Letter 95: Your clemency's religious care which you unceasingly bestow on the Catholic Faith, I recognize in everything, and give God thanks at seeing you take such interest in the universal Church, that I can confidently suggest what I think agreeable to justice and kindness, and so what thus far your pious zeal through the mercy of Christ has irreproacha...

Leo, Bishop of Rome, to Pulcheria Augusta, by the hand of the magistrian Theoctistus. I. He informs the Empress that he has recognized the Council she ordered and has sent representatives with letters Your clemency's unfailing devotion to the Catholic faith I recognize in everything, and I give thanks to God for seeing you take such an active interest in the universal Church. I can therefore confidently suggest what I believe accords with justice and compassion, so that what your pious zeal has thus far irreproachably accomplished through the mercy of Christ may be brought more swiftly to a conclusion for which we shall all be grateful, most noble Augusta. Your clemency's command that a synod be held at Nicaea, and your gracious refusal of my request that it be held in Italy -- so that all the bishops of our region might have been summoned and assembled, had circumstances permitted -- I have received in a spirit so far removed from objection that I have appointed two of my fellow bishops and two fellow presbyters to represent me. I have also sent an appropriate letter to the venerable synod, from which the assembled bishops may learn the standards that must govern their decisions, lest any rashness cause harm either to the rule of faith, to the provisions of the canons, or to the remedies that Christian charity requires. II. Moderation must govern these proceedings -- moderation that was entirely absent at Ephesus As I have stated many times in letters from the beginning of this matter, I have wished that such moderation be observed amid conflicting views and human jealousies that, while nothing should be wrested from or added to the purity of the faith, the remedy of pardon should be extended to those who return to unity and peace. For the works of the devil are most effectively destroyed when human hearts are recalled to the love of God, and the sharpness of righteous correction should be accompanied by the gentleness of pastoral mercy. Those who erred through fear at the assembly of Ephesus -- rather than through deliberate malice -- should be given every opportunity to repent and to profess the true faith openly. But those who persist in defending the blasphemies of Eutyches, or who conspire to undermine the teaching of the Apostles, must be cut off from Catholic communion, for the safety of the whole body demands it. Dated from Rome.

To Pulcheria Augusta by the Hand of Theoctistus the Magistrian. I. He informs the Empress that he has loyally recognized the Council ordered by her, and sent representatives with letters to it. Leo, the bishop to Pulcheria Augusta. Your clemency's religious care which you unceasingly bestow on the Catholic Faith, I recognize in everything, and give God thanks at seeing you take such interest in the universal Church, that I can confidently suggest what I think agreeable to justice and kindness, and so what thus far your pious zeal through the mercy of Christ has irreproachably accomplished, may the more speedily be brought to an issue which we shall be thankful for, O most noble Augusta. Your clemency's command, therefore, that a Synod should be held at Nicæa , and your gently expressed refusal of my request that it should be held in Italy, so that all the bishops in our parts might be summoned and assemble, if the state of affairs had permitted them, I have received in a spirit so far removed from scorn as to nominate two of my fellow bishops and fellow presbyters respectively to represent me, sending also to the venerable synod an appropriate missive from which the brotherhood therein assembled might learn the standard necessary to be maintained in their decision, lest any rashness should do detriment either to the rules of the Faith, or to the provisions of the canons, or to the remedies required by the spirit of loving kindness. II. In the settlement of this matter that moderation must be observed which was entirely absent at Ephesus. For, as I have very often stated in letters from the beginning of this matter, I have desired that such moderation should be observed in the midst of discordant views and carnal jealousies that, while nothing should be allowed to be wrested from or added to the purity of the Faith, yet the remedy of pardon should be granted to those who return to unity and peace. Because the works of the devil are then more effectually destroyed when men's hearts are recalled to the love of God and their neighbours. But how contrary to my warnings and entreaties were their actions then, it is a long story to explain, nor is the need to put down in the pages of a letter all that was allowed to be perpetrated in that meeting, not of judges but of robbers, at Ephesus; where the chief men of the synod spared neither those brethren who opposed them nor those who assented to them, seeing that for the breaking down of the Catholic Faith and the strengthening of execrable heresy, they stripped some of their rightful rank and tainted others with complicity in guilt; and surely their cruelty was worse to those whom by persuasion they divorced from innocence, than to those whom by persecution they made blessed confessors. III. Those who recant their error must be treated with forbearance. And yet because such men have harmed themselves most by their wrong-doing, and because the greater the wounds, the more careful must be the application of the remedy, I have never in any letter maintained that pardon must be withheld even from them if they came to their right mind. And although we unchangeably abhor their heresy, which is the greatest enemy of Christian religion, yet the men themselves, if they without any doubt amend their ways and clear themselves by full assurances of repentance, we do not judge to be outcasts from the unspeakable mercy of God: but rather we lament with those that lament, we weep with those that weep Romans 12:15, and obey the requirements of justice in deposing without neglecting the remedies of loving-kindness: and this, as your piety knows, is not a mere word-promise, but is also borne out by our actions, inasmuch as nearly all who had been either misled or forced into assenting to the presiding bishops, by rescinding what they had decreed and by condemning what they had written, have obtained complete acquittal from guilt and the boon of Apostolic peace. IV. Even the authors of the mischief may find room for forgiveness by repentance. If, therefore, your clemency deigns to reflect upon my motives, it will be satisfied that I have acted throughout with the design of bringing about the abolition of the heresy without the loss of one soul; and that in the case of the authors of these cruel disturbances I have modified my practice somewhat in order that their slow minds might be aroused by some feelings of compunction to ask for lenient treatment. For although since their decision, which is no less blasphemous than unjust, they cannot be held in such honour by the Catholic brotherhood as they once were, yet they still retain their sees and their rank as bishops, with the prospect either of receiving the peace of the whole Church, after true and necessary signs of repentance or, if (which God forbid) they persist in their heresy, of reaping the reward of their misbelief. Dated 20th of July, in the consulship of the illustrious Adelfius (451). About this page Source. Translated by Charles Lett Feltoe. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 12. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1895.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3604095.htm>. Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is feedback732 at newadvent.org. (To help fight spam, this address might change occasionally.) Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.