Pope Saint Hormisdas (died in 523)

The pope who closed thirty-five years of rupture

The Acacian schism begins in 484, when Felix III condemns Patriarch Acacius of Constantinople. Acacius had received Peter Mongus of Alexandria into communion on the basis of the Henotikon, an imperial formula which sought to pacify the East by leaving Chalcedon in the shadows.^[11] The rupture continues under Gelasius I, Anastasius II and Symmachus; it is resolved only under Hormisdas, with Emperor Justin I and Patriarch John of Cappadocia.

The stakes must be measured. In 519, this is not a matter of diplomatic politeness between two capitals. It is about restoring a liturgical communion broken for thirty-five years, and doing so by naming the real causes of the rupture: the compromises around the Henotikon, the practical omission of Chalcedon, the names kept in the diptychs, and the imperial claim to settle the faith by political balancing.^[12]

A pope formed by the Laurentian schism

Hormisdas had been a deacon under Symmachus during the Laurentian crisis. Treccani presents him as one of Symmachus's faithful and as a man of weight in the Roman Church before his election.^[13] This formation matters: he had seen at close hand how an election crisis, an aristocratic party, royal pressure and Eastern ambiguity could tear Rome apart.

His first care, once elected, is to absorb the last remnants of the Laurentian schism.^[14] Before reconciling Constantinople, he puts his own house in order in Rome. The chronology is spiritually fitting: one does not heal the unity of the East while leaving one's own local Church in a half-peace.

The Formula of Hormisdas in the history of the Roman primacy

The Formula of Hormisdas is one of the most cited ancient texts in the history of the Roman primacy. New Advent recalls that it was mentioned several times at the First Vatican Council.^[15] Denzinger places it at numbers 363-365, in the section devoted to the profession of faith against Christological errors.^[16]

The text does not yet define the pontifical primacy in the language of Vatican I. But it gives an ancient testimony, public and received in the East: the return to communion passes through agreement with the Apostolic See, through the condemnation of the names separated from that communion, and through the confession that the Catholic faith has been kept without stain at that see.^[17]

"The Catholic religion has always been kept without stain at the Apostolic See." — Formula of Hormisdas, Libellus fidei, Denzinger 363; in Latin: "quia in sede apostolica immaculata est semper Catholica conservata religio" (text quoted by the Catholic Encyclopedia)^[18][19]

Holy See, Catholic Encyclopedia and Britannica

The official list of the Holy See gives the basic dates: Hormisdas begins his pontificate on 20 July 514 and dies on 6 August 523.^[20] Britannica keeps the same broad markers and sums up his role in one sentence: he reunited the Eastern and Western Churches separated since the Acacian schism.^[21]

The Catholic Encyclopedia by Johann Peter Kirsch provides the most useful narrative account: origin in Frosinone, earlier marriage, son who became pope, diaconate under Symmachus, peaceful election, negotiations of 514-517 under Anastasius I, success of 519 under Justin I, conflict of the Scythian monks, question of Faustus of Riez, role of Dionysius Exiguus and burial at Saint Peter's.^[22]

Treccani and modern criticism

The notice by Teresa Sardella in the Enciclopedia dei Papi is valuable because it qualifies the account of the Liber Pontificalis. It notes for example that the initial move to resume discussions with Rome came from Emperor Anastasius, whereas the Liber Pontificalis attributes it to the pope.^[23] It also gives a more precise dossier on the diaconal career of Hormisdas, his role in the synod of 501 (see below the 501/502 dating divergence), his link with Ennodius of Pavia and the question of a possible designation by Symmachus.^[24]

This nuance does not weaken Hormisdas. It merely avoids writing a simplified hagiography. The pope did not launch everything alone; above all he knew how to respond to a political and ecclesial opening, and then impose the doctrinal conditions which turned a diplomatic opportunity into a genuine Catholic reconciliation.

