Letter 108
Hormisdas→Unknown|hormisdas
From: Unknown sender
To: Unknown recipient (Epiphanius, Gratus, Constantinople)
Date: ~515-523 AD
Context: Part of the papal correspondence surrounding the Acacian Schism (484-519), the major breach between Rome and Constantinople over the condemnation of the Monophysite patriarch Acacius. Pope Hormisdas (514-523) worked tirelessly to resolve this schism, which was finally healed in 519 under Emperor Justin I.
[This letter is part of the extensive diplomatic correspondence generated by the resolution of the Acacian Schism. The schism had divided the Eastern and Western churches for thirty-five years over the condemnation of Patriarch Acacius of Constantinople, who had promoted a compromise formula (the Henotikon) that Rome rejected as insufficiently orthodox. Hormisdas conducted negotiations through multiple embassies to Constantinople, exchanging letters with emperors, patriarchs, imperial officials, and powerful aristocratic women at court. The correspondence reveals the machinery of late antique ecclesiastical diplomacy: formal theological demands, careful diplomatic language, networks of lay and clerical allies, and the constant anxiety of a pope trying to manage events happening months away by letter.]
15 EPiPHANii EPiscopi. Fratrem et coepiscopum nostrum Epi- phanium apud felicissimam deo fauente Constantinopolim in officium muneris sacerdotalis adsumptum peruenisse ad nos fraternitate uestra referente gaudemus, quia gratius quodam- modo suscipiuntur indicia, quae significauerit amata persona,
2u et tanto maius pro auctoritate nuntii nascitur gaudium, quanto non est quod de testimonio disputetur. sic erat 2 congruum, karissimi nobis, sic se circa proxirauin patefacere decebat aifectum, ut per uos sedi apostolicae innotescat, quod moribus et sanctitate fulgeret, quod usque adeo se olim bonis
25 sicut et uos asseritis, imbuit institutis, ut non sit fortius meriti testiraonium quam in honorem' sacerdotis adscitum. quid est enira, quod de eo habeatur ambiguum, in quo de
2 iohanni fratri F, correxi 3 internuncii 7, corr. p promotionem ex pronunciationem corr. V 6 tiTi V: tantuni Car.
240. Bat. ut ep. 230. Edd. Car. P 550; Collect. Coticil; BTA I 447; Thiel 966; commemorat Bar. ad a. 521, 6. 14 constantino- POLITAXO F, corr. p 16 felicissimum F, corr. p 21 quod Car.: quo V 26 meritis Car.
740 lastinus Hormisdae; Epiphanius Cpolitanus Hormisdae
bonis moribus sub probatione factae concordiae praesusceptae
3 * * sunt diuina? quapropter facitis sancte, facitis religiose, facitis pie, quod ueritati testimonium libenter impenditis, quod praemium bene meritis non negatis: quia idem error est tacere ueritatem, qui est falsis adsistere, et eadem * iniustitia est si negetur honor moribus placitis, quae est si concedatur indignis. certum est, amantissimi, participari uos cum sacerdotis laudibus intimatis, quia omni fraternitatis uestrae ordini transcribitur, quod in uno, quem ex uobis
4 elegistis, esse laudatur. deus omnipotens fidei suae pacem lo sub perpetuitate conseruans electionem ordinationemqueuestram, quam insinuandam sedi apostolicae per lohannem fratrem et coepiscopum nostrum nec non et Heraclianum presbyterum atque Constantinum diaconum filios nostros religiose credidistis, tanta firmitate confortet et ita omnium discordantium lucta- is mina disiciat, ita dissidentium corda compescat. ut, quemad- modum sub fratre et coepiscopo nostro Epiphanio pacificationis datum est indicium, gratulemur eflfectum. Data VII. Kal. April. Ualerio cons.
GESTA LV CAUSA ABUNDANTII EPISCOPI TRAIA< NO >POLITANI IN »0 SCRINIO HABEMUS.
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From: Unknown sender
To: Unknown recipient (Epiphanius, Gratus, Constantinople)
Date: ~515-523 AD
Context: Part of the papal correspondence surrounding the Acacian Schism (484-519), the major breach between Rome and Constantinople over the condemnation of the Monophysite patriarch Acacius. Pope Hormisdas (514-523) worked tirelessly to resolve this schism, which was finally healed in 519 under Emperor Justin I.
[This letter is part of the extensive diplomatic correspondence generated by the resolution of the Acacian Schism. The schism had divided the Eastern and Western churches for thirty-five years over the condemnation of Patriarch Acacius of Constantinople, who had promoted a compromise formula (the Henotikon) that Rome rejected as insufficiently orthodox. Hormisdas conducted negotiations through multiple embassies to Constantinople, exchanging letters with emperors, patriarchs, imperial officials, and powerful aristocratic women at court. The correspondence reveals the machinery of late antique ecclesiastical diplomacy: formal theological demands, careful diplomatic language, networks of lay and clerical allies, and the constant anxiety of a pope trying to manage events happening months away by letter.]
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.