Letter 215

From: Unknown correspondent To: Pope Hormisdas, Rome (Justinian/Justin) 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.]

finMart) Hormlsdae papae ad Justlniannm. Iliius erga se reverentiam lcnidat. Propter exorias contentiones mysterium ts. p.11 Trinitatis paucis explicat, donec suscepta quam exspectat legatione ptemus illMd edisserat. Hormisda Justiniano viro illustri. ep. 99, 1. Quod celsitudo vestra animi circa me sui benevolentiam dignatur ostendere, facitis rem Deo placitam et rectae conscientiae congruentem; sed non parva sunt vobis^) hujus emolumenta propo- siti. Major in vos fructus de tali bonitate revertitur, neque enim vacua honorificentia est, quae defertur antistiti. Indubitatum siqui- dem est, quia honor ministri cultus est domini, et qui personam sacerdotis magni habet, majorem remunerationem ab eo cui sacerdos Matth. famulatur accipiet, dicente Domino Jesu iis, qui prophetas in houm * ' suscipiunt, suam mercedem esse reddendam. Et apud me qnidem magni est gratia vestra momenti, eo tamen pretiosior, quia quid- rii 25 die ordinatum esse tradit. Dioscorus vero has litteras quarta post orS- nationem ejus die tnittere se Bignificat. £x quo consequens est, ut ^osdem men- bIb, qui hoc anno bisextilis erat, 29 die missae sint. EPISTOLAE 111 — 113. 913 quid mihi gratiae dignanter impenditis, in ecelesiamm defensione(a.620.) monstratis. 2. Sed ut ad id, quod eelsitudo vestra desiderat, noster sermo dirigatur, quamquam et clementissimus imperator et vos promittatis^) ep. 108. legationem esse venturam, et id cum ratione convenerit, ut eorum qui dirigendi sunt super omnibus nos decuerit exspectare praesen- tiam: tamen quia gratum nobis est studium, quod circa religionem V06 habere declarastis, non gravat praelibare dicendo, non opus, ut stabilitatem fidei vestrae intentionis^) potius quam rationis sequaces procaci verborum novitate confundant. Sancta Trinitas Pater et Filius et Spiritus sanctus unus est Deus. Hanc Israel jussus ado- rare, cujus inseparabilis et indiscreta substantia non potest dividi, non potest sacrilega distinctione separari, servata tamen proprietate sua unicuique personae. Haec interim commendanda fidei vestrae, epistolaris stili terminum cogitantes, congrua credimus brevitate sufficere, plenius disserenda, quum florente imperio clementissimi principis^) promissam legationem et nos suscipere Deo propitiante contigerit, et cognitis omnibus cum adjutorio Dei nostri responso reddito pro universitatis informatione remittere.