Letter 53: When I read the pages of Your Clemency announcing the restoration of the concord of faith, the mind of the whole...

Hormisdas to Justin Augustus. When we had read the pages of your Clemency, which announced the restored concord of the faith, the joyful mind of the whole Church burst forth into a song of divine praise, in which is sung: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will! In the confidence, therefore, of this hymn, take to yourselves the glory and felicity worthy of faithful deserts. For not human consent alone has raised you, a prince so pleasing to God, to the summit of empire: divine favor had shaped you for itself beforehand and handed over to you the empire of the East, that you might become the instrument of His works; and therefore, that this prophetic saying may rightly apply to you, you accomplish it: You shall appoint them princes over all the earth; they shall be mindful of your name in every offspring and generation. For since it is your purpose to be careful to preserve the Christian peace, who would doubt that you have been chosen by Christ? These are the first foundations of your princely rule: to have appeased God by justice and to have won for yourselves the aids of the most excellent Majesty, while you crush His adversaries as your own enemies. These, beyond doubt, are the greatest foundations of the commonwealth, this its solid and invincible strength. For that cannot be open to human blows which is fortified by the firmness of divine grace. The prophetic scripture is witness to this, for it says: I have chosen David my servant, and with holy oil have I anointed him; for my hand shall help him, and my arm shall strengthen him. But, on the other hand, in vain does he seek arms, in vain does he seek troops for himself, whom the grace from above has abandoned; for it is truly written: Unless the Lord guard the city, in vain do they watch who keep it. You indeed shall wage war secure in divine aid, most excellent prince, and shall bend the necks of the most ferocious peoples under the yoke of your commonwealth, but no victory can be more excellent than that you should overthrow the enemy of the human race after the strongholds he had sought over so long a time. For truly the nature of other battles is marked off by peoples, bounded by regions, polluted by gore: this one embraces the whole human race in its palm, this triumph you shall credit to all regions and, what is nearest to divine piety, those who a little before were rushing on under the devil's leadership are now conquered, to the effect of their own salvation, without the shedding of blood. The triumph of this Christian victory shall therefore endure through the age, for those things cannot be abolished by the lapse of time which are founded on the stability of an everlasting faith; far and wide shall the fame of your deeds remain and, as is designated by the divine utterances, into all the earth their sound went forth, and unto the ends of the world their words. And in other wars indeed you defend fields, cities, towns, or, what is last, the liberty of your subjects, which, prepared for the uses of mortals, must one day be dissolved by a like mortality: in this contest life itself is defended, and in a manner the battle is fought from the citadel of everlasting blessedness. Wherefore so great an undertaking requires the continual intention of the apparatus of your Clemency. Bring it about that the most savage enemy find no shelter whatsoever from which to emerge again; strip him of all his garrisons and, if anywhere any remnant of his tracks is left, cleanse it all away with a merciful remedy. Let every seed of iniquity be plucked up from the roots, let the stock opposed to God be cut back to the quick, lest, being but slightly checked, which God forbid, the poisoned root of iniquity again spread its shoots far and wide. To what end is this? Because there still remains for you the correction of the Alexandrian and Antiochene and other churches, by no means to be neglected, into which if the care of your Clemency lowers itself, there is hope that, by whose authorship we believe all good things to be begun, by the same helper they may speedily be completed. We commend besides the legates sent by the Apostolic See, and we deposit them with your faith and religion. May your Piety so dismiss them, all things being accomplished, that by divine and by your benefits they may bring back to the Apostolic See the full joy concerning the peace of all the churches. These things which we have written, we have transmitted to be presented through Paulinus, defender of the Roman Church, servant of your Piety. Given on the seventh day before the Ides of July, in the consulship of Eutharic.

