Leo, bishop, to Marcian Augustus.
Chapter I: Leo Thanks Marcian; Reports That He Has Responded to Anatolius; Notes That Anatolius Attributes the Fault to Others
The manifold grace of your clemency’s letters has been received by me with due reverence, and I gladly acknowledge how pious a care for the Christian religion — as is your custom — you maintain: since you wish to establish among the Lord’s priests that concord which is suited both to the universal Church and to divine worship. For that is the probable peace and the true charity which the blessed apostle most fully preaches, saying: Charity from a pure heart and a good conscience and unfeigned faith (1 Tim. 1:5). Compliant therefore and gladly consenting to the holy exhortations of your piety, I have responded, as I was obligated, with a reciprocal letter to the writings of my brother and fellow bishop Anatolius — who should have attributed the interruption of my correspondence to his own silence: since when I had admonished him with fraternal charity to withdraw from a reprehensible ambition, he neglected to reply further. As for me, who kept silence toward him, I did not cease for my own part to suggest to your clemency what would be profitable for the peace of the universal Church. For your mildness received my suggestions so readily that you deigned always to reply, and acted in such a way that what has now been corrected is owed to your glory — though his letters now sent are such as to attribute the notable fault of ambition to others rather than to claim it as his own.
Chapter II: Leo Charges Anatolius Through Marcian to Guard the Nicene Canons and Use Marcian’s Authority Against Hidden Heresies
Let the aforesaid bishop recognize, most venerable Augustus, how much more he grows by humility than by self-exaltation — and, mindful of the limits the Fathers established, let him guard with the observance he owes, for the future, the wholesome canons established for the peace of the universal Church; let him be unremittingly vigilant for the defense of the Catholic faith; let him maintain diligent watch for the custody of the Lord’s flock; let him avail himself in all things of the most devoted aid of your piety — and whatever hostile deceits lie hidden anywhere under the name of Catholic, let him actively bring them to light for the glory of your highness. For you who have driven sacrilegious error from the most distant provinces and recalled the darkened hearts of the Palestinians to the light of truth — how will you permit it to breathe under the rays of your faith? We believe that even through Egypt, with God aiding you in all things, all the remnants of corrupt doctrine will more swiftly be extinguished. You deal generously with those from whom you remove the license of execrable error.
Chapter III: Leo Takes Anatolius’s Charity Back Into His Heart; Commends Julian as Anatolius’s Companion in the Faith
I rejoice therefore, most glorious one, that what had been thrown into disorder has been set right: that the memory of the blessed Flavian is honored for the consolation of his disciples, that Andrew is removed from the archdeacon’s ministry, that injury to the holy Fathers is restrained and violation of the canons desisted from — so that your kingdom, with Christ reigning, may be tranquil, and with Christ defending it, strong. In full compliance with your clemency in all things, I take my brother Anatolius’s charity to my whole heart. Let him show himself lovable and faithful — and from the charity I now pledge him, let him separate himself by no future inconsistency — joining to himself in sincere affection those whom we have proven to be defenders of the Catholic faith. In all things he has the example of your piety to follow, especially with the aid of your benevolence to sustain him. I ask that you hear the suggestions of my brother and fellow bishop Julian, whom I commend to your piety, as graciously as you are accustomed to do. This will also profit my brother Anatolius — if you hold in due honor the one whom I have willed to be present there for the Catholic faith.
Chapter IV: Leo Asks Marcian to Suppress the Monk Carosus Who Is Overturning Hearts at Constantinople
There is also a matter most salutary for the Constantinopolitan Church: I ask that the monk Carosus — excessively ignorant and excessively perverse — who has, as I have learned, overturned the hearts of many, may by the grace of your piety spread his poisons no further: lest where, through the holy zeal of your mildness, nearly every effort of the heretics has been extinguished, there through a vile and reprobate defender of condemned perfidy both the glory of your faith and the authority of the synod be violated.
Dated the fourth day before the Kalends of June, in the consulship of the most illustrious Aetius and Studius.
Footnotes
- ↩ Leo is explaining to Marcian the sequence of the breach in terms that place the responsibility squarely on Anatolius. He had written; Anatolius had not replied; Anatolius therefore bears responsibility for the interruption. This is the same account Leo had given Anatolius directly in Letter CXXXV — now reported to Marcian as the historical record of what happened and why.
- ↩ Leo notes to Marcian what he had already pointed out to Anatolius in Letter CXXXV: Anatolius’s deflection of responsibility for Canon 28 onto the clergy is acknowledged but not accepted without qualification. The observation here is more pointed than in CXXXV — Leo tells Marcian plainly that Anatolius’s epistles attribute the fault to others rather than to himself. The historical record, as Leo presents it to the emperor, preserves Anatolius’s accountability even as the case is formally closed.
- ↩ Leo is directing Anatolius’s future conduct through Marcian — charging Anatolius to use Marcian’s imperial authority as an instrument in the detection and suppression of hidden heresy. The direction flows from Leo through the emperor to the patriarch: Leo specifies the program; Marcian provides the enforcement mechanism; Anatolius is the instrument on the ground. This is the same three-level coordination visible throughout the post-Chalcedon correspondence, now applied to Anatolius’s ongoing pastoral duties.
- ↩ The phrase eum quem pro catholico dogmate illic esse volui — “the one whom I have willed to be present there for the Catholic faith” — is Leo describing Julian’s presence at Constantinople as a matter of Leo’s own will. Leo willed Julian there; Julian is there as Leo’s instrument; Marcian is asked to honor this by receiving Julian’s suggestions graciously. The same three-level structure: Leo wills; Julian acts; Marcian supports. Julian’s presence at Constantinople is not a courtesy of the imperial court — it is Leo’s standing delegation, maintained by Leo’s will.
- ↩ Carosus is otherwise unknown by name in the Leo corpus. His description — “excessively ignorant and excessively perverse” — and his activity of overturning many hearts at Constantinople suggest a popular preacher or monastic agitator operating in the Eutychian tradition at the imperial capital. Leo’s request to suppress him is another instance of directing a specific internal personnel matter at Constantinople through the imperial channel — the same pattern as the Aetius/Andrew case in Letters CXI and CXII, now applied to a monk rather than a cleric.
- ↩ May 29, 454 — same date as Letter CXXXV to Anatolius, confirming the PL apparatus’s note that both letters were written and transmitted simultaneously. CXXXV restores communion with Anatolius directly; CXXXVI reports and explains the restoration to Marcian and continues the practical agenda — Anatolius charged to guard the canons, Julian commended as his companion, Carosus to be suppressed. Together the two letters are the formal close of the Anatolius arc and the opening of the next phase of post-Chalcedon maintenance.
Historical Commentary