Leo, bishop, and the holy Synod convened in the city of Rome, to the clergy, honorable men, and people of Constantinople, most beloved sons in the Lord.
Chapter I: The Report of Hilarus; The Presumption of One Man Wounded the Universal Church
The things done contrary to all expectation at Ephesus have come to our knowledge and deeply disturbed our hearts with grief — except that our son Hilarus, who was sent by us to Ephesus and who, had he attended the synod, would undoubtedly have kept clear of so great a crime, fled and returned — declining, lest he become an unjust participant in the sentence. For while his voice was withheld from our protest — which the Alexandrian bishop arrogated to himself — he scorned to hear it, dragging unwilling priests into the fellowship of his will: so that those who were compelled by force to subscribe had no cause that we trust will find no favor with the Christian emperor.
Chapter II: Stand Firm; Hold Your Bishop Flavian Before the Eyes of Your Heart
Stand therefore in the spirit of Catholic truth, and receive the apostolic exhortation from the ministry of our voice: Because it has been granted to you for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him (Phil. 1:29). Do not suppose, most beloved, that the holy Church of God is without divine protection. For the purity of the faith shines all the more brightly when the filth of errors is separated from it. Therefore again and again we both call upon you before the face of the Lord and warn you: do not let yourselves be moved from the faith in which you are founded and in which we know the most Christian emperor perseveres — not by plots, not by the persuasions of anyone; but hold your bishop Flavian before the eyes of your heart — he who did not fear to suffer all that was inflicted for this cause, whose imitators in all things we desire you to be, so that you may share with him the common reward of faith.
Given on the Ides of October, in the consulship of Asturius and Protogenes, most illustrious men.
Footnotes
- ↩ The phrase “sent by us to Ephesus” (a nobis ad Ephesum fuerat missus) establishes the legates’ origin: they were sent by the Roman see. Their presence at Ephesus was the Apostolic See’s presence; Dioscorus’s refusal to allow them to be heard was a refusal of what the Apostolic See had sent. Hilarus’s escape is the means by which the Apostolic See’s account of what happened becomes available — the legate-as-witness completing a circle that the Tome’s suppression had tried to break.
- ↩ This sentence is the theological core of Letter L. Leo affirms Flavian as “your bishop” (episcopi vestri) — the legitimate bishop of Constantinople — against Dioscorus’s imposed deposition. The Apostolic See’s recognition of Flavian as the legitimate bishop is the criterion of his continued episcopal standing. A bishop deposed by a council whose acts the Apostolic See will not receive remains in his see in the eyes of the Church. The invitation to share Flavian’s “crown of faith” by imitating his constancy adds a martyrological dimension: Flavian’s suffering for the faith is presented as exemplary and meritorious.
- ↩ October 15, 449 — two days after the main October 13 cluster, though some manuscripts give October 13. The letter is sent through Epiphanius and Dionysius, notaries of the Roman Church, named in the PL’s heading (PER EPIPHANIUM ET DIONYSIUM ROMANAE ECCLESIAE NOTARIUM). Like Letter XXXII to the archimandrites of Constantinople, this letter reaches past the episcopal hierarchy to address the faithful of the city directly — affirming their legitimate bishop against an illegitimate deposition and enrolling the whole Constantinopolitan community in the orthodox resistance.
Historical Commentary