Letter 99
Hormisdas→Unknown|hormisdas
From: Unknown sender
To: Unknown recipient (Germanus, Dioscorus, 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.]
HOKMISDA GERMANO ET lOHANNI EPISCOPIS FELICI ET DIOSCORO
DiAcoNis BT BLANDO PRESBYTERo. Cum uos ecclesiasticae prosperitatis gaudia subleuarent et prope plenum laboris uestri fructum cottidie carperemus, repente nos inimica uni- 20 uersis, quae uotiue successerant, fama confandit. cuius opini- onis ordinem etsi uobis necdum referentibus suspicamur incertum, pro ipsius rei tamen magnitudine credidimus non
2 tacendum. itaque perlatum est fratrem et coepispopum nostram lohannem, dura ad Thessalonicam pro suscipiendis tantum a libellis, qui promittebantur, accederet, ita plebis inrationabili seditione concussum, ut extincto primum eo, qui hospitium uenienti praebuerat, ipse quoque non dissimili caede mactatus
3et uix sacrosancti fontis reuerentia uindicatus euaserit. cuius
1 loannem Bar. (cf. p. 692, 8 sq. lohannis catholici interitus quem . . perhibetis extinctum): hominem V 5 qui add. Car. 7 catholicus Car.
Epist. CCXXV 9 — CCXXVI 8.
691
seditionis initium sub interrogationis dolosae comraento ab Aristide presbytero naiTatur exortum. uerum nos, si haec manifesta sunt, adeo de plebe non querimur. erit in potestate uenerandi principis temporis sui et catholici sacerdotis iniuriam, 5 qua iubeat, resecare censura. sed id, quod ad nos attinet, 4 cura peniigili per uos deo propitio desideramus impleri, quia • nuUum uolumus aut non reddita ratione conuerti aut sic rectam uiam fidei profiteri, ut sibi a principe aliquid sine doctrinae remedio causetur imponi. hoc igitur suggestione 5 uestrae supplicationis peragite, ut Thessalonicensis episcopus, qui sub interrogationis obtentu ecclesiasticam pacem protracto in longum nititur dissipare negotio, quam a uobis suscipere noluit, a principe ad urbem directus ab apostolica percipiat sede doctrinam et, quicquid sibi dubium putat, huc ueniens praesenti a .nobis inquisitione condiscat; sic enim probare potest se catholicae professionis seruare cautelara, non maliti- ose concepta uindicare certamina. sciat nos pai^atos esse et 6 bene inquirentes instruere et errantes ad fidei rectum tramitem scientia duce reuocare, quia si dubitans paratam non uult experiri doctrinam nec rursus in simplicitate cordis, quae pacis et religionis causa iubentur, admittere, in aperto est, qua mente uel dei nostri praeceptis obsistat uel orthodoxi principis exempla contemnat. in hac ergo pai*te totus 7 suggestionis uestrae actus immineat, quia nec illi alia possunt ratione saluari et incitatae plebis sub hoc melius moderamine causa sedatur. cum quo etiam Aristidem pr^sbyterum clemen- tissimus princeps ad nos uenire praecipiat, quia, sicut praefati sumus, omnes, quorum pax ecclesiastica ambiguitate diuiditur, simul ad communionem nostram depulsa mali erroris aegi'i- tudine catholicae scientiae cupiraus sentire medicinam. prae- g terea, mox praesentia uos contigerit scripta suscipere, debe-
a
692
Honnisda legatis; Hormisda legatis
bitis ad nos de uestris aliquem destinare cum relatione, quae uniuersa contineat, unde <de> his, quae gesta sunt uel geruntur, soUicitudinem nostram releuare debeatis. datarium quoque litteris uestris adiungite, ne uobis portitoris tarditas possit adscribi. Data III. Idus Octobr. Eutharico cons. s
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From: Unknown sender
To: Unknown recipient (Germanus, Dioscorus, 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.