Letter 27: If the man who offers a cup of cold water in obedience to the Gospel receives his reward from the Lord who taught...

Hormisdas to the clergy, the people, and the orthodox monks established at Constantinople. If he who, following the commands of the Gospel, has offered a cup of cold water receives the reward of his good intention, with the Lord himself, who taught these things, repaying it, shall not he who has put off announcing the truth to so great a people of the faithful justly incur the penalty of damnation? This is why, fleeing the threat of the heavenly command, which teaches that one must speak in those things which pertain to God and must not keep silent, and having also concern for your salvation, we have taken up the admonition of those things which the present necessity demands, calling to witness all who have a care to preserve the Christian religion with the faith intact, that those who turn away from the holy Synod of Chalcedon and from the letters of the blessed Leo written concerning the catholic faith be repelled with whatever strength they can and flee from them, since they are the very ones who, polluted by the contagion of Eutyches and of Dioscorus of Alexandria, or rather by the unspeakable contagion of the Manichaeans, seem indeed in word to wage a contest against the decrees of the fathers, but in deeds evidently rise up against the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, most beloved, what things were attempted when Basiliscus [the usurping emperor] was brooding over the palatine citadel, and the deeds of those times, things either seen by some or heard by others; recall how wicked was then the audacity of Timothy surnamed Aelurus, how shameless and monstrous his presumption, and also how great a fervor of the faith showed itself throughout the whole world on your behalf. The people of Constantinople proved then how purely it befits believers to keep the Christian mysteries. But would that those zealous struggles had been finished, and that the present time did not now demand the like! For again those same heretics raise their wicked head from the depth in which they were held submerged. And therefore we ask, we exhort, we admonish your beloved selves: separate yourselves from their councils and communion, remember your former zeal, and show that the light, the spark of the spiritual fire, lives in you, lest the cunning of the lost rejoice that it has overcome the simple love of the truth in you. And indeed it will suffice to have said these things, as far as concerns the present necessity and the taking up of caution against the impious. But we hope that, if this admonition shall have had its effect, it will be useful both to us and to you, since both God will be glorified in your salvation and the fruit of our solicitude will appear. Given on the third day before the Nones of April, in the consulship of Agapitus [3 April 517].

HOSHISDA CLERO POPULO ET HONiCHIS ORTHODOXIS CONSTANTI- NOPOLi coNSiSTENTiBus. Si is, qui calicem aquae frigidae mandata euangelica secutus optulerit, mercedem boni propositi ipso domino, qui haec docuit, restituente consequitur, nonne qui tanto populo fidelium ueritatem anuuntiare distulerit, iuste poenam damnationis incurrit? Iiinc est, quod interminationem 2 mandati caelestis effugiens, quod docet loquendum esse in his, quae ad deum pertinent, nec tacendum, habens quoque uestrae salutis affectum, admonitionem eorum, quae praesens necessitas poscit, adsumpsi, omnes, quibus cura est fide integra Ghristianam religionem seruare, contestans, ut eos, qui sanctam Chalcedonensem synodum et beati Leonis de fide catholica conscriptas epistolas declinant, quibus possunt uiribus auertantur et fugiant, quando ipsi sunt, qui Eutychetis et Dioscori Alexandrini uel potius nefanda Manichaeorum contagione polluti uerbo quidem aduersum constituta patrum uidentur habere certamen, rebus autem contra incarnationem domini nostri lesu Christi euidenter insurgunt. recordamini, 3 karissimi, quae fuerunt Basilisco palatinam arcem incubante temptata, et temporum illorum acta uel uisa alii uel audita; 9 Mattb. 10, 42 12 Act. 18, 9 3 adtestacio sublica F, corr. 4 cons. add, Car. 182. Dat (simul cum epp. 126, 128— ISl) a. 517 die 3 Apr. per Etmodium etc. Edd. Car. P 467; Bar. ad a. 517, 28; Collect. Concil; BTA I 402; Thiel 806. 6 horthodoxis V 11 quod Car.: quo F 12 esse p^: est V 15 curae 0* 16 constestans F, corr. 0 17 chalcendonensem V 19 auersentur Bar., auertant BuU. Taur. 24 pala- tinam archg F, correxi: palatinae aulae palatinae arci Car., palati- nam archen Thiel 25 alii del. Bar. 554 Hormisda Dorotheo Thessalonicensi recolite, quam scelesta tunc fuerit Timothei cognomento Elluri, quam impudens et monstruosa <prae>sumptio, quantus etiam per uniuersum orbem fidei se uestrae feruor ostenderit. 4 probauit tunc Constantinopolitanus populus, quam pure deceat credentes Chiistiana seruare mysteria. sed transacta utinam studia fuissent et non nunc similia tempus expeteret! rursus enim idem haeretici caput improbum de profundo, quo im- 5 mersi tenebantur, attollunt. atque ideo rogo hortor admoneo dilectionem uestram: ab eorum uos conciliis et communione secernite, recordamini zeli prioris et uiuere in uobis lucem, scintillam ignis spiritalis ostendite, ne simplicem in uobis ueritatis aifectum perditorum astutia eipugnasse se gaudeat- 6 et haec quidem quantum ad praesentem necessitatem et adsumendam contra impios cautionem dixisse sufficiet. spero autem, quod si admonitio ista promouerit, et mihi et uobis utilis erit, quando et deus in uestra salute glorificabitur et fructus nostrae sollicitudinis apparebit. Data III. Nonas Apriles Agapito cons.