From: Hormisdas, Pope of Rome
To: Anastasia and Palmatia [two prominent noblewomen in Constantinople, likely members of the imperial court circle]
Date: ~519 AD (January)
Context: A letter to two influential women at the Byzantine court, asking them to use their position to support the papal legates — a reminder that women exercised real power in late antique diplomacy, even if they held no formal office.
Hormisdas to Anastasia and Palmatia, jointly.
The pursuit of good will is always accompanied by the effect of divine prosperity. By the providence of our God, an opportunity has been granted in which you must strive for the reward of your faith.
Trusting first in the mercy of heaven, and then in the conscience of the most merciful Emperor, we have sent legates for the cause of the catholic religion. Through them we greet Your Greatness with the respect and reverence that is your due, and we ask that you exert your labor and effort for the restoration of ecclesiastical concord.
When those whom the authority of the apostolic see has condemned have been repelled and removed, and all have returned to the one true faith, the peace that we all pray for will be secured. Your part in this work will not be forgotten — not by us, and not by God.
HORMISDA ANASTASIAE ET PALXATIAE A PARI. Bouae UOlUU-
tatis studium diuinae semper comitatur prosperitatis effectus. dei nostri prouidentia temporis facultas oblata est, in qua 85 2 pro fidei uestrae praemio debetis adniti. de supema primitus misericordia, deinceps de conscientia clementissimi principis praesumentes legatos pro religionis catholicae causa direximus,
1 coniugis 2 siducialiter F, corr. 0' 6 federa V 9 enim F; eius o^; atU enim <eiu8> maior aut enim maiore scribendum uidetur 10 cruce F, corr. 0 11 ueratur F, corr, 0 16 correcio F 18 pos- simus F, corr.
Epist. CLVI 3 — CLVIII 4.
605
per quos amplitudinem uestram debitae reuerentiae salutamus officio, postulantes, ut pro ecclesiasticae redintegratione con- cordiae uestrum laborem atque operam non aegetis, quatenus cnm repulsis remotisque his, quos apostolicae sedis damnauit aactoritas, ad unam, quae recta est, communionem plebs Christiana redierit, beatum Petrum apostolnm, pro cuius fide nitimur, in uestris habere possitis actibus adiutorem.
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From:Hormisdas, Pope of Rome
To:Anastasia and Palmatia [two prominent noblewomen in Constantinople, likely members of the imperial court circle]
Date:~519 AD (January)
Context:A letter to two influential women at the Byzantine court, asking them to use their position to support the papal legates — a reminder that women exercised real power in late antique diplomacy, even if they held no formal office.
Hormisdas to Anastasia and Palmatia, jointly.
The pursuit of good will is always accompanied by the effect of divine prosperity. By the providence of our God, an opportunity has been granted in which you must strive for the reward of your faith.
Trusting first in the mercy of heaven, and then in the conscience of the most merciful Emperor, we have sent legates for the cause of the catholic religion. Through them we greet Your Greatness with the respect and reverence that is your due, and we ask that you exert your labor and effort for the restoration of ecclesiastical concord.
When those whom the authority of the apostolic see has condemned have been repelled and removed, and all have returned to the one true faith, the peace that we all pray for will be secured. Your part in this work will not be forgotten — not by us, and not by God.
Modern English rendering for readability. See the 19th-century translation or original Latin/Greek for scholarly use.