Letter 144: Part of the papal correspondence surrounding the Acacian Schism (484-519), the major breach between Rome and...

Hormisda the pope, to John of Nicopolis and his synod. The year 517, the 12th day of April. He consoles them concerning the distresses they have suffered (sec. 1); he announces that he has sent an embassy to the emperor and to the bishop of Thessalonica on their behalf, for their relief (sec. 2); they themselves are not to direct any letters to the bishop of Thessalonica (sec. 3). Hormisda to John, bishop of Nicopolis, together with his synod. 1. We could wish, most beloved brethren, that you, set apart from all the surging waves of troubles, might pass your life under the serenity of tranquillity, and that your minds, with the disturbance of worldly tempests removed, might be devoted to our God: for the things we are unwilling to have happen, it is necessary that we grieve over once they are done. But the world abounds in hardships and temptations: this present age, in which we journey as pilgrims, is exposed on every side, like a great mass, to the gales of the winds. Thus the minds of the faithful are battered by diabolical snares, and, as it has been said, those who wish to live devoutly in Christ suffer persecutions. But the hope promised by the just rewarder consoles us: for blessed is he who shall not have been scandalized in the Lord. Let the soldiers of God not be cast down by assaults that are frail and fleeting. He who stands by the valiant takes no delight in the slothful. These things which pass away are easily despised, if those things which are to endure are kept in mind. The occasion of testing is to be embraced: for although the burdens of labors are hard, yet the rewards of virtues are greater. In what way will he be equal to the recompense, who shows himself unequal to the trial? Let us not be sluggish toward brave deeds, if we desire to arrive at the things promised. Who, over this matter, would await the voice of man, when daily the sentence of truth sounds in our ears: Blessed are they who suffer sufferings for the sake of justice! 2. But do not, dearest brethren, believe yourselves to be consoled by spiritual confirmation alone, however great that may be among the faithful: I have not rested from providing remedies, as far as it could lie within a man's power, for your tribulation in your devout state. For through legates appointed to the prince of the East and to the bishop of Thessalonica, I admonished that the harassment against you should cease, and, having drawn up documents, I gave instruction that supplication be made to the emperor. 3. These are the things that have been provided for as regards present matters; but those things which pertain to future hope, these rather are to be looked upon by your minds. Indeed I confess that I was amazed at this: that amid the allegations of your distresses such a concern could creep into your religious prudence, that license should be sought from me, under the color of consultation, for directing valid letters to the bishop of Thessalonica. Should I make myself the author of this thing, which, if I came to know it had been done without my knowledge, I would blame? Far be such perversity! Hear the apostolic voice, but one to be fitted suitably to my person: If I build again the things which I have destroyed, I constitute myself a transgressor. Do not, I beseech you, return scarcely-avoided contagions, nor suffer your feet, torn from the mire in which they were held, to be plunged back in for ill. Let what is past be left obliterated. No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. They are hindered from proceeding on the journey they have purposed, who with backward-turned eyes look upon what they are leaving behind. The strict discipline of the Church does not love those in whom any memory of treachery remains: men must be wholly cut off from those who go astray, since those who return to the things they have spurned are deemed detestable to such a degree, that [...] the apostle Peter has preached it to be better for them not to have known the way of justice, than, having known it, to be turned backward from the holy commandment delivered to them. It is plain with what pertinacity the constancy of the delivered faith must be guarded, if it is more tolerable to persist in error, than [...] again to be entangled in the defilements which one had fled. Given on the Ides of April, in the consulship of Agapitus, most illustrious man, by the hand of Pullio [...].

