Hormisda to the Orthodox Bishops:

God is indeed the special consolation of the faithful, and they who have turned to Him with all their hearts never lack for strength, no matter how difficult the circumstances. However, I must admit that I owe this wish to your resolve: as I rejoice in the sincerity of your faith, I also hope to celebrate the firmness of your constancy. Therefore, looking inwardly at you, I am eager to communicate with you, so that I may repay your love for God through a written message and strengthen your hope with a letter of encouragement. In this way, I will offer a joyful testimony of charity to those who share with me in holy communion.

It is not enough for me to be assured in my own mind of our unity unless I also demonstrate the affection with which I hold you. For it is evident that one does not hate those separated from the love of God if he cannot love those who are united. I bless God as I contemplate the fervor of your faith amid various storms and adversities. I also encourage you to glorify His mercy in these things with even greater exultation. For God tests the minds of His chosen ones to make them more acceptable to Him; and although they are already known to Him, He still proves them through certain difficulties to show that righteousness is present in the gift He bestows.

Therefore, it is fitting for you to persistently hold fast to a good resolve and not to falter on the path that leads to the kingdom of heaven. Whoever considers the unmeasurable promises of the Lord’s gifts cannot be swayed by any fear of danger. For the consideration of present sufferings does not break him unless he forgets the future blessings. When the sweetness of expected hope is lost, every bitterness of toil is removed. What difficulty can compare to blessedness? Or what sufferings, according to the Apostle, are worthy of comparison to the glory that will be revealed in us? (Romans 8).

Far be it from us that anything separates us from the love of Christ. What is the measure of tribulation if it brings glory? What is considered adversity is actually the material of prosperity. While we are bowed down, we are lifted up. No one would have a future reward if he did not endure the necessities of the present. See how much effort is involved in earthly harvests. How much more effort should be put into ensuring that heavenly gifts do not perish?

The life of the negligent is quiet, but not enriched with the substance of their desires. The laborer is worthy of receiving the fruit of his wages (Luke 10). Compassion would indiscriminately languish with impiety if the examination that separates the good from the evil were to cease. It is a most pleasing spectacle to the Lord to witness the struggle of the righteous, and nothing so wins divine favor for a man as patiently enduring the assaults of adversity. Who would admire soldiers under the security of peace? It is not difficult to set one’s feet securely on dry ground, nor does calm seas prove the skill of the pilot. It is enough to proceed fearlessly in battle, not to stumble on slippery places, and to despise the waves in a storm.

Let worldly temptation rage and exert its efforts, so that those who are tested may appear evident. Knowing these things, beloved brothers, hold fast to the steadfastness of your faith and love even the dangers, should they arise, that increase your merits. Proclaim what you hold dear and share the evangelical mandates you possess throughout the world. Beyond your own rewards, may the correction of others also be credited to you.

Among the various points listed, through which the prophet, full of the spirit of God, wins divine grace for himself (Psalm 51), and among those by which he pleads for the mercy that preserves him, he proclaims teaching the ways of the Lord to the wicked and converting the impious through himself. Blessed are those whose innocent lives have earned them a reward. Blessed are those by whom an example is set for others.

As for us, as much as it is within us, we do not cease from our concern or our labor to ask for what is appropriate for their salvation, imitating the humility that our Lord taught us, so that the care of the administration entrusted to us may be known and our efforts proven. Thus, we have once again sent our brothers and co-bishops, Ennodius and Peregrinus, with a mandate for a legation, delivering arguments, exhortations, prayers, and tears, urging that they separate themselves from the contagion of the impious and turn to the true faith in the same ways you have done and as the Apostolic See knows. Or, at least, let the world know that it is not we who have failed in preaching, but rather they who have failed their own salvation.

Given under the consulship of the illustrious Agapitus (in the year of our Lord 517).