Letter 74
Hormisdas→Unknown|hormisdas
From: Unknown sender
To: Unknown recipient (bishops)
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.]
lusTixVus AUGUSTus HORBnsDAE PAPAE. Cum iu auimo nobis sit, pater religiosissime, ut in omni re nostra inter se concur- rant consilia, tum et in Helia uiro reuerentissimo episcopo id constituendum credimus legatis admonentibus uestris, quod 25 inter uarias utrasque rationes expeditius esse perspectum est. nam et in praesenti pontificem Caesariensium urbis fauor tutatur oranium, quem ob instituta pulcherrima non solum incolae ualidissime retinendum arbitrantur sed prope cuuctus
5 caetera V, ' correxi 8 maxune eae scripst: maxim<» V, maxiinae uulgo 19 constatmop V rustitio cons V
Ifm. Dat a. 520 die 7 lun, Edd. Car. P 534; CoUect. Concih; Thiel 914. 22 lustinianus typothetae errore Car. 26 utrimque Thiel perspectum cod. Angelic: prospectum V 27 fabor V 29 incoU^ V
Epist. CLXXXXII 3 — CLXXXXIII 4.
651
Oriens sine dubio ueneratur, et qui prior in eodera fuit sacer- dotio iniuria se esse remotum queritur. uisum est itaque 2 conaenire, ut nec faciamus impetum contra infinitarum uota multitudinum aut homo integritate nobilis sede deiciatur, sqna se dignum exhibet, nec anteriori spem prorsus adimi patiamur repetendi locum denuo, quo se spoliatum sine causa confirmat, sed in re dubia temperatius uersemur, ita ut interim quidem hic idem Helias uir reuerentissimus episcopus in quiete permaneat, uerum postquam successor eius uitam
lodeposuerit, tum demum ad sedem reuertatur qua destitit, adhibendis prius omnibus, quae ad impetrandam reditionis licentiam sacratissimarum regularum postulant definita, inter- ponendo etiam consensu tam tuae sedis apostolicae quam ilorentissimae huius urbis nec non aliarum, quarum hoc interest.
15 de Thoma etiam et Nicostrato uiris religiosissimis episcopis 3 omnia mancipabuntur effectui, postquam ceterae etiam uobis copulatae fuerint ad unitatem uenerabiles ecclesiae, quae praeeedente superno praesidio statuenda duxerimus pro sacratissimarum regularum itidem ordine. quoniam itaque 4 uestrae quoque sanctitudini deliberationem nostram oportuerat declarari, ut ex hac etiam patefiat desiderium, in quo omnem operam intendimus ad compescendas atque temperandas contro- uersias et optatam inter omnes concordiam prorogandam, praesentes quoque litteras duximus destinandas, monentes
« praecipue, ut pro incolomi statu rei publicae numen supernum uestris exoretur precibus. Data VII. Idus lunias Constantino- poli Uitaliano et Rusticio conss.
2 iniarias ease "F, corr. p 6 quo se spoliatum Car.: quos expolia- tuni F, id quod in quo se expoliatum correxit p 7 temperantius p 10 qua I%iel: quia V 16 mantipabuntur V 17 ad unitatem Hartel: et ad unitatem F, et adunatae Thiel 18 superio T", corr. 23 op- tata F, corr. o 26 conatantinopoll V 27 cons V
652 Euphemia Hormisdae; Epiphanius Cpolitanus Hormisdae
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From: Unknown sender
To: Unknown recipient (bishops)
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.