Leo, bishop, to Pulcheria Augusta.
Chapter I: Leo Thanks Pulcheria for Her Sanctions Against the Rebellious Monks
Although I have received no letters from your piety at this time, the writing of the most glorious prince brought me no less joy than if the words of your serenity had been addressed to me. Upholding my due custom, I make known to your clemency my joy at your well-being — ceaselessly praying to God to preserve you, the Roman republic, and the Catholic Church in all prosperity. I cannot fully express the thanks I render to God for the vigor of your faith — ceaselessly offering a sacrifice of praise to the Lord — as we recognize in the princes of our time not only royal power but priestly doctrine. My brother Bishop Julian’s report brought copies of your most salutary sanctions — by which you deigned to temper the madness of the ignorant monks with sparing correction and instructive punishment — so that, if divine mercy turns them to repentance, they may be cleansed by many tears from their nefarious slaughters and the blasphemies of heretics.
Chapter II: Leo Reports Sending Letters to All Chalcedonian Bishops, Names Anatolius’s Concealment, and Delegates Julian
As the most pious emperor wished me to send letters to all the bishops who attended the Chalcedon synod — affirming the rule of the faith defined there — I gladly complied, lest any deceitful pretense cause my judgment to appear uncertain. Through the bishop of Constantinople — to whom I had amply expressed my joy — my writings could have reached all, had he not preferred to conceal my gladness rather than publicize the rebuke of his ambition.
I ask that you deign to grant my brother Bishop Julian — to whom I delegated my solicitude in the cause of the faith — the confidence to suggest to your piety what is profitable to the universal Church.
Dated the twelfth day before the Kalends of April, in the consulship of Opilio, most illustrious man.
Footnotes
- ↩ The phrase non solum regii culminis, sed etiam sacerdotalis esse appareat sanctitatis — “not only royal height but also priestly holiness” — is Leo’s characterization of the imperial pair’s religious zeal. Leo consistently distinguishes the two orders: the emperor commands; the priest teaches and sanctifies. That both are present in Marcian and Pulcheria is Leo’s highest compliment to the imperial court. The formulation also implicitly reinforces the distinction between royal and apostolic dignity that runs through the entire Canon 28 argument: Constantinople holds royal greatness; apostolic sanctity belongs to the sees founded by the apostles.
- ↩ Leo’s emphasis on acting “gladly” (*libens*) and preempting any appearance of uncertainty about his judgment applies equally to both dimensions of his Chalcedonian position: the faith definition is confirmed, Canon 28 is nullified. The confirmation is not reluctant; the nullification is not ambiguous. This is the same double-clarity he stated to Marcian in Letter CXV — joy in the confirmation, firmness in the canonical maintenance — here conveyed to Pulcheria in more compressed form.
- ↩ Leo names Anatolius’s deliberate suppression of his previous letter for the third time in this same-day dispatch (CXIV, CXV, CXVI). That he names it to Pulcheria as well as to Marcian and the bishops is significant: Pulcheria had been Anatolius’s imperial sponsor, and her testimony had been part of the reason Leo accepted Anatolius’s episcopate. Leo is making clear to his original sponsor that the man she vouched for has been suppressing Leo’s correspondence — an implicit call to use her influence accordingly.
- ↩ March 21, 453 — the same date as Letters CXIV (to the assembled bishops of Chalcedon) and CXV (to Emperor Marcian). Letter CXVI completes the triple same-day dispatch: the formal public confirmation to the episcopal body, the explanatory letter to the emperor, and the briefer companion letter to the empress. All three name Anatolius’s concealment; all three reaffirm Julian’s standing delegation; all three are sent simultaneously to ensure the confirmation reaches every relevant recipient without further filtering by Anatolius.
Historical Commentary