To all the genuine Christian children of the Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic
Eastern Church of Christ in Târgoviste and throughout the world: Grace,
peace, and mercy from God Almighty.

No small tempest overtook that ancient Ark, when, violently buffeted by
waves, it was borne upon the waters, and had not the Lord God remembered
Noah and seen fit to still the water, there would have been no hope of sal- vation for it at all. Thus also with regard to the New Ark of our Church, since
misbelievers have launched an implacable war against us, we have decided to
leave behind the present Tomos against them, so that by means of what is
written herein you may be able to defend your Orthodoxy more securely
against such men. However, lest our composition be burdensome to simpler
people, we have decided to frame the issue in the vernacular, wording it as
follows:

In the vernacular

From old Rome there have come certain persons who learned there to
think as the Latins do. What is bad about this is how, from being born and
bred Romans [Pωµαῖοι, i.e., Greeks] of Roumele, they not only have changed
their faith, but even wage war upon the Orthodox and true dogmas of the
Eastern Church which Christ, the Divine Apostles, and the Holy Synods of the
Holy Fathers have handed down to us. Hence, cutting off these persons as rot- ten members, we decree:
(1) Whoever does not confess with heart and mouth that he is a child of the
Eastern Church baptized in the Orthodox manner, and that the Holy Spirit
proceeds from the Father alone, essentially and hypostatically, as Christ says
in the Gospel, but temporally from the Father and the Son, let such a person be
outside our Church and let him be anathematized.
(2) Whoever does not confess that at the Mystery of Holy Communion the
laity, too, must partake of both kinds, of the Precious Body and Blood, but
instead says that it is sufficient to partake only of the Body, only of the Flesh,
because therein is also the Blood, when as a matter of fact Christ said and administered
each separately, and they who fail to observe these matters, let such
persons be anathematized.
(3) Whoever says that our Lord Jesus Christ at the Mystical Supper had
unleavened bread (made without yeast), as did the Hebrews, and not leavened
bread, that is, bread raised with yeast, let him depart far away from us and let
him be anathema, as one holding Jewish views and as bringing the doctrines of
Apollinarios and of the Armenians into our Church, on which account let him
be doubly anathema.
(4) Whoever says that our Christ and God, when He comes to judge, will
not come to judge souls together with bodies, but instead will come to sentence
only bodies, let him be anathema.
(5) Whoever says that the souls of Christians who have repented while in
the world but have failed to perform their penitential rule of prayer [ϰανόνα],
go to the purgatorial fire when they die, where there is flame and punishment,
and are purified, which is a pagan Greek myth, and those who, like Origen,
think that Hell is not everlasting, and thereby afford an occasion of license to
commit sin, let him and all such persons be anathema.
(6) Whoever says that the Pope is the head of the Church, and not Christ,
and that he has authority to admit persons to Paradise by his letters [of indulgence]
and can forgive as many sins as a person may commit who pays
money to receive indulgences (certificates of forgiveness) from him, let such
a person be anathema.
(7) Whoever does not follow the customs of the Church, as the Seven Holy
OEcumenical Synods have decreed, and Holy Pascha, and the Menologion,
which they rightly made it a law that we should follow, and wishes to follow
the newly invented Paschalion and the New Menologion of the atheist astronomers
of the Pope, and opposes all of these things and wishes to overthrow
and destroy the dogmas and customs of the Church that have been handed
down by our Fathers, let him be anathema and let him be put out of the
Church of Christ and out of the assembly of the faithful.
(8) As for you pious and Orthodox Christians, remain faithful in what you
have been taught and have been born and brought up in, and when the time
calls for it and the need arises, let your very blood be shed in order to safeguard
the Faith handed down by our Fathers and your confession; and beware
of such persons as the aforementioned, in order that our Lord Jesus Christ may
help you, and at the same time may the prayer of us, your humble servants, be
with all of you. Amen.

In the year of the God-Man 1583, in the Twelfth Indiction, November 20.

Jeremiah of Constantinople
Sylvester of Alexandria
Sophronios of Jerusalem
And the rest of the Hierarchs present at the Synod

The Tomos of Cyril Loukaris, Patriarch of Alexandria, in Târgoviste, Moldavia,
1616