Liber Pontificalis and Denzinger

The Liber Pontificalis gives a very favourable image of Hormisdas: peace of the Church, condemnation of Acacius, welcome of the gifts coming from the East, restoration of Catholic Africa, burial at Saint Peter's.^[25] It must be read with caution, for the notice contains shortcuts and staging errors, notably on certain details of the embassy of 519.^[26]

Denzinger gives the essential doctrinal text: the Formula of Hormisdas is translated there into French, numbered (363-365) and integrated into the Catholic dogmatic tradition.^[27]

Frosinone, Justus and Silverius

Hormisdas is born at Frosinone (Frusino), in the Roman Campagna (Latium), son of Justus according to Treccani and the Liber Pontificalis.^[28][29] The ancient notices do not give his date of birth, which remains unknown: Britannica states "born, Roman Campania — died Aug. 6, 523" without a year, and Treccani ("Nacque a Frosinone, figlio di Giusto") gives none.^[30][31]

His family life is unusual for the modern reader: Hormisdas had been married before receiving major orders. His son Sylvère would become pope from 536 to 537, in a much darker context, marked by the pressures of Byzantium and the Gothic troubles.^[32][33] Treccani specifies that Silverius is the author of the paternal epitaph, in which he celebrates the healing of the interior schism, the submission of Greece and the African restoration.^[34]

Deacon under Symmachus

Hormisdas appears as a deacon of the Roman Church under Symmachus. Treccani notes that he does not appear at the synod of 1 March 499 among the seven deacons present, which suggests a diaconal consecration at a later date; on the other hand, he is present at the Roman synod of 6 November 501 according to Treccani.^[35] The same session — the invalidation of the act of Prefect Basilius of 483 — is dated 6 November 502 by the Catholic Encyclopedia, the dating followed in the companion article on saint Symmaque: both datings coexist in the sources.^[36]

This synod examines a scriptura of 483, dating from the transition between Simplicius and Felix III, which claimed to regulate the pontifical election with aristocratic intervention. Hormisdas reads there the document submitted for discussion.^[37] This biographical detail matters: before becoming the pope of the great reconciliation, Hormisdas is already a man of the chancery, of procedure, of juridical reading and of canonical discernment.

An untroubled election

Symmachus dies on 19 July 514. The day after the funeral of Symmachus — 20 July 514 according to the Holy See and New Advent —, Hormisdas is elected and consecrated pope; a few secondary sources give 21 July.^[38] The Liber Pontificalis nevertheless counts seven days of vacancy of the see after the burial, a figure taken up in the article on saint Symmaque: it is a formulaic clause that the Liber repeats after many notices, and Treccani decides for 20 July by explicitly correcting the old tradition which gave the 27th.^{[39][40][41][42]} New Advent stresses that no division or agitation is reported at his election.^[43] After the chaos of 498, this silence is almost an event in itself.

This peaceful election allows the new pope to work quickly. The recovered Roman peace gives him the authority needed to speak to Constantinople without appearing weakened by a local conflict.

Reconciling Rome before Constantinople

The Laurentian schism, born of the double election of 498 between Symmachus and Laurentius, is not completely extinguished at the death of Symmachus. Hormisdas receives into the Church those of the partisans of Laurentius who had not yet been reconciled.^[44]

The gesture is nothing spectacular, but it reveals a pastoral line. Hormisdas is not only a pope who imposes signatures. He is also a pope who reintegrates. The same hand which asks the Easterners to condemn Acacius receives the last Roman dissidents when they return.

The memory in the epitaph

The epitaph composed by Silverius sums up the paternal pontificate in three healings: the Roman body torn by schism, Greece brought back to the obedience of the faith, and Catholic Africa restored after the Vandal persecution.^[45][46]

Three healings, three dates: Hormisdas first heals the Roman wound (514), then the Eastern wound (519), then receives the good news of the African wound on the way to healing (523).

