Letter 98: The great and holy and universal Synod, which by the grace of God and the sanction of our most pious and Christ-loving Emperors has been gathered together in the metropolis of Chalcedon in the province of Bithynia, to the most holy and blessed archbishop of Rome, Leo. I. They congratulate Leo on taking the foremost part in maintaining the Faith.

From the great and holy and universal Synod, assembled by the grace of God and the decree of our most pious and Christ-loving Emperors in the city of Chalcedon in the province of Bithynia: to the most holy and blessed Archbishop of Rome, Leo. I. They congratulate Leo on taking the foremost part in upholding the faith "Our mouths were filled with joy, and our tongues with exultation" (Psalm 126:2). This prophecy has been rightly fulfilled in us, for whom the security of the faith has been established. What is a greater incentive to joy than the faith? What better cause for exultation than the divine knowledge which the Savior Himself bestowed upon us from above for our salvation, saying: "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:19-20)? This golden chain, leading down from the Author of the command to us, you yourself have faithfully preserved, being appointed as the voice of the blessed Peter to all and imparting the blessing of his faith to all. Therefore we too, wisely taking you as our guide in all that is good, have made known to the children of the Church their inheritance of truth -- giving our instruction not individually and in private, but making our confession of faith in common, with one consent and one voice. We all rejoiced, feasting as at a royal banquet on the spiritual nourishment that Christ supplied to us through your letter. We seemed to see the heavenly Bridegroom Himself present among us. For if He has said that where two or three are gathered in His name, He is in their midst (Matthew 18:20), how much more intimately must He have been present with five hundred and twenty bishops, who chose the spread of His knowledge above their homeland and their comfort? Of these you were the chief, as the head is to the members, representing your authority through those who stood in your place. II. The definitions of the Council Following your lead, we drove out the madness of Eutyches and confirmed the true faith. Just as night yields to day, so did error yield to the proclamation of truth when the voice of Peter spoke through the voice of Leo. We all joined as one in the hymn of the faith: two natures in one Christ, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation. We embraced the doctrine set forth in your letter to Flavian of blessed memory, recognizing it as the authentic teaching of the Apostle Peter through his successor. The heresy of Nestorius, which divided Christ, and the heresy of Eutyches, which dissolved His true humanity, have both been condemned. The Council has defined the faith in terms that leave no room for ambiguity: our Lord Jesus Christ is truly God and truly man, consubstantial with the Father in His divinity and consubstantial with us in His humanity, born of the Virgin Mary as to His manhood -- one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, made known in two natures without confusion, without change, without division, without separation. The distinction of the natures is in no way abolished by their union; rather, the character of each nature is preserved and comes together in one Person and one subsistence. III. They request Leo's confirmation We ask Your Holiness to confirm by your authority what has been decreed, so that as you led us in the faith through your letter, you may now set the seal upon the work of the whole Council. We also ask that you bestow due honor upon the see of Constantinople, which the Council, following ancient custom and the dignity of the imperial city, has determined should hold the second rank after the most holy see of Rome. We trust that Your Holiness will approve this arrangement, seeing that it was made with the reverence due to the Apostolic See and in accord with the wishes of the most pious emperor. The grace of God and the prayers of Your Holiness will continue to sustain us.

From the Synod of Chalcedon to Leo. The great and holy and universal Synod, which by the grace of God and the sanction of our most pious and Christ-loving Emperors has been gathered together in the metropolis of Chalcedon in the province of Bithynia, to the most holy and blessed archbishop of Rome, Leo. I. They congratulate Leo on taking the foremost part in maintaining the Faith. Our mouth was filled with joy and our tongue with exultation. This prophecy grace has fitly appropriated to us for whom the security of religion is ensured. For what is a greater incentive to cheerfulness than the Faith? What better inducement to exultation than the Divine knowledge which the Saviour Himself gave us from above for salvation, saying, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things that I have enjoined you Matthew 28:19-20 . And this golden chain leading down from the Author of the command to us, you yourself have steadfastly preserved, being set as the mouthpiece unto all of the blessed Peter, and imparting the blessedness of his Faith unto all. Whence we too, wisely taking you as our guide in all that is good, have shown to the sons of the Church their inheritance of Truth, not giving our instruction each singly and in secret, but making known our confession of the Faith in conceit, with one consent and agreement. And we were all delighted, revelling, as at an imperial banquet, in the spiritual food, which Christ supplied to us through your letter: and we seemed to see the Heavenly Bridegroom actually present with us. For if where two or three are gathered together in His name, He has said that there He is in the midst of them , must He not have been much more particularly present with 520 priests, who preferred the spread of knowledge concerning Him to their country and their ease? Of whom you were chief, as the head to the members, showing your goodwill in the person of those who represented you; while our religious Emperors presided to the furtherance of due order, inviting us to restore the doctrinal fabric of the Church, even as Zerubbabel invited Joshua to rebuild Jerusalem. II. They detail Dioscorus' wicked acts. And the adversary would have been like a wild beast outside the fold, roaring to himself and unable to seize any one, had not the late bishop of Alexandria thrown himself for a prey to him, who, though he had done many terrible things before, eclipsed the former by the latter deeds; for contrary to all the injunctions of the canons, he deposed that blessed shepherd of the saints at Constantinople, Flavian, who displayed such Apostolic faith, and the most pious bishop Eusebius, and acquitted by his terror-won votes Eutyches, who had been condemned for heresy, and restored to him the dignity which your holiness had taken away from him as unworthy of it, and like the strangest of wild beasts, falling upon the vine which he found in the finest condition, he uprooted it and brought in that which had been cast away as unfruitful, and those who acted like true shepherds he cut off, and set over the flocks those who had shown themselves wolves: and besides all this he stretched forth his fury even against him who had been charged with the custody of the vine by the Saviour, we mean of course your holiness, and purposed excommunication against one who had at heart the unifying of the Church. And instead of showing penitence for this, instead of begging mercy with tears, he exulted as if over virtuous actions, rejecting your holiness' letter and resisting all the dogmas of the Truth. III. We have deposed Eutyches, treating him as mercifully as we could. And we ought to have left him in the position where he had placed himself: but, since we profess the teaching of the Saviour who wishes all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the Truth 1 Timothy 2:4, as a fact we took pains to carry out this merciful policy towards him, and called him in brotherly fashion to judgment, not as if trying to cut him off but affording him room for defense and healing; and we prayed that he might be victorious over the many charges they had brought against him, in order that we might conclude our meeting in peace and happiness and Satan might gain no advantage over us. But he, being absolutely convicted by his own conscience , by shirking the trial gave countenance to the accusations and rejected the three lawful summonses he received. In consequence of which, we ratified with such moderation as we could the vote which he had passed against himself by his blunders, stripping the wolf of his shepherd's skin, which he had long been convicted of wearing for a pretence. Thereupon our troubles ceased and straightway a time of welcome happiness set in: and having pulled up one tare, we filled the whole world to our delight with pure grain: and having received, as it were, full power to root up and to plant, we limited the up-rooting to one and carefully plant a crop of good fruit. For it was God who worked, and the triumphant Euphemia who crowned the meeting as for a bridal , and who, taking our definition of the Faith as her own confession, presented it to her Bridegroom by our most religious Emperor and Christ-loving Empress, appeasing all the tumult of opponents and establishing our confession of the Truth as acceptable to Him, and with hand and tongue setting her seal to the votes of us all in proclamation thereof. These are the things we have done, with you present in the spirit and known to approve of us as brethren, and all but visible to us through the wisdom of your representatives. IV. They announce their decision that Constantinople should take precedence next to Rome, and ask Leo's consent to it. And we further inform you that we have decided on other things also for the good management and stability of church matters, being persuaded that your holiness will accept and ratify them, when you are told. The long prevailing custom, which the holy Church of God at Constantinople had of ordaining metropolitans for the provinces of Asia, Pontus and Thrace, we have now ratified by the votes of the Synod, not so much by way of conferring a privilege on the See of Constantinople as to provide for the good government of those cities, because of the frequent disorders that arise on the death of their bishops, both clergy and laity being then without a leader and disturbing church order. And this has not escaped your holiness, particularly in the case of Ephesus, which has often caused you annoyance. We have ratified also the canon of the 150 holy Fathers who met at Constantinople in the time of the great Theodosius of holy memory, which ordains that after your most holy and Apostolic See, the See of Constantinople shall take precedence, being placed second: for we are persuaded that with your usual care for others you have often extended that Apostolic prestige which belongs to you, to the church in Constantinople also, by virtue of your great disinterestedness in sharing all your own good things with your spiritual kinsfolk. Accordingly vouchsafe most holy and blessed father to accept as your own wish, and as conducing to good government the things which we have resolved on for the removal of all confusion and the confirmation of church order. For your holiness' delegates, the most pious bishops Paschasinus and Lucentius, and with them the right Godly presbyter Boniface, attempted vehemently to resist these decisions, from a strong desire that this good work also should start from your foresight, in order that the establishment of good order as well as of the Faith should be put to your account. For we duly regarding our most devout and Christ loving Emperors, who delight therein, and the illustrious senate and, so to say, the whole imperial city, considered it opportune to use the meeting of this ecumenical Synod for the ratification of your honour, and confidently corroborated this decision as if it were initiated by you with your customary fostering zeal, knowing that every success of the children rebounds to the parent's glory. Accordingly, we entreat you, honour our decision by your assent, and as we have yielded to the head our agreement on things honourable, so may the head also fulfil for the children what is fitting. For thus will our pious Emperors be treated with due regard, who have ratified your holiness' judgment as law, and the See of Constantinople will receive its recompense for having always displayed such loyalty on matters of religion towards you, and for having so zealously linked itself to you in full agreement. But that you may know that we have done nothing for favour or in hatred, but as being guided by the Divine Will, we have made known to you the whole scope of our proceedings to strengthen our position and to ratify and establish what we have done. 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.) 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