Letter 103: Part of the papal correspondence surrounding the Acacian Schism (484-519), the major breach between Rome and...

Hormisdas to Bishop Possessor. Just as it accords with reason that those in doubt should seek counsel, so it is fitting that those consulted should answer; for the man himself drives another into error who does not instruct the ignorant, and nothing is more suited to one zealous for religion than the inquiry after truth, since he more easily avoids going astray who asks about the road along which he is to walk. But before I undertake the task of replying concerning those things which your charity inquires about, I gladly confess that I have found in your letter the fervor of your faith, by whose warmth you are kindled, as you sigh that the perversity of the unbelievers is reviving and flourishing in those regions. A most worthy grief, which saddens hearts devoted to God; for among them there is no lapse that cannot be lamented, in whom there is any little spark of charity, since the one wish of spiritual men is the unshaken salvation of all. But to the churches of God a tempest of this kind of storm is neither unknown nor unwonted: although the Church persists unshaken under the steering of her own Helmsman, she nevertheless labors, harassed by the various whirlwinds of the surging waves. For whence comes the utterance of the psalm-singing prophet, who, taking on the person of the Church herself by the Spirit with which he was filled, often says: "They have often assailed me from my youth, and indeed they could not prevail against me"? They shake her, but they shall prevail to no purpose. We are still on the threshing-floor; the grain is mixed with the chaff; the good groan at the company of the wicked; but there remains a flame for the unneeded, and the granaries are already prepared for those who have been proven. Where on earth is this intermixture not found? It befits us to stand firm with planted footsteps: we shall make progress among our adversaries by our own goods, if we are not entangled in others' errors; for he proves the valid strength of his virtue who, when he is pushed, is not moved. Where are the stings of varied temptation not present? Such stings as we have endured throughout nearly this whole past year from certain Scythians, who put themselves forward as monks in appearance, not in truth, in profession, not in deed: their craftiness cloaked in subtle cunning, and, under the pretext of religion, the venoms that serve their hatreds. We strove to heal them from their inner wound by the governance of healing patience, not keeping silent the warnings of blessed Paul: "Do not contend with words, for it is useful for nothing except the subversion of the hearers." But when is the poison drawn out which has penetrated the inward parts? When do hearts wrongly credulous of themselves obey the institutions of truth? When does pride, hedged about by its own opinions, put on the humility of obedience? When do those accustomed to zealous quarrels acquiesce in peace, loving only contentions, eager to seize upon disputes about religion and to neglect the commandments? Never among them is charity commended by the new precept; never is peace, left behind at the Lord's departure: there is one care of obstinate purpose, to wish to command reason, not to yield to it; despisers of the old authorities, greedy for new questions; thinking the only straight way of knowledge to be whatever opinion has been conceived with whatever facility; puffed up to such a swelling of pride that they think the judgment of either part of the world ought to be bent to their own will, and they do not reckon among the number of the faithful those who follow the tradition of the fathers, if they see that these are unwilling to yield to their own opinion; learned in sowing crimes, in compounding the venoms of detractions, in hating the whole body of the Church, in setting up seditions, in stirring up ill-will, and, in place of the obedience which holds the chief place of regular discipline in the monasteries, in loving the obstinacy of pertinacious pride. We could not restrain them by warnings, nor by gentleness, nor by authority. They went so far as to come out into a public assembly, crying out even around the statues of kings to