Letter 235

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.]

Justiniani viri illastris ad Hormisdam papam. (^- ^^^ 0. ^i de capUulis, quae per legatos nuper destinata, sententiam suam quantodus 9 Sept.) explicet, monet, Diligenter apostololatus vester cognovit; quanto fidei calore filius vester serenissimus imperator nosque fuimus ab initio. Nunquam cessavimus agere, quae pertinebant ad firmamentum religionis divi- nae. Pro qua re nuper etiam reverendissimos sacerdotes Romam direximuS; ut integrum componeretur de capitulis^ quibus ad ea dubieta« vertebatur. Sed ignoramus^ quae difficultas provenerit^ ut minime sopirentur hactenus ea quae videntur esse levissima. Salu- tantes ergo vestram reverentiara petimus^), ut nulla praebeatur oc- easio, qua de tua quisquam possit ambigere voluntate, sed habentes prae oculis judicium majestatis supernae, modis omnibus festinare dignemini. ') Hic particula ut causae vim ac finem minime habet , sed refertur ad tam, eaque declaratur, de Dorotheo immane adeo Bcelus jactari, ut qui eum illius re ipsa reum credunt, simul et Christianam professionem ejurasse putent. Notanda Hormisdae moderatio atque prudentia, qua Dorotheum praecipuae sedis anti- atitem devincire atque ad unitatem Ecclesiae reducere conatur: sic animo com- paratus, ut cum eo velut cum insonte agat, modo haec indulgentia unitatis benefido compensetur. 135 ') Ita cum b cc correximus. G* a* peto, et omittt. qua ac voluntate.