Letter 115
Hormisdas→Hormisdas, Rome|hormisdas
From: Unknown correspondent
To: Pope Hormisdas, Rome (Anastasia)
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.]
seu
Besponsoria*) Hormisdae papae ad Anastasium imperatorem. ^ '?^^.?-
4 Apnl.
liiius pro pare ecclesiarum studium iaudat. Decessorum suorum constantiam
upprobat (m. 1). De conciiio convocando respondere differt^ quoad causam ejus
pienius perspectam habuerit («. -).
Hormisda Anastasio Augusto.
1. Gratias supernae virtuti, quae per vestrae pietatis affatus op. 2:
diuturnum dignata est terminare silentium, tale praestans collocutio-
uis exordium, ut et de vestrae clementiae prosperitate laetemur, et
ad unitatem Deo donante reverti posse sanctam confidamus Eccle-
siam. Hoc opus supernae clementiae, haec et decessorum nostro-
runi fuit semper oratio; quos etiam rermn actus paternae traditionis
ininistros et rectae fidei (feclarant fuisse custodes. Pax est enim
totius bonitatis initium, qua nihil, quantum ad catholicae fidei cul-
tum, validius, nihil aestimari oportet excelsius: pro hac scilicet
facere et cuncta sustinere convenit, qui sanctarum Scripturarum
probabilis cupit esse discipulus. Hanc omnium bonorum matrem et
nutricem Christum Dominum nostrum suis constat praedicasse disci-
pulis^ dicentem : Pacem meam do voMs, pacem relinquo vohis, Quam ^^ .^?
vos religiosi cura propositi Domino adspirante providentes, de ortho-
doxae concordia eogitatis Ecclesiae in beati apostoli Petri reverentia.
a. 515. divina specialiter praecepta servantes. Quae res majorem supenii
favoris defensionem vestro procurat imperio. Recte enim oUita
Deo veneratio inexpugnabilem devotis mentibus murum defensi^mis
indulget. Proinde omnipotentem Deum fusis precibus exoramns, ut
qui vobis studium quaerendae ecclesiarum pacis indulsit, ipse qaoqiie
sub^) consecratione catholicae fidei desiderio vestro super hac parte
praestet effectum.
2. Praeterea directis ad nos sacris affatibus commemorationem
sancti coucilii facere pietas vestra dignata est. De qua re tonc
plenissimum poterimus praebere responsum^ quum causam CQngre-
gationis nos voluerit evidenter agnoscere. Nunc vero quia prae-
stante Domino nostro data est facultas alloquio^ congrua veneratione
debiti praebebimus sermonis officia. Data pridie Nonas Apiili&,
Florentio viro clarissimo consule. Per^) Patrioium.
◆
From: Unknown correspondent
To: Pope Hormisdas, Rome (Anastasia)
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.