Letter 141: Part of the papal correspondence surrounding the Acacian Schism (484-519), the major breach between Rome and...

If he who has offered a cup of cold water, following the commandments of the gospel, obtains the reward of his good intention from the Lord himself who taught these things, does not he who has delayed announcing the truth to so great a people of the faithful justly incur the penalty of damnation? Hence it is that, escaping the threat of the heavenly commandment (for what is fitting must be spoken in matters pertaining to God, and not kept silent), and having also an affection for your salvation, I have undertaken an admonition concerning what the present necessity demands, calling upon all who care to preserve the Christian religion with an intact faith to shun and flee with whatever strength they possess those who reject the holy Council of Chalcedon [451 AD ecumenical council] and the letters of blessed Leo [Pope Leo I] written concerning the Catholic faith. For these are the very ones who, polluted by the contagion of Eutyches [monophysite heretic] and Dioscorus of Alexandria [deposed patriarch], or rather by the abominable contamination of the Manichaeans, seem indeed to wage war in word against the decrees of the fathers, but in reality clearly rise up against the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, dearest ones, what was attempted while Basiliscus [usurper emperor, 475-476] occupied the imperial palace, and recall the deeds of those times, whether seen or heard: how wicked then was the presumption of Timothy, surnamed Aelurus ['the Cat,' anti-Chalcedonian patriarch of Alexandria], how shameless and monstrous, and how great the fervor of your faith showed itself throughout the whole world. The people of Constantinople proved how purely it befits believers to preserve the mysteries of Christ. But would that those struggles had been past, and the present time did not demand similar ones! For again the same heretics raise their wicked heads from the depths in which they were submerged. Therefore I ask, I urge, I admonish your love: separate yourselves from their assemblies and communion. Remember your former zeal, and show that in you the spark of spiritual fire still lives, lest the cunning of the lost should believe it has conquered the simple affection for truth in you. And indeed, as far as the present necessity and the caution to be observed against the impious are concerned, let this suffice. Yet I hope that if this admonition has availed, it will be profitable both to me and to you: since God will be glorified in your salvation, and the fruit of our solicitude will be made manifest. Given on the third day before the Nones of April [April 3], in the consulship of the most distinguished Agapitus [517 AD].

1:-|^'^.^^- Hormisclae papae acl orthodoxos Constantinopoli constitn Ut eo8, qui synodum Calchedonensejn et Leonis epistolam de fide declinant^ aversentur et fugianty admonet. Hormisda derO; populo et monachis orthodo: Constantinopoli consistentibus. ^o*^ 1. Si is, qui calicem aquae frigidae, mandata evangelica se^zua- tus, obtulerit, mercedem boni propositi ipso Domino, qui haec doci-rxi/;, restituente consequitur; nonne qui tanto populo fidelium veritatr«in annuntiare distulerit, juste poenam damnationis incurrit? Hinc Gsty quod interminationem mandati coelestis eflugiens, (quod decet, loqaen- dum est in his quae ad Deum pertinent, nec tacendum) habens quoque vestrae salutis affectum, admonitionem eorum quae praesens necessitas poscit assumpsi, omnes, quibus curae est fide integra Ghristianam religionem servare, contestans, ut eos, qui sanctam Calchedonensem synodum et beati Leonis de fide catholica conscri- ptas epistolas declinant, quibus possunt viribus aversentur et fugian t, : quando ipsi sunt, qui Eutychetis et Dioscori Alexandrini vel pofaus nefanda Manichaeorum contagione poUuti, verbo quidem advereu»^ constituta patrum videntur habere certamen, rebus autem cont^^* incarnationem Domini nostri Jesu Christi evidenter insurgunt. 2. Recordamini, carissimi, quae fuerunt Basilisco palatinam ) archen incubanto tentata, et temporum illorum acta vel visa t^^* audita recolite: quam scelesta tunc fuerit Timothei cognomed Aeluri, quam impudens et monstniosa praesiimptio, quantos e& per universum orbem fidei se vestrae fervor ostenderit, ProbaY-^^ 32 ') Vulg. palatinae arci, vel palatinae aulae, Praetnlimus CTun G' palatii archen, maxinio postqiiam infra epist. 50 n. 1 eodem loqnendi modo leginv Passim vos aestimet arches inclitae aceepisse titulos, Hic autem HonmBda iBi sibi vult: dum regale imperium Basiliscus injiate possideret. Eodem intellecio i cubator aulae Siculae Dionysius a Macrobio dictus est. De verbo incuhart m Simplicii epistolam 6 not. 7 edisaeruimus. Porro nonc HonniBda in mem- riam revocat, quod Basilisco tyranno contigisse narrat Evagriua hisl ecd. IHt Timotheus AeluruSy inquit, quum in urhem regiam venisset, persuasit BasiKieo, encyciicas litteras ad omnes uhique episcopos milteret, et ea quae CiMedone gtt fuerant et Leonis tomum anathemati subjiceret. Yemm ut idem scriptor ibid. c- ^ docet, mox idem tyrannus a populo monachisque regiae nrbia coactns eit, Hv" teras prioribus contrarias, quibua CalchedonenBiB synodos confiimabato, ndtteftf* EPISTOLAE 31 — 33. 807 Constautinopolitanus popnlus, quam pure deceat credentes Chri- a. 517. la servare mysteria. Sed transacta utinam studia fuissent, et nunc similia tempus expeteret! Rursum enim iidem haeretici t improbum de profundo, quo immersi tenebantur, attoUunt. le ideo rogo, hortor, admoneo dilectionem vestram: ab eorum conciliis et communione secemite. Recordamini zeli prioris, et re in vobis lucem scintillam ignis spiritualis ostendite, ne sim- an in vobis veritatis affectum perditorum astutia expugnasse se Leat. Et haec quidem, quantum ad praesentem necessitatem et mendam contra impios cautionem, dixisse sufficiat. Spero tamen, . si admonitio ista promoverit, et mihi et vobis utilis erit: ido et Deus in vestra salute glorificabitur, et fructus nostrae ntudinis apparebit. Data III Nonas Aprilis, Agapito viro cla- no consule.