Letter 240: Part of the papal correspondence surrounding the Acacian Schism (484-519), the major breach between Rome and...

[Editorial summary] Of Pope Hormisdas to Justin Augustus. In the year 521, on the 26th of March. He says that He [the emperor] has no need of human praises nor seeks them, yet that he himself cannot refrain from praising him and from extolling his merits. He then sets forth these merits at greater length (nn. 1-3), and he exhorts him not thereafter to yield to the obstinacy of the stubborn (nn. 4 and 5). Finally he indicates that he has committed to Epiphanius of Constantinople the cause of those who are worthy of indulgence (n. 6). Hormisdas to Justin Augustus. 1. I know indeed, venerable emperor, that your clemency is content only with the consciousness of a good work, and that in those matters which you arrange for the unity of the catholic Church you do not need human praises, lest the glory of great zeal should be cheapened by a reward not worthy of it. For how great is the highest measure of human commendation toward him to whom it has fallen to be entrusted with the kingdoms of the earth, when the flatteries of adulation are liable to the suspicion that lowliness has offered them to one who commands! And besides, according to the gospel tradition, it is necessary that he should lack the fruit of the heavenly reward who looks for the recompense of praise. Hence I do not doubt that your gentleness, abounding in every perfection of goodness, refers to God all the things which you memorably do, and that, not thinking of perishable things, you await from Him the wages for the recompense of your deeds, who is established to be the author of all good things. 2. And yet I, in keeping with the divine institutions which I obey, do come to terms, lest I should dissemble the religious benefits of your conscience that I have learned of, lest my silence, which increases your glory, should be turned for me-which God forbid-into a fault. For I know concerning those ten cleansed by the mercy of our Lord and Savior, that nine were marked out and condemned as ingrates, and one rendered the testimony of faith and of salvation deservedly received, who, being healed, paid the act of thanksgiving. I follow out the examples which I have learned, and what through the matter of the office entrusted to me I proclaim, I set forth [in the year 521] on the occasion of a written discourse. I render as great thanks as I, a lowly man, am able-although as great as I owe, I am not able. But it is a comfort to me that the world rejoices with me over your benefits, and that the members of the Church, hitherto torn, recalled to their own framework, exult. You have led back the faith to the peoples; you have pursued error; the pride of the enemies of the Church of God has been brought low, and the humility of the faithful raised up. A great thing has befallen you, emperor; great advantages have come together in you along with power. Understand what you deserve. You have transferred to yourself no small part of that good work which our Lord Jesus Christ, going to the heavens, conferred [reference to John]: for the peace which He gave to His disciples, through you the world has found. There is no doubt that the angels of heaven congratulate you; for if, according to the gospel assertion, there is joy among them over one sinner saved, what joy can there be over a people? Hail, Hezekiah of the present age! For although there were before him kings of Judah who did right before the sight of the Lord, yet none of them tore down the high places. You too, destroyer of schisms and of pride and restorer of the ancient worship, presume for yourself a likeness to him in the courses of your years that are to be lengthened, you who imitate the examples of his works. And all these things, which look toward the greater increase of your glory, you undertake not roused by the goad of another's exhortation, not by any entreaties: God alone is your counsel. There is no one who attempts to insert himself into a sharing of so great a work: to yourself you owe the zeal of this action, to yourself the accomplishment of the good action! 