November 13, 2022 - "Leo the Great"

As we continue our series on the Doctors of the Church, we encounter today one of two Popes who have merited the accolade “the Great.” Born around the year 390, Leo grew up in a tumultuous time in Italy.  After Alaric sacked Rome in 410, the emperor Honorius retreated to Ravenna, a city that was thought to be safer than Rome.  Increasingly the city of Rome and much of Italy looked to the Bishop of Rome for leadership.  When he was elected Pope in 440, Leo proved to be a leader who combined seriousness of purpose and measured judgment along with the humility people expected to find in a bishop. The twenty-one years of his pontificate were taken up with a series of crises both political and ecclesiastical.
 
Leo’s skill in diplomatic negotiations was on fully display when he led an embassy to Attila the Hun who was camped with his army near Rome and preparing to lay siege of the Eternal City in 452.  Leo’s intervention was successful.  Rome was spared. Three years later Leo was involved in negotiations with the Vandal King Gaiseric.  In this instance Leo was less successful in his negotiations. Gaiseric sacked the city of Rome after promising to spare the lives of those living in Rome at the time.  Leo also had numerous dealings with both the Western and Eastern emperors of his day.  His attitude toward the emperors was that of a conservative Roman ecclesiastic who expected the emperors to defend and protect the church.  At the same time, he spoke truth to power when he thought the imperial administration was infringing on the prerogatives of the church.
 
Leo the Great had an important role in the evolution in the theory of papal primacy.  Even today we might refer to the Pope as the Supreme Pontiff (Latin pontifex maximus).  Leo was the first to adopt an ancient Roman title of pontifex maximus and apply to the papacy.  Leo’s interpretation of Christ’s promise to Peter, “You are Peter [i.e., rock] and upon this rock I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18) was fundamental.  He held that the power to bind and loose (ecclesiastical jurisdiction) had been given primarily to Peter and through Peter to the other apostles.
 
Leo’s theology was not of a speculative nature.  But it was traditional, was one that proclaimed salvation through Jesus Christ, and was centered on Jesus Christ as true God and true man.  In July of 450, the emperor Marcian summoned a council.  When the bishops finally met in October of 451 at Chalcedon, the bishops had the creeds of Nicaea and Constantinople read aloud, as well as two letters by Cyril of Alexandria and the Tome of Leo (a letter that Pope Leo had written to Patriarch Flavian of Constantinople).  After the Bishops assembled at the Council of Chalcedon had heard these documents they shouted: “This is the faith of the fathers and the apostles.  Peter has spoken through Leo.  Cyril taught this too; Leo and Cyril taught the same.”  Indeed, the majority of Greek bishops who met at Chalcedon in 451 enthusiastically accepted Leo’s firm and clear declaration of the two natures and one Person in Jesus Christ.  That has remained the orthodox position of Christians both East and West since that time.  As the Tome put it, “It is equally perilous for people to believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is simply God and not a human being, or a mere human being and not God.”

Leo the Great lived during a time of transition. Fifteen years after his death, the last Roman Emperor in the West was deposed.  The deposition of Romulus Augustulus (the last Roman Emperor in the West) is sometimes used by historians to mark the transition from antiquity to the medieval period.
 
Until next week,
Fr. John