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| To the Synod of Ephesus.
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Letter
XXXIII.
To the Synod of Ephesus331
| 331 This letter
has a note prefixed to it in some Gk. and Latin mss. to the effect that it was produced but suppressed,
and not allowed to be read through Dioscorus, Bishop of
Alexandria. | .
Leo, bishop, to the holy Synod which is assembled at
Ephesus.
I. He commends the Emperor’s appeal
to the chair of Peter.
The devout faith of our most clement prince,
knowing that it especially
concerns his glory to prevent any seed of error from springing up
within the catholic Church, has paid such deference to the Divine
institutions as to apply to the authority of the Apostolic See for a
proper settlement: as if he wished it to be declared by the most
blessed Peter himself what was praised in his confession, when the
Lord said, “whom do men say that I, the
Son of man, am332
| 332 S. Matt.
xvi. 13 and 16. | ?” and the
disciples mentioned various people’s opinion: but, when He
asked what they themselves believed, the chief of the apostles,
embracing the fulness of the Faith in one short sentence, said,
“Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God333
| 333 S. Matt.
xvi. 13 and 16. | :” that is, Thou who
truly art Son of man art also truly Son of the living God: Thou, I say, true in Godhead, true in flesh and
one altogether334
| 334 Utrumque
(Γκ. ἑκάτερον)
unus. | , the properties
of the two natures being kept intact. And if Eutyches had
believed this intelligently and thoroughly, he would never have
retreated from the path of this Faith. For Peter received this
answer from the Lord for his confession.
“Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona; for flesh and blood hath not
revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven. And I
say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My
Church: and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against
it335
.” But he who both rejects the
blessed Peter’s confession, and gainsays Christ’s Gospel,
is far removed from union with this building; for he shows himself
never to have had any zeal for understanding the Truth, and to have
only the empty appearance of high esteem, who did not adorn the hoary
hairs of old age with any ripe judgment of the heart.
II. The heresy of Eutyches is to be
condemned, though his full repentance may lead to his
restitution.
But because the healing even of such men must not
be neglected, and the most Christian Emperor has piously and devoutly
desired a council of bishops to be held, that all error may be
destroyed by a fuller judgment, I have sent our brothers Julius the
bishop, Renatus the presbyter, and my son Hilary the deacon, and with
them Dulcitius the notary, whose faith we have proved, to be present in
my stead at your holy assembly, brethren, and settle in common with you
what is in accordance with the Lord’s
will. To wit, that the pestilential error may be first condemned,
and then the restitution of him, who has so unwisely erred, discussed,
but only if embracing the true doctrine he fully and openly with his
own voice and signature condemns those heretical opinions in which his
ignorance has been ensnared: for this he has promised in the
appeal which he sent to us, pledging himself to follow our judgment in
all things336
| 336 Cf. Lett. XXI.,
chaps. i. and ii. | . On
receiving our brother and fellow-bishop Flavian’s letter, we have
replied to him at some length on the points which he seems to have
referred to us337
| 337 See Lett. XXVII.,
n. 7. | : that
when this error which seems to have arisen, has been destroyed, there
may be one Faith and one and the same confession throughout the whole
world to the praise and glory of God, and that
“in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven,
and things on earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue
should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is
in the glory of God the Father338
.” Dated 13th June in the
consulship of the illustrious Asturius and Protogenes
(449).E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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