Letter 36
Hormisdas→Hormisdas, Rome|hormisdas
From: John, Bishop of Constantinople
To: Hormisdas, Pope of Rome
Date: ~519 AD (March 28 - signed; sent to Rome April 22)
Context: The historic profession of faith by Patriarch John II of Constantinople, formally ending the Acacian Schism. John accepts the papal libellus — condemning Acacius, Peter Mongus, and their successors — and declares communion with Rome restored. This is one of the most important documents of the entire schism.
Copy of the report of John, Bishop of Constantinople.
To my lord, holy in every way, most blessed brother and fellow minister Hormisdas — John sends greetings in the Lord.
I greet Your Holiness, dearest brother in Christ, and in greeting I proclaim: the true faith is safe, and the love of brotherhood is confirmed. This God alone, the all-powerful, has willed to bring about through the devotion of our most Christian and pious emperors.
Write to me, then, as an apostle, and receive my letters as a brother. For I hold the teaching of the holy apostles according to the tradition of the holy fathers, and likewise the honor of the consubstantial and undivided Trinity. I follow in all things the apostolic see and profess everything that has been decreed by it.
I accept the four holy councils — Nicaea, Constantinople, the first of Ephesus, and Chalcedon — and I embrace the letter of the blessed Pope Leo. I condemn all those whom the apostolic see has condemned.
The unity we both longed for is now a reality. Thanks be to God.
EXEIPLUM RELATIONIS lOHANNIS EPISCOPI CONSTANTINOPOLITANI. 5 DOIIXO VEO £T PER OIXIA DEI AIATORI SANCTISSIIO FRATRI ET COOINISTRO HORHSDAE lOHANNES IN DOIINO SALUTEI. SalutO
uestram sanctitatem, karissime in Christo frater, et salutans praedico, quoniam recta fides salua est et caritas fratemitatis firmata est. hoc deus solus potens per studium Christianorum
10 et piissimorum imperatorum fieri uoluit. scribere igitur apostolice et rescripta suscipere fraterne dei amore dignemini. ego enim inquisibili ratione doctrinam sanctorum apostolorum 2 secundum traditionem sanctorum patrum tenens similiter hoDorem consubstantiali et per omnia sanctae trinitati offero,
15 sicut in Nicaea trecentorum decem et octo coetus promulgauit et in Constantinopoli centum quinquaginta conuentus firmauit et in Ephesena <CC> concursio firmauit et in Chalcedone coDuentus catholicus signauit. hanc ergo fidem usque ad 3 ultimum anhelitum per gratias custodiens spiritalibus amplexibus
20 tam uestram sanctitatem quam et oithodoxas ecclesias animo
146« Dat. (simul cum epp. 143 et 147) a. 518 die 7 Sept, aeeq>t. die 20 Dcc, per Gratum. Edd. Car. P 419; Bar. ad a.
518, 72; Collect. Concil.; Thiel 832. 4 consianthiopoli V 9 hoc]
hoc (= hfc ?) F 10 ipperatorum V 11 Busscipere V amari F, corr. p' 12 racioni F, eorr. Car. 15 nichea F 16 constantinopoll F
n
c^Q . Lx . F, corr. Car. 17 ephesena (ac. synodo, ef. p. 653, 14 et 18) a: phesaena F cc imerui concursio V: oo Car., concnrsas ducen-
tomm Thid 18 catholicus temptaui calcius F, dcxxz Car., sexcentorum triginta patrum Bar. signauit a recte intellegens correctionem codicis y (cf. libellum monaehorum aynodo Constantinopolitanae a, 536 obla-
ium apud Mansium VIII 1052 C): fimiauit F (». e. gnauit corr. ex finnauit), firmauit a* cum codd. recentioribus 19 anelitum F gra- tiaa V: gratiam dei Bar. ampleximus F, corr. Bar. 20 orhto- doxia F, corr. <ei> animo Bar.
XXXV pars 2. 88
592
lustiniantts Hormisdae; Hormisda lustiniano
amplector tua tecum in ueritate sentiens et una tecum sperans in illo die per hanc fidem saluari bona uoluntate patris et filii et spiritus sancti. consubstantiali enim trinitati omnis gloria debetur nunc et in saecula saeculorum. omnem in Christo fraternitatem, quae cum uestra est sanctitate, ego et qui mecum, plurimum in domino salutamus.
4 Tantum ad satisfaciendum scripsimus, ut et uenerabile nomen sanctae recordationis Leonis quondam facti urbis Bomae archiepiscopi in sacris diptychis tempore consecrationis propter concordiam affigeretur et uestrum benedictum nomen similiter
5 in diptychis praedicetur. ut de omnibus autem satisfiat uestrae sanctitati, quoniam pacem uestram amplectimur et de unitate sanctarum dei ecclesiarum curamus, rogamus uos pacificos uiros destinare et uestrae dignos apostolicae sedis, qui debeant satisfacere et satisfactionem nostram suscipere, ut et in hac parte Christus deus noster glorificetur, qui per uos pacem hanc mundo seruauit. Accepta XIII. Kal. lanuarias p. c. Agapiti.
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From: John, Bishop of Constantinople
To: Hormisdas, Pope of Rome
Date: ~519 AD (March 28 - signed; sent to Rome April 22)
Context: The historic profession of faith by Patriarch John II of Constantinople, formally ending the Acacian Schism. John accepts the papal libellus — condemning Acacius, Peter Mongus, and their successors — and declares communion with Rome restored. This is one of the most important documents of the entire schism.
Copy of the report of John, Bishop of Constantinople.
To my lord, holy in every way, most blessed brother and fellow minister Hormisdas — John sends greetings in the Lord.
I greet Your Holiness, dearest brother in Christ, and in greeting I proclaim: the true faith is safe, and the love of brotherhood is confirmed. This God alone, the all-powerful, has willed to bring about through the devotion of our most Christian and pious emperors.
Write to me, then, as an apostle, and receive my letters as a brother. For I hold the teaching of the holy apostles according to the tradition of the holy fathers, and likewise the honor of the consubstantial and undivided Trinity. I follow in all things the apostolic see and profess everything that has been decreed by it.
I accept the four holy councils — Nicaea, Constantinople, the first of Ephesus, and Chalcedon — and I embrace the letter of the blessed Pope Leo. I condemn all those whom the apostolic see has condemned.
The unity we both longed for is now a reality. Thanks be to God.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.