Letter 147

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.]

Anastasii Augusti ad Hormisdam papam. iWum Christi mansuetudinem commendai, ut Hormisdam velut nimiae duritiae reum faciat, Anastasius Augustus Hormisdae papae. Etsi magnum aliquid taciturnitas judicatur, tamen necessarium est, admirantes Dei misericordiam assidue frequentare sermonem. Et quia initium fidei, quam nos Dominus et Deus Salvator noster Jesus Christus docuit *), in remissione peccatorum praecellit, nulli habetur ignotum. Ipse enim per propriam passionem omnia Adam peccata mundavit, et haec fuit negotiatio humilitatis ipsius, ut et praefatum et omnes fratres liberaret ex servitute peccati, voluntarie personam servi suscipiens. Nam beatus Paulus apostolus docuit nos scribens ad Romanos: Regnavit mors ah Adam usque ad Moysen ei in eos, Qui^^ hon peccaverunt. Ex quo est universitati quodammodo declaratum, ex generali dispositione sive mirabilibus specialia quemque^) exempla debere sascipere semel tanta magnae legis jussione et tam pia boni- tate firmata; et omnis doctrina, quam discipulis suis tradidit, in hoc firmamento consistit. Fugavit aegritudines sive multifaria ge- nera passionum, nodum peccati propria, sicut dictum est, passione resolvit; et agens ad implenda similia discipulos factis et sermoni- bus instruebat. Verum si, sicut aliqui nituntur ostendere, certi ex ipsis^) apostolicis tam piam doctrinam per inobedientiam implere Christum ideo camem suscepisse, ut oranes misericorditer liberaret; adeoque ex hac generali incarnationis suae causa, quam miraculis, gestis ac praeceptis firmavit, specialia nobis dedisse exempla, quibus misericordiara disceremus. ') Non crediderim Anastasium imnio uUum, qui Christiano nomiue glorietur, ejus impudentiae et impietatis exstitisse , ut apostolos in implendis Christi man- datis inobedieutiae argucrent. Quare legendum potius ipsis apostolicis^ quam a. 517. dissimulant; ignoramuS; ubi magisterium misericordis Domiui ei magni Dei nobis possit occurrere. Nos autem non ea credimiis ra- tione, ut immisericordes esse putemus, qui misericordiam didicenmi; sed postulationem nostram a praesenti tempore tacitomitate compri- mimuS; irrationabile judicantes illis precum adhibere bonitatem, qoi rogari se nolint, contumaciter respuentes ^) : injuriari enim et annul- lari sustinere possumus, juberi non possumus. Data Y Idus Julii Constantinopoli, Anastasio (Augusto IV)^) et Apapito yv. cccon- sulibus.