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Life of St Wilfrid
Eddius Stephanus, tr. Colgrave, 1927
53. [704]
And so, on a certain day the most blessed John the prelate of the Apostolic See and his most reverend fellow-bishops gathered in holy congregation ordered that chosen men of both parties, accusers and defendants, should be present at the holy gathering; and this was immediately done. For the holy Bishop Wilfrid and his venerable priests and deacons were introduced as humble suppliants; they saluted the honourable company and promised that they would accept and fulfil the decrees of that Apostolic See with the utmost goodwill. The messengers of the holy archbishop also came, in accordance with the command of the most holy men, and stood there. They were granted an opportunity of speaking, being allowed to choose any one section of their accusation and to speak first against us upon it. Afterwards they were to proceed in succession to the other counts under discussion.
They answered, “This is the first section of our accusation, that this Bishop Wilfrid here present contumaciously refused and despised, in the presence of the synod, the judgments of the holy Berhtwald, Archbishop of the Church of the Kentishmen and of all Britain, who had been sent forth from this Apostolic See. We have brought forward the opinion of our party, now do you declare your defence.”
And St Wilfrid our bishop, bowed down by honourable age, arose amid his venerable brethren, and said in the presence of all the congregation, “As a humble suppliant I pray your most excellent Holiness that you will deign to hear from me the truth of this action of my unworthy self. I was present at the council with my abbots and priests and deacons too; they sent one of the bishops there assembled to ask me on behalf of the king and the archbishop if I would consent to the judgment of the archbishop himself alone, and whether or not I was prepared to fulfil with all my heart whatever he decreed. I answered the bishop’s question in these words, ‘We ought to know what is the substance of his decision before we declare whether we are able to accept and carry it out or not.’ He asserted however that he did not know, and said that the archbishop would not declare the content of his decision by revealing it to any of our party until we had subscribed with our own hand in the presence of the council to a promise that we would choose his single judgment in all things for our observance and that we would not turn away from it to the right hand or the left. ‘Never before,’ said I, ‘have I heard of a constraint as narrow and stringent as yours, enforced upon any man, so that he should actually promise after being bound by an oath to fulfil decrees made, however impossible they might be, and that before knowing the terms of the decree.’ Nevertheless I promised there in the presence of the council that we should be found wholeheartedly to submit to the judgment of the archbishop in all things in which it was found to tally with the statutes, rules, and canonical definitions of the holy fathers and was not found in any way to be in conflict with the holy synod of Agatho and all his orthodox successors.”
Our holy bishop offered this defence and was silent. Then the holy synod answered, “Bishop Wilfrid, beloved of God, has set forth, in accordance with the canons, the defence under which he seeks shelter.”
Then they began to talk Greek among themselves and to smile covertly, saying many things which they concealed from us. Finally they said to the accusers, “You are not ignorant, dear brethren, of our practice in accordance with our canons: ‘When many charges are brought against clerics, if the first one dealt with has not been proved, let not the accusers be allowed to proceed to the others.’ But nevertheless, out of respect to the holy archbishop sent by the monarchy of this Apostolic See and out of reverence for this most blessed Bishop Wilfrid so long fraudulently despoiled, as it is asserted, we, with the help of God and St Peter the chief of the Apostles, in revealing and opening the matter, will take scrupulous care to sift all the charges thoroughly in the course of many days and months; for we desire to settle the matter finally.”
After these words the joy of victory came upon our bishop and upon his brethren, and when permission had been granted them by the holy synod, they returned to their dwellings to prepare for the conflict which was to come. Their opponents, however, on the contrary, went to their homes in confusion at the beginning of the conflict and, the clouds of their lies being dispersed by the blast of the wind of wisdom, the sun of truth began to shine by the help of God and St Peter, and the holy bishop was seen after the lapse of many days and months to be proved absolutely and entirely free of all the crime which merited the punishment of degradation. For, to be brief, after being tested throughout the space of four months in seventy sittings of the council of the most holy See, he escaped from the fiery furnace of cross-examination, the apostolic power helping him in the following way: At holy Eastertide, on the third day of the feast, when the thrice-blessed Agatho was Pope, a synod consisting of 125 orthodox bishops was held to combat the corruptions of heretics and each one of these bishops confessed the true faith on behalf of his province and city, and confirmed his confession with his signature. Now this document was being read out in a loud voice before all the people after the Roman custom, and in it there occurred among other things these words: “Wilfrid, Bishop of York, beloved of God, appealing to the Apostolic See about his cause, and absolved by its power from definite and indefinite charges, and with 125 other bishops called together in synod set in the seat of judgment, confessed the true and catholic faith for all the northern part of Britain and Ireland and the islands, which are inhabited by the races of Angles and Britons as well as Scots and Picts, and corroborated it with his signature.”
When they had heard these things all the wise citizens of Rome were amazed. Then Boniface and Sizentius and some others, who had known and seen him in the days of Agatho of blessed memory, said that “this same Bishop Wilfrid beloved of God was now present with them, whom the most blessed Agatho had formerly sent to his own home, purified and absolved from all the charges of his adversaries by Apostolic authority; and now once again, alas! the plots of his enemies had made him wander from his own see. For forty years and more he had held the office of bishop. False accusers, provided with forged documents, dared to accuse so honourable an old man together with his venerable brethren; and one mere deacon, so to speak, and others, all without any rank of ecclesiastical dignity, in their rash temerity, ventured to make charges against a person of the highest rank at a gathering of the Apostolic See. They are only fit to undergo punishment and to waste away in the deepest of dungeons until they die.” Then the Romans declared that they had spoken the truth.
But the most blessed John, Pope of the Apostolic See, said: “The blessed Wilfrid, a bishop beloved of God, in whom we have found no reproach of guilt, though we have examined the matter so diligently in so many councils, let him be declared acquitted by the authority of the blessed Apostle Peter, chief of the Apostles, who has the power of binding and loosing from secret sins. And what the blessed Agatho, the elect Benedict, and the holy Sergius, the chiefs of the Apostolic See, have decided concerning him, we in our unworthiness, with the consent of the whole synod, have decided to confirm—even the judgments which were written and sent to the kings and archbishops by the hands of the blessed Bishop Wilfrid. The writing is as follows: