Letter 31: Hormisdas to Bishop Avitus and all bishops of the province of Vienne under his jurisdiction.

Hormisdas to Avitus the bishop, and to all the bishops of the province of Vienne residing under your diocese. Whoever, knowing much, desires to be instructed in those things which pertain to catholic discipline, plainly shows what zeal he has for the divine commandments; for there can be no concern of this kind except where faith has been kept untainted. And therefore we rejoice at the sincerity of your purpose, most beloved brother, when we behold you, according to the letters sent through Alethius the presbyter and Viventius the deacon, both recalling the decrees of the apostolic see concerning the impious transgressors Eutyches and Nestorius, and inquiring whether our admonition has accomplished anything against those through whom the Eastern churches are confounded. A worthy concern indeed for the faithful, that they should groan over the lapses of the wretched and themselves take care that they not be polluted by another's contagion. But do not believe that we ourselves have neglected this, namely that a fitting account should be brought to your knowledge if anything had been done. Yet briefly we excuse our silence, by which your charity is stung. For as to the fact that our admonition does not visit you more often, we trust in the steadfastness of your conscience and faith. Anxious care must perhaps be expended upon those who are in doubt; it is enough to have indicated to the perfect what must be avoided. But as for our embassy, which we sent once, not twice, as you write, if its outcome had been according to our prayer, we would at once have been eager to share with you the things desired, knowing this to accord with reason and with our purpose, that those whom we made partakers of our concern we should join with these in the joys of unity restored. But as far as concerns the Greeks, they put forward the prayers of peace rather with the mouth than with the heart, and they speak more justly than they act; they boast that they will it in words, which by their works they declare they do not will; what they have professed they do not love, and what they have condemned, these things they follow. For how is it that, when through Ennodius our brother and fellow-bishop they had promised that they would send priestly men to confirm those things which the apostolic see had demanded, also promising many things which had been sought by us for the correction of their depravity, they not only did not send religious men, in whose hands the full instruction of the case itself might lie, according to their own decrees, but even, as though some trifling matter were being conducted, sent laymen and persons foreign to the ecclesiastical body, and not only did not strive to extricate themselves from the filth in which they are held immersed, but even believed that they could, which God forbid, darken with their own dryness those who shine with the brightness of the catholic faith? This was the cause of our silence, which you too, by spiritual prudence revealing it to you, have seen. For what could I indicate by sending letters about this matter, which I saw persistently keeping its hardness in its own state, guarding its perfidy? Let new outcomes anxiously call for the diligence of a report: he who indicates nothing about things made known declares abundantly that earlier matters remain in their own state. Wherefore, most beloved brother, we both exhort you by these present words, and through you also, since the occasion has been given, we admonish others throughout Gaul whom the same faith embraces together with us: keep the promised constancy of faith, lovely to God, and, having shunned the fellowship of transgressors, present your constancy as a chaste virgin to one husband, even Christ, as you have promised; and beware lest, as the serpent seduced Eve by his cunning, so the minds of some be corrupted from the simplicity and chastity which is in Christ Jesus. The flatteries of the harmful are pernicious, and therefore it befits you to be watchful, because the adversary of human salvation goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour: resist him, strong in faith. For those cast down from the citadel of heaven, who follow and love the footsteps of their father, have this as their special trait, that, being deprived of that light of truth, they rejoice that others are darkened by their own obscurity, and, though they know that they will pay the penalties of their own perversity, they exult if they may join the wretched to their own condemnation. For how is it that, when for the most part they are abandoned by their neighbors the Thracians, the Dardanians, the Illyrians, their perversity having become known, they strive by the hope of ignorance, by frauds or various arts, to allure those set far off, except that they may defile the light, which they themselves do not have, in others also by impious contagion? But so that you may recognize what the pursuits of those parties are: very many of the Thracians, although they are worn down by the assaults of their persecutors, nevertheless persist in our communion, knowing that faith is made brighter through adversities. Dardania and Illyricum, neighboring Pannonia, have sought from us, as we have already done where it was necessary, that bishops be ordained for them, rejoicing to separate themselves so far from the company of the lost that they sought remedies, provided only that they should have nothing in common with the transgressors. The metropolitan of Epirus, that is, the bishop of Nicopolis, with his synod, lately separated from the impious, betook himself to apostolic communion by a profession set forth which would accomplish this. These things we have therefore judged should be inserted into the present writings, so that, just as it befits us to grieve at the lot of those perishing, so we may likewise rejoice at the salvation of those returning, and so that the faithful, being established, may be instructed by them more fully with what care their poison ought to be fled, whom they also see avoided by their own people with so just a detestation. And we indeed, mindful of our stewardship, must needs approach them by the office of a renewed embassy, so that, if they are not moved by regard for their own salvation, by respect for God, by the consideration of reason, they may at least yield to those who knock importunately and persistently, and either return to the right way, their errors set aside, or, on account of their impenitent heart, be judged inexcusable by all, who, even when so often admonished, persist in the obstinacy of their perfidy. Pray, and join your prayers and vows with ours to God, that by the help of his mercy our laboring action may advance toward the stability of the catholic faith, keeping you undefiled and whole from all fellowship of transgressors, so that we may either join our minds and hearts with the corrected, or merit to be untouched by their poisons. For we who, as you too testify does not lie hidden from your conscience, have known Eutyches and Nestorius to be condemned by the authority of the apostolic, that is, the catholic judgment: how shall we be able to be saved, if we cleave by any part of communion to their followers and successors, since Belial cannot have a portion with our Christ? But we have believed it pertinent to your instruction, that we should make known to you, by the reading of these very documents, the things which have been done among us by the Nicopolitans or the Dardanians, or in what order they have been received into communion. Given on the fifteenth day before the Kalends of March, in the consulship of Agapitus.

