St. Theodoret of Cyrus

“I therefore beseech your holiness to persuade the most holy and blessed bishop (Pope Leo) to use his Apostolic power, and to order me to hasten to your Council. For that most holy throne (Rome) has the sovereignty over the churches throughout the universe on many grounds.” (Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrus in Syria, Tom. iv. Epist. cxvi. Renato, p. 1197 [A.D. 450]).


“If Paul, the herald of the truth, the trumpet of the Holy Spirit, hastened to the great Peter, to convey from him the solution to those in Antioch, who were at issue about living under the law, how much more do we, poor and humble, run to the Apostolic Throne (Rome) to receive from you (Pope Leo) healing for wounds of the the Churches? For it pertains to you to have primacy in all things; for your throne is adorned with many prerogatives. For other cities get a name for size or beauty or population, and some that are devoid of these advantages are compensated by certain spiritual gifts: but your city has the fullest abundance of good things from the Giver of all good. For she is of all cities the greatest and most famous, the mistress of the world and teeming with population. And besides this she has created an empire which is still predominant and has imposed her own name upon her subjects. But her chief decoration is her Faith, to which the Divine Apostle is a sure witness when he exclaims your faith is proclaimed in all the world Romans 1:8; and if immediately after receiving the seeds of the saving Gospel she bore such a weight of wondrous fruit, what words are sufficient to express the piety which is now found in her? She has, too, the tombs of our common fathers and teachers of the Truth, Peter and Paul, to illumine the souls of the faithful. And this blessed and divine pair arose indeed in the East, and shed its rays in all directions, but voluntarily underwent the sunset of life in the West, from whence now it illumines the whole world. These have rendered your See so glorious: this is the chief of all your goods. And their See is still blessed by the light of their God's presence, seeing that therein He has placed your Holiness to shed abroad the rays of the one true Faith.


“After such toils and troubles I am condemned without a hearing….However, I wait for the verdict of your apostolic throne, and beg and pray your holiness to help me, when I appeal to your right and just tribunal, and to bid me come to you and show that my teaching follows in the apostolic track. . . . I beseech you not to spurn my petition, nor to overlook the insults heaped upon me.


“Before all, tell me whether I ought to acquiesce in this unrighteous deposition or not. I awaityour verdict; and if you bid me abide by my condemnalion, I will do so, and will trouble no one hereafter, but await the unerring verdict of our God and Saviour. . .


“. . . . I entreat your holiness . . . to consider my slandered position, so falsely attacked, to be worthy of your protection. Above all I beseech you to defend with all your might the faith that is now plotted against, and to keep the hereditary doctrine intact for the churches. So shall your holiness receive from the bountiful Master a full reward.” (Theodoret Epistle to Pope Leo, preserved in the 52 Epistle of Leo the Great.)


“For that all holy throne has the office of heading the Churches of the whole world, for many reasons; and, above all others, because it has remained free of the communion of heretical taint, and no one holding heterodox sentiments ever sat in it, but it has preserved the Apostolic grace unsullied.” (Theodoret, Epist Renato)


“Hasten to your Apostolic See in order to receive from you a cure for the wounds of the Church. For every reason it is fitting for