But concerning the one chapter which alone seems to remain, our will might perhaps have agreed to your petition for the sake of the unity of the churches, did we not believe that other scandals would be stirred up against the venerable churches from this matter. Now weigh all things that must be done, for our Clemency judges it grievous that the living should be expelled from the venerable Church for the sake of the dead; nor do we know that the things you write about this can be arranged without much shedding of human blood. Yet, hoping all things from God, you will be able to take better counsel than from those men who, running through the provinces because of their errors, wish there to be discord hostile to the holy Gospels and to the churches.
Therefore provide for the unity of the churches, that it may be pleasing to the supernal Majesty; for whoever opposes us in those things we have spoken of, we know not whether he rightly reproves us. Yet in all things you will be able to know the purity of our will from the account of your legates. And we ask that Your Apostleship deign to pray for us: which we shall be able to know that you do with a willing mind chiefly by this reasoning, if God, with you disposing it, deign to grant us the perfect unity of the churches. For that voice of God commanded and granted a great blessing to those who love Him, when He declared: My peace I give you, my peace I leave with you. (126.) HORMISDAS TO ANASTASIUS AUGUSTUS. THROUGH ENNODIUS AND PEREGRINUS THE BISHOPS.
Some while ago, on the return of the legates of your Meekness, I answered your letters and mandates, not indeed treating of everything fully, as the magnitude of the matter demanded, but touching upon certain points as time allowed. But even had it fallen to me to set forth all things sufficiently, could I, pleading the cause of the faith before your Clemency, be charged with importunity for my repeated entreaties? Let those fear the mark of such ingratitude whose care it is to devote their zeal to worldly affairs! He does not fulfil the work of the Gospel who thinks he may pardonably cease from preaching it. The watchfulness of shepherds must be unsleeping, and their loins girded without relaxation. As the sweet fruit of good admonition is well established, so it is not fitting that there be loathing of it.
And besides, why should anyone say that the frequency of my petition is troublesome to your Meekness, when through the things which are done out of my office, your empire is consulted for by the remedies of the faith? For indeed the care which burdens me relieves you; it lies upon me, but it will profit you; although from diverse seed the fruit of both is one. For just as it is a penalty neither to speak nor to do what is acceptable to God, so there is a sure reward either for him who has preached spiritual things, or for him who has not spurned what he heard. Your Clemency has indeed given, as it were a hostage of your purpose, under the testimony of an imperial address, and has bound yourself as by a certain pledge of good will; but there is need to add firmness to what has been begun.
Let the foundations that have been laid take on their full comeliness; let not the hands that fight for the churches of God be let down: so often did the enemy of Israel fall, as often as Moses did not lower his arms. The completed work commends the finish, the end commends the beginnings; it profits nothing to have begun if one abandons it, for perseverance alone gives salvation to the faith. We bless God, by whose zeal your Piety professes that it wishes to hate and persecute the impious transgressors Nestorius and Eutyches together with their nefarious and sacrilegious doctrines: he proves that he hates vices who condemns the erring, nor does he leave himself room for turning aside who has not spared the transgressor.
The first degree of innocence is to hate the things worthy of blame; but it concerns the truth, my lord son, and Catholic discipline, that you should hate also the followers and partakers of those whose accursed leaders you judge them to be. Not in the condemned alone, that is, in certain fixed names, but also in those who follow the condemned, are crimes to be pursued. In vain does he assert that he turns away from many, who has made exception of one of those judged worthy of detestation; for it is not the number of erring men but the desert of their errors that is regarded. This, therefore, lest your Clemency easily suppose that the person of Acacius is to be passed over.
Is he not that Acacius who, while he joins himself, was plunged into the mire, defiled by the doctrine and communion of Peter, Dioscorus, and Eutyches, undergoing in condemnation the punishment of him whose fellowship in communion he chose? He who man by man hates each of these for their impieties must in them hate Acacius also, and will not love all in Acacius. From him, through the Eastern churches, the leaven of the nefarious error grew rank; thence the pride of Alexandrine perfidy has been nourished to such a point that it does not acquiesce, as you have written, in the salutary commands of him to whose sway it is subject, and in turning away from error does not follow the admonition of him whose power it experiences as useful to itself in the conduct of affairs.
Whence men of this kind should be shunned with the greater detestation, because the things they ought to have taught, they do not even receive when instructed by others, spurning in these matters the counsels of the one who commands, in which they are bidden only not to fear his authority, and, forgetful of devotion against the salvation of the soul, being defiant where they ought to have been so for salvation. These men, with minds gone to ruin, the communion of Acacius joined with the perfidious has nurtured in their daring, and therefore he is to be reckoned in the place of an author, by whose example the more grievously is sin committed. For nothing fosters vices more than imitation, since those things are believed not to be reprehensible to which others also seem to resort. Frail and perishable is mortality; scarcely do wicked thoughts die when they are checked.
