The Presbyters Project

Letter 167 [inc. "Epistolas fraternitatis tuae"]

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

Inquisitio 2. — De presbytero, vel diacono, qui si cognito crimine suo poenitentiam publicam petat, utrum ei per manus impositionem danda sit?

Responsum. — Alienum est a consuetudine ecclesiastica, ut qui in presbyterali honore, aut in diaconii gradu fuerint consecrati, ii pro crimine aliquo suo per manus impositionem remedium accipiant poenitendi: quod sine dubio ex apostolica traditione descendit, secundum quod scriptum est: "Sacerdos si peccaverit, quis orabit pro illo?" Unde hujusmodi lapsis, ad promerendam misericordiam Dei, privata est expetenda secessio, ubi illis satisfactio, si fuerit digna, sit etiam fructuosa.

(Patrologia Latina 54, 1203-1204 = Ballerini 1753: 1421)

Letter 167 [inc. "Epistolas fraternitatis tuae"]

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

Question 2. — Concerning a presbyter or deacon, who on his crime being known asks for public penance, whether it is to be granted him by laying on of hands?

Reply. — It is contrary to the custom of the Church that they who have been dedicated to the dignity of the presbyterate or the rank of the diaconate, should receive the remedy of penitence by laying on of hands for any crime; which doubtless descends from the Apostles' tradition, according to what is written, "If a priest shall have sinned, who shall pray for him?" [1 Sam 2:25] And hence such men when they have lapsed in order to obtain God's mercy must seek private retirement, where their atonement may be profitable as well as adequate.

(trans. Ch. Lett Feltoe 1895: 109)

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 have been 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 Leo`s death, 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:

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

Impediments or requisits for the office - Improper/Immoral behaviour

Public law - Ecclesiastical

Administration of justice - Ecclesiastical

Administration of justice - Penance

Impediments or requisits for the office - Public penance

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1812, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1812