Letter 98
Hormisdas→Unknown|hormisdas
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.]
Magna est dei misericordia et inaestimabilia eius iudicia, qui nihil occultum dimittit, ut probetur uniuscuiusque con- scientia. Borotfaeus Thessalonicensis non nouus apparuit nec ad praesens factum se demonstrauit quem olim uera praedi- cabat opinio. iste semper in malis suis desideriis inuolutus data occasione exercuit quod contra fidem catholicam semper
2 parturibat scelus. in aliis litteris significauimus beatitudini uestrae, quo ordine transeuntes Thessalonicam libellos non potuimus suscipere; erat tamen constitutum post ordinationem sanctae ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae unum ex nobis ad ipsum dirigere, quia hoc spera<ra>t praedictus, ut unus ex nobis post libellos susceptos cum ipso missas teneret, quasi testimonio habens in generalitate se ad unitatem sedis apostolicae esse
3 coniunctum. etsi tardo, factum est tamen, ut uenerabilem lohannem episcopum ad ipsum dirigeremus; directus est cum ipso ex communi electione Epipfaanius presbyter germanus uenerabilis Inlustris episcopi; erat cum ipsis et Licinius
4 comes scolae ex ordinatione clementissimi imperatoris. qui Licinius tamen cum prius pro alia causa Thessalonicam esset directus, congregata synodo de paroecia ecclesiae Thessaloni- censis ibi est inuentus <ex>spectans secundum promissionem unum ex nobis. uoluerunt ipso praesente libellos facere et subsciibere. quodfactum est: signauit ipsos libellos praedictus uir, ueniens Constantinopolim factum nuntiauit; dicebatur
225* DaL a. 519 medio uel exeunte mense Octobr, (per PaiUinumy); accepta die 28 Nou. Edd^Car. P 514; Bar, ad a. 519, 128; Collect, Concil; Thiel 898, 2 diac V 7 factum se F: factum sed a, unde factu8 sed o, factus sed <se> Car. 9 eiseruit Hiiel 10 parturiebat o 11 thessalonica V, eorrexi 13 ado^ (c/. 18): id F 14 sperat F, correxii sperabat Car. unum F, corr. Car. 17 tarde o^ 19 presbyter. Germanus uenerabilis <et> lUnstris (illustris Bar.) episcopus erat interpolauit Car., cf. Beitr. 35 adn. 3 22 thessalonica F, corr. o» 24 spectans F, corr. cod. Angelic. 27 <et> ueniens Car.
Epiet. CCXXV 1—8.
889
nobis ab apocrisiario Dorothei *iubete dirigere, qui libelloe snscipiat". deliberatum est, sicut praediximus, uenerabilem lohannem episcopum ambulare et, ut haberet testimonium subscriptionis illorum, rogauimus piissimum imperatorem, ut
5 et comes Licinius ambularet cum eo. quod et factum est. et 5 qiiia peruenerunt in ciuitatem, nuntiata est Dorotheo per comitem Licinium praesentia nostrorum. qui direiit Aristidem presbyterum cum aliis duobus episcopis, quos solus sciebat aduersarios esse negotii, ut nostros uideret. cum quibus
»0 uoluerunt facere in primis cei-tamina de libellis dicentes *sunt capitula, quae debeant emendari". diierunt nostri non esse in potestate ipsorum hoc facere: *si uultis facere, deo gratias; si non uultis facere, uenimus, salutauimus uos, perambulamus'. discesserunt post ista uerba. ad aliam diem conuenerunt 6 iterum ista loquentes et, antequam propositionem uerborum fecissent, ubi non est intentio generata, non iniuria secuta est, subito populus insanus irruit super ipsum et duos pueros occiderunt episcopi, caput etiam fregerunt episcopo in duabus partibus et renes eius dissipauerunt et, nisi misericordia dei et defensio sancti Marci basilicae eruisset eos de manibus eorum, ibi perierant. liberati sunt tamen, quomodo dicitur, quia manus publica superuenit, quae eos eruere potuit. ista 7 et istomm concinnaraenta Dorothei maiitia fabricauit, qui ante biduum quam peruenirent nostri Thessalonicam super duo milia baptizauit, sacramenta tanta erogauit in populo, quae possint ipsis ad tempora suflicere, significans plebi, quia fides recta mutatur. ista quomodo non habuerant excitare populum? ista quem non inuitabant ad seditiunem? post hoc 8 et ipsum libellum, quem fecerat cum episcopis, ante populura scidit dicens 'ego istud usque ad mortem meam numquam
44*
690
Hoimisda Gerinano etc.
facio nec facientibus consentio'. occidenint et lohannem uenerabilem catholicum, qui nos uenientes susceperat in domo sua, qui semper separatus fuit a communione Dorothei propter synodum Calcedonensem: in quo talem mortem exercuerunt, OquaJem illi <qui> sanctum Proterium occiderunt. ista ad 5 clementissimum imperatorem peruenerunt et prope in tota ciuitate catholicis luctus est propter talia quae contigerunt scelera. promittit sancta clementia uindicare et iactare Dorotheum, quia nos contestati sumus pietatem eius dicentes *nulla ratione Dorotheum inter episcopos aut in communione 10 sedis apostolicae potest beatissimus papa recipere' et contra, qui uoluerint eum in sua communione recipere, scire se esse lOreos auctoritate ecclesiastica. ista ad notitiam beatitudinis uestrae festinauimus referre, ut nihil uos lateat, quod in istis partibus agitur. Accepta IIII. Kal. Decbr. Eutharico cons. 15
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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.