Letter 18: Hormisdas to John, bishop of Nicopolis, and the Synod.

Hormisdas to John, bishop of Nicopolis, together with his synod, as above, through John his deacon. We could wish, most beloved brothers, that you, free from all the waves of troubles, might pass your life under the security of tranquility, and, with the disturbance of mind that worldly storms bring removed, [might be moved] toward our God [...]; for the things we are unwilling to have happen, it is inevitable that, once they have happened, we grieve over them. But the world abounds in misfortunes, and this age, in which we are sojourners, lies exposed on every side to temptations; just as great masses are shaken by the gusts of winds, so the minds of the faithful are battered by diabolical snares, and, as it has been said, those who wish to live piously in Christ suffer persecution. But the hope promised by the just Rewarder consoles us, because blessed is he who has not been made to stumble in the Lord. Let the soldiers of God not be cast down by assaults that are frail and fleeting. He who stands by the vigorous takes no delight in the slothful. These things which pass away are easily despised, if those things which are destined to abide are kept in mind. The occasion of trial is to be embraced, because, although the burdens of labors are hard, the rewards of the virtues are nevertheless greater. In what way will he be equal to the recompense who shows himself unequal to the testing? Let us not be sluggish toward brave deeds, if we desire to attain to the things that are promised. Who, concerning this, would wait for the voice of a man, when daily the pronouncement of truth sounds for us: blessed are they who suffer persecution for the sake of righteousness! But do not, dearest brothers, believe yourselves consoled by me only with spiritual confirmation, however great that may be among the faithful: I have not rested from providing remedies for your tribulation, as far as it lay within a man's power. For through legates dispatched to the prince of the East and to the bishop of Thessalonica, I admonished that he should cease from the harassment of you, and by letters drawn up I enjoined that the emperor be petitioned. These things have been provided for, as far as concerns present matters; but those things which pertain to future hope, these rather are to be regarded by your minds. Indeed, I confess that I have wondered at this, that amid the pleadings of distress this concern could steal upon your religious prudence, that with a permission, under the guise of consultation, the customary letters of introduction to the bishop of Thessalonica should be requested from me. Should I be the author of this thing, which, if I learned it had been done without my knowledge, I would condemn? Far be such perversity! Hear the apostolic voice, but one to be fittingly applied to my own person: if the things which I have torn down, these I build up again, I make myself out a transgressor. Do not, I beseech you, return to the contagions you have scarcely escaped, nor allow your feet, torn from the mud in which they were held, to be wrongly plunged in again. Let the things that are past and blotted out remain so. No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. They are hindered from advancing on the journey they have set out upon, who with eyes turned back look upon what they are leaving. Those in whom any memory of faithlessness remains do not love the men of ecclesiastical discipline; such persons must be cut off wholly from the wanderers, because those who return to the things they have spurned are reckoned so detestable that the blessed apostle Peter proclaimed it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, having known it, to be turned back from the holy commandment delivered to them. It is plain with what tenacity the steadfastness of the faith handed down ought to be guarded, if it is more bearable to persist in error than to be entangled again in the defilements which one has fled. Given on the day before the Ides of April, in the consulship of Agapitus.

HORMISDA lOHANNI EPISCOPO NICOPOLITAXO CUM 8YN0D0 CT supRA. PER lOHANNEM DiACONUM Eius. Optaremus, dilectissimi fratres, ab omnibus uos molestiarum fluctibus alienos uitam sub tranquillitatis securitate transigere et deo nostro remota mundanarum tempestatum mentis perturbatione « « mouerunt, 2 quia quae fieri nolumus, necesse est, ut facta doleamus. sed abundat mundus incommodis et temptationibus saeculum istud, in quo peregrinamur, expositum est passim; uelut magnae moles uentorum procellis, ita fidelium mentes diabolicis pul- santur insidiis et, sicut dictum est, qui uolunt pie uiuere 3 in Christo, persecutionem patiuntur. sed consolatur spes a iusto retributore promissa, quia beatus est, qui non fuerit scandalizatus in domino. non deiciant milites dei impetus fragiles et caduci. qui adsistit strenuiSf non delectatur ignauis. facile contemnuntur ista quae transeunt, si illa quae sunt mansura cogitentur. amplectenda est pro- bationis occasio, quia licet sint dura onera laborum, praeraia 4 tamen maiora uirtutum. quemadmodum par erit remunerationi, qui se imparem monstrat examini? non simus segnes ad fortia, si peruenire cupimus ad promissa. quis super hoc expectet 11 Timoth. II 3, 12 13 Matth. 11, 6 Epist. CXXm 1—8. 535 uocem hominis, cum cottidie Dobis insonet sententia ueritatis: beati, qui persecutioneni patiuntur propter iusti- tiam! sed ne me, fratres karissimi, licet apud iideles magna 5 git, spiritali tamen uos solum credatis confii-matione solari, 5 a prouidendis pro uestra tribulatione remediis, quantum in homine esse potuit, non quieui. nam per legatos ad Orientis principem destinatos et Thessalonicensem episcopum, ut ab insectatione uestra cessaret, admonui et prorogatis paginis, ut imperatori supplicaretur, iniunxi. haec quantum ad prae- 6 10 sentia sunt prouisa; sed illa, quae ad spem futuram pertinent, baec sunt potius mentibus intuenda. sane hoc me fateor fuisse miratum, quod inter allegationes angustiarum religiosae pru- dentiae uestrae haec potuit cura subripere, ut <a> me sub consultationis colore dirigendi ad Thessalonicenseni episcopum 15 solitas litteras licentia posceretur. egone huius rei auctor existerem, quam si inscio me cognoscerem factam esse, cul- parem? absit ista peruersitas! audite apostolicam uocem sed 7 personae meae conuenienter aptandam: si quae destruxi, haec iterum reaedifico, praeuaricatorem me con- zostituo. nolite, obsecro, ad euitata uix redire contagia nec pedes luto, quo tenebantur, auulsos patiamini male rursus immergi. sinite oblitterata esse transacta. nemo mittens manum suam in aratrum et aspiciens retro aptus est regno dei. impediuntur a processu propositi itineris, 8 25 qui reflexis oculis respiciunt, quod relinquunt. non amant ecclesiasticae disciplinae eos, in quibus remanet memoria ulla perfidiae; totos ab errantibus oportet abscidi, quia in tantum detestabiies aestimantur ad spreta redeuntes, ut beatus apo- stolus Petrus melius illis esse praedicauerit, ut non cognosce- 2 Matth. 5, 10 18 Gal. 2, 18 22 Luc. 9, 62 29 Petr. n 2, 21 4 sq. solari a Tkiel: solaria V 13 subrepere a add. 14 con- Bolacionis V, corr. Thiel 16 quam o: qua V insio F, corr. o 17 abscit V 22 immergit F, corr. o 25 relinguunt F, corr. o 26 ^c- clesia stice F {eiiam o, quod moneo contra Thielium) 28 ad o: a F 536 Hormisda lohanni Nicopolitano; Anastasius Hormisdae rent uiam iustitiae, quam cognoscentes retrorsum reflecti a tradito sibi sancto mandato. in aperto est, qua pertinacia traditae fidei debeat constantia custodiri, si tolerabilius est in errore persistere quam coinquinationibus rursus, quas quis fugerit, implicari. Data pridie Idus April. Agapito cons. s