Letter 222: Part of the papal correspondence surrounding the Acacian Schism (484-519), the major breach between Rome and...

A copy of the letter of the illustrious Justinian to Hormisdas. Under the favor of our Lord Jesus Christ he reigns in this age who founds his empire upon holy religion; for he governs human affairs well to whom divine matters have first been pleasing. And we rejoice that this has come to pass in the present times. For your most clement son the emperor, having obtained the scepter by the gift of eternity, has taken up the causes of the faith to be set forth, and by a legation sent to your holiness we have earned the priests of the apostolic see [the papal legates], at whose arrival the concord of the most holy churches has grown in no small measure, with you pressing the matter forward, as was fitting. For the name of Acacius, which carried on its schism, having been cut away root and branch in accordance with the tenor of the documents [the libelli] which you directed, the longed-for unity has come about in this royal city and in many cities, which, having been found by the greatest labors, it is proper to venerate and necessary to preserve forever. Will anyone allow these things, which everlasting majesty has duly settled, to be reopened by any arguments whatsoever? 2. But because the enemy of the human race frequently hastens to impede prosperous courses, a part of the Easterners cannot be compelled, neither by exiles nor by sword and flames, to condemn the names of the bishops who died after Acacius: which difficulty weaves delays into the general concord. Therefore let your holiness, divinely inspired, consider the quality of the times and of affairs, and, the authors of this error having been condemned -- that is, Acacius of Constantinople, Peter and Timothy Aelurus and Dioscorus of Alexandria, and Peter of Antioch -- deign to bring to an end the inveterate struggle, the question concerning the names of the rest being laid to rest: so that you may redeem from blood the people whom our God has committed to be governed, and may reconcile the people to our Lord not by persecutions and bloodshed but by priestly patience: lest, while we wish to gain souls, we destroy both the bodies of many and their souls. For it is fitting that long-standing errors be corrected by mildness and clemency, especially since the predecessors of your beatitude very often wished to recall the prelates of our commonwealth to their own communion, if only Acacius and the rest aforesaid were passed over in silence. It is therefore no grievous thing that your see has advised, that it should grant this. 3. This also we demand more and more: that your holiness, having conceived the heavenly grace, may deign to treat of that which the Eastern bishops put forward, and to furnish a fitting assent to their faith. For to us it seems that, since the Son of the living God our Lord Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary, whom the chief of the apostles [Peter] proclaims to have suffered in the flesh, is rightly said to be one in the Trinity reigning together with the Father and the Holy Spirit. For just as it seems ambiguous to say simply 'one of the Trinity,' without the name of our Lord Jesus Christ being placed first, so we do not doubt that his person is in the Trinity together with the persons of the Father and of the Holy Spirit; for without the person of Christ the Trinity can neither be devoutly believed nor faithfully adored, just as Saint Augustine says: 'Or some person from the Trinity'; and in another place: 'He alone in the Trinity took on a body'; and again: 'One of the three.' 4. We ask therefore, most reverend one, greeting you, that, mindful of the future judgment, you may order the matter in such a way that no occasion of doubt may be left for the future: so that, every scruple of discords being removed, the bonds of the longed-for peace may be renewed throughout the whole world, and the concord of the venerable churches may flourish, and the members of the one body may be gathered back into their former state. For that physician is rightly praised who hastens to heal old sicknesses in such a way that from them new wounds do not arise. Let your apostolate therefore know in particular that, these same two chapters being settled, all the priests of this commonwealth gladly embrace your communion. Received on the fifteenth day before the Kalends of October [17 September], in the consulship of Rusticus, most illustrious man.

