Letter 114: Part of the papal correspondence surrounding the Acacian Schism (484-519), the major breach between Rome and...

[Letter] of Dorotheus, bishop of Thessalonica, to Pope Hormisdas. [Argument:] He offers congratulations, because a man who favors and loves peace has undertaken the governance of the apostolic see. He prays that he may be able to rejoice over the unity of the churches. He adds also that the churches detest Nestorius and Eutyches and their associates, and that he himself before all others is devoted to the veneration of the apostolic see. Finally he entreats him to write back to him for the peace of the churches. To the holy, most blessed father and fellow-minister Hormisdas, Dorotheus, bishop of Thessalonica, greeting in the Lord. 1. The most blessed Solomon says in a certain place, knowing all the wonders of the divine precepts: As cold water is sweet to a thirsting soul, so is good news from distant lands. And holy David, striking the spiritual lyre, sings in psalm: How beautiful are the feet of those who proclaim good things, thus indeed even teaching all of you. For what is so sweet to the soul of a man, or what so fattens the bones, as to learn by good news: that the nurturer of true peace and the defenders, never wavering, of right faith are crossing over toward [the unity of] the holy churches, and gathering, as if from some citadel, into the consent of God the things that were scattered, and immediately indeed hastening toward the primacy of your see; that the members of the Church, which Christ and our God entrusted to you, assenting to the supplications of the venerable father, scorning their former [...], are coming to unity, and abolishing by the [decisive] reckoning of your ordination alone the preceding division and discord; and that now within concord and serenity every boundary of the holy Church of God stands firm? 2. These things we have learned, not before many spaces of time; [...] I write and address the blessed head of your holiness, signifying that you [...] rejoice together with the blessed see of the most holy apostle Peter, that it is governed by such a hand, which has taken up the chief place [the prince], not one who would seize the honor but one who would be seized by it, and, as manifold report relates and we believe him so to be, [a man] both the nurturer of peace and the contender for right faith, and crowned, as it were with precious stones, both by the humanity of mind and by the charity which is toward all. And since I wish you, venerable father, to know all things, that, receiving from the ancient holy and venerable fathers the affection of that blessed see, and guarding this as a paternal inheritance, I desire and hasten to add this: that in this zeal there may come a useful end, by the humanity indeed of our Lord and God Jesus Christ, and by the intercessions in all matters of the most blessed apostle Peter and in all things of the most wise Paul: that to their venerable see and to your blessedness the honor justly owed may be guarded and rendered, so that in our times it may receive a fitting honor, as it were according to the primacy of the apostolic see, and that all discord may withdraw, and that the churches of all of us, by the catholic will, and also by [the will] of our Lord and God Jesus Christ, [may detest] both Nestorius and Eutyches, impious men, and those keeping their dogmas, and those who were or are followers of these men, and [the churches] forever anathematizing every heresy, and holding the right and uncontaminable faith unshaken as a sure and firm anchor, and being prepared for peace, with nothing, which God forbid, hindering: especially since your venerable head, as we have learned, shrinks from contentious men, for whom both life and food is the separation of the priests of God quarreling among themselves, so that, not being quickly recognized by all as wolves in sheep's clothing, they may be easily repelled from the apostolic Church. 3. These things I have now written to your blessed head through Patricius, the worshipful man, our common son; both surpassing reason by the affection of custom, and bound by charity toward that blessed see, and desiring every day to see the fitting and due veneration preserved for it. Write therefore, O blessed in all things, as to one of like mind who desires to offer even his soul for the orthodox faith and the peace of the holy churches, and that the things befitting blessed Peter may be guarded for the venerable see in all matters: which will easily come about, the unity of all being set in order, and all hastening to you as to a firm harbor. For divisions are wont to despise even what is contrary, and do not preserve the seemliness due to good order. All the brotherhood which is joined to your holiness, both I and those who are with me, greatly salute in the Lord. And in another hand: Pray that I may be saved in the Lord, most holy and most blessed fathers! The letter of Dorotheus, bishop of the church of Thessalonica, having been received, sent through Patricius, the eminent man, on the fifth day before the Kalends of April, Florentius, most illustrious man, being consul.