HORMISDA AUITO EPISCOPO UEL UNIUEKSIS EPISCOPIS PROUINCIAE UIENNENSIS SUB TUA DIOECESI CONSISTENTIBUS. Qui de his, quae ad disciplinam catholicam pertinent, maxime sciens instrui cupit, quid studii circa mandata diuina habeat, eui- denter ostendit. non enim potest esse huiusmodi cura, nisi ubi fides fuerit infucata. atque ideo exultamus ad sinceritatem propositi tui, dilectissime frater, dum te secundum directas per Alethium presbyterum atque Uiuentium diaconum litteras 3 ad hoc V: de hoc Bar. in marg., adhuc Sirm.^ 8 ne o: nec V 9 cuncti V: iuncto Bar. 11 quia cum V: quia iam Bar.y et qnia (et postea polliceor) Strm.^ 12 stratu F, corr. o 13 praedictorum Bar. 16 alecium V Uiuentium reposuit Peiper: uenacium V, Ve- nantium o Epist. CXXXVI 4 — CXXXVII 5. 561 intueiDur et de impiis transgressoribus Eutychete atque Nestorio sedis apostolicae constituta recolere et, si quid aduersum eos admonitio nostra promouerit, per quos Orientales ecclesiae confanduntur, inquirere. digna plane sollicitudo iidelibus, ut 2 de miseromm lapsibus ingemescant et ipsi ne aliena poUuantur contagione pronideant. sed ne nos quidem hoc supersedisse credatis, ut ad notitiam uestram, si quid actum fuisset, com- petens perferret instructio. uerum breuiter silentium nostrum, qao dilectio mordetur uestra, purgamus. nam quod non saepius nostra admonitio uos frequentat, de conscientiae uestrae et Mei stabilitate confidimus. soUicitudo impendenda fortasse sit dubiis, satis est uitanda indicasse perfectis. legationis 3 uero nostrae, quam semel, non secundo, sicut scribitis, misimus, si uotiuus contigisset euentus, alacres ilico uobiscum fueramus desiderata partiti, scientes hoc rationi, hoc nostro proposito conuenire, ut quos participes soUicitudinis fecimus, cum his redintegratae unitatis gaudia iungeremus. sed quantum ad 4 Graecos, ore potius praefenmt pacis uota quam pectore et loquuntur magis iusta quam faciunt; uerbis uelle se iactant, quod operibus noUe declarant ; quae fuerint professi non diligunt, quae damnauerint haec sequuntur. nam unde est, quod cum 5 per Ennodium fratrem et coepiscopum nostrum sacerdotales uiros ad confiimanda ea, quae sedes apostolica poposcerat, diiectm-os se esse promisissent, multa quoque, quae ad cor- , rectionem prauit^tis suae a nobis quaesita fuerant, poUicentes, non solum non religiosos uiros, penes quos causae ipsius plena esse posset instructio, secundum constituta propria non miserunt, uerum etiam, quasi res parua gereretur, laicos et 3 nra (pro nra) V 9 quo Peiper: quod V 10 conscientia uestra Bar, 12 statis F, corr. o 13 scriptis 7, corr, 15 partituri 36* 562 Hormisda Auito episcopo Uiemiensi alienos ab ecclesiastico corpore destinantes non se quondam studuerunt de caeno, quo immersi tenentur, euoluere uerum etiam catholicae fidei claritate fulgentes sua, quod absit, se 6 posse crediderunt siccitate fuscare? haec fuit nostri causa silentii, quam uos quoque spiritali uobis prudentia reuelante 5 uidistis. quid enim de hac causa poteram directis litteris indicare, quam in statu suo uidebam duram pertinaciter custodire perfidiam ? noui exitus sollicite diligentiam relationis inquirant: qui de rebus cognitis nihil indicat, abunde in statu 7 suo manere priora declarat. quapropter, dilectissime ffater, 10 et uos praesentibus hortamur alloquiis et per uos quoque, quia oceasio data est, alios per Gallias, quos fides eadem nobiscum amplectitur, admonemus: promissam et amabilem deo fidei seruate constantiam et transgressorum societate declinata constantiam uestram uni uiro uirginem castam, u sicut spopondistis, exhibete Christo et cauete, ne sicut serpens Euam seduxit astutia sua, ita sensus aliquorum corrumpantur a simplicitate et castitate, 8 quae est iu Christo lesu. pemiciosa sunt blandimenta nocentium atque ideo uigilare uos conuenit, quia aduersari u s 20 salutis humanae sicut leo rugiens circuit quaerens, quem deuoret: cui resistite