Letter 199

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

^2 S^cptt Hormisdae papae ad Enphemiam Aogustam. Perpetuas pro ejus et imperatoris salute ad Deum se 'et catholicum quemque P-^ , preces effundere. Elitan^ Thomam et Nicostratum commendat. Uormisda Euphemiae Augustae. 1. Orare nos et pro vestra ineolumitate Deo nostro vota per- solvere cum catholicorum etiam coetu sine cessatione pontificum, non vestrae studium exorationis invitat; sed devotum atque persidieiis in ecclesiastica stimulat reconciliatione propositimi. Quis enim ab haeretica segregatus conspiratione se teneat^ quis aliis in sua utator deprecatione principiis, nisi ut vobis serenissimoque principi jugali vestro et vita sit longior, et ad prosperitatis augmentum graiia di- vina proximior: qui initia felicis imperii plectendi exsecrationibos consecrastis erroris; et amicam diabolo pacifica expulistis intentione discordiam? Unde nunc decet vos laudabilibus coeptis insistere et per totum orbem perfectam spargere medicinam^ quia Christo major numerus gregis oblatus mercedem confidenter exigit largiorem. Inter quae curae vestrae sit^ ut nullum Satanas jamdudum prostratus vul- nus efficiat^); sed communionis unitas magnum sit justitiae impe- trandae sufiragium. 2. Quaesumus namque^ ut tandem de venerabilibus fratribus et coepiscopis nostris^ Elia^ Thomate atque Nicostrato^ quod sacratisai- morum caiionum dictat auctoritaS; vobis decernentibus impleatur: ne videantur ut auctores alicujus mali^ quod primi ad unitatem sedis apostolicae festinarunt, in communi omnium gaudio soli meruisse percelli, et in facto laudabili victam personali odio cessisse justitiam. Nostris ergo precibus apud clementissimum Augustum vestras ad- jungite, ut fnictum, quem illi^ patrum regulae tribui et conservari praecipiunt, inimica tergiversatio auferre non possit. atpimus, errorem omnes relinquant^ nemini quidem perrre suus honor debeat^ sedHKt, qui pro fide laboraverunt, cum omni privilegio suo oporteat Jus proprium reforaurt Cum his confer Hormisdae dicta infra epist. 95. EPISTOLAE 93 — 95/. 891