3. You, venerable emperor, have animated me, mourning the wounds of the Church so long, to the hope of salvation being restored. You, after such continuous whirlwinds, when I was already ceasing almost from despair, have roused me to a new tranquility by pious letters sent of your own accord [ep. 42]: this too without doubt by divine understanding bestowing it, that at the very outset of your principate you should dedicate the homage of that faith to which you owed the empire received. But I who could not be the first to drive you to begin these things, now with greater confidence, provoked by such great benefits, am compelled to pray that you do not allow there to be a failing in a matter of so good a work, that you do not withdraw the hands which you raise to God from the completion of the work begun. I cannot deny that I demand these things from affection for our Lord and for unity: but I confess that for your own salvation also, for so great a grace of gentleness, I bring forth these zealous pursuits. For it is written that he who shall persevere, this man shall be saved. 4. Nor let the obstinacy of certain men make you slower from your purpose [in the year 521]. It is hard that the pertinacity of those who divide peace should be more effective than that of those who assert unity. Let the wounds be loved, when remedies are provided for health, and let it be thought more to be preferred to be allied with the dead than to cling with the living. Or is it not just that those should be subjected to the command of a religious prince who are not moved by example? Not every sick man acquiesces in things salutary, and the zeal of healing is often unwelcome to the very persons to whom it is applied: and yet the necessity applied for health is welcome, nor after their recovery are those not bound by the benefits, who are cured against their will. The cunning of subtle men must be guarded against with great circumspection, who introduce difficult things while they strive to overthrow what has been settled. And who could allow this, that we should be believed to be led by peace to those things to which we could not be compelled by the necessity of discord; and that it should be thought just that a prince should follow the will of his subjects against their salvation, rather than that subjects should serve the command of their prince for their own salvation? 5. Believe, venerable son, that the very Church of God supplicates you together with me, that you would guard it without spot and wrinkle, as you know is pleasing to the Lord, nor that in it that eye which is ever-watchful should behold any blemish that He would turn away from. Love what, pricked in heart by God, you have chosen, and keep undefiled that of which you have wished to be a part. Hitherto the solicitude was mine alone: now your clemency has made the cause one for us both. Nor let anyone say that I am more austere than my predecessors, nor let the exhortation of anyone be held for the authority of an opinion. It was not zeal for pertinacity, but the scandals that followed, that made me more diligent. Perhaps in the beginning there could have been room for leniency: by the ill approach of preceding times, as is known, the increases of error grew. Do not count it of small worth, most holy son, what you have taken care of! Where did the holy synod of Chalcedon and the most religious decrees of the pope Leo, to be venerated among the saints, hold the place of any honor? Where did not the army of the enemies of God, as a kind of war-trumpet, sound against the great foundations of the faith? The more fiercely these things were assailed with darts, the more strongly they must be fortified with reinforcements. I ask, most merciful emperor, that you do not compel me either to abandon or to alter these things which were long ago resolved upon as well-pleasing. For that voice murmurs ceaselessly in my ears: That no one putting his hand to the plough and looking back behind him is fit for the kingdom of God [Luke 9:62]; since it is evident that repentance is of evil works, not of good ones. 6. But although we are pressed by these straits, nevertheless both on account of the consideration of your gentleness, and because the plea of the venerable legates John the bishop, Heraclianus the presbyter, and Constantine the deacon moved us not inhumanely-which plea judged that remedies were to be sought for the innocent or for those ignorant of the cause: we have sent writings to our brother and fellow-bishop Epiphanius [ep. 141], that, mindful of the faith, mindful of religion, those whom he shall have believed worthy of reception, or whom, as is asserted, the communion which we reject finds innocent, he may admit to the fellowship of sacred communion, the tenor nevertheless of the document which was put forward by us being preserved [ep. 7, 26]. For it is better and more pleasing to God, if, with the faith preserved, the severed be joined to the ecclesiastical body, than that those should pass over to the severed who have remained in the immaculate communion of blessed Peter. Given on the seventh of the Kalends of April [26 March], in the consulship of Valerius, most distinguished man.

