Pope Leo I

Pope Saint Leo I, or Leo the Great, a Roman aristocrat, was Pope from 440 to 461. He is the first great Pope we know much about, and even sometimes assigned the title "first Pope". He stopped the invasion of Italy by Atilla the Hun in 452 by his moral suasion, was a great theologian in his own right, and was a leading figure in the centralization of the government of the Church.

The Tome

At the "Robber Synod" of Ephesus Leo's representatives delivered his famous Tome (Latin text, a letter), or statement of the faith of the Roman Church in the form of a letter addressed to Flavian, which repeats, in close adherence to Augustine, the formulas of western Christology, without really touching the problem that was agitating the East. The council did not read the letter, and paid no attention to the protests of Leo's legates, but deposed Flavian and Eusebius, who appealed to Rome.

Related Topics:
Robber Synod - Ephesus - Augustine - Christology

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Leo demanded of the emperor that an ecumenical council should be held in Italy, and in the meantime, at a Roman synod in October, 449, repudiated all the decisions of the "Robber Synod." Without going into a critical examination of its dogmatic decrees, in his letters to the emperor and others he demanded the deposition of Eutyches as a Manichean and Docetic heretic.

Related Topics:
Ecumenical - October - 449 - Manichean - Docetic

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With the death of Theodosius II in 450 and the sudden change in the Eastern situation, Anatolius, the new patriarch of Constantinople fulfilled Leo's requirements, and his Tome was everywhere read and recognized.

Related Topics:
Theodosius II - Anatolius

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He was now no longer desirous of having a council, especially since it would not be held in Italy. It was called to meet at Nicaea, then transferred to Chalcedon, where his legates held at least an honorary presidency, and where the bishops recognized him as the interpreter of the voice of Peter and as the head of their body, requesting of him the confirmation of their decrees. He firmly declined to confirm their disciplinary arrangements, which seemed to allow Constantinople a practically equal authority with Rome and regarded the civil importance of a city as a determining factor in its ecclesiastical position; but he strongly supported its dogmatic decrees, especially when, after the accession of the Emperor Leo I (457) there seemed to be a disposition toward compromise with the Eutychians. He succeeded in having an orthodox patriarch, and not the Monophysite Timotheus Aelurus, chosen as patriarch of Alexandria on the murder of Proterius.

Related Topics:
Chalcedon - Emperor Leo I - 457 - Monophysite - Timotheus Aelurus - Patriarch of Alexandria - Proterius

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The approaching collapse of the Western Empire gave Leo a further opportunity to appear as the representative of lawful authority. When Attila invaded Italy in 452 and threatened Rome, it was Leo who, with two high civil functionaries, went to meet him, and so impressed him that he withdrew -- at least according to Prosper of Aquitaine, although Jordanes, who represents Leo's contemporary Priscus, gives other grounds. His intercession could not prevent the sack of the city by the Vandals in 455, but murder and arson were repressed by his influence. He died probably on November 10, 461.

Related Topics:
Attila - Italy - 452 - Prosper of Aquitaine - Jordanes - Priscus - Vandals - 455 - November 10 - 461

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