Hormisdas, Bishop, to the Priests, Deacons, and Archimandrites of Second Syria, and to all the orthodox, wherever they may dwell in the Eastern climate, who remain in communion with the Apostolic See.

After reading your letters, in which the madness of the enemies of God and the stubborn fury of the unbelievers are revealed, showing how they persecute His members with impious hatred, I gave thanks to God for preserving the faith of His soldiers amid adversity. But again, considering the turmoil in the churches and the hardships and labors of God’s servants, I cried out, with the prophet aiding my groans: “Arise, Lord, judge your cause, remember the insults from the senseless throughout the day” (Psalm 73:22), gladly adding these further words: “Do not forget the voice of those who seek you; the pride of those who hate you rises always to you.”

For just as it is necessary for us to preserve the stability of faith, it is also inappropriate to doubt the fairness of divine judgment. This, brothers, is not a new trial for the Church, and yet, while humbled, it is raised up, and through what seems to be its destruction, harm is avoided. It benefits the faithful of God to gain the life of souls through the death of their bodies. Though they lose what is perishable, they purchase what is eternal, and while persecution opens the way for trial, the trial becomes a cause of merit. The foolish and blind do not know that those they think they can take from the society of men, they actually lead to the kingdom of God.

Herein lies joy amid dangers and the zeal for suffering; for the Master, who is the giver of great rewards, expects the struggles of His servants. For who would not be crushed by evil if adversity were not comforted by the prospect of rewards? It is that hope which prevents despair; it removes the bitterness of tribulations with the sweetness of virtues.

Who regards present things as great, knowing how to value what is to come? Who refuses to sacrifice the life of the body when considering what is to be received? Persist, beloved, maintaining unshaken faith with firm courage of spirit. Perseverance gains praise, which is salvation and the palm of the righteous. We are called to great things for which we are unworthy; let weakness not delay, for He who calls is a faithful rewarder and a strong helper.

Do not be deceived by the hope of prosperity or comfort; do not expect ease. Our Lord promised rewards, not rest. Glory does not align with quietness. What room will there be for reward if there is no pursuit of virtue? The gate is narrow, but the kingdoms are vast; the entrance is for a few, but for those who are proven.

Did He not speak these words beforehand to those He taught: “They will persecute you and flog you in their synagogues” (Matthew 15)? By patience, as it is written, “we possess our souls” so that we do not grieve for their loss through impatience. Our Lord, who ascended the cross and is the teacher of patience, went up first to instruct those He would help by His example.

He maintains the balance between virtues and labors, standing against the venom of raging enemies, so that according to the persecutions’ fury, He gives them the crowns of eternal rule. Consider the steadfastness of the people in the ancient account of the Maccabees, whom the old history recounts with such persistent praise, and how Judas and that ultimate phalanx of the faithful were honored in death.

For maintaining the law, those examples and types of future virtues deserved such praise: we have seen, touched, and proven whom we are to follow in our fathers. What should not be returned to truth which ought not to be denied to the truth itself? What is not owed to the Redeemer?

I have willingly shared these doctrines with you. As the wisest Solomon says, “Blessed is he who preaches the word in the ear of one who obeys” (Eccli. 25): it is a joy indeed to address the willing and to exhort those who do not resist to the right path. We hold the pledge of your faith; under the declaration of your letters, in which, divided from the contamination of the transgressors, you return to the doctrines and commands of the Apostolic See, though you entered the path of truth late; blessed be God, who does not forget to the end, who reproves and heals, nor does He continually permit the sheep of His flock to be torn by the rapacity of wolves lying in wait, who, by the restraint of strictness, does not neglect the correction of His own nor their salvation.

But what wonder if the clever, bloody, and rapacious enemy disturbed the sheep dispersed, having left that one true shepherd? Those who abandon His protection expose themselves to dangers, by which they are slaughtered. Therefore, now at least, walk firmly on the path of the Fathers to which you have returned: God’s mercy will be able to ascribe the correction of others to your reward if they are led back to righteousness by you. But altogether pull yourselves away from the mire in which the heretics are held immersed, and, shaking off the impurity of the clinging dust, with religious detestation condemn generally all who deviate from the apostolic doctrines.

