Letter 73
Hormisdas→Hormisdas, Rome|hormisdas
From: Unknown correspondent
To: Pope Hormisdas, Rome (Gratus)
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.]
IVSTINUS AUGUSTUS HORMISDAE PAPAE. NOSTROS PER LEGATOS D) EST GERMANUJI lOHANNEM EPI8C0P0S FELICEM BIOSCORUM DIA-
coNos ET BLANDUM PRESBYTERUM. Summa quidcm habenda 10 uobis est gratia, quod alacrem operam non dubitatis impendere ad colligendas adunandasque uenerabiles ecclesias, uerum in ea praelucet maxime perfecta soUertia, quod homines adoptatis, qui uoto beniuolo tuae sanctitudinis sincero ac integro possint animo deseruire. Germanus siquidem reuerentissimus epi- 2 15 scopus nec non Felix et Dioscorus et Blandus uiri religiosis- .simi tanta semet praebuerunt adtentos industria ac in tanta sapientia uersati sunt, ut, quantum ad officium eorura pertinet, transactis in plenum et elaboratis omnibus nihil altercationis superesset ulterius. sed cum ea conditione sit 3 20 mortalis fragilitas, ut remissius circa se agi desideret et interrogationibus suis planum praeberi responsum, maxime cum aliqua causa in immensam hominum multitudinem fuerit deuoluta, factum est, ut in hac quidem urbe florentissima, quicquid ordinatum est de causa religionis deque unitate
192, Dat. (simul cum epp. 194—198) a. 520 die 9 lulii, per Ger- manum etc: accepta die 17 Sept. Edd. Car. P 534; Collect. Concil; Thiel 918; commemorat Bar. ad a. 520, 28. 7 sqq. nostros . . presbyte- nim V minutiore charactere in margine 8 lohannenij lohannis nomen Jiic per errorem (noiarii apostolici ut uidetur) additum est, quippe qui deffritudine retentus (cf. ep. 200 § 2) demum die 9 Sept. cmto ep. ^32 Constantinopoli profectus sit. tacetur nimirum lohannis nomen et in huius epistulae § 2 et in ep. 195 §7 8 diac V 13 possit T', €orr. 0* 16 ac o^: hac V 18 im F 22 immensam scripsi: imniensa F, quo seruato multitudine o
650
lustinus Augnstus Hormisdae
celebranda cum apostolica sede sub temporibus lohaunis religiosissimae memoriae, cum in sacerdotio regiae huius esset urbis, id fauente deo seruetur immobile, quin et in aliis compluribus ciuitatibus probata sit uestra ordinatio atque suscepta, ceterae uero clementiore quodam indigeantmoderamine b in nominibus antistitum, non eorum qui specialiter enumerati sunt in epistola, quam sanctitudo tua nobis destinasse noscitur, sed aliorum quorum memoriam maxim<e e>ae ciuitates diligunt,
4 in quibus floruisse noscuntur superstites. quam ob rem legatis quidem tuae sanctitudinis nulla fuit licentia mandati tenorem lo egrediendi, cum quo directi sunt; omnis autem finis negotii uestro iam tantum pendet arbitrio, ut solus pacem concludere
5 debeat, qui prima rei commouit exordia. sed ea quidem nec non quaedam commemorabuntur apertius per legatum nostruiQ, qui paulo post destinabitur; in praesenti uero redeuntibus 15 uiris religiosissimis tam appellandam uestram reuerentiam credidimus quam commonendam, ut suis orationibus pro nostro utatur imperio proque incolomi statu rei publicae. Data VII. Idus lul. Constantinopoli Uitaliano et Eusticio conss. 20
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From: Unknown correspondent
To: Pope Hormisdas, Rome (Gratus)
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.