Leo, bishop, to the most beloved brother and fellow bishop Julian.
Leo Acknowledges the Ephesine Disaster and Urges Julian to Hold Firm
Having learned what was done at Ephesus through the presumption of one man — things most grievous, committed impiously and furiously — we have been greatly afflicted; yet, directing our minds to the Lord, we draw great confidence from the very truth we follow, leaving nothing undone that we believe will be of profit with God’s grace as our help. We must therefore hold what we hold — and while the squall of one storm rages, the tranquility of the most serene faith is to be embraced, until truth spreads its rays through the whole world and consumes the darkness of faithlessness. As for what has been arranged, the bearer of this letter will be able to make it known to you by faithful account.
Given on the Ides of October, in the consulship of Asturius and Protogenes, most illustrious men.
Footnotes
- ↩ Tenendum ergo nobis est quod tenemus — “we must therefore hold what we hold.” The compressed force of this sentence is characteristic of Leo at his most direct: the faith is already settled, already possessed; the crisis does not create new obligations but intensifies the old ones. Julian of Cos — Leo’s closest Eastern correspondent and the one who translated and distributed Leo’s letters in the Greek-speaking world — is being told that the Tome and the Petrine tradition it expresses are non-negotiable, regardless of what one council has done.
- ↩ The dateline reads idibus Octobris — the Ides of October, October 15 — two days after the main October 13 cluster (Letters XLIII–XLVII). PL footnote (h) notes the letter was written October 13, 449, suggesting the dateline may reflect a textual variant; all the letters to Julian from this period cluster around the same days. The consulship of Asturius and Protogenes confirms 449.