Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 388
Consentius, a layman from the Balearic Isles, mentions his argument with the presbyter Leontius. A letter of Consentius to Augustine, bishop of Hippo, AD 420 (Letter 12* in Augustine`s correspondence).
Letter 12*
 
3. Unde etiam factum est, ut aduersus sanctae memoriae Leontium presbyterum non doctrinae sed iustitiae naturalis
mouerer affectu et aduersus illam quae sanctitatis tuae iudicio discussa est quaestionem, in qua uisus mihi est non
recta sentire, pugnacissime decertarem moxque eius aemulatione succensus et famam tuae sanctitatis admirans et
amore agnoscendae aestuans ueritatis illa conscriberem, in quibus multa damnata, pauca laudata sunt; et tamen diuino
ut reor iudicio omnia, ut uel scriberem uel reprehensibiliter scriberem, gesta sunt.   
 
(ed. Divjak 1981)
Letter 12*
 
3. Hence it also came about that I was aroused against the presbyter Leontius, of holy memory, by a love not of learning but of natural justice, and that I fought most vigorously against him on the question that was decided by the judgment of Your Holiness, on which he seemed to me not to think correctly. And soon, fired with rivalry in his regard, admiring the reputation of Your Holiness and burning
with the love of knowing the truth, I wrote those pages in which I rejected many ideas and praised a few. And yet, I think, all these events have taken place by God’s judgment either that I might write or that I might write in a blameworthy manner.
 
(trans. R.Teske, slightly altered)

Discussion:

We have no other information about Leontius apart from this letter. Given the date of the letter, he probably disagreed with Augustine on the doctrine of grace. Since Consentius mentions his writings against Leontius, the latter probably also produced some writings of his own.

Place of event:

Region
  • Iberian Peninsula

About the source:

Author: Augustine of Hippo
Title: Letters Letters, Epistulae
Origin: Iberian Peninsula
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
The letters of Augustine of Hippo cover a wide range of topics: Holy Scripture, dogma and liturgy, philosophy, religious practice and everyday life. They range from full-scale theological treatises to small notes asking someone for a favour. The preserved corpus includes 308 letters, 252 written by Augustine, 49 that others sent to him and seven exchanged between third parties. 29 letters have been discovered only in the 20th century and edited in 1981 by Johannes Divjak; they are distinguished by the asterisk (*) after their number.
The preserved letters of Augustine extend over the period from his stay at Cassiciacum in 386 to his death in Hippo in 430.
Edition:
J. Divjak ed., Sancti Aureli Augustini Epistolae ex duobus codicibus nuper in lucem prolatae, Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 88, Vienna 1981.
 
J. Divjak ed., Saint Augustin. Lettres 1*-29*, Bibliothèque Augustinienne 46B. Paris 1987.
 
Saint Augustine, Letters 211–270, 1*–29*, trans. R. Teske. New York 2005.

Categories:

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος
Conflict
Writing activity
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER388, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=388