The See of Peter

The Early Church and Peter's Primacy

Letter XXXVIII, from Pope Leo to Bishop Flavian of Constantinople

Synopsis: After the legates have departed, Leo receives Flavian’s letters through the deacon Basilius, encourages Flavian with the Philippians text against being terrified by adversaries, directs him to the letters already sent as the doctrinal standard, and urges patience toward those who can be corrected while maintaining the judgment already pronounced against those who persist in error.

Leo to Bishop Flavian of Constantinople.

Encouragement After the Legates’ Departure; The Letters Already Sent as Doctrinal Standard; Mercy for Those Who Repent

After our representatives, sent to you for the cause of the faith, had already departed, we received the writings of your beloved through our son the deacon Basilius — who rightly provided us with what was needed concerning the matter of our shared solicitude, since the acts previously sent had already informed us fully of all things, and Basilius, returning our God’s words, was apt for familiar inquiry. We exhort your beloved, in whom we trust, using apostolic words: In nothing be terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a cause of destruction, but to you of salvation (Phil. 1:28).

What is more destructive than, by denying the truth of Christ’s Incarnation, seeking to dissolve all hope of human salvation — and openly contradicting the Apostle who says: Great is the mystery of godliness, which was manifested in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16)? What is more glorious than fighting for the faith of the Gospel against the enemies of Christ’s birth and cross?

In the letters already sent to your beloved, we have made clear what is in our heart concerning this most pure light and unconquered virtue — so that nothing may seem ambiguous between us regarding what we have received and teach according to Catholic doctrine. Since the testimonies of truth are so clear and strong, whoever does not instantly shake off the darkness of falsehood at the brilliance of its light must be reckoned utterly blind and obstinate.

Yet, to heal the madness of the ignorant, we desire you to apply patience’s remedy — that through fatherly rebukes, those childish in mind despite their body’s old age may learn to obey their elders. If they lay aside their ignorance’s vanity, condemning all error and embracing the true and singular faith, let the mercy of episcopal benevolence not be denied them. The judgment already pronounced stands if the impiety justly condemned persists in its perversity.

Given on the tenth day before the Kalends of August, in the consulship of Asturius and Protogenes, most illustrious men.

Source/Reference

Notes / Historical Commentary

Letter XXXVIII is the last letter Leo sends to Flavian before Ephesus II convenes on August 1, 449. It is dated July 23, nine days before the council opens. At the time of writing, Leo does not know what is about to happen; he writes in the same register of confident encouragement that runs through all the preceding letters to Flavian. The letter’s primary function is pastoral: to strengthen Flavian for what Leo expects will be a trying but ultimately orthodox council.

The opening reference to Basilius confirms the letter’s place in the sequence: after the main legates had already departed with the Tome, Flavian sent Basilius to Leo with letters updating him on the situation. Leo responds through Basilius, returning him to Flavian with this encouragement. The communication channel between Rome and Constantinople is now operating bilaterally — the legates carry Leo’s authority westward to east, while Basilius carries Flavian’s reports from east to west. This bilateral structure is itself a primacy expression: Flavian reports to Rome; Rome responds with direction.

The letter’s two primacy expressions are both directed at establishing the Tome as the doctrinal anchor Flavian can rely on. The “shared solicitude” formula positions Leo as the senior partner in a common enterprise; the reference to “the letters already sent” grounds everything in the Tome’s authority. Flavian is to face the council knowing that Rome’s doctrinal position is clear, unconflicted, and already in writing. The council cannot produce ambiguity that Leo’s letters have not already resolved.

The reader who knows what happened at Ephesus II — Flavian beaten, deposed, and dead within months — will find Letter XXXVIII among the most poignant documents in the corpus. Leo is urging Flavian not to be terrified by his adversaries; within weeks, his adversaries would have him physically assaulted at the council itself. The Apostle’s words Leo cites — “in nothing be terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a cause of destruction, but to you of salvation” — acquire a weight that neither Leo nor Flavian could have anticipated when this letter was written.