Letters 29
29 To Theodosius Augustus PL 54, 781
To Cæsar Theodosius, the most religious and devout Augustus Leo pope of the CatholicChurch of the city of Rome.
He notifies the appointment of his representatives at the Council of Ephesus.
How much God’s providence vouchsafes to consult for the interests of men is shown by your merciful care which, incited by God’s Spirit, is unwilling that there should be any disturbance or difference: since the Faith, which is absolutely one, cannot be different from itself in any thing. Hence although Eutyches, as the minutes of the bishops’ proceeds reveals, has been detected in an ignorant and unwise error, and ought to have withdrawn from his conviction which is rightly condemned, yet since your piety which loves the Catholic Truth with great jealousy for God’s honour, has determined on a synodal judgment at Ephesus, that that Truth on which he is blind may be brought home to the ignorant old man; I have sent my brothers Julius the Bishop, Renatus the presbyter, and my son Hilary the deacon to act as my representatives as the matter requires, and they shall bring with them such a spirit of justice and kindness that while the whole misguided error is condemned (for there can be no doubt as to what is the integrity of the Christian Faith), yet if he who has gone astray repents and entreats for pardon, he may receive the succour of priestly indulgence: seeing that in his appeal which he sent us, he reserved to himself the right of earning our forgiveness by promising to correct whatever our opinion disapproved of in his opinion. But what the catholic Church universally believes and teaches on the mystery of the Lord’s Incarnation is contained more fully in the letter which I have sent to my brother and fellow-bishop Flavian. Dated 13th June in the consulship of the illustrious Asturius and Protogenes (449).
Legatos vice sua destinat ad Synodum Ephesinam, occasione Eutychis indictam. De eodem meliora sperat.
839 Caesari THEODOSIO, religiosissimo et piissimo Augusto, LEO papa Ecclesiae catholicae urbis Romae.
Quantum rebus humanis consulere providentia divina dignetur, sollicitudo clementiae vestrae, Spiritu Dei incitata demonstrat, quae in catholica Ecclesia nihil impacatum, nihil vult esse diversum: quoniam FIDES, quae non nisi una est, in nullo potest sui esse dissimilis. Unde licet Eutyches, quantum gestorum episcopalium ordo patefecit, imperite atque imprudenter errare detectus sit, debueritque a sua, quae merito reprobatur, persuasione discedere, quoniam tamen pietas vestra, quae in honorem Dei religiosissime catholicam diligit veritatem, apud Ephesum constituit synodale judicium, ut imperito seni ea in qua nimis caligat veritas innotescat: fratres meos Julium episcopum, 841 et Renatum presbyterum, et filium meum Hilarum diaconem misi, qui ad vicem praesentiae meae pro negotii qualitate sufficerent; et qui eum secum deferrent justitiae ac benignitatis affectum, ut quia dubitari non potest, quae sit christianae confessionis integritas, et totius erroris pravitas damnaretur: et si resipiscens, qui deviaverat, pro venia supplicaret, sacerdotalis ei benevolentia subveniret; cum in libello suo, quem ad nos misit, hoc saltem sibi ad promerendam veniam reservaverit, ut correcturum se esse promitteret quidquid nostra sententia de his, quae male senserat, improbasset. Quid autem catholica Ecclesia universaliter de sacramento Dominicae incarnationis credat et doceat, ad fratrem et coepiscopum meum Flavianum plenius continent scripta, quae misi. Data idibus Junii, Asturio et Protogene viris clarissimis consulibus.
840 Τῷ ἐνδοξοτάτῳ καὶ φιλανθρωποτάτῳ Θεοδοσίῳ Αὐγούστῳ, Λέων ἐπίσκοπος.
Ὅσοι τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων πραγμάτων κατά δύναμιν προνοεῖν καταξιοῖ τῆς ὑμετέρας φιλανθρωπίας ἡ φροντὶς, πνεύματι Θεοῦ κινηθεῖσα, εὖ ἂν ἔχοι, μὴ βουλομένη περὶ τὴν καθολικὴν Ἐκκλησίαν διαφορὰν, ἀλλ' εἰρήνην τυγχάνειν. Καίπερ ἡ πίστις μία οὖσα, ἑαυτῆς οὐκ ὀφείλει τυγχάνειν ἀνομοία. Ὅθεν, εἰ καὶ Εὐτυχὴς, ὡς αἱ τῶν ἐπισκοπικῶν ὑπομνημάτων τάξεις ἐφανέρωσαν, ἀπείρως καὶ ἀσυνέτως πεπλανῆσθαι ἀποδέδεικται, καὶ ὤφειλεν ἀπὸ τῆς ἰδίας συνειδήσεως τῆς ἀξίως ἀποδοκιμαζομένης ἀναλαβεῖν· ὅμως, sb;επείπερ ἡ ὑμετέρα εὐσέβεια, ἡ εἰς τιμὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ τὴν εὐλαβεστάτην καθολικὴν ἀλήθειαν ἀγαπῶσα, τετύπωσε συνοδικὸν κριτήριον, ὥστε τῷ ἀπείρῳ γέροντι τὴν ἀλήθειαν, περὶ ἣν μάλιστα διέσφαλται, φανεροποιηθῆναι, τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς τοὺς ἡμετέρους, Ἰούλιον τὸν ἐπίσκοπον, καὶ Ῥενάτον 842 τὸν πρεσβύτερον, καὶ τὸν ἐμὸν υἱὸν διάκονον Ἱλάρον πέπομφα, τοὺς εἰς τόπον ἐμὸν κατὰ τὴν τοῦ πράγματος ποιότητα δυναμένους ἀρκεῖν, καὶ ἰσχύοντας αὐτὸν εἰς τὴν τοῦ δικαίου καὶ ἀγαθοῦ μεταγαγεῖν διάθεσιν· ἵν' ὅτι περ ἀμφιβάλλεσθαι οὐ δύναται, ὁποῖόν τι τυγχάνει τῆς τῶν χριστιανῶν ὁμολογίας τὸ ἀκέραιον, καὶ πάσης τῆς πλάνης τὸ φαῦλον καταδικασθείη, καὶ, εἰ ἀνανήψειεν, ὃς πεπλάνηται, ὑπὲρ συγγνώμης παρακαλέσων, τὴν τῶν ἐπισκόπων αὐτῷ βοήθειαν ἐπικουρῆσαι. Ἐπείπερ ἐν τῷ ἑαυτοῦ λιβέλλῳ τῷ πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἀποσταλέντι καὶ τοῦτο ἑαυτῶ πρὸς τὸ ἀξιωθῆναι συγγνώμης ἐφύλαξεν, ἐπαγγελλόμενος ἑαυτὸν διορθοῦν, εἴ τι δ' ἂν ἡ ἡμετέρα γνώμη περὶ τούτων, περὶ ὧν κακῶς ᾔσθετο, ἀποδοκιμάσειεν. Τί δὲ ἡ καθολικὴ Ἐκκλησία καθόλου περὶ τοῦ θείου μυστηρίου τῆς Δεσποτικῆς σαρκώσεως πιστεύει, καὶ διδάσκει, τῷ ἀδελφῷ ἡμῶν, καὶ συνεπισκόπῳ Φλαυιανῷ, σαφέστερον τὰ ἀπεσταλμένα γράμματα περιέχει.