Letter 152: Part of the papal correspondence surrounding the Acacian Schism (484-519), the major breach between Rome and...

I greet your holiness, dearest brother in Christ, and greeting you I proclaim that the right faith is safe and the love of brotherhood has been confirmed. God alone, the Almighty, has willed this to come about through the zeal of our Christian and most pious emperors. Deign therefore to write in an apostolic manner and to receive replies fraternally, for the love of God. For I, holding the teaching of the most holy apostles according to the tradition of the holy fathers by an inscrutable plan, likewise offer honor to the consubstantial and in all things holy Trinity, as the assembly of three hundred and eighteen at Nicaea [Council of Nicaea, 325 AD] promulgated, and the gathering of one hundred and fifty at Constantinople [Council of Constantinople, 381 AD] confirmed, and the assembly of two hundred at Ephesus [Council of Ephesus, 431 AD] confirmed, and the gathering of six hundred and thirty fathers at Chalcedon [Council of Chalcedon, 451 AD] confirmed. Guarding this faith, therefore, to my last breath by the grace of God, I embrace with spiritual embraces both your holiness and all orthodox churches from my heart, one with you in truth of mind, and one with you in hope that on that day we may be saved through this faith by the good will of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. For to the consubstantial Trinity all glory is owed, now and forever and ever! We greet most warmly in the Lord all the brotherhood in Christ who are with your holiness, I and those who are with me. So much have we written to satisfy you, that we have affixed in the sacred diptychs [liturgical registers of names read at the Eucharist] the venerable name of Leo of holy memory, formerly archbishop of the city of Rome, at the time of consecration for the sake of concord, and likewise your blessed name is proclaimed in the diptychs. So that your holiness may be fully satisfied in all things — since we embrace your peace and pray for the unity of the holy churches of God — we ask you to send peaceful men worthy of your apostolic see, who ought to give satisfaction and to receive our satisfaction; so that in this regard too Christ our God may be glorified, who through you has preserved this peace for the world. Received on the thirteenth day before the Kalends of January [December 20], after the consulship of Agapitus [518 AD].

seu a. 516 d. Exemplum relationiB Johannis episcopi Constantinopolitani per accepta Gratum missae ad Hormisdam papam. d 20Dec ' Se rectae fidei esse studiosum et quatuor synodos suscipere profitetur, Leom « jj atque ipsius Ilormisdae nomen in diptychis inscriptum docet, utque legati paeis amantes mittantur, rogat. Domino meo et peromniaDei amatori sanctissimo fratri et comministro Hormisdae Johannes in Domino salutem. 1. Saluto vestram sanctitatem, ca^ssime in Christo frater, et salutans praedico, quoniam recta fides salva est et caritas fraterni- tatis firmata est. Hoc Deus solus potens per studium Christianonim et piissimonmi imperatorum fieri voluit. Scribere igitur apostolice et rescripta*) suscipere fraterne Dei amore dignemini. Ego enim inquisibili ratione doctrinam sanctissimorum apostolorum secmidum traditionem sanctorum patrum teiiens, similiter honorem consubstan- tiali et per omnia sanctae Triuitati oflero, sicut in Nicaea trecen- torum octodecim coetus promulgavit, et in Constantinopoli centnm quinquaginta conventus firmavit, et iu Ephesina concursuis*) ducen- torum firmavit, et in Calchedone conventus sexcentorum triginta patrimi firmavit. Hanc ergo fidem usque ad ultimum anhehtom per gratiam Dei custodiens, spiritualibus amplexibus tam vestram sanctitatem quam etiam orthodoxas ecclesias ex animo amplector, una tecum in veritate sentiens, et una tecum sperans in illo die per hanc fidem salvari bona voluntate Patris et Filii et Spiritos sancti. Consubstantiali enim Trinitati omnis gloria debetur nunc et in saecula saeculorum! 2. Omnem in Christo fraternitatem , quae cum vestra est san- ctitate, ego et qui mecum, plurimum in Domino salutamus. Tan- Eumdem Gratum infra Justinus epist. 129 n. 1 virum suhlimem wkagiitrum ictM et Johannes Constantinopolitanus epist. 61 n. 1 clarissimum comitem simpliciter vocant. 43 ') Ita G" a'; b scripta. ') Ita G'. b cc omitt. concursus. EPISTOLAE 42—44. 833 im ad satisfaciendum scripsimus; ut et venerabile nomen sanctae a. 518. scordatidnis Leonis^ quondam facti urbis Romae archiepiscopi, in ^cria diptychis tempore consecrationis propter concordiam affigere- ir'), et vestrum benedictum nomen similiter in diptychis praedice- Qur. Ut de omnibus aut«m satisfiat vestrae sanctitati^ quoniam acem vestram amplectimur et de unitate sanctarum Dei ecclesiarum oramuS; rogamus vos pacificos viros destinare et vestrae dignos postolicae sedis/ qui debeant satisfacere et satisfactionem nostram Qscipere; ut et in hac parte Christus Deus noster glorificetur, qui »er vos pacem hanc mundo servavit. Accepta XIII Galendas Janu- riaS; post^) consulatum Agapiti.