Letter 145

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

isdae papae ad Dorotheum episcopuin Thessalonicensem. a. 6i7 d. • ,, 12 April. Ne Johannem Nicopolitanum ultra facessere praesumat, Hormisda episcopus Dorotheo episcopo Thessalo- nicensi. Johannes frater et coepiscopus meus NicopoUtanae urbis s cum synodo sua variis se concussionibus atque dispendiis r causatur affligi, quod a transgressorum societate divisus, im communionem sedis apostolicae emeruit, ad Thessalonicen- icclesiam ordinationis suae indicia*) non direxit. Potuisset nis hic esse culpabiHs^-si unum esset inter omnes mysterium is. At quum multi se a petrae illius, quae Christus est, soli- diviserint, quis non velit ab errantium conjunctione discerni, eatur cum his qui consistunt in veritate conjungi? Non igi- isuetudo est neglecta, sed vitata contagia. Ergo objicere quis errorem, ubi cogitatam salubriter intelligit cautionem? At uod debueras primus assumere, credebamus te sequi saltem iena exempla potuisse. Non sufficit in lapsibus mora, nisi rehensionis cumulum circa eos quoque, qui ad viam redeunt, b invidia? Quid aliud, quam beati Petri, quod sine impietate •n potest, ipsum quod a Domino datum est nomen oderunt, i qui ad sedis ipsius altaria confugiunt insequuntur? Quo pudore, rogo, privilegia circa te illorum manere deside- lorum mandata non servas, et reverentiam (JUam non exhibes cupis tibi sub ecclesiastica potestate deferri? Si in iisdem is, quibus catholici nituntur, insisteres, insectationem tamen i vitare deberes, sciens secundum Domini nostri et Salvatoris, eolimus, instituta eum, qui scandalizaverit unum de minimis, Matth. am magnis esse peccatis. Ubi est, Domine, humilitas, quam ^|'^- 3casione discipulorum tuonmi certantium de loci qualitate ta G'. Alii omitt. per PuUionem suhdiaconum, Id. initia, Mox b neqlectus sic esse, al. omitt. hic. Tdeo autem culpabilis 8 neglectus, quia, ut coustituit Leo epist. 14 c. 6, provinciarum IDyrici )litani nonmsi cum Thessalonicensis antistitis notitia et consensa ordi- raut. a. 571. docuisti? Tu osteudis illum osse luaximum, qui exliibere studumt j^etie^'^® pusillum. Respice de coeio, vide: visHa vineam te cultore plaHia- Matth. /tf/;»; iuteude circa maudata tua miuimos^), et circa ambitum hono- *'^'^^' ris elatos! 3. Cur receutia cupitis, et prisca deseritis, circa summa desides et parva curautes? Noune hoc est rerum vilia decimare, et legis praecepta coutemuere ? Servate ^) illa , quae Deo congruuut, et facile ea quae suut ab homiuibus subsequuntur. Quin potius curam salutis assume, et cur te alius praeveuerit iu veritate, affectione suspira: ne si iusectari eos qui ad Ecclesiae revertuntur membra perstiteris, tu quoque cum his, quos nominatim coudemnat catholica sententia, copuleris. Data pridie Idus Aprilis, Agapito viro clarissimo consule.