Letter 129: Part of the papal correspondence surrounding the Acacian Schism (484-519), the major breach between Rome and...

[516 AD. From Pope Hormisda to John of Nicopolis. 19 November.] [Summary: That a document be sent to him to which the bishops of Epirus may subscribe, so that they may supply what was lacking in their letters.] Hormisda to John, bishop of Nicopolis, through Pullio the subdeacon. The tenor of the letter you sent, and the declaration of your faith, agreeing with the judgments of the Apostolic See, have relieved our minds. Yet, content with so many joys, we were not satisfied unless, through Pullio the subdeacon of the Roman church, we desired to learn what was being done more fully concerning you; especially because, in the report of the bishops living under the ordination of your charity, not all the matters that pertain to the ecclesiastical statutes are read as plainly expressed as in your own. Therefore, both for our solicitude and for their unimpaired union with us, we have sent a document, to which it behooves them to subscribe, in which all the priests of your regions who have returned to the communion of the Apostolic See have subscribed in the same profession. This ambition for the common salvation has aroused your charity, which I believe your fraternity also accepts gladly: for where business is conducted concerning the salvation of souls, you ought to lend the labor of your zeal and of your intention, so that by going before you may be able to receive the fruit of such praise. Send back the aforesaid Pullio to us, with God's help, in safety, together with the rescripts of your charity, so that our desires, long held in suspense, may not be able to remain so. Given on the thirteenth day before the Kalends of December [19 November], in the consulship of Petrus, most illustrious man.

a. 516 d. Horinisdae uapac ad Johannem Nicopolitanum. 19 Nov. ^^ JAheUum ei a se mitti^ cui episcopi Epiri suhscrihant; ut suppleant^ quod in eorum litteris deerat. Hormisda Johanni episcopo Nicopolitano perPt»^^' lionera subdiaconum. Litterarum quas direxisti series et expositio tuae fidei, con^^ niens sedis apostolicae judiciis, nostros animos relevavit. Tot ia.^^* tati gaudiis contenti non fuimus, nisi per Pullionem subdiacon»^ ecclesiae Romanae, quid plenius circa vos ageretur, cuperemus agE3.o- scere; magnopere quia in relatione episcoporum sub ordinaticp*^ caritatis tuae degentium non imiversa, quae ad ecclesiastica con^^' tuta pertinent, sicut in vestra, leguntur evidenter expressa. Uri.^^ et pro nostra soUicitudine et illorum integra nobiscum conjunctic^^^ libellum*) direximus, in quo eos oportet debere subscribere, quisu c^ omnes sacerdotes vestrarum partium^), qui ad sedis apostolicae munionera reversi sunt, in eadem professione subscripserunt. caritas, ista comraunis salutis excitavit ambitio, quod credo et ternitatem vestram gratanter accipere : quia ubi de animarum sal^^t res geritur, studii tui vel intentionis debes operam commodare, « antecedendo fructum de tali possis laude percipere. Pullionem dictum cum rescriptis caritatis vestrae ad nos juvante Deo sub ritate remittite, quatenus desideria nostra diu suspensa esse rxoB possint. Data XIII Cal. Decembres, Petro viro clarissimo consule.