From: Pope Hormisdas, Rome
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.]
lusTiNus AUGUSTUS HORMiSDAE rAPAB. Ut quod in Paulo uiro reuerentissimo contigit apostolatui uestro patefiat, qui sacerdotio praeditus Antiocbenae ciuitatis ita uersatus esse m
1 po8t praesuscepte lacuna^n 11 fere litte)'arum reliquit V, praesus- cepta <argunienta> snnt BuU. Taur.; fortasse talia aliqua excideruntprsie' susceptae <spe8 operante clementia expletae^' sunt 9 transcribuntur V. corr. edit. reg. 14 filiis nostris F, corr. 15 luctumina dis-
siciat Vj con\ 16 compescant F, corr. 17 epifanio V 19 apri- lis V 20 8q. uerba gesta . . habemus quae collectoris sunt litteris minusculis V man, 1 in noua linea scripsit tvaiapolitani V
241. Bat. (simul cum ep. 242) a. 521 die 1 Mai. Edd. Car. P 562; Bar. ad o. 521 37; Collect. Concil.; Thiel 983. 25 predictus V, corr. p
Epist. CCXXXX 3 — CCXXXI 2.
741
dicitur in multis causis, quae religiosis alienae sunt episcopis. ut clericoi*um suorum proditione, habitatorum etiam dictae ciuitatis, aliorum insuper frequentium incusetur, non tantum legatis uestrae sanctitudinis in hac regia positis urbe, ut
5 ipsos quoque retinere censemus, uerum post eorum recessum : qui malae conscientiae suae uictus testimonio, territus insuper ne quaestione habita grauiorem formam exitus rei posceret, recusatorios libellos obtulit, ut liceret ei secedere a suscepto, sicut dictum est, episcopatus officio. quoniam igitur cordi 2
10 nobis et est et fuit, ut semper ciuitatum antistites in amore sint omnium communi, quorum regendas <accepisse> creduntur animas, Paulus autem uir reuerentissimus ultro se suo, prout memorauimus, abdicauit sacerdotio, praesentem epistolam duximus dirigendam « « uobis aperiatur et orationibus propiiis
15 caeleste nobis praesidium digneris acquirere. Data Kal. Mai. Constantinopoli lustiniano et Ualerio uu. cc. conss.
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From:Pope Hormisdas, Rome
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.