The Presbyters Project

Letter 167 [inc. "Epistolas fraternitatis tuae"]

Leo responds to the queries of Rusticus in the form of questions and answers:

Inquisitio 1. — De presbytero, vel diacono, qui se episcopos esse mentiti sunt: et de his quos ipsi clericos ordinarunt.

Responsum. — Nulla ratio sinit ut inter episcopos habeantur qui nec a clericis sunt electi, nec a plebibus sunt expetiti, nec a provincialibus episcopis cum metropolitani judicio consecrati. Unde cum saepe quaestio de male accepto honore nascatur, quis ambigat nequaquam istis esse tribuendum, quod non docetur fuisse collatum? Si qui autem clerici ab istis pseudoepiscopis in eis ecclesiis ordinati sunt quae ad proprios episcopos pertinebant, et ordinatio eorum consensu et judicio praesidentium facta est, potest rata haberi, ita ut in ipsis ecclesiis perseverent. Aliter autem vana habenda est creatio quae nec loco fundata est nec auctore munita.

(Patrologia Latina 54, 1203 = Ballerini 1753: 1420)

Letter 167 [inc. "Epistolas fraternitatis tuae"]

Leo responds to the queries of Rusticus in the form of questions and answers:

Question 1. — Concerning a presbyter or deacon who falsely claims to be a bishop, and those whom they have ordained.

Reply. — No consideration permits men to be reckoned among bishops who have not been elected by the clergy, demanded by the laity, and consecrated by the bishops of the province with the assent of the metropolitan. And hence, since the question often arises concerning unduly obtained office, who would doubt that that what was not obtained cannot be transferred to the others. And if any clerics have been ordained by such false bishops in those churches which have bishops of their own, and their ordination took place with the consent and approval of the proper bishops, it may be held valid on condition that they continue in the same churches. Otherwise it must be held void, not being connected with any place nor resting on any authority.

(trans. Ch. Lett Feltoe 1895: 109, adapted)

Place of event:

Region

Rome
Gaul

City

Rome
Narbonne

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.

The present letter is not dated and various possible datings were proposed in the scholarship. The most convincing is a conjecture of Ballerini that the letter was written not before 458:

1) Leo`s letters safely dated to 458 such as Letter 159 to Bishop Nicetas of Aquileia and Letter 166 to Bishop Neo of Ravenna also mention Romans held in captivity by pagan or heretical barbarians.

2) In Letter 166 to Neo of Ravenna (dated to 23 October 458), Leo refers to a problem of former Roman captives who return home not knowing whether they were baptized or not, as something new and unheard; the same issue is discussed by Leo in the letter of Rusticus which needs to be later than that to Neo.

The letter was certainly written before 461, the year of death of Leo, but also before the episcopal promotion of the Archdeacon Hermes which took place still during the pontificate of Leo (see PCBE, Gaule, v. 1, Hermes).

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

Categories:

Ecclesiastical transfer

Further ecclesiastical career - Bishop

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

Described by a title - Clericus

Usurping episcopal power

Ritual activity - Ordaining

Impediments or requisits for the office - Improper ordination

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1811, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1811