Letter 151

From: Unknown correspondent To: Pope Hormisdas, Rome (Justinian/Justin, 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.]

Justini imperatoris ad Hormisdam papam. ii. oisd. 7Sept. 110. Synodi Constantinopolitanae litteris pro ecclesiarum pace ipse imperaior id peti- tug per Graium sacri consistorii comitem suas adjujigit, utque Hormisda propter hoc negotium legatos destinet, invitat. Justinus Augustus Hormisdae papae. Johannes vir beatissimus, hujus regiae^) urbis antistes, et ce- teri viri religiosi episcopi de diversis locis et civitatibus hic reperti, nostram serenitatem docuerunt, pro concordia veram et orthodoxam fidem colentium proque^) unitate venerabilium ejus ecclesiarum lit- teras tuae sanctitati offerendas confecisse, ac magnopere postula- runt, nostras etiam epistolares paginas super hoc ad eam emanare. Quorum petitiones, utpote semper unitatis amatores constituti ^), libenter amplexi, hos divinos apices ad tuam beatitudinem censui- mus prorogandos. Quibus scriptis, desideriis supradictorum reveren- dissimorum antistitum subvenire, proque nobis et republica, cujus gubernatio nostrae pietati coelitus credita est, supernam majestatem suis orationibus placare dignetur. Ut autem tuae sanctitatis pacis et imitatis atque concordiae jura plenius patefiant, quosdam religio- sissimos sacerdotes pacem amplectentes et deaiderantes ad sacratis- simiun nostrum pervenire disponat comitatum. Ob hanc enim cau- sam Gratum virum clarissimum sacri nostri consistorii comitem et die 9 repentina morte sublato, secundiim chronicon Alexandrinimi Julii 9 die im- perator renuntiatus est, quum teste Theodoro lectore pag. 565 a militia exorsus ad senatorium usque ordinem pervenisset, et in onmi vita egregius exstitisset. Evagrius h. e. IV, 2 scribit, eum summam pecuniae vim ab Amantio eunucho, ut Theocrito cuidam coronam imperialem conciliaret, accepisse, eaque pecunia sibimet seu populi suffragia seu excubitorum benevoleiitiam redemisse. Quodsi ita est, haec Justini dicta aegre a mendacio purgentur. Sed rem eamdem ita narrat Theophanes pag. 141 et 142, ut quae hic asserit Justinus, cum ejus narratione componere ac conciliare liceat. Hanc sacram per Alexandrum v. c. perlatam eese, ex Hormisdae epistola 45 huic rescripta colligitur. 42 *) b regiae sedis, •) b proque universitate : mendose. Non exstant hae episcoporum litterae, niai forte hic notetur sequens epistola, quam Johannes proprio nomine de- stinavit. ') Verbum constituti Bar. expunxit. Hoc Justini de se testimonium Theo- dorus lector pag. 605 confirmat. Eo quippe teste is imperator prius etiam, quam impeni regimcn susciperet, rectae fidei cultor erat ardentissimus. .\ a. 518. magistrum scrinii*) memoriae direximus, cujus praeclaram opinio- nem multis antea notam habemus temporibus. Data VII Jdos Se- ptembris Constantinopoli, Magno viro clarissimo consule.