CHAPTER 32: The synod’s reply
CHAPTER 32
The synod’s reply
THE whole synod, headed by Pope Agatho and exercising its lawful authority, promulgated, among its various decrees, the following decision:
‘We decree and lay down that Bishop Wilfrid, God’s beloved, is to take possession of the see which until recent times was his, according to the terms previously defined. He will summon a council to help him choose coadjutors, men with whom he will be able to live without friction, as the existing rule demands. These are to be consecrated by the archbishop. Those who, in defiance of the law, have taken over in his absence are to be expelled without hesitation. If anyone should be rash enough to attempt to resist these statutes of the synod or refuse to obey them or at any later date should try to infringe them in whole or in part, then, without regard to either their present or future rank, they shall be overthrown. This we enjoin on the authority of the Prince of the Apostles. If it be a bishop who dares to flout this holy ordinance, let him be degraded from episcopal rank and be forever anathema, and similarly with priest or deacon or minor cleric. Indeed, whether he be cleric, monk, or layman of any degree, even king, let him be made an outcast from the Body and Blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ; may he not be counted worthy to look upon Him at His awful Second Coming. But he who with sincere devotion and complete accord receives, holds, and carries out or helps to bring to perfection these our ordinances, may he see ‘the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living’, may his part be with those who sit at God’s right hand, may he possess eternal beatitude and, with all those who have won favour in the sight of God and gained unending glory, may he be found worthy to hear, as a reward for that obedience which God prizes beyond all sacrifice, the divine voice of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Universal Judge, pronounce the words: “Come ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”’1