Letter XXXVIII357
| 357 If we are right in
thinking that Lett. XXXVI. is Leo’s acknowledgment of
Flavian’s second letter (XXVI.), this (which again has no Gk.
version) must be an acknowledgment of yet a third, not extant, sent by
the hand of one Basil, the deacon who is probably the same as
Julian’s messenger (XXXV., chap. i ). |
.
To Flavian, Bishop of
Constantinople.
Leo to Flavian, bishop of Constantinople.
He acknowledges the receipt of a letter and advises
mercy if Eutyches will recant.
When our brethren had already started whom we
despatched to you in the cause of the Faith, we received your letter,
beloved, by our son Basil the deacon, in which you rightly said very
little on the subject of our common anxiety, both because the accounts
which had already arrived had given us full information on every thing,
and because for purposes of private inquiry it was easy to converse
with the aforesaid Basil, by whom now through the grace of God, in whom we trust, we exhort you, beloved, in reply,
using the Apostle’s words, and saying: “Be ye in
nothing affrighted by the adversaries; which is for them a cause of
perdition, but to you of salvation358
.” For what is so calamitous
as to wish to destroy all hope of man’s salvation by denying the
reality of Christ’s Incarnation, and to contradict the Apostle
who says distinctly: “great is the mystery of Godliness
which was manifest in the flesh359
?” What
so glorious as to fight for the Faith of the gospel against the enemies
of Christ’s nativity and cross? About whose most pure light
and unconquered power we have already disclosed what was in our heart,
in the letter which has been sent to you beloved360
| 360 Sc. the Tome
(XXVIII.). |
: lest anything might seem doubtful
between us on those things which we have learnt, and teach in
accordance with the catholic doctrine. But seeing that the
testimonies to the Truth are so clear
and strong that a man must be reckoned
thoroughly blind and stubborn, who does not at once shake himself free
from the mists of falsehood in the bright light of reason; we desire
you to use the remedy of long-suffering in curing the madness of
ignorance that through your fatherly admonitions they who though old in
years are infants in mind, may learn to obey their elders. And if
they give up the vain conceits of their ignorance and come to their
senses, and if they condemn all their errors and receive the one true
Faith, do not deny them the mercifulness of a bishop’s kind
heart: although your judgment must remain, if their impiety which
you have deservedly condemned persists in its depravity. Dated 23
July in the consulship of the illustrious Asturius and Protogenes
(449).E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
