Letter 226: Part of the papal correspondence surrounding the Acacian Schism (484-519), the major breach between Rome and...

Hormisdas to Bishop Possessor. 1. Just as it accords with reason that those in doubt should seek counsel, so it is fitting that those consulted should answer, since the man who does not instruct the ignorant himself drives him into error; nor is anything more suited to one zealous for religion than the inquiry into truth, since he more easily avoids going astray who asks about the road along which he is to walk. But before I take up the task of replying concerning those matters about which your charity inquires, I gladly confess that in your letter I have found the fervor of your faith, by whose warmth kindled you sigh that the perversity of the unbelievers is reviving and flourishing in those parts. Most worthy is the grief that saddens hearts devoted to God; for among those in whom there is a little flame of charity there is no lapse that goes unlamented, since the one prayer of spiritual men is the unshaken salvation of all. But to the churches of God a storm of this kind is neither unknown nor an unaccustomed tempest: although it persists unshaken under the governance of its helmsman, it is nevertheless troubled, harassed by the various whirlwinds of the waves that rise up. For whence comes the voice of the psalmist prophet, who, taking on the person of the Church herself by the spirit with which he was filled, says, "Often have they assailed me from my youth; yet they could not prevail against me"? They shake, but they shall prevail in nothing. We are still on the threshing-floor: the wheat is mixed with the chaff, the good groan at the company of the wicked; but there remains a flame for the things not needed, and the granaries are prepared for those already proven. Where on earth is this mingling not found? It befits us to stand with fixed footing: we shall advance among our adversaries by our own goods, if we are not entangled in the errors of others. For he proves the strong mettle of his virtue who, when he is pushed, is not moved. 2. Where are the stings of varied temptation not present? Such things as, throughout nearly this whole past year, we have endured from certain Scythians [Scythian monks] who put themselves forward as monks in appearance, not in truth, by profession, not by deed: cunning tricks concealed by subtle craftiness, and, under the pretext of religion, poisons in the service of their own hatreds, while we strove to heal them from their inward wound by the governing remedy of curative patience, not laying aside the admonitions of blessed Paul: "Do not contend with words; for it is profitable for nothing, save the subversion of the hearers." But when is the venom that has penetrated the inward parts plucked out? When do hearts wrongly credulous of themselves obey the institutions of truth? When does pride, fortified in its own opinions, put on the humility of obedience? When do those accustomed to the pursuits of contention acquiesce in peace, loving the conflicts of religion alone to seize upon and neglecting the commandments? Among them charity, commended by the new precept, is never found; never the peace bequeathed at the Lord's departure; the one concern of their obstinate purpose is to wish to command reason, not to yield to it: despisers of the ancient authorities, eager for new questions, considering the only right path of knowledge to be whatever opinion is taken up with any ease whatever; so swollen with arrogance that they think the judgment of both worlds [East and West] must be bent to their own will, and not reckoning among the number of the faithful those who follow the tradition of the fathers, if they see that they will not yield to their opinion; trained to sow accusations, to compound the poisons of detraction, to hate the whole body of the Church, to set up seditions, to stir up ill will, and, in place of the obedience which in monasteries holds the chief place of regular discipline, to love the obstinacy of stubborn pride. 