Letter 10

From: Hormisdas, Pope of Rome To: Emperor Anastasius I, Constantinople Date: ~515-516 AD Context: A major diplomatic letter sent via a formal papal delegation including bishops Ennodius and Fortunatus, laying out Rome's firm conditions for ending the Acacian Schism: the condemnation of Acacius and adherence to the definitions of the fathers must not be compromised. Hormisdas to the Emperor Anastasius Augustus. Delivered by the bishops Ennodius and Fortunatus, the priest Venantius, the deacon Vitalis, and the notary Hilarus. It is right and beneficial that Your Serenity exercises the sharp focus of imperial authority not only in administering the affairs of the republic but, ennobling it with higher purposes, also seeks to placate the Author of your revered empire through the work of restoring unity. For rulers can be certain of their protection so long as the purity of the church is not stained by the devil's unwelcome intrusion under their watch. How can the people direct pure prayers to our God on behalf of their rulers if the populace is lethally corrupted by faithlessness? For just as perfect wisdom in the sight of God is the first of all good things in emperors, so prayer on their behalf must proceed from the sanctuary of pure hearts and from a faithful abundance of souls. No material for triumph, most exalted lord, could be more joyful for you than the conquest of faithlessness. We say this with confidence and by the privilege of the office entrusted to us, because it is close to the point where one allows the brilliance of his own position to be darkened by another's cloud — the man who, when God grants him the power to remove it, permits the darkness of error to persist among his subjects. Since your Gentleness has announced a future council in your most sacred writings, and has informed us in those same pages — with God, as we believe, commanding you — that we ought to attend, we rejoice. We know that it is the mark of upright minds to seek the teachers of the venerable church; only those whose conscience does not hold to what is just shrink from examination. For even with silent lips, the person who seeks to be confirmed or corrected through the apostolic and spotless faith and through qualified preachers proclaims the radiance of a good will. Nevertheless, although there is no precedent for this in any previous age, and although no parallel case has been committed to books or preserved in memory, this is nothing to us — for whom it is sweet, by God's gift and at Your Piety's invitation, to begin something better and to impose upon ourselves the undertaking of so noble a work that we did not receive from our fathers. For we gladly embrace doing everything for the restoration of the faith and the peace of the churches — provided, however, that the definition of our predecessors and the teaching of the holy fathers remains unshaken at its roots.

HORMTSDA ANASTASIO AUGUSTO. PER ENNODIUM ET FORTUNATUM EPISCOPOS UEXANTIUM PRESBYTERUM UITALEM DIACONa'S ET HILARUM NOTARirM. Bene atque utiliter serenitas uestra curam prin- cipalis acuminis non tantum in administrando rei publicae 6 exercet officio sed melioribus eam nobilitans institutis per curam redintegrandae unitatis auctorem uenerandi placat imperii. certi sunt enim de tutela regnantes, si nulla isdem praesi- dentibus ecclesiae castitas importuna diaboli commixtione 2 maculetur. unde enim potest fieri, ut nitidas <pro> princi- lo pibus ad deum nostrum preces dirigat, si sit letaliter popuhis perfidia corruptus? nam sicut ante bona omnia est perfecta iuxta deum in imperatoribus sapientia, ita de sacrario mundorum pectorum pro his supplicatio debet et fideli animarum ubertate procedere. nuUa uobis, sublimissime domine, i5 triumphorum materia poterit esse iocundior quam de subiu- gatioue perfidiae. hoc etiam fiducialiter et pro commissi nobis officii praerogatiua suggerimus, quia prope est, ut suum splendorem aliena patiatur nube fuscari, qui cum deo tribuente amouere possit, in subditis tenebras manere permittit eiTorum, 20 3 ergo quia mansuetudo uestra futuram synodum scriptis sacratissimis indicauit, cui nos interesse debere isdem paginis deo, ut credimus, sibi imperante commonuit, gaudemus scientes, quoniam directarummentium est uenerabilis ecclesiae magistros expetere; soli enim declinant examen conscientiae, quae iusta 25 12 cf. Sapient 6—9 passim Epist. CXV 2—7. 