Often the noxious seed lies hidden under fear and does not perish; he throws open a wide entrance to offenders who joins consent to wickedness. Would that, most clement emperor, in the very beginnings of apostolic strictness, the Eastern churches had shunned the nefarious contagions of Acacius! That error had not yet spread its noxious poisons through many; the necks of Alexandria, now perhaps erect, would then have fallen, while she recognized her stricken perfidy in the condemnation of her imitator, and saw herself displeasing in her accomplices. But while ill-nourished errors are fostered and the consent of the depraved, which should be corrected, is dissembled by a useless leniency, through the impunity of its followers it has multiplied the evil doctrines of their authors.
And you indeed, if you effectively command the things pleasing to God, commend your purpose even out of another's error; but it must be considered, most clement emperor, whether it suffice him before God to have blamed the errors, to whom He has given the power to correct them. The cure is not to be deferred; let the physician's hands be applied to the deep wounds! Before Acacius, Alexandria alone was foul with the filthiness of her perfidy: behold how many parts the neglected correction has already defiled! How long, my lord son, will you suffer the Church of God to mourn the division of her members? Let your benefits anticipate the sighs about to reach God: take up the care of the faith, and lifting up the standard of salvation to remove errors from Israel, arise like another Hezekiah.
It is granted you to match by the renown of new deeds the titles of the ancients: he cast down the high places, do you bow down the pride of upreared impiety; he broke the images in pieces, do you shatter the hard hearts of the unbelieving; he destroyed the memory of the brazen serpent, do you pour out the venom of the present. Offer to God the right things which He has done, and hope for the gifts which He has deserved. For the Lord is faithful, who renders to each according to their works. It is manifest how great is the expectation of the faithful, how great the trembling of the perfidious: those aspire to rejoice with the angels over those received back; these fear lest, forsaken by those whom they had deceived, they remain for the prepared punishments. The anxious hearts of all hang in suspense.
A legation directed to us from the farthest parts of Gaul, following the report, has consulted whether our solicitude had advanced anything toward the restoration of unity. Nor is the work difficult for Your Clemency: God knows how to succour His own by their labours. It is expedient for subjects to turn their hearts to their princes. The recent example of Marcian, emperor of religious memory, gives the greatest sign of this kind. What did the common crowd or the people do then? There is no need to recall what is noted: that perfidy grew up through the devious, was lulled to rest through the just; imitate in the integrity of your purpose him whom you have equalled in the zeal of civil rule.
To these ends we have directed, to be pleaded with our tears and our prayers, our brothers and fellow-bishops Ennodius and Peregrinus in our stead, also to present an honourable salutation, having especially laid upon the aforesaid man the burden of a second legation, so that he who brought us the beginning of good hope may now, with God as helper, bring back its full accomplishment. Yield, we beseech you, to faithful admonitions, in whose ordinances we have read that you long since took delight. Given on the third day before the Nones of April, in the consulship of Agapitus. (127.) HORMISDAS TO ANASTASIUS AUGUSTUS. THROUGH ENNODIUS AND PEREGRINUS THE BISHOPS.
While I consider the depths of your wisdom, most clement emperor, I do not think that, providing for your own salvation, I am displeasing to you; for neither the divine counsels nor human institutions hold that one who takes counsel for good hope should be blamed with any reprehension, especially since your Piety too professes to burn with the affection of unity and peace. Which matter has compelled me also, both for confidence in your conscience and for the office of the dispensation entrusted to me, not to leave off from the business as it arises.
John my brother and fellow-bishop, the prelate of the city of Nicopolis, following the example of his predecessor Alcison of holy remembrance and of the blessed apostle Peter, sought communion with his synod, having condemned those whom the Church detests. He is now wearied by grievous snares. I entreat your Meekness: withstand those who contrive iniquities, remove the troubles, and cherish him who has been set right, upon whom, that he might set himself right, one ought to have insisted. For those who have delayed shall know that they are to be guilty, when they see that men already returned are cherished by you. I confess, most clement emperor: I marvel at the obstinacy of the plotters, that they are moved by regard neither for God nor for you; for those who hate in a man the zeal of good desire, persecute what they suppose is being judged concerning themselves.