Hormisdae papae ad Justinum Augustum. a. 521 d. 26Mart. ^O. Eum laudibtts humanis non egere neque illas quaerere, sed se tamen ab eo tau' dando ei extoUendis meritis ejus temperare sibi non posse ait. Quae merita tiinc pluribus exsequitur (n. 1 — 3), utque deinceps obstinatorum pertinaciae non cedai hortatur (n. At et h), Denique se causam eorum^ qui indulgentia digni sint, Epiphanio Constantinopolitano commisisse significat (n. 6). Hormisda Justino Augusto. 1. Scio quidem, venerabilis imperator^ clementiam tuam con- scientia boni operis tantum esse contentam^ nec in his^ quae pro catholicae Ecclesiae unitate disponitis, humanis laudibus indigere^ ne^) magni studii gloria non digna remuneratione vilescat. .Quanta est enim circa eum humaui summa praeconii^ cui contigit terrarum regna committi^ quum^) obnoxia sint blandimenta adulationis suspi- cioni^ quae humilitas detulerit imperanti! Et alias secundum evan-^***^^- gelicam traditionem necesse est, ut fructu supemae remunerationis careat; qui retributionem laudis exspectat. Hinc mansuetudinem vestram omni bonitatis perfectione poUentem ad Deum universa, quae memorabiliter facitis; referre non ambigo^ nec caduca cogitan- tes ab illo exspectatis pro actuum vestrorum retributione mercedem, quem bonorum omnium constat auctorem. 2. . Et tamen ego divinis, quibus obsecundo, convenio institutis, ne religiosa conscientiae vestrae beneficia comperta dissimulem, ne tacitumitas mea, quae vobis crescit ad gloriam, mihi, quod absit, vertatur in culpam. Novi enim de ilKs decem Domini et Salvatoris « J'?^' nostri pietate mundatis, quia et novem sunt nota ingratitudinis im- probati, et unus testimonium fidei et merito^) receptae salutis re- tulit, qui gratiarum actionem sanatus exsolvit. Exsequor exempla quae didici, et quod per officii mihi crediti materiam praedico, sub 140 ') G^ nec, quod correximuB. Forte quis malit nec magni studii gloriam ... vilescere. Ed. et magni (ad marg. ne). Mox ed. retribtUionis laudem ... religiosae ... conferta. ') b seq. merita. Minus ambigua esset haec verbornm constructio: unus fidei et salutis merito receptae testimonium retulit. a. 521. occasione litterarii sermonis exhibeo. Ago graidas quantas^) hnmilis possum^ etsi quantas debeo, uon possum. Sed solatium mihi est^ quod de beueficiis mecum vestris mundus exsultat^ et lacerata hacte- nus Ecclesiae membra ad compagem suam revocata gloriantur. Re- duxisti populis fidem; persecutus errorem; inclinata est superbia inimicorum Ecclesiae Dei^ et humilitas erecta fidelium. Magna res tibi contigit, imperator^ magna in te emolumenta cum potestate coierunt. Quae mereariS; inteliige. Non exiguam in te partem boni Joh. operis illius, quod vadens ad coelos Dominus noster Jesus Christus ' ' contulit; transtulisti : nam pacem^ quam ille disdpulis dedit, per te mundus invenit. Non est dubium congratulari tibi angelos coeli; ^^^' nam si juxta assertionem evangelicam laetitia est eis de uno pecca- tore salvatO; quae potest esse populo? Salve Ezechias praesentis aetatis! Nam etsi fuerunt ante eum reges Juda^); qui facerent, \o^f ^^^^ tamen eorum dissipavit excelsa. Tu quoque schismatum et superbiae dissipator et cultus veteris restitutor, praesume tibi simili- . tudinem^) illius annorum augenda curricula, qui operum ejus imi- taris exempla. Et haec omnia, quae ad majus gloriae tuae spectant augmentum; non stimulo adhortationis alienae, non ullis precibus excitatus aggrederis: solus tibi in consilio Deus. Non est; qui se^ participationem tanti operis tentet inserere: tibi debes actionis hnjus studium, tibi bonae actionis efiectum! 