Letter 149
Hormisdas→Hormisdas, Rome|hormisdas
From: Unknown correspondent
To: Pope Hormisdas, Rome (unknown)
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.]
Hormisdae papae ad arehimandritas Syriae.
IUo9 solatur^ hortaiurque, ut in fide catholica perseverent et ab haeretieonm
consortio $e prorsus segregent.
'OQ^icdag inicxonog itQB-
a^vxiQOig xal aQXL{Lav-
SQixaig xotg iv SevxiQa
ZvQia ovCl^ xal koLnolg
oQ^oSoioLg iv ofpdif-
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dtayovtft, xal iv r^ xrjg
dnoCxoXixrfg xad^iSQag
xoLVtovia StaiiivovCLV,
1. *Avayv(o6^ivx(ov yQa^iiidxtov
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ixd^Quv xov &SOV dq)QO0vvri iq^a-
vBQfo^ri xal x(Sv dnicxtov ij ini-
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KvQLOV, xa fLikri ixeivov dcafifog
SLoixovCLVy otfov dno x^g viiexi-
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koyriCa xov Kvqlov^ xov xiqv ni-
axLV xdSv iavxov 6xQaxL(ox(ov ft«-
xa^v x(ov ivavxitov (pvkdxxovxa.
Kal ndhv x(ov ixxkrjOLciv xov
Psalm.TS, adkov. xal x(ov dovX(ov xov &eov
22 et 2>{
xdg inax^eiag xal roi)g xonovg
xaxavorjcag, 6xevd^(ov xaxd xov
XQO^prjxrjv ixixQa^a ' ^^AvdiSxa^
KvQie, SixaCov xiqv Sixr^v Oov^
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x(ov vno a(pQovog oAiyv ri}t/ ijft^-
Qav.^' 'HSi(og xal xd i^rjg 6iioi(og
indy(o * ,,Af^ inLkddTj xrjg (p(ov^g
Hormisda episcopns pn
sbyteriS; diaconis <
archimandritis secai
dae Syriae.
1. Lectis litteris dilectioi)
vestrae, quibus inimicorom D
patefacta vesania est et infid
lium pertinax furor dolenter e
positus, qui dum redi?ivo^) sp
ritu oderunt Dominum, memfai
illius impie persequuntor: quBi
tum^) ad constantiae vestrae agn
tionem, benedixi Deum, fidem n
litum suorum inter^) adyersase
vantem. Sed rursum ecdesiaru]
concussionem et servorum D
molestias laboresque consideraa
propheta^) gemitus meos adj'
vante claraavi: Exswrge, Ikmin
judica causam tuam, mmor es
improperiorum iuortm^ eorum jn
ab insipiente sunl toia die; libe:
ter ca quoque quae sequanti
adjungens: Ne obliviscaris voct
quaerentium ie; superbia «nfl
^Mf te oderunt, ascendit sempi
ad te. Nam sicut oportet m
40 ^) Graece debuit converti ndXiv ^cDvri; nunc legitur xaxo; imrtis fjs^
seq. Tco xorxfloff ^(oyri) ct in priscis concil. cdit. latine male viventes. At p
nancog legit Baronii intorpres xaxo) ; siquidem latine convertit spiritu malo meak
◆
From: Unknown correspondent
To: Pope Hormisdas, Rome (unknown)
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.