Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 1808
Pope Leo the Great receives a letter from Bishop Juvenal of Jerusalem (Palestine) through the Presbyter Andrew and the Deacon Peter, clerics from Jerusalem. Letter 139 of Pope Leo the Great, written in Rome, AD 454.
Letter 139 [inc. "Acceptis dilectionis"]
 
Leo urbis Romae episcopus Juvenali Jerosolymitano episcopo.
 
1. Acceptis dilectionis tuae litteris, quas ad me filii nostri Andreas presbyter et Petrus diaconus detulerunt, gavisus quidem sum quod tibi ad episcopatus tui sedem redire licuisset; sed confluentibus in recordationem omnibus causis quae te per quosdam excessus laborare fecerunt, dolui adversitatum tuarum temetipsum tibi fuisse materiam, et resistendi haereticis constantiam perdidisse: quia aestimant non esse tibi liberum ut eos audeas redarguere quos tibi professus sis in suo errore placuisse. [...]
 
Greek version:
 
Τῷ ἀγαπητῷ ἀδελφῷ Ἰουβεναλίῳ Λέων ἀρχιεπίσκοπος Ῥώμης.
 
1. Δεξάμενος τῆς σῆς διαθέσεως γράμματα, ἅπερ τὰ τέκνα ἡμῶν Ἀνδείας ὁ πρεσβύτερος καὶ ὁ διάκονος Πέτρος ἐκόμισαν, ἥσθην μὲν, ὅτιπερ ἐπὶ τὸν θρόνον τῆς σῆς ἐπισκοπῆς ἐξόν σοι γέγονεν ἐπιστρέψαι· τῶν δὲ περιστάσεων τῶν σῶν ἁπασῶν συῤῥεουσῶν εἰς τὴν ἀνάμνησιν τὴν ἐμὴν, αἵτινές σε κατά τινας παρεξόδους καμεῖν πεποιήκασιν, ἤλγουν, ὡς ἂν σοῦ σαυτῷ γεγονότος τῶν τοσούτων ἀτυχημάτων αἰτίου, καὶ τὴν ἔνστασιν τὴν περὶ τὸ ἀνθίστασθαι τοῖς αἱρετικοῖς ἀπολέσαντος τοῖς νομίζουσιν οὐκέτι σε μετὰ παῤῥησίας τολμᾷν ἐλέγχειν αὐτοὺς, οὓς ὡμολόγησας ἐπὶ τῆς πλάνης αὐτῶν τῆς ἰδίας ἀρέσκειν σοι. [...]
 
In the rest of the letter Leo praises Juvenal for returning to the true faith by confirming the Council of Chalcedon. He refers to the holy places in Jerusalem that recall the mystery of Incarnation just as the facts of the Gospel. The letter is dated to the day before the Nones of September in the consulship of Aetius and Studius [i.e. 4 September 454].
 
(Patrologia Latina 54, 1103-1104 = Ballerini 1753: 1285-1286)
Letter 139 [inc. "Acceptis dilectionis"]
 
Leo, bishop of the city of Rome, to Juvenal, bishop of Jerusalem.
 
1. When I received your letter, beloved, which our sons Andrew the presbyter and Peter the deacon brought me, I rejoiced indeed that you had been allowed to return to the seat of your bishopric; but when all the reasons came to my remembrance, which brought you into such excessive troubles, I grieved to think you had been yourself the source of your adversities by failing in persistency of opposition to the heretics:  for men can but think you were not bold enough to refute those with whom when in error you professed yourself satisfied. [...]
 
In the rest of the letter Leo praises Juvenal for returning to the true faith by confirming the Council of Chalcedon. He refers to the holy places in Jerusalem that recall the mystery of Incarnation just as the facts of the Gospel. The letter is dated to the day before the Nones of September in the consulship of Aetius and Studius [i.e. 4 September 454].
 
(trans. Ch. Lett Feltoe 1895: 97)

Place of event:

Region
  • Rome
  • East
City
  • Rome
  • Jerusalem

About the source:

Author: Leo the Great
Title: Letters, Epistulae
Origin: Rome (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.
Edition:
P. and G. Ballerini eds., Sancti Leoni Magni Romani pontificis opera, vol. 1, Venice 1753
Patrologia Latina, vol. 54
 
Translation:
Bibliography:
S. Wessel, Leo the Great and the spiritual rebuilding of a universal Rome, Leiden and Boston 2008.

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, ER1808, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1808