Letter 13: Hormisdas to John, bishop of Nicopolis.

Hormisdas to John, Bishop of Nicopolis. Through Rufinus the deacon. We have rejoiced greatly in the Lord, most dear brother, upon receiving your letter, in which you profess that you have undertaken the priesthood of God by His grace. This is the certain faith, this the hope secure and free from all ambiguity, by which it is believed that the cause of every good thing resides in the disposition of heaven above. Possessing knowledge of this matter, most dear brother, with a religious spirit you confess your gratitude for the benefits which you have obtained from our God, although this too descends from the same fountain of His clemency, that human humility submit itself to its own author; for He says: upon whom does my spirit rest except upon the humble and the quiet and the one who trembles at my words? [Isaiah 66:2] In these things, therefore, in which you are proved to be of this kind, the future example of this virtue will shine forth more clearly to others as well, since you have been brought even to this by God's establishing, that in you also the Church of the catholic faithful may glory. For, as one instructed by the divine testimonies and, according to the Apostle, formed by the instruction of the sacred Scriptures, you have given forth this as the auspice of your ordination, that against those who go astray you should agree with the judgments of the Apostolic See. For you could not otherwise repay the bestower of such great benefits, unless you should show against His enemies the manifest zeal of apostolic confession. For it is known that those stand outside the religious enclosures who themselves also profess the conscience of the faith, [but have] a [false?] confidence [...]; and therefore even an equality of holy communion, however congruous with the religious, is unfruitful among them, because beyond doubt he who does not use that liberty which he has merited confesses himself to be subject to iniquities. Why should we glory in those disciplines which we do not follow? He falsely calls Him master who does not prove himself to be a disciple of His instructions. But since you have now resumed for us all things alike in confession and the affection of your own liberty, desiring again to be sharers of the paternal inheritance, embrace the grace of the ancient tradition and persist in the stability of that unshaken foundation, not changing your hearts with the times (for that mutability is wont to be the mark of an inconstant purpose, and therefore one ought to cleave to what is well founded, since the divine clemency knows how to foster studies of this kind), so that the firmness of your faith may bear fruit for you concerning the salvation of others, and that by the fervor of your zeal the mind of others too may be kindled to the resumption of their own goods, in so far as the holy Apostle may be believed to have said also of you: your emulation has provoked very many. [2 Corinthians 9:2] Therefore, the impieties of Nestorius and Eutyches having been condemned according to the synodal decrees, and their followers likewise being execrated, let us say with exultation: 'go out from the midst and be separated, and touch not the unclean thing,' says the Lord. [2 Corinthians 6:17] For just as one will detest the leaders of evil inventions, if he does not turn away from their followers, so how does he hate the origin who does not also execrate the offspring? In disciples the fame of those who teach is proclaimed, and as long as the root of seeds badly sown flourishes when cultivated through the generations that follow, so long will the memory of their authors not perish. Let Acacius too be added to the lost disciplines of Eutyches, under the communion of Peter mingled with the error of all those condemned as well; which your charity, while it asserts its own faith, has evidently expressed in its letter. For the fuller instruction of your faith, in what order it is fitting that those returning be received into our communion, we have appended a little document below, hoping in God the bestower of all good things, that by the praiseworthy steadfastness of your charity concerning the faith, profit may come not only to the salvation of those who are joined to you by nearness, but also of those to whom the swift fame of your faith and religious will shall have reached. Rufinus indeed the deacon, who presented your letter to us, we have received in the charity of Christ; and commending him to the prayers of the apostles, we have sent him back with peace, exhorting that you read out to the people the letters directed by us both to your charity and to the synod. Know that we too have done this for the commendation of your faith. Given on the seventeenth day before the Kalends of December, in the consulship of Petrus.

