Letter 243
Hormisdas→Hormisdas, Rome|hormisdas
From: Unknown correspondent
To: Pope Hormisdas, Rome (unknown)
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 episeopos Baeticae provinciae, ^ Apriir
liJl. De mntua inter ipsos pace yaudet. De Orientalibus ad Ecclesiae unitatem revo-
catis denuo eos certiorcs facit. Vetera eorum privilegia se minime convellere
iestatur.
Dilectissimis fratribus universis episcopis per
Baeticam provinciam constitutis Hormisda
episcopus.
1. Qpid tam dulce soUicito, quam quod mihi de vobis innote-
seunt illa quae cupio? Quid tam religiosis conveniens institutis, quam
ut inter se ') sacerdotes pacem, quam eos necesse est aliis pro officio
aununtiarey conservent? Plena, fat^r, gratulatione suscepi, quod
votiva mihi de caritate, quae inter vos est, et ecclesiarum pace litteris
indicastis. Sponte mihi, quidquid hortari poteram, quidquid monere,
delatum est. Confirmet hoc Deus, quod operaiur in nobis: et quae ^«aj™.
praecipit pro animarum salute facienda, haec ipse esse praecipiat *
pro ea, qua nos redemit, pietate facilia!
2. Sed his tam bonis nuntiis nos quoque religiosorum vicem
reddimus nuntiorum, et quidquid cum Orientalibus , quos ad Eccle-
siae corpus unitatemque revocatos dudum Dei nostri ope^) litteris ep. 26.
siguificavimus destinatis, denuo^) actum fuerit, repetitis vobis-
cum participanius indiciis. Mox post^) nostrorum reditum ab Orien-
talibus missa legatio est. Gerta speravit, certa consuluit. Sed faci-
•') Ita J |3 ri*. Al. omitt. Eo fiet.
143 ') cc bmitt. sc. Deindc a* Plane, Mox cc est ecclesiarum et pace.
(a. 52i.)inus de his, quae fuerunt dicenda, compendium^ ipsa') potius ad
op. 141. instruendam notitiam vestram, quae') a nobis sunt responsa diri-
gentes, ne quid sibi sub spatio proh*xiorum terrarum aut opinio vin-
dicet aut error assumat, quum ad rerum fidem ipsam tenere sufficiat
veritatem.
3. Quod autem ad continentiam vestrarum pertinet litterarum,
oportuit quidem desideria planius^) expediri, ut aestiniatis onmibus
responsum rationi congruum redderetur. Sed quia privilegiorum
veterum et statutorum paternonmi indidistis iisdem litteris mentio-
nem, ad Salustium fratrem et coepiscopum nostrum super^) hac
parte rescripsimus , vobis quoque strictim, quae dicta sunt'"i
latius, indicantes, nec privilegia nos indulta convellere et nihil tam
conveniens fidei judicare, quam ut in honore suo a patribus decreta
serventur. Deus autem vos incolumes custodiat, fratres carissimi!
◆
From: Unknown correspondent
To: Pope Hormisdas, Rome (unknown)
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.