Letter 16: Hormisdas to John, bishop of Nicopolis.

Hormisdas to John, bishop of Nicopolis. Through Pullio the subdeacon. The contents of the letter which you sent, and the declaration of your faith in accordance with the judgments of the Apostolic See, have lifted our spirits. Yet, stirred by so many joys, we were not content unless, through Pullio the subdeacon of the Roman Church, we might desire to learn what was being done among you more fully, especially because in the report of the bishops living under the ordination of your charity not all the matters which pertain to ecclesiastical decrees are read out as plainly expressed as they are in your own. Therefore, both out of our solicitude and for the sake of their full union with us, we have sent a document, to which it is fitting that they ought to subscribe, since all the priests of your regions who have returned to the communion of the Apostolic See have subscribed to the same profession. This charity, this zeal for the common salvation has roused us: which I believe that your fraternity also gladly accepts, since, where the matter concerns the salvation of souls, you ought to lend the effort of your zeal and of your intention, so that by going before [them] you may receive the fruit of such praise. Send the aforesaid Pullio back to us with all speed, with the help of God, together with the replies of your charity, so that our desires, long held in suspense, may not remain so. Given on the thirteenth day before the Kalends of December, in the consulship of Petrus [19 November 516].

HORWSDA lOHANNI EPISCOPO NICOPOLITANO. PER PULLIONEH suBDiACONUJi. Litterarum, quas direxisti, series et expositio tuae fidei conueniens sedis apostolicae iudiciis nosti'os animos lo releuauit. tot incitati gaudiis contenti non fuimus, nisi per PuUionem subdiaconum ecclesiae Romanae, quid pleuius circa uos ageretur, cuperemus agnoscere, magnopere quia in rela- tione episcoporum sub ordinatione caritatis tuae degentium non uniuersa, quae ad ecclesiastica constituta peiiinent, sicut 15 2in uestra, leguntur euidenter expressa. unde et pro nostra soUicitudine et illorum integra nobiscum coniunctione libellum direximus, in quo eos oportet debere subscribere, quia et omnes sacerdotes uestrarum partium, qui ad sedis apostolicae commu<nio>nem reuersi sunt, in eadem professione subscrip- 20 3serunt. ista caritas, ista communis salutis excitauit ambitio: quod credo et frateraitatem uestrara gratanter accipere, quia ubi de animarum salute res geritur, studii tui uel intentionis debes operam commodare, ut antecedendo fructum de tali 4possi8 laude percipere. Pullionem praedictum cum rescriptis s5 caiitatis uestrae ad nos iuuante deo sub celeritate remittite, 8 oportet addidi ex coniectura editorum BuU. Taur. inserite Bar. 5 repiticionis V xvii scripsi (cf. Beitrcige p. 9): ira V 6 de- cembrias V 121. Bat. (simul cum indiculo ep. 122) a. 516 die 19 Nou. per Pullionem. Edd, Car. P 453; Bar. ad a. 516, 62; Collect. Concil,; BTA 1 385; Thiel 780. 8 ioanni V per Palionem {sic!) subdiaconum charactere minutiore V in marg. 11 fort. <sed> tot contempti F, corr. 14 ordinaeionis F, corr, 20 communem F, corr. p 22 quod V: fort, quae 25 posis V Epist. CXX 11 - CXXU 4. 533 quatenus desideria nostra diu suspensa esse non possint. Data XIII. Kal. Decemb. Petro cons.