To Theodore of Forum Julii, on Penitence at the Point of Death

Leo the bishop to Theodore, bishop of Forum Julii.

When you were anxious, your first step should have been to consult your metropolitan on the point that seemed to need inquiry. And if he too was unable to help you, beloved, the two of you should have asked us for instruction. For in matters that concern all the Lord’s priests as a whole, no inquiry ought to be made without the primates. But so that the doubts of the one consulting me may in any case be set at rest, I will not keep back the church’s rules about the state of penitents. [a]

The manifold mercy of God so helps people when they fall that the hope of eternal life is revived not only by the grace of baptism but also by the remedy of penitence. This is so that those who have violated the gifts of the second birth, condemning themselves by their own judgment, may attain the forgiveness of their crimes. For the provisions of the divine Goodness have so ordained that God’s pardon cannot be obtained without the supplications of priests. For the Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, has handed this power on to those who are set over the church: that they should grant a course of penitence to those who confess, and, when they have been cleansed by wholesome correction, admit them through the door of reconciliation to communion in the sacraments. In this work the Savior himself assuredly takes part without ceasing. He is never absent from the things whose carrying out he has entrusted to his ministers, for he says, “Look, I am with you all the days, even to the completion of the age.” So whatever is accomplished through our service in due order and with good results, we do not doubt has been granted through the Holy Spirit. [c]

But suppose one of those for whom we entreat God is hindered by some obstacle and loses the benefit of immediate absolution, and before he reaches the remedies appointed, he ends his days in the course of nature. Once stripped of the flesh, he will not be able to gain what he did not receive while he was still in the body. Nor will there be any need for us to weigh the merits and acts of those who have died in this way. For the Lord our God, whose judgments cannot be searched out, has reserved for his own decision what our priestly ministry could not complete. He wishes his power to be feared in such a way that this fear may benefit everyone, and that every person may dread what happens to the lukewarm or careless. For it is most expedient and essential that the guilt of sins be loosed by priestly supplication before the last day of life. [d]

But those who, in time of need and urgent danger, beg for the help first of penitence and then of reconciliation must not be refused either the means of amendment or reconciliation. For we cannot set limits to God’s mercy, nor fix times for him with whom true conversion suffers no delay of forgiveness. As God’s Spirit says through the prophet, “When you have turned and lamented, then you will be saved”; and elsewhere, “Declare your iniquities first, so that you may be justified”; and again, “For with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plentiful redemption.” So in dispensing God’s gifts we must not be hard, nor neglect the tears and groans of those who accuse themselves, since we believe that the very feeling of penitence springs from the inspiration of God. As the apostle says, “if perhaps God will give them repentance, so that they may recover themselves from the snares of the devil, by whom they are held captive at his will.” [e]

That is why each Christian ought to listen to the judgment of his own conscience, so that he does not put off turning to God from day to day and fix the time of his amendment at the end of his life. For it is most perilous for human frailty and ignorance to confine itself to such conditions that it is reduced to the uncertainty of a few hours, and, instead of winning pardon by fuller amendment, to choose the narrow limits of a time when there is scarcely room even for the penitent’s confession or the priest’s absolution. But, as I have said, even such people must be helped in their need, so that the free action of penitence and the grace of communion are not denied them, if they ask for it by the signs of a mind still clear, even when their voice is gone. And if they are so overcome by the force of their illness that they cannot show, in the priest’s presence, what they were asking for just before, the testimony of the believers standing by must prevail for them. Then they may obtain the benefit of penitence and reconciliation at the same time, provided that the rules of the fathers’ canons are kept with regard to those who have sinned against God by forsaking the faith.

These answers, brother, which I have given to your questions so that nothing different may be done under the excuse of ignorance, you are to bring to the notice of your metropolitan. Then, if there happen to be any of the brothers who have thought before now that there was any doubt about these points, he may instruct them in what I have written to you. Dated the 11th of June, in the consulship of the illustrious Herculanus (in the year 452).