From: Emperor Anastasius I, Constantinople
To: Hormisdas, Pope of Rome
Date: ~January 515 AD (received March 515)
Context: The Emperor breaks a long silence to reach out to the new pope, hoping to resolve the Acacian Schism that had divided Rome and Constantinople since 484.
The Emperor Anastasius, Pious, Fortunate, Renowned, Triumphant, Ever Augustus, to Hormisdas, Most Holy and Devout Archbishop and Patriarch.
Your Beatitude is surely aware that divine Scripture, in its provident counsel, has ordained that there is a time to speak and a time to keep silent [Ecclesiastes 3:7]. Now that the period of silence has passed, it has given us reason to speak. We have therefore judged it fitting to bring to your attention the matters that are stirring among us under the guise of religion.
Before this, the harshness of those to whom the responsibilities of the bishopric you now hold had been entrusted kept us from sending letters. But now the favorable reports reaching us about you have recalled to our memory the goodness of a father's affection, leading us to seek out those things which God our Savior taught his holy apostles by his divine word — and especially the blessed Peter, in whom he established the strength of his church [Matthew 16:18].
With these beginnings stated, we urge that regarding the matters stirred up in the region of Scythia [roughly modern Romania], for which we have judged a council should be convened, Your Apostleship should act as mediator, so that with disputes cut away, unity may be restored to the holy church. As for us, all our wishes will be fulfilled if you remember us in your prayers and in the frequent exchange of letters.
Given the day before the Ides of January at Constantinople; received the fifth day before the Kalends of April, in the consulship of Anthemius and Florentius, delivered by Patricius.
10 riCTOR AXASTASIUS PIUS FELIX IXCLITIJS TRIUMrHATOR SEMPER AUGrSTVS HORMISDAE SANCTISSIMO AC RELIGIOSO ARCHIEPISCOPO
ET PATRiARCHAE. Bcatitudini uestrae non putamus ignotum, quod pro temporis quaiitate loquendum atque tacendum etiam diuinae scripturae prouida est ammonitione dispositum. ex-
K actum proinde silentii tempus incitamenta nobis loquendi concessit atque ideo oportunum esse perspeximus, quae apud nos sub religionis specie commouentur, auditui uestro com- mittere. ante hoc siquidem duritia eorum, quibus episcopatus, 2 quem nunc geritis, erat soUicitudo commissa, temperare nos
m a transmittendis faciebat epistolis; nunc autem currens de uobis suauis opinio ad memoriam nostram bonitatem paternae affectionis adduxit, ut illa requiramus, quae deus et saluator noster sanctos apostolos diuino sennone docuit ac maxime beatum Petiiim, in quo fortitudinem ecclesiae suae constituit.
1 Tit. 2, 12 13 Eccl. 3, 7
500
Honnisda Anastasio; Anastasius Hormisdae
3 his igitur praefatis initiis hortaniur, ut ad ea, quae de Scy- thiae partibus mota sunt, unde et concilium fieri conuenire perspeximus, mediatorem se apostolatus uester faciat, ut con- tentionibus amputatis unitas sanctae restituatur ecclesiae,
4 nobis autem omnia optata praestantur, si orationibus uestris et frequeuti paginarum allocutione nostri memores fueritis. Data pridie Idus lan. Constantinopoli et accepta Anthemio et Florentio uu. cc. conss. V. Kal. April. per Patricium.
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From:Emperor Anastasius I, Constantinople
To:Hormisdas, Pope of Rome
Date:~January 515 AD (received March 515)
Context:The Emperor breaks a long silence to reach out to the new pope, hoping to resolve the Acacian Schism that had divided Rome and Constantinople since 484.
The Emperor Anastasius, Pious, Fortunate, Renowned, Triumphant, Ever Augustus, to Hormisdas, Most Holy and Devout Archbishop and Patriarch.
Your Beatitude is surely aware that divine Scripture, in its provident counsel, has ordained that there is a time to speak and a time to keep silent [Ecclesiastes 3:7]. Now that the period of silence has passed, it has given us reason to speak. We have therefore judged it fitting to bring to your attention the matters that are stirring among us under the guise of religion.
Before this, the harshness of those to whom the responsibilities of the bishopric you now hold had been entrusted kept us from sending letters. But now the favorable reports reaching us about you have recalled to our memory the goodness of a father's affection, leading us to seek out those things which God our Savior taught his holy apostles by his divine word — and especially the blessed Peter, in whom he established the strength of his church [Matthew 16:18].
With these beginnings stated, we urge that regarding the matters stirred up in the region of Scythia [roughly modern Romania], for which we have judged a council should be convened, Your Apostleship should act as mediator, so that with disputes cut away, unity may be restored to the holy church. As for us, all our wishes will be fulfilled if you remember us in your prayers and in the frequent exchange of letters.
Given the day before the Ides of January at Constantinople; received the fifth day before the Kalends of April, in the consulship of Anthemius and Florentius, delivered by Patricius.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.