Letter 23
Hormisdas→A bishop|hormisdas
From: Hormisdas, Pope of Rome
To: A bishop (identity uncertain; possibly Dorotheus of Thessalonica or another Eastern correspondent)
Date: ~517 AD
Context: Hormisdas breaks a long silence, explaining that the delay was caused by the difficulty of the diplomatic situation, not by any cooling of affection — and invoking the Pauline teaching that love bears all things.
Your affection will wonder at the reason for my long silence — but only if you fail to consider everything that preceded it. You will not wonder at my present letter, if you understand the force of love. For we have learned from the teacher of the nations [Paul, 1 Corinthians 13:7] that love bears all things.
The silence was not indifference. It was patience — the patience of a man who waits for the right moment to speak, knowing that premature words can do more harm than none at all. But love, which endures all things, also has its breaking point: not into anger, but into speech. I can no longer hold back what the situation demands I say.
I write to you now with renewed urgency. The cause of the faith requires your attention, and I trust that the bond between us — tested by silence — will prove all the stronger for having survived it.
mirabitur dilectio tua rationem praeteriti silentii mei, si quae praecesserint uniuersa considerat; non mirabitur praesentis alloquii. si quae sit uis caritatis erpendat. sustinere enim omnia caritatem magistro gentium docente cognouimus; quae
23 Cor. I 13. 7
1 pro creditae o*: procedite V 9 corrigeretur Bar., <se> corrigeret Causi. 14 quod o^: quid V 16 aq. datae . . documenta si adfueritis . . reductis <quod> effici omni temptaui: date . . documenta si affueritis . . redactis efficione F, date . . documenta si adfore cunctis . . reductis officio omni et J5ar., data (datae Thiel) . . <erunt> documenta si adfueritis . . rednctis <idemque a ceteri8> effici orani Coust.
128. Bat. (simul cum epp. 120, 129—132) a. 517 die 3 Apr. per Ennodium etc. Edd. Car. P 463; Bar. ad a. 517, It; Collect. Cmi- €il.; JBTA I 397; Thiel 800. 19 normtsda F, corr. a 20 racio V, corr. 21 consideret Car. euersa clauaularum contionantia (mei . .
considerat . . alloquii . . expendat)
85*
546
Honnisda episcopis in Orientis partibus constitatis
si sua, sicut continet doctrina ipsa, non quaerit, non incongrue abusus priuilegio meo, quod tibi potius prodesse possit,
2 exhibeo. expectare enim me decuit ab errantium coniunctione te liberum et sic amare correctum, uidere ab improbandis diuidi atque ita litterario sermone complecti. sed quem optea reducem, cur difieras uocare tardantem? cur non detur locus moderationi, cum nihil detrahitur aequitati? impendenda sunt, quae laborantibus prosunt, si nos societatis contagione non
3 poUuunt. haec causa mihi fuit praesentium littei*arum, ut horter, ut moneam, ne terram nostram iacere patiamur negle- gentius infecundam. non diu infructuosam arborem occupare solum diligens permittit agricola; patienter expectat, sed
4 numquid sub continuatione perdurat? uocatus ad salutaria non moreris; prope ab innocentia non recedit, qui ad eam sine tarditate reuerterit. mouere patrum monitis et insistens fidelibus sine lapsu aut errore uestigiis praecedentia delue per futura.
5 adiacet tibi modo ad iusta populos incitando, modo pro fide principalibus uestigiis supplicando dirigere quod deuium est, solidare quod dubium. magno te conuenit labore prouidere, ut causas transacti temporis rectae tegat sedulitas actionis. praestat quidem animae suae, per quem uniuersali aliquid confertur ecclesiae, et ita se res habet, ut si studiosus, si indefessus institeris, fiat tibi utilis causa communis. Data ut supra.
1 Cor. I 13, 5 12 cf. lacob. 5, 7
1 non (n sed n ex u. correcta: S. a) incongruae V 3 eiibeo V decut V, corr. o 4 correptum F, corr. 7 moderacione F, corr. p detragitur F, corr. o 8 socitatis F 16 dilue 17 incitanda F, corr. 20 recte F, corr. p 23 indefensus istiteris F, corr. p*
Data ut supra F, qtMd non ad eam quae praecedit ^nstulam referen- dum exposui Beitrdge 10 sq.
Epist. CXXVm 2 — CXXIX 5.
547
◆
From: Hormisdas, Pope of Rome
To: A bishop (identity uncertain; possibly Dorotheus of Thessalonica or another Eastern correspondent)
Date: ~517 AD
Context: Hormisdas breaks a long silence, explaining that the delay was caused by the difficulty of the diplomatic situation, not by any cooling of affection — and invoking the Pauline teaching that love bears all things.
Your affection will wonder at the reason for my long silence — but only if you fail to consider everything that preceded it. You will not wonder at my present letter, if you understand the force of love. For we have learned from the teacher of the nations [Paul, 1 Corinthians 13:7] that love bears all things.
The silence was not indifference. It was patience — the patience of a man who waits for the right moment to speak, knowing that premature words can do more harm than none at all. But love, which endures all things, also has its breaking point: not into anger, but into speech. I can no longer hold back what the situation demands I say.
I write to you now with renewed urgency. The cause of the faith requires your attention, and I trust that the bond between us — tested by silence — will prove all the stronger for having survived it.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.