Letter 195
Hormisdas→Hormisdas, Rome|hormisdas
From: Unknown correspondent
To: Pope Hormisdas, Rome (Justinian/Justin)
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.]
*> S^e)t Hormisdae papae ad Jastinianum comitem.
Monachos Scylhas usque ad legatorum advenlum Romae necessario manere signi- p. U
ficat, Jpostolorum sanctuaria, ut petierat Justinianus, transmittit.
Hormisda Justiniano viro illustri.
1. Tta magnificentiae vestrae animum vigere novimus religionis
89 •) Non saDgiiine, ut Amoldus Wion perperam intellezit, sed ut Nicobuis
Alemannus notis in cap. 6 histor. arc. Procopii interpretatur, ea fratemitate
quae adsX(poniatia a Graecis vocatur. Nam Vitalianust ut ibidem Alemannua
proscquitur , oh affcctatarn sub Anastasio tyrannidem sibi timens, publicetm postulavit
fidenif quam Justinianus nomine Caesaris non solum dedit, sed etiam super sacram
mensatn ritu Ckristianis consueio dSsX(poniaxca, id est jurata mutuo fraterna fide^
yitalianum sibi devinxit. Ad hunc autem ritum respicere putat idem vir erudi-
tus Procopium hist. arc. cap. 6, ubi ait: Justinianus Viiatianum tyrannum aecertiit,
et cui prius fidem {yn\Q xri^ dotpaXsiag) una cum eo susceptis Christiamorum fl^yxle-
riis dederat, paulo post dato suspicioni atque offensioni loco hunc cum neeessariis
in aula impie trucidavit , nihil veritus fidem fallere tam formidandam, De htgosmodi
fraternitate plura quae in nota laudata disseruntur videsis.
') Ut poutificis litterae ad Vitalianum et Justinianum per Paolinum misMe
(conf. ep. 73) , ita et horum responsa jam desiderantur. Conf. not. epist Honn.
uon exstant. n. XX et XXI.
Is defensor, de quo sermo ante habitus fuit, est Pauliuus. Ideo vero Jutriuaak-
nus Scytharum monachorum causam citius ezpediri nunc expetit, qoia timebat»
ne si Hormisda litteras per Eulogium missas ante reciperet, secos quam vellet
cum illis ageretur.
EPISTOLAE 89 — 91. 887
affectu, ut beneficium a vobis in perfectione pacis Ecclesiae velitis a. 519.
magis exigi quani rogari, judicantes meritis excellentiae vestrae pro-
ficere, quod vos generalitatis desiderio contingit oflFerre. Unde et
nos a vobis praesumpte quaerimus tamquam debitum, quod meritis
vestris novimus esse profuturum. Et ideo, domine fili, sub omni
earitate salutantes speramus, ut immineatis operi, quod Domino ad-
juvante fundastis, memores divini testimonii: Qui perseveraverii in i^ ^^.
finem, hic salvus erit.
2. Praeterea monachos, quos venisse Romam significastis litte-
ris^) vestris, ad propria mox voluimus reverti. Sed quia sub testi- ep. 78.
ficatione potentiae divinae dicebant per insidias in itinere paratas
vitae sese sustinere posse discrimen, nolentes^) redire Constantino-
^ polim, passi non sumus violenter expeUi. Quapropter necesse habe-
bimus venientibus legatis nostris inquirere, qua revera faciente causa
inter eos fuerit commota discordia.
3. Beatissimorum vero apostolorum Petri et Pauli sanctuaria,
sicut religiosissimo quaesistis affectu, per harum portitorem^) sub
omni veneratione transmisimus, optantes, orationibus eorum*) mentis
vestrae oblatio et desideria gratiae sint Divinitatis accepta. Petimus
itaque, ut tam de his quae geruntur pro concordia, quam de inco-
lumitatis vestrae bono nuntietis soUicitudini nostrae gaudium currente
pagina litterarum. Data FV Nonas Septembris, Eutharico*) viro cla-
rissimo consule.
◆
From: Unknown correspondent
To: Pope Hormisdas, Rome (Justinian/Justin)
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.