the disturbance of the public peace; and had not the constancy of the faithful people withstood them, through the unspeakable seeds of diabolical tares they would have stirred up dissension and discord among those people, through whom, by the help of God, dissension was driven from their regions. We have proved, late, that the Apostle spoke with the prophetic voice that in the last days perilous times are pressing on, and that there shall be men lovers only of themselves, having a form of piety but denying its power, and that therefore they are to be shunned. We have therefore thought that these things ought to be made known to your charity on this occasion, lest, if perchance they are brought to that place, those who do not know how they conducted themselves in the city of Rome should be deceived under some pretense of words. But as for those whom you have indicated by your letters that you consulted about the sayings of a certain Faustus, a Gallic bishop, let them have this for their answer: that neither he nor anyone whom the examination of the fathers does not receive into authority can beget any ambiguity of the catholic faith or of ecclesiastical discipline, or procure any prejudice against religious matters. The institutions which the faithful ought to follow have been fixed by the fathers; whether it be an interpretation, or a preaching, or a discourse composed for the edification of the people, if it agrees with right faith and sound doctrine, it is admitted; if it disagrees, it is abolished. There is one foundation, and any structure that rises outside it is unsound; whoever builds upon that foundation, whether cheap things or precious, let him consider. But he errs who strays from the way which the choice of the fathers has shown. Yet diligence ranging through many things is not condemned, but a mind turning aside from the truth. Often from these things necessary instruction is provided, from which the very rivals are confuted; nor can it be counted a fault to know what you should flee, and therefore it is not those who read incongruous things that come into blame, but those who follow them. For if it were not so, that teacher of the nations would never have consented to announce to the faithful: "Test all things; hold fast what is good." It is not beside the point, even though it be worldly, to mix in a discourse not separated from reason. It is told that a certain man, noble in the art of painting, when he wished to render a horse perfect with his brush, set before himself an ass as he painted, declaring that it was not in order to imitate that shapeless beast of burden, but lest, slipping, he should fall into the likeness of some misshapen outline. Not without foresight did the venerable wisdom of the fathers define for the faithful posterity what dogmas should be canonical, fixing beforehand, with the Holy Spirit instructing, the certain books even of the ancients to be received into authority, lest the reader, indulging his own opinion, should assert not what would suit ecclesiastical edification but what his own will had conceived. What need, then, is there for slanderers to extend questions beyond the established limits of the Church, and concerning those things which are thus held to have been said, to raise contentions as though they had not been said, when the Christian faith follows along a stable and unshaken path the canonical books and the synodal precepts and the regular constitutions of the fathers? Yet as to free will and the grace of God, what the Roman, that is, the catholic Church follows and keeps, although it can also be known in various books of blessed Augustine, and especially in those to Hilary and Prosper, nevertheless there are also expressed chapters contained in the ecclesiastical archives, which, if they are lacking there and you believe them necessary, we will send; although he who diligently considers the sayings of the Apostle will plainly recognize what he ought to follow. Given on the Ides of August, in the consulship of Rusticius, a most distinguished man.

