To the Empress Pulcheria, on the Self-Seeking of Anatolius

Leo the bishop to Pulcheria Augusta. [a]

We rejoice beyond words with your grace that the catholic faith has been defended against heretics, and peace restored to the whole church, through the holy and God-pleasing zeal of your clemency. We give thanks to the merciful and almighty God that he has let none be cheated of the truth of the gospel except those who loved darkness rather than light. This was so that, with the mists of error removed, the purest light might rise in the hearts of all; so that that foe who loves darkness, whom not only those who stood unhurt but also those he had made to totter have overcome, might not triumph over certain weak souls; and so that, with error abolished, the true faith might reign throughout the world, and “every tongue might confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father.” But when the whole world had been confirmed in the unity of the gospel, and the hearts of all priests had been guided into the same belief, it would have been better if nothing had been brought in to undo so great a gain, beyond the matters for which the holy synod was assembled and which were brought to a satisfactory agreement through your grace’s zeal. And it would have been better if a council of bishops had not been made the occasion for pressing an illegitimate desire at the wrong time. [b]

For my brother and fellow bishop Anatolius has not given enough thought to your grace’s kindness and to the favor of my assent, by which he gained the priesthood of the church of Constantinople. Instead of rejoicing at what he has gained, he has been inflamed with undue desires beyond the measure of his rank. He believed that his intemperate self-seeking could be advanced by claiming that certain persons had signified their assent to it by a signature forced from them. Yet my brothers and fellow bishops who represented me faithfully and commendably declared their dissent from these attempts, which are doomed to swift failure. For no one may venture on anything against the enactments of the fathers’ canons, which were founded on the decrees of the Spirit many long years ago in the city of Nicaea, so that anyone who wishes to pass a different decree harms himself rather than weakening them. And if all pontiffs will only keep them inviolate, as they should, there will be perfect peace and complete harmony through all the churches. There will be no disagreements about rank, no disputes about ordinations, no controversies about privileges, no quarrels over taking what belongs to another. By the fair law of love a reasonable order will be kept, both in conduct and in office, and he will be truly great who is found free from all self-seeking, as the Lord says: “Whoever would become greater among you, let him be your servant, and whoever would be first among you shall be your slave; even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve.” And yet these commands were given at the time to men who wished to rise from a lowly position and pass from the lowest things to the highest. But what more does the ruler of the church of Constantinople covet than he has already gained? Or what will satisfy him, if the splendor and renown of so great a city is not enough? It is too arrogant and intemperate to step beyond all proper bounds like this, and, trampling on ancient custom, to want to seize another’s right. It is too arrogant to increase one man’s dignity at the cost of the primacy of so many metropolitans, to carry a new war of confusion into peaceful provinces that were long ago set at rest by the enactments of the holy Nicene synod, and to break through the decrees of the venerable fathers by pleading the consent of certain bishops, which even the passage of so many years has not made effective. For it is boasted that this has been overlooked for almost sixty years now, and the bishop thinks this helps him. But it is useless for him to look for help from something that, even if a man dared to wish for it, he could never obtain. [d]

Let him realize what kind of man he has succeeded, and, driving out all the spirit of pride, let him imitate Flavian’s faith, Flavian’s modesty, Flavian’s humility, which has raised Flavian all the way to the glory of a confessor. If he shines with these virtues, he will deserve all praise, and he will win an abundance of love on every side, not by seeking human advancement but by deserving God’s favor. And by this careful course, I promise, he will bind my heart to him as well, and the love of the Apostolic See, which we have always shown to the church of Constantinople, will never be broken by any change. For even if rulers sometimes fall into errors through lack of moderation, the churches of Christ do not lose their purity. But the assents of the bishops, which go against the rules of the holy canons drawn up at Nicaea, we, together with your faithful grace, do not recognize, and by the authority of the blessed apostle Peter we cancel them absolutely and in sweeping terms. In all church cases we obey the laws which the Holy Spirit set out through the three hundred and eighteen bishops for the peaceful observance of all priests, so that even if a much greater number were to pass a decree different from theirs, whatever was opposed to their constitution would have to be held of no account. [g]

And so I ask your grace to receive in a worthy spirit this long letter, in which I had to explain my views. It comes by the hands of my brother and fellow bishop Lucian, who, as far as it lay with him, has faithfully carried out the anxious duties of his task as my delegate, and of my son Basil the deacon. And because it is your habit to labor for the peace and unity of the church, keep my brother Anatolius the bishop, to whom I have extended my love on your advice, within the limits that will profit him, for the health of his soul. So, as the glory of your clemency is already magnified for the restoration of the faith, may it also be spread abroad for the restraint of self-seeking. Dated the 22nd of May, in the consulship of the illustrious Herculanus (in the year 452). [h]