The See of Peter

The Early Church and Peter's Primacy

Letter LXI, from Pope Leo to Presbyters Martinus and Faustus

Synopsis: Leo writes to Martinus and Faustus, presbyters and archimandrites of Constantinople, to inform them that his letters have been sent not only with the authority of the Apostolic See but also with the unanimous consent of the holy synod frequently convening with him — seeking the support of the most clement princes to remove the pernicious Eutychian heresy lately ill-supported at Ephesus — and to urge them to make known to all the sons of the Church the evangelical and apostolic doctrine, while pledging that he, mindful of presiding over the Church under the name of him whose confession Christ glorified, is permitted nothing other than to expend all his efforts in the cause where the salvation of the universal Church is at stake.

Leo, bishop, to Martinus and Faustus, presbyters and archimandrites.

Chapter I: Leo Informs Martinus and Faustus of the Letters Sent to Them

That God is the author of good works and spiritual zeal — rousing minds and aiding actions — is beyond doubt. This has appeared clearly to us in present experience. For amidst the vast distances between regions, our hearts took one counsel: so that what you desired from us reached you at the very time your letters were being sent, if indeed our writings were able to be delivered to your beloved. These were directed not only with the authority of the Apostolic See, but also with the unanimous consent of the holy synod that frequently convenes with us, so that the care of the minds of all the faithful, and the support of the most clement princes, might be sought for the defense of the faith. We do not doubt that their pious and Catholic spirits will furnish help and authority to just petitions — so that, with the Lord’s help, the pernicious heresy long condemned by the authority of the holy Fathers, and lately ill-supported at Ephesus, may be swiftly removed.

Chapter II: Leo Urges Them to Spread the True Doctrine and Pledges to Spend Himself for the Universal Church

Meanwhile, let your beloved strive, as far as possible, to make known to all the sons of the Church who we preach against the impious teaching, according to the evangelical and apostolic doctrine. For although we have written the full Catholic belief that always has been and is, we have now added no small exhortation to confirm all minds.

For I am mindful that I preside over the Church under the name of him whose confession was glorified by our Lord Jesus Christ — whose faith destroys all heresies and especially vanquishes the impiety of the present error. And I understand that I am permitted nothing other than to expend all my efforts in that cause in which the salvation of the universal Church is under attack.

Lest our writings should have failed to reach you through some occasion of negligence, we have judged it necessary to send copies now — so that the preaching of the faith we defend may in no way be withheld from your knowledge.

Given on the sixteenth day before the Kalends of April, in the seventh consulship of Valentinian Augustus and in the consulship of Avienus, most illustrious men.

Source/Reference

PL 54:874

Notes / Historical Commentary

Letter LXI is addressed to the Constantinople archimandrites Martinus and Faustus — the same monastic leaders Leo had addressed in Letters XXXII (before Ephesus II) and LI (immediately after it). Dispatched April 16, 450 together with Letter LX to Pulcheria, it is the third letter in a pastoral relationship that spans the entire Latrocinium crisis. Where XXXII sent the archimandrites to the Tome as doctrinal preparation, and LI rallied them to hold fast to Flavian’s cause after the disaster, LXI sustains the network as the long campaign for a new council enters its ninth month with no result from Theodosius.

The letter’s theological center is the sentence that closes Chapter II: “I am mindful that I preside over the Church under the name of him whose confession was glorified by our Lord Jesus Christ.” Throughout the corpus Leo grounds his authority in the Apostolic See, in Peter’s received primacy, in the tradition of his predecessors, or in the divine institution of the Roman church. Here he states it in first-person terms that are starker than usual. The governing office is Peter’s. Leo exercises it under Peter’s name. And the consequence is immediate and total: he is permitted nothing other than to spend all his efforts for the cause where the universal Church’s salvation is under attack. Universal solicitude is not a preference or a policy; it is the necessary expression of the office he holds in trust.

The opening of Chapter I adds a complementary institutional point: the letters Leo dispatches carry not only the authority of the Apostolic See but also the unanimous consent of the holy synod that frequently convenes with him. The Apostolic See acts; the synod concurs. This is not a claim that the synod’s consent is what authorizes the letters — it is a statement that the Roman church’s judgment and the assembled Italian episcopate’s judgment are, in this case as consistently throughout the corpus, one and the same thing. Leo is not acting in isolation from the broader church; he is acting as the center from which the church’s conciliar expression radiates.