Letter 107
Hormisdas→Unknown|hormisdas
From: Pope Hormisdas, Rome
To: Unknown recipient (bishops)
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.]
HORMISDA EPIPIIAMO EPISCOPO COXSTANTINOPOLITANO. Beue-
dicimus dominum fraternae caritatis affectu, quia non solum synodica relatione ad sacerdotium te digne peruenisse cogno- uimus sed factis atque moribus comprobamus et ita se meriti tui gradus patefecit effectibus, ut ante fratrum et coepi-
2 scoporum nostrorum testimonium cuncta crederemus. quod enim illi te promittunt posse moribus agere, nos uidemus implesse et, tamquam fidei tuae seruata pacis fuerit gratia, sic unitatis hactenus dilata sunt uota. diuina eorum praede- stinatione caritati tuae uocabulum quo nuncuparis accessit, sub quo spiritu apparente concordiae factum est, ut dicamus: ecce quam bonum et quam iucundum habitare
3 fratres in unum! quapropter in Christo domino nostro reddentes officia salutationis hortamur, ut boni operis initiura laudabile continuet institutum secundum sanctum euangelium, quo monemur: qui perseuerauerit in fine, hic saluus erit. adhortamini igitur reliquos, inuitate monitis, coUigite blandimentis, quia talenti crediti multiplicata compendia
21 Psalm. 182, 1 25 Matth. 10, 22 1 aut cominunionis Thiel, et <alicnos a> communione Bar. 3 ad-
a
mittit V 6 ad om. ol, unde <in/ abscissos Car.
239, JDat. ut ep. 236. Edd. Car. P 551; Collect. Concil; BTA I 447; Thiel 965; commemorat Bar. ad a. 521^ 6. 16 posse moribus Thiel: possessoribus V, posse omnia Car. 18 eorum V: nimirum 20 concordia Car.
Epist. CCXXXVIIII 2 —
CCXXXX 2.
739
sacrificia sunt diuina. praeterea gratissime tulimiis, quod 4 lohanne fratre et coepiscopo nostro nec non Heracliano presbytero atque Constantino filiis nostris internuntiis promo- tionera caritatis tuae cognouimus, qua esse aliquid dulcius
5 non putamus, et cum te praedicti uiri, etsi pro obsequio suscepto facerent, non tamen ratione laudarent, boati omnium sumus, quod dignae rei nuntius relator dignus extabat, ut tibi absolutissime de legatorum meritis probatio sit honoris. et 5 XANU papae: Suscepimus calicem aureum gemmatum, patenam
10 argenteam et alium calicem argenteum et uela duo ministerio basilicae beati Petri apostoli profutura a caritate tua directa. Data VH. Kal. Apr. Ualerio cons.
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From: Pope Hormisdas, Rome
To: Unknown recipient (bishops)
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.