From: Unknown sender
To: Unknown recipient (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.]
HoiunsDA lusTiNiANO iLLusTRi. Ita maguiiicentiae uestrae animum uigere nouimus religionis affectu, ut beneficium a uobis in perfectione pacis ecclesiae uelitis magis exigi quam rogari, iudicantes meritis excellentiae uestrae proficere, quod uos generalitatis desiderio contingit offerre. unde et nos a uobis praesumpte quaerimus tamquam. debitum, quod 2 meritis uestris nouimus esse profuturum, et ideo, domine fili, sub omni caritate salutantes speramus, ut immineatis operi, quod domino adiuuante fundastis, memores diuini testimonii: qui perseuerauerit in fine, saluus erit. praeterea monachos, quos uenisse Bomam significastis lit- 3, teris uestris, ad propria mox uoluimus reuerti; sed quia sub testificatione potentiae diuinae dicebant per insidias in itinere paratas uitae sese sustinere posse discrimen, nolentes redire Constantinopolim passi non sumus uiolenter eipelli.
21 Matth. 10, 22
1»0. Dat ut ep. 189, Edd. Car. P 52G; Collect, Concil; BTA I 436; Thiel 886; ex parte ^ar, ad a. 519, 18. 17 praesumpte V 21 finem p\ finem <hic> Car, secundum Vulg, 22 roma F, corr. a 25 sese p^: esse V
648
lustinianus Hormisdae; lustinus Hormisdae
quapropter necesse habebimus uenientibus legatis nostris inquirere, qua re uera faciente causa inter eos fuerit commota
4 discordia. beatissimorum uero apostolorum Petri et Pauli sanctuaria, sicut religiosissimo quaesistis affectu, per harum portitorem sub omni ueneratione transmisimus, optantes, oratio- nibus eomm mentis uestrae oblatio et desideria gratiae sint
5 diuinitatis accepta. petimus quoque, ut tam de his, quae geruntur pro concordia, quam de incolomitatis uestrae bono nuntietis soUicitudini nostrae gaudium currente pagina litte- rarum. Data IIIl. Nonas Septb. Eutharico cons.
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From:Unknown sender
To:Unknown recipient (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.