HORMiSDA possESSORi EPiscopo. Sicut ratioui congruit, ut consulant ambigentes, ita par est respondere consultos, quia ipse impellit in errorem, qui non instruit ignorantem, nec quicquam aptius est studioso religionis quam inquisitio ueritatis, quando facilius deuium uitat. qui iter per quod gradiatur 2 rogat. sed priusquam respondendi curam de his, quae dilectio tua percontatur, aggrediar, libenter in litteris tuis fidei tuae 3 mm presumsi V 9 ante hanc F, corr. Car. 12 praerogatiua F, corr. Car. 281 • Dat. a. 5J90 die 13*Aug.; respondet epistulae 230. Primua epistulam edidit ex codice et uetusto neque ex V pendente loh. Cochlaeus interopera lohannis Maaentii (Hagenouiae 1520) fol. ixvm (= 6-). uerba iisque ad initium § 10 ab ipso adferuniur Maxentio in tractatu, quem ex eodem codice Cochlaeus edidit ihid. fol. xxn (= p.); cf. Proleg. cap. III. e libris coUecHonis Auellanae ed. Car. I^ 538, guem secuti sunt Bar. ad a. 520, 16; Collect. Concil; BTA I 441; Thiel 926. 16 Incipit epistola quae dicitur esse papae Ormisdae ad Posses- 8orem episcopum Aphrum qui est Constantinopoli. Dilectissimo fratri Possessori Hormisda 0- 17 consolant V par est d-jji: par6 F 19 est aptius trsp. ^[i. 20 facilius F; faciilime om fj. deuia per Ffi: om. ^ graditur p. 22 adgrediar *|ji: aggrediatur F Epist. CCXXX 4 — CCXXXI 7. 697 me fateor inuenisse feruorem, cuius calore succensus rediuiuam io illis partibus infidelium peruersitatem uigere suspiras. dignissimus dolor, qui dedita deo corda contristet, nec enim est apud eos lapsus inlamentabilis, quibus eqt igniculus 6 caritatis, quia unum spiritalium uotum est salus inconcussa cunctorum. sed non est ignota ecclesiis dei de huiusmodi 3 procellis aut insueta tempestas : quamuis rectoris sui gubemaculo inconcussa persistat, uariis tamen insurgentium fluctuum laborat uexata turbinibus. nam unde est psalmidici uox 4- 10 prophetae, qui ipsius ecclesiae personam spiritu, quo implebatur, adsumens saepe inquit expugnaueruntme aiuuentute mea, etenim non potuerunt mihi? concutiunt, sed in nihilo praeualebunt. adhuc in area sumus, mixta sunt frumenta cum paleis, gemunt boni consortia malorum; sed superest 15 flamma non necessariis et parata sunt horrea iam probatis. ubi terrarum non ista permixtio? nos fixis decet instare 5 uestigiis: proficiemus inter aduersantes propriis bonis, si erroribus non inuoluamur alienis; probat enim uirtutis suae ualidum robur, qui cum impellitur non mouetur. ubi non 6 20 uariae temptationis aculei? quales per hunc fere iugem annum quorundam Scjtharum, qui monachos praeferebant specie non ueritate, professione non opere, subtili tectas calliditate uersutias et sub religionis obtentu famulantia odiis suis uenena pertulimus studentes eos ab interno uulnere medica- 25 bilis patientiae moderamine sanare, beati Pauli monita non tacentes: noli uerbis conteudere; ad nihil enim utile est nisi ad subuersionem audientium? sed 7 11 Psalro. 128, 2 26 Tim. II 2, 14 698 Hormisda Possessori episcopo quando uirus, quod uiscera penetrarit, euellitur? quando corda inale sibi credula ueritatis obtemperant institutis? quando induit oboedientiae humilitatem opinionibus suis uallata superbia? quando acquiescunt paci contentionum studiis adsueti, sola certamina amantes de religione captare et 5 8 mandata neglegere? numquam apud eos caritas nouo commen- data praecepto, numquam pax dominico relicta discessu: una pertinacis cura propositi rationi uelle imperare, non cedere; contemptores auctoritatum ueterum, nouarum cupidi quaesti- onum; solam putantes scientiae rectam uiam qualibet conceptam lo facilitate sententiam; eo usque tumoris elati, ut ad arbitrium suum utiiusque orbis putent inclinandum esse iudicium, nec in numero fidelium deputantes sequaces traditionis paternae, si suae uiderint cedere noUe sententiae; docti crimina serere, obtrectationum uenena componere. integrum ecclesiae corpus i5 odisse, seditiones instruere, inuidiam concitare et pro oboe- dientia, quae in coenobiis principatum regularis obtinet 9 disciplinae, obstinationem pertinacis amare superbiae. non illos potuimus monitis, non mansuetudine, non auctoritate comprimere. in publicum usque prodiere conuentum ad concussionem quietis circa regum etiam statuas inclamantes, et nisi fidelis populi constantia restitisset, per diabolicae semina nefanda zizaniae apud illos dissensionem et discordiam commouiasent, per quos adiutorio dei de regionibus eonim est pulsa dissensio. sero probauimus prophetica apostolum uoce dixisse in nouissimis diebus instare tempora periculosa 26 sqq. Tim. II 3, 1—2 et 5 concepta F, susceptam 13 sequacem O-jji 14 sua euiderint V credere *|Ji 16 struere d-ji 17 cenobiis V obtinet F^: tenet |a 19 potuimus illos trsp. jjl non ante mansuet. om. 0- 21 concursio- nem V inclartites F 23 illos Ffi*: eos jj. dissensioncm ^|ji: dis- pensationem F 24 regionibus F|x: regione * eorum ^fi: am. V 25 dissensio ^jjl: dissent F, de eis Car., • dissensio> de eis Bar. 26 in- staret F Epist. CCXXXI 7—12. 