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| To the Archimandrites of Constantinople.
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Letter XXXII.
To the Archimandrites of
Constantinople326
| 326 It will be
remembered that 23 abbots signed the condemnation of Eutyches:
cf. Lett. XXI. chap. 2. | .
To his well-beloved sons Faustus, Martinus, and the rest
of the archimandrites, Leo the bishop.
He acknowledges their zeal and refers them to the
Tome.
As on behalf of the faith which Eutyches has tried
to disturb, I was sending legates de latere327
| 327 De latere
meo. This is interesting as an early instance of the use of
this expression for the legates of the pope (now so familiar):
even though Quesnel is incorrect in saying for certain that Leo is the
first Bishop of Rome who employed them. He himself quotes Concil.
Sardic., canon 7, where the fathers ask the Roman bishop to send some
one e latere suo (a.d.
347). | to assist the defence of the Truth, I
thought it fitting that I should address a letter to you also,
beloved: whom I know for certain to be so zealous in the cause of
religion that you can by no means listen calmly to such blasphemous and
profane utterances: for the Apostle’s command lingers in
your hearts, in which it is said, “If any man hath preached unto
you any gospel other than that which he received, let him be
anathema328
.”
And we also decide that the opinion of the said Eutyches is to be
rejected, which, as we have learnt from perusing the proceedings, has
been deservedly condemned: so that, if its foolish maintainer
will abide by his perverseness, he may have fellowship with those whose
error he has followed. For one who says that Christ had not a
human, that is our, nature, is deservedly put out of Christ’s
Church. But, if he be corrected through the pity of God’s Spirit and acknowledge his wicked error, so as
to condemn unreservedly what catholics reject, we wish him not to be
denied mercy, that the Lord’s Church may
suffer no loss: for the repentant can always be readmitted, it is
only error that must be shut out. Upon the mystery of great
godliness329
| 329 I cannot doubt he
has 1 Tim. iii. 27, μέγα ἐστί
τὸ τῆς
ἐυσεβείας
μυστήριον (here
sacramentum as usual) in his mind, though the Gk. translator
apparently did not see it, his version being utterly inaccurate
(περὶ δὲ
τῆς
ἁγιότητος
τῆς μεγάλης
πίστεως). | , whereby through
the Incarnation of the Word of God comes our
justification and redemption, what is our opinion, drawn from the
tradition of the fathers, is now sufficiently explained according to my
judgment in the letter which I have sent to our brother Flavian the
bishop330
| 330 Viz., Letter XXVIII.
(The Tome). | : so that through the declaration of
your chief you may know what, according to the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ, we desire to be fixed in
the hearts of all the faithful. Dated 13th June, in the
consulship of the illustrious Asturius and Protogenes
(449).E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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