The Henotikon and the omission of Chalcedon

The Henotikon of Zeno, published in 482, sought to bring together the Chalcedonian and anti-Chalcedonian circles of the East. It confessed Nicaea and Constantinople, condemned Nestorius and Eutyches, but passed over the Chalcedonian definition of the two natures in silence and named Chalcedon only in an ambiguous anathema clause: "Who thinks otherwise, either now or formerly, either at Chalcedon or at any other synod, is anathematized" (Evagrius, Ecclesiastical History, III, 14).^[47][48] For Rome, this omission was impossible: when a truth is contested, to keep silent about it is to weaken it.

Acacius of Constantinople, by supporting this compromise and receiving Peter Mongus of Alexandria, becomes the name of the rupture. Felix III condemns him in 484; the rupture then continues under his successors — Gelasius I, Anastase II, whose conciliatory letter to the emperor on the baptisms conferred and the ordinations performed by Acacius appears in Denzinger (356-357), without rehabilitation of the patriarch, then Symmachus.^[49][50]

Anastasius I and Monophysite pressure

At the arrival of Hormisdas, Emperor Anastasius I still maintains the Henotikon. New Advent describes him as increasingly inclined towards Monophysitism and as persecuting the bishops who refuse to repudiate Chalcedon.^[51] Chalcedonian patriarchs, notably Macedonius of Constantinople, Elias of Jerusalem and Flavian of Antioch, are deposed or driven out.^[52]

The crisis is therefore not a quarrel of protocol between popes and patriarchs. It touches the very confession of Christ: true God and true man, in two natures without confusion or separation.

Vitalian: a revolt with a religious motive

The general Vitalian, in Lower Moesia, rises up against Anastasius. His demands are not only political: he asks for the recognition of Chalcedon and the restoration of unity with Rome.^[53] Under this pressure, Anastasius promises a synod at Heraclea and invites the pope.

Hormisdas then finds himself facing a complex situation. The call for peace comes partly from an emperor who plays for time, partly from a military leader who puts pressure on him. The pope must take advantage of the opening without becoming the instrument of a party.

The two imperial letters

Anastasius writes to Hormisdas on 28 December 514 to invite him to the synod of Heraclea planned for the following 1 July; another letter, less courteous, dated 12 January 515, more vaguely asks for his good offices.^[54] The second letter reaches Rome before the first, which makes the dossier even more confused.

Hormisdas replies on 4 April 515, rejoicing at the possibility of peace while defending the memory of his predecessors.^[55] He does not present himself as a negotiator without a heritage. He comes in the name of a continuous Roman line: Felix III, Gelasius, Symmachus.

The embassy of 515

Hormisdas gathers a synod at Rome and sends an embassy to Constantinople: Ennodius of Pavia, Fortunatus of Catina, the priest Venantius, the deacon Vitalis and the notary Hilarius.^[56] He attaches precise instructions and the profession of faith to be signed.

This method matters. The pope does not content himself with sending general words about unity. He sends legates, instructions and a text. Unity must be visible, written, signed, liturgically verifiable in the diptychs.

The imperial manoeuvres of 516-517

The embassy produces no real result. Anastasius plays for time, then tries to isolate Hormisdas by writing to the Roman Senate to push the senators against the pope.^[57] New Advent reports that the Senate and King Theodoric remain faithful to the pontiff.^[58]

A second Roman embassy, led by Ennodius and Peregrinus of Misenum, fares no better. Anastasius is said to have tried to corrupt the legates; instead they seek to circulate secretly the pontifical letters calling for unity with Rome. The emperor has them escorted out of the city and the matter returns to deadlock.^[59]

In July 517, Anastasius breaks off the negotiations with an insolent letter.^[60] Peace has not yet come. But the Roman text is already circulating; bishops of Scythia, Illyricum, Dardania and Epirus enter into relation with Rome and sign the confession of Hormisdas.^[61]

