Letter 25: God is indeed the special consolation of the faithful, and those who have devoted themselves to him with their whole...

Hormisdas to the orthodox bishops. It is indeed a special consolation of the faithful that God never fails them amid any hardships whatever, when they have given themselves over to him with the whole effort of their mind. Yet I confess that I owe this prayer to your purpose: that, just as I rejoice over the sincerity of your faith, so I may deserve to take joy in the firmness of your constancy. And therefore, gazing upon you with my inner sight, I rise up eager with the longing to converse with you, so that I may both repay your love toward God with a letter of speech and confirm your hope by an exhortation set down on the page, and thus render a pleasant testimony of charity to those with whom I share the fellowship of holy communion. For it is not enough for my mind to be untroubled about you, unless I have also shown that affection with which I embrace you. Indeed, he declares that he does not by deliberate judgment hate those who are divided from the love of God, who can refrain from loving those joined to it. I bless God, therefore, when I consider the fervor of your faith amid varied storms and the adversities of tempests. I urge you also, with the more abundant exultation, to glorify his mercy concerning these things—he who, in order to render the minds of his elect more acceptable to himself, examines them, and, though they are already known to him, nevertheless tests them by certain difficulties, so that he may show that justice too is present in the gift which he bestows. And therefore it befits you to press persistently upon your good purpose, and not to fail on the road that leads to the kingdoms of heaven. He who beholds the gifts of the Lord's promise as beyond all reckoning can have no regard for any danger. For the consideration of present evils does not break a man, unless the forgetfulness of future goods overcomes him; since he excludes all the bitterness of toil who has taken in the sweetness of the hope that is awaited. For what difficulty is equal to blessedness, or what sufferings are worthy of the rewards—namely, in view of the future glory which, as the apostle announces, shall be revealed in us? Far be it that anything should separate us from the love of Christ! How great is the tribulation, if it gives birth to glory? What is reckoned adversity is the material of prosperity. While we are bowed down, we are raised up. No one would have a future reward, unless he endured the necessities of present things. See with how great labor the earthly harvest of men rises up: with how much labor, then, must it be procured that the heavenly gifts not perish? The life of the negligent is quiet, but their substance is not rich. The laborer is worthy to receive the fruit of his wage. Piety scattered without discernment would languish together with impiety, if the examination that is to divide the good from the wicked were to cease. A most pleasing spectacle to the Lord is the contest of the just, nor does anything so win for a man the grace from above as the assaults of adversaries patiently received. Who would admire soldiers under the security of peace? It is no hard thing to plant secure footsteps on dry ground, nor does the calm of the sea display the pilot's skill; it is enough to advance undaunted amid wars, not to stumble amid slippery places, to despise the waves in the tempest. Let worldly temptation rage and exercise its movements, provided that those who are proven appear made manifest. Knowing these things, dearest brothers, hold fast the constancy of your faith, and even love those very dangers which fight for you, if they should befall, by reason of your merits. Announce the things you worship, and share throughout the whole world the gospel commandments which you hold. Beyond your own service, let the correction of others also be ascribed to you. Among the enumeration of sinners, by which the prophet, full of the spirit of God, wins for himself the divine grace, among the things by which he begs for the mercy that he may be preserved, he proclaims that he teaches the wicked the ways of the Lord and that the conversion of the impious comes about through himself. Blessed are they to whom a life innocently lived gives a reward; blessed are they through whom an example is also furnished to others. And we indeed, so far as it lies in us, cease neither from solicitude nor from labor, so that, imitating the humility which our Lord taught us, we may ask for those things which are conducive to their salvation, so that, while the care of the stewardship entrusted to me is acknowledged, its duties may be proven. For, with the turn repeated, we have directed Ennodius and Peregrinus, our brothers and fellow bishops, on a commissioned legation, urging upon them reason, exhortations, prayers, tears, so that, separated from the contagion of the impious, they may betake themselves to the true faith and the apostolic decrees by the same means as you—or at least that the world may acknowledge that we were not wanting in preaching, but that they were wanting in their own salvation.

