St. Leo the Great, Pope of Rome / February 18
Sainted Leo I the Great,
Pope of Rome (440-461), received an exceedingly fine and diverse education,
which opened for him the possibility of an excellent worldly career. But his
yearning was in the spiritual life, and so he chose the different path of
becoming an archdeacon under holy Pope Sixtus III (432-440) – after whose death
Saint Leo in turn was chosen as Pope of the Roman Church, in September 440.
These
were difficult times for the Church, when heretics besieged the bulwarks of
Orthodoxy with their tempting false-teachings. Saint Leo combined within
himself a pastoral solicitude and goodness, together with an unshakable
firmness in questions of the confession of the faith. He was in particular one
of the basic defenders of Orthodoxy against the heresies of Eutykhios and
Dioskoros – who taught that there was only one nature in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and he was a defender also against the heresy of Nestorius. He exerted all his
influence to put an end to the unrest by the heretics in the Church, and by his
missives to the holy Constantinople emperors Theodosius II (408-450) and
Marcian (450-457) he actively promoted the convening of the Fourth OEcumenical
Council, at Chalcedon in 451, for condemning the heresy of the Monophysites.
At
this OEcumenical Council at Chalcedon, at which 630 bishops were present, there
was proclaimed a missive of Saint Leo to the then already deceased Sainted
Flavian, Patriarch of Constantinople (447-449). Saint Flavian had suffered for
Orthodoxy under the Ephesus "Robber Council" in the year 449. In the
letter of Saint Leo was posited the Orthodox teaching about the two natures
[the Divine and the human] in the Lord Jesus Christ. And with this teaching all
the bishops present at the Council were in agreement. The heretics Eutykhios
and Dioskoros were excommunicated from the Church.
Saint
Leo was likewise a defender of his fatherland against the incursions of
barbarians. In the year 452, by the persuasive power of his word, he stopped a
pillaging of Italy by the dreadsome leader of the Huns, Attila. And again in
the year 455, when the leader of the Vandals [a Germanic tribe], Henzerich,
turned towards Rome, he boldly persuaded him not to pillage the city, burn
buildings, nor spill blood. He knew about his death beforehand and he prepared
himself by ardent prayer and good deeds, for the passing over from this world
into eternity.
He died in
the year 461 and was buried at Rome, in the Vatican cathedral. His literary and
theological legacy is comprised of 96 sermons and 143 letters – of which the
best known is his missive to Saint Flavian.
© 1996-2001 by translator Fr. S.
Janos.http://www.holytrinityorthodox.com/calendar/los/February/18-01.htm
READ ST. LEO’S HOMILIES ON
THE SEASON OF GREAT LENT HERE:
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