Roman Letters

Simplicius

Simplicius

pope|420–483|Rome
Pope Simplicius (c. 420–483) was bishop of Rome from 468 to 483, a period that saw the final collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and the beginning of the Acacian Schism with Constantinople. His pontificate was defined by two challenges: managing the church in a Rome now governed by barbarian kings, and responding to the emperor Zeno's Henotikon — a theological compromise document designed to paper over the divisions caused by the Council of Chalcedon. His surviving letters — 31 in this collection — document a pope trying to hold the line on Chalcedonian orthodoxy while the political ground shifted beneath him. He wrote to Eastern bishops and patriarchs, protesting the elevation of theologians he considered compromised and defending the authority of Chalcedon against imperial attempts at doctrinal compromise. Simplicius's letters matter because they capture the papacy at its most vulnerable — the Western empire gone, the Eastern empire asserting theological control, and the bishop of Rome dependent on his moral authority alone. His voice is firm but anxious, that of a man who understood that the church's independence depended on not bending.
31
Letters sent
10
Letters received
41
Total letters
5
Correspondents

Top correspondents

Sidonius Apollinaris5Acacius4Synesius of Cyrene3Zeno, General and3Augustine of Hippo2

All letters (41)

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From Augustine of Hippoc. 392

1. I received the letter which your Holiness kindly sent — a letter full of occasions of much joy to me, because assuring me that you remember me, that you love me as you used to do, and that you take great pleasure in every one of the gifts which the Lord has in His compassion been pleased to bestow on me. In reading that letter, I have eagerly...

augustine hippo #37←
From Augustine of Hippoc. 405

Your letter filled me with joy, dearest brother — because in it I recognized a mind in love with the truth and eager...

augustine hippo #50037←
From Synesius of Cyrenec. 408

A man's feelings should not rise and fall with the turns of fortune, and the memory of old friends should never seem...

synesius cyrene #24←
From Synesius of Cyrenec. 409

When you asked Cerialis to bring me your congratulations, you did him an unintended favor — you kept me ignorant for...

synesius cyrene #130←
From Synesius of Cyrenec. 412

God declares that we should forgive debts owed to us [Matthew 6:12].

synesius cyrene #28←
From Sidonius Apollinarisc. 467

Though my longing to see you has been attended by such ill fortune that you are still denied to my sight, you are...

sidonius apollinaris #3011←
From Sidonius Apollinarisc. 467

Here at last — fulfilling my promise and your expectation — comes Faustinus: a nobleman of his household, to be...

sidonius apollinaris #4004←
From Sidonius Apollinarisc. 467

There is a proverb — "you are urging a willing runner" — that fits anyone asked to do what he would have done anyway...

sidonius apollinaris #4007←
From Sidonius Apollinarisc. 467

To Simplicius and Apollinaris [Sidonius's relatives, probably his son and another kinsman].

sidonius apollinaris #4012←
From Sidonius Apollinarisc. 467

As for the fact that I sent a letter but received none in return — I attribute it to friendship, but I credit it...

sidonius apollinaris #5004→
To Zeno, General andc. 468

Cuperem indeed, quantum to meae spectat deuotionis arbitrium, qua principes Christianos iugi ueneratione suspicio,...

simplicius pope #1→
To Acaciusc. 468

so Since our sons illustrious uir Latinus patricius and respectable Madusius for on embassy publiea were being sent,...

simplicius pope #2→
To Acaciusc. 469

Quantum of the priests and from diuersis monasteriis to the Lord serujentium of the monks relatione patefactum is,...

simplicius pope #3→
To Zeno, General andc. 471

through PETRUN UIRUM SPECTABILEX COMITEM PLACIDIAE NOBILISSINAE FENINAE.

simplicius pope #7→
To Acaciusc. 472

Proxime indeed to the love tuae petentibus his, who to we a fratre and coepiscopo our Timotheo Alexandrinae of the...

simplicius pope #9→
To Zeno, General andc. 472

concerning the church ANTIOCHENA.

simplicius pope #10→
To Acaciusc. 474

Antiocheni exordium sacerdotis qua ratione may have been serius indicatum, quamuis minime we latere potuerit,...

simplicius pope #12