HOPKINS
470
HORMISDAS
Saonet in La grande encyc. s. v.; Fontenelle in RecuetMe
I'Acad. des sc. (Paris, 1704); Chamberlayne, Lii:es of the Phi-
losophers (London, 1717); Cantor, Geschwhle der Mathematik
(Leipzig, 1880): Marie, Histoire des sciences mathematiques
(Paris, 1885).
WiLLIAJI Fox.
Hopkins, Frederick C. See Honduras, British, Vicariate Apostolic of.
Horeb. See Sinai.
Hormisdas, Saint, Pope; date of birth unknown, elected to the Holy See, 514; d. at Rome, 6 August, 523. This able and sagacious pontiff belonged to a wealthy and honourable family of Frosinone (Frusino) in the Campagna di Roma (Latium). Before receiv- ing higher orders he had been married ; his son became pope under the name of Silverius (536-537). Under Pope Symmachu.s (498-514) Hormisdas held the office of deacon of the Roman Church and during the schism of Laurentius he was one of the most prominent clerical attendants of Symmachus. He was notary at the synod held at St. Peter's in 502, and Ennodius of Pavia, with whom he was on friendly terms, expressed the conviction that this Roman deacon, so eminent for piety, wealth, and distinguished birth, would occupy the See of Rome [Ennodii opera, ed. Vogel (Berlin, 1885), 2S7, 290]. The day after the funeral of Symmachus (20 July, 514) Hormisdas was chosen and consecrated his successor; there is no mention of divisions or disturbances at his election. One of the new pope's first cares was to remove the last vestiges of the Laurentian schism in Rome, receiving back into the Church such of its adherents as had not already been reconciled. From the beginning of his pontifi- cate the affairs of the Greek Church occupied his especial attention. At Constantinople the Acacian schism, which had broken out in consequence of the " Henoticon" of the Emperor Zeno, and which had caused the separation of the Greek and Roman Churches, still held sway (see Acacids, Patriarch of Constantinople). The Emperor Anastasius (491- 518), Zeno's successor, maintained the" Henoticon" ; he became more and more inclined towards Monophysit- ism, and persecuted the bishops who refused to repu- diate the Council of Chalcedon. The three patriarchs, Macedonius of Constantinople, Elias of Jerusalem, and Flavianus of Antioch had been driven from their sees.
In the midst of this confusion a number of Eastern bishops appealed to Rome during the pontificate of Symmachus, in order that, by the restoration of unity in the Church, their positions might be strengthened and the progress of Monophysitism checked. Symma- chus had required them to suljmit to the condemna- tion of Acacius, but the Orientals were not ready for this step. Taking advantage of the discontent aroused against Anastasius by his Monophysite ten- dencies, Vitalian of Lower Moesia, a commander in the army, led a revolt against him. Vitalian demanded, on the one hand, that his office of distribution of the grain for the troops should be restored to him, and, on the other, that the Council of Chalcedon should be recognized and the unity with Rome be re-established. He gained numerous adherents and appearing before Constantinople at the head of a large army, defeated the emperor's nephew, Hypatius; upon this Anasta- sius was obliged to negotiate with him. One of the terms of Vitalian's submission was that the emperor should take an oath to convene a synod at Heraclea in Thrace, invite the pope to attend it, and submit to his arbitration the dispute about the See of Constan- tinople and the other bishoprics in order by this means to restore the unity of the Church. Anasta- sius accordingly wrote to Hormisdas, 28 Dec, 514, inviting him to the synod on the first of July follow- ing. The letter had first to be sulimitted to Vitalian, whose representative accompanied the bearer to
Rome. A second, less courteous communication,
dated 12 Jan., was sent by Anastasius to the pope;
this merely requested his good offices in the contro-
versy. The emperor evidently wished to prolong the
negotiations as he was not really willing to fulfill the
promises he had made to Vitalian. The second letter
reached Rome before the first one, and on 4 April
Hormisdas answered it, expressing his delight at the
prospect of peace, but at the same time defending
the memory of his predecessors. The bearers of the
emperor's first letter arrived on 14 May. The pope
guardedly carried on negotiations, convened a synod
at Rome and wrote a letter to the emperor, dated 8
July, in which he announced the departure of an
embassy for Constantinople. Meanwhile the two
hundred bishops who had assembled on 1 July at
Heraclea, separated without accomplishing anything.
The pope's embassy to the imperial court consisted of two bishops, Ennodius of Pavia and P'ortunatus of Catina, the priest Venantius, the deacon Vitalis, and the notary Hilarius. The letter of Hormisdas to the emperor, dated 1 Aug., 515, is still preserved; so also are the minute instructions given the legates with regard to the position they were to take. If the emperor agreed to the proposals made to him, the pope was ready, if necessary, to appear in person at a coun- cil. The pope further sent the formula of a confes- sion of faith (rcgula fidei) for the Eastern bishops to sign. The embassy l)rought about no real results; Anastasius, without breaking off the negotiations, gave the envoys an evasive letter for Hormisdas. A new revolt of Vitalian was suppressed, and an impe- rial embassy, consisting of two high civil officials, came to Rome bringing a letter dated 16 July, 516, for the pope, and one dated 28 July, for the Roman Senate; the aim of the latter was to induce the senators to take a stand against Hormisdas. The senate, however, as well as King Thcodoric, remained true to the pope, who saw through the emperor's crafty manoeuvres. The answer of Hormisdas to the imperial letter was dignified and definite. Meanwhile an additional num- ber of Scythian, lUyrian and Dardanian bishops had entered into relations with Rome, and several of them had also conferred with the papal legates in Constantinople upon the question of the reunion of the Churches. They now submitted to the con- demnation of Acacius and signed the confession of faith {regula fidei) of Hormisdas, as did also the bishops of the province of Epirus, who were persuaded thereto by the Roman subdeacon PuUio. This confession of faith, which the pope sent to Constantinople to be signed by all bishops who reunited with the Latin Church, is known as the "Formula Hormisds" and was repeatedly mentioned at the Vatican Council. It begins with the words: "Prima salus est, regulam rectsp fidei cu.st<)(lire et a constitutis Patrum nullate- nus deviare. Et f|uia non potest Domini Nostri Jesu Christi pnetermitti sententia dicentis: Tu es Petrus et super banc petram a'dificabo ecclesiam meam. Hsec qua; dicta sunt rerum probantur effectibus, quia in sede apostolica immaculata est semper Catholica conservata religio" (The first means of safety is to guard the rule of strict faith and to deviate in no way from those tilings that have been laid down by the Fathers. And indeed the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ: "Thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church" [Matt., xvi, 18], cannot be disre- garded; these things which were spoken are demon- strated by the results, for the Catholic religion has been preserved ever immaculate in the Apostolic See). Then follows the condemnation of Nestorius and the other heresiarchs and also of Acacius.
A second papal embassy consisting of Ennodius of Pavia and Bishop Peregrinus of Misenum had no bet- ter success. Anastasius even attempted to tiribe the legates, in which, however, he was unsuccessful. They sought on the contrary to circulate secretly the pope's
