Letter 85: Part of the papal correspondence surrounding the Acacian Schism (484-519), the major breach between Rome and...

Hormisdas to Justinian, the illustrious. We commend your zeal toward the peace of the Church and toward the condemned errors of heretical contention by the very effects of the deeds themselves; for which work a great and immeasurable reward without doubt awaits you. Hence it is that whatever we have judged necessary for the firmness of the canons and for the reverence of the Apostolic See, we entrust to your greatness, to be carried out at once with secure confidence, because the manifold examples of this kind attest that you receive with great joy the things hoped for in causes of such a sort. Therefore, setting aside in a long circuit the preliminaries, we turn the words of the present page to the matter itself. The Church grieves, and at the great beginning of the longed-for unity she cannot enjoy the gladness that has been granted, on account of the affliction of a single cause; we beseech with no small prayers that your benefits may remove this anxiety from us. For both the present sorrow afflicts us and the occasion, now procured, of future struggles, through which both the rules of the venerable fathers are neglected and the authority of the Apostolic See is thought capable of being despised. For since, by the divine and most merciful prince's benefit, and at the same time by your striving as well, these alone are believed to be bishops and by right to hold their churches, who consent to return to our communion with their errors condemned, our brothers and fellow bishops Elias, Thomas, and Nicostratus, who gave a good beginning to the cause even under a hostile emperor, have not only gained nothing toward their advancement by their good endeavors, but indeed cannot obtain the offices of dignity conferred upon them by the Lord, and, exiled from the flocks committed to them, are compelled to undergo the miseries of the condemned. Wherefore we ask, and through the divine mercy we adjure you, that you bestow upon their cause, which is just, your highest patronage and the affection of proven energy, clinging to the footsteps of the most pious prince, so that he may at last restore them to their churches, both out of regard for piety and in contemplation of justice, because in their humiliation it is asserted by enemies that the desired fellowship of our communion has been displeasing.

HORMiSDA lusTiNiANO iLLusTRi. Studium uestrum erga ecclesiasticam pacem et damnatos haereticae contentionis errores ipsis rerum eflfectibus approbamus; cuius uos operis 2 magna immensaque sine dubio merces expectat. hinc est quod, quicquid pro canonum firmitate et pro apostolicae sedis reue- rentia necessarium duxerimus, magnitudini uestrae secura peragendum protinus praesumptione mandamus, quia cum magno uos gaudio pro causis talibus sperata suscipere multi- plicia huiusmodi eiempla testantur. quare omissis in longa circuitione principiis ad rem ipsam praesentis paginae uerba 3 conuertimus. maeret ecclesia et in magno uotiuae unitatis exordio frui praestita non potest pro unius causae afflictione laetitia: hanc ut nobis soUicitudinem beneficia uesti*a sub- moueant, non paruis precibus exoramus. angit nos enim et praesens dolor et futurorum occasio procurata certaminum, per quam et uenerabilium patrum regulae neglegantur et 4 apostolicae sedis putatur auctoritas posse contemni. nam cum diuino clementissimique principis beneficio sed et uestro simul adnisu hi soli credantur esse pontifices et iure ecclesias continere, qui ad communionem nostram damnatis erroribus redire consentiunt, Heliae Thomati atque Nicostrato fratribus et coepiscopis nostris, qui bonum causae etiam sub aduerso impenitore dedere principium, non solum nihil ad prouectum 1 printipis V Epist. CCVI 5 - CCVIII 3. 667 bona studia profuerunt uerum etiam coUatae sibi a domino obtinere nequeunt officia dignitatis et extorres a commissis sibi gregibus subire coguntur miserias damnatorum. quapropter 5 quaesumus et per diuinam uos misericordiam obtestamur, ut 5 eorum causae, quae iusta est^ summum patrocinium et probatae uiuacitatis impendatis ailectum piissimi principis haerendo uestigiis^ quatenus eos tandem suis ecclesiis et pietatis intuitu et iustitiae contemplatione restituat, quia in illorum contumelia ab inimicis asseritur optatum nostrae communionis displicuisse 10 consortium.