Letter 133

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

Hormisdae papae ad Johannem Illicitanum episcopum. a.5i7d. S- Libenter se de illius in lialiani adventu audivisse ei probare ejus pro fidei in- tegritate studium. Pei' Cassianum diaconum se generalia constituta et certas in- strtictiones de Graecorum causa ad Hispanas ecclesias direxisse significai. De- nique vices ei suas reservatis privilegiis metropolitanorum committit. Dilectissimo fratri Johanni Hormisda. 1. Fecit dilectio tua rem caritati et fidei congnientem, ut^) adventum ad Italiam suum nobis directis litteris indicaret, et quae in te sit summa religiosae voluntatis ostenderet. Atque utinam ad plenioris affectus satietatem praesentiae tuae nobis gaudia contigis- sent, ut^) gratularemur nos ejus eloquio frui, quem ita sumus per scripta complexi! Verum etiam probasti, dilectissime frater, quo Christianam fidem venereris affectu, dum ea, quae ad regulas patrum pertinent et ad mandata catholica, sine aliqua cupis transgressione servari: sperans, ut prorogatis generalibus ad Hispanienses ecclesias constitutis, quae^) aut negligeutius aut irreligiosius fiunt, ecclesia- sticis disciplinis congruentia sanciamus. Amplexi"*) sumus captatam istius desiderii facultatem. Quid enim aut nobis dulcius, quam cum fidelibus loqui, aut-^) beatius, quara deviantes ab errore revocare? Salutantes igitur, caritate ") qua jungimur, per Cassianum diaconum tuum significamus, nos direxisse generalia constituta, quibus vel ea quae juxta canones servari debeant competenter ediximus, vel circa eos, qui ex clero Graecorum veniunt, quam haberi oporteat cautio- nem, sufficienter instruxiraus. Sed et causae ipsius ordinem in- «tructiones ') adjunctae de scriniis ecclesiasticis vos docebunt, ut aguoscentes et impiorura transgressionera et apostolicae sedis curara 24 *) J* et adventum ad It. suum n. diieciis ... indicare ... tendere. cc ut adven- ium tuum, * 3) 0*** add. superius forte pro super iis. J' constiiulis super quia nut ... san- iiamus. 50* "»: 788 8. HOKMISDAE PAPAE a. 517. pro patrum reguHs excubantem, ostendatis vos per odia^) d torum consortia amare fidelium. 2. Et quia per insinuationem dilectionis tuae hujus nobis via^) patefacta providentiae , remuneramus soUicitudinem tuam, servatis privilegiis metropolitanorum vices vobis apostolicae eatenus delegamus, ut in speculis ^^) sitis, et sive ea, quae ad canon pertinent et^*) a nobis sunt imper mandata, serventur, sive quid ecclesiasticis causis dignimi relatione contigerit, sub tua nobis i sinuatione pandantur. Erit hoc studii ac soUicitudinis tuae, ut tale te in his quae injuuguntur exhibeas, ut fidem integritatemque ej cujus curam suscipis, imiteris. Data IV Nonas Aprilis Agapito clarissimo consule. Era*^) DLV. el les de m us. "^ro a. 517 d. 2 April.