3. We were able to restrain them neither by admonitions, nor by gentleness, nor by authority. They went forth even into a public assembly, crying out near the very statues of the kings to the disturbance of the peace; and unless the steadfastness of the faithful people had withstood them, through the unspeakable seeds of diabolical tares they would have stirred up dissension and discord among them, by which, with God's help, dissension has been driven out of their regions. We proved to them, too late, that the apostle had said with prophetic voice that in the last days perilous times are at hand, and that there will be men lovers of themselves alone, having the form of piety but denying its power, and that therefore they are to be shunned. These things, then, we believed should be disclosed to your charity as the occasion arose, lest, if they should perhaps be brought there, those who do not know how they conducted themselves in the city of Rome should be deceived under some pretense of words. 4. As for these men, whom you indicated by your letters that you had consulted concerning the sayings of one Faustus, a Gallic bishop, let them have this for an answer: that neither he nor anyone whom the examination of the catholic faith does not receive into the authority of the fathers can beget any ambiguity of the catholic faith or of ecclesiastical discipline, or set up any prejudice against religious men. Fixed by the fathers are the institutions which the faithful ought to follow, whether it be an interpretation, or a preaching, or a word composed for the edification of the people: if it agrees with right faith and sound doctrine, it is admitted; if it disagrees, it is abolished. There is one foundation, and if any structure rises up outside of it, it is weak; let each one consider what he builds upon that foundation, whether worthless or precious things. But he strays from the way who departs from that which the choice of the fathers has shown. Yet diligence that ranges through many things is not condemned, but a mind turning aside from the truth. Often a necessary instruction is provided concerning those matters by which the rivals themselves may be refuted. Nor can it be reckoned a fault to know what you should flee; and therefore it is not those who read unfitting things who come into blame, but those who follow them. For if it were not so, that teacher of the nations would never have consented to announce to the faithful: "But prove all things; hold fast that which is good." It is not out of place to mix in a discourse which, though worldly, is nevertheless not devoid of reason. A certain man, skilled in the art of painting, when he wished to render a horse perfect with his brush, declared that an ass had been of profit to him as he painted; asserting that it was not that he might imitate the misshapen beast, but that he might not, slipping, fall into the likeness of some misshapen feature. Not improvidently did the venerable wisdom of the fathers define for the faithful posterity what the canonical dogmas were, prefixing which of the ancient books also were to be received into authority, the Holy Spirit so ordaining: lest the reader, indulging his own opinion, should assert not what was suited to ecclesiastical edification, but what his own will had conceived. What need, then, was there for the slanderers to extend questions beyond the bounds established for the Church, and to stir up conflicts concerning those things which are held as having been said, as though they had not been said, when the Christian faith is bounded by a stable and unshaken course, by the canonical books and the synodal precepts and the regular constitutions of the fathers? 5. Yet concerning free will and the grace of God, what the Roman, that is, the catholic Church follows and keeps, although it can be known in the various books of blessed Augustine, and especially in those addressed to Hilary and Prosper, nevertheless express chapters are also contained in the ecclesiastical archives, which, if they are lacking to you and you believe them necessary, we will send; although whoever diligently considers the sayings of the apostle may evidently know what he ought to follow. Given on the Ides of August.

