The Presbyters Project

Letter 120 [inc. "Remeantibus ad nos"]

The letter concerns mostly the Council of Chalcedon and the condemnation of Dioscorus of Alexandria. Leo asks Theodoret for continued cooperation and perseverance in faith.

6. [...] De his vero quae in saepe dicto concilio illicita contra venerabiles Nicaenos canones praesumptione tentata sunt, ad fratrem et coepiscopum nostrum Antiochenae sedis praesulem scripsimus; adiicientes et illud, quod nobis propter improbitatem monachorum quorumdam regionis vestrae verbo mandasti per vicarios nostros, et hoc specialiter statuentes, ut praeter Domini sacerdotes nullus audeat praedicare, seu monachus, sive ille sit laicus, qui cuiuslibet scientiae nomine glorietur. Quas tamen litteras, pro utilitate universalis Ecclesiae, per praedictum fratrem et coepiscopum nostrum Maximum, ad omnium voluimus pervenire notitiam: et ob hoc his noluimus earum exemplar adiicere, quia quae praedicto fratri et coepiscopo nostro iniunximus, non dubitamus implenda. Et alia manu: Deus te incolumem custodiat, frater charissime. Data tertio idus Iunii, Opilione viro clarissimo consule.

(Patrologia Latina 54, 1054-1055 = Ballerini 1753: 1227)

Letter 120 [inc. "Remeantibus ad nos"]

The letter concerns mostly the Council of Chalcedon and the condemnation of Dioscorus of Alexandria. Leo asks Theodoret for continued cooperation and perseverance in faith.

6. [...] On those matters which were mooted in the often-quoted council, in unlawful opposition to the venerable canons of Nicaea, we have written to our brother and fellow-bishop, the occupant of the See of Antioch, adding that too which you had given us verbal information about by your delegates with reference to the unscrupulousness of certain monks, and laying down strict injunctions that no one, be he monk or layman, that boasts himself of some knowledge, should presume to preach except the Lord's priests. That letter, however, we wish to reach all men's knowledge for the benefit of the universal Church through our aforesaid brother and fellow-bishop Maximus; and for that reason we have not thought fit to add a copy of it to this; because we have no doubt of the due carrying out of our injunctions to our aforesaid brother and fellow-bishop. [In another hand] God keep thee safe, beloved brother. Dated on the third day before the Ides of June, in the consulship of the illustrious Opilio [= 11 June 453].

(trans. Ch. Lett Feltoe 1895: 90, lightly adapted)

Discussion:

For the mentioned letter to Maximus of Antioch see [1806].

Place of event:

Region

Rome
East

City

Rome
Antioch

About the source:

Author: Leo the Great
Title: Letters, Epistulae
Origin: Rome (Rome)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

Leo the Great was the bishop of Rome from AD 440 to his death in AD 461. We have the collection of 173 letters of Leo.

Edition:

P. and G. Ballerini eds., Sancti Leoni Magni Romani pontificis opera, vol. 1, Venice 1753

Patrologia Latina, vol. 54

Translation:

Leo the Great, Letters, trans. Ch. Lett Feltoe, [in:] The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, 2nd series, vol. 12, Edinburgh 1895, 1-114

Bibliography:

S. Wessel, Leo the Great and the spiritual rebuilding of a universal Rome, Leiden and Boston 2008.

Categories:

Described by a title - Sacerdos/ἱερεύς

Usurping presbyterial power

Equal prerogatives of presbyters and bishops

Pastoral activity - Preaching

Pastoral activity - Teaching

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1809, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1809