Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 1487
Pope Leo the Great sends the letter to the bishops of Egypt informing them about the election of Timothy III Salophakialos for the see of Alexandria. He mentions the Presbyter Daniel and the Deacon Timothy as the carriers of letters, AD 460. Letter 173 of Leo the Great (letter 53 in the Collectio Avellana, compiled in the second half of the 6th c.).
Letter 173 (= Collectio Avellana 55)
 
LEO EPISCOPUS THEOPHILO IOHANNI ATHANASIO ABRAHAE DANIHELI IOHAE PAPHNUTIO MUSAEO PANULUIO ET PETRO EPISCOPIS AEGYPTIIS.
1. Litteris fraternitatis uestrae, quas ad me filii nostri Danihel presbyter et Timotheus diaconus detulerunt, cognouisse me gaudeo, quod gloriosi et uenerandi principis fides propheticis et euangelicis unita doctrinis ad sanctos et deo placitos dispositionum suarum peruenit effectus, ut cruentissimo Alexandrinae ecclesiae peruasore deiecto et in longinquiora translato dignum sua gubernatione rectorem totius ciuitatis me<re>retur electio, ad cuius uos consecrationem nullus ambitus traheret, nulla seditio impelleret, nulla iniquitas incitaret, sed in medio constitutae meritum sanctitatis eum cunctis non dubitaret praeponere, quem sibi uniuersitas cuperet praesidere. [...]
 
(ed. Guenther 1895: 123)
Letter 173 (= Collectio Avellana 55)
 
LEO THE BISHOP TO THEOPHILUS, JOHN, ATHANASIUS, DANIEL, JOHAS, PAPHNUTIUS, MUSAEUS, PANULUIUS, AND PETER, BISHOPS OF EGYPT.
1. We are happy to learn from the letter of your Brotherhood, which our sons Presbyter Daniel and Deacon Timothy brought to us that the faith of the glorious and venerable ruler joined with the prophetic and evangelical doctrines achieved the holy results pleasing to God, namely that after removing the cruellest usurper of the Alexandrinian Church and sending him far away, the a leader worthy to lead the whole city has been elected. At his consecration none of you has been dragged by ambition, no sedition has forced you, no iniquity incited, but the merit of the sanctity established in the middle of you [i.e. the Holy Spirit] has no doubts to put in charge of everybody this person whom all wanted to be their leader. [...]
 
(trans. M. Szada)

Discussion:

Presbyter Daniel is mentioned as a carrier of letters between Rome and Alexandria also in Letter 171 [1486].
 
 

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. The 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 who was a miaphysite, Timothy II Aelurus. 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, 1217b-1218b = P. and G. Ballerini eds., Sancti Leoni Magni Romani pontificis opera, vol. 1, Venice 1753, col. 1437-1438
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
Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος
Ecclesiastical administration - Ecclesiastical envoy
Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior
Relation with - Deacon
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1487, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1487