^' ^^ ^- Dorothei episcopi Thessalonicensis ad Hormisdam panmm. taO Ju.aru. (Jraiulatur, quod apostoHcam sedem regendam susceperit vir fauiar et ammtor p. pacis. De ecclesiarum unitate ut gaudere vaieat precatur, Addit^ et ') Ita G*. Ed. reverendissimis ep. quod. 2 ') Non igitur lata excommunicationis eententia, sed duritia sea ▼enos oon- EPISTOLAE 1--3. 743 ciesiat Nestorium et Eulychetem eontmque socioe detestari, et se imprimis apo- ^. 515. ^Hcw sedis venerationi addicium esse {n. 1 et 2). Tandem ut ad se pro pace ecclesiarum scribat obtestatur, Sacro, beatissimo et commiuistro patri Hormis- dae Dorotheus episcopus Thessaloniceusis iu Domiuo salutem. 1. Ait quodam loco cimcta beatissimus diviuorum praeceptorum neufl miracula Salomon : Sicut aqua frigida animae sitienti suavis J^^^^- sic henignum nuntium longinqtUs ex terris. Et sacer David spiri- * em pulsans lyram psallit: Quam speciosi pedes eorum, qui evange-^^^- nt bona, sic equidem et uos cunctos docens. Quid^) autem sic * ' animae hominis suave, aut quid ita impinguat ossa, quam spe- 0 nuntio cognoscere: verae pacis nutritorem et rectae nunquam ntes propugnatores fidei ad ecclesiarum sanctarum transire gu- lacula, et tamquam ex arce quadam ad conseusum Dei congre- ) dispersa, et continuo quidem in ^) principatum tuae sedis festi- tes; membra EcclesiaC; quae vobis Christus et Deus noster cre- b venerandi patris supplicationibus annuenS; coutemnentia prius ^rdiam, ad unitatem venire, et praecedentem divisionem atque liam vestrae tautum ordinationis perimere calculo^); et nunc in iordiam atque serenitatem^) constare omnem terminum sanctae 3 Ecclesiae? 2. Haec didicimus, non ante multa spatia temporis; spera- L« Symmachi ac decessorum iu caosa foit, cnr Auastasius a litteranim con- dine sese abBtineret. ) Ita G^; b c c Quidquid autem est ita animae h, s, aut ita ... pads nuntia- ) Ita 6*; b c c ad princ. t. s, festinantes v. fratris suppUcationibus annuentes mtbra Ecclesiae quae ... credidit, contemnentia. ^ G* a* claneulo; b c c calcido, Quae seqnitur ordinatio idem sonat quod sitio* ) Ita G^ a^; b cc societatem confluere (vel conflare), Mallem in concordia serenitate constare, ) b cc sperabamus ... cognoscentes ... audientesy contra ms. fidem. ') Ita G^; b cc mutarunt: tempus ... retinuisse consideratur et aptum et debi' 'tUt plenam. ) Neque hic cum Baronio praefcrendum putamus etiam scabra transire; enim sibi vult, eum, qui perfecta caritate agitur, nimiam et scrupulosam Sdis diligentiam, ubi interest, missam facere, adeoque licet Hormisda ut- novissime ordinatus, secundum receptum morem prior scribere teneretur, tamen consuetudini se scrupulosius servire uoluisse. ;i riiT). scrupulosa trausire: scribo atque alloquor beatiim vestrae sanctiiafe laput, si^miicuns oollaetari uos beatae secli sacratissimi Petri apo- stoli, quud tali regitur nianu, quae suscepit principem^), uon qm lionorem raperet sed qui raperetur ab eo, et, sicut sermo multiplex tradit et iios ita se habere credimus, nutritorem pacis et rectae lidei certatorcui, et humanitate") mentis et caritat^, quae circa c\m- ctos est, tamquam ]>retiosis hxpidibus corouatum. Et^uini euncta te voh), venerande pater, agnoscere, quod ex autiquis sanctis et veue- randis patribus suscipiens illius beatae sedis aiiectum^**), et hunc tanuiuam paternam sortem custodiens, addere hoc