HORxisDA EPiscopis ORTHODoxis. Est quidcm fidelium speciale solatium deus nec umquam inter quaelibet dura deficiunt, qui se ad eum toto mentis studio contulerunt. uerumtamen hoc uotum proposito uestro debere me fateor, ut sicut exulto 2 Timoth. II 4, 2 3 Timoth. I 4, 16 1 haec Thiel disscipulum V 2 importune Car. cum Vulgata 4 fa- ciens p: facies F* 5 proptheticis V 6 nonriis o^: nols V, monitis 7 sentecias V 16 retraat V 20 Data terno nonas ap^is V 180, Dat. (simul cum epp. 126. 128, 129, 131, 132) a. 517 die 3 Apr, per Ennodium etc. Edd. Car. P 465; Bar. ad a. 517, ^l; CoUect. Concil; BTA I 399; Thiel 803. 23 norjiisda V, corr. a ^po F, corr. o 25 ueruntamen F 550 Hormisda episcopis orthodozis de sinceritate fidei uestrae, ita de firmitate merear gaudere 2 constaDtiae. unde et aspectu interiore uos intuens ad desi- derium coUoquendi uobiscum promptus adsurgo, ut et dilec- tionem circa deum uestram litterario sermone remunerer et spem paginali adhortatione confirmem atque ita his, cum s quibus mihi est consortium sanctae communionis, iucundum reddam testimonium caritatis. non enim sufficit animo meo de uobis esse securum, nisi ostendero illum quoque, quo uos complector, affectum. siquidem declarat se non ex iudicio odisse a dei dilectione diuisos, qui potest non amare con- lo 3 iunctos. benedico igitur deum, dum feruorem fidei uestrae inter procellas uarias et tempestatum aduersa considero. uos quoque ut super his pietatem eius glorificetis, uberiore exul- tatione suadeo, qui electorum suorum mentes quo acceptiores sibi reddat, examinat et licet cognitos sibi quibusdam tamen i& difficultatibus probat, ut iustitiam quoque inesse dono, quod largitur, ostendat. atque ideo pertinaciter bono uos conuenit imminere proposito nec in uia, quae ducit ad caeli regna, 4 deficere. qui intuetur dominici munera non aestimanda pro- missi, nuUius potest respectum habere periculi. non enim 20 frangit consideratio praesentium malorum, nisi futurorum bonorum uincat obliuio, quando omnem amaritudinem laboris excludit, qui dulcedinem spei, quae expectatar, ammiserit. quae enim diflicultas beatitudini par est aut quae condignae praemiis passiones ad futuram scilicet gloriam, quae in nobis 25 5 apostolo annuntiante reuelabitur? absit ne quicquam a Christi caritate nos separet! quanta est tribulatio, si gloriam parit? materia prosperorum est, quae putatur aduersitas. dum incli- namur, erigimur. nemo haberet futuram remunerationem, nisi necessitates praesentium sustineret. uidete, quanto opere so 25 sq. cf. Rom. 8, 18 Epist. CXXX 2—10. 551 hominum terrena messis adsurgat: quanto est igitur labore procurandum, ut caelestia dona non pereant? quieta est 6 neglegentium uita sed non opulenta substantia. dignus est operarius, ut fructum mercedis accipiat. indiscreta passim 5 pietas cum impietate languesceret, si examinatio bonos a malis diuisura cessaret. gratum admodum spectaculum domino est in agone iustonim nec quicquam ita supernam gratiam conciliat homini sicut aduersorum impetus patienter excepti. quis milites sub pacis securitate miretur? non est arduum 7 10 in sicco secura fixisse uestigia nec artem gubernatoris ostendit marina tranquillitas; satis est intrepidum inter bella procedere, inter lubrica non labare, fluctus in tempestate contemnere. saeuiat et motus suos exerceat mundana temptatio, dum manifesti appareant qui probantur. haec scientes, karissimi 8 15 fratres, fidei uestrae tenete constantiam et ipsa etiam, si inciderint, militantia meritis uestris amate pericula. annuntiate, quae colitis, et participate etiam per uniuersum orbem mandata euangelica, quae tenetis. supra stipendia uestra correctio quoque uobis adscribatur aliena. inter peccatorum 9 to enumerationem, quibus sibi diuinam gratiam plenus spiritu dei propheta conciliat, inter ea, quibus misericordiam, qua conseruetur, exorat, docere se iniquos uias domini et conuer- sionem per se fieri praedicat impiorum. beati, quibus uita innocenter acta dat praemium; beati, per quos aliis quoque 25 praestatur exemplum. et nos quidem, quantum in nobis est, 10 nec soUicitudine nec labore cessamus, ut humilitatem, quam nos dominus noster docuit, imitati, quae saluti eorum conue- niunt, postulemus, ut dispensationis mihi creditae dum agno- scitur cura, probentur officia. nam repefcita uice Ennodium so atque Peregrinum fratres et coepiscopos nostros mandata legatione direximus rationem adhortationes preces lacrimas 3 sq. cf. Luc. 10, 7 14 cf. Cor. I 11, 19 22 Psalm. 50, 15 3 <uoti> opulenta Car. 6 gradum F, corr. 9 miles . . meretur Car, 12 lauare 7, corr. o 19 peccatorum V: ceterorum 21 miseri- cardia F, carr. 28 disspensacionis V 29 repecita V 552 Hormisda Possessori; Honnisda Constantinopolitanis ingerentes, ut ab impiorum contagione separati ad ueram fidem isdem, quibus uos, modis et apostolica scita se conferant aut certe non nos defuisse praedicationi sed illos propriae saluti mundus agnoscat.