Letter 100: Part of the papal correspondence surrounding the Acacian Schism (484-519), the major breach between Rome and...

Hormisdas to the bishops Germanus and John and to the presbyter Blandus. The death of John the Catholic has grievously afflicted us, whom you report to have been killed by the madness of the heretic Dorotheus. For we have learned that this same Dorotheus has been summoned to Constantinople by order of the emperor. Against him you ought to press upon our lord and son, the most merciful emperor, that he not return again to that same city, but that, the honor of the episcopate which he never administered well being stripped away, he be banished from that place to a church farther off, or at any rate be directed here to the City [Rome] under suitable escort. To this point also you ought to keep watch, lest in his place Aristides, the instigator and accomplice of every evil, be ordained through any underhanded contrivances; for it profits nothing to change the person, if the same man's deformed wickedness persists. Rather, you ought to choose such a man that the whole assembly of the Catholics may rejoice over your judgment. These things therefore being observed, the zeal of your charity ought to press vehemently on behalf of the persons of Thomas and Nicostratus, our brothers and fellow bishops. For what does it profit to have restored the Church, if we should see priests estranged from her body, whom you, cautiously and reasonably, were not unaware had been received into our communion? Whence this matter saddens us not lightly, if those who follow the apostolic see's preaching [apparatus note in the source: "de inseruit Bar." with edition citations: a. 519, 3 Dec., through Paulinus; Car. P 515; Bar. ad a. 519, 134; Collect. Concil.; BTA I 438; Thiel 903; manuscript variant readings, identified as Epist. CCXXVI 8 - CCXXVIII 2, page 693] are neglected, those who were received into his faith and consent. Therefore, just as we have exhorted, press vehemently upon the most serene emperor on behalf of their communion and place; for in the same cause we have addressed writings to our lord and son, the most merciful emperor, and to the illustrious man Justinian, our son, exhorting that, together with you, they ought to deal with charity, so far as pertains to the reception of their churches. We suspect that you are unmindful of this article of our ordinance: for we said in what manner, the usurpers being excluded, these of whom we speak should return to their proper churches, so that those others may be ordained elsewhere, provided nevertheless that they are of the right faith. Concerning the persons of the Scythian monks, the illustrious man Justinian wrote to us, the copies of whose letters we have sent to your fraternity. Since these men were unwilling to await the arrival of your charity, and said they could not bear the delays of the formalities, they attempted to depart secretly from the City. Yet we caused them to be guarded more carefully, wishing to learn those things which they said against you to the contrary, so that, when by God's favor you have returned, their error may be corrected by reasonable admonitions. Given on the third day before the Nones of December [3 December], in the consulship of Eutharicus, most distinguished man.

HORMISDA CfERMANO £T lOHAXNI EPISCOPIS ET BLANDO PRES- BYTERO. Grauiter nos lohannis catholi<ci> afflixit interitus, quem haeretici Dorothei uesania perhibetis extinctum. nam eundem Dorotheum Constantinopolim iussu principis didicimus lo 2 euocatum. aduersus quem domno et filio nostro clementissimo principi debetis insistere, ne ad eandem ciuitatem denuo reuertatur sed episcopatus, quem numquam bene gessit, honore deposito ab eodem loco ad ecclesiam longius relegetur uel cei-te huc ad urbem sub prosecutione congrua dirigatur. u 3 ad hanc etiam partem iuuigilare debebitis, ne in loco eius Aristides totius mali incentor et conscius quibuslibet subrep- tionibus ordinetur, nam nihil prodest mutari personam, si eius deformis nequitia perseueret; sed talem uirum debetis eligere, ut de iudicio uestro cuncta catholicorum congregatio so 4 gratuletur. his igitur obseruatis pro Thomae atque Nicostrati Iratrum et coepiscoporum nostrorum personis intentio dilectionis uestrae uehementer debet incumbere. nam quid prodest ecclesiam redintegrasse, si ab eius corpore sacerdotes uideamus extraneos, quos in nostram communionem uos caute atque » rationabiliter non ignorastis esse susceptos? unde non leuiter nos res ista contristat, si ab his, qui sedis apostolicae 2 de inseruit Bar. 227. JDat. (simul cum ep, 175) a. 519 die 3 Dec; per Paulinum. Edd, Car. P 515; Bar. ad a. 519, 134; Collect. Concil; BTA I 438; Thiel 903. 8 catholi F, corr. a 12 insiste F, corr. a 14 ad ec- clesiam V: ac ecclesia Car., ab ccclesia Bar. 18 nt (= nihil) F: nul a, tmde nulli o 19 eius deformis nequitia scripsi: eldem formis nequicie F, eiusdem fonnam nequitiae a, eiusdem fonna nequitiae o' 23 pde F 24 corpore ex corporis F Epist. CCXXVI 8 — CCXXVm 2. 693 praedicationem sequuntur, neglegantur qui in eius fide et consensu recepti sunt. idcirco, sicut hortati sumus, pro eorum 5 eommunione atque loco serenissimo principi ueheraenter insistite; nam in eadem causa domno et filio nostro clemen- 5 tissimo principi et uiro illustri lustiniano filio nostro scripta direximus, hortantes, ut cum uestra, quantum ad ecclesiarum suarum receptionem pertinet, debeant caritate tractare. de quo uos articulo nostrae ordinationis 'suspicamur immemores : diximus enim, quemadmodum exclusis occupatoribus hi, de 10 quibus loquimur, ad proprias reuertantur ecclesias, ut illi alibi, si tamen rectae sunt fidei, ordinentur. de personis 6 Scytharum monachorum uir illustris lustinianus nobis scripsit, quarum exemplaria litterarum fraternitati uestrae direximus. qui cum noUent sustinere uestrae dilectionis aduentum et 15 obseruationum moras se dicerent ferre non posse, temptauerunt clam de urbe discedere. quos tamen nos fecimus soUicitius custodiri, ea, quae de uobis contraria dixerunt, uolentes agnoscere, ut, cum reuersi deo propitio fueritis, eorum error rationabilibus adhoilationibus corrigatur. Data 111. Non. jo Decembr. Eutharico u. c. cons.