Letter LXV, from the Bishops of the Province of Arles to Pope Leo
To the most blessed lord, Pope Leo: the prayers sent by all the comprovincial bishops of the metropolis of Arles. Chapter I: The Bishops Report Ravennius’s Election and Request the Restoration of Arles’s Ancient Privileges Mindful of how much honor and reverence is always due to the most blessed Apostolic See, over which our Lord […]
Letter LIII, (Fragment) from Bishop Anatolius of Constantinople to Pope Leo
From the letter of Anatolius of Constantinople to Leo of Rome. The Election and Ordination of Anatolius; He Comes to This Office Through God’s Providence Alone Our most pious emperor Theodosius, beloved of Christ, who places all matters in second place after those pertaining to God, when the most holy Constantinopolitan Church had been deprived […]
Letter LII, from Bishop Theodoret of Cyrrhus to Pope Leo
Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrrhus, to Leo, Bishop of Rome. Chapter I: It Is Fitting That the Apostolic See Hold First Place in All Things; Peter and Paul’s Tombs Have Made It the Apex of All Good If Paul, the herald of the truth, the trumpet of the Holy Spirit, betook himself to the great Peter […]
Letter XLVI, from Deacon Hilarius to Empress Pulcheria
Hilarus, deacon, to the most glorious and most pious Pulcheria Augusta. Chapter I: Dioscorus Attempted to Prevent Hilarus from Reaching Rome That it was my purpose, after the synod, to come to Constantinople, I need not say — for it was a manifest necessity that compelled me to deliver to Your Clemency and to the […]
Letter XXVI, from Flavian to Pope Leo
Flavian, bishop of Constantinople, to the most holy and most blessed father and fellow minister, Leo, greetings in the Lord. Nothing is more precious to priests, as Your Holiness knows, than piety and the right distribution of the word of truth. All our hope, our salvation, and the reward of the promised goods depend on […]
Letter XXV, from Peter Chrysologus to Eutyches
Peter, bishop, to the most beloved and deservedly honorable son Eutyches, presbyter. Chapter I: The Truth of the Incarnation Was Long Settled Against All Errors; It Must Be Received with Honor and Fear, Not Debated I read your sorrowful letters with sadness and reviewed your mournful writings with appropriate grief — for just as the […]
Letter XXII, from Flavian to Pope Leo
Flavian, to the most holy and God-loving father and fellow priest, Leo. Chapter I: The Devil’s Schemes Are Resisted by Adherence to the Holy Fathers’ Doctrine Nothing restrains the wickedness of the devil — that uncontainable evil, full of deadly poison — as he roams about seeking whom to strike, disturb, or swallow up (Your […]
Letter XXI, from Eutyches to Pope Leo
Eutyches, presbyter, to Leo, bishop of the city of Rome. Chapter I: Eutyches Invokes Your Holiness; His Condemnation by the Synod of Constantinople Trusting in my hope and faith in our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, I call first upon God the Word as witness to my convictions, and then invoke Your Holiness […]
Letter III, from Paschasinus, Bishop of Lilybaeum, to Pope Leo
To the truly holy and most blessed Apostolic Lord, whom I revere above all others after God, Pope Leo — from Paschasinus, bishop. I. Paschasinus, Consulted by Leo on the Paschal Cycle, Reports Sicily’s Plight and Acknowledges the Command I received the writings of your Apostolic Office, delivered by Silanus, deacon of the Church of […]
Letter VI, Fifth Roman Synod of 6 November 502 (Constitutum on the Preservation of Church Property)
Acta of the Roman Synod held in the basilica of the blessed Apostle Peter on 6 November 502, presided by Pope Symmachus. With the venerable Pope Symmachus presiding, more than seventy Italian bishops were in attendance — among them Laurentius of Milan, Petrus of Ravenna, and Eulalius of Syracuse, whose names are preserved with the […]
Letter XVI, from Pope Symmachus to Caesarius, Bishop of Arles
Symmachus to the most beloved brother Caesarius. Chapter I: Symmachus Confirms the Privileges of the Church of Arles and Grants Caesarius Vicariate Authority over the Gallican and Hispanic Regions, Reserving Matters of Higher Difficulty to the Apostolic See He who guards the venerable statutes of the fathers shows himself a friend of religion in its […]
Letter XII, from the Eastern Bishops to Pope Symmachus
The Eastern Church to Symmachus, Bishop of Rome. Chapter I: Christ the Good Shepherd Seeks the Lost Sheep; The Chair of the Prince of the Apostles Christ Entrusted to Your Beatitude That good Lord and lover of mankind, our Lord Jesus Christ, who out of His kindness toward us bowed the heavens and descended to […]
Letter, from Leontius, Bishop of Arles, to Pope Hilarius
Letter of Leontius, bishop of Arles, to Pope Hilarius. That death has taken away your most holy predecessor Leo — who kept watch against heresies and uprooted the tares that were sprouting all too thickly, alas, in the Lord’s field — we grieve; that he has repaired the loss through Your Holiness, we rejoice. For […]
Letter, from the Bishops of Tarraconensis to Pope Hilarius
To the most blessed lord, Pope Hilarus, worthy of apostolic reverence, honored by us in Christ: Ascanius and all the bishops of the province of Tarraconensis. Even if no necessity of ecclesiastical discipline compelled us, we would in truth have sought out that privilege of your See, by which — after the keys of the […]
Acts of the Second Roman Council under Pope Gelasius I (13 May 495), at which Misenus of Cumae was Absolved
The Second Roman Council, in which Misenus is absolved by Gelasius and fifty-five bishops, in the year of the Lord 495, on the third day before the Ides of May. Convocation With Pope Gelasius, a man worthy of veneration, presiding in the synod, together with Bonifacius, Maximinus, Epiphanius, Basilius, Vitalis, Clarus, Irenæus, Decius, Asellus, Euplus, […]
Letter XV, from Pope Gelasius to Rusticus, Bishop of Lyon
Pope Gelasius narrates what assistance he has received from Rusticus, bishop of Lyon, and how great the persecutions are which he sustains from Acacius. From the papers of the Reverend Father Hieronymus Vignerius. To his most beloved brother Rusticus, Gelasius. Amid the whirlwinds of impending evils and the afflictions of various trials by which we […]
