Letter 202: Part of the papal correspondence surrounding the Acacian Schism (484-519), the major breach between Rome and...

On the fifteenth of October. Pope Hormisdas to Germanus and the other legates. [He touches briefly on what he has heard concerning the slaying of the legate John and the killing of his host. The bishop Dorotheus and the presbyter Aristides of Thessalonica are to be sent to Rome, and the legates themselves are to present a full report of all that has been done.] Hormisdas to the bishops Germanus and John, to the deacons Felix and Dioscorus, and to the presbyter Blandus. 1. While the joys of the prosperity of the Church were buoying us up, and we were daily gathering the well-nigh full fruit of your labor, a report hostile to everything, which had come to pass according to our prayers, suddenly threw us into confusion; and although the sequence of this rumor we still suspect to be uncertain, since you have not yet made any report to us, nevertheless, on account of the very magnitude of the matter, we have judged that it ought not to be passed over in silence. And so it has been brought to us that our brother and fellow-bishop John, while he was approaching Thessalonica only to receive the petitions which were being promised, was so shaken by an irrational sedition of the populace that, after the man who had first furnished him lodging on his arrival had been killed, he too was struck down by a not dissimilar slaughter and barely escaped, vindicated by reverence for the most sacred font [of baptism]; and the beginning of this sedition is said to have arisen from the presbyter Aristides under the pretext of a deceitful inquiry. But we, if these things are manifest, do not on that account complain of the populace. It will be within the power of the venerable prince [emperor] by what censure he commands the injury done to his own time and to a Catholic priest to be cut off. 2. But that which concerns us we desire, with vigilant care and by God's favor, to be fulfilled through you, because we wish no one either to be converted without a reason being rendered, or so to profess the right way of the faith that he should complain that something has been imposed upon him by the prince without the remedy of doctrine. This, therefore, carry out by the urging of your petition: that the bishop of Thessalonica, who under the cover of an inquiry strives, by dragging the business out at length, to break up the peace of the Church, since he was unwilling to receive [instruction] from you, should be directed by the prince to the City [Rome], so that he may receive doctrine from the Apostolic See, and whatever he thinks doubtful for himself, coming hither, may learn by a present examination from us; for thus he can prove that he is preserving the safeguard of the Catholic profession, not maliciously vindicating contests he has conceived. Let him know that we are prepared both to instruct those who inquire rightly and to call back those who err to the straight path of the faith with knowledge as our guide: because if, being in doubt, he is unwilling to test the doctrine ready at hand, nor again in simplicity of heart to admit those things which are commanded for the cause of peace and religion, it is in the open with what mind he either resists the precepts of our God or despises the examples of an orthodox prince. In this part, therefore, let the whole action of your petition press on, because neither can those men be saved by any other means, and the cause of the incited populace is better calmed under this governance. With him let the most clement prince also order the presbyter Aristides to come to us, because, as we have said before, we desire that all, whose ecclesiastical peace is divided by ambiguity, should, the sickness of evil error having been driven away, together feel the medicine of Catholic knowledge unto our communion. 3. Moreover, as soon as it shall have happened that you receive the present writings, you ought to dispatch to us one of your number with a report which contains all matters, whereby you ought to relieve our anxiety concerning the things which have been done or are being done. Add also the date to your letters, lest the slowness of the carrier be ascribed to you. Given on the fifteenth of October, in the consulship of the most renowned man Eutharic. [AD 519, given the fifteenth of October.]

