The Presbyters Project

Letter 171 (= Collectio Avellana 53)

Leo I congratulates Timothy III on his election to the see of Alexandria and exhorts him to fight against the heresy of Nestorians and Eutychians.

5. Cum ergo scribendi oportunitates, quibus fraternitas tua utatur, exstiterint, sicut necessarie et ex more fecisti, <ut> per filios nostros Danihelem presbyterum et Timotheum diaconum ordinationis tuae ad nos scripta dirigeres, ita omni tempore in hoc officio perseueret et de prouectibus pacis saepe, quantum fieri potest, sollicitudini nostrae mittantur indicia, ut per alterna colloquia sentiamus, quia caritas dei diffusa est in cordibus nostris per spiritum sanctum, qui datus est nobis.

Data XV. Kal. Septbr. Magno et Apollonio consulibus.

(ed. Guenther 1895: 121; summarized by M. Szada)

Letter 171 (=Collectio Avellana 53)

Leo I congratulates Timothy III his election on the see of Alexandria and exhorts him to fight against the heresy of Nestorians and Eutychians.

5. Whenever, therefore, opportunities arise which you can use for writing, brother, even as you necessarily and in accordance with custom have done in sending a report of your ordination to us by our sons, Daniel the presbyter and Timothy the deacon, so continue to act at all times and send us, who will be anxious for them, as frequent accounts as possible of the progress of peace, in order that by regular intercourse we may feel that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. Dated the 15th day before the Kalends of September, in the consulship of Magnus and Apollonius [=18 August 460).

(trans. Ch. Lett Feltoe 1895: 114)

Discussion:

Presbyter Daniel is mentioned as a carrier of letters between Rome and Alexandria also in the letter 173 [1487].

Place of event:

Region

Rome
East

City

Alexandria

About the source:

Author: Leo the Great
Title: Collectio Avellana, Epistulae, Letter 171
Origin: Rome
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

Leo the Great was the bishop of Rome from AD 440 to his death in AD 461. We have the collection of 173 letters of Leo. Letter 171 was written to Bishop Timothy III of Alexandria known as Salophakiolos upon his installation at the see of Alexandria after the expulsion of the former bishop, Timothy II Aelurus, who was a Miaphysite. See Jalland 1941: 396-398.

Collectio Avellana is a collection containing 244 letters issued by emperors, imperial magistrates and popes. The earliest item is dated to AD 367, the latest to AD 553. Hence, the compilator worked most probably in the second half of the 6th century. Two hundred documents of the Collectio are not known from any other collection. The editor of the Collectio, Günther noticed that it can be divided into five thematic parts (Gunther 1896: 3-96; Steinacker 1902: 14-15; Blaudeau 2013: 4) :

1) no. 1-40 is an independent collection making use of the records of the prefecture of the city of Rome concerning two episcopal elections;

2) no. 41-50 that are derived from the records of the bishopric in Carthage, and consist of the letters of Innocentius I and Zosimus;

3) no. 51-55, the late letters of Leo I not known from any other source, regarding the exile of Bishop Timothy II of Alexandria;

4) no. 56-104 the group of letters from the pontificates of Simplicius, Gelasius, Symmachus, John, Agapet, and Vigilius;

5) no. 105-243 the letters from the records of Hormisdas.

The modern name of the collection derives from the codex Vaticanus Latinus 4961 copied in the monastery Sancti Crucis in fonte Avellana that was considered the oldest by the brothers Ballerini who edited the Collectio in 1787.

Edition:

Patrologia Latina 54, 1215a-c = P. and G. Ballerini eds., Sancti Leoni Magni Romani pontificis opera, vol. 1, Venice 1753, col. 1435-1436

O. Guenther ed., Epistolae Imperatorum Pontificum Aliorum Inde ab a. CCCLXVII usque DLIII datae Avellana Quae Dicitur Collectio, Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum 35/1, 35/2, Prague, Vienna, and Leipzig 1895

Translation:

A select library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church. Second Series, vol. 12, Leo the Great, Gregory the Great, Edinburgh 1895

Bibliography:

T. Jalland, The Life and Times of St. Leo the Great, London 1941

Categories:

Travel and change of residence

PR676.

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

PR676.

Ecclesiastical administration - Ecclesiastical envoy

PR676.

Reverenced by

PR676.

Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior

PR676.

Relation with - Deacon

PR676.

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1486, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1486