Letter 161
Hormisdas→Hormisdas, Rome|hormisdas
From: Unknown correspondent
To: Pope Hormisdas, Rome (Constantinople, 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.]
Hormisdae papae ad Johannein Constantinopolitanum (a.5i9in.
episcopum. ^^-^
Pacem, quam laudabUUer desiderat, perfici non posse, nisi Acacium cum sequaci-
bus ejus condemnety idque suhscriplione libelli per legaios Iransmissi profileatur.
' Hormisda Johanni episcopo Constantinopolitano.
1. Reddidimus quidem frater, congrumn litteris tuis sub eccle- ep. 43.
siastica libertate responsum ^) ; et quid in his gratulati fuerimuS; in- ep. 47.
sertum^ quid taciturnitate praeteritura, evidenter expressimus. Ac
licet cuncta sensibus tuis nunc crebra legatio, nunc usu in Ecclesia
diuturnae conversationis tuae vetustas infuderit, juvat tamen adhuc
latius aperire nostrum repetita ratione consilium: quia tunc bene
de fidei firmitate disseritur, quando simplicibus verbis conciliandae
pacis cupiditas explicatur.
2. Desideria quippe tua, quibus te ad ecclesiasticam testaiis
festinare concordiam, ut haberent partes illae, semper optavimus;
nec sola votorum ambitione contenti; usi etiam precibus sumus.
Vestro sunt haec et mundi testimonio roborata quae loquimur: quia
ut catholicae unitatis reparatio fiat, auctoritatem nostram inteme-
rata^) fidei integritate submittimus. Inclinet orationibus nostris
aurem suam divina miseratio; ut quod creditis postulandum; sequa-
mini et ametis oblatum. Nobis una causae sollicitudo; una custodia
est: ita pacem cupere; ut sic religionis; sic venerabilium patrum
constituta serventur; quoniam quae inter se consona credulitate non
discrepant; aequum est; ut simili observatione subsistant. Sed cur
diutius immoramur? Scis ipse, unitatis causa quid exigat; scis ipse,
qua via ad beati Petri apostoli debeas venire consortium. Habes
itineris tui ducem, quem te jam sequi asseris; Calchedone habitum
pro religione conventum. Jam te quoque, quod idem amplecti te-
status es; beati Leonis redeuntem dogma comitabitur.
3. Haec si placent, Acacii defensio damnati non placeat: hoc
est, quod boni studii a perfectione vota suspendit. Si sunt enim
iila adversum Dei et legis ejus inimicos venerabilium patrum con-
gregatione disposita, ut quisquis eos communione sequeretur, jam
tunc latam subiret in sua damnatione sententiam: non sunt igitur
nova quae constanter exsequimur, sed temporibus illis facta judicia
justa patrum constitutioue servamus. Hortamur itaque, frater, et
mentem tuam Dei nostri misericordia adjuvante pulsamus, ut ab
omni te haereticorum contagione, Acacium cum sequacibus suis con-
demnando; disjungenS; una nobiscum dominici corporis participa-
62 •) Sdl. quae supra epistolae 43, 47. Mox ed. congralulati,
') Ed. omitt. intemcrata fidei, Mox 0' quo te Jam sequi.
(a. 619.) tione pascaris. Si nobiscum universa praedicas, cur nobiscum non
universa condemnas? Tunc enim nobiscum quae veneramur am-
plecteris, si nobiscum quae detestamur homieris. Pax int^pra ne-
scit aliquam habere distantiam, et unius Dei vera esse non potest
nisi in confessionis unitate cultura.
4. Quapropter salutantes te fratemae caritatis affectu, petiiio-
nem tuam, missis, sicut sperasti, religiosissimis viris Germano ac
Johanne episcopis, Felice diacono, Dioscoro diacono atque Blando
presbytero, significamus^) esse completam. Hi vero quibus faerint
mandatis instructi, ante allegationes eorum, si cogites, evidenter
agnosces. Hi pacem tuam sub ea, qua saepe rescripsimus*), pro-
fessione suscipient. Imple ergo, frater carissime, gaudium nostrmn,
et tuum ad nos per eos rectae fidei tuae remitte praeconium, ut per
te universis detur exemplum.
◆
From: Unknown correspondent
To: Pope Hormisdas, Rome (Constantinople, 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.]
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.