KiOct. Hormisdae papsie ad Germanum aliosqne legatos. Quid de Johannis leqati caede ejiisque hospitis nece audieritt perstringit. Doro- theus episcopus et Aristides presbyter Thessalonicensis Homam miltantur, ipsi vero legati rerum omnium gesiarum plenam relationem exMbeani, Hormisda Germano et Johanni episcopis, Felici et Dioscoro diaconis, et Blando presbytero.*) 1. Quum uos ecclesiasticae prosperitatis gaudia sublevarent, et prope plenum laboris vestri fructum quotidie carperemus, repente nos inimica universi, quae votive'^) successerat, fama coufundit: cujus 90 ') Quum .Tustinianum illnstrem in cpistola superiori et aliis nuncuparc Hor- misda satis habeat, illud illustrissimo sola nota J expressum uniuB librarii inter- pretationi dcl)eri suspicio est. Germanum fratris Justiniaui filium fuissc Proco- pius hist. arc. cap. 5 ct alibi docet. EPISTOLAE 96. 97. 893 opiniouis ordinem, etsi vobis necdum referentibus suspicamnr incer- a. 519. tum; pro ipsius rei tamen magnitudine credidimus non tacendum. Itaque perlatum est, fratrem et coepiscopum nostrum Johannem^), dum ad Thessalonieam pro suscipiendis tantum libellis qui promitte- bantur accederet, ita plebis irrationabili seditione concussum, ut exstincto primum eo, qui^) hbspitium venienti praebuerat, ipse quoque iion dissimili caede mactatus et vix sacrosancti fontis reverentia vindicatus evaserit: cujus seditionis initium sub interrogationis do- losae commento ab Aristide presbytero narratur exortum. Verum nos, si haec manifesta sunt, adeo de plebe non querimur. Erit in potestate venerandi principis, temporis sui et cathoUci sacerdotis injuriam qua jubeat resecare censura. 2. Sed id, quod ad nos attiAet, cura pervigili per vos Deo propitio desideramus impleri, quia nullum volumus aut non reddita ratione converti aut sic rectam viam fidei profiteri, ut sibi a prin- cipe aliquid sine doctrinae remedio ^) * causetur imponi. Hoc igitur suggestione vestrae supplicationis peragite, ut Thessalonicensis epi- scopus, qui sub interrogationis obtentu ecclesiasticam pacem pro- tracto in longum nititur dissipare negotio, quoniam a vobis suscipere Qoluit, a principe ad Urbem directus, ab apostolica percipiat sede doctrinam, et quidquid sibi dubium putet, huc veniens praesenti a nobis inquisitione condiscat; sic enim probare potest se catholicae professionis servare cautelam, non malitiose concepta vindicare cer- fcamina. Sciat nos paratos esse, et bene inquirentes instruere et errantes ad fidei rectum tramitem scieiitia duce revocare: quia si dubitans paratam non vult experiri doctrinam nec rursus in sirapli- citate cordis quae pacis et religionis causa jubentur admittere, in aperto est, qua mente vel Dei nostri praeceptis obsistat vel ortho- doxi principis exempla contemnat. In hac ergo parte totus sugge- stionis vestrae actus immineat, quia nec illi alia possunt ratione salvari, et incitatae plebis sub*) hoc melius moderamine causa sedatur. Cum quo etiam Aristidem presbytenmi clementissimus princeps ad nos venire praecipiat, quia, sicut praefati sumus, omnes, |Uorum pax ecclesiastica ambiguitiite dividitur, simul ad conmiunio- uvcesserant , hic restituendum esse suspicamur th univcrxiit quac votive suc- esserant. ') Unum scilicct ex legatis, quem propterea in epiatola 100 et aliis minime iun ceteris lcgatis appellatum obficrvamus. a. 519. nem nostram depulsa mali erroris aegritudine catholicae scientiae cupimus sentire medicinam. 3. Praeterea mox ut praesentia vos contigerit scripta suscipere, debebitis ad nos de vestris aliquem destinare cum relatione^ quae universa contineat, unde his, quae gesta sunt vel geruntur, sollici- tudinem nostram relevare debeatis. Datarium quoque litteris vestris adjungite, ne vobis portitoris tarditas possit adscribi. DatalllldQS Octobris, Eutharico viro clarissimo consule. a. 619 d. 15 Oct.