Letter 234

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

^23^*Q^^' Hormisdae papae ad Dorotheum Thessalonicensem episcopum. ^" Ulinam quae de illo fama nunliat vera non sint! Ut in recondKatione fidei aliorum, qui reversi, sequatur exempbm, Hormisda^) Dorotheo episcopo Thessalonicensi. Considerantes tuae fratemitatis ecclesiam ante praetereuntis mala discordiae olim cum sede apostolica praecipua fuisse caritate con- junctam, te nuper pacis desuper^) redditae esse credebamus aucto- 133 ^) Superiori Justiui epistolae 126, quam Eulogius detolerat, rescribitar, eidemque Eulogio Constantinopolim redeunti creditur. ') Ita G'. Ed, nec mutatione ... credimus. 134 *) Ipsius Dorothei epistolae 128 reapondet. Ut eodem die quo proiimA, ita et eidem Eulogio videtur tradita. EPI8T0LAE 133 — 135. 957 rem. Sed quia quos praevenire debueras ^ sequi etiam remoraris^ a. 520. non leviter pro fratemitate tua dilatae correctionis ingemiscimus tarditatem. Scribis enim aures nostras cujusdam sceleris atrocitate ep. 128. turbatas. Utinam usque ad nos tantum detestabilis fama percurre- ret, et non toto orbe Christianis mentibus tam dolendum quam ex- secrabile facinus nuntiaret, ut^) qui te innocentem nesciunt, a Chri- stianitatis ^imul credant tramite deviasse! In qua enim mundi parte immanitatis hujus invidia non et catholicas contristat ecclesias^ et haereticorum prava vota laetificat^ quae nos a dilectionis tuae con- scientia^ sicut litteris intimas^ ostendi cupimus aliena! Quid enim Yotis nostris magis conyem*t, nisi ut redire ad pacem catholicam volentes episcopos a crudelitate et criminibus contingat semper in- noxios comprobari. Exspectamus igitur^ si non desunt fratemitati tuae veritatis Deo nota praesidia^ ut et tanti sceleris a te repellas invidiam^ et in reconciliatione fidei tandem eorum qui reversi sunt sequaris exempla. Data IV Calendas Novembris, Rustico viro cla- rissimo consule.