The See of Peter

The Early Church and Peter's Primacy

Letter V, from Pope Leo to the Metropolitan Bishops of Illyricum

Synopsis: Illicit attempts against the canons must be prudently forestalled before they occur; Leo entrusts his authority in Illyricum to Anastasius of Thessalonica, following the example of his predecessors; men who are bigamous, have married widows, or have married divorced women are barred from the priesthood; provincial bishops are subject to metropolitans as metropolitans are to the exarch and vicar of the Apostolic See; metropolitans must ordain bishops and report regularly on the state of their provinces; major cases and appeals in Illyricum are reserved to the judgment of the Apostolic See.

Leo to the most beloved brother bishops established as metropolitans throughout Illyricum.

I. Illicit Attempts Against the Canons Must Be Prudently Forestalled Before They Are Made

Every salutary admonition that we believe comes with the Lord’s inspiration benefits both the one who gives it and the one who receives it — and so we undertake this willingly, since we are hastening to please our God not only through our own actions but through those of all our brother priests as well. It comes back to our own account if the Churches are so governed that no avenue for complaint is opened. Let this counsel, flowing from the authority of the Apostolic See with the grace of charity, be sweet and pleasing to you, dearest brothers. Do not think your rights are diminished if we prudently provide — for present and future alike — that illicit presumptions are forestalled before they take root. It is wiser to stand against usurpations before they are attempted than to have to correct them after they have been committed.

II. Leo Entrusts His Authority in Illyricum to Anastasius of Thessalonica, Following the Example of His Predecessors

Since Our care extends to all the Churches — as the Lord who rewarded the faith of the blessed Apostle Peter by entrusting to him the primacy of the Apostolic dignity, establishing the universal Church on the solidity of this foundation, requires — We share the burden of Our solicitude with those who are joined to Us in collegial charity. Following the example of our venerable predecessors, We have entrusted Our authority to Our brother and fellow bishop Anastasius, commanding him to be vigilant so that no illicit act is presumed by anyone. We admonish your beloved to be obedient to him in all matters of ecclesiastical discipline — for obedience to him is obedience to Us, who have entrusted Our responsibility to him throughout those provinces.

III. Men Who Are Bigamous, Have Married Widows, or Have Married Divorced Women Are Barred from the Priesthood

We decree that priests must meet all the requirements defined by the ecclesiastical canons: bishops, priests, and deacons must be husbands of one wife, as the blessed Apostle declares (1 Tim. 3:2), and must have taken a virgin — not a widow, not a divorced woman — as the Scripture testifies (Lev. 21:13–14; Ezek. 44:22). No one may think he can attain the priesthood if, after losing a wife before baptism and being renewed by baptism’s grace, he took another — for baptism remits sins, not the number of wives. Nor can anyone excuse himself by denying that children born before baptism are his, since a wife taken lawfully is not counted among the sins that baptism washes away.

IV. Provincial Bishops Are Subject to Metropolitans as Metropolitans Are Subject to the Vicar of the Apostolic See

Whoever is summoned to a synod must attend and not refuse an assembly where matters pertaining to God are to be addressed. All disputes among priests, as is customary, must be reserved for the judgment of him to whom We have entrusted Our authority — so that under the fear of God all ambiguity may be resolved. Nothing is to be presumed against his or Our decrees that might cause injury. If anything must be referred to Us, let it come through his report. And just as the priests of your provinces are subject to you, We declare that you are subject to him — so that no one weakens the authority the Apostolic See has granted by acting with contumacy against it.

V. Metropolitans Must Ordain Bishops and Report Regularly on the State of Their Provinces to the Apostolic See

While your beloved are permitted to ordain priests within your own provinces, We command that you consult Our brother and fellow bishop Anastasius concerning the ordination of bishops. We reserve the consecration of metropolitans to him, so that as examiner and guardian he may ensure that ecclesiastical discipline is observed with a firm and consistent standard of authority. Your beloved must know — through Our letters — that he is to keep Us regularly informed of the state of your Churches, understanding that he will be held accountable by Us if any of Our decrees are rashly violated.

VI. Major Cases and Appeals in Illyricum Are Reserved to the Judgment of the Apostolic See

If major cases or appeals arise, We have decreed that they be referred to Us through his report, to be resolved by Our judgment in accordance with ecclesiastical custom. Reply to these writings, sent through my son Nicholas the priest, so that We may know you have received them.

Dated the day before the Ides of January, in the consulship of Theodosius, for the eighteenth time, and Albinus.

Source/Reference

PL 54:614

Notes / Historical Commentary

Letter V, dated January 12, 444, is one of the most institutionally significant letters in the entire Leonine corpus. It is addressed to all the metropolitan bishops of Illyricum — the large ecclesiastical region corresponding roughly to the Balkan peninsula — and it constitutes a comprehensive restatement of the Roman see’s governance of that region through the mechanism of the Illyrian vicariate.

The vicariate itself was not Leo’s invention. It had been established by Pope Damasus (366–384) and confirmed by his successors Siricius and Innocent I, each of whom had delegated to the bishop of Thessalonica the authority to act as the personal representative — vicar — of the Roman see throughout Illyricum. Leo’s letter is a renewal and reaffirmation of this existing institution, not the creation of something new. This is precisely the point the reader needs to hold onto: when Leo says “We entrust Our authority to Anastasius, following the example of Our predecessors,” he is invoking an established tradition, not improvising a jurisdictional claim.

The Petrine theology in Chapter II is stated in its most compact form anywhere in the early letters. The logic runs: Peter received the primacy in reward for his faith; the universal Church was founded on the solidity of Peter’s person; the Roman bishop therefore bears solicitude for all the Churches by virtue of holding Peter’s see. It is because this solicitude is universal that the vicariate exists — Rome cannot govern Illyricum in person, so Rome governs it through a delegate who acts with Roman authority. The vicar’s authority is not his own; it is Leo’s, and behind Leo’s, Peter’s.

Chapter VI contains what is, for the question of papal primacy, the most practically significant statement in the letter: major cases and appeals in Illyricum are to be referred to Rome for final judgment. This is not a claim about doctrine or theology; it is a claim about jurisdiction. Rome is the court of final appeal for the entire region. This structure — provincial bishop, metropolitan, vicar, Rome — constitutes a tiered appellate system with the Apostolic See at its apex. Leo will invoke this same structure, with increasing sharpness, throughout the remainder of his pontificate: against Hilary of Arles, against the pretensions of Constantinople expressed in Canon 28 of Chalcedon, and in the Alexandrian crisis of 457–460. The apparatus visible here in Letter V of 444 is the same apparatus that will still be operating in Letter CLXXIII of 460.