Letter 69
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.]
EXEMPLUM EPISTOLAE lUSTINlANI. DOmNO SANCTO MERITIS BEATISSIMO BT APOSTOLICO DOMNO
PATRi PAPAE HORMisDAE IU3TLMANUS. Pfopitia diuinitate, quae semper ecclesiam catholicam per incrementa fidei iustituit, unitas sanctarum ecclesiarum pro doctrina et auctoritate
2 apostolatus uestri prouenit. sed quoniam coraperimus quosdam nomine monachos, quibus magis discordia studio est quam caritas et pai dei, cupientes quaedam perturbare ad angelum uestrum hinc descendentes iter ampuisse: quos beatitudo uestra praesentibus scriptis causam liuoris eonim cognoscens ita, ut merentur, suscipere et a se longe pellere dignetur, quoniam uaniloquia ipsorum festinantium nouitates introducere in ecclesia, quod neque quattuor synodi uenerabiles neque sancti papae Leonis epistolae continere noscuntur, in omni
3 loco turbas excitare uidentur: quam etiam ob rem et a uiris reuerentissimis episcopis et diaconibus directis ab apostulatu uestro * * ad nos angelus uester destinare dignetur et ipsos digna correctione perculsos, ut superius dictum est, pellere iubeat. ergo hoc petimus, ut, sicut supra dictum est, ipsas huiusmodi Utteras per eundem portitorem ad nos dirigere magnopere praecipiat. sunt autem nomina eorum Achilles,
187. Bat. (simul cum epp. 216—218) a. 519 die 29 lunii, per IJuhgium, Edd. Car. r 524; Bar. ad a, 519, 96; CoUect, Condl; Thiel 875. 8 per doctrinam et auctoritatem Bar. 9 apostolatns o^: et apostolatus V 10 discrodia F, corr. a istudio F, corr. cod. Angelic: in studio o 12 discedentes Car. 13 liboris V 15 nane eloquia F, corr. p 20 lacunam indicauit Thiel, qui addi iubet scripta de iisdem missa sunt. quae autem rescripserit beatitudo uestra, haec per eumdem portitorem; sed etiam nomen portitoris Eulogii agentis in ''bus excidisse putandum est, cf. Beitrdge p. 24 adn. 2
Epist. CLXXXVI 5 — CLXXXVin 2.
645
lohannes, Leontius et Mauritius. haec nosti^a est inaxima 4 sollicitudinis causa, ne unitas, quam uester labor oratioque perfecit, per inquietos homines dissipetur, sperantes in deo, quia, si quid est quod adhuc a totius orbis pace dissentiat,
5 hoc quoque orationibus uestris apostolicae sedis comunioni societur. praesumentes autem de beatitudinis uestrae beni- 5 uolentia paternam dilectionem nimium petimus, quatenus reliquiis sanctorum apostolorum tam nos quam basilicam eorum hic in domo nostra sub nomine praedictorum uenerabilium
10 constructam illustrare et illuminare Large dignemini, cogno- scentes, quod nullum nobis maius nec munus nec beneficium praestare potestis, domine beatissime pater, quam si hanc nostram petitionem adimpleueritis. subito autem iter arripiente 6 praedicto agente in rebus etiam duo paliios holosericos ad
15 omamentum altaris sanctorum apostolorum direximus, quos suscipientes efficacissimis precibus uestris nostri iubete iugiter memoriam facere.
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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.