Leo the Great

Some heretics hold that the grace of God is given only according to the merits of the recipients. But, of course, if grace is not a free gift, it is not grace at all, but rather a reward.

A Patristic Treasury: Early Church Wisdom for Today, edited by James R. Payton, Jr

The Son

Regarding the Incarnation:

This birth in time in no way minimized his divine and eternal birth, nor did it add to it.

Fecundity was given to the virgin by the Holy Spirit, but the reality of the body was taken from her body.

The Incarnation – in time – is not simple for me to grasp. We have appearances of Christ in the Old Testament – even in Creation – but how this works with the unchanging God is a mystery to me.

Revelation 13: 8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

The Lamb slain from the foundation of the earth? There are two ways to make some sense of this (at least as far as my mind can wander): 1) God, outside of time, can enter and exit our time at any time, 2) God knew from the foundation of the world that the Lamb was to be slain.

Enough of my unlearned speculation…

Leo is best known for his Tome, a critical and foundational document presented and approved at Chalcedon. The focus was a proper way to describe Christ and His two natures.

…while the distinctness of both natures and substances is preserved, both being united in one Person…the inviolable nature has been united to one capable of suffering….

He did not share in our sins just because he undertook to share in our weaknesses.

From the mother the Lord took his nature, but no fault…. He who is true God is also true man….

It is true, therefore, that there is one Lord Jesus Christ, the true Son of God and man, one Person of the Word and the flesh; without separation and division they perform their acts in common.

He is not one person from the Father and another from the Mother…

As we know, the language was unsettling to the churches that ultimately rejected Chalcedon, finding in it something that seemed Nestorian – with actual Nestorians pleased with the language.

Almost all the heresies which have existed at different times have departed from the gospel in their understanding of the mystery of the bodily birth, the Passion, and the Resurrection of Christ.

I think that’s true. But it is easier to state what is not to be believed than it is to state what is to be believed when it comes to describing things like the Trinity or the Incarnate Christ.

Baptism

This practice must be observed in all churches: once the washing [of baptism] has been performed, it may not be violated by any repetition.

Easy to write at the time – no switching denominations or any of that. Now, different denominations and traditions have different practices regarding baptism and the acceptability of another form. Personally, if one is baptized in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, and in the name of the Holy Spirit, I am good with it – in whatever church it occurred and at whatever age.

Profession

The common and uniform profession of faith which all the faithful make is that they believe in one God, the Father Almighty, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary.

There is more, of course. The Nicene Creed as developed at the second Council works for me.

Submission

What is more iniquitous than to hold blasphemous opinions and not yield to persons wiser and more learned?

No one is to be blamed more for the faults of others than their leaders, who often nourish a great plague while delaying to administer a rather harsh medicine.

How to reconcile these two – not in Leo’s statements, but in how we live? “Persons wiser and more learned” can also be leaders with “faults.” In the end, I know of no way to reconcile these other than to trust…but verify: in other words, I don’t think we can escape some form of discernment as individuals.

Doctrine has flowed down to us from the blessed apostles and Holy Fathers.

Which ones, and which part of which ones? That’s the rub.

Other

Although the death of many holy people was precious in the sight of the Lord [Ps 116:15], the redemption of the world was not effected by the killing of any of these guiltless persons. … Indeed, their deaths affected each of them, but none gave his life to pay another’s debt.

The death and resurrection had to be that of the God-man.

The first slip from self-restraint is pride, the beginning of transgression and the origin of sin.

Humility is foundational.

Biographies / Sources

Leo (? – 461) served as bishop of Rome from 440 – 461, and is well-known for his Tome, presented at the Council of Chalcedon. Payton describes Leo as showing “remarkable magnanimity in dealing with the complex issues brought before him.” This is not how those who were not comfortable with the wording in his Tome would describe him – or at least those who represented him at Chalcedon.

Nevertheless, his Tome is a foundational document both for those churches which accepted Chalcedon and for those which didn’t.