Cyril, by the mercy of God
Pope and Patriarch of the great city of Alexandria
and Judge of the inhabited earth
To all the Orthodox Christians in Târgovite, both those listed among the
clergy and those belonging to the laity, genuine children of the Holy, Catholic,
and Apostolic Eastern Church of Christ, who rightly abhor and reject, for the
sake of Evangelical truth, every empty utterance and addition of both the
heretics and the Latins who insidiously wage war against our Orthodox Faith:
Grace, peace, and mercy from God Almighty and our Lord Jesus Christ, our
Savior.
No small tempest overtook that ancient Ark, when, violently buffeted and
tossed by waves, it was borne upon the waters, with the floodgates sending
down furious showers of rain by Divine permission and, as it were, menacing
those in the Ark, and there was no hope for those enclosed therein of finding
deliverance, had not God remembered Noah the steersman and seen fit to still
the water. These things, I believe, were a foreshadowing of the woes that even
now beset the New Ark, that is, our Church. We do not expect these woes to
desist, unless God should lay to rest and subdue these evil torrents, which destroy
simpler souls. For, envying the profound peace of the Church in this city,
they have launched an implacable war against us and have continued to
disturb the tranquility that exists here. Being minded, therefore, to leave behind
the present Tomos against them, so that it might be a panoply for all of
you and so that by means of what is written herein you may be able to defend
your Orthodoxy more securely against such men, we deemed it meet, lest our
composition be burdensome to simpler people, to put the entire issue before
you in the vernacular, wording it as follows:
From old Rome there have come certain persons who learned there to
think as the Latins do. What is bad about this is how, from being born and
bred Romans [Pωμαῖοι, i.e., Greeks] of Roumele—whose parents, I can aver,
have never even seen a Westerner—and by going to Rome, they not only have
changed their faith, but even wage war upon the true and Orthodox dogmas
of the Eastern Church which Christ, the Divine and sacred Disciples of the
Savior, and the Synods of the Holy Fathers have handed down to us. Therefore,
since we are going to depart from here, we enjoin you, of your charity, to
stand firm in your piety and in your Orthodoxy. And as for such Latinizers
and corrupters of your consciences, let them not have so much as a hearing
from you, but reject them as heretics and enemies of your salvation, whenever
they speak to you against these things that we write here below. No, you
should think in their manner.
First, whoever does not confess with heart and mouth, and indeed, whoever
calls himself a Roman [Pωμαῖος, i.e., a Greek] and a child of the Eastern
Church, and is baptized in the Greek Christian manner, as we are, and then
does not confess that the All-Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father alone,
essentially and hypostatically, and that He proceeds from the Father and the
Son temporally: whoever does not confess thus, but says that the Spirit
proceeds from the Father and the Son, let him be outside our Church, let him
not have any communion with us, and let him be anathema.
Secondly, whoever does not confess that at the Mystery of Communion the
laity, too, must partake of the precious and immaculate Body and Blood, but
instead says that they should commune only of the immaculate Body and not
of the Blood as well, let him be outside the Church and let him be anathema.
And in addition to this, whoever says that it is sufficient to partake only of the
Flesh, because therein is also the Blood, whereas Christ said and administered
each separately, and fails to observe these matters, let such persons be anathema.
Thirdly, whoever says that our Lord Jesus Christ at the Mystical Supper
had unleavened bread, like the Jews, and not leavened bread, that is, bread raised
by yeast, let him depart far away from us and let him be anathema, as one
holding Jewish views and as bringing the doctrines of Apollinarios and of the
Armenians into our Church, on which account let him be doubly anathema.
Fourthly, whoever says that our Lord Jesus Christ, when He comes to
judge, will not come for the sake of souls, but will come to sentence bodies, let
him be anathema.
Fifthly, whoever says that the souls of Christians who have repented while
in this world but have failed to perform their penitential rule of prayer [ϰανό-
να], when they are parted from their bodies, go to the purgatorial fire, where
there is flame, torment, and punishment, which is a pagan Greek myth, let him
be anathema, since they give Christians license to sin.
Sixthly, whoever says that the Pope of Rome is the head of the Church, and
not Christ, let him be anathema.
Whoever opposes these precepts in order to overthrow and destroy them,
let him be anathema.
As for you, my Christians, I beseech you, for the Lord’s sake and for the
sake of what is profitable for your souls, to beware of these wolves, whoever
they may be, and to read this Tomos frequently in Church, so that you may be
familiar with the points on which such men are going to war against you.
Throughout their lives they have not learned anything other than to oppose us
Orthodox Christians, in order that destruction and ill-treatment might be
inflicted on our nation by Latins. Let us not listen to them, but let us stand
firm as far away as possible. Beseech God that you not enter into temptation
on account of the Faith. However, when there is great need, it is a sweet thing
for a man to shed his blood for the sake of piety. But in so great a matter, God
will not allow it, so that your enemies may prove wholly insignificant and, by
the Grace of Christ, ignorant and blind. Yet, guard yourselves and beware of
such men. May our Lord Jesus Christ help you, bless you, and grant you a
peaceful state, and at the same time may the prayer of your humble servant be
with all of you. Amen.