seu a.cc.520d. Exemplum epistolae Justiniani^) illustris ad HormiBdam. (dat. d. (/i ff^ perfectam ecclesiarum unitatem duo praesiet, nempe: ne cogat alios prae- nii Q JqI ^ '* ter haeresis auctores nominatim damnari, et ut decernat, num Chrisius rtcte dicatur unus de Trinitate in carne passus, Domino nostro Jesu Christo favente regnat in saeculo, qui sacra religione suum fundat imperiiun; quoniam bene gubemat humana, cai prius divina placuerint. Quod praesentibus evenisse temporibus gra- tulamur. Filius etenim vester clementissimus imperator aetemitatis 120 0 Ed. add. «iri, omit. G', EPISTOLAE 118—120. 921 beneficio sceptra sortitus, fidei causas arripuit explicandas, et ada. 520. tuain sanctitatem missa legatione^) sedis apostolicae promeruimus sacerdotes ^) , quorum adventu non mediocriter adolevit ecclesiarum concordia sacrosanctarum^vobis instantibus, ut decebat. Acacii namque, quod dissidium gerebat, nomine stirpitus amputato, pro tenore libel- ^g ^^g^' lorum, quos direxistis, in hac urbe regia multisque civitatibus unitas optata provenit, quam summis inventam laboribus venerari convenit, in perpetuumque custodiri necesse est. Haec quibuslibet argumentis retractari quispiam patietur, quae sempitema majestas rite composuit? 2. Sed quia prosperos cursus frequenter impedire festinat hu- mani generis inimicuS; pars Orientalium non exsiliis nec ferro flam- misque compelli potest, ut episcoporum nomina post Acacium defun- ctorum condemnet: quae difficultas generali concordiae moras innectit. Sanctiteis itaque vestra coelitus inspirata temporum rerumque quali- tatem consideret, et condemnatis hujus erroris auctoribus, id est Acacio Constantinopolitano, Petro et Timotheo Aeluro et Dioscoro Alexandrinis Petroque Antiocheno, finire dignetur**) inveteratum cer- tamen, de ceterorum nominibus quaestione sopita: ut redimatis ple- bem de sanguine, quam Deus noster regendam commisit, ac non persecutionibus ac cruore sed patientia sacerdotali populum Domino nostro concilietis: ne, dum volumus animas lucrari, et corpora mul- torum perdamus et animas. Errores etenim diuturnos lenitate cle- mentiaque convenit emendari, praecipue quia vestrae beatitudinis praedecessores ^) saepissime- vohierimt reipublicae nostrae antistites ad suam revocare communionem, si tantummodo taceretur Acacius cete- ') Nempe Gennanum, Johannem, Blandum ac Felicem, qui suVinitia anni 519 ex Urbe profecti sunt, Dioscoro eis subinde adjuncto. Timothei nomina e sacris diptychis, ut vidimus epist. 65 n. 4, deleta ambo re- vocari nolunt. Et haec quidem Justini Justinianique in his litteris consensio eas simul missas hiissc confirmat. Atqui Gelasius epist. 30 num. 5 Miseno absolutionem uon impertit, nisi post- quam anathematizavit Euiychianam hacresim cum suo scilicet auctore Eutychete et ejus seclatore Dioscoro vel successoribus ejus atque communicatoribus Timotheo AelurOf Petro Alexandrino, Acacio Constantinopolitano , Petro Antiocheno, cunctis- que eorum complicibus et communicatoribus. Quod vero exegit Gelasius, hoc et Symmachus praesertim epist. 13 n. 8 postulat. Restat igitur Anastasius, de quo uno Justinianum loqui, ex epistola 129 n. 3 Justini et ep. 132 n. 2 Justiniani, et utrumque hujus papae verbis ad Anastasium Augustum epist. 1 Bcribentis abuti, manifestum est. Vidc annotata in epistolam 1 Anastasii II n. 4. a. 620. rique praedicti. Non est ergo grave, quod suasit®) vestra sedes, ut praestet. 3. Illud etiam magis magisque deposcimus^ ut tua sanctitas concepta gratia coelesti, quod praet^ndunt Orientales episcopi, tractare dignetur, eorumque fidei competentem praebere consensum. Nobis etenim videtur, quoniam Filius Dei vivi Dominus noster Jesus Chri- iPetr. stus ex virgine Maria natus, quem praedicat summus apostolorum ' * came passum, recte dicitur imus in Trinitate cima Patre Spirituque sancto regnare. Sicut enim videtur ambiguum dicere simpliciter 7mum de Trinitate, non praemisso nomine Domini nostri Jesu Christi, sic ejus persofiam in Trinitate cum Patris Spiritusque sancti personis non dubitamus esse; sine Christi namque persona nec credi Trinitas religiose potest nec adorari fideliter, quemadmodum sanctus Augu- stinus ait'): An aliqua ex Trinilate persona; et alio loco: Soius in Trinitate corpus accepit; et iterum^): Unus trium. 4. Rogamus igitur reverendissime salutantes, ut futuri judicii memores, causam taliter ordinetis, ne quid dubitationis relinquatur in posterum: quatenus omni scrupulo discordiarum sublato, pacis desideratae per orbem totum vincula renoventur, et venerandarum floreat ecclesiarum concordia, corporisque unius in pristdnum statum membra recolligantur. IUe namque medicus jure laudatur^ qui veteres aegritudines ita sanare deproperat, ut ex his nova vulnera non na- scantur. Specialiter ergo cognoscat vester apostolatus, compositis eisdem duobus capitulis, universos sacerdotes istius reipublicae libenter amplecti vestram communionem. Accepta XV Calendas Octobris, Rustico viro clarissimo consule. ') Scil. de Trinit. II, 9 n. 16, ciyus etiam verba antecedentia et sequentia Johannes Maxentius in professione de Christo profert in hunc modum: Utnm indiscrete Deus appanterit patribus nostris, antequam Christus venerit in eamt, «■ aliqua ex Trinitate persona^ an singHlatim quasi per vices : item illud cap. 10 u. 19: Neque hic ergo evidenter apparety utrum aliqua ex Trinitate persona, an Dtui ipse Trinitas ... visus fuerit. Verum duo illi lod iis potiua favebant, quiDeom Verbum unam cx Trinitate personam malebant praedicari; ex iisque nihil coufici' tar adversus eos, quos Maxentius respons. ad Hormisdam sugillat, quivmniex Trinitate pariter asserere formidabant. EPISTOLAE 120. 121. 923