work of his reign was to put an end to the schism between the Eastern and Western Churches that had lasted thirty- five years (484–519), which we call the Acacian Schism. It was the result of another of the many unhappy interferences of the Emperor in ecclesiastical affairs. In 482 the Emperor Zeno (474–491) tried to win the Egyptian and Syrian Monophysites by condemning the Council of Chalcedon. This he did in his Henotikon (Ἑνοτικόν, Unification), at the same time, to please the Melkites as well, condemning Nestorius and Eutyches. Acacius (Akakios) of Constantinople (471–489), who was quarrelling with John Talaia, the Melkite Patriarch of Alexandria, warmly accepted the Henotikon, as did nearly all the Eastern bishops. Peter the Dyer of Antioch (p. 48) and most of the Monophysites also agreed. So a great union between the Byzantine Church and these heretics was brought about. The Copts and Jacobites were once more at peace with Constantinople and Cæsar, but at the cost of sacrificing a general council. The Orthodox had given up their orthodoxy and had conceded what the heretics wanted. Pope Felix II (483–492) protested against the Henotikon and, as the Eastern Church persisted in accepting it, the first great schism between the Churches was brought about. Acacius and his bishops struck the Pope's name off their diptychs; there was no inter-communion for thirty-five years. Only the "Akoimetai," the "sleepless" monks in the capital, still kept up communion with Rome. It was this state of things to which Hormisdas at last succeeded in putting an end. There had already been insurrections and tumults among the people in favour of re-union. The Eastern bishops also began to be frightened when they saw how far things had gone; already in 512 they had written to Pope Symmachus (Hormisdas's predecessor, 498–514) "begging for the Communion of blessed Peter, the Prince of the Apostles; and they maintain by letters and embassies that they will obey the Apostolic See."[1] In 516 John of Nicopolis and his suffragans implored Hormisdas to restore them to his communion, and eagerly protested their orthodoxy and their adherence to Chalcedon. The Pope then sends a sub-deacon named Pullio
- ↑ Thiel, Ep. Rom. Pont. 709, 759.
