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| From the Synod of Chalcedon to Leo.
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Letter
XCVIII.
From the Synod of Chalcedon to
Leo.
The great and holy and universal Synod, which by
the grace of God and the sanction of our most
pious and Christ-loving Emperors has been gathered together in the
metropolis of Chalcedon in the province of Bithynia, to the most holy
and blessed archbishop of Rome, Leo.
I. They congratulate Leo on taking the
foremost part in maintaining the Faith.
“Our mouth was filled with joy and our
tongue with exultation433
.”
This prophecy grace has fitly appropriated to us for whom the security
of religion is ensured. For what is a greater incentive to
cheerfulness than the Faith? what better inducement to exultation than
the Divine knowledge which the Saviour Himself gave us from above for
salvation, saying, “go ye and make disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things that I have enjoined
you434
.” And this golden chain
leading down from the Author of the command to us, you yourself have
stedfastly preserved, being set as the mouthpiece unto all of the
blessed Peter, and imparting the blessedness of his Faith unto
all. Whence we too, wisely taking you as our guide in all that is
good, have shown to the sons of the Church their inheritance of Truth,
not giving our instruction each singly and in secret, but making known
our confession of the Faith in conceit, with one consent and
agreement. And we were all delighted, revelling, as at an
imperial banquet, in the spiritual food, which Christ supplied to us
through your letter: and we seemed to see the Heavenly Bridegroom
actually present with us. For if “where two or three are
gathered together in His name,” He has said that “there He
is in the midst of them435
,” must He
not have been much more particularly present with 520 priests, who
preferred the spread of knowledge concerning Him to their country and
their ease? Of whom you were chief, as the head to the members,
showing your goodwill436
| 436 εὔνοιαν:
others read εὐβουλίαν
(good advice). | in the person of
those who represented you; whilst our religious Emperors presided to
the furtherance of due order, inviting us to restore the doctrinal
fabric of the Church, even as Zerubbabel invited Joshua to rebuild
Jerusalem437
.
II. They detail Dioscorus’ wicked
acts.
And the adversary would have been like a wild beast
outside the fold, roaring to himself and unable to seize any one, had
not the late bishop of Alexandria thrown himself for a prey to him,
who, though he had done many terrible things before, eclipsed the
former by the latter deeds; for contrary to all the injunctions of the
canons, he deposed that blessed shepherd of the saints at
Constantinople, Flavian, who displayed such Apostolic faith, and the
most pious bishop Eusebius, and acquitted by his terror-won votes
Eutyches, who had been condemned for heresy, and restored to him the
dignity which your holiness had taken away from him as unworthy of it,
and like the strangest of wild beasts, falling upon the vine which he
found in the finest condition, he uprooted it and brought in that which
had been cast away as unfruitful, and those who acted like true
shepherds he cut off, and set over the flocks those who had shown
themselves wolves: and besides all this he stretched forth his
fury even against him who had been charged with the custody of the vine
by the Saviour, we mean of course your holiness, and purposed
excommunication against one who had at heart the unifying of the
Church. And instead of showing penitence for this, instead of
begging mercy with tears, he exulted as if over virtuous actions,
rejecting your holiness’ letter and resisting all the dogmas of
the Truth.
III. We have deposed Eutyches, treating
him as mercifully as we could.
And we ought to have left him in the position
where he had placed himself: but, since we profess the teaching
of the Saviour “who wishes all men to be saved and to come to a
knowledge of the Truth438
,” as a
fact we took pains to carry out this merciful policy towards him, and
called him in brotherly fashion to judgment, not as if trying to cut
him off but affording him room for defence and healing; and we prayed
that he might be victorious over the many charges they had brought
against him, in order that we might conclude our meeting in peace and
happiness and Satan might gain no advantage over us. But he,
being absolutely convicted by his own conscience439
| 439 ἐν
ἑαυτῷ
ἄκρατον τοῦ
συνειδότος
ἔχων τὸν
ἔλεγχον. There seems,
however, some grounds, but no actual necessity for the reading
ἔγγραφον = written
(instead of ἄκρατον) adopted by the
Ball. | , by shirking the trial gave countenance
to the accusations and rejected the three lawful
summonses he received. In
consequence of which, we ratified with such moderation as we could the
vote which he had passed against himself by his blunders, stripping the
wolf of his shepherd’s skin, which he had long been convicted of
wearing for a pretence. Thereupon our troubles ceased and
straightway a time of welcome happiness set in: and having pulled
up one tare, we filled the whole world to our delight with pure
grain: and having received, as it were, full power to root up and
to plant, we limited the up-rooting to one and carefully plant a crop
of good fruit. For it was God who
worked, and the triumphant Euphemia who crowned the meeting as for a
bridal440
| 440 ἡ τὸν
σύλλογον τῷ
νυμφῶνι (lit. bride-chamber)
στεφανοῦσα
καλλίνικος
Εὐφημία; this obscure
passage is to a certain extent elucidated by Letter CI., chap. iii.