A brief and decisive text

The Libellus fidei sent on 11 August 515 gives the doctrinal backbone of the reconciliation.^[62] It begins with the rule of faith, quotes Mt 16:18, affirms the faith kept without stain at the Apostolic See, then asks for the condemnation of the great names associated with the Christological errors: Nestorius, Eutyches, Dioscorus, Timothy Aelurus, Peter of Alexandria — Peter Mongus, not to be confused with Saint Peter of Alexandria the martyr —, Acacius and Peter of Antioch — Peter the Fuller.^[63][64]

The text has two functions. It first reaffirms the Christological faith of Chalcedon. It then restores a legible ecclesial communion: those who are not in agreement with the Apostolic See will no longer be read in the holy mysteries.^[65]

Chalcedon and the Apostolic See

The formula does not oppose Chalcedon to Rome. It says, word for word, that the word of Mt 16:18 "is proved by the facts; for the Catholic religion has always been kept without stain at the Apostolic See", and the signatory declares therein that he follows "the holy synod of Chalcedon".^[66] To read in it a function of confirmation of the See of Peter in the faith — a primacy at the service of the confession of Christ, not an administrative prestige — is the reading of this article, not a sentence of the Formula.

"Following in all things the Apostolic See and preaching all that it has decreed, I hope to deserve to be in the one communion with you which the Apostolic See preaches." — Formula of Hormisdas, Denzinger 365^[67]

This sentence explains why the formula is so strong for Catholic apologetics. The Eastern bishop who signs it does not only declare that he holds Chalcedon: he also declares that he returns to the communion which the Apostolic See preaches.

The diptychs: communion made visible

The formula promises that the names of those who are separated from the communion of the Catholic Church, that is, who are not in agreement with the Apostolic See, will not be read during the holy mysteries.^[68]

For a modern reader, this may seem a matter of lists. For the ancient Church, it is decisive. The diptychs were the liturgical language of communion: to name someone at the altar was to say that he was in communion. The end of the schism therefore requires a public correction of the prayer.

Anastasius dies, Justin I opens the door

Anastasius dies on 9 July 518. His successor Justin I is orthodox, favourable to Chalcedon.^[69] Patriarch Timothy, hostile to Rome, has died shortly before; the people of Constantinople want the new Patriarch John to condemn the Monophysite heresy, recognise Chalcedon and restore unity with Rome.^[70]

A Constantinopolitan synod supports this direction. The emperor, Justinian and the patriarch then ask the pope to come or to send legates to restore unity.^[71]

The Roman legates at Constantinople

Hormisdas sends a new embassy: Bishops Germanus and John, the priest Blandus, Deacons Felix and Dioscorus, and the notary Peter.^[72] The instructions and the confession of faith are the same as those of 515. The change therefore does not come from Rome, but from Constantinople: this time, the Roman conditions are received.

The Liber Pontificalis stages a triumphal reception of the legates by orthodox monks, dignitaries and the imperial authorities.^[73] Its details must be read with the corrections of Loomis and Duchesne, but the essential point is clear: the Roman mission arrives in a city where the doctrinal balance of power has changed.^[74]

28 March 519, Maundy Thursday

On 28 March 519, Maundy Thursday, in the cathedral of Constantinople, the reconciliation is solemnly ratified. New Advent reports that the demands of the pope are conceded: the names of Acacius, Zeno and Anastasius are removed from the diptychs, and Patriarch John accepts the formula of Hormisdas.^[75]

The Liber Pontificalis sums up the event in an almost liturgical sentence: harmony spreads from East to West and the peace of the Church prevails.^[76]

"There was harmony from the East to the West, and the peace of the Church prevailed." — Liber Pontificalis, notice on Hormisdas^[77]

A victory of clarity, not of humiliation

It would be wrong to read 519 as a humiliation of the East by the West. Peace is requested by Constantinople, supported by the orthodox emperor, carried by Eastern monks and bishops who want Chalcedon.^[78] But it would be equally wrong to present it as a vague compromise. Rome does not lower its demands: the formula is signed, the diptychs are corrected, Acacius is condemned.

