Letter 215: Part of the papal correspondence surrounding the Acacian Schism (484-519), the major breach between Rome and...

That your eminence deigns to show the goodwill of its spirit toward me, you do a thing pleasing to God and suited to a right conscience; but the advantages of this purpose for you are not small. A greater fruit returns to you from such goodness, for the honor paid to a minister is not empty which is given to a bishop. For it is beyond doubt that honor to the minister is worship of the Lord, and whoever honors the person of a great priest will receive a greater recompense from him whom the priest serves, as the Lord Jesus says that their reward will be given to those who receive prophets in their name [cf. Matthew 10:41]. And indeed your grace is of great weight with me, yet more precious because whatever grace you deign to bestow upon me, you demonstrate in the defense of the churches. But that our speech may be directed to what your eminence desires: although both the most merciful emperor and you promise that a legation is coming, and it has been agreed with reason that we ought to await the presence of those who are to be sent concerning all matters, yet because the zeal you have shown concerning religion is welcome to us, it is not burdensome to say in advance that it is not necessary for those who follow intention rather than reason to confound the stability of your faith with the brashness of verbal novelty. The holy Trinity — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — is one God. This Trinity Israel was commanded to worship, whose inseparable and undivided substance cannot be divided, cannot be separated by sacrilegious distinction, yet with each person's proper characteristic preserved. These things, which we believe should be commended to your faith for the present, considering the limits of a letter's style, we judge sufficient with appropriate brevity; they are to be discussed more fully when, with the empire of the most merciful prince flourishing, it befalls us, God willing, both to receive the promised legation and, having learned everything, to send back a response with the aid of our God for the instruction of all.

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.