13 Au^) Hormisdae papae ad Possessorem episGopum. Fidem ejus, quae dc infidelium perversitate gemebat, laudat et solatur (n. 1). p.ll' Scylharum monachorum superbiam, obstinationem, tumulius describit {n. 2 et 3); quae Fausti aliorumve libris tribuenda auctoritas (n. 4); de gratia et Kbero ar- bitrio quid sequendum, exponit (n. 5). Hormisda Possessori episcopo. 1. Sicut rationi congruit, ut consulant ambigentes, ita par est 123 *) Symmachi senatoris nec non praefecti praetorio Africae et qoaesU»]! castrensis Procopius de bello Yand. 2, 16 et 19 meminii PropioB aotem ad rem nostram attinet, quod Maxentius respons. ad Horm. , dum BoznanuB in Urbe esset, contigisse sic narrat: Utse (Hormisda) a praviiate proprii /e^a/f (Dioecori) purificaret, muliis idoneis viris praeseniibus Romanum virum gloriosissiMutm wtMgittnm militum deprecaius estf quatenus sua verba piissimo imperatori insimiarett quoe fuert EPISTOLAE 123. 124. 927 respondere consultos, quia ipse impellit in errorem qui non instnut a. 520. ignorantem; nec quidquam aptius est studioso religionis, quam in- quisitio*) veritatis, quando facilius devium vitat, qui iter per quod gradiatur rogat. Sed priusquam respondendi curam de his, quae dilectio tua percontatur, aggrediar, libenter in litteris tuis fidei tuae ep. 115. me fateor invenisse fervorem, cujus calore succensus, redivivam in illis partibus infidelium perversitatem vigere suspiras. Dignissimus dolor, qui dedita Deo corda contristet; nec enim est apud eos lapsus inlamentabilis, quibus est igniculus caritatis, quia unum spiritualium votum est salus inconcussa cunctorum. Sed non est ignota ecclesiis Dei de hujusmodi procellis aut insueta tempestas: quamvis rectoris sui gubernaculo incoricussa persistat, variis tamen insurgentium^) fluctuum laborat vexata turbinibus. Nam unde est psabnidici vox prophetae, qui ipsius Ecclesiae personam spiritu quo implebatur assu- mens, Saepe, inquit, expugnaverunt me a juveniute mea^ etenim non^^^^- potuerunt mthi? Concutiunt, sed in nihilo praevalebunt. Adhuc in ' area sumus, mixta sunt frumenta cum paleis, gemunt boni consortia malorum; sed superest flamma non necessariis, et parata sunt horrea jam probatis. Ubi terrarum non est ista permixtio? Nos fixis decet stare^) vestigiis: proficiemus inter adversantes propriis'*) bonis, si erroribus non involvamur alienis. Probat enim virtutis suae validmn robur, qui quum impellitur non movetur. 2. Ubi non variae tentationis aculei? Quales per hunc fere jugem annum*) quorumdam Scytharum, qui monachos praeferebant specie non veritate, professione non opere, subtili tectas ' calliditate versutias et sub reUgionis obtentu famulantia odiis suis venena per- tulimus, studentes eos ab intemo vulnere medicabilis patientiae hujusmodi: ,,yisi Christum filium Deiy qui pro nobis passus est in carne, unum esse ea: sancta et individua Trinitate fuerit confessus Dioscurus^ pelago demergatur.*'^ Verum Hormisdae moderationem non sapit hujusmodi sententia. Sed et Ma- xentii fidem, quae idem papa et nunc scribit et postea gessit, dubiam faciunt. 124 *) Ita G* a'. Al. ed. impositio ... graditur. Moxque apud Maxentiimi et Cochlaeum contristat. Quocirca Maxentii, qui in verbo propriis Pelagianam superbiam latere vult, mera calunmia est , quum illud Hormisda alienis dumtaxat , non gratiae auxilio comparatis, opponat. Porro eo3 Romam festinare Dioscorus epistola 76 anno 519 Maji 30 scripta Hor- misdae nuntiavit: adeoque proxime ab Urbe discesserant, quum Hormisda hanc rescripsit. a. 520. moderamine^) sanare. beati Pauli mouita non iacentes: Noli verhU 2 u' <^on(endere; ad nihil enim lUile esi, nisi ad suhversionem audienlim, Sed quando virus, quod viscera penetravit, evellitur? Quando corda male sibi credula