Letter 220

From: Unknown correspondent To: Pope Hormisdas, Rome (Celer, Gratus) 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.]

Celeris illustris ad Hormisdam papam. ^*9j^ui*^' Consiantinopolitana ecclesia feliciter ad unitatem reducta, circa alias ecclesias ^^' /v singulari clementia opus esse innuit. ^ '' Domino beatissimo et apostolico patri Hormisdae Celer»). Maxima nobis gratulationis causa praestatur, quotiens ad apo- stolatum vestrum scribendi tempus emerserit. Nunc igitur remeante beatissimo Germano episcopo vel reverendissimis viris, qui a vobis pro conjungendis sanctis ecclesiis fuerunt destinati, necessarium duximus sanctitatem vestram debite^) venerari, indicantes, ante- dictos habuisse quidem studium, ut voluntatem vestram plenus se- queretur eflFectus; sed quia totum corpus erat infirmum, interim caput, quod prius necessarium judicatur, adhibito medicamine vestro sanatum est, et dissensio, quae erat inter venerabiles ecclesias Ro- rant, quidpiam relaxare, nunc appellat Justinus ab Hormisda ad Hormisdam, ab ipsius severitate ad ejus clementiam, a rigorc disciplinae ad modcratiorem quamdam indulgentiae demissionem. 117 *) Ed. nostrorum. Mox G* precibus nostris. 118 *) In G* hic deest vir illustris: sed in hujus scripti fronte legitur Kpistola Celeris iiltistris. (a. 520.) manani et Constantinopolitanain , unitate interveniente sepulta est, et alia non parva membra simili Divinitatis gratda pnrgata atque conjuncta. Htmc etiam spem gerimus uniyersi, quod gratia Dei, quae semper sedi vestrae permansit et permanet, hujusmodi vobis inspirationem bonitatis praebeat, ut mansuetudine et dispensatione vestra reliquum adhuc corpus, quod habetur infirmum, sicut superins a nobis dictiun, vestro medicamine unitate recepta jungatur. Spe- cialiter autem deprecamur pontificium vestrum, ut pro nobis benigno patris animo orare jubeatis.