Leo, bishop, to Theodosius Augustus.
Chapter I: The Emperor’s Praise; Eutyches’s Complaint to the Apostolic See
From the letters which your clemency has sent to Us, the Lord’s provision for His Church through your faith shines forth; and We rejoice that you possess not only royal but truly priestly zeal. Beyond the imperial and public cares that press upon you on every side, you hold a most pious solicitude for the Christian religion — ensuring that no schisms, heresies, or scandals grow strong among God’s people. For the best condition of your reign is when the eternal and immutable Trinity is served in the confession of one Divinity.
By what disturbance the Church of Constantinople has been troubled, and what moved Our brother and fellow bishop Flavian to separate Eutyches the presbyter from communion, We have not yet been able to discern with clarity. Eutyches the presbyter has sent a complaint to the Apostolic See, briefly alleging that he was unjustly accused of having deviated from the faith while upholding the decrees of the Nicene synod.
Chapter II: Flavian’s Silence Is Reproved; The Apostolic Doctrine Must Govern the Judgment
The bishop who was his accuser — Eusebius — also sent us copies of his own petition through Eutyches’s hand, but it contained no clear evidence of the charges: it alleged heresy in general terms without specifying what Eutyches had actually said contrary to the faith, though Eusebius himself professed adherence to Nicaea’s decrees. From this We could learn nothing more fully. The merit of the case, the ground of the faith, and the laudable solicitude of your piety all require that no room be left for concealment — that We first be fully informed of what Eutyches stands accused of, so that a judgment fitting the known facts may follow.
We have written to Flavian, expressing Our displeasure that he still conceals what occurred in this matter, when he should have first disclosed everything to Us. We believe that after Our admonition he will report all, so that with hidden matters brought to light, a judgment consonant with evangelical and apostolic doctrine may be reached.
Given on the second day before the Kalends of March, in the consulship of Asturius and Protogenes, most illustrious men.
Footnotes
- ↩ The phrase ad Apostolicam sedem Eutyches presbyter querelam misit — “Eutyches the presbyter sent a complaint to the Apostolic See” — identifies Rome specifically as the jurisdiction to which an appeal against an Eastern episcopal condemnation is directed. This is structurally consistent with the pattern seen in Letter XXI: Eutyches, condemned by the Patriarch of Constantinople, does not appeal to a council, to the emperor, or to another patriarch — he appeals to Rome. Leo’s reporting of this fact to the emperor in these terms presents the Apostolic See’s receipt of the appeal as the natural and proper course of events.
- ↩ February 28, 449 AD — ten days after Letter XXIII to Flavian (February 18). The dating sequence shows Leo writing to the ecclesiastical authority first and to the emperor second, which reflects his understanding of the proper order: the Apostolic See assesses the case; the emperor then supports what the apostolic judgment determines. Compare the reverse sequence in Letter VIII, where Leo’s tribunal preceded and grounded the imperial rescript, and in Letter XI, where the Novella formalized what Leo’s authority had already established.
Historical Commentary