Letters 34
34 To Julian, Bishop of Cos PL 54, 801
Leo, the bishop, to Julian, the bishop, his well-beloved brother.
I. Eutyches is now clearly seen to have deviated from the Faith.
Your letter, beloved, which has just reached me, shows with what spiritual love of the Catholic Faith you are inspired: and it makes me very glad that devout hearts all agree in the same opinion, so that according to the teaching of the Holy Ghost there may be fulfilled in us what the Apostle says: “Now I beseech you, brethren, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same things, and there be no divisions among you: but that ye be perfect in the same mind and in the same judgment.” But Eutyches has put himself quite outside this unity, if he perseveres in his perversity, and still does not understand the bonds with which the devil has bound him, and thinks any one is to be reckoned among the Lord’s priests, who is a party to his ignorance and madness. For some time we were uncertain in what he was displeasing to catholics: and when we received no letter from our brother Flavian, and Eutyches himself complained in his letter that the Nestorian heresy was being revived, we could not fully learn the source or the motive of so crafty an accusation. But as soon as the minutes of the bishops’ proceedings reached us, all those things which were hidden beneath the veil of his deceitful complaints were revealed in their abomination.
II. He announces the appointment of legates a latere.
And because our most clement Emperor in the loving-kindness and godliness of his mind wished a more careful judgment to be passed about the position of one who hitherto has seemed to be in high esteem, and for this purpose has thought fit to convene a council of bishops, by the hands of our brothers Julius the bishop, and Renatus the presbyter, and also my son Hilary, the deacon whom I have sent ex latere in my stead, I have addressed a letter suited to the needs of the case to our brother Flavian, from which you also, beloved, and the whole Church may know about the ancient and unique Faith, which this unlearned opponent has assailed, what we hold as handed down from God and what we preach without alteration. Yet, because we must not forget the duty of mercy, we have considered it consonant with our moderation as priests, that, if the condemned presbyter corrects himself unreservedly, the sentence by which he is bound should be remitted: if, however, he chooses to lie in the mire of his foolishness, let the decree remain, and let him have his lot with those whose error he has followed. Dated 13th June in the consulship of the illustrious Asturius and Protogenes (449).
Eutychen ab unitate fidei excidisse dolet. --II. Legatos ad synodum a latere mittit.
LEO episcopus JULIANO episcopo charissimo fratri.
Litterae dilectionis tuae, quae mihi nuper sunt redditae, quam spiritali catholicae fidei vigeas amore, demonstrant; et multum gaudere me faciunt, quod in eamdem sententiam pia corda concurrunt, ut secundum doctrinam Spiritus sancti impleatur in nobis quod Apostolus ait: Obsecro autem vos, fratres, per nomen Domini nostri Jesu Christi, ut idipsum dicatis omnes, et non sint in vobis schismata; sitis autem perfecti in eodem sensu et in eadem sententia . Cujus unitatis nimium se Eutyches fecit extraneum, si in sua perversitate veterascit, nec adhuc, quibus vinculis a diabolo sit obligatus, intelligit: et quemquam sacerdotum Domini reperiendum putat, qui ejus imperitiae amentiaeque 870 consentiat. Diu apud nos incertum fuit, quid in ipso catholicis displiceret: et cum fratris nostri Flaviani nullas litteras sumeremus, ipse autem scriptis suis Nestorianam haeresim repullulare quereretur, non plene potuimus discere unde procederet, vel quo tenderet tam dolosa causatio. Sed postquam gestorum ad nos episcopalium documenta perlata sunt, omnia illa quae fallacium querelarum velamine tegebantur, quam essent detestanda, patuerunt.
Et quia clementissimus imperator, pro benevolentia ac pietate animi sui, de statu hujus, qui ante honorabilis videbatur, diligentius voluit judicari, atque ob hoc indicendum credidit episcopale concilium, per fratres nostros Julium episcopum, et Renatum presbyterum, sed et filium meum diaconem Hilarum, quos ex latere meo vice mea misi, ad fratrem nostrum Flavianum sufficientia pro qualitate causae scripta direxi, quibus et vestra dilectio, et Ecclesia universa cognoscat, de antiqua et singulari fide, quam indoctus impugnator incessit, quid divinitus traditum teneamus, et quid incommutabiliter praedicemus. Quia tamen non debemus partes miserationis omittere, congruere moderationi credidimus sacerdotum, ut si condemnatus presbyter plena satisfactione corrigitur, sententia, qua obstrictus est, relaxetur: si vero in eodem insipientiae suae luto jacere delegerit, statuta permaneant; et cum eis habeat sortem, quorum est secutus errorem. Data idibus Junii, Asturio et Protogene viris clarissimis consulibus.