Letter 212: Part of the papal correspondence surrounding the Acacian Schism (484-519), the major breach between Rome and...

[Summary] Of Justin Augustus to Pope Hormisdas. He indicates that petitions have been presented to him by the Easterners, in which they set forth certain things concerning the faith [...] which are not sufficiently approved by Dioscorus. He will send someone to carry these to Hormisdas and to bring back his reply. Justin Augustus to Pope Hormisdas. With how great zeal we burn for gathering the most sacred churches together in concord, it is recognized that we made plain openly some time ago: we who, from the beginning of our reign, judged that Your Holiness should be admonished to send trusted men, so that through their intervention some remedy [might be applied] to these matters [...] and before those who have been appointed should arrive, we have prepared all things, so that whatever had to be arranged through this most flourishing city might be transacted more easily. But since petitions have been presented to our divine majesty from the various Eastern provinces, by men setting forth certain things on behalf of the catholic faith and declaring the secrets of their mind, attesting to the things established among them on behalf of the undivided Trinity, and showing that they will firmly receive them; and when these had been read through, Dioscorus asserted that certain things had been inserted in an unfitting order: we have rightly judged that those things which we have been taught should be disclosed to you. Therefore not long after this someone will be sent by us to inform Your Beatitude concerning all things and to convey to you the supplications which have been offered to us, and to bring back the response of Your Piety, by which the unsuitable doubts may at last be cut away. Being therefore secure concerning our council, may you deign with anxious prayers to appease for us the supreme Divinity. Given on the fourteenth day before the Calends of February [19 January] at Constantinople, in the consulship of Vitalianus and Rusticus. [Editorial apparatus, Epistola 108: It is to be noted here from one or the other of those two bishops. But it is not clear whether that should be referred word for word to "invasae" ("of the seized") by our brother and fellow-bishop John, or to "ad ordinatum" ("to the one ordained"), although the editors who preceded us did not hesitate to refer it to "invasae" [... it may be found]. Footnote: They affirm not merely that they will receive these things, but that from the beginning they took them up and steadfastly defended them. Whoever shall read in epistle 129, section 4, what was said by the same emperor about the same document: "in which they show that they will firmly endure, and from which they judge that one must by no means desist" - will scarcely doubt that here one must restore "sese retenturos ostendunt" ("they show that they will hold fast"). In the same place G has "ostenditur," and shortly after, A has "his relictis," where others have "relectis" ("having been read through").] Epistola 109, or, A copy of the report of John, bishop of Constantinople. [Summary] He announces that the next Pascha is to be celebrated on the 19th of April, from the paschal-day annals deposited at Constantinople. To the lord beloved through all things in God, and most holy brother and fellow-minister Hormisdas, greeting in the Lord. [Editorial apparatus, Epistola 109, footnote: The pronoun "his" seems to be redundant and to belong to the translator, who, not sufficiently mastering the power and propriety of the Latin tongue, was afraid to omit the Greek article "tois."] 1. Just as with pure heart and spiritual charity we hold you among our very selves, dearest brother, and just as we consider you to be venerated through all things, from these works we judge that satisfaction has been given to Your Reverence. Obeying the Lord's voice that manifestly cries out: "Whatever you wish that men should do to you, so do you also to them" [Matthew 7:12], and embracing the apostolic teaching that instructs: "Outdoing one another in honor" [Romans 12:10], we hasten to show these things by works, holding by spiritual charity the indissoluble bond toward the union of the holy churches, so that we may not be made to totter either by the blows of contrary spirits or by the fluctuations of the wicked prince or the enemy of truth, with the holy and consubstantial Trinity aiding us through the intercession of the glorious and true Mother of God, Mary: through which especially, lord and most holy one, we pray that the state of our and your holy churches may remain unmoved, and likewise that the union of the faith may be kept inseparable; for God is able to grant without contest the palm of victory to those who hope in him. 2. Moreover, as for the number [date] of the approaching Lord's passion, which is contained in your letters, we signify that it is rightly held from the paschal-day annals deposited among us: and, knowing it before and now inquiring into it more scrupulously, without any doubt we wish that you may celebrate the festivity of the world unharmed on the thirteenth day before the Calends of May [19 April], which is properly the nineteenth day of the coming month of April. Pray therefore, and let your mind, most holy one, deign to hold no forgetfulness concerning our remembrance. All the brotherhood in Christ that is with Your Holiness, I too and my people greatly greet. And in another hand: Pray unharmed in the Lord for us, brother beloved by God and most holy! Given at Constantinople on the fourteenth day before the Calends of February [19 January], in the consulship of Vitalianus and Rusticus, men of clarissimus rank.

