Letter 2007: Avitus, bishop of Vienne, to Peter, bishop of Ravenna.

Avitus, bishop of Vienne, to Peter, bishop of Ravenna. Even if there were no other reason by which the meeting of my devotion might seek out your blessedness through the service of a letter, it would be just that you be honored by all, you who by your holy reputation make known to all the longing for you. For it is fitting that you be sought after no less than the Roman see, since you shine forth not more by that power than you do by love. Having first sent, as is owed, a greeting to that reverence of yours, I confess to your apostolate, though with embarrassment, the ignorance of Gaul. Nor do I think it any better for anyone to pretend that he knows something than to have learned it, if he does not know. What matters are transacted between the Roman or the Constantinopolitan church, we do not learn by any official authority, but rather we catch at them from rumors and the variety of messengers. And therefore, lest perhaps we be believed as negligent as we are rustic, the whole province now consults, through the clergy of Vienne, the holy pope and your blessedness, so that you may set forth, by the wholesome light of a reply, those things which have been settled for you concerning the state of the faith with the party of the East. For since it is fitting that doctrine be furnished beforehand, of one's own accord, even to teachers placed far away, care must be taken for the soundness of the body, so that the members may always recognize the prosperity of their own head. Wherefore, if to your servants, my sons, whom I have directed for this very purpose, the opportunity of approaching all the way to Rome be granted, through two leaders of the church Gaul will have abundance to be instructed. But if perhaps those whom we have sent should return from your see, your apostolate's faithful response will become for us the fullness of all instruction, which may reach to all. To the holy lord, most preeminent in merits, most glorious in Christ and apostolic [...]

Avitus episcopus Viennensis Petro episcopo Ravennati. Etiamsi alia causa non esset, qua beatitudinem vestram litterario famulatu oc- cursus meae devotionis expeteret, iustum esset vos ab omnibus excoli, qui opinione sancta desiderium vestri omnibus intimatis. Dignum quippe est vos expeti non mi- nus sede Romana, quia non magis potestate illa quam vos caritate fulgetis. Cuius reverentiae, ut debitum est, salutatione praemissa fateor apostolatui vestro, etsi cum verecundia, ignorantiam Gallicanam. Nec melius esse puto quemquam simulare, quod sciat, quam didicisse, si nesciat. Quae inter Romanam vel Constantinopolitanam ec- clesiam res agantur, non quacumque auctoritate cognoscimus, sed de rumoribus ma- gis ac nuntiorum varietate captamus. Et ideo, ne forte quam rustici tam neglegentes credamur, sanctum papam et beatitudinem vestram per Viennenses clericos provincia tota nunc consulit, ut quae vobis de statu fidei cum Orientis parte definita sint, re- scripta salubri lumine declaretis. Quia cum magistris etiam procul positis ultro de- ceat praerogare doctrinam, curandum est soliditati corporis, ut semper prosperitatem capitis sui membra cognoscant. Quocirca si servis vestris, filiis meis, quos in id ipsum direxi, tribuatur accedendi usque ad Romam facultas, per duos ecclesiae prin- cipes abundabit Gallias erudiri. Quod si forsitan a sede vestra, quos misimus, rever- tentur, vestri apostolatus fida responsio fiet nobis totius instructionis, quae ad cunctos perveniat, plenitudo. Domino sancto, meritis praecellentissimo, in Christo gloriosissimo et apostolica