Letter 116

From: Unknown correspondent To: Pope Hormisdas, Rome (Avitus) 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.]

^^' l^^j^c Hormisdae papae ad Dorotheum Thessalonicensem episeopuin. Litteris Dorothei quum deprehendisset , eum ita pacii esse studiosum, ut Umen humanis adhuc rationihus duceretur, eum hortatur, ut omni timore ac vano studio ahjecto avitam fidem integram servare laboret, Dilectissimo f ratri Dorotheo episcopo Hormisda^) episcopus. 1. Ubi caritatis interest semare praecepta, etiamsi aliquid tale eveniat quod cujuslibet possit animos commovere, tamen nt ea quae^ concordiae conversatione praediximus debeant custodiri, oportet aequanimiter praetermitti; quia utique si quid ignorantia tale pro- veniat, excusationem potest de ipsa simplicitate recipere. Suam Deus noster Ecclesiam propria ordiuatione constituit, et') quod divinis praeceptis noscitur esse dispositum, nullatenus poterit praeteriri, cujus notitiam vel scientiam te non convenit^) ignorare. In faciendo <) Ita G* a*. b cc emendanmt sub conservatione , et conBentit quod ad cal- ccm epistolae sequentis Bubjicitur: hoc quod a patribus nostris accephmiu conscr vantes, ') Magis placeret quae de concordiae conservatione. Mox post opartel nimiter praetermitti, subintellige scrupulum ilhany quo timeret alicigiis i commovere. Oportet enim, ut apertius epist. 9 n. 3 idem papa docet, M imter- est fidei, quidquid ad gratiam hujus saeculi pertinet respuatur, ') In vulgatis ut quod; orationis series postulat et quod, £t freqQaia quh dem in veteribus libris mutatio particulao et in ut, et vicissim. ' EPISTOLAE 4 — 6. 747 Eoque bona laudamur^ et tunc yerborum culius omatur^ quando (a. 515.) i conyenientia rite conjungii 2. Litteras siquidem per Patricium filium nostrum spectabUem om tuae suscepimus caritatis^ in quibus speramus^) opus plenum probabile reperire^ ut nihil esset quod ab integritate unitatis emeret. Sed quia in his ipsis hunc promittis affectum^ qui nos hoc quod praediximus possit specialiter provocare^ Domino nostro ^ces effiindimuS; ut ipse cujus et causa tractatur^ abstersis yel putatis universis scandalis ex ®) Ecclesia sua, sub uno consensu et "ili faciat fide connexos: nec in sacerdotibus suis quidquam re- iri patiatur^ quod^) cujuslibet aut odiis propriis aut inanibus in- iionibuS; aut hominibus in injuriam Dei^ quod nefas est^ yelle cere^ et non magis universa secundum beatum apostolum saecu- a contemnentem a spe non possit exorbitare futura. Hortor pter commune remedium, invito pro salute fidelium, propter gene- m suadeo medicinam. Quis namque contentus est hos videre M>s, quonnn potest unitate gloriari? Unde opus est labore com- i^ ut hoc; quod a patribus nostris accepimuS; conservantes se- ®) in illo possimus divino adstare judicio.