opto atque festino, ut veniat in lioc studio termiuus utilis humanitate quiclem Domiiii et Dei nostri Jesu Christi, intercessionibus autem in cuuctis beatis- simi apostoli Petri et in omnibus sai^ientissimi Pauli: ut veneran- dae eorum sedi et tuae l3eatitu(Hni juste debitus honos custodiatui ati{ue reddatur, ut nostris temporibus velut secundiun princii>a- tum sedis apostolicae honorem congruentem suscipiat, et omnis dis- cordia recedat, et ecclesiae^*) omniiun nostrum catholica voluntate, Domini etiam et Dei nostri Jesu Ohristi, et Nestoriimi et Eut)'che- tem impios et horum servantes dogmata, et qui istorum fuere secta- tores aut exstiint, et omnem haeresim anathematizantium semj)er, et rectam atque incontaminabilem fidem inconcussam tamquam an- chonun certam atque firmam tenentiiun, et paratorum^ ad pacern, nullo'*), quod absit, impediente: praesertim venerando capite vestro, sicut didicimus, homines contentiosos horrente, quibus et vita et (»sca est sacerdotum Dei iuter se altercimtium sepanitio, ut*"*) uou ab ouiJiibus velociter cogniti tamquam lupi in vestinientis oviuin tacile ab apostolica Ecclesia repellantur. '"') CJ' a' hiWKinilatcm m. e. caritatem ... coronantem^ b cc humHitatif. "\") a' a/fcctu; h cc a/fectnm ad hanc. *') Ferri aliqiiatenns sensiis posset, si infra legeretur a nuUo ... imjtetliamtur. aut ex antecedentibus resunienduin honnrem conyinientem suscipiant. Scilicot voces anathcmatizantium^ tenentium, paratoriun ad nostrum roferendae snnt. b CC luutjl- verunt: anathcmatizent ... teneant ... pm'ent Jam pacem. Nobis retiniiisae codicit auctoritutem satius visum est. — Ubi simul advertendum, cavero Dorotheum a (laninaudo Aeacii noniine. Immo dum testatur eccleBias praedictas detestAn eos, qui Nestorii aut Kutychetis placitis adhaereant vel adhaeserint, addendum fuerat: vcl tjui his cummunicauerint. In eo enini tota erat controversia quod A<"jieius Eutyehianae seetae fautoribus nominatimquc Petro Mongt) coizimuui- eaverut, eauique ob eausam merito fucrat excommunicatus, atquc hinc sunimi pontiliees inter veneranda mysteria reticendum illius nomeu volebaut, inde Orien- tales repujjnabunt. horrentes. ' / b ee (/ui non. Kedditur ratio, cur praedicti ament sacerdotum Dei dis- MiiiJiunes, ut .«jeilieet m illa eonfusione facihus lateant. EPISTOLAE 3. 4. 745 3. Ista nunc scripsi beato capiti vestro^*) per Patricium vinima. 515. spectabilem^ communem jQliiun; et consuetudinis affectu superans rationem, et circa illara beatam sedem caritate devinctus, et omni die videre desiderans congruentem atque debitam venerationem ei servari. Scribe igitur, in cunctis beate, tamquam unanimi et optanti aiiimam quoque offerre pro fide orthodoxa et ecelesiarum pace san- ctarum, et ut custodiantur venerandae sedi in omnibus beati Petri convenientia: quod facile fiet, ordinata unitate cunctorum, et omnium acl vos tamquam ad firmum festinantium portum. Divisiones etenim et*^) contra contemnere consueverunt, et ordini decentia non ser- vant. Onmem fraternitatem , quae est vestrae sanctitati conjimcta, et ego et qui mecum sunt, multum in Domino salutamus. Et alia mann : Salvari me in Domino orate, sanctissimi et beatissimi patres ! Aecepta epistola Dorothei episcopi Thessalonicensis ecclesiae missa per Patriciiun virum sublimem die^^') quinto Calendas Aprilis, FIo- rentio viro clarissimo consule.