(q.v.). The martyr, Euphemia, seems to have been a sort of
patron saint of Chalcedon. | , and who, taking our definition of the Faith
as her own confession, presented it to her Bridegroom by our most
religious Emperor and Christ-loving Empress, appeasing all the tumult
of opponents and establishing our confession of the Truth as acceptable
to Him, and with hand and tongue setting her seal441
| 441 ἐπισφραγίσασα;
others ἐπιψηφίσασα,
which seems meaningless here. | to the votes of us all in proclamation
thereof. These are the things we have done, with you present in
the spirit and known to approve of us as brethren, and all but visible
to us through the wisdom of your representatives.
IV. They announce their decision that
Constantinople should take precedence next to Rome, and ask Leo’s
consent to it.
And we further inform you that we have decided on
other things also for the good management and stability of church
matters, being persuaded that your holiness will accept and ratify
them, when you are told. The long prevailing custom, which the
holy Church of God at Constantinople had of
ordaining metropolitans for the provinces of Asia, Pontus and Thrace,
we have now ratified by the votes of the Synod, not so much by way of
conferring a privilege on the See of Constantinople as to provide for
the good government of those cities, because of the frequent disorders
that arise on the death of their bishops, both clergy and laity being
then without a leader and disturbing church order. And this has
not escaped your holiness, particularly in the case of Ephesus, which
has often caused you annoyance442
| 442 The reference (acc.
to Ball.) is to the dispute about the bishopric between Bassian and
Stephen, in which Leo interfered, though the letter is not extant. | . We have
ratified also the canon of the 150 holy Fathers who met at
Constantinople in the time of the great Theodosius of holy memory,
which ordains that after your most holy and Apostolic See, the See of
Constantinople shall take precedence, being placed second: for we
are persuaded that with your usual care for others you have often
extended that Apostolic prestige which belongs to you, to the church in
Constantinople also, by virtue of your great disinterestedness in
sharing all your own good things with your spiritual kinsfolk.
Accordingly vouchsafe most holy and blessed father to accept as your
own wish, and as conducing to good government the things which we have
resolved on for the removal of all confusion and the confirmation of
church order. For your holiness’ delegates, the most pious
bishops Paschasinus and Lucentius, and with them the right Godly
presbyter Boniface, attempted vehemently to resist these decisions,
from a strong desire that this good work also should start from your
foresight, in order that the establishment of good order as well as of
the Faith should be put to your account. For we duly regarding
our most devout and Christ loving Emperors, who delight therein, and
the illustrious senate and, so to say, the whole imperial city,
considered it opportune to use the meeting of this ecumenical Synod for
the ratification of your honour, and confidently corroborated this
decision as if it were initiated by you with your customary fostering
zeal, knowing that every success of the children rebounds to the
parent’s glory. Accordingly, we entreat you, honour our
decision by your assent, and as we have yielded to the head our
agreement on things honourable, so may the head also fulfil for the
children what is fitting. For thus will our pious Emperors be
treated with due regard, who have ratified your holiness’
judgment as law, and the See of Constantinople will receive its
recompense for having always displayed such loyalty on matters of
religion towards you, and for having so zealously linked itself to you
in full agreement. But that you may know that we have done
nothing for favour or in hatred, but as being guided by the Divine
Will, we have made known to you the whole scope of our proceedings to
strengthen our position and to ratify and establish what we have
done443
| 443 One of the Latin
versions adds the names and titles of the subscribing bishops
here. For the subject matter of Chap. iv., see Introduction, p.
viii. | .E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
