From: Hormisdas, Pope of Rome
To: John, Bishop of Constantinople
Date: ~519 AD (January)
Context: A second letter to Patriarch John, acknowledging his report on the progress of reunion and expressing hope that Emperor Justin's providential role will bring the work to completion.
Hormisdas to John, Bishop of Constantinople.
I have received and acknowledged the contents of your letter, and I rejoice that the proofs of your faith have reached my attention. I pray that our God may grant full success to your intentions — which I wish to be right — concerning the peace of the Church.
I have taken this hope into my heart from the majesty above, because I judge that the most serene Emperor has been chosen by divine providence for this very purpose: that through him the reunion of the churches, desired for so many years, might at last be achieved.
Therefore, although the steps required for the unity of the faith cannot be unknown to Your Charity, I have nonetheless sent legates to assist in the work and to ensure that nothing is left to chance. Receive them as what they are: agents of peace, sent in the name of the apostolic see, and treat them accordingly.
HORMISDA lOHANNI EPISCOPO CONSTANTINOPOLITANO. Ea, qUEG
caritas tua destinatis litteris significauit, agnouimus et gratu- lamur ad conscientiam nostram fidei tuae indicia peruenisse, optantes, ut intentioni tuae, quam rectam esse cupimus, 5 plenum deus noster circa ecclesiasticam pacem concedere dignotur eflfectum. cuius spem animo supernae maiestatis assumpsimus, quia imperatorem serenissimum ad hoc proui- dentia diuina iudicamus electum, ut per eum ecclesiarum 2 redintegratio tantis temporibus desiderata proueniat. quapropter 10 licet, quae pro fidei unitate facienda sunt, tuae caritatis notitiam latere non possit, legatos tamen direximus, quos ratio causae poscebat, quibus hortantibus et quae iam pridem a nobis significata et quae nuper itera<ta> sunt, ad effectum domino nostro auctore perueniant. 1»
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From:Hormisdas, Pope of Rome
To:John, Bishop of Constantinople
Date:~519 AD (January)
Context:A second letter to Patriarch John, acknowledging his report on the progress of reunion and expressing hope that Emperor Justin's providential role will bring the work to completion.
Hormisdas to John, Bishop of Constantinople.
I have received and acknowledged the contents of your letter, and I rejoice that the proofs of your faith have reached my attention. I pray that our God may grant full success to your intentions — which I wish to be right — concerning the peace of the Church.
I have taken this hope into my heart from the majesty above, because I judge that the most serene Emperor has been chosen by divine providence for this very purpose: that through him the reunion of the churches, desired for so many years, might at last be achieved.
Therefore, although the steps required for the unity of the faith cannot be unknown to Your Charity, I have nonetheless sent legates to assist in the work and to ensure that nothing is left to chance. Receive them as what they are: agents of peace, sent in the name of the apostolic see, and treat them accordingly.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.