veritatis obtemperant institutis? Quando induit obedientiae humilitatem opinionibus suis vallata superbia? Quando acquiescunt paci contentionum studiis^) assueti, sola certamina aman- tes de religione captare et mandata negligere? Nunquam apud eos caritas novo commendata praecepto, nunquam pax dominico relicta discessu; una pertinacis cura propositi, rationi velle imperare^), non cedere: contemptores auctoritatum veterum, novarum cupidi quae- stionum, solam putantes scientiae rectam viam qualibet susceptam') facilitate sententiam; eousque tumoris elati, ut ad arbitrium snum utriusque orbis putent inclinandum esse judicium, nec in numero fidelium deputantes sequaces traditionis patemae, si suae viderint cedere*^) nolle sententiae; docti crimina serere, obtrectationum ?e- nena componere, integrum Ecclesiae corpus odisse^ seditiones in- struere, invidiam concitare, et pro obedientia, quae in coenobiis principatum regularis obtinet disciplinae, obstinaidonem pertinacis amare superbiae. 3. Non illos potuimus monitis, non mansuetudine*^), nonaucto- ritate comprimere. In publicum usque prodiere conventum, ad con- cussionem*^^ quietis circa regum etiam statuas inclamantes^'); et nisi fidelis populi constantia restitisset, per diabolicae semina nefanda zizaniae apud illos dissensionem'^) et discordiam commovissent, per *") Max. et Cochl. credere, Antea utriusque orhis nomine Orientis et Occi- dcntis ecclesiae intelliguntur. ") a^ b cc concursionem: emendantur ex Max. et Cochl. ^3) Hoc infician non ausus Maxentius, quod nullus, inquit, nisi qui moleniissime molestatur, facere cogilur, inde maximam eis vim illatam fiiisse sibi penoadet Tum et factum cxcusare' nititur his verbis: Quamvis non quasi regiae potestatit auxitium flagitantes, sicut haerctici (hoc cst Hormisdae et Dioscori an&ici) joiAiUad, saepe dicti monachi circa regum statuas inclamaverunti sed postquam e loco, qum- admodum acceperant, pro mandato ejttsdem Jiomani pontificis fuerant expM, v publico, 2tbi casu regwn imagines fueranty quod petitioni suae audientia negtretwr populo contestati sunt: additque id eos fecisse, ne post suum disc^sswm jam eos recessisse fautores Dioscori apud Ecclesiam diffamarent. quos adjutorio Dei de*^) regionibus eorum est puka dissensio. Dea. 520. eis sero probavimus prophetica apostolum voee dixisse, in novissimis ^ r^* diebus instare tempora periculosa, et fore homines sui tantum ama- tores, habentes formam pietatis, virtutem autem ejus abnegantes, itaque esse vitandos. Haec ideo dilectioni vestrae indicanda sub occasione credidimus, ne, si illuc fuerint forte delati, ignorantes, quemadmodum se in urbe Romana tractaverint^®), sub aliqua ver- borum simulatione deciperent. 4. Hi vero, quos vos de Fausti cujusdam Galli antistitis dictis consuluisse litteris indicastis, id sibi responsum habeant: neque illum*') neque quemquam, quos in auctoritatem patrum non recipit exa- men, catholicae fidei aut ecclesiasticae disciplinae ambiguitatem posse gignere, aut religiosis praejudicium comparare. Fixa sunt a patri- bus, quae fideles sectari debeant instituta, sive interpretatio, sive praedicatio, seu verbum populi aedificatione compositum: si cum fide recta et doctrina sana concordat, admittitur, si discordat, aboletur. Unum est fundamentum, extra quod quaelibet fabrica si consurgit, \^^J^' infirma est, super illud quisquis^^) aedificat seu vilia seu pretiosa, consideret. Errat autem a^") via, qui ab eo quod patrum electio monstravit exorbitat. Nec tamen improbatur diligentia per multa discurrens, sed animus a veritate declinans. Saepe de his necessaria providetur, de quibus ipsi aemuli, convincantur, instructio. Nec vitio dari potest nosse, quod fugias ; atque ideo non legentes incongrua in culpam veniunt, sed sequentes. Quod si ita non esset, nunquam doctor ille gentium acquievisset nuntiare fidelibus: Omnia autem^^^^^' prohate, quod bonum est tenete. Non abs re est, etsi mundanum non * tamen a ratione discretum miscere sermonem. Fert^^) quidam no- nem postmodum exhibet, quum