%^Jan Justini Augusti ad Hormisdam papam. Preces sibi ah Orientalibus porrecias significai, in quibus ilti quaedam de fide P-D disseruntf quae Dioscoro non satis prohantur. Missurum se, qui eas ad Bor- misdam ferat et responsum ipsius referat, Justinus Augustus Hormisdae papae. Quanto flagramus studio pro colligendis concordia sacratissimis ecclesiis, jamdudum nos palam fecisse dignoscitur: qui ab ineunte ep. 42. nostro imperio sanctitudinem vestram admonendam duximus, quo certos dirigeret, ut interventu eorum remedium aliquod his rebus alterutrum ex illis duobus episcopis hic notari. Sed neqne perspicuam est, atrum illud a fratre et coepiscopo nostro Johanne ad verbum invasae , an ad ordinatum refe- rendum sit, licet qui nos praecesserunt editores ad invasae referre non dnbitannt EPISTOLAE 106—109. 909 inyeiiiri possit; et antequam advenerint qui destinati sunt^ cunctaa. 520. praeparavimuS; quo facilius transigerentur, quae per hanc florentis- simam urbem disponenda fuerant. Verum quoniam preees nostro ^P' V^^ numini porrectae sunt ex diversis Eois provinciis, certa quaedam disserentibus pro fide catholica, secretaque suae mentis declarantibus, quae apud se pro individua Trinitate constituta testantur, quaeque firmiter sese recepturos *) ostendunt; hisque relectis, Dioscorus aliqua asseruit non convenienti ordine inserta fuisse: merito duximus ape- rienda vobis ea, quae sumus edocti. Non multo itaque post a nobis quidam destinabitur ad certiorem faciendam beatitudinem tuam super omnibus et insinuandas vobis supplicationes quae nobis oblatae sunt, et responsum pietatis vestrae referendum, quo possint resecari tau- dem dubitationes incongruae. Securi igitur de nostro concilio, sol- licitis orationibus placare nobis Divinitatem summam dignemini. Data XIV Calendas Februarii Constantinopoli , Vitaliano et llustico consulibus. £pistola 109 seu Exemplar relationis Johannis episcopi ConstantinopolitanL ^o^?^ ^' i*f Jan. Proximum Pascha d, 19 Aprilis celehrandum ex repositis Constaniinopoli diei paschalis annalihus nuntiat. Domino per omnia amabili Deo, sanctissimoque fratri comministratori Hormisdae in Domino salutem. 1. Quemadmodum puro corde et caritate spir;tuali apud nos- xnetipsos habemus te, frater carissime, et quemadmodum te per omnia duciraus venerandum, ex operibus his^) satisfactum esse vestrae re- verentiae judicamus. Dominicae obsequentes voci manifeste clamanti • Quae vultis ui faciani vobis homines, sic et vos facite eis, et apostoli- 7 12. cam doctrinam amplectentes docentem : Vos invicem honore prae- ^o°i- • 12 10 venienies; haec operibus ostendere festinamus, vinculum insolubile "' spirituali caritate ad^) unitionem sanctarum ecclesiarum continentes, 108 ^) Non modo ea se recepturos, sed ab initio suscepisse et constanter pro- pugnasse affirmant. Qui infra epist. 129 n. 4 ab eodem imperatore de eodem libello dictum legerit: in quo sese duraturos ostendunt firmiter, et quo nulla ratione desistendum aestimant, vil dubitabit, quin hic restituendum ait sese retenturos 09tendunl, Ibidem G* cc ostenditury moxque a* his relictis, ubi al. relectis. 109 ^) Redundare videtur pronomen his atque interpretis esse, qui linguae latinae potestatem ac proprietatem non satis callens, articulum graecum zoig reticere timuit. a. 620. quo nec contrariorum spirituum ictibus nec fluctuationibus malonmi principis vel yeritatis inimici titubare possimus^ auxiliante nobis sancta et consubstantiali Trinitate intercessione gloriosae et yerae Dei genitricis Mariae: per quae praecipue nobis, domine atque san- ctissime, immobilem permanere oramus nostrarum vestrarumqae sanctarum ecclesiarum statum, nihilominus et inseparabilem custodire fidei unitionem; potens est enim Deus victoriae pahnam sperantibos in eum sine certamine condonare. 2. Instantis autem dominicae^) passionis numenim, qui vestris continetur litteris, ex repositis apud nos diei paschalis annaUbus recte habere significamus: et ante quidem scientes et nimc scrupu- Idsius requirentes, sine dubitatione mundi*) festivitatem incolmnes vos celebrare XTU Calendarum Majarum die optamus, qui est proprie nouus decimus dies futuri mensis Aprilis. Orate igitur, et circa nostram memoriam nuUam oblivionem vester animus, sanctissime, habere dignetur. Onmem, quae cum vestra est sanctitate, in Christo fraternitatem ego quoque et mei plurimum salutamus. El alia manu: Incolumes in Domino orate pro nobis, amabiUs Deo et sanctissime frater! Data Constantinopoli XIV Calendas Februarii, Vitaliano et Rustico w. cc. consuhbus.