Miniature which depicts Leo I, contained in the Menologion of Basil II (c. 1000 AD, Vatican Library)
Letter #47, 2024, Sunday, November 10: Pope Leo the Great
Today, November 10, is the Feast Day of Pope St. Leo the Great, who lived in the mid-400s.
Tonight, after the Byzantine liturgy in Santa Maria in Trastevere, I will have dinner in Trastevere with the well-known Italian composer of sacred music and organist, Maestro Aurelio Porfiri.
Porfiri is also a prolific writer, and he wrote and sent out a piece today about Pope Leo the Great which I found profound and moving, so I am sending this to you. Here is a link to the original, where you may also subscribe to his newsletter. –-RM
Sin and Conversion in St. Leo the Great
Aurelio Porfiri
Nov 10, 2024
The Catholic Church has had, over the course of its long history, many Popes of exceptional human and spiritual merit.
There have also been Popes who were, on a human level, unworthy, but this is part of the things of this world, and we should not be surprised.
We are all called to conversion, both laypeople and Popes alike.
Among the greats, Leo I holds a special place, known to all of us as Leo the Great (390-461), celebrated by the Catholic Church on November 10.
This Pope, whose origins are unclear, found himself operating in a time of trial for the life of the Church—a time of trial that, in a sense, is the entirety of salvation history, the stage for the battle between good and evil.
With Constantine, the Church gained new freedom after the persecutions of the early centuries, which included a particularly bloody one at the beginning of the 4th century.
The Edict of Milan, as mentioned, opened a new chapter for the Church’s mission, but this did not eliminate problems, such as various heresies.
Pope Leo found himself contending with barbarian invasions that threatened Rome and with heretical tendencies in the Church, represented in his time, especially by Eutyches and Nestorius.
These two figures represented opposite heretical tendencies: Eutyches claimed that Christ’s human nature was entirely absorbed by his divine nature (Monophysitism), while Nestorius emphasized Christ’s humanity at the expense of his divinity (Nestorianism).
The Council of Chalcedon, convened in 451 under Pope Leo, served precisely to reaffirm the enduring Catholic doctrine:
“The holy synod anathematizes all those who thought that, in the Lord Jesus, there were indeed two natures before the union but that, upon union, there is only one. Remaining faithful, therefore, to the teaching of the holy Fathers, we all – unanimously – teach that it is necessary to confess that our Lord and Son, Jesus Christ, is one and always the same. We teach that he is the same and perfect in divinity, the same and perfect in humanity. We teach that he is true God and also true man, consisting of a rational soul and a true body; consubstantial with the Father in divinity; consubstantial with us in humanity, in all things similar to us except sin. We affirm that he was begotten of the Father before all ages according to divinity; but that in recent times – for us and for our salvation – he was born of the Virgin Mary, Mother of God according to human nature. We also teach that Christ, Son of God, is one and always the same, only begotten (from the Father), in two natures, not confused with one another, immutable, and inseparable.”
This concept was well expressed by Pope Leo in his Letter to Flavian, Bishop of Constantinople:
“To atone for the debt of our original sin that placed us in an earthly state, the divine nature, which is impassable, wanted to unite itself with our passible nature. In the one and only mediator between God and men, Jesus Christ, there was the ability to die in one respect and yet the inability to die in another” (the Dogmatic Letters of Leo the Great are available in an edition edited by Giulio Trettel for Città Nuova Editrice, published in 1993).
In the same letter, Leo states:
“The birth in the flesh is clear proof of human nature; birth from a virgin is proof of divine power. The infant is revealed in the humility of the manger, but the sublimity of the Most High finds testimony in the voices of angels.”
Now, the proponents of clearly heretical theses, as denounced by the great Pope, are indeed in grave sin but can always be forgiven if they repent.
This is explicitly affirmed by Leo when he speaks of Eutyches:
“If he sincerely returns to the faith because of repentance, he will easily understand why the bishop’s authority had to resort to disciplinary actions, even if belatedly for him. If he corrects his stance appropriately and fully renounces his error, not only verbally but also through a signed declaration, he will no longer be reproved, and mercy will be extended to him, however generous it may seem.”
In summary, mercy is genuine when it is based on justice, manifesting in the identification of sin and its rejection.
Mercy proceeds from conversion.
As the great Orthodox Christian Macarius of Optina said:
“You are, of course, entirely right: there is no doubt! The Lord yearns to gather everyone in His embrace. Everyone; but particularly the greatest sinners. However, this truth must be rightly interpreted, rightly understood: the Lord calls all sinners to Himself; He opens His arms, even to the worst among them. He takes them joyfully into His arms—if only they are willing to go. But they must make the effort to go. They must seek Him, go to Him. In other words, they must repent. He does not reject even those who do not repent. He waits for them and calls them. But they refuse to heed His call. They choose to wander far off, in some other direction.”
Regarding Eutyches, Leo asserted:
“As for Eutyches, who has fallen into such grave error, to help him regain his senses in the most effective way, he must correct his mistake from the very place where he began it; and where he was justly condemned, from that same point he may deserve forgiveness.”
“Forgiveness must be earned; it cannot be obtained by altering the nature of sin. And this is not to go against the sinner but rather to move in his favor, as Pope Leo explains in a letter to Empress Pulcheria:
“Since I have great confidence in your steadfast piety, I implore you earnestly to safeguard, as you always have, the Catholic faith. This is the opportune moment to defend its freedom. The Lord may have allowed this trial to reveal those who have nestled within the Church. Yet, one must never act against them lightly, lest we regret their loss.”
In his audience on March 5, 2008, Benedict XVI spoke of Leo the Great:
“Aware of the historical period in which he lived and of the change that was taking place—from pagan Rome to Christian Rome—in a time of profound crisis, Leo the Great was able to draw close to the people and the faithful with his pastoral action and preaching. He enlivened charity in a Rome burdened by famine, an influx of refugees, injustice, and poverty. He opposed pagan superstitions and the actions of Manichaean groups. He linked liturgy with the daily lives of Christians by associating fasting with charity and almsgiving, particularly on the occasion of the Ember Days, which, during the year, marked the changing of seasons. Above all, Leo the Great taught his faithful—and his words remain applicable to us today—that Christian liturgy is not the remembrance of past events but the realization of invisible realities that act within each one of us. He emphasized this in a sermon (cf. 64, 1-2) on Easter, to be celebrated in every season of the year ‘not so much as something of the past but rather as an event of the present.’ All of this fits within a precise design, the Holy Pontiff insisted: just as the Creator, after the original sin, breathed rational life into man formed from the dust of the earth, He sent His Son into the world to restore humanity’s lost dignity and to destroy the devil’s dominion through the new life of grace.”
Liturgy, conversion, and forgiveness: these are the enduring lessons of this great Pope.
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