699 et fore homines sui tantum amatores, habentes formam pietatis. uirtutem autem eius abnegantes, itaque esse uitandos. haec ideo dilectioni uestrae indicanda sub occassione credi-10 dimus, ne, si illuc fuerint foi-te delati, ignorantes, quemadmodum 5 se in Komana urbe tractauerint, sub aliqua uerbomm simula- tione deciperent. hi uero, quos uos de Tausti cuiusdam Galli antistitis dictis consuluisse litteris indicastis, id sibi responsum habeant neque illum neque quemquam, quos in auctoritatem patrum non recipit examen, catholicae fidei aut ecclesiasticae la disciplinae ambiguitatem posse gignere aut religiosis praeiu- dicium compai-are. fixa sunt a patribus, quae fideles sectari debeant instituta; siue interpretatio seu praedicatio seu uerbum pro populi aedificatione compositum, si cum fide recta et doctrina sana concordat, admittitur, si discordat, aboletur, 15 uDum est fundamentum, extra quod quaelibet fabrica si consurgit, infirma est; super illud, quisquis aedificat seu uilia seu pretiosa, consideret. errat autem is, qui a uia, quam patrum electio monstrauit, exorbitat. nec tamen improbaturll diligentia per multa discurrens sed animus a ueritate declinans. saepe ex his necessaria prouidetur, de quibus ipsi aemuli conuincantur, instructio nec uitio dari potest nosse, quod fugias, atque ideo non legentes incongrua in culpam ueniunt sed sequentes. quod si ita non esset, numquam doctor ille gentium adquieuisset nuntiare fidelibus: omnia probate, 25quod bonum est tenete. non ab re est etsi mundanum, 12 non tamen a ratione discretum miscere sermonem. fertur 15 cf. Cor. I 3, 10—12 24 Thessal. I 5, 21 a uia quam es a uia qui quam V, a uia qui ab eo quod 20 ei V^i de Car. iis 0- prouidentur . . instructioni ^ 24 ad- nunciare * omnia \autem> a cum Vulgata 25 abs edit. reg. 26 sqq. fertur . . proposuisse ^ : fert . . profuisse V 700 lustinus Aagnstus Hormisdae quidam nobilis arte pingecdi, cum equum peniculo uellet explicare perfectum, asellum sibi proposuisse pingenti, asserens non ut iumentum imitaretur informe sed ne in alicuius 13 deformis liniamenti similitudinem lapsus incideret. non improuide patrura ueneranda sapientia fideli posteritati, quae essent & canonica dogmata, definiuit, certa librorum etiam ueterum in auctoritatem recipienda sancto spiritu instituente praefigens, ne opinioni suae lector indulgens non quod aedificationi ecclesiasticae conueniret sed quod uoluntas sua concepisset assereret. quid ergo calumniantibus opus extra constitutos lo ecclesiae terminos porrigere quaestiones et de his, quae ita habentur dicta, quasi dicta non sint, mouere certamina, cum Christiana ifides canonicis libris et synodalibus praeceptis et patrum regularibus constitutis stabili et inconcusso tramite 141imitetur? de arbitrio tamen libero et gratia dei quid Komana 15 hoc est catholica sequatur et seruet ecclesia, licet et in uariis libris beati Augustini et maxime ad Hilarium et Prosperum possit cognosci, tamen et in scriniis ecclesiasticis expressa capitula continentur, quae si ibi desunt et necessaria creditis, destinabimus, quamquam qui diligenter apostoli dicta consi- 20 15derat, quid sequi debeat euidenter agnoscat. Data Id. Aug. Rusticio u. c. cons. 2 perfectum om. 3 informem V 4 deformis formis F, informis Car. lineamenti ^ inprouida * 6 definiunt V 10 opus <erat> 5ar. 11 quaestiones V: quae rationis d- 13 prae- ceptis V: *aJ. disciplinis' V man. 1 in marg., disciplinis 9« 15 quid d-: quod V 16 et in V: ex 0- 17 augusti V 18 possit cognosci V: abunde posset agnosci ^ 19 capla V si ibi 0-: sibi V, si tibi 0* 20 destinabimus destinamus V apostoli dicta V: apostolicaO* 21 post T agnoscat addit deus te incolumem custodiat frater charissime ^ id ag ceteris omissia V 22 u. c. cons. acripsi: ac consulibus ac <01ybrio> con- Buiibus interpolauenmt Fulgentxi edd. recentiores Epist. CCXXXI 13 — CCXXXII 8. 701