Brought back to right things, they are justly to be blamed if they have not converted those who go astray; there are clear proofs of the faith pledged to you, if you are present for those brought back to unity: which you should devise to be effected with all exhortation. (128.) HORMISDAS TO TIMOTHEUS, BISHOP OF CONSTANTINOPLE. Your Love will not wonder at the reason for my past silence, if he considers all that went before; he will not wonder at my present address, if he weigh what force there is in charity. For we have learned, as the Teacher of the nations teaches, that charity endures all things; and since it does not seek its own, as the doctrine itself contains, not unfittingly, abusing my privilege, I offer what may rather profit you.
For it behoved me to await you set free from the fellowship of the erring, and thus to love you when corrected; to see you divided from those to be disapproved, and thus to embrace you in written discourse. But him whom you wish returned, why do you delay to call, tarrying? Why should not room be given to moderation, when nothing is detracted from equity? Those things are to be expended which profit the labouring, if they do not defile us by the contagion of fellowship. This was the reason for my present letter, that I might exhort, that I might admonish, lest we suffer our land to lie the more negligently unfruitful. The diligent husbandman does not long allow a fruitless tree to occupy the soil; he waits patiently, but does he persist under continuation? When called to saving things, you do not delay;
he does not depart far from innocence who returns to it without delay. Be moved by the admonitions of the Fathers, and treading in the faithful footsteps without lapse or error, wash away the things preceding by those to come. It lies before you now to guide the erring by inciting the peoples to just things, now by supplicating before the imperial footsteps on behalf of the faith, to make firm what is doubtful and to solidify what is wavering. It befits you to provide with great labour, that the right diligence of your action may cover the causes of time past. He indeed does service to his own soul through whom anything is conferred upon the universal Church, and so the matter stands, that if you are zealous, if you press on unwearied, the common cause may become useful to you. Given as above. (129.) HORMISDAS TO ALL THE BISHOPS ESTABLISHED IN THE PARTS OF THE EAST.
Even if the care of my admonition should cease, yet it would befit you, mindful of your own office, not negligently to omit those things which it becomes all earnestly to observe for the salvation of their soul, so that the discipline of the heavenly commandments might appear to be present in you not by another's zeal but by your very own purpose. For although he lacks not praise who complies with good counsels, yet he who forestalls right things is by so much superior in the honour of wisdom to him who follows the ordinances, as it is more illustrious to teach than to learn. Let each one recall in what calling he was called by the Lord, and take heed what is expected of him. It is a wretched thing to lie beneath the desert of one's calling, when that which is set forth in name is not shown in action.
We have merited great things, if we fulfil what the granted favours require. He who rejoices to have been chosen to feed the sheep of the Lord's flock, let him consider the judgment concerning the governance committed to him. Ever-watchful guardianship must be applied, custody must be maintained continually; no place is to be given to ravening wolves, nor is anything to be left to any chances, for the neglected straying of the sheep is the fault of the shepherds. He will come who examines the accounts of the dispensation entrusted. It is agreed indeed that justice belongs to all, and that impunity to sin lies open to none; but who does not know that there are degrees of deserts, and, as the rewards are not equal, so also the punishments are diverse? For those who know, the stripes are multiplied; few scourgings are read of for ignorance.
But if it be so, as it must undoubtedly be judged to be, what ought to be the resolve in him to whom the errors of others also must needs be imputed? The Holy Spirit cries out through the prophet: O shepherds of Israel, do the shepherds indeed feed themselves? Do not the shepherds feed the sheep? It is certain that more is to be exacted from him to whom more is entrusted, and that we become the more liable in proportion as it has befallen us to be honoured with a more abundant grace. The good Master, teaching light through obscure things and truth through the riddles of parables, did not censure the servant of the talent delivered to him, apart from increase, as unfaithful in keeping it, but condemned him as useless.
Whence it is manifest in what fear he ought to be who has lost the Lord's coin, if he was blamed who kept what he received without diminution. Let no one be content with his own innocence, for to our God, who beholds all things, we owe, through the assiduity of preaching, an account of another's purpose as well. Ample knowledge befits the teachers. The Christian faith does not love secrecy; whoever does not pour it forth unto increase, hides it. Through all nations the preaching of the word is enjoined upon the apostles; and how excusably can anyone keep silent about this that is committed to him? What does it profit anyone to preserve reverence for the paternal rules, if he patiently accept that these be shaken by others, if he accept that they be handled without honour?
