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.]
seu
123. Ex epistola oncyolioa Hormisdae papae fragmentum.
Tov ayiov 'OQ^iada jiaTia
'Poifirjg ex tijg iyxvxXCov
avtov iniCtokrig,
^ExitcD td iv tfj XaXKYiSoviov
avvoda TiQajj&ivta to dodXevtoVj
iv y Evtvxrig 6 dv6aePt)g xata-
xixQLtai^ ILiav (pvOiv iv to5 Xqi-
atoj PovXo^svog slvav^ xal r^g
aaQxog aQvov^evog tiqv dXrjd^siav^
iv XQirCStiavip drjd-ev TCQoaxtj^ccti
rtjv MavLxaVxrjv ty ixxhjaia
itaQei(S(piQevv necQcifievog 86^av.
Ei ydQ iv tc5 Seaitotri XQtat^
d:icileto t(DV (pvOeav 13 dktld^eia^
xal XQaoiv to iv exatiQcc t(av
ov6t(ov vni^eivev tStov ^ Svotv
(Ivdyxij d^ateQov rj d^eotijtog ki-
yecv nciQatQOTtriv ^ xal to keyo-
lievov eig xe(pakr]v ro5v ovtco
jtiOtevovtcDV tQaTteirjj rj trjg dv-
^Qcaiteiag v7to(ieivd(Srig tov dcpa-
vt0^6v^ tfi TtQog tov Aoyov evci-
aet dXXriv tivd tQitr^v ov(Siav^
oneQ ov d^i^ig^ iQydaaad^ai. ^AkXd
fiivei t(ov exatiQCDv oif6tcjv ro
tikevov^ xal (Sci^etat tov tc5v
ov(Slc5v cig xal (pvaecDV exovOa
iq iviQyeia.
Sancti Hormisdae papae
Romae ex encyclica
epistola ejus.
Teneant inconcusse, quae in
sancta synodo Calchedonensi acta
sunt, in qua impius Eutyches
condemnatus est, in Christo
unam naturam esse volens et
carnis veritatem negans, per
speciem Christiani videlicet Ma-
nichaeam^) sententiam in Eccle-
siam subintroducere tentans. 8i
enim in domino Christo naturfi-
rum veritas deleta et proprietas
utriusque substantiae commixtio-
nem passa, duorum alterum ne-
cesse est: aut Deitatis dicere
conversionem, et dictum istud in
caput ita credentium verteretur;
aut humanitate deletionem passa,
unitione Verbi aliam quamdam
tertiam substantiam, quod nefas
est, efFectam esse. Sed manet
utriusque substantiae perfectio,
et servatur operatio quae est
substantiarum sicut et natura-
rum.
149 ') In his et sequontibus conterro juvcrit, quuo Horniisda HiniilUnic epist. 40
n. 2 et 141 n. 5 disputat. Sub fineni kxnvatt loco ^xovciv correxinnis.
◆
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.]
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.