Flavian’s Second Letter to Leo

To the most holy and blessed father and fellow minister Leo, Flavian, greeting in the Lord. [a]

Nothing, most beloved of God, as you know, is more precious to priests than piety and the right handling of the word of truth. For all our hope and salvation, and the reward of the good things promised, depend on it. For this reason we must take every pains over the true faith, and over what the holy fathers have set out and decreed, so that it may always and in every circumstance be kept and guarded whole and unharmed. And so, on the present occasion, when we saw the orthodox faith suffering harm and the heresy of Apollinaris and Valentinus being revived by the wicked monk Eutyches, it was necessary for us not to overlook it but to expose it publicly for the people’s safety. For this man, this Eutyches, keeping his diseased and sickly opinion hidden within him, has dared to attack our gentleness and, without a blush and without shame, to instill his own blasphemy into many minds. He says that before the incarnation our Savior Jesus Christ indeed had two natures, Godhead and manhood, but that after the union they became one nature. He does not know what he is saying, or what it is he speaks about so confidently. For, as your piety knows, even the union of the two natures that came together in Christ did not confuse their properties in the process; the properties of the two natures remain entire even in the union. And he added another blasphemy too, saying that the Lord’s body, which sprang from Mary, was not of our substance or of human matter. Though he calls it human, he refuses to say that it was of one substance with us, or with her who bore him, according to the flesh. [b]

And he says this even though the acts of Ephesus, in the letter written by the holy and ecumenical synod to the wicked and deposed Nestorius, contain these express words: “The natures that came together to form true unity are indeed different; and yet from them both there is only one Christ and Son. Not as if the difference between the two natures had been done away with through the union, but rather that these same natures, his Godhead and his manhood, made up for us one Lord Jesus Christ, through an inexpressible and incomprehensible meeting that resulted in unity.” And this does not escape your holiness, since you have no doubt read the record of what was done at Ephesus. Yet this same Eutyches, attaching no weight to these words, thinks he is not liable to the penalties fixed by that holy and ecumenical synod. For this reason, finding that many of the simpler people were being harmed in their faith by his arguments, when he had been accused by the devout bishop Eusebius, and had come before the holy council and declared with his own mouth to the members of the synod what he thought, we deposed him for his estrangement from the true faith, as your holiness will learn from the resolutions passed about him, which we have sent with this letter. Moreover, I think it right that you should be told this too. After suffering a just and canonical deposition, this same Eutyches did not make amends for his earlier conduct by his later, nor appease God by careful penitence and many tears and a true repentance, nor comfort our heart, which was deeply saddened by his fall. Not only did he not do so; he even made every effort to throw the most holy church of this city into confusion. He put up placards in public full of insults and curses. Beyond this, he addressed petitions to our most religious and Christ-loving emperor, and these too overflowed with arrogance and insolence; by them he tried to override the divine canons in everything. [d]

But after all this had happened, your holiness’s letter was brought to us by the most honorable Count Pansophius. From it we learned that this same Eutyches had sent you a letter full of falsehood and cunning, saying that at the time of the trial he had presented letters of appeal to us and to the holy synod of bishops then present, and had appealed to your holiness. This he certainly never did; in this matter too he has been guilty of deceit, like the father of lies, thinking to win your ear. Therefore, most holy father, stirred by all that he has dared, and by what has been done and is still being done against us and the most holy church, use your accustomed promptness, as befits the priesthood. In defense of the common good and the peace of the holy churches, consent by your own letter to endorse the resolution canonically passed against him, and to strengthen the faith of our most religious and Christ-loving emperor. For the matter needs only your weight and support, which through your wisdom will at once bring about general peace and quiet. In this way, by God’s help, through a letter from you, both the heresy that has arisen and the disorder it has stirred up will easily be calmed; the synod that is rumored will also be prevented; and so the most holy churches throughout the world need not be disturbed. I and all who are with me greet all the brothers who are with you. May you be kept safe for us in the Lord, still praying for us, most God-loving and holy father. [f]