Letter 97: Part of the papal correspondence surrounding the Acacian Schism (484-519), the major breach between Rome and...

Likewise, the report of Dioscorus the deacon. Through Eulogius, a most distinguished man [vir clarissimus], we received the letters of Your Blessedness, in which you indicated the intention of the Scythian monks and how it had seemed good to your apostolic office to delegate the case to the bishop of Constantinople, so that he himself might hear it between them and those who are being attacked by them. To me, indeed, this had not been displeasing, because where the conscience, with the help of God, is terrified by no fear, it ought to shrink from no one, but rather to make haste, so that through examination what is true may be made manifest to all. You indicated to me that a protest had been given by them, that no heretics should be joined to me. Whom they call heretics, I do not know - unless perhaps those who accept the Synod of Chalcedon, whom I call catholics. Victor a deacon is said: certain men, together with this man, before we entered Constantinople, had raised a contention concerning one of the Trinity crucified, and concerning Christ as composite, and concerning other chapters [doctrinal points]. When we were positioned here, they presented against him a petition, both to us and to the bishop of Constantinople: we came together in the house of the bishop, so that we might take cognizance of the contention which was being disputed among them. The aforesaid bishop brought forth the Synod of Chalcedon; he read before all everyone everything which is established in that same council, saying, 'Beyond these things let nothing else be said to me: whoever follows these things can be among the catholics.' The aforesaid Victor answered, 'I likewise accept also the letters of Pope Leo and the synodal letters of saint Cyril, which are cited in the Council of Chalcedon, and with my own hand I subscribe and confirm with oaths that I accept these things and preach nothing else beyond these things; and if I should ever be found preaching anything else outside these things, I ask no mercy concerning myself.' The Scythians, on the contrary, began to say, 'Let there be added also "one of the Trinity"!' We, on the contrary, said, 'What is not defined in the four councils nor in the letters of the blessed Pope Leo, we can neither say nor add.' This saying displeased them. Yet whether Victor said these things with a sincere mind or with guile, who can know, except him who knows hearts? These words we heard: it is God's to judge the mind. Afterward, without us, the magnificent man Vitalian, master of soldiers [magister militum], summoned the aforesaid Victor between himself and the bishop of Constantinople; they spoke with him: what they settled between themselves, we do not know. Afterward neither did Victor come to us, nor was the case pleaded. Yet let Your Blessedness know that these Scythians call all who accept the Synod of Chalcedon Nestorians, saying, 'The synod is not sufficient against Nestorius,' and that the synod ought thus to be accepted, in the manner in which they themselves have expounded it. What sort of men these are, or what sort of intentions they have, and what they wish to introduce into the catholic faith, has, with the help of God, been made manifest to all catholics; nor does the case need my labor, which God in his mercy has brought forth to the light. I, what I learned from the fathers, what the catholic church has always preserved, I have not kept silent, I have not concealed. There is one God, of whom Moses speaks, saying: Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one God [Deuteronomy 6:4]; and in another place he says: The Lord alone led them [Deuteronomy 32:12]. We believe the Trinity to be of one substance, as I foretold, one Godhead, three Persons, for we neither say that there are many gods, believing that there is one God, that is, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, nor do we deny the three Persons, lest we seem to follow the dogma of Sabellius. True is the Person of the Son, that is, of the Word of God, consubstantial with the Father: that very [Word] was made flesh, that very one dwelt in the womb of Mary, that very one took on human nature without sin, whence the Son of God, made man, was born of the Virgin Mary. On account of which we call and believe her the bearer of God [dei genitrix, Theotokos], because the union of divinity and humanity, which began to come to pass from the time when the angel Gabriel announced to Mary, saying: Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the rest [Luke 1:28; 1:35], not only in the womb was not divided, but neither in birth, nor in nourishment, nor in the passion, nor in the sepulchre, nor in the resurrection, nor in heaven was it separated; for there is one Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, not divided in Persons, not separated in natures, nor diverse in power. For the same one is also he who sustains the passion, since all heresies - whether dividing, as Nestorius, or denying, as Eutyches, or believing less in the incarnation, as Apollinaris, or introducing a phantasm, as Manes - have been cut off from the catholic faith: men who are workers of iniquity and enemies of the doctrine of the apostles. These things I learned, these things I heard from our elders; and if perhaps I am ignorant of what we ought to follow beyond these things, it is necessary for me to follow it as Your Blessedness expounds it. As for Maxentius, however, who said under the title of abbot that he has a congregation: if he be asked either with what monks he lived, or in what monastery, or under what abbot he was made a monk, he cannot say. Likewise also, if I should wish to speak about Achilles, I do the matter superfluous [I do a needless thing]; for him this suffices: always to lie hidden, on account of his conscience condemned by all catholics. Given on the Ides of October, in the consulship of Eutharicus. Received on the fifteenth day before the Kalends of December, in the consulship of the same as above.

