Leo, bishop, to Marcian, ever Augustus.
Leo Commends His Legates to the Emperor and Requires That No Disputation on the Faith Be Admitted
I received with heartfelt gladness your clemency’s holy zeal to hold a synod for the restoration of ecclesiastical peace — even though I had requested it be held in Italy, and had hoped for a more fitting time to be awaited, so that many bishops might be summoned even from the more distant provinces. But as soon as your piety’s letters were delivered to me, I directed Bonifacius from my fellow presbyters of the City, and caused my brother Paschasinus from among the bishops to sail from Sicily, to fulfill My presence sufficiently — sending through them letters also to those who had previously undertaken the legation, so that they too would join the aforementioned in fulfilling the duties of My presence, most glorious emperor. And although the day appointed for the synod was set too narrowly, I hope nevertheless that God’s almighty aid will be at hand, so that all may gather by the appointed time and, with the assent of the holy brotherhood, define what befits the universal Church. For with the restlessness and depravity of the few suppressed or removed, a well-founded concord will easily be confirmed — if all hearts converge on that faith which, declared through evangelical and apostolic preaching, we have received and hold through our holy Fathers, with no disputation or reconsideration admitted at all: lest, through vain and deceitful cunning, what was founded from the beginning on the cornerstone who is Christ the Lord (Eph. 2:20), and will endure without end, appear weak or doubtful. This is our constant prayer: that no one be found a stranger to the mystery of the singular faith, but, with the impiety of heresy condemned, the Catholic Church suffer no loss from anyone’s ruin.
And what I besought your piety by the letters I sent through my legates, I now also pray with the same confidence: deign to hold in all things commended those who are to act in My stead, so that what was ordained by the excellent zeal of your faith may be accomplished more easily and diligently to salutary effect.
Dated the thirteenth day before the Kalends of August, in the consulship of Adelfius, most illustrious man.
Footnotes
- ↩ The phrase qui vicem meam sufficienter implerent — “to fulfill My presence sufficiently” — states the same presidency principle Leo expressed to the bishops in Letter XCIII: the legates are not merely representative but vicarious. They carry Leo’s presence into the council, so that wherever they are, he is. The Latin vicem (from vices) is the same root as vicarius — one who acts in another’s place. It is the precise legal term for delegated authority, not a loose diplomatic courtesy.
- ↩ Nulla penitus disputatione cujusquam retractationis admissa — “with no disputation of any reconsideration admitted at all.” The insistence that the faith is not subject to renewed debate is one of Leo’s most consistent positions throughout the Chalcedonian correspondence. The council has not been summoned to deliberate on the content of Christian doctrine; it has been summoned to confirm and apply what has already been declared — primarily in the Tome. This framing makes Leo, not the assembled bishops, the definitive theological authority. The council ratifies; it does not originate.
- ↩ The closing request — ut vice mea acturos, commendatos per omnia habere dignemini — “deign to hold in all things commended those who are to act in My stead” — is directed to the emperor. Leo is not merely informing Marcian of the legate appointment; he is specifying what the emperor’s duty is. Marcian is to give his full imperial support to Leo’s representatives across every dimension of the council’s work. The pattern is consistent throughout the imperial correspondence: Leo coordinates the ecclesiastical operation and asks the emperor to provide the conditions under which it can succeed.
- ↩ July 20, 451. The letter falls approximately three weeks after the June 26 packet of Letters XCI–XCIII, and about three months before the Council of Chalcedon’s opening session in October 451. Its proximity to the council suggests Leo was continuing to coordinate imperial cooperation as the date approached — a second, more urgent request for what he had asked in the June letters.
Historical Commentary