Letter 209: Part of the papal correspondence surrounding the Acacian Schism (484-519), the major breach between Rome and...

Hormisdas to the deacon Dioscorus. 1. As for your labor indeed, which you have undertaken with the help of God almighty, we offer our congratulations on its outcome with regard to that part which has been accomplished, making known that all the peoples of Italy have been pleased by the things which, with God as their author, have been carried out through you; and we render thanks to our God without ceasing, who made you recognize that you were appointed not out of hatred but rather for the importance of the cause. Wherefore, since the mercy of the divine favor has, through you, assisted our suppliant and pure intention, it is necessary that we give thought to the reward and recompense of your diligence and toil. For at the next opportunity we are arranging to write to our lord and son the emperor, that he ought to ordain you bishop of Alexandria. For it is just that the Church should be set right by that teaching and moderation of yours, in which especially, from the very beginnings of your age, you have served as a soldier [of God]. For it displeased us that the most clement emperor was striving to set your Charity over the Church of Antioch. For you will better receive the dignity of so great a priesthood on the soil of your homeland, so as to teach the peoples of Egypt, than that, having been born in another part of the world, you should seem to wander among the Syrians, men new and unknown. 2. The long delay regarding Thomas and Nicostratus, our brothers and fellow bishops, also saddens us, and we wonder why bishops of the right faith should appear to labor under a catholic prince; whose desires your Charity will be bound to relieve by acting, so that the grief of those who follow [the right faith] may be turned into joy as they obtain what they wished. 3. John, bishop of Nicopolis, wrote to us through the deacon Ammonius, that certain ill-willed persons are striving to fabricate a calumny against him before the prince: him we commend to your Affection, urging that you exert yourself, lest the underhanded scheming of his enemies be able to harm his peace. As for this deacon Ammonius, who came to us, we were unwilling to receive him into communion with the Apostolic See for so long, until, after a deliberation held with the deacon Sergius, we might inquire what ought to be ordained; and our deliberation found this acceptable for the aforesaid deacon, that he should be joined to catholic communion by the testimony of a written declaration [libellus]. When this declaration had been solemnly presented, we signified that the one offering it had been joined to our communion. 4. We commend Paulinus, defender [advocate] of the Roman Church. And we urge that you leave nothing ill-arranged on account of the haste of your return: because all things are better disposed over a length of time with the help of our God, and it is more pleasing that the condition of all the churches be set in order under delay, than that, through haste, something remain imperfect, whence labor is again generated for us and difficulty brought to our ordinations. Given under the consul written above.

Hormisdae papae ad Dioscorum diaconum. ^sDe^ct Quae per eum acta , Italiae populis placuisse. Ad imperatarem se Htteras daiu- rum, ut ipsum Alexandrinae ecclesiae praeficiendum curet {n, 1). Thomam, Ni- costratum, Johannem Nicopolitanum et Paulinum defensorem ei commendat, Ne pro reditus festinatione quid indispositum aut non ordinatum relinquat, Hormisda Dioscoro diacono. 1. De laboris tui quidem, quem Dei omnipotentis juvamine •) Eodem intellectu in epistola superiori n. 3 narrantur Scythae monachi dicere, observationum moras se ferre non posse. Quocirca observationes ibi per- inde intelligere est, atque diiationes, seu ut Hormisda epist. 144 loquitur, tar- diiales, IKX) S. HORMISDAE PAPAE a. 519. suscepisti, pro ea parte, quae acta est, gratulamur effectu, indicantes, omnibus Italiae populis quae auctore Deo per te acta sunt placuisse; et gratias Deo nostro sine cessatione persolvimus, qui te fecit agno- scere, quia non pro odio^) sed pro causae magis fueris amplitudine destinatus. Unde quoniam supplicem^) et puram cogitationem nostram per te misericordia divinae propitiationis adjuvit, necesse est, ut de industriae vel fatigationis tuae praemio et vicissitudine cogitemus. Nam sequenti tempore scribere domino et filio nostro imperatori disponimus, ut te Alexandrinum episcopum debeat ordinare. Justum est enim, ut ea doctrina et moderatione tua corrigatur ecclesia, in qua praecipue ab ipsis aetatis tuae principiis militastd. Nam displi- cuit nobis, quod caritatem tuam clementissimus imperator Antio- chenae praeponere nitebatur ecclesiae. Melius enim in solo patriae tanti accipies sacerdotii dignitatem, ut Aegyptios populos doceas, quam inter Syros, novos et incognitos homines, in a]ia orbis parte progenitus errare^) videaris. 2. Thomae quoque et Nicostrati fratrum et coepiscoporum no- strorum observatio longa nos contristat, et miramur, cur apud catho- licum principem rectae fidei laborare videantur episcopi; quorum desideria tua debebit caritas sublevare agendo, quatenus optata consequentium*) moeror converti possit in gaudium. 3. Johannes Nicopolitanus episcopus per Ammonium diaconum nobis scripsit, quod ei aliqui malevoli apud principem nituntur gene- rare calunmiam: quem dilectioni tuae commendamus hortantes, ut elabores, ne ejus quieti inimicorum possit nocere subreptio. Quem Ammonium diaconum ad nos venientem in sedis apostoh*cae nolui- mus communione suscipere tamdiu, donec habito cmn Sergio diacono tractatu, quid ordinari debuerit, quaereremus; et hoc deliberatio nostra^) supradicto diacono probabilis invenit, ut per testimonium libelli communioni catholicae jungeretur. Quo libello soUemniter oblato nostrae offerentem communioni signifiQjimus adjunctum. 4. Paulinum ecclesiae Romanae defensorem commendamus. Et hortamur, ut nihil indispositum pro festinatione vestri reditus relin- quatis ^) : quia melius cuncta sub prolixitate temporis cum Dei nostri 105 ^) Hoc verbo innuitur, Dioscorum primo legationis monus hac ratione ex- cusasse, quod inde sibi odium iuvidiamque concitari timeret, vel etaain quod odio progressus sui ab ecclesiae suae gremio abstraheretur. ®) Hac in re prudentem pontificem sequi non pudet consilium piissimae femi- nae Julianae Aniciae, quae epist. 71 ad ipsum scripserat: Sanetitatem vestram^d' tnonemus, ut intimelis destinatis a vobis reverendissinds viris, mdlo modo ab$ccd€itt EPISTOLAE 105. 106. 907 juvamine dispoumitur, et gratius est, ut sub mora omnium ecclesia- a.5l9. rum ordinetur status, quam quum per festinationem aliquid imper- fectum remaneat, unde iterum et labor nobis generetur et nostris afferatur ordinationibus difficultas. Data') consule suprascripto.