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| To Julian, Bishop of Cos.
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Letter
XXXIV.
To Julian, Bishop of Cos.
Leo, the bishop, to Julian, the bishop, his well-beloved
brother.
I. Eutyches is now clearly seen to have
deviated from the Faith.
Your letter, beloved, which has just reached me,
shows with what spiritual love of the Catholic Faith you are
inspired: and it makes me very glad that devout hearts all agree
in the same opinion, so that according to the teaching of the Holy
Ghost there may be fulfilled in us what the Apostle says:
“Now I beseech you, brethren, through the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same
things, and there be no divisions among you: but that ye be
perfect in the same mind and in the same judgment339
.” But Eutyches has put
himself quite outside this unity, if he perseveres in his perversity,
and still does not understand the bonds with which the devil has bound
him, and thinks any one is to be reckoned among the Lord’s priests, who is a party to his ignorance and
madness. For some time we were uncertain in what he was
displeasing to catholics: and when we received no letter from our
brother Flavian, and Eutyches himself complained in his letter340
| 340 See Lett. XX.,
above. | that the Nestorian heresy was being
revived, we could not fully learn the source or the motive of so crafty
an accusation. But as soon as the minutes of the bishops’
proceedings reached us, all those things which were hidden
beneath
the veil of his
deceitful complaints were revealed in their abomination.
II. He announces the appointment of
legates a latere.
And because our most clement Emperor in the
loving-kindness and godliness of his mind wished a more careful
judgment to be passed about the position of one who hitherto has seemed
to be in high esteem, and for this purpose has thought fit to convene a
council of bishops, by the hands of our brothers Julius the bishop, and
Renatus the presbyter, and also my son Hilary, the deacon whom I have
sent ex latere341
| 341 See Lett. XXXII., n.
9, above. | in my stead, I
have addressed a letter suited to the needs of the case to our brother
Flavian, from which you also, beloved, and the whole Church may know
about the ancient and unique Faith, which this unlearned opponent has
assailed, what we hold as handed down from God
and what we preach without alteration. Yet, because we must not
forget the duty of mercy, we have considered it consonant with our
moderation as priests, that, if the condemned presbyter corrects
himself unreservedly, the sentence by which he is bound should be
remitted: if, however, he chooses to lie in the mire of his
foolishness, let the decree remain, and let him have his lot with those
whose error he has followed. Dated 13th June in the consulship of
the illustrious Asturius and Protogenes (449)342
| 342 This letter
(XXXIV.) is written on the same day and subject and to the same person
as the next letter (XXXV.): the differences between them being
(l) the greater length and fuller treatment of the second; and (2) that
the one is entrusted to Leo’s legates, the other to Julius’
own messenger, Basil the deacon; and (3) that the shorter has no Gk.
version as the longer has. I think the Ballerinii are undoubtedly
right in facing the difficulty boldly, the evidence of the mss. being invariable, except that XXXIV. is only found in
a few collections: and I would suggest that XXXIV. is a formal,
official communication, and XXXV. a private, confidential one.
This will account for the difference of messengers, and the identity of
date, subject and person addressed, and is justifiable as a piece of
necessary diplomatic secrecy. In XXX. and XXXI. we have another
instance of two letters to the same person on the same day, one of
these (XXXI.) being also without a Gk. version, this time the longer
one: but here we have adopted the Ballerinii’s suggestion
that only the first was sent. It should further be noticed that
out of the very large batch of letters that are dated the 13th of June,
which includes the Tome (8 in all. XXVIII.–XXXV.), it may well
have been convergent to delay one and send it by another
hand. | .E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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