Letter 128: Part of the papal correspondence surrounding the Acacian Schism (484-519), the major breach between Rome and...

Hormisdas, to the synod of Old Epirus. By the hand of Rufinus the deacon. 1. Blessed be God, who joins together the members of his Church! Blessed be God, who makes those who were divided at the instigation of the evil one to be united again in the same solidity in which they once stood! For although the enemy long clamored after the manner of a partridge, and gathered together those whom he did not beget, as the prophet declared, nevertheless he will without doubt be left desolate by these. For the Lord's sheep do not follow a stranger, nor do they hearken to the voice of another shepherd. Hence we do not marvel that you have returned to the way of salvation, since we would rather find fault with the slowness shown in this reconciliation. 2. We ought, dearest brothers, to make use of examples from our own household for this stability which we seek. For at that time Timothy of the Chersonese -- grave while he was a learner, graver while he taught (for he was a follower of Dioscorus, and likewise no less an instructor of Peter) -- displayed the savagery of his recklessness against Proterius of blessed memory, and exceeded the limit of all cruelty, working the slaughter of a religious man amid the very altars, with that pious blood scarcely yet suspended from his jaws. Then the universal Church, roused to hatred of the parricide, despoiled the author of so great a crime not only of communion, but stripped him also of the very [Christian name as well; and so it deprived him of the Christian appellation of all things]. To such a degree did the minds of all Christians stand astonished with a certain new amazement at the audacity of so great a presumption. Then the blessed Eugenius, holding the primacy of your province, together with the holy synod subject to him, showed forth a certain zealous man who, like Phinehas, commended himself to God. The memory of which deed not only can time not conceal, but it even multiplies from day to day in great renown among the orthodox. To neglect efforts so approved, and not to love such judgments, is to fail in the very confession of our Lord himself. 3. And for us indeed now, after the profession and the letters of you [who join all the dogmas of the faith to God, like to one another], it must be prayed that your confession may remain in that will by which it relieved our minds. But there is need, without any respect of fear, to pursue the madness of those who strive against the faith. For the more the error of the unfaithful seethes, so much the more does our security commend itself, if it resists. For these things are not to be neglected through patience, since the evil [...] animated by this vice of depraved custom has grown strong among many under a certain pretext of law, while either depraved efforts converge into one, or right things withdraw themselves. For -- that I may speak of the matter which is at hand -- Eutyches, as the inventor of an abominable heresy, is excluded even by those by whom his dogmas are loved; among those very men he is so hateful and to be shunned that they detest even the mention of his name. But [perverse] ministers of religious institutions embrace by another road, as though a true orthodox, the very man whom they confess to be a true heretic. For inasmuch as in the holy synod of Chalcedon Dioscorus, thinking the same things, was condemned by like reasoning -- and since one and the same sentence cuts off both -- if anyone should follow or love one of these, let someone say how he exempts himself from the sentence which condemned the men designated, when an equal liability of transgression or impiety binds those whom without doubt one and the same bond of condemnation also constrains. [Footnote: Timothy and Peter, the followers of these men, men corrupt in mind and certain detestable ones of name to Catholics, whose communion having embraced afterward, Acacius likewise deserved to undergo sentence. Esteeming so great an evil as if it were small, and never turning his purpose to better things, he did not abstain even from those things which are taken up at Antioch; there too, joined in communion with the transgressor Peter, he was nonetheless borne in hostile fashion against the church of Apamea, ordering even that one not with the integrity which was fitting.] 4. On account of which things, most beloved brothers, freed from entanglement with them, as though leaving behind a certain pestilential region, let us keep the apostolic discipline. Providing for our own safety with all diligence and solicitude, let us with that care decline the errors of the abominable Nestorius, even as we pursue the impious inventions of Eutyches. For especially now the dogmas of religion and faith are beset by the snares of these men who have been mentioned, by various assault, who fit their criminal arguments to the occasion of the time, if by any means they might bring upon the ways of the innocent the deceit of their impiety. And therefore, like skilled money-changers prudently trained, separating the praiseworthy from things to be condemned, you will be able to multiply the substance of the talent entrusted to you. 5. These things, most beloved brothers, we have written with an impulse of full charity, because we have presumed upon the hope of your faith, first from the gift of God, and then from the profession of our brother John, who presides over you, by which he declared that all those whom the apostolic and general Church of Catholics condemns are, by name, execrable to him. Which it behooved you also to express clearly in your letters, and not to think it sufficient -- especially amid such great snares of crafty men, whom it is fitting to pursue and condemn man by man, one by one -- to enclose them under a certain general condemnation. Old wounds seek a diligent physician, nor is whatever is applied for the integrity of the faith and the stability of religion believed to be excessive. Hence we have sent a document together with the letters, into which you are to insert your own subscriptions, so that your faith, which the writings directed through Rufinus the deacon attest, may be more manifest with us by the addition of this repetition as well. Given on the thirteenth day before the Kalends of November [October 20], Peter being consul.

