Letter 117

From: Unknown correspondent To: Pope Hormisdas, Rome (Anastasia) 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.]

Hormisdae papae ad Anastasiuni imperatorem. ^8 J^^ «"1 studium reipubficae proficere repeiit, Vt imperatoris sollicitudini pro Ec ■-oe concordia Deus praestet effectian supplicat, In concilio quid fieri opor- teat, legatis proxime secuturis se in mandatis dedisse mntiat, Hormisda Anastasio^) Augusto. Per Severianum. Bene clementia vestra confidit, sicut datis ad me gloriosis de- ^^it affatibus, quod reipublicae vestrae specialiter proficiat, si ep. i. '^tm omnibus orthodoxae fidei causa praeponatur. Haec est enim. > Omnino legendum videtur sperabamus, Tadte enim uotat se aliquid aliud ^ , quam quod litteris suis Bignificaverat, desiderare. In bis quippe de ^edonenBi concilio, de Acacii nomine, de iis qui cum damnatiB communi- '^it, altum est silentium. ) ^ln vulgatis et Ecclesia. In pleriBque autem veteribus libris voculae et ^ ex ita pinguntur, ut utra praeferenda sit, ex sola orationis serie d^*udi- * Haec porro hic postulat ex Ecclesia. j Integra in hunc modum fiet oratio: quo cujuslibet aut odiis propriis aut ^itf inteniionibus hominibus in injuHam Dei^ guod nefas est, velint placere, et ^^ffls ... saecularia contemnenies a spe non possint, Multos, dum imperatori ^e cupiebant aut timebant displicere, in Bchismate perseverare non igno- t HormiBda, ideoque huic malo studet occurrere. 0 Ed. secunde nisi; G^ secunde his, voce Ms post. manu cancellata. Unde bie secure mutavimus. ') Respondet superiori epistolae 1, quae quamvis prior missa, seriuBtamen idsdae reddita est. G' ad marg. addit per Severianum, a. 515. veiierabilis imperator, de suseepto moderamiue rectoris cura salu- brior, ut ejus sibi favorem per opera bona conciliet, qui uniYersm et tribuet^) et reget imperiiun. Proinde me quoque et domino nostro Jesu Cliristo convenit supplicare, ut qui de Ecclesiae suae concoi- dia vestram pietatem cogitare voluit^^ hunc super hac parte conce- dere dignetur effectum: quatenus temporibus vestris orthodoxa fide ])raeditus universus t^rrarum orbis exsultet. De his vero, quae pio synodali congregatione praecepistis , quid fieri oporteat, per fratres ] et coepiscopos meos, qui propere subsequentur , gloriae vestrae ia- sinuanda mandavi: quorum suggestione, si divinus favor mea votsi prosequitur, competentius poteritis universa coguoscere, Data Vlll Idiis Julii Florentio consule.