Letter 248: Part of the papal correspondence surrounding the Acacian Schism (484-519), the major breach between Rome and...

A fragment from the encyclical letter of Pope Hormisdas. Of the holy Hormisdas, pope of Rome, from his encyclical letter. Let them hold without wavering the things that were enacted in the holy Council of Chalcedon, in which the impious Eutyches was condemned, who wished there to be one nature in Christ and denied the truth of the flesh, attempting under the guise of a Christian, that is to say, to smuggle the Manichaean opinion into the Church. For if in the Lord Christ the truth of the natures were destroyed and the property of each substance underwent a commingling, one of two things must necessarily be said: either to assert a conversion of the Deity, and that very saying would be turned upon the head of those who so believe; or, with the humanity having undergone destruction, that by the union with the Word some third other substance was brought about, which is sacrilege. But the perfection of each substance remains, and the operation that belongs to the substances, as also to the natures, is preserved.

seu 123. Ex epistola oncyolioa Hormisdae papae fragmentum. Tov ayiov 'OQ^iada jiaTia 'Poifirjg ex tijg iyxvxXCov avtov iniCtokrig, ^ExitcD td iv tfj XaXKYiSoviov avvoda TiQajj&ivta to dodXevtoVj iv y Evtvxrig 6 dv6aePt)g xata- xixQLtai^ ILiav (pvOiv iv to5 Xqi- atoj PovXo^svog slvav^ xal r^g aaQxog aQvov^evog tiqv dXrjd^siav^ iv XQirCStiavip drjd-ev TCQoaxtj^ccti rtjv MavLxaVxrjv ty ixxhjaia itaQei(S(piQevv necQcifievog 86^av. Ei ydQ iv tc5 Seaitotri XQtat^ d:icileto t(DV (pvOeav 13 dktld^eia^ xal XQaoiv to iv exatiQcc t(av ov6t(ov vni^eivev tStov ^ Svotv (Ivdyxij d^ateQov rj d^eotijtog ki- yecv nciQatQOTtriv ^ xal to keyo- lievov eig xe(pakr]v ro5v ovtco jtiOtevovtcDV tQaTteirjj rj trjg dv- ^Qcaiteiag v7to(ieivd(Srig tov dcpa- vt0^6v^ tfi TtQog tov Aoyov evci- aet dXXriv tivd tQitr^v ov(Siav^ oneQ ov d^i^ig^ iQydaaad^ai. ^AkXd fiivei t(ov exatiQCDv oif6tcjv ro tikevov^ xal (Sci^etat tov tc5v ov(Slc5v cig xal (pvaecDV exovOa iq iviQyeia. Sancti Hormisdae papae Romae ex encyclica epistola ejus. Teneant inconcusse, quae in sancta synodo Calchedonensi acta sunt, in qua impius Eutyches condemnatus est, in Christo unam naturam esse volens et carnis veritatem negans, per speciem Christiani videlicet Ma- nichaeam^) sententiam in Eccle- siam subintroducere tentans. 8i enim in domino Christo naturfi- rum veritas deleta et proprietas utriusque substantiae commixtio- nem passa, duorum alterum ne- cesse est: aut Deitatis dicere conversionem, et dictum istud in caput ita credentium verteretur; aut humanitate deletionem passa, unitione Verbi aliam quamdam tertiam substantiam, quod nefas est, efFectam esse. Sed manet utriusque substantiae perfectio, et servatur operatio quae est substantiarum sicut et natura- rum. 149 ') In his et sequontibus conterro juvcrit, quuo Horniisda HiniilUnic epist. 40 n. 2 et 141 n. 5 disputat. Sub fineni kxnvatt loco ^xovciv correxinnis.