511 sunt, non tenentes. nam et feriato ore splendorem bonae nolantatis enuntiat, qui per apostolicam inmaculatamque fidem et per competentes praedicatores aut confirmari se optat aut corrigi. uerumtamen licet in his nuUum saeculi 4 s praecedentis exsistat exeniplum neque senioris facti qualitas aut commissa libris aut memoriis inserta teneatur, niliil ad nos, quibus dulce est beneficio dei pietate uestra inuitante inchoare meliora et hoc, quod non accepimus a parentibus, tam clari operis institutum nobis ipsis imponere: quia totum 5 wpro redintegratione fidei <et> ecclesiarum pace facere libenter amplectimur, si tamen maiorum nostrorum definitio et sanctorum patmm in suis radicibus inconcussa permaneat, si anathema- tizetur Xestorius cum participibus suis, qui euacuans diuinae sacramenta naturae beatam Mariam uirginem nudi hominis u mentitur esse genetricem oblitus angelicae annuntiationis, per quam mundo innotuit, quia quod ex ea nasceretur, uocan- dum esset sanctum, filius dei. facessat impiorum tam contu- 6 meliosa in deo honorificentia, quoniam sic est in utero uirginis operata diuinitas, ut ex ea unita sibi procederet carnis animaeque » humanae indiscreta quidem sed non confusa conexione substantia, et sic in utrisque naturis pro nostrae redemptionis dilectione Christi lesu nostri persona una est aedificante mysterio » * restitutione mortem subire potuisset « « naturae fragilitatem caelestis imperii ualuerit uirtute reparare uel ita pro unitate «personae et dominus maiestatis crucifixus et filius hominis credatur descendisse de caelo. Eutvchetis quoque ignor * • 7 bonorum omnium et ipso cum sociis detestanda iam nomine 16 Luc. 1, 35 1 non tenentes V: continentes o^, non continentes Car., non conti- tinentis Binius 7 est p^: et F 8 apparentibus V, corr. 10 et add. Bar. 13 suis] ^88. V 19 unitas ibi F, corr. Thiel 20 indiscreta Coust.; increata V 22 <domini> nostri Car. 22 sq.] post m^-sterio lacunam 24fere Utterarum, post potuisset fere 14 litterarum reliquit V 26 ignor relicto fpatio 8 fere Utter, V: ignorantia o, ignorantia diuinorum Bar., igno- rantia expers Coust. XXXy pan 2. 33 512 Indiculus datus Ennodio Fortunato etc. abdicetur hebetiido, qui deura et dominum nostrum lesum Christura figuram tantum carnis habuisse testatus est et nostrae ueritatem non habuisse substantiae, nesciens de quo promissum sit, quia uidebunt persecutores eius, in quem pupugerunt. ita enira in una eademque persona persistit & utraque natura, ut deus atque homo unus dei filius lesus 8 Christus fidelium cordibus apparescat. quid enim quadraginta dierum post resurrectionem domini cum hominibus conuiuentis et conuescentis egit praesentia, nisi ut istis negotiis illorum, qui ueritatem carnis eius negaturi erant, seniorem faceret lo aetatem curationis esse quam uulneris? sic enim dixit ad discipulos: quidcogitatis in cordibusuestris? palpate et uidete, quia spiritus carnem et ossa non habet, sicuti me uidetis habere. neque fuisset mysterium, quod ostiis ad eos clausis ingressus est, si integritatem humani 15 Ocorporis non habebat. possumus ex hoc dono uerbi proce- dentem longius proferre sermonem, sed satis esse credimus per deum nostrum eruditae clementiae uestrae strictis supplicare suggestionibus sperantes, ut laborem curamque pastoralis officii uenerabilium decessorum uestrorum Marciani et Leonis ao formam secuti etiamprincipalis potentiae participatione fulciatis. habebitis deo propitio spem de uictoriis non iacentem, si pontificalem contra diaboli subreptiones congressionem pacifica 10 ad decertandum instructione muniatis. numquam in sanctarum ecclesiarura memoria Dioscori, participis Eutychetis, Timothei 25 et Petri parricidanim commemoratio reuiuescat; seruetur ab omnibus suspiciendae Calcedonensis sjnodi deo per uos operante definitio; Acacius Petri tenebrarum filii communione poUutus habeat participes, quos delegit, qui etiam inter suos excessus nec de Petro Antiocheno et complicibus eius nitidum 30 se esse perpessus est; cessent maledicta piis sanctae recor- 4 loh. 19, 37 12 Luc. 24, 88 sq. Epist. CXV 7 — CXVI 3. 513 dationis papae Leonis ingesta dogmatibus, quae solos quidem illo in suis manente puniunt irrogantes. in his, quae praefatill sumas, sollicitudinem uestri aduocamus imperii: poterit enim pletas uestra hoc custodiens apices et sceptra sua post multos 5 anDOs ad alium saeculum possidere translata. suscipite preces 12 Dostras per Ennodium atque Fortunatum fratres et coepiscopos Dostros nec non Uenantium presbyterum atque Uitalem diaconum uel Hilarum notarium filios nostros, quorum apud D08 fides in dei timore studiumque perclaruit, pro uestro 10 amore transmissas et placidam uice nostra supplicantibus conscientiam commodate! speramus enim et de deo habenteslS fiduciam poUicemur studia, quae a uobis uerae religioni impensa fuerint, sine retributione et praemio non futura. Data III. Id. Aug. Florentio u. c. cons.