Letter 125: Part of the papal correspondence surrounding the Acacian Schism (484-519), the major breach between Rome and...

[Editorial heading: A.D. 516. Copy of the report of John, bishop of Nicopolis, sent through the deacon Rufinus to Hormisdas. He announces his own ordination to Hormisdas, professes the catholic faith, and desires to be admonished as to what must be avoided and what must be observed.] To my lord, in all things most holy and most blessed, the father of fathers, fellow-minister and prince of bishops, Hormisdas, John sends greeting in the Lord. 1. My concern has always been to seek nothing further than to pursue my own and familiar manner of life, and to consign it to the anxiety of solicitude. But because the judgments of God are a great deep, as I know your blessedness also teaches, our father and archbishop Alcyson, the prince of bishops, having once been summoned by Christ to the dwellings on high in that manner by which he himself knows who is the lord of all things possible, the holy synod of good acts and the clergy of the shepherds transferred upon me the lot. But I, referring all things to God, who makes free the tongues of those who stammer, fittingly hasten to your prayers, that according to the custom of your apostolic see you may deign to have care of all the churches and of the Nicopolitans according to your ancient spiritual disposition. For when I ask that a response be given me for the opening of my mouth, as the blessed apostle taught and the Lord himself also commanded [Eph. 6:19], seek together with me the giver of these things, and seek together with him who seeks, and with your spiritual hand receive him who knocks. For when you do this, I shall be able, most holy one, both to receive and to find, and, with Christ opening the way, to walk rightly through the word of truth. 2. But since certain persons, dissembling that they believe with us and follow the holy synods which were gathered at Nicaea, at Constantinople, and at Ephesus, in which the bishops of most holy memory Coelestinus of your apostolic see and Cyril of Alexandria stood as leaders; and moreover that synod also which was gathered at Chalcedon against the impious Eutyches, which confirmed all the aforesaid truths in itself by an equal principle of orthodoxy: yet they dare to assail us, as though we without reason were shunning the bond of concord. But my vow is to follow your doctrine, as among the saints my predecessor Alcyson had done [supply: had been appointed]; and I anathematize Dioscorus, Timothy surnamed Aelurus, and Peter their successor; and Acacius, mingled by Peter's communion together with these; and Peter who disturbed the church of Antioch, following in all things the synodical and properly apostolic letters written by the true prelate of the Roman church, Leo. 3. But I ask that you admonish me more fully and more perfectly as to what things ought to be observed, and that you make known by your guardian letters from which things I ought to abstain: so that, if perchance, still untrained, I am assigned to the order of readings, and have either said or done anything incongruous with your apostolic teachings, having been instructed by your discourses I may be able to withstand the engines of the heretics. For doing this, most holy ones, you will find the bishops of our holy synod more steadfast, and you will confirm the clergy and people of good acts, rendering the holy church of the Nicopolitans, as it were, familiar to yourselves. And receive in peace, as befits you, when you are asked, the venerable deacon Rufinus, sent for so necessary a cause; and granting him confidence, deign to provide his swift return to us, bearing your spiritual and apostolic ordinances. In all things, most holy one, I and those who are with me most heartily salute in the Lord all the brotherhood in Christ of your blessedness.

sive (a. 516 c. Exemplum relationis Johannis episcopi Nicopolitani per Bufiniim ^ '^ diaconum ejusdem ad Hormisdam. Ordtnationem suam Hormisdae nuntiaiy catholicam fidem profitetur, el quae mtanda p. quaeve servanda moneri cupit. Uomino meo cuncta sanctissimo ac beatissimo patri patrum, comministro') ac principi epi- scoporum Hormisdae Johannes in Domino salutem. 1. Cura mihi exstitit semper, nihil amplius quaerere, nisi ageie propriam et familiarem conversationem ^) soUicitudinis anxietati ^^™* mandare. Sed quia Dei judicia ahyssus mulia esi, sicut et vestram coguosco docere beatitudinem, patre nostro quondam atque archi- episcopo Alcysone episcoponmi ^) principe a Christo ad supemas Vitalem diaconum ei Hilarum noiarium. Scd aliunde ea huc adacita esae palim est, quum in frontc praeuotati siut, per quos haec epistola perlata irierit, ac praeviam illam notam tres epistolae superiores conJBrment, certumque ait, ^i- stolam hanc non Ennodio ac sociis istic nominatis in urbem regiam contenden- tibus, sed illis jam pridem inde reversis, conscriptam esse. Quum reveraCou- stantius notam illam in suo Vaticauo initio epistolae 8, quae in Avellano codice excipit hanc nostram, adscriptam esse memoret, eadem antem ibideni in 6* desit, perperam inde a librario ad finem praecedentis nostrae epistolae trai»- lata esse apparet. 