True Catholic peace is neither political domination nor diplomatic vagueness. It is communion in a named faith.

The Scythian monks and the Theopaschite formula

Shortly after the reconciliation, a new controversy arises around the formula: "One of the Trinity was crucified." Scythian monks, with John Maxentius, want to have this formula inserted as an explicit dogma.^[79] The formula can be understood in an orthodox way: it is indeed the Word, a divine person, who suffered in the assumed flesh. But it can also be misinterpreted if it seems to transfer suffering to the divine essence itself.

Hormisdas decides on 26 March 521 by his letter Inter ea quae to Emperor Justin (Denzinger 367-369; Collectio Avellana 236-237). According to the Treccani notice, "la formula dei monaci andava rigettata per incompatibilità del teopaschismo con le definizioni di Calcedonia" — the formula of the monks had to be rejected for the incompatibility of Theopaschism with the definitions of Chalcedon.^[80][81] New Advent (Kirsch) reads the same decision differently: the formula would not be false in itself, only dangerous through a possible interpretation, Chalcedon having no need of addition.^[82] Both readings coexist — rejection of an addition judged incompatible, or prudent refusal of an inopportune clarification — and this article does not decide between them.

In both cases, the gesture is the same: after having demanded a clear formula to emerge from schism, Hormisdas refuses to add a new one in 521.

The objection then remains open: how could a pope have set aside a formula that a council would define? It closes in two stages. First, Hormisdas sets aside only an addition, not the doctrine: his own letter to Justin already confesses the Son of God suffering on the cross (Denzinger 369, paraphrase).^[83] Then, the formula was received and then defined: John II, by his letter Olim quidem to the senators of Constantinople (March 534, Denzinger 401-402: "That Christ is truly one of the holy Trinity…", "God suffered in the flesh"), then the Second Council of Constantinople, canon 10 (2 June 553, Denzinger 432: "he who was crucified in the flesh, our Lord Jesus Christ, is true God, Lord of glory and one of the holy Trinity").^[84]

Faustus of Riez and the doctrine of grace

The African bishop Possessor questions Hormisdas on the attitude to adopt towards Faustus of Riez, some of whose writings were suspected of Semi-Pelagian tendencies — the current according to which the first step towards God would come from man alone, grace merely following.^[85] The reply of the pope is firm: Kirsch notes that he "severely rebuked the quarrelsome spirit of these monks"; without forbidding the reading of Faustus, he decides that what agrees with right faith is admitted and what departs from it is abolished.^[86][87]

"Whether it be an interpretation, a preaching or a word composed for the edification of the people: if it agrees with right faith and sound doctrine, it is admitted; if it departs from it, it is abolished." — Hormisdas, letter Sicut rationi to Possessor, 13 August 520; in Latin: "sive interpretatio seu praedicatio seu verbum pro populi aedificatione compositum, si cum fide recta et doctrina sana concordat, admittitur, si discordat, aboletur" (Collectio Avellana 231)^[88]

Denzinger also preserves, under Hormisdas, passages on the authorities in matters of grace, notably the support on the writings of Saint Augustine.^[89] Here again, the pontificate is not reduced to Constantinople: it also touches the Latin discernment on grace, Augustine and the post-Pelagian controversies.

Dionysius Exiguus and the Greek canons

Hormisdas has Dionysius Exiguus prepare a Latin translation of the canons of the Greek Church.^[90] The detail is discreet, but it is symbolic: in the aftermath of the reconciliation, the Latin Church needs to know the Greek conciliar law better.

Dionysius Exiguus would become famous for other chronological and canonical works. Under Hormisdas, he already appears as a bridge between East and West, not through doctrinal relativism, but through the ordering of the sources.

