Letter 71: Part of the papal correspondence surrounding the Acacian Schism (484-519), the major breach between Rome and...

Hormisdas to the illustrious Justinian. We have come to know that your magnificence's spirit so flourishes with affection for religion that you wish a favor to be demanded of you rather than asked, in the matter of perfecting the peace of the Church, judging it to redound to the merits of your excellence, that which it falls to you to offer out of a desire for the common good. Hence we too presumptuously seek from you, as a debt, that which we know will be of profit to your merits; and therefore, lord son, greeting you with all charity, we hope that you may press on with the work which, by the Lord's help, you have founded, mindful of the divine testimony: he who shall have persevered to the end shall be saved [Matthew 10:22]. Moreover, the monks who you indicated in your letters had come to Rome, we wished to return at once to their own homes; but since under attestation of the divine power they said that, through ambushes prepared along the road, they could undergo a peril to their lives, being unwilling to return to Constantinople, we did not permit them to be driven out by force. On this account we shall find it necessary, when our legates arrive, to inquire by what true cause the discord among them was stirred up. But the sanctuaries of the most blessed apostles Peter and Paul, as you requested with most pious affection, we have sent through the bearer of this letter with all veneration, hoping that, by the prayers of those apostles, the offering of your mind and your desires may be acceptable to the grace of the divine majesty. We ask also that, both concerning those things which are being done for concord and concerning the good of your safety, you announce joy to our solicitude in a running page of letters. Given on the fourth day before the Nones of September, Eutharic being consul.

HoiunsDA lusTiNiANO iLLusTRi. Ita maguiiicentiae uestrae animum uigere nouimus religionis affectu, ut beneficium a uobis in perfectione pacis ecclesiae uelitis magis exigi quam rogari, iudicantes meritis excellentiae uestrae proficere, quod uos generalitatis desiderio contingit offerre. unde et nos a uobis praesumpte quaerimus tamquam. debitum, quod 2 meritis uestris nouimus esse profuturum, et ideo, domine fili, sub omni caritate salutantes speramus, ut immineatis operi, quod domino adiuuante fundastis, memores diuini testimonii: qui perseuerauerit in fine, saluus erit. praeterea monachos, quos uenisse Bomam significastis lit- 3, teris uestris, ad propria mox uoluimus reuerti; sed quia sub testificatione potentiae diuinae dicebant per insidias in itinere paratas uitae sese sustinere posse discrimen, nolentes redire Constantinopolim passi non sumus uiolenter eipelli. 21 Matth. 10, 22 1»0. Dat ut ep. 189, Edd. Car. P 52G; Collect, Concil; BTA I 436; Thiel 886; ex parte ^ar, ad a. 519, 18. 17 praesumpte V 21 finem p\ finem <hic> Car, secundum Vulg, 22 roma F, corr. a 25 sese p^: esse V 648 lustinianus Hormisdae; lustinus Hormisdae quapropter necesse habebimus uenientibus legatis nostris inquirere, qua re uera faciente causa inter eos fuerit commota 4 discordia. beatissimorum uero apostolorum Petri et Pauli sanctuaria, sicut religiosissimo quaesistis affectu, per harum portitorem sub omni ueneratione transmisimus, optantes, oratio- nibus eomm mentis uestrae oblatio et desideria gratiae sint 5 diuinitatis accepta. petimus quoque, ut tam de his, quae geruntur pro concordia, quam de incolomitatis uestrae bono nuntietis soUicitudini nostrae gaudium currente pagina litte- rarum. Data IIIl. Nonas Septb. Eutharico cons.