Letter 142: Part of the papal correspondence surrounding the Acacian Schism (484-519), the major breach between Rome and...

Hormisdas to the bishops Ennodius and Peregrinus. After your Charity [a respectful address to the bishops] had set out, the Nicopolitan deacon, who had also met you on the road, came to Rome. We saw him, among other things, considering whether perhaps there was something we ought to add to the instructions for the legation given to you; and reasonably so, for the matter itself plainly showed [...]. For he presented to us a letter from his own bishop [...] and another from the synod of the subordinate church of Nicopolis, in which they complain that against them the principal as well as the judiciary powers have been stirred up by the bishop of Thessalonica, and that they are being grievously afflicted by exactions and outlays, for this reason: because concerning his own ordination he did not send a report to the [...] in accordance with the ancient precedents. [...] for which cause they hoped that we ought to consider some remedy, also consulting us as to whether we should grant them license to direct a report to the designated bishop according to custom. Wherefore we deliberated, and indeed we admonished the bishop of Nicopolis not to dare to attempt any such thing, if he wishes to remain in communion with us: lest through him, if he had sought confirmation from one who is estranged from our communion, our communion too should sustain the contagion. These things we have laid out for you, so that you might know all matters. But what is to be done by you in this case, God being favorable, the appended matters declare. Given on the day before the Ides of April, in the consulship of Agapitus.

)rmisdae papae ad Enuodium et Peregrinum episcopos. 12 A^rU t profectis se episiolas a Johanne Nicopolitano ejusque synodo accepisse, qui- se a Dorotheo Thessalonicensi vehementer affligi querebantur ei utrum ad tdem relationem suhindehniiiere sibi ticeret consulebant. Se id negasse nuntiat ei de aliis instructionem insinuat. Hormisda Ennodio et Peregrino episcopis. Posteaquam profecta est caritas vestra, Nicopolitanus diaconus, vobis etiam occurrit in itinere, Romam venit^). Quem praeter un vidimus, cogitantes, ne forte esset quod ad instructionem datae vobis legationis adjicere deberemus; quod et rationabiliter im ipsa res evidenter ostendit. Obtulit enim nobis epistolam nnis episcopi sui et aliam synodi subjacentis') ecclesiae Nicopoli- J, qua queruntur ab episcopoThessalonicensi excitatas adversum se ^rincipales quam judiciarias potestates : concussionibus et dispen- te vehementer affligi propter hoc, quia de ordinatione sua ad ^pum relationem secundum^) prisca exempla non miserit. Pro Adeoque intra 5 Aprilis diem, quo legati profecti sunt. £d. add. sihi. Moxque prindpales potestates idem est, quod imperatoris ties, nisi quis hoc verbo malit intelligi IHyrici praefecturam et sublimissi' nter mundanos apices poiestatem, quam Leonis temporibus Anastasium pa- rhessalonicensem antistitem adiisse atque Attico ejusdem ecdesiae !Nico- iiae episcopo indignissima intulisse, Leo ipse epist. 14 c. 1 testatur. Johannem episcopum Nicopolitanum una cum sjnodo Epiri veteris rela- a de ordinatione ad Hormisdam misisse testes sunt superiores epistolae 15 In libro autem V de concordia sacerd. et imp. c. 25 n. 9 Steph. Baluzius ff^at, id contra morem veterem factum fuisse, ac de ordinatione Nicopoli* piscopi ad Thessalonicensem antistitem, non ad Romanum referri debuisse. ter etiam arbitratur, hac discordia Hormisdae datam esse occasionem di- a. 617. qua causa speraverunt, ut de remedio cogitare deberemiis, consu- lentes etiam nos , utrum *) daremus eis licentiam relationem ad de- signatum ejnscopum secundum consuetudinem destinandi. Unde ep. 35. tractavimus , et episcopum quidem Nicopolitanum admonuimus, ne tale aliquid audere tentaret, si nobiscum velit in communione per- sistere : ne per illum , si ab eo qui a communione nostra alienus est, confirmationem petiisset, nostra quoque communio contagium snsti- neret. Haec vos, ut omnia sciretis, instruximus. Quid autem pro- pitio Deo vobis de hac causa agendum sit, subjecta declarant. Data pridie Tdus Aprilis, Agapito consule.