Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 1655
Letter of Pope Hormisdas to John II the Cappadocian, bishop of Constantinople carried by Bishops Germanus of Capua and John (of unknown Italian see), the Presbyter Blandus, the Deacons Felix and Dioscorus, AD 519. Letter 52 in the collection of the letters of Hormisdas "Reddidimus quidem" (= letter 150 included in the Collectio Avellana compiled in the second half of the 6th c.).
150. [in Coll. Avell.]
 
The letter is a response to two letters written by Bishop John to Hormisdas (letters 43 and 47 in the collection of the letters of Hormisdas). Hormisdas generally confirms his desire for peace between the Churches of Rome and Constantinople but says that it cannot be achieved without the condemnation of Acacius.
 
7. quapropter salutantes te fraternae caritatis affectu petitionem tuam missis, sicut sperasti, religiosissimis uiris Germano et Iohanne episcopis, Felice diacono, Dioscoro diacono atque Blando presbytero signamus esse completam. hi uero quibus fuerint mandatis instructi, ante allegationes eorum, si cogites, euidenter agnosces. hi pacem tuam sub ea, qua saepe rescripsimus, professione suscipient. imple ergo, frater karissime, gaudium nostrum et tuum ad nos per eos rectae fidei tuae remitte praeconium, ut per te uniuersis detur exemplum.
 
(Text ed. Guenther 1895: 599; summary by M. Szada)
150. [in Coll. Avell.]
 
The letter is a response to two letters written by Bishop John to Hormisdas (letters 43 and 47 in the collection of the letters of Hormisdas). Hormisdas generally confirms his desire for peace between the Churches of Rome and Constantinople but says that it cannot be achieved without the condemnation of Acacius.
 
7. For this reason, greeting you with the feeling of love we recognize that your wish [of peace] is perfect, and we send, as you have hoped, the most religious men, Bishops Germanus and John, the Deacon Felix, the Deacon Dioscorus and the Presbyter Blandus. They have been instructed with instructions which you can clearly learn, if you consider that, from the letters they are equipped with.
 
(summary and translation by M. Szada)

Place of event:

Region
  • East
  • Rome
City
  • Constantinople

About the source:

Author: Hormisdas
Title: Collectio Avellana, Epistulae, Letters
Origin: Rome
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
Hormisdas was a bishop of Rome from 514 until his death in 523. During his pontificate he managed to resolve the Acacian Schism (see the discussion in [1581]) in 519.
 
For a letter to the Emperor Justinus carried by the same legacy see [1653].
 
Collectio Avellana is a collection containing 244 letters issued by emperors, imperial magistrates and popes. The earliest item is dated to AD 367, the latest to AD 553. Hence, the compilator worked most probably in the second half of the 6th century. Two hundred documents of the Collectio are not known from any other collection. The editor of the Collectio, Günther noticed that it can be divided into five thematic parts (Gunther 1896: 3-96; Steinacker 1902: 14-15; Blaudeau 2013: 4) :
1) no. 1-40 is an independent collection making use of the records of the prefecture of the city of Rome concerning two episcopal elections;
2) no. 41-50 that are derived from the records of the bishopric in Carthage, and consist of the letters of Innocentius I and Zosimus;
3) no. 51-55, the late letters of Leo I not known from any other source, regarding the exile of Bishop Timothy II of Alexandria;
4) no. 56-104 the group of letters from the pontificates of Simplicius, Gelasius, Symmachus, John, Agapet, and Vigilius;
5) no. 105-243 the letters from the records of Hormisdas.
 
The modern name of the collection derives from the codex Vaticanus Latinus 4961 copied in the monastery Sancti Crucis in fonte Avellana that was considered the oldest by the brothers Ballerini who edited the Collectio in 1787.
Edition:
O. Guenther ed., Epistolae Imperatorum Pontificum Aliorum Inde ab a. CCCLXVII usque DLIII datae Avellana Quae Dicitur Collectio, Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 35/1, 35/2, Prague, Vienna, and Leipzig 1895
A. Thiel ed., Epistolae Romanorum Pontificum genuinae et quae ad eos scriptae sunt a s. Hilaro usque ad Pelagium II, vol. 1, Brunsberga 1868
Bibliography:
P. Blaudeau, "Un point de contact entre collectio Avellana et collectio Thessalonicensis?”, Millennium Yearbook / Millenium Jahrbuch 10 (2013), 1–12.
O. Guenther, Avellana-Studien, Wien 1896.
O. Guenther, "Zu den Gesta de nomine Acacii”, Byzantinische Zeitschrift 3 (1894), 146–149.
D. Moreau, "Les actes pontificaux comme sources des historiens et des chroniqueurs de l'Antiquité tardive", in: L'historiographie tardo-antique et la transmission des savoirs, ed. P. van Nuffelen, P. Blaudeau,  Millenium-Studien 55, Berlin, Boston 2015, 23-54.
H. Steinacker, "Ueber das älteste päpstliche Registerwesen”, Mitteilungen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung 23 (1902), 1–49.

Categories:

Travel and change of residence
Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος
Ecclesiastical administration - Ecclesiastical envoy
Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior
Relation with - Deacon
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1655, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1655