The See of Peter

The Early Church and Peter's Primacy

Letter XCI, from Pope Leo to Bishop Anatolius of Constantinople

Synopsis: Leo writes to Anatolius of Constantinople to report that, having learned from the most clement prince’s letters that so short a time was set for convening the synod that even without hostile necessity the few intervening days would not have allowed summoning bishops from distant provinces for a truly universal council, he nevertheless did not wish to oppose the prince’s disposition — especially since Anatolius himself greatly desires it — and has therefore sent Paschasinus from a safer province, joined by Bonifacius from the City, with those previously appointed, and Julian of Cos added; commanding them to go to the assembly in Leo’s stead, and directing Anatolius to join his care and action in all things by the authority of Leo’s command.

Leo, bishop, to Anatolius, bishop.

Despite the Short Time Given, Leo Sends His Legates; Anatolius to Join His Care to Their Action by the Authority of Leo’s Command

Having learned from the letters of the most clement prince sent to us that so short a time had been set for convening a synod — as even without hostile necessity the few intervening days would not allow summoning the necessary bishops from diverse and distant provinces for a truly universal council — we nonetheless embrace the most clement prince’s will with such zeal that we did not wish to oppose his disposition, especially since you also, with great desire, request this.

Thus we sent our brother and fellow bishop Paschasinus — a worthy man from a safer province, to sail — joined by our brother and fellow presbyter Bonifacius from the City, uniting them with those previously appointed, and adding our brother and fellow bishop Julian of Cos, whose faith we have often proven, to share in all their actions: commanding them to go to the aforementioned assembly in our stead.

We believe they will act in our stead at the forthcoming council without laboring under contentious difficulties — since you deigned to indicate that all the Eastern bishops have subscribed to the Catholic faith, condemning Eutyches and Nestorius. Join your care and action to theirs in all things, using the authority of our command — since we know you have greater knowledge of all matters being conducted there than our representatives. So that with your counsel and cooperation, with God’s aid, all things may come to effect that faith and peace have proven fitting.

Given on the sixth day before the Kalends of July, in the consulship of Adelfius, most illustrious man.

Source/Reference

PL 54:934

Notes / Historical Commentary

Letter XCI is the companion to Letter XC — dispatched the same day, completing Leo’s final pre-Chalcedon communication. Where XC addressed Marcian with the governing conditions and the explicit declaration that Leo’s presence would be in his legates, XCI addresses Anatolius with the operational instructions for his role in the council proceedings. The pairing is characteristic: Marcian receives the institutional framework; Anatolius receives the working instructions.

The key phrase is “join your care and action, using the authority of our command.” Anatolius is not being asked to participate collegially in a council as one bishop among equals. He is being directed to operate under the authority of Leo’s command — to contribute his local knowledge and episcopal presence to an operation whose governing authority derives from Rome. Leo acknowledges the practical logic: Anatolius knows more about what is happening on the ground in Constantinople than the legates do. But that local knowledge is contributed within a defined authority structure, not independently of it. The combination of Leo’s commanding authority with Anatolius’s local knowledge is precisely the structure Leo has employed throughout the post-Latrocinium period — most visible in Letters LXXX, LXXXV, and LXXXVII — and it reaches its fullest expression here, four months before the council opens.

The council Leo was unable to attend in person due to “ancient custom” (as Paschasinus would explain at Chalcedon’s opening session) and the practical impossibility of travel from Rome was not therefore a council at which the Apostolic See was absent. The governing principle stated by Paschasinus at Session I — that Leo’s presence was in his legates, that ancient custom did not permit the pope to attend in person — presupposes exactly what Letter XCI articulates: the council proceeds under the authority of Leo’s command, with his representatives acting in his stead, and with Anatolius’s episcopal cooperation deployed within that framework.