15 1) Nihil prope ainbigimus, quin graece interpres legerit, tfvXZ<irov^y« x«l a^jj^ftCTrtffxdna) *OQfiMa^ atque hic ea ratione Hormisdam» qoa inferim Alcj^o- nem, episcoporum principem appellet, adeo ut hac appellatione nihil quidqQam, quod uni Romano poutifici singuhirc sit, volucrit designare. ') Locum hunc Baronius ita resarcit: conversationem vaeuam soUieiiMdmis et anxieiatis mundanae: quamvis satis ad mentem Johannis, qui privatam Titam et a sacculi curis alienam delegisse sc significat, tameu quia BaroninB ex ed. Rom. totam epistolam a se exscriptam testatur, satius visum est mendonm higus editionis lectionem ad 6' fidem expressam retinere, qoam nc matare. Fortasse legendum agere propria ei ... anxieiaie mundare (i. e. iiherart Td wmm- dam tenere). EP18T0LAE 14. 16. 771 mansiones evocatO; ea raidone^ qua ipse cognoscit^ qui est possibi- (a. 516.) lium dominuS; in^) me sancta synodus bonorum actuum ac clerus pastorum transtulit sortem. Ego autem cuncta referens Deo,. qui balbutientium linguas liberas facit, decenter ad vestras orationes concurro, ut juxta consuetudinem apostolicae sedis vestrae*) cuncta- nim ecclesiarum curam et Nicopolitanorum habere dignemini secun- dum antiquam spiritualem dispositionem' vestram. Petenti etenim mihi dari responsum^) ad apertionem oris, sicut docuit beatus apo-Eph.6,i9. stolus atque ipse etiam Dominus praecepit, mecum petite horum datorem, et cum quaerente pariter quaerite, et pulsantem spirituali manu vestra suscipite. Hoc enim vobis facientibus, potero, sanctis- sime , et accipere et invenire et aperiente Christo recte per verbum veritatis incedere. 2. Quoniam vero quidam dissimulantes nobiscum credere atque sectari sanctas synodos, quae Nicaeae, Constantinopoli atque Ephesi congregatae sunt, in quibus^) principes exstiterunt sanctissimae me- moriae episcopi Coelestinus apostolioae sedis vestrae et Cyrillus Alexandrinae ; insuper etiam quae Calchedone adversus Eutychetem impium congregrata est, quae omnes praedictas veritates aeque^) orthodoxiae in se ratione firmavit: tamen audent nos impugnare tamquam vinculum concordiae sine ratione vitantes. Votum autem mihi est, vestram sequi doctrinam, sicut inter sanctos'^) praedecessor meus Alcyson exstiterat; et anathematizo Dioscorum, Timotheum appellatione Aelurum et Petrum horum successorem; et Petri com- munione cum his permixtum Acacium, et Petrum qui Antiochenam perturbavit ecclesiam, sequens in omnibus synodicas ac^^) proprie apostolicas epistolas scriptas a vero praesule Romanae ecclesiae I/eone. archiepiscopo. Ad hunc Alcysonem apud Evagrimn lib. 3 c. 31 exstat Palaesti- nonim monachomm cpistola. Is secimdum Marcellini chronicon anno 516 supre- mum diem Constantinopoli obiit, et quidem quum eo, Nicephoro CaUisti XVI, 38 teste, una cum aliis orthodoxis lllyrici episcopis evocatus ab imperatore fuisset. •) In graeco apostoli textu (Eph. 6, 19) legitur XoYog et in vulgata sermo. Ab utroque vero propius recedit responsum (ut in G*) , quam quod Baronius sub- stitait spiriium, ^ b cc ad marg. qua, optime; siquidem quod sequitur, ad unam attinet sy- nodum Ephesinaro, cui CyriUus ut apostolicao sedis legatus et Coelestinus tum • per ipaum Cyrillum tum per alios legatos praefuerunt. «) Ita mutavimus, quod in G* aique. b cc proraus omiserunt. ') Supple factus, quod etiam in epistola sequenti exprimitur. Mox pro ex- siiterat magis placeret secutus erat. '**) b cc ac aposiolicas, suppresso proprie: quo verbo Leonis epistolae aposto- lomin succcssoro dignae indicantur. 49* (a. 516.) 3. Rogo autem, plenius atque perfectdus, quae servari oportet, coinmonete, et quibus abstinere debeam, vestris custodibos Ktleris intimate: ut si fortassis adhuc inexercitatus ordini deputor lectio- num, seu dixi sive egi apostolicis doctrinis vestris incongruom, Te- stris imbutus sermonibus possim haereticorum obsistere machinis. lioc enim facientes^ sanctissimi, firmiores nostrae sanctae synodi invenietis episcopos, et boiiorum actuum clerum ac populum confir- mabitis, tamquam familiarem vobis reddentes sanctam Nicopolitano- rum ecclesiam. Venerabilem vero diaconum Rufinum ad tam neces- sariam causam directum pacifice, sicut vos decet, rogati suscipite; et fiduciam tribuentes, celerem ejus recursum ad nos praestare digne- mini, portantem spiritualia atque apostolica constituta. Cuncta^') sanctissime, omnem in Christo fratemitatem vestrae beatitudinis ego et qui mecum sunt plurimimi salutamus in Domino.