Hormisdas

Hormisdas Pope, born at Frosinone, near Rome, was elected bishop of Rome in 514, as successor of Symmachus. In 515, by invitation of the Eastern emperor Anastasius, he sent an embassy to a council held at Heraclea for the purpose of settling the points of disunion between the Oriental and Occidental churches; but as this council, as well as a second one held in 517, did not bring about any favorable results, Anastasius, wearied by Hormisdas's refusal to make any concessions, broke off all relations with Rome. After his death in 518, his successor Justinus made another attempt at reconciliation, and the union of that Church with Rome was finally restored in 519, after a schism of thirty-five years. Hormisdas's conduct was much more measured in the controversy concerning Faustus of Rhegium, of whom he said that, though his writings may not deserve a place with those of the fathers, yet that such parts of them were to be received as did not conflict with the teachings of the Church. He died Aug. 6, 523. Eighty letters of Hormisdas are preserved in Labbe. — Herzog, Real-Encyklop. vol. 6; Labbe, Concilia, 4, 1415; Milman, Lat. Christ. 1, 342 sq.; Riddle, Papacy, 1, 199; Bower, Hist. of the Popes, 2, 279 sq.; Schaff, Ch. Hist. 2, 325; Neander, Ch. History, 2, 533, 649 sq.; Hist. of Dogmas, p. 384; Hagenbach, Hist. of Doctr. 2, 280; Dorner, Lehre v.d. Pers. Christi, 2, 156; Wetzer ü.Welte, Kirchen-Lex. 5, 329; Döllinger, Lehrb. d. Kirchengesch. 1, 151. SEE EUTYCHIANS. (J. H.W.)