HORMISDA lOHANNI EPISCOPO NICOPOLITANO. PER RUFINUM DIA- coNUH. Gauisi sumus in domino ualde, frater karissime, acceptis litteris tuis, in quibus te profiteris sacerdotium dei gratia suscepisse. haec est fides cei-ta, haec spes sine ambi- guitate secura, qua creditur totius boni causa in supema 15 2 dispensatione consistere. cuius rei scientiam habens, frater karissime, beneficiorum, quae a deo nostro conseoutus es, religioso animo gratiam confiteris, licet hoc quoque de eodem clementiae fonte descendit, ut se auctori suo humana submittat humilitas: ait enim: super quem requiescit spiritus ao meus nisi super humilem et quietum et trementera 3 sermones meosPinhis ergo, in quibus huiusmodi probaris, clarius elucescet aliis etiam uirtutis huius futurum exemplum, quando ad hoc etiam deo instituente perductus es, ut et in 4 te catholicorum glorietur ecclesia. nam sicut diuinis testimoniis 25 eruditus et iuxta apostolum sacrarum litterarum institutione formatus hoc auspicium tuae ordinationis edidisti, ut aduersum deuiantes cum sedis apostolicae sententiis conuenires. neque 20 Esai. 66, 2 respondet epistulae 117. Edd. Car. D 449; Bar. ad a. 516, 50; Collect. Concil; BTA I 383; Thiel 774. 11 per mfinum diaC V charactere minutiore in marg. 12 simus V, corr. o l^ quae redditur V, corr. p2 Epist. CXVII 8 — CXVIII 7. 525 enim remunerari aliter tantorura beneficiorum poteras largi- torem, nisi aduersus inimicos eius euidentem zelura aposto- licae confessionis ostenderes. notum est enim eos extra 5 religiosa septa consistere, qui et ipsi profitentur conscientiam 5 fidei, fiduciam * « atque ideo et infructuosa est apud eos quamuis cum religiosis congrua sanctae communionis aequa- litas, quia procul dubio qui ea, quam meruit, libertate non utitur, subiectum se iniquitatibus confitetur. quid gloriemur his, quas non sequimur, disciplinis? falso appellat magistrum, 10 qui se institutionibus eius non probat esse discipulum. sed 6 quia nobis nunc omnia in confessione similia et libertatis propriae resumpsistis aiFectum, paternae rursus hereditatis cupientes esse consortes amplectimini gratiam traditionis antiquae et in illius inconuulsi fundamenti stabilitate persistere, 15 non cu-ra temporibus corda mutantes (inconstantis enim mutabilitas ista solet esse propositi atque ideo bene fundatis oportet inhaerere, quando huiusmodi studia clementia scit fouere diuina), ut fidei uestrae firmitas uobis de aliorum salute fructificet et feruore uestri studii aliorum quoque io animus ad resumptionem bonorum suorum possit accendi, quatenus et de uobis quoque sanctus apostolus dixisse cre- datur: aemulatio uestra prouocauit plurimos. ergo 7 Nestorii et Eutychetis impietatibus iuxta synodalia constituta damnatis sectatores quoque eorum similiter exsecrantes cum £5 exultatione dicamus: 'exite de medio et separamini et inmundum ne tetigeritis' dicit dorainus. quemadmodum enim quis malarum inuentionum de<te>stabitur principes, si non 22 Cor. n 9, 2 25 Cor. II 6, 17 fiduciara sed Bar., fidei non fiduciam atque ideo Coust; ego indicaui lacunamy quam aic fere expleas uelim qui et . . conscientiam fidei, fiduciaro <tamen ostendendi non habent>. atque ideo instruc- tuosa F, corr. 14 persistite 16 solet esse ex sole &B8e corr, V e 526 Synodus Epiri ueteris ad Homiisdam declinat sequaces, aiit qiiemadmodum odit originem, qui non exsecratur et subolem? in discipulis praedicatur fama docen- tium, et donec male iactorum seminum radix per succedentes 8 culta floruerit, tamdiu auctorum memoria non peribit. addatur perditis Eutychetis et Acacius disciplinis sub communione Petri omnium quoque damnatorum mixtus errori; quod uestra dilectio litteris suis, dura fidem suam asserit, euidenter ex- Spressit. ad instructionem uestrae fidei pleniorem, quo ordine ad communionem nostram suscipi deceat reuertentes, indi. culum subteradiecimus sperantes in deum bonorum omnium largitorem, quod laudabili circa fidem uestrae dilectionis instantia non solum hoc eorum, qui uobis uicinitate iunguntur, saluti prosit sed eorum quoque, ad quos fidei uestrae et lOreligiosae uoluntatis uelox fama peruenerit. Eufinum si- quidem diaconum, qui nobis litteras uestras obtulit, in Christi caritate suscepimus; quem apostolorum orationibus commen- dantes cum pace remisimus, hortantes, litteras a nobis tam ad caritatem tuam quam ad synodum directas populo relegatis. quod et nos pro fidei uestrae commendatione fecisse cognosce. Data XVII. Kal. Decembr. Petro cons.