Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 589
Pope Leo II (682-683) accepts into communion the presbyter Anastasius and deacon Leontius, exiled from Constantinople to Rome. Account of the "Life of Leo II", written in Rome shortly after his death as a part of the Liber Pontificalis.
82. Leo II
 
[...] Qui praedictus sanctissimus absolivit duos viros in percipienda communione, quia de regia urbe cum suprascripto Macaro et ceteris in Romana directi sunt civitate, necdum a synodo anathematizati, id est Anastasium presbiterum et Leontium diaconum ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae in die sanctum Theophaniae. [...]
 
(ed. Duchesne 1886: 359-360)
 
82. Leo II
 
 [...]  That most holy man absolved on the holy day of Epihany and allowed to take communion two men who came to the city of Rome from the imperial city [Constantinople] with the aforementioned Macarius and others, but who were not anathemised by the council, that is the presbyter Anastasius and Leontius, the deacon of the Church of Constantinople. [...]
 
(trans. S. Adamiak)

Discussion:

Given the date, the exile was probably a part of the repression against the Monotheletes after III Council of Constantinople. See also [588].

Place of event:

Region
  • Rome
  • East
City
  • Rome
  • Constantinople

About the source:

Title: Liber Pontificalis, The Book of Pontiffs, Gesta Pontificum Romanorum
Origin: Rome (Rome)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
Liber Pontificalis is a major source for the history of the papacy in the first millenium. It is a collection of the lives of popes, starting from St Peter and kept going through to 870. Liber Pontificalis is prefaced by two apocryphical letters of Pope Damasus and Jerome, but it cannot be dated to that period. Although Mommsen tended to put the date of the actual compilation as late as the seventh century, nowadays Duchesne`s view is generally accepted that there were two editions made in the 530s-540s. The first, presumably completed soon after 530, has not survived as such, though we have two epitomes made from it (known as “Felician” and “Cononian” from the names of the popes at which they end). Duchesne tried to reconstruct it in his edition, but we follow the second edition presented by him, which was completed by the siege of Rome in 546. The work was then left aside for some time, and taken up again probably under Honorius (625-638) or shortly afterwards; hence the additions were written shortly after each pontiff`s death.
Liber starts to provide some more reliable information with the times of Pope Leo I (440-461), and becomes very well informed with the end of the fifth century. The lives of earlier popes cannot be considered as a valid source of information about their lifetime. However, those notices are a precious source for the sixth century: we learn what was considered an old tradition at the time, and how the past of the Roman church was being seen and constructed then. It is especially important when we deal with the liturgy.
Edition:
 Editions:
 L. Duchesne ed., Le `Liber Pontificalis`, vol. 1., Paris 1886.
 T. Mommsen ed., Liber Pontificalis pars prior, Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Gesta Pontificum Romanorum 1, Berlin 1898.
Translation:
 The Book of Pontiffs (Liber Pontificalis). The ancient biographies of the first ninety Roman bishops to AD 715, revised edition, translated with an introduction by R. Davis, Liverpool 2000.

Categories:

Non-Latin Origin - Greek
Travel and change of residence
Religious grouping (other than Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian) - Monothelete
Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος
Ritual activity - Reconciliation/Administering penance
Relation with - Deacon
Relation with - Heretic/Schismatic
Administration of justice - Ecclesiastical
Administration of justice - Exile
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: S. Adamiak, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER589, http://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=589