Folio 106

St. Hormisdas, 514-523

printed p. 74 · pdf p. 106

federate and follower, or those who remained in the society of their communion, because Acacius justly merited a sentence in condemnation like theirs in whose communion he mingled. No less do we condemn Peter of Antioch with his followers, and the followers of all mentioned above.

172. Moreover, we accept and approve all the letters of blessed LEO the Pope, which he wrote regarding the Christian religion, just as we said before, following the Apostolic See in all things, and extolling all its ordinances. And, therefore, I hope that I may merit to be in the one communion with you, which the Apostolic See proclaims, in which there is the whole and the true and the perfect solidity of the Christian religion, promising that in the future the names of those separated from the communion of the Catholic Church, that is, those not agreeing with the Apostolic See, shall not be read during the sacred mysteries. But if I shall attempt in any way to deviate from my profession, I confess that I am a confederate in my opinion with those whom I have condemned. However, I have with my own hand signed this profession of mine, and to you, HORMISDAS, the holy and venerable Pope of the City of Rome, I have directed it.

The Canon, Primacy, Councils, Apocrypha1

[From epistle 125 or "Decretal . . . on divine scriptures" in the year 520]

173. Besides those which are contained in the Decretal of Gelasius, [n. 162] here, after the Synod of Ephesus "Constantinopolitana (I)" was also inserted: then was added: But even if any councils thus far have been instituted by the holy Fathers, we have decreed that after the authority of those four they must be both kept and received.

The Authority of St. Augustine

[From the epistle "Sicut rationi" to Possessor, August 13, 520]2

173a. 5. Yet what the Roman, that is the Catholic, Church follows and preserves concerning free will and the grace of God can be abundantly recognized both in the various books of the blessed Augustine, and especially [in those] to Hilary and Prosper, but the prominent chapters are contained in the ecclesiastical archives and if these are lacking there and you believe them necessary, we establish [them], although he who

  1. Th 932; Jf 862; ML 69, 166. This "Decretum HORMISDAE" he contends is a repetition and adaptation of the "Decretum Damaso-Gelasiani" (n. 162 ff.) Th. 51. ↩

  2. ACOec T. IV, vol. II 46; CSEL 35, 700; ML 63, 493 A; Jf 850; Msi VIII 500 A. ↩