fortes in fide. quia hoc speciale habent patris sui de caeli arce deiecti, qui uestigia eius sequuntur et diligunt, ut illa ueritatis luce priuati alios gaudeant sua obscuritate fuscari et cum peruersitatis « suae poenas luituros esse se sciant, exultent, si miseros cum 9 sua condemnatione coniungant. nam unde est, quod cum pro magna parte a contenninis suis Thracibus Dardanis 15 Cor. II 11, 2 sq. 20 Petr. I 5, 8 sq. 1 se quondam (?) Peiper: scdam uel sedara F, se Car. 3 claritate fulgente F, corr. p^: claritatem fulgentem Bar. abscit V 4 siccitate Harteh sicietate F, obscuritateo^ [cf. infra societate Coust. {nonaut adfirmat ThieT), satietate Peiper 8 soUicitae Sirm.^ 9 inquirunt Bar. 12 fidgs F 16 exibete V 20 uigiUare V 22 deuorem F, corr. 0 23 arche F, corr. o ueptigia o: de uestigia F 25 <et> alioB Car. gaudent F, corr. 0 27 na (pro n5) F 28 tracibus F Epist. CXXXVII 6—13. 563 Hillyriis cognita eorum peruersitate deserantur, procul positos ignorantiae spe, fraudibus aut uariis artibus nituntur adlicere, nisi ut lucem, quam ipsi non habent, in aliis quoque impia contagione commaculent? ut autem, quae sint partiumlO 5 earum studia, possitis agnoscere, plures Thracum, licet per- sequentium incursibus atterantar, in nostra tamen communione persistunt scientes fieri fidem per aduersa clariorem. Dardania et Hillyricus uicina Pannoniae a nobis, quod iam fecimus ubi necessarium fuit, ut sibi episcopi ordinarentur, expetiit, 10 in tantum se a consortio perditorum separare gaudentes, ut remedia quaererent, dummodo commune cum transgressoribus nihil haberent. Bpiri metropolitanus, hoc est Nicopolitanus episcopus, cum sjnodo sua nuper segregatus ab impiis ad apostolicam communionem deprompta, quae id efBceret, 15 professione se contulit. quae ideo scriptis aestimauimus 11 indenda praesentibus, ut sicut sortem nos conuenit dolere pereuntium, ita laetemur pariter de salute remeantium et ut fideles constituti ab eis longius instruantur, qua uirus eorum «ollicitudine debeat effugi, quos et a suis uideant tam iusta 20 detestatione uitari. et nos quidem dispensationis nostrae 12 memores necesse est eos repetitae legationis officio conuenire, quo affectu saluationis suae, si respectu dei, si rationis intuitu non mouentur, saltem pulsantibus importune et pertinaciter acquiescant et aut ad rectam uiam declinatis erroribus reuer- » tantur aut propter impaenitens cor ab omnibus inexcusabiles iadicentur, qui et moniti totiens in perfidiae obstinatione persistunt. uos orate et nobiscum ad deum preces et uotalS coniungite, ut per opem misericordiae eius nostra actio laborans pro catholicae fidei stabilitate promoueat, immaculatos 1 hylliriis V: IUyricis o 5 tracum V, 8 yllaricus F, illyricus o panoni^ V 11 commung F, carr, 14 depromta V quae id efficeret scripsi: que idffficeret V sed postea ide erasum est^ quae effi- ceret a, qua efficeret Peiper, qua fidem efficeret (uel faceret) Hartel 17 pe- uncium ex peuncium V 18 Cnstituti V 19 debeant F, corr, o^ assuis F, earr. o uideat F, carr. Bar. 8irm, 22 quo Bar,: quod F, quod si 5trm.^ qui Hartel salucionis F, corr. Car.: salutis 29 promo- ueatur Bull Taur, 564 Anastasius Hormisdae; monachi Syriae Hormisdae uos et integros ab omni transgressorum societate seruantes, ut aut cum correctis sensus et corda iungamus aut ab eorum uenenis intacti esse mereamur. nam qui, sicut uos quoque conscientiam uestram non latere testamini, nouimus Eutychetem atque Nestorium apostolicae id est catholicae sententiae auctoritate damnatos: quemadmodum salui esse poterimus, si eorum sectatoribus ac posteris qualibet parte communionis haereamus, cum Belial cum Christo nostro portionem habere 14 non possit? instructionis autem uestrae interesse cre<di>dimus, ut ea, quae apud nos a Nicopolitanis uel Dardanis acta sunt, uel quo in communionem ordine sint recepti, uobis nota faceremus ipsarum lectione chartarum. Data XY. Eal. Mart. Agapito cons.