Hormisdae papae ad Johanuem Nieopolitanum et synodum ejus. a. 5i7 d. 12 April. De angusiiis, quas perpessi, consolatur {n. 1), se legationem ad principem et episcopum Thessalonicensem pro iliorum sublevatione misisse nuntiat (w. 2); ipsi ail Thessalonicensem litteras ne dirigant {n. 3). Hormisda Johanni episcopo Nicopolitano cum syiiodo. 1. Optaremus, dilectissimi fratres, ab omnibus vos molestiarum fluctibus alienos vitam sub tranquillitatis serenitate transigere, et Deo nostro remota mundanarum tempestatum mentes *) perturbatione restras devotas esse: quia quae fieri nolumus, necesse est, ut facta Joleamus. Sed abundat mundus incommodis et tentationibus : sae- 3ulum istud, in quo peregrinamur, expositum est passim^) veluti nagna moles ventorum procellis. Ita fidelium mentes diabolicis ') G* sec. manu passionibus. Deinde ed. par erit ei remuneratiQ. a. 517. pulsantur insidiis, et, sicut dictum est, qui volunt pie vivere in Chri' ^'^i^' ^^^> persecutiones patiuntur. Sed consolatur spes a justo retribatee Matth. promissa : quia beatus estj qui non fuerit scandalizatus in Domm, '^>^- Non dejiciant milites Dei impetus fragiles et caduci. Qui assistit strenuiS; non delectatur ignayis. Facile contemnuntur ista qnae transeunt, si illa quae sunt mansura cogitentur. Amplectenda est probationis occasio: quia licet sint dura onera laborum, praemiA tamen majora virtutum. Quemadmodum par erit remunerationi, qui se imparem monstrat examini ? Non simus segnes ad fortia, si per- venire cupimus ad promissa. Quis super hoc exspectet vocem homi- . ^^' nis, quum quotidie nobis insonet sententia veritatis: Beatiy qm pas- siones patiuntur propter justitiam! 2. Sed ne me, fratres carissimi; licet apud fideles magna sit'), spirituali tantum vos* credatis confirmatioue solari : a providendis pio vestra tribulatione remediis, quantum in homine esse potuit, noD quievi. Nam per legatos ad Orientis principem destinatos et Thes- salonicensem episcopum, ut ab infestatioue vestra cessaret, admonni, et prorogatis paginis; ut imperatori supplicaretur, injunxi. 3. Haec quantum ad praesentia sunt provisa; sed illa, qoaeid spem futuram pertinent^ haec sunt potius mentibus intuenda. Sane hoc me fateor fuisse miratum; quod inter allegationes angustianim religiosae prudeutiae vestrae haec potuit cura subrepere, ut a me sub consultationis ^) colore dirigendi ad Thessalonicensem episcopQm solidas litteras licentia posceretur. Egone hujus rei auctor exsiste- rem, quam si inscio me cognoscerem factam esse, culparem? Abat ista perversitas ! Audite apostolicam vocem, sed personae meae con- Gal.2,t8. venienter aptandam: Si quae destruxiy haec iterum reaedifico, pro^ varicatorem me constituo, Nolite, obsecro, ad evitata vix redire con- tagia, nec pedes luto, quo tenebantur, avulsos patiamini male wT" Luc.9,62. sus immergi. Sinite obliterata esse transacta. Nemo mittens mainm suam in aratrum et adspiciens retro aptus cst regno Dei. Impediontiff a processu propositi itineris , qui reflexis oculis respiciunt quod le- linquunt. Non amant Ecclesiae ^) strictae disciplinae eos, in quilwtf remanet memoria uUa perfidiae: totos ab errantibus oportet abscind^ quia iu tantum detestabiles existimantur ad spreta redeuntes, ^ HormiBdae de Johanue ac synodo ejus epist. 33 sic loqaentds: comsHienUt i^ nos, utrum daremus eis licentiam rclationem ad designatum episcopum secunim ^ suetudinem destinandi. £t vero hoc mendum antiquariis valde esi fjBuniliara, 91^ etiam ahas, quoties consultationis vocabulum orationis evidentia postalat, e tc^ ribus libris aliquem vix reperire sit, in quo consolationis voz nou ejns loeoit* hibeatur. '') Ita G*. £d. ecclesiasticae disciplinae ... memoria illa ... iii tradita. EPISTOLAE 35. 36. 811 apostolus Petrus melius illis esse praedicaverit, ut non cogno- a. 517. i viam justitiae, quam cognoseentes retrorsum reflecti a tradito ^ li^ ncto mandato. In aperto est, qua pertinacia traditae fidei constantia custodiri, si tolerabilius est in errore persistere, coinquinationibus rursum, quas quis fugerit, implicari. Data [dus Aprilis, Agapito viro clarissimo consule, per^) Pullionem )onum.