He shows a weak affection who does not protect what he loves. Everywhere the holy things established are assailed by the perfidious, and again and again wickedness rises up revived from excesses that had been suppressed. How, I ask, does he prove his piety toward God who dissembles such nefarious things? Let us recall with what a concourse of Catholic priests those councils, on which we rely, were learned to have been celebrated! How many did neither infirmity hinder nor burdensome old age retard? The intervals of spacious regions seemed small, and the labours themselves were pleasant as a kind of consolation, while, with the Spirit governing the holy assemblies, wisdom, though the age was raw, received what it might keep.
And though the impious assail him, after the perfidy has been condemned at its root, he keeps silent who knows that it is commanded him: Lift up your voice, you who bring good tidings to Jerusalem; lift it up, do not fear! Did not the teacher of the nations, having this before his eyes, so instruct his disciple, that he should not cease to preach in season and out of season, admonishing: Take heed to yourself and to your teaching, be urgent in these things; for doing this you will both save yourself and those who hear you?
Therefore, whether stirred by the goads of the prophets or trained by the standards of apostolic learning, take up the care of saving preaching; love and defend the judgments that are approved by the devout and hostile to the faithless; and returning to the rock upon which the Church is founded, acquit yourselves also before the spirits of those Fathers whose venerable decrees are being wickedly undermined. Consider, when the Lord shall come to that examination which is awaited, of what sort He was believed to be by the apostles, of what sort He was found to be through the doubting of certain who tempted Him, of what sort He was promised by the announcing angel: whether it is better to be reproved by them or to be joined with their company; whether to confess the Lord as such as He shall appear, or such as He is denied to be by the impious.
Let nothing draw you back from salvation; return to the way with swift steps. A fall does not weigh down him who is rushing, if he rises again. The teaching of the Lord's clemency is generous; the bonds of error are harmful while they hold fast. Justice hates the obstinate; clemency cherishes those who amend. Given on the third day before the Nones of April, in the consulship of Agapitus. (130.) HORMISDAS TO THE ORTHODOX BISHOPS. There is indeed a special solace for the faithful, namely God, and those who have betaken themselves to Him with the whole zeal of their mind never fail amid any hardships whatsoever. Yet I confess that I owe this prayer to your resolve: that just as I exult over the sincerity of your faith, so I may be found worthy to rejoice over the firmness of your constancy.
Whence also, beholding you with my inner gaze, I readily rise up to the desire of conversing with you, that I may both requite your love toward God with a written discourse and confirm your hope with an exhortation on the page, and thus render to those with whom I share the fellowship of holy communion a pleasant testimony of charity. For it does not suffice for my mind to be secure concerning us, unless I also show that affection with which I embrace you. Indeed, he who can love those joined to him declares that he does not out of judgment hate those separated from the love of God. I bless God, therefore, while I consider the fervor of your faith amid the varied storms and the adversities of tempests.
I urge you also with more abundant exultation to glorify His goodness for these things, He who examines the minds of His elect in order to render them more acceptable to Himself, and, though they are known to Him, nevertheless tests them by certain difficulties, so that He may show that justice too is present in the gift which He bestows. And therefore it befits you to press on persistently in your good resolve and not to fail on the way that leads to the kingdoms of heaven. He who beholds the gifts of the Lord's promise, which are beyond estimation, can have no regard for any peril. For the consideration of present evils does not break a man, unless the forgetfulness of future goods overcomes him; since he shuts out all the bitterness of toil who has laid hold of the sweetness of the hope that is awaited.
For what difficulty is equal to blessedness, or what sufferings are worthy in comparison with the rewards, namely with regard to the future glory which shall be revealed in us, as the Apostle proclaims? Far be it that anything should separate us from the love of Christ! How great is the tribulation, if it gives birth to glory? What is thought to be adversity is the stuff of prosperity. While we are bowed down, we are raised up. No one would have the future recompense unless he endured the necessities of present things. See with how great labor the earthly harvest of men rises up: with how great toil, then, must it be procured that the heavenly gifts do not perish? The life of the negligent is at ease, but their substance is not opulent. The workman is worthy to receive the fruit of his wage.
Piety scattered indiscriminately would languish together with impiety, if the examination that is to separate the good from the wicked should cease. A most pleasing spectacle to the Lord is the contest of the just, nor does anything so win for a man the grace from on high as the assaults of adversaries patiently endured. Who would admire soldiers in the security of peace? It is not hard to have set secure footsteps upon dry ground, nor does the calm of the sea display the pilot's art; it is enough to advance undaunted amid wars, not to slip on treacherous footing, to despise the waves in the storm. Let worldly temptation rage and exercise its movements, so long as those who are approved may appear made manifest.
