Letter 113: Part of the papal correspondence surrounding the Acacian Schism (484-519), the major breach between Rome and...

We do not think it is unknown to your blessedness that provision has been made by the admonition of divine Scripture for when to speak and when to keep silent according to the character of the times. The time of silence having now passed has granted us incentives for speaking, and therefore we have perceived it opportune to commit to your hearing those matters which are being stirred up among us under the appearance of religion. Before this, indeed, the harshness of those to whom the care of the episcopate which you now hold was entrusted caused us to refrain from sending letters. But now the pleasant report circulating about you has brought to our memory the goodness of fatherly affection, so that we might seek those things which God and our Savior taught the holy apostles by divine discourse, and especially the blessed Peter, in whom he established the strength of his Church. With these beginnings thus stated, we urge that your apostolate make itself a mediator regarding those matters which have been stirred up from the regions of Scythia, on account of which we have also perceived it fitting that a council be held, so that with contentions cut away, unity may be restored to the holy Church. All things desired are granted to us, if through your prayers and the frequent address of your pages you are mindful of us.

%^Jan Anastasii imperatoris ad Hormisdam papam. Cur pristinum sHentium nunc intermittat praefatus (n. 1), Hormisdam rogat, td p.t9l.j ad ea , quae in Scythia mota sunt et propter quae condUum celebramdim dfzif, se mediatorem faciat, |^ Victor Anastasius, pius, felix, inclitus, trium- phator, semper Augustus, Hormisdae sanctis- simo ac religiosissimo archiepiscopo etpatri- archae. 1. Beatitudini vestrae non putamus ignotum, quod pro tem- poris qualitate loquendum atque tacendum, etiam divinae Scriptone provida est admonitione dispositum. Exactum proinde silentii tem- pus incitamenta nobis loquendi concessit, atque ideo opportQnimi esse perspeximus, quae apud nos sub religioilis specie commoventur, auditui vestro committere. Ante hoc siquidem duritia *) eonun, qoi- bus episcopatus, quem nunc geritis, erat sollicitudo commissa, tem- perare nos a transmittendis faciebat epistolis. Nunc autem currens de vobis suavis opinio ad memoriam nostram bonitatem patemae affectionis adduxit, ut illa requiramus, quae Deus et Salvator noster sanctos apostolos divino sermone docuit ac maxime beatum Petrum, in quo fortitudinem Ecclesiae suae constituit. 2. His igitur praefatis initiis hortamur, ut ad ea, quae de Scythiae partibus mota sunt, unde et concilium fieri convenire perspeximus, mcdiatorem se apostolatus vester faciat, ut contentionibus amputatb unitas sanctae restituatur Ecclesiae. Nobis autem onmia optata praestantur, si orationibus vestris et frequenti paginarum allocutione nostri memores fueritis. Data pridie Idus Januarii Constantinopoliy et accepta Anthemio et Florentio viris clarissimis consulibus V Cal. Aprilis per Patricium.