3. Tu me, venerabilis imperator, Ecclesiae vulnera tam longa moerentem ad spem reddendae salutis animasti. Tu me poet tam continuos turbines jam pene desperatione cessantem ad novam tran- ep. 42. quillitatem directis ultro piis litteris excitasti: hoc quoque procnl dubio divina intelligentia conferente, ul^ inter ipsa tui principatns exordia fidei ejus dicares obsequimn, cui acceptum debebas impe- rium. Sed qui te ad incipienda haec non potui primus impellere^ nunc majore fiducia tantis beneficiis compellor provocatus orare, ne patiaris in re tam boni operis esse defectum^ ne manus, quas ad Deum erigis, a coepti operis perfectione suspendas. Negare non possum proDomini nostri haec me afiectu .et unitatis exposcere: sed fateor et saluti tuae pro tanta mansuetudinis gratia haec studia me Yo *22 ^®^^^^- Scriptum est enim, quia qui perseveraverii, hic saivus erii» reclum ante conspectum Dominiy et v. 14: Excelsa autem non abstuiit; item 4 Reg. 14, 3 de Amasia: Et fecit rectum coram Domino^ nisi hoc tantuniy quod excelsa mom absiulit; et de Azaria 4 Reg. 15, 3 et 4: Fecitque quod erat placitum ewam Bih mino^ verumtamen excelsa non esi demolitus, Quocirca et rectum et quod ent placitum coram Domino ad^ere hic liceret. Deinde G* a* sed quibus te ad incipienda, et ed. perseveratferii usque ad fi^ea sahus. 4. Nec vos aliquorum obstinatio reddat a proposito pigriores. a. 621. Durum est, ut efficaeior sit eorum pertinacia qui dividunt pacem^ " quam eorum qui asserunt unitatem. Amentur vulnera, quum pro- videantur pro salute remedia, et praeoptabilius") esse putetur sociari cum mortuis, quam inliaerere cum vivis. An non aequum est, ut religiosi principis subdantur imperio, qui non moventur exemplo? Non omnis aeger^) salul^ribus acquiescit, et medendi studium saepe ipsis quibus adhibetur iugratum est: et tamen grata est admota pro salute necessitas, nec ipsi post respirationem non sunt bene- ficiis obnoxii, qui curantur inviti. Cavenda est subtilium magna circimispectione calliditas, qui ingerunt difficilia, dum nitimtur labe- factare composita. Et quis hoc possit admittere, ut ad illa per pacem credamur adduci, ad quae non potuimus discordiae necessi- tate compelli; et putetur aequum, ut contra salutem princeps sub- jectorum voluntatem sequatur®), quam pro sua salute subjecti prin- cipis non famulentur imperio? 5. Ipsam tibi mecum, venerabilis fili, crede Ecclesiam Dei sup- plicare, ut eam sine macula et ruga, sicut scis Domino placere, ^P^- custodias, nec in ea oculus ille, qui pervigiP®) est, naevum aliquem '^ ' quem aversetur adspiciat. Ama quod a Deo cmnpunctus elegisti, et intemeratum serva illud cujus pars esse voluisti. Fuerit ante solli- citudo tantum mea: nunc unam nobis causam tua fecit esse cle- mentia. Nec austeriorem me quisquam dicat esse prioribus, nec ad- hortatio alicujus pro sententiae auctoritate teneatur. Diligentiorem me non pertinaciae studium, sed scandala secuta fecerunt. Forte inter initia locus**) esse potuit lenitati: male, sicut notum est, per ^ Ed. praeoptabUe ... putetur se' . . . mortuis. In G* lacuna hiyusmodi: prae- optabi ... putetur so ... cwn mortuis. Quam supplendam nostro modo ex spatio vacuo relicto aestimavimus , quura similiter Norisius de uno ex Trinitate passo pag.72 supplesset praeoptabile esse putetur sociari cum mortuis, Responsio haec ad illud attinet, quod Justinus epist. 129 n. 2 interrogaverat: Quid igitur fadamus Tmjusmodi pertinaciae j quae nec dicto audiens exsistity et tormenta in tantum despi- cit, ut etc. 970 , S. HORMISDAE PAPAE a. 621. accessus praeeedentium temporum errorura augmenta crevenmt. Non parvi habeaS; fili sanctissime; quod curasti! Ubi sancta Calchedo- nensis synodus et inter sanctos venerandi papae Leonis religiosis- sima constituta locum alicujus honoris habuerunt? Ubi non adTer- sum tanta fidei fandamenta quasi quoddam bellicum hostimn Dei insonuit exercitus? Quanto acrioribus haec impetita sunt jaculis, tanto validioribus sunt munienda subsidiis. Kogo^ clementissime imperator, ne me aut ad deserenda ^^) haec, quae dudum beneplacita sunt; aut mutanda compellas. Vox enim illa auribus meis indesi- Luc.9,62.nenter immurmurat: Quia nemo manum ad arairum miitens ei posi se respiciens apius esi regno Dei; quum in eyidenti sit^ quia poeniteBtia malorum est operum^ non bonorum. 6. Sed quamquam his urgemur angustiis, tamen et^^) propter mansuetudinis tuae consideratiouem; et quia venerabilium l^ato- rum Johannis episcopi ^ Heracliani presbyteri et Gonstantini diaconi allegatio nos non inhumana permoyit; qui^^) innocentibus aut igna- ris causae remedia credidit esse poscenda: ad fratrem et coepisco- ep.l4l.pum nostrum Epiphanium scripta transmissimus, ut memor fidei, memor religioniS; quos dignos susceptione esse crediderit, aut communione ^^) quam respuimus sicut asseritur innocentes^ eos ad ep. 7, 26 societatem sacrae communionis admittat, libelli tamen qui a nobis ® • interpositus est tenore servato. Melius est enim et magis Deo pla- citmU; si salva fide ecclesiastico corpori jungantur abscissi^ quam in abscissos transeant, qui in beati Petri immaculata conmiunione man- serunt. Data septimo Caleudas Aprilis^Valerio viro clanssimo consule.