Knowing these things, dearest brethren, hold fast the constancy of your faith, and love even those very perils that beset your service, if they should befall, for the sake of your merits. Proclaim the things you worship, and share throughout the whole world the evangelical commands which you hold. Beyond your own stipend, let the correction of others also be credited to you. Among the enumeration of sins by which the prophet, full of the Spirit of God, wins for himself the divine grace, among those things by which he entreats the mercy whereby he may be preserved, he declares that he teaches the wicked the ways of the Lord, and that the conversion of the impious is brought about through him. Blessed are those to whom a life innocently lived gives its reward; blessed are those through whom an example is also furnished to others.
And we indeed, as far as lies in us, cease neither from solicitude nor from labor, that, imitating the humility which our Lord taught us, we may ask for the things that befit their salvation, so that, while the care of the stewardship committed to me is acknowledged, its offices may be approved. For once again we have sent our brothers and fellow-bishops Ennodius and Peregrinus on a mandated legation, pressing upon them reasoning, exhortations, prayers, and tears, that those separated from the contagion of the impious may betake themselves to the true faith by the same means as you, and to the apostolic decrees—or at least that the world may recognize that we have not been wanting in preaching, but that they have been wanting in their own salvation. (131.) HORMISDAS TO BISHOP POSSESSOR.
Hearing of the most excellent earnestness of your charity, and recognizing the path of right faith which you defend without clamor, we render thanks without ceasing to our God, that you may both persist in that disposition and be able to furnish to others an example for them to follow. These are the heavenly gifts, these are the tokens of the divine bestowal, these are the judgments of God, which have willed that you should not be separated from the catholic fellowship of the priesthood.
Wherefore, dearest brother, we exhort you with these present words, that you persevere in that constancy for which you were chosen, and supply increases to your praiseworthy beginnings; for a good work, especially one pertaining to the doctrine of the faith, unless it always grows, seems to be diminished. And if worldly tribulation should befall, setting the future rewards before our eyes, let us console ourselves with the apostolic admonition, saying: The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the future glory which shall be revealed in us. Yet we hope for better things, because God, who through the blessed Apostle said, «Who has not permitted you to be tempted above what you are able», He Himself, according to His own goodness, will, as ever, deliver those whom He has chosen to be His own from the snares of the adversaries.
We have received your beloved's little book concerning the confession of right faith through our legates returning, and in it we have recognized the sincerity of your fraternity, because you did not delay to proclaim under public attestation what you rightly believe. Given on the third day before the Nones of April, in the consulship of Agapitus. (132.) HORMISDAS TO THE CLERGY, PEOPLE, AND ORTHODOX MONKS RESIDING AT CONSTANTINOPLE. If he who, following the evangelical commands, offers a cup of cold water obtains the reward of his good resolve, the Lord Himself who taught these things repaying him, does not he who has delayed to proclaim the truth to so great a people of the faithful justly incur the penalty of damnation?
Hence it is that, escaping the threat of the heavenly command—which teaches that in the things pertaining to God one must speak and not keep silent—and having also affection for your salvation, I have taken up the admonition of those things which present necessity demands, adjuring all who have a care to preserve the Christian religion with integrity of faith, that they turn away and flee with all the strength they can from those who shrink from the holy Council of Chalcedon and the letters written by blessed Leo concerning the catholic faith; since these are the very men who, polluted by the contagion of Eutyches and Dioscorus of Alexandria—or rather by the nefarious contagion of the Manichaeans—seem indeed in word to have a contest against the decrees of the Fathers, but in deed manifestly rise up against the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Remember, dearest ones, what things were attempted when Basiliscus brooded over the palatine citadel, and the deeds of those times, whether seen by some or heard by others; recall how wicked was then the presumption of Timothy, surnamed Aelurus, how shameless and monstrous, and how great also throughout the whole world was the fervor of your faith that showed itself. The people of Constantinople proved then how purely it befits believers to keep the Christian mysteries. But would that those endeavors had been things of the past, and that the present time did not now demand the like! For again the same heretics lift up their wicked head from the depth in which they were held submerged. And therefore I ask, I exhort, I admonish your beloved charity:
separate yourselves from their councils and communion, remember your former zeal, and show that the light lives within you, the spark of the spiritual fire, lest the cunning of the lost should rejoice to have vanquished the simple affection for the truth within you. And this indeed, as much as pertains to the present necessity and to the caution to be taken against the impious, it shall suffice to have said. But I hope that, if this admonition shall have advanced matters, it will be useful both to me 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. (133.) HORMISDAS TO DOROTHEUS, BISHOP OF THESSALONICA.