Letter 236

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

(a. 520 £piphanii Coiistantinopolitam ad Hormisdam papam. post 9 oept.) De precibus OrientaUumy quas imperator sihi oblaia* ad eum mttii, ne differei p.l aperire quid seniiai, modesie monei. Domino meo per omnia amabili Deo sanctissimo- que fratri et comministratori Hormisdae Epi- phanius episcopus in Domino salutem. Quantam alacritatem aut quale desiderium piissimus et Christia- nissimus imperator circa^) perfectam unitionem uniyersarum ecde- siarum habeat; non voluntate tantum sed operibus ipsis, habitan- tibus in hac regia urbe^ et antequam ad regnum a Deo sibi datam perveniret, ostendit^). Sanctitati autem vestrae ex correctis^ ab initio regni ejus et usque nimc laboribus maxime manifestavit, per quos omiia catholicae Ecclesiae membra in imum Domini et Salva- toris no tri Jesu Christi corpus cum prompto nititur animo conjim- gere; e: quid opus est verbis uti prolixis, qui rebus ipsis, quam- quam^) nos veri testes, exsistere valeamus? Habet tamen etvestra sanctitas experimentum; quod et per se ipsa cognovit: confirmat quidem haec quod et nunc additur. Nam quidam, qui sub poten- tissima ejus manu sunt, religiosissimorum sacerdotum ex OrientaUun partium regionibus preces porrexerunt, docentes de his quae volue- runt. Nec hoc latere vestram volens sanctitatem^ bene deliberavit, ep.i29. ut quod jam factum est, in praesenti denuntiaret vestrae sanctitati; paulo post de ea his manifestius significare^): ut communi consilio, praecedente omnium Domino et Salvatore nostro Jesu Christo, ea, quae ad utilitatem communem conveniunt et undique sunt irrepre- 136 ^) Ita indubie secundum similitudinem ep. 130 n. 1 correxima8*quod G' can, ed. caram. ') Eam ob causam sibi tunc Anastasii Augusti odium'concitavit, adeo at ejus jussu comprehcnsuB, etiam novae alici^jus machinationis obtentu Zonan et Cedreno testibus interficiendus esset, nisi imperatorem ipsum Deos per ao- mnum a tanto flagitio dcterruissct. Clarius legeretur; quuvi rerum ipsarum nos veri testcs etc. — Mox b cc perscripta cognovit. EPISTOLAE 136. 137. 959 hensibilia, catholicae fidei correctionibus ®) clarescant. Opportune') (a. 520.) igitur existimantes fratemis litteris vestram sanctitatem et carissi- mis alloqui; rogamuS; ut majus et instantius pro piissimo principe nostro onmium Dominum Deimi orare dignemini. Onmem in Christo fratemitatem ; quae cum vestra est sanctitate^ ego quoque et mei plurimum salutamus. Et alia manu; Incolumis in Domino ora pro uobis, amabilis Deo et sanctissime frater^)!