Letter 160
Hormisdas→Hormisdas, Rome|hormisdas
From: Unknown correspondent
To: Pope Hormisdas, Rome (Euphemia)
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.]
(a.5i9m. Hormisdae papae ad Euphemiain Augustam.
Jan.)
Jtlius pro pace siudium commendans , ui UheUum iransmissuM ab epiteopit
subscribi curei, precaiur,
Hormisda Euphemiae^) Angustae.
1. Ecclesiarum pax jam coelesti ordinatione componitor, quum
vos ad imperium Deus elegit, apud quos esse integrum semper reli-
gionis suae cognovit afFectum. Nam sicut in privata vita Demn
semper recto dogmate coluistis, ut de religionis concordia cogitare-
tis, et multa quidem inter ipsa imperii vestri primordia facta sont,
quae spem nobis correctionis integrae pollicentur. Unde quia in
vobis amorem fervere fidei gratulamur, agentes Deo gratias qDotidie
pro vobis beato Petro apostolo supplicamus, ut votis vestris apnd
Dominum suffragetur, et cursum bonae voluntatis adimpleat. Nec
dubium est divinis vos auxiliis adjuvari, quia tanto religionis stodio
mandatis coelestibus obeditis. Hinc est, quod quia sanctum conjugii
vestri constat esse propositum, has fiducialiter ad vestram demen-
tiam litteras destinamus, ut per vos ad perficiendam Ecclesiae pacem
mariti vestri pietas amplius incitetur.
2. Magnum opus arripuistis, magna vobis causa conmiissa est
Per vos enim-) populos Christus vult ad Ecclesiae foedera revocare,
quos per se voluit a morte redimere. Magna etiam vestro sexui
parata est laudis occasio, si vobis instantibus Ecclesiae suae Chri-
stus quae divisa fuerant membra conjungat. Nec enim major est
gloria, quae humanae salutis lignum scrutata est, et sola cracem,
quam oninis veneratur mundus, invenit. Superabitis quinimmo illiiM
merita, quia Ecclesiae unitas per illara suum invenit signum, p«r
vos est habitura remedium. Agat igitur jugalis vestri religiosa cle-
mentia, ut fratres et coepiscopi nostri sub eo libelli tenore, quem
dudum misimus, fidem suam dignentur asserere, quatenus perfecta
possit esse quae est inchoata correctio; quia irrita est quaeUbet in
cultura Dei confessio, cui deest fidei plenitudo. Hoc enim quod a
reliquis fieri poscimus ^), a multis jam sacerdotibus constat effectam;
et unitas esse justa in communione non poterit, si uou fuerit in
reversione servata.
51 <) Haec Lupicina a.ut Lupida, Procopio hist. arc. cap. 6 et Theophane chro-
uogr. p. 141 (ed. fionn. p. ;254) testibuB, vocabatur. Sed ut Theodonu lector
p. 565 et Theophanes 1. c. tradunt, postea quani Augusta nuncupata est, popa-
Iu8 eam Euphemiam nominavit.
') £d. eiiam, moxque Nec ejus ... solam crucem,
') Ita G' a^ b 00 poposcimus.
EPISTOLAE 51. 52. 845
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From: Unknown correspondent
To: Pope Hormisdas, Rome (Euphemia)
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.