Leo, bishop, to Theodosius, ever Augustus.
Chapter I: Leo Suspends Consent to Anatolius’s Ordination; The Catholic Profession Required; To Be Published to the Apostolic See
Amid the solicitude we bear for the faith, all your piety’s letters have offered us great hope of security, commending the Nicene council — so that, as you often write, you do not permit the Lord’s bishops to deviate from it. Yet, lest I seem to act in prejudice to the defense of the Catholic faith, I judged nothing should be rashly written regarding the ordination of him who began to preside over the Constantinopolitan Church — not denying affection, but awaiting the manifestation of Catholic truth. I beseech your clemency to bear this equably, so that when he proves himself toward the Catholic faith as we desire, we may rejoice more fully and securely in his sincerity. Lest any sinister suspicion trouble him regarding our intent, I remove every occasion of difficulty — demanding nothing arduous or doubtful, but inviting him to what no Catholic refuses.
Known and manifest throughout the whole world are those who, before us, shone in the preaching of Catholic truth in the Greek or Latin tongue, whose knowledge and doctrine some of our own age also attain. From their writings, equal and manifold instruction is offered — which, as it destroyed the Nestorian heresy, so also cuts off the error now resprouting. Let him diligently review how the holy Fathers preserved and preached consistently the faith of the Lord’s Incarnation: and let him find that the letter of Cyril of holy memory, bishop of Alexandria — which sought to correct and heal Nestorius, refuting his perverse preachings and more clearly expounding the faith of the Nicene definition, and which was received by the archives of the Apostolic See — accords with the sense of the preceding [teachers]. Let him also examine the acts of the Ephesine synod, where by Cyril the testimonies of Catholic bishops regarding the Lord’s Incarnation were inserted and alleged against Nestorius’s impiety. Let him not disdain to review my own letter also, which he will find in all things concordant with the piety of the Fathers.
And when he has recognized that all this both profits him and is desired by him, let him consent with his whole heart to the sentiments of the Catholics: declaring a sincere profession of the common faith with absolute subscription before all clergy and the whole people — to be published to the Apostolic See and to all the Lord’s bishops and churches throughout the world — so that, with the world pacified through one faith, we may all say what the angels sang at the birth of the Savior from the Virgin Mary: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will (Luke 2:14).
Chapter II: The Communion-Exclusion Requirement; Leo Dispatches Legates; The Italian Council Request
Since both we and the blessed Fathers whose doctrine we revere and follow are in the concord of one faith — as all the bishops of all the provinces attest — let your clemency’s most devoted faith ensure that the writings of the Constantinopolitan bishop, proving him a Catholic bishop as they should, reach us promptly: openly and clearly professing that if anyone believes or asserts anything concerning the Incarnation of the Word of God contrary to what the profession of all Catholics and my own profession declares, he separates him from his communion — so that we may rightfully extend to him brotherly charity in Christ.
To effect this salutary care more swiftly and fully, with the Lord’s aid through the faith of your clemency, I have sent my brothers and fellow bishops Abundius and Asterius, and the presbyters Basilius and Senator — men whose devotion is proven to me — through whom you may worthily come to know the form of our faith through the manifest instructions we have sent: so that if the Constantinopolitan bishop wholeheartedly consents to this confession, we may rejoice securely in ecclesiastical peace, as is fitting, with no ambiguity remaining.
But if any dissent from the purity of our faith and the authority of the Fathers, let your clemency grant a universal council within Italy — as the synod that convened in Rome for this cause has sought together with me — so that, with all who have erred through ignorance or fear gathered in one place, corrective remedies may be applied, and no one may freely invoke the Nicene synod while being found contrary to its faith: since it will profit both the universal Church and your empire if one God, one faith, and one mystery of human salvation is held in the confession of the whole world.
Given on the seventeenth day before the Kalends of August, in the seventh consulship of Valentinian and in the consulship of Avienus, most illustrious men.
Footnotes
- ↩ Quamque ab eo missam apostolicae sedis scrinia susceperunt — “which was sent by him and received by the archives of the Apostolic See.” The reception of Cyril’s letter by the Apostolic See’s archives is not a bureaucratic detail; it is Leo’s way of establishing that the Cyrilline Christology stands within the tradition the Apostolic See holds and transmits. Leo cites Cyril not as an independent Eastern authority but as one whose letter has been formally received and validated by Rome. The archives of the Apostolic See are the institutional custodian of the received tradition, and what they have received is what Anatolius must now profess.
- ↩ Apostolicae sedi et universis Domini sacerdotibus atque Ecclesiis publicandam — “to be published to the Apostolic See and to all the Lord’s bishops and churches.” The Apostolic See is named first and separately. Anatolius’s profession of faith is not merely a matter between himself and the Constantinople faithful, or between himself and the Eastern patriarchs. It must be published to the Apostolic See — which is to say, it must be formally submitted to Rome’s judgment and received there before Leo’s recognition of Anatolius’s ordination can follow. The structure is precisely that of a court requiring a formal declaration: the Apostolic See is the institution before which the profession must be made public.
- ↩ The requirement that Anatolius formally exclude from his communion any who hold a contrary Incarnation doctrine is Leo’s concrete test of orthodoxy. It is not enough for Anatolius to profess the right faith himself; he must actively separate from his communion those who do not. This condition is particularly pointed in the Constantinopolitan context: Anatolius had been installed as the candidate of the Eutychian party, and his court connections to Chrysaphius and the pro-Eutychian network were well known. Leo is requiring him to demonstrate his orthodoxy not merely by words but by the act of communion-exclusion — the same instrument Leo himself had wielded in Letters X (Hilary of Arles) and elsewhere. The formula mirrors Leo’s own: “he will not share Our communion who refuses to share Our discipline.”
- ↩ Abundius and Asterius are the same legates who would represent Leo at the Council of Chalcedon in 451. Their dispatch here in July 450 is their first appearance in the Leo corpus. Leo is already positioning his closest episcopal representatives at the Eastern court — both to communicate his doctrinal requirements to Anatolius and to be present when the political situation at Constantinople shifted. The “manifest instructions” they carry are the doctrinal form Leo has been articulating since the Tome.
- ↩ Leo’s Italian council request here is backed by the authority of the Roman Synod that had been meeting with him throughout the post-Latrocinium period (October 449, April 450, and now July 450). The joint character of the request — “the synod… sought together with me” — places it as a conciliar demand, not merely a personal papal preference. The request would never be granted in the form Leo asked. But the Italian council strategy ultimately produced Chalcedon: when Theodosius died and Marcian took power, a proper council was authorized, and Leo’s legates led it under his doctrinal authority.
- ↩ July 16, 450. Twelve days later, on July 28, Theodosius II was thrown from his horse and died. This letter, requesting a universal Italian council and conditioning Leo’s recognition of Anatolius on a formal profession of faith, was written less than two weeks before the emperor who had frustrated every such request for nearly a year ceased to be an obstacle. Theodosius never replied to Letter LXIX. His successor Marcian, authorizing Chalcedon within months, effectively answered it instead.
Historical Commentary