Leo, bishop, and the holy Synod convened in the city of Rome, to Faustus, Martinus, Petrus, and Emmanuel, presbyters and archimandrites of Constantinople, most beloved sons in the Lord.
Urge to Hold Firm in Faith and with Flavian; Ephesus II’s Acts Are Invalid
Though the things we wrote regarding solicitude for the Constantinopolitan Church might not have been unable to reach you through those beside us, we have nonetheless judged your beloved persons worthy of special letters of exhortation — so that, mindful of your holy profession, which properly consists in faith and charity, you may repel from your hearts all that has arisen against the peace of the Church; retaining with devout mind the blessed Apostle’s rule: If anyone preaches to you other than what you received, let him be anathema (Gal. 1:9); and keeping unity with our brother and co-bishop Flavian — lest, led astray by his imitation, [you be drawn] into that which will merit condemnation rather than perseverance. It is necessary that these disturbances be swiftly destroyed with God’s help, and that everything reprobate be removed from the purity of the Church — which receives neither spot nor wrinkle (Eph. 5:27). For that irreverence has gone so far, through senseless ignorance, as to deny the truth of the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ and to subject to injury the one who proclaimed and defended the ancient faith because he refused to yield to the blasphemies that our holy Fathers long ago condemned in many heretics — in which, surely, the reverence of all the Lord’s priests is struck down and the whole body of Christ is assailed.
But since it is glorious for us not to spare suffering for the truth, we exhort you, through your beloved persons, with fatherly encouragement to take part in this patience — so that the care of all who serve God may become known through you, and that what was recently done at Ephesus contrary to justice and canonical discipline through the presumption of one man, no reason of the Catholic faith permits to be considered valid.
Given on the Ides of October, in the consulship of Asturius and Protogenes, most illustrious men.
Footnotes
- ↩ As in Letter L, Leo’s continuing recognition of Flavian as “our brother and co-bishop” is the institutional declaration that the Apostolic See considers the Ephesine deposition void. Flavian is addressed here as the legitimate bishop even after Ephesus II. Those who maintain unity with Flavian are in communion with the Apostolic See; those who accept Dioscorus’s imposed deposition are not.
- ↩ Quae in Epheso nuper contra justitiam vel canonum disciplinam per unius hominis impetentiam gesta sunt nulla catholicae fidei ratio rata esse permittit — “what was recently done at Ephesus contrary to justice and canonical discipline through the presumption of one man, no reason of the Catholic faith permits to be considered valid.” This is the institutional judgment of Leo and the assembled Roman Synod. The acts of Ephesus II are not merely imprudent or regrettable; they are, in the judgment of the Apostolic See, categorically invalid. The phrase “no reason of the Catholic faith” grounds the invalidity not in Leo’s personal authority alone but in the Catholic faith as such — the tradition the Roman see upholds and proclaims.
- ↩ October 15, 449 — two days after the main October 13 cluster. Letter LI is the second letter to the Constantinople archimandrites in the post-Latrocinium period; the first was Letter XXXII on June 13. Together the two letters bracket the disaster: XXXII sent them to the Tome before Ephesus II; LI rallies them to Flavian’s cause after it. The joint salutation with the Roman Synod gives LI the same institutional weight as Letters XLIV (to Theodosius) and L (to the Constantinopolitan faithful).
Historical Commentary