Letter 213

From: Unknown sender To: Unknown recipient (Dioscorus, 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.]

BCU l9Js^ ) Suggestio Germani episcopi, Felicis et Dioscori diaoonorum et Blandi presbyteri. Dorotheum Thessalonicensem Heracleam fuisse perductum, donec causa ejus /tni- retur; ut tamen idem cum Aristide Romam mitteretur , ^ imperatorem remdsse, immo interea illum Heraclea repente dimissum modo accipiunt (n. 1). De proximo Paschate die 19 Aprilis celehrando Orientalem ecclesiam cum Romana constn- tire (n. 2). 1. Reverenda vestri apostolatus alloquia^) per fihos vestros Leo- Inslantem Dominicae pnssionis diem recte celebrari XI II Calendas Majas, Cui in- telligentiae favent veteres , qui Pascha a passione derivaut. Quia tamen Tenzm ost, eum qui in die Paschac non fallitur, neque in Dominicae pasaionis desig* nanda errare, nihil vetaret, quominus Doininicae passionis diem etiam secnii- dum proprietatem verborum intelligeremus , nisi ipse Johannes, quod piimo Dominicae passionis nominibus, apertius postea diei paschalis vocabulis deeigni* ret. Ceterum Pascha, quod anno 520 ecclesia Romana cmn Constantinopoii- tana d. 19. Aprilis celebravit, quidam Occidentales die 22 Martii oelebruidiim duxerunt. EPISTOLAE 109 — 111. 911 nem atque Eulogium desiderabili hilaritate suscepimus; quorum prius (a.520.) praeceptum, cur quae Thessalonicae contigerunt non insinuavimus, ®P arguebat. Sed longe ante ejus adventimi occasione comparata cura- ep. lOO. vimus significare, quaecunque vel rumore venientium vel eorum qui pertulerunt scriptis, quorum exemplaria^) subter adjunximus, velep. lO^. piissimi principis narratione comperimus. Secuta est vindictae pro- missio: adeo ut Dorotheus Thessalonicensis episcopus ad Heracleam deduceretur civitatem, donec causa terminum reperiret. Inter haec secundmn ea, quae praecepistis, auctoritatem apostolatus vestri prin- ®P|^ cipi insinuare curavimus, ut ad percipiendam doctrinam catholicae puritatis Romam praefatus Dorotheus ima cum Aristide mitteretur. Qni respondit causam non esse, pro qua Romam dirigerentur'^) audiendi, ubi sine accusatorum controversia se possent liberius excusare. Sed repente, dum haec geruntur, ab Heracliensi, quantmn agnovimus, in qua teuebatur, dimissus est civitate : quam ob causam, vel qua ratione aut conditione, vel quibus agentibus, ignoramus. 2. De paschali die vestra beatitudo cognoscat concordare Orien- talium cum apostolica sede sententiam, ut XIH Calendarum Majarum die festivitas celebranda speretur, sicut Johannis quoque Constanti- nopolitani antistitis relatione clarebit. Superest, ut orationis beati- ep. 109. tudinis vestrae adnuniculo celeriter, sicut cupimus, vestris mereamur praesentari vestigiis.