primo praetulisset dissensionem , quod et apud CochL et in aliis libris obtinet. ") b cc add. recipi, Hoc autem sibi vult Hormisda: neque illum neque quem- quam eorum, quos in auctoritatem etc. , ambiguitatem posse gignere in causa catholi- cae fidei aut ecclesiasticae disciplinae, Faustum autem nominatim ideo ambigui- tatem gignere non posse censet, quia eumdem in auctoritatem patrum non recipit examen catholicae fidei, a Gelasio videlicet institutum. i^) Apud Cochl. quisquis superaedificat. Magis arrideret quisque quae aedificat, *") Ita G* a*. Ed. Fertur ... sibi proposuisse. EPISTOLAE ROHAN. PONTIP. I. 59 a. 520. bilis arte pingendi, quum equum penicillo vellet explicare perfectam, asellum sibi profuisse pingenti; asserens^ non ut jmnentum imitaretor informe^ sed ne in alicujus informis lineamenti similitudinem lapsos incideret. Non improvide veneranda patrum sapientia fideli poste- ritati^^) quae essent canonica dogmata definiit, certa librorum etiam veterum in auctoritatem recipienda^ sancto Spiritu instituente, prae- figens: ne opinioni suae lector indulgens, non quod aedificationi ecclesiasticae conveniret, sed quod voluntas^^) sua concepisset^ asse- reret. Quid ergo calumniantibus opus erat eztra consiitutos Ecclesiae terminos porrigere quaestiones, et de his quae ita^^) habentur dicta, quasi dicta non sint, movere certamina, quum Christiana fides ca- nonicis libris et synodalibus^^) praeceptis et patrum regularibus con- stitutis stabili et inconcusso tramite limitetur? 5. De arbitrio tamen libero et gratia Dei quid Romana hoc est catholica sequatur et servet^^) Ecclesia, bcet in variis libris beati Augustini, et maxime ad Hilarium et Prosperum, possit cognosci, tamen et in scriniis ecclesiasticis expressa capitula^^) continentor, '*) Ed. poUstati . . . catholica dogmata, G' definiunt, Aperte dedarat Ho^ misda, qui in aactoritatem recipiendi essent yeterum libri, jam a m%jonboi suis Spiritu sancto instituente , adeoque iu synodo , fuisse definitum. Hoc reipaa a Gelasio in decreto, quod de Ubris recipiendis sanzit, praestitum quam pla- rium codicum auctoritate firmatur. Hinc locus iste confert non tantom ad asse- rendam praedicti decreti veritatem, sed et ad censurae, qua GelasioB plares libros apocryphos dedarat, perdpiendam intelligentiam. Hoc enim Terbo, Hormisda interprete, nou eos legi prohibet, sed quadam cum cautione vultlegL ") b cc omitt. ita. Hormisdae de libris Fausti responsionem Maxentius sic sugillat: kit ita finitis. tnuita et non necessaria de libris Fausti cujusdam GaUi episcopi in consefmenHbm loquituvy nec ad id guod quaeritur respondens, sed alia nescio fuae ad rem nom per- tinenlia inani et proHxo sermone digerit. Nam quum de iptis libris, non uintm le- gendi sint, sed utrum sint catholici, vertatur quaestio, ille non de ipsis quid seniiendum sit, sed eos quamvis non in auctoritate habendosy tamen legendos esse decermit, Qojun- quam si diligentius expendantur Possessoris consulentis verba, appoaitam ad et judicabitur Hormisdae responsum. Non enim iUe de librorum Fausti, ut ita dicam, catholicitate, sed de eorum auctoritate interrogavit; et utrom qnod ea de re jam praelibarat responsum approbaret Hormisda, resdre cum aliis ezpetiit. '-') Ita G* et Cochl.; a' asservet, b cc asseveret. Nostrae lectioni condiut illud episcoporum in Sardinia exsulum apud Fulgentium epist. 15 n. 18: /V«f omnibus studium gerite^ lihros s. Auguslini, quos ad Prosperum et HUarium seripsit^ memoratis fratribus ingerere. Quorum mentionem beatae memoriae Hnmdeda seSs apostolicae gloriosus antistes in epistola. quam consulenti se saneto fratri comMoeer- dotique nostro Possessori rescripsit, cum magno praeconio laudis imMeruii, e^jmskmee verba sunt: ,.De arbitrio tamen et gratia Dei quid Romanay hoc eet eatkoHem, #e- quatur et servet Ecclesia etc. EPISTOLAE 124. 125. 931 quae si tibi desunt et neeessaria creditis; destinabimus ; quamquam a. 520. qui diligenter apostoli dicta considerat^ quid sequi debeat eyidenter cognoscat. Data^^) Idibus Augusti.