Letter 49: Copy of the letter of Justinian.

COPY OF THE LETTER OF JUSTINIAN. To my most holy lord Hormisdas, chief high priest and pope of the city of Rome, Justinianus, count. The proclaiming of the rules by your venerable holiness, which continually entreats Christ our God for the peace of the churches and for the concord of the people, has, by the favoring divinity, accomplished and brought to effect whatever it now grants is to be carried out through its most blessed priests, with absolutely no discord of certain persons availing against it. Therefore, fortified by your sacred prayers and injunctions and by the faith of the orthodox, we humbly ask that you deign to offer to the eternal King the customary prevailing prayers which you are accustomed to make on behalf of our most holy Augustus, the supporter of the whole faith, and on behalf of his commonwealth, and on behalf of us also, the keepers of your mandates, and that you visit us, who are faithfully suppliant before you, with your health-bringing replies. (163-) COPY OF THE LETTER OF POMPEIUS. To my most blessed and apostolic father Hormisdas, archbishop of the universal Church, Pompeius. The mercy of almighty God, entreated by the holy prayers of your beatitude, has deigned to grant us a sovereign of so great a faith, that by the most religious merits of his clemency the restoration of ecclesiastical peace, which was demanded by the prayers of all the faithful, may rightly be seen to have been conferred. In the achievement of this matter he has established the most solid foundations of his sovereignty by the working of the Holy Spirit, [foundations] which obtain such strength of unconquered stability as the excellence of his action is judged to be unique and admirable. And therefore, saluting the reverend beatitude of your pontificate with the homage of a reciprocating address, we beseech you that you deign more and more to pray for the prosperity of our most clement and most unconquered lord and sovereign, so that the ineffable mercy of almighty God may guard its own gifts, in which the fruit of your husbandry also abounds, by the help of just grace; and that the supporting intercession of your pontifical sanctity may stand by us too, your sons, joined to you by spiritual affection, whom the care of this work most of all has ever bound together.

EXEMPLUM EPISTOL.VE lUSTINIANI. BOMINO MEO SANCTISSIMO HORMISDAE PRIMAE ARCHIPONTIFICI ET PAPAE uRBis ROMAE lusTiNTANus coMES. Uenerandae sancti- tatis uestrae praedicatio regularum, quae Christo deo pro & ecclesiarum pace et pro plebis concordia iugiter supplicat, quicquid nunc per beatissimos suos sacerdotes annuit pera- gendum, propitia diuinitate cuncta effectui sociata sunt nuUa 2 prorsus quorundam ualente discordia. igitur uestris sacris orationibus ac praeceptionibus orthodoxorum fide muniti lo supplices petimus, uti pro sanctissimo Augusto nostro, totius fidei fautore, proque eius re publica, pro nobis quoque man- datorum uestrorum custodibus aeterno regi consueti impetra- biles preces offerre dignemini nosque uobis fideliter supplices uestris salutiferis rescriptionibus uisitare. (163-) EXEMPLUM EPISTOLAE POMPEI. DOMINO MEO BEATTSSIMO BT APOSTOLICO PATRI HORMISDAE ARCHIEPISCOPO UNIUERSALI ECCLESIAE POMPEIUS. SaUCtis bcati- tudinis uestrae precibus omnipotentis dei pietas exorata tantae »o nobis fidei principem condonare dignata est, ut religiosissimis clementiae eius meritis redintegratio pacis ecclesiasticae, quae uotis omnium fidelium poscebatur, iure uideatur esse coUata. in cuius rei prouentu solidissima principatus sui fundamenta 162. Bat. ut ep. 160. Edd. Car. D 497; Bar. ad o. 519, 65; CoUect. Concil.; Thiel 864. 3 prime V: primo Car. archiponti- fici o: arclipontifico V, archipontifico a 4 comes <8alatem> a uene- randa V, corr. cod, Angeltc. 9 ualentes F, corr, 10 bortho- doxorum V 11 uti Thiel: ut hi V, ut Bar. 13 imperabiles F, corr. Bar. 15 uisitari F, corr. Epist. CLXII 1 - CLXim 2. 615 sancti spiritus operatione constituit, quae tantum robur obtinent stabilitatis inuictae, quantum actionis eicellentia unica et admirabilis aestimatur. et ideo reuerendam uestri 2 pontificatus beatitudinem cultu reciprocantis alloquii salutantes quaesumus, ut magis magisque pro clementissimi atque inuictissimi domni nostri principis prosperitate orare dignemini, quatenus ineffabilis omnipotentis dei pietas sua dona, in quibus etiam fructus uestrae agricolationis exuberat, iustis gratiae opitulatione custodiat, nobis quoque filiis uestris spiritali uobis conglutinatis affectu, quos huius operis maxime semper sollicitudo constrinxit, suffragatrix intercessio sancti- monii pontificalis adsistat.