ITEM SUGGE8TI0 DIOSCORl DIACONI. Per Eulogium u. c. litteras beatitudinis uestrae suscepimus, in quibus significastis intentionem monachorum Scythicomm et 5 quomodo uisum fuerat apostolatui uestro episcopo Constantino- politano causam delegare, ut ipse inter eos et qui ab eis impetuntur audiret. mihi quidem non displicuerat, quia ubi conscientia cum dei adiutorio nulla formidine teiTetur, a nullo debet declinare, immo magis festinare, ut per examen quod 10 uerum est omnibus manifestetur. significastis mihi ab illis 2 contestationem datam, ut non mihi haeretici iungerentur. quos dicunt haereticos, ego ignoro. nisi illos forte, qui synodum Calcedonensem suscipiunt, quos ego catholicos dico. Uictor diaconus dicitur: quidam cum isto, antequam nos Constantino- 3 15 polim ingrederemur, habuenmt intentionem de uno de trinitate crucifixo et de Christo composito et de aliis capitulis. nobis hic positis obtulerunt contra ipsum libellum tam nobis quam episcopo Constantinopolitano: conuenimus in domum episcopi ut, inter eos intentio quae uertebatur, agnosceremus. praedictus ^ 20 episcopus synodum Calcedonensem protulit; legit ante omnes omnia, quae sunt in eodem concilio constituta, dicens 'praeter ista nihil mihi aliud dicatur: qui sequitur ista, potest inter catholicos esse\ praedictus Uictor respondit 'suseipio similiter et epistolas papae Leonis et sancti CjTilli epistolas synodales, 25 quae sunt in Calcedonensi concilio allegatae, et manu mea subscribo et sacramentis confirmo ista me suscipere et praeter ista nihil aliud praedicare, et si inuentus fuero aliquando 686 Suggestio Dioscori ad Hormisdam extra ista aliud praedicans, nuUam circa me peto misericordiam^ Scythae e contra inchoauerunt dicere 'addatur et unus de trinitate!^ nos e contra diximus 'quod non est in quattuor conciliis definitum nec in epistolis beati papae Leonis, nos 5 nec dicere possumus nec addere\ displicuit hoc dictum. 5 Uictor taraen utrum sinceri animo haec diceret an doloso, quis nosse potest, nisi qui corda cognoscit? uerba ista nos 6 audiuimus: dei est animum iudicare. postea sine nobis magnificus uir Uitalianus magister militum inter se et episcopum Constantinopolitanum uocauerunt praedictum Uic- 10 torem ; locuti sunt cum eo : quid definierunt inter se, nescimus. 7 postea nec Uictor ad nos uenit nec est causa dicta. isti tamen Scythae sciat beatitudo uestra quia omnes accipientes synodum Calcedonensem Nestorianos dicunt dicentes *non sufficit synodus contra Nestorium* et sic debere synodum 15 suscipere, quomodo ipsi exposuerint. qui homines quales sunt aut quales intentiones habent et quid uolunt in fide catholica introducere, cum dei adiutorio manifestatum est omnibus catholicis nec indiget causa meo labore, quam deus pro sua 8 misericordia produxit ad lucem. ego, quod a patribus didici, » quod semper ecclesia catholica seruauit, non tacui, non abscondi. unus est deus, de quo Moyses loquitur dicens: audi. Israel, dominus deus tuus deus unus est, et in alio loco ait: dominus solus ducebat eos. unius substantiae credimus trinitatem, quomodo praedixi, unam 26 deitatem, tres personas, quia nec plures deos dicimus credentes unum deum esse, id est patrem et filium et spiritum sanctum, nec tres personas negamus, ne Sabellii dogma uideamur sequi. 9 uerum est personam filii, id est uerbi^^dei, consubstantialem patri: ipsa caro facta est, ipsa in utero Maiiae habitauit, 30 23 Deuteron. 6, 4 24 ibid. 32, 12 Epiat. CCXXrill 5—11. 687 ipsa naturam humanam suscepit sine peccato, unde filius dei homo factus natus est de uirgine Maria. propter quod eam 9 dei genitricem dicimus et credimus, quia unitas diuinitatis et humanitatis, quae fieri coepta est ex quo Mariae angelus Gabrihel annuntiauit dicens: aue Maria gratia plena, spiritus sanctus superueniet in te uel cetera, non tantum in utero non est diuisa sed nec in partu nec in nutrimentis nec in passione nec in sepulchro nec in resurrecti- one nec in caelo separata est, quia unus est filius dei dominus noster lesus Christus, non in personis diuisus, non in naturis separatus neque in potentia diuersus. idem est namque etlO sustinens passionem, quia omnes haereses aut diuidens quomodo Nestorius aut negans quomodo Eutyches aut minus incarnationem credens quomodo Apollinarius aut fantasiam introducens quomodo Manes a fide catholica sunt incisae: homines operarii iniquitatis et hostes doctrinae apostolorum. ista didici, ista audiui a maioribus nostris et, si forte citra ista quid debeamus sequi ignoro, exponente beatitudine uestra necesse est me sequi. Maxentius tamen quod sub abbatis 11 uocabulo dixit se congregationem habere, si interrogetur aut cum quibus monachis uixit aut in quo monasterio aut sub quo abbate monachus factus est, dicere non potest. similiter et si de Achille dicere uoluero, rem facio superuacuam; cui hoc sufBcit: semper latere propter conscientiam suam ab omnibus catholicis damnatam. Data Id. Octobr. Eutharico cons. Accepta XV. Kal. Decembr. cons. ss. 5 Luc. 1, 28 6 Luc. 1, 35 h 1 u& (= unde) V: unus a, ipse Car. 5 gabriel V 12 lies ( = hereses) V: homines o 13 eutiches F 14 Apollinaris o fantasia F, eorr. Car. 15 afide o^: afides afide V ThieUustotum locum 11 sqq. sic puiai interpolandum: idem est namque <et creans mundum> et sustinens passionem. ideo omnes hominem aut diuidentes . . negantes . . creden- tes . . introducentes . . sunt excisi, omnes operarii etc. 17 moioribus nis V citra V: extra a 18 quod V, corr. o 19 quod V: qui o' 24 hoc V: hoe a, unde homini o' 25 idus octb. V XXXV pars S. 44 688 Suggestio Germani etc. ad Hormisdam