedience than through reliance on our own skill or courage, merely to explain, not to command. We should not wish to oppose in anything those who are beyond measure excellent.

Thine exhortations to bear patiently grievous bodily illness we have gladly received. And so far as our strength suffices, with the help of the Lord, who of His mercy has admonished us, we shall obey thy helpful words.

This in your loving kindness you should know, that though we are separated by a wide stretch of land, and the immensity of the sea, and the uneven climate of the sky, yet we are oppressed by the same burden of suffering. Satan’s activity is the same here as there, and so I diligently beg you, that we vigorously fortify ourselves with a mutual interchange of prayer, remembering the words which the Lord has said: “For where two or three are gathered together,” and the rest.¹⁴

Farewell, farewell, my hundredfold beloved.¹⁵

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