Leo, bishop of Rome, to Julian, Bishop of Cos.
Chapter I: Leo Congratulates Julian on the Palestinian Restoration and Acknowledges Proterius of Alexandria
We have often confirmed the faith of the most Christian prince with evident proofs — giving thanks to our God who deigned to grant such a ruler for human affairs, one who vigilantly protects the causes of the faith and the height of the republic, always opposing the audacities of heretics and permitting no license against the Catholic faith. After God, it is by his beneficence that the bishop of Jerusalem has been received back and the monks invaded by the falsity of heretical perfidy recalled to sanity by august authority. When I received your letters containing these tidings, I hastened to reply not only the same day but nearly the same hour — to make you more certain that all you wrote was received.
I congratulate our brother Proterius, bishop of Alexandria, for sending letters full of satisfaction about his faith — clearly indicating what he holds. I must grant him worthy grace for the sincerity of his faith, so that he lose no honor of his Church and possess his see’s privileges according to the example of paternal antiquity and the unviolated rights of the canons.
Chapter II: Leo Presses the Paschal Inquiry for Easter 455
There was no doubt for us about this year’s Pascha, but we have been inquiring about the future — since Theophilus, bishop of Alexandria of holy memory, assigned to the seventy-sixth year of his table the eighth day before the Kalends of May, a date never celebrated since the time of the Lord’s Resurrection. This must be diligently sought, to remove every occasion of error. In our annals, the fifteenth day before the Kalends of May is openly established and celebrated by our Fathers. Lest diversity arise between us and the East, let your charity urge the most religious and faithful prince in our name — even though the most clement prince had already indicated in his letters that he has delegated this care to the Egyptians with most solicitous inquiry.
Chapter III: Leo’s Chalcedon Letter Read Only Through Chapter I at Constantinople; Aetius Vindicated; Marcian Intercedes for Anatolius
You reported that my letter to the Chalcedon synod was read before the bishops and clergy — but only through the chapter where my agreement appears to confirm the acts of the faith. I marvel that the remaining parts were not equally brought to their notice — since all must especially know that We noted the impious ambition and opposed the new usurpations, so that what antiquity has constituted by the canons be preserved inviolate, as We have always written.
We congratulate the presbyter Aetius — whom you say has been thoroughly vindicated in all things. Know also that I sent a letter to the most Christian prince, thanking him for deigning to indicate his care for the cause of the faith and the security of the republic. He gave us in return another letter, interceding for Bishop Anatolius — that our mind’s grace be granted him — promising his correction and satisfaction in all things pertaining to the observance of the faith.
Dated the fifth day before the Ides of January, in the consulship of the most illustrious Aetius and Studius.
Footnotes
- ↩ Proterius — the orthodox bishop installed at Alexandria following Dioscorus’s deposition, who would later be murdered by Eutychian rioters in 457 during the crisis Leo would address in Letters CXLVII onward. At this point (early 454) his position is still secure, and his letters of faith-profession give Leo cause for a positive response. Leo’s directive that Proterius’s see privileges be preserved “according to the example of paternal antiquity and the unviolated rights of the canons” applies the same canonical protection he had invoked against Canon 28: the ancient Petrine-Markan see of Alexandria retains its dignity, protected by the Nicene canons against any encroachment.
- ↩ This is the third time in the post-Chalcedon correspondence that Leo records Anatolius filtering his letters — reading only the Chalcedon confirmation and suppressing the Canon 28 condemnation. He had described this first in Letter CXIV (to the assembled bishops), again in CXV (to Marcian), and again in CXVI (to Pulcheria). Here he records it again to Julian, this time noting that the suppression happened in a reading before bishops and clergy. The pattern is consistent: Anatolius uses every available occasion to present Leo’s confirmation of the faith as endorsement of the whole Chalcedonian settlement including Canon 28, while hiding Leo’s specific nullification of Canon 28. Leo’s marvel — that the remaining parts were not equally brought to notice — is pointed: the suppression is deliberate, not inadvertent.
- ↩ This is the first indication in the corpus that Anatolius has sent a formal communication through Marcian offering correction and satisfaction. The phrase correctionem ejus et satisfactionem in omnibus quae ad fidei observantiam pertinent pollicetur — “promising his correction and satisfaction in all things pertaining to the observance of the faith” — is the beginning of the arc that reaches its conclusion in Letter CXXXII, where Anatolius writes directly to Leo to confirm compliance: Andrew expelled, Aetius restored. Marcian’s intercession serves as the diplomatic channel through which Anatolius’s submission is conveyed — consistent with the pattern throughout the post-Chalcedon correspondence of the emperor serving as the medium for ecclesiastical negotiations.
- ↩ January 9, 454 — same date as Letter CXXVI to Marcian. The two letters form a coordinated pair: CXXVI thanks the emperor for the Palestinian restoration; CXXVII briefs Julian on the full situation including the Chalcedon-letter suppression and Anatolius’s promised correction. Together they open the 454 correspondence with a mixed picture: Juvenal restored and Palestinian monks recalled (positive), Leo’s letter filtered again (continuing problem), Anatolius’s correction promised through Marcian (hopeful but requiring verification).
Historical Commentary