There is no communion between darkness and light (1 Cor. 6); nor do those who walk on the right paths join their steps with the error of those who go astray. The bond of faith must be maintained, and contamination from the company of the treacherous must be avoided; for according to the Apostle, just as he who is united to the Lord is one spirit with Him, so he who is united to a prostitute becomes one body with her (ibid.). Virtues love their own company: impiety, adhering to its own, drags others with it into the depths. Before your eyes, in your minds, in your words, and in your hands are the doctrines of the Fathers which we command to be kept. Daily the revered councils bind us to their preservation.

To go through everything individually would take too long: the Council of Chalcedon, in which all reverence is contained, and the decrees of the venerable Leo, brought forth from the very heart of the Apostles, both should be known and defended by us. In these is the banner of faith, in these is the defense of truth: in these, Christ is recognized; in these, the hope and cause of our redemption are preserved. This is what we read in the Apostle (1 Cor. 5): the foundation upon which whoever builds with wood, hay, or stubble to be consumed by fire deceives himself.

These synods have destroyed the poison of Eutyches and Nestorius, for while they strive against each other in disputation contrary to the saving mystery of the Lord’s dispensation, they agree in a kind of equality of sacrilege, different in their teachings but united in impiety. One, not willing to acknowledge that the Blessed Virgin Mary is the Mother of God, divides what is united in our Lord; the other, confusing the distinct and proper natures, extinguishes the mystery of our redemption. One touches the sect of Photinus, the other the madness of Mani with impious contamination.

Against these heretics, dearly beloved brothers, defend the remedies provided with the courage of spirit you see the heretics fighting against the ruin of their impiety. Let not the assertion of truth be sluggish. With what zeal should salvation be cherished, seeing how death-bringing destruction is so loved?

Be ashamed of asserting the laws of truth sluggishly when errors are so stubbornly defended. The synodal decrees indeed follow the inventors of evil, whom we have mentioned, with just condemnations; but we also admonish you equally to avoid their followers, whom the Apostolic See has discovered to be equal to their authors and has joined to those condemned — Timothy the Parricide, Dioscorus, and Peter of Alexandria, Acacius of Constantinople, with their followers. Also, Peter of Antioch, like the one mentioned before, both in error and in name, and Severus of the same place, and Xenia of Hieropolis, and Cyrus of Edessa, Peter of Apamea, not only for their own condemnation but also for the condemnation of others.

These, who continually entangle themselves in the filth of their opinions, have polluted others as well by teaching what they have learned wrongly. By the health-giving authority of this general command, I admonish you: Whatever is offered against the rules of the Fathers from any commentary, reject it. Let no one be disturbed by incongruent commands or new regulations. If they are worldly, they cannot hold churches because it is more fitting for them to learn than to teach.

It is an abomination to introduce foreign offerings to holy altars because God established specific religious boundaries among His servants from the very beginning of worship, dividing the duties between Levites and His people. There is a different authority for men, and different ministries for priests (Luke X): he who brought foreign fire into the holy precincts of sacred rites provoked the Lord rather than placated Him. Who can arrogate to himself the authority of issuing commands in matters of others when it is not doubtful that the honor due to the offerer is punished solely for the presumption of duty?

Ozia would have remained in the royal dignity and administration (II Par. XXVI) if, warned by the example of such destruction and religious decrees, he had more prudently refrained from what he assumed or governed with better humility; but while, as a stubborn profaner, he did not cease despite the warnings of the temple priests, he lost the altars and the functions of his kingdom amidst the very abhorrence of leprosy while seizing the ministries of the priesthood.

Therefore, let them know that what is taken from His commands by the presumptuous is not acceptable to God when the penalty of ignominy preserved one for the manifestation of a living sentence, while others were consumed by swift flames. If there are things covered with some pretense of religion, they cannot have strength while opposing such authorities. The Apostle Paul cries out, “If anyone preaches to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1). Nor is it enough that he said this once; he repeats the saving command: “As we have said before, now I say again, if anyone preaches to you a gospel contrary to what you have received, let him be accursed.”

Therefore, let anyone who follows apostolic discipline uphold the sentence given for the preservation of faith. Indeed, we have not failed in our care; for with a twofold mission of legation, we have presented what is humble in prayers, what is reasonable in arguments, what is healthful in commands. But should the way of justice be neglected? Those who love their errors, since unfaithfulness loves its errors, should perish without our contamination if they do not turn from their impieties even after correction of error.

And with another hand: May God keep you safe, most beloved children. Given on the fourth Ides of February (year 518), after the consulship of Agapetus, a distinguished man.