HORMiSDA lusTiNO AUGUSTO. Lectis clementiae nestrae paginis, quae restitutam fidei concordiam nuntiabant, in diuinae laudis canticura mens totius ecclesiae laeta prorupit, quo canitur: gloria in excelsis deo et in terra pax 2 hominibus bonae uoluntatis! huius igitur hymni fiducia dignam fidelibus meritis gloriam felicitatemque prae- sumite. neque enim te ita deo placitum principem ad imperii uerticem humanus tantum consensus euexit: te sibi diuinus fauor ante formauerat tradiditque tibi Orientis imperium, ut eius operum fieres instrumentum, atque ideo, ut hoc in te propheticum dictum iure conueniat, efficitis: constitues eos principes super omnem terram; memores erunt nominis tui in omni progenie et generatione. etenim cura tibi sit Christianam pacera seruare propositum, 3 quis te dubitet a Christo esse delectum? haec priraa sunt uestri fundamina principatus, deum placasse iustitia et asciuisse uobis excellentissimae maiestatis auxilia, dum aduersarios eius uelut proprios comprimitis inimicos. haec nimirum maxima rei publicae fundamenta sunt, hoc solidum inuictumque robur. neque enim humanis ictibus potest esse peruium, quod 4 est diuinae gi-atiae firmitate uallatum. testis est huic prophe- tica scriptura, ait enim: elegi Dauid seruum meura et in oleo sancto unxi eura; raanus enira raea auxilia- bitur ei et brachium raeura confortabit eum. contra autem frustra arma, frustra sibi copias quaerit, quem gratia 5 Luc. 2, U 12 Psalm. 44, 17 sq. 23 Psalm. 88, 21 sq. dilectum V, corr. Bar. 18 magiestatis V 22 uellatum V 23 et in holeo sancto V: holeo sancto meo a cum Vulgata 25 confortauit F, corr. 0 Epist. CLXVni 2—9. 623 superna destituit; etenim ueraciter scriptum est: nisi dominus custodierit ciuitatem, in uano uigilant qui custodiunt eam. bellabis tu quidem diuino tutus 5 auxilio, excellentissime princeps, et tuae rei publicae iugo 5 ferocissimarum gentium coUa submittes, sed nulla uictoria potest <esse> praestantior, quam quod humani hostem generis post quaesita tam longi temporis firmamenta subuertis. enim- 6 uero ceterorum natura proeliorum distincta gentibus, regionibus t«nniuata, cruore polluta: haec omne genus humanum palma 10 complectitur, hunc omnibus regionibus imputabis triumphum et, quod diuinae proximum pietati est, qui paulo ante ductu diaboli grassabantur, nunc ad propriae salutis effectum sine sanguinis effusione uincuntur. durabit igitur huius Christi- 7 anae uictoriae per aeuum triumphus, neque enim poterunt islabe temporis aboleri, quae in sempiternae fidei stabilitate fuodata sunt; permanebit longe lateque uestrorum fama factorum et, sicut diuinis designatur eloquiis, in omnem terram exiuit sonus eorum et in fines orbis terrae uerba eorum. et ceteris quidem bellis agros urbes oppida 8 to uel, quod postremum est, subiectorum libertatem tueris, quae mor<t>alium usibus comparata simili quondam mortalitate solueuda sunt: in hoc certamine uita ipsa defenditur et quodammodo <de> sempiternae beatitudinis arce pugnatur. quocirca continuam tanti operis apparatus clementiae uestrae 9 25 intentionem requirit. facite, ut nullum prorsus receptaculum, ei quo rursus immanissimus hostis emergat, inueniat; cunctis eum nudate praesidiis et, si quid usquam uestigiorum eius reliquum est, id omne clementi remedio repurgate. omne oeqmtiae germen funditus eruatur, aduersa deo stips ad uiuum 1 Psalm. 126, 1 17 Psalm. 18, 5 2 nanom p cum Vulgata 6 esse tnseruit p 10 importabis Bar. 11 pietatifl F, corr. o 12 effectu F, corr, a 15 sempitema Bar, 16 pennanabit 20 supremum Bar, 21 moralium corr. p quadam Bar. 23 de add. Hartelf pro Car. arche V 28 clementi Temcdio (?) Car.: clementis remedia V 29 eruatur o^: seruatur V de ostips F, earrexi: deo stirps XXXV para 9. 40 624 Honuisda lohanni ConstaiitinopolitaDO usque resecetur, ne minus compressa, quod absit, iniquitatis lOradix ueneuata latius iterum uirgulta diffundat. quorsus haec? quia superest adhuc uobis Alexandrinae atque Anti- ochenae <et> aliarum ecclesiarum nullo modo neglegenda correctio, in quam si se cura clementiae uestrae demiserit, s spes est, quo auctore bona cuncta credimus incipi, eodem llceleriter auxiliatore compleri. commendamus praeterea le- gatos <ab> apostolica sede directos et apud uestram fidem re<li>gionemque deponimus. quos ita perfectis omnibus pietas uestra dimittat, ut diuinis uestrisque beneficiis ad apostolicam lo sedem plenam referant de ecclesiarum omnium pace laetitiam. 12quae scripta per Paulinum Bomanae ecclesiae defensorem, famulum uestrae pietatis, ingerenda transmisimus. Data VII. Id. lul. Eutharico <cons.>