The end of the Vandal persecution in Africa

Towards the end of the pontificate, Hormisdas learns of the death of Thrasamund, Vandal king of North Africa, in May 523. New Advent reports that the severe persecution against the Catholics then ceases.^[91] The Liber Pontificalis presents the event as the restoration of the African episcopate after a long period of heretical domination.^[92]

This fact resonates with the whole series of the popes of late Antiquity. Since the Vandals, Catholic Africa, land of Cyprian, Augustine and so many bishops, has been wounded. Hormisdas therefore receives, at the end of his life, the news of a Western liberation while he has already restored the Eastern communion.

Letters to Spain and Gaul

Hormisdas also writes to several bishops of Spain and Gaul on questions of ecclesiastical administration.^[93] These letters belong to the ordinary government of the Roman See: discipline, relations between bishops, reception of texts, correction of abuses.

The greatness of a pontificate is not measured only by its principal event. Hormisdas is famous for 519, but he also governs, for nine years, a scattered Latin Church, whose provinces seek Roman decisions in concrete dossiers.

Theodoric, Justin and the gifts to Saint Peter's

The relations of Hormisdas with Theodoric remain friendly according to New Advent.^[94] The Liber Pontificalis mentions precious gifts made to Saint Peter's by Theodoric and by Justin, as well as liturgical objects coming from the East.^[95]

These gifts have a political and liturgical meaning. After the rupture, the East does not return only through a signature; it also sends material signs of communion to the tomb of Peter.

6 August 523

Hormisdas dies in Rome on 6 August 523 and is buried at Saint Peter's.^[96][97] Treccani notes that his name, absent in Bede, is added in the martyrology of Ado and then in the Roman Martyrology on 6 August.^[98]

His successor Jean I immediately receives a difficult pontificate. The Eastern peace of 519 does not remove the political tensions between Theodoric, an Arian, and Emperor Justin, an orthodox: a doctrinal victory there opens a new political crisis.

What the Formula left behind

The Formula of Hormisdas left three legacies. First, it fixes the reception of Chalcedon against the Monophysite compromises. Second, it gives an ancient testimony on the place of the Apostolic See in the preservation of the faith. Finally, it recalls that ecclesial communion is not a vague feeling: it passes through names, signatures, anathemas, diptychs and a reconciled liturgy.

This density explains why the text is still quoted in Catholic debates on the Roman primacy. But it must be used with rigour: it is not Vatican I in 519; it is a profession of faith for emerging from schism, in ancient vocabulary, in a precise Christological context.

What to retain

Saint Hormisdas is the pope of peace recovered, but of a peace harshly clarified. He does not reconcile Constantinople through vague flexibility; he reconciles through a profession of faith, through the condemnation of the Acacian ambiguities, through the correction of the diptychs and through the recognition of the role of the Apostolic See. His greatness lies in having understood that thirty-five years of rupture are not healed by a weak formula.

He also remains a pope of prudence. Faced with the Scythian monks, he refuses in 521 to add their formula to Chalcedon — rejection motivated by incompatibility with Chalcedon according to Treccani, by the danger of a false interpretation according to Kirsch —, while the doctrine itself would be received by John II and then defined by Constantinople II. Faced with Faustus of Riez, he asks to keep the good and reject the error. Faced with the Laurentian remnants, he reintegrates. This unity of firmness and measure makes him a deeply Catholic figure: truth is not brutality, peace is not vagueness.

• Pope Saint Symmachus — predecessor of Hormisdas, marked by the Laurentian schism and the defence of the freedom of the Roman see.
• Pope Saint Felix III — the pope who condemns Acacius in 484 and juridically opens the Acacian schism.
• Pope Saint Gelasius I — defender of the Roman primacy and of the distinction between priestly authority and imperial power.
• Council of Chalcedon — the Christological definition which the Henotikon sought to leave in the shadows.
• The heresies of the early centuries — doctrinal context of Nestorianism, Eutychianism and Monophysitism.
• Pope Saint John I — successor of Hormisdas, sent to Constantinople by Theodoric in a crisis between Arian power and the orthodox empire.