The Presbyters Project

Letter 86 [inc. "Quam gratum mihi"]

Leo the Great recalls friendship between himself and Julian and their common solicitude for the Church.

[...] Unde per fratres nostros Lucentium episcopum, et Basilium presbyterum, quos Constantinopolim indicaveramus nos esse missuros, debitum reddo colloquium, admonens ut studium diligentiae tuae eisdem in omnibus sociare digneris; ut reliquiae scandalorum, si quae adhuc supersunt, sagaciter auferantur. [...] Quid itaque legatis nostris injuctum atque commissum sit, ipsorum insinuatione cognosces, eum mihi atque illis impensurus affectum, ut quaecumque ipsis mandata sunt, dilectionis tuae studio et sollicitudine sociata, adjuvante Domino, perveniant ad eum quem optamus effectum. Data V idus Junii, Adelfio viro clarissimo consule.

(Patrologia Latina 54, 924-925 = Ballerini 1753: 1052-1053)

Letter 86

Leo the Great recalls friendship between himself and Julian and their common solicitude for the Church.

[...] Therefore I send to you an overdue letter through our brothers Bishop Lucentius and the Presbyter Basilius, whom we sent to Constantinople, as we had informed you. Be so kind and join your diligence with their efforts in everything so that the remnants of the scandals which survived up to this time, be wisely removed. [...] Our legates will inform you themselves what was ordered to them. Please apply such effort for me and them so that whatever was commanded to them, thanks to care and solicitude of Your Love joined to their efforts, could produce with God's help the effect that we wish for. Given on the 5th day before the Ides of June in the consulship of the illustrious Adelfius [= 9 VI 451].

(trans. M. Szada)

Discussion:

Lucentius (or Lucensius) was the bishop of Ascoli (PCBE, Italie, v. 2, Lucensius).

Place of event:

Region

Rome
East

City

Rome
Constantinople
Cos

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.

Anatolius succeeded in the see of Constantinople Flavianus, deposed by the Second Council of Ephesus in AD 449. Leo the Great considered the decisions of the council void, but after the death of Flavianus in AD 449, he informed the Emperor that he could accept Anatolius as the Bishop of Constantinople if he confesses the faith as defined by the councils of Nicea and Ephesus I, the letter of Cyril of Alexandria and the Tome to Flavianus. Anatolius complied to that, and in AD 451 he presided over the Council of Chalcedon. He died in AD 458. See Wessel 2008: 42-43.

Edition:

P. and G. Ballerini eds., Sancti Leoni Magni Romani pontificis opera, vol. 1, Venice 1753

Patrologia Latina, vol. 54

Translation:

Leo the Great, Letters, trans. Ch. Lett Feltoe, [in:] The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, 2nd series, vol. 12, Edinburgh 1895, 1-114

Bibliography:

S. Wessel, Leo the Great and the spiritual rebuilding of a universal Rome, Leiden ; Boston 2008.

Categories:

Travel and change of residence

PR768.

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

PR768.

Ecclesiastical administration - Ecclesiastical envoy

PR768.

Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior

PR768.

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1757, https://presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1757