Letter 196

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.]

Hormisdae papae ad Jnstinianum comitem. ^^J^^^xf *^ ^ 2Sept.) Monachos Scythas usque ad legatorum reditum Romae detinendos existimat. i- Det ipse Justinianus operam, ut Victor diaconus ab illis accusatus et alii perver- sas quaestiones objicientes in Urbem dirigantur. Hormisda Justiniano illustri. Eulogio viro clarissimo filio nostro deferente litteras celsitudinis ep. 78. vestrae suscepimus, eoque remeante debitum persolventes salutationis officium, significainus ^) , Scythas monachos allegasse plurima, quae nos relinquere indiscussa non possumus: sed legatorum nostrorum 90 ^) Quae supra epist. 78, non proxiine antecedens epist. 89. ') Ed. volentes, Coucinnius G' nolentes. Hoc scribit Hormisda, quia Justi- nianuB epist. 78, ut monachoB illos a se depellere dignareiur, semel atquo itcruiu petierat. Mox ed. habuimus. 91 *) G* a' significantes. (a. 5l9.)Deo juvaute sustinemiis') adventum; pro qua re eos in Urbe credi- mus retinendos, a qua nec ipsi ordinatione dissentiiuit. Amplitudi- nem vestram tamen retinere confidimus^ quod de ipsis nobis praeterito tempore litteris') destiiiatis scripserit. In quorun; aUegationibos, quimi legatis remeantibus competenter fuerimus instructi, si quid reprebensione dignum cognitio nostra repererit, necesse est, ut circa eos teneamus ecclesiasticam disciplinam. Victorem^) praeterea, qui diaconis habere perhibetur officium, cujus fidem hi ipsi moiiachi vehement^r accusant, vel alios, qui perversas forsitan objiciunt quae- stiones, ordinatione domini filii nostri clementissimi imperatoris ad Urbem vobis suggerentibus dirigantur, ut miiversas allegatioues de quibus contendmit nos possimus agnoscere.