Hormisdas to Euphemia, the Augusta.

We offer prayers and vows to our God for your safety, not because the devotion of our prayers is invited by your own requests, but because a devoted and persistent commitment to ecclesiastical reconciliation encourages us, along with the assembly of Catholic bishops, to do so without ceasing. For who, separated from heretical conspiracy, would hold himself back? Who would use any other reason for his supplication, except that both you and your most serene consort, the prince, might enjoy a longer life and be nearer to divine grace for the increase of prosperity? You have consecrated the beginnings of a blessed reign by correcting errors and have driven away discord, the friend of the devil, with a peaceful resolve.

Therefore, it is fitting now that you continue in your praiseworthy endeavors and spread a perfect remedy throughout the whole world, for when a greater number of the flock is offered to Christ, it confidently demands a larger reward. Among these things, let it be your concern that Satan, long since overthrown, causes no further wound, but that the unity of communion may be a great support for obtaining justice.

We ask that you finally do what the authority of the most holy canons dictates regarding our venerable brothers and fellow bishops, Helias, Thomas, and Nicostratus, by your decree, so that they may not seem, as if they were the authors of some evil, to have been punished alone in the common joy of all because they were the first to hasten to the unity of the Apostolic See. And that in this laudable action, justice has not been defeated by personal hatred.

Therefore, join your prayers with ours to the most merciful Emperor, so that the reward which the rules of the Fathers direct to be given and preserved for them may not be taken away by hostile opposition.