Hormisdae papae ad synodnm Eplri yctcris. a. 5i6d. 19 Nov. >4. Episcopis Epiri veteris de eorum ad Ecclesiae unitatem reditu gratulalury osten- diique generalem haereticorum damnationem pro temporis ratione non sufficere, nisi etiam nominatim damnentur. Horniisda synodo Epiri veteris. Por^) Enfinnm diaconnm. 1. Benedictud Deus Ecclesiae suae membra consocians! Bene- dictus Deus, qui maligno instigante divisos sub eadem, qua olim fueiunt, facit soliditate conjunctos! Etsi enim diu perdicis modo vociferavit inimicus, et eos, quos non genuit, sicut asseruit pro- •|.®J'®?^- pheta, collegit, tamen ab^) his sine ambiguitate desolabitur. Neque enim oves dominicae sequuntur alienum, aut alterius vocem pastoris exaudiunt. Unde nec vos ad salutis iter rediisse miramur, quum tarditatem magis in hac redintegratione culpemus. 2. Debemus, carissimi fratres, domesticis uti^) ad hanc, quam quaerimus, stabilitatem documentis. Siquidem tunc Timotheus Cher- sonensis, gravis quum disceret^), gravior quum doceret, (nam Dio- scori sectator, et idem Petri nihilominus institutor,) adversus beatae recordationis Proterium saevitiam^) suae temeritatis exseruit, et totius finem crudelitatis excessit, religiosi viri caedem inter ipsa ope- ratus altaria, vix faucibus suis ab illo pio cruore suspensis. Txmc excitata®) universalis Ecclesia in odium parricidae, auctorem') faci- noris tanti non solum communione *, verum etiam ipsae^) quoque *8«ppl- spoliavit 18 *) Verba Per Rufinum diaconum ex generali epiBtolarum indicc, qui in G' ipsis epistolis praemittitur, revocamus. Hincconfirmatur conjcctura nostra, qua Buperiorem epistolam 17 non XFJI sed XI JI Cal. consignandam observavimus. «) Ita G». Editi ahyssina. ') G* a* ut hac quam quaerimus stabilitate, Bcopam Buum interfecit, pravior quum doceret, hoc est, quum episcopus factus Petri, qui ipsi successit, institutor ac magister evasit. Ab Hormisda autem Ti- motkeus ideo Chersonensis nuncupatus videtur, quia in epistola 8 Acacii ad Simplicium n. 2 legerit, Timotheum de Chersone (seu Cersone) spirantem proceiias vitae himianae subtractum. Verum ibi Timotheus non de Chersone ortus, sed de Chersone, ubi exsul degebat, spirans procellas memoratur. Prot^rius necatus et post mortem tractatus a Timotheo fuerit, jam saepius audivimuB. •) Videlicet Leonis Augusti litteris per universas provincias destinatis. ') b ductorem. Bupplcndum. suadet ipsa quoque Christiana appellations privavit. Adeo omnium per) a. 516. Christianae oinnium mentes nova quadam admiratione stupuenmt tantae praesumptiouis audaciam. Tunc beatus Eugenius paroeciae vestrae obtinens principatum; cum subjecta sibi sancta synodo zeluna quemdam, quali Phinees^) se Deo commendavit, ostendit. Cujii* rei raeraoriara non solum non potest tempus abscondere, yerum etiam de die in diem magna apud orthodoxos fama multiplicat. II o- rum studia sic probata negligere et sententias non amare^ id est, i^ ipsa Domini nostri confessione delinquere. 3. £t nobis quidem nunc post professioneni ac litteras yestr9>^7 (auppl. * oinnia fidei dogmata Deo suos conjmigente similia^ orandum e&^> ut in ea voluntas vestra, qua nostros animos relevavit, confessio^^® permaneat. Sed opus est citra respectum timoris insectari eonB.^vi3 rabiem; qui fidei adversa nituntur. Quanto enim infidelium err^^i exaestuat^ tanto magis se^ si resistat, securitas nostra commend&^t Neque enim haec sunt per patientiam negligenda, quando malf ti ^oc vitio pravae consuetudinis animatum apud plures sub quodakXi colore legis inolevit^ dum aut prava studia in unum cougruunt recta se subtrahuHt. Nam ut eam^ quae imminet; rem loquam Eutyches ut nefandae haeresis inventor excluditur etiam ab his^ quibus ejus dogmata diliguntur *"), apud eos ipsos ita exosus atq fugienduS; ut nominis quoque ipsius oderint mentionem. Sed versi religiosarum institutionimi ministri, quem sicut verum stantur haereticum; hunc alia via tamquam verum amplexan.'fc'«j orthodoxum. Siquidem in sancta Calchedonensi synodo Dioscorm: eadem sentiens pari ratione damnatus est: et quum una persecis.^t; sit utnmique sententia^ horum alterum si quis sequatur aut diligs^t dicat aliquis^ quemadmodum se * ^) a scntentia^ quae designatos damrm a- vit^ excipiat; quuni eos^ quos transgressionis aut impietatis connee^'^ aequalitas^ sine dubio unum quoque vinculum damnationis adstriugaKi mentes ctc.; b cc ipso quoque Cfiristiano nomine spoliavit, et omnium, Ut em. loquitur Liberatiis c. 15, universi cpiscopi Leoms Augusti litteris rogati bunt, Timotheum non solum inter episcopos non haberi, sed etiam Ckristimia afif^- latione privari, Ipsius nempe damnationem, inquit eodem alludeDS Sjnanif^ epist. 10 n. 2, universalis est Ecclesiae vox locuta, dwn eum notidne quoque honoris exueret. Eugenius cimi sua synodo zclimi Buimi commendavit, inter litteras iUM* V^ encycliae nuncupantur, habentur concil. Calchedon. p. 10 cap. 38 (HaitLII» 7^)- ^o) 6* deliguntur. Hic notantur AcephaU, aic dicti, quia Eutydien, hMfXf^ quam sectabantur caput, aversabantur. i ^theus et Petrus horum sequaces homines meute corrupti eta. 516. !s quaedam nominLs detestanda catholici ; quorum communionem etro amplexus AcaciuS; similiter quoque meruit subire sententiam. tantum malum quasi parvi aestimans et propositum nunquam ^eliora conrertens^ ne ab illis quidem se quae in Antiochia de- umur abstinuit; ibi quoque trangressori Petro communione ^^) lexuS; in Apamenam nihilominus hostiliter versatus ecclesiam^ £un quoque non ea qua decuit integritate disponens. 4. Propter quae^ dilectissimi fratres, ab eorum innodatione sol- €8, velut regionem^^ quamdam pestiferam relinquenteS; serve- apostolicam disciplinam. S^uti nostrae omni diligentia et sol- udine providentes, ea cura nefandi Nestorii declinemus errores, Eutychetis impia inventa persequimur. Maxime enim nunc reli- B fidei dogmata diverso incursu honmi; qui praedicti sunt^ in- antur insidiis^ scelestis pro ratione temporis sua argumenta ^entibuS; si quo possint innocentium viis fraudem suae impietatis rere. Atque ideo sicut docti numularii et prudenter instructi^ improbandis laudanda seperantes^ talenti vobis crediti poteritis tiplicare substantiam. 5. HaeC; dilectissimi fratres^ seripsimus plenae caritatis im- ;u, quia et spem fidei vestrae primum de Dei dono deinde et ris nostri JohanniS; qui vobis praesidet, professione praesumpsi- \y qua nominatim omnes^ quos apostolica ac generalis catholico- i condemnat Ecclesia, exsecrabiles sibi esse declaravit. Quod vos que in litteris vestris oportuit evidenter exprimere, nec arbitrari }e sufficere sub tantis praesertim iiisidiis callidorum, quos viritim lingulos insectari convenit atque damnare^ sub quadam eos gene- damnatione concludere. Diligentem quaerunt vubiera antiqua licinam, nec abundans esse creditur, quidquid pro integritate i et stabilitate religionis adhibetur. Unde libellum cum litteris imus, cui vos subscriptiones proprias inserite^^), ut fides vestra, m directa per Rufinum diaconum scripta testantur, apud nos hujus quoque repetitionis adjectione manifestior. Data XIII Cal. embres Petro consule. *•) Ita b cc; G* a* commune. Quamvis Acacius Petri Fullonis communionem •e aftectaverit , cum eo tamen, cum quo Petrus Mougus communicabat, so- kte conjimctus ceuaebatur , ex quo Petri higus Mongi communionem suBcepit. iie etiam Acacius propric ac per se, sed idem Petrus FuUo in Apamemun »diam hostiliter se gessit, quum invitis Apamenis Johannem ordinavit. im hunc Johannem ab his rcjectum quum Acacius ipse postea Tjriis prao- , ut in Gelasii tract. I n. 12 narratur, merito arguitur, ut qui Tyriam eccle- non debita integritate disposuerit. ") b cc religionem ... quos vos quoque ... sufficere sibi taniis, •<) G* a* insererey fortasse supplendum oporteU