Leo, bishop, to Marcian Augustus.
Chapter I: Leo’s Paschal Solicitude Is Resolved Through Marcian’s Action; Leo’s Consent Given for the Sake of Unity
My solicitude — which I had maintained regarding the Paschal observance — I rejoice to see resolved through the holy study of your clemency in response to my petition, since you commanded that inquiry be made more diligently in the Alexandrian church as to whether the coming Paschal feast could rightly be celebrated on the eighth day before the Kalends of May — according to the definition of Bishop Theophilus — against the ancient observance, since from the Lord’s Passion in all our annals the fifteenth day before the Kalends of May is found recorded. But since the Egyptians prefer another reckoning, I accommodated my consent — so that no discrepancy might arise through the provinces regarding the observance of so venerable a feast — to the end that the greatest mystery of the Lord’s Resurrection be celebrated nowhere on a different day, that nothing among the Lord’s priests be variable in so great a solemnity, and that throughout all the churches prayer be offered equally to our God for the prosperity and kingdom of your piety.
I make known that I have received the letters of my brother and fellow bishop Proterius, bishop of the city of Alexandria, in response to which I have written to your piety with my consent — not because the argument has manifestly demonstrated this, but because the care for unity, which we guard above all things, has persuaded me.
Chapter II: Leo Asks That the Oeconomi of the Constantinopolitan Church Be Examined by Priests, Not Civil Judges
I have also judged it reasonable to attach to this letter a renewed request on a matter I had previously petitioned of your piety: that you not permit the oeconomi of the Constantinopolitan church to be heard before civil judges — a novel departure, especially in the times of your piety — and that you remove this injury as well from the sacred orders; but that the accounts of the church be examined by priestly examination according to established custom, as you command.
Dated the fourth day before the Kalends of June, in the consulship of the most illustrious Aetius and Studius.
Footnotes
- ↩ The opening formula frames the resolution of the Paschal question in terms consistent with the sollicitudo structure throughout the corpus: Leo’s solicitude is the originating concern; Marcian’s action is the instrument through which it is satisfied. Leo “had” the solicitude; Marcian’s “holy study” resolved it. The same structure appears in Letters CXXI and CXXII — Leo identified the problem, pressed Marcian to act, and now thanks him for the result.
- ↩ This sentence is the most analytically precise in the letter. Leo gives his consent to the Alexandrian computation — but is careful to specify the ground: not the manifest cogency of the argument (*non quia hoc ratio manifesta docuerit*) but the care for unity (*cura unitatis quam maxime custodimus*). Leo’s consent is the operative element that makes the Egyptian calculation acceptable for universal observance; he is not conceding that the Egyptian calculation is demonstrably correct. He is choosing unity over a disputed technical point — and naming that choice explicitly so that Marcian and the record understand what his consent does and does not mean. Leo’s consent, here as elsewhere, is a deliberate act of will, not a passive acknowledgment of an external determination.
- ↩ The oeconomi were the financial administrators of a bishop’s church — responsible for managing its property and accounts. Leo is asking Marcian to ensure that when the Constantinopolitan oeconomi’s accounts are examined, the examination is conducted by the priestly hierarchy rather than by civil courts. This is Leo protecting the internal governance of the Constantinopolitan church from civil jurisdiction — directing Marcian to maintain the proper boundary between sacred orders and public judges. The phrase secundum traditum morem sacerdotali examine — “by priestly examination according to established custom” — names the ancient practice Leo is defending. It is yet another instance of Leo directing Constantinople’s internal affairs through the imperial channel.
- ↩ May 29, 454 — the same date as Letters CXXXV (to Anatolius) and CXXXVI (to Marcian on Anatolius). Letter CXXXVII is thus a third letter on the same day, making May 29, 454 one of the most active dates in the entire Leo corpus: Leo restored communion with Anatolius (CXXXV), reported the restoration and its practical follow-up to Marcian (CXXXVI), and addressed the Paschal resolution and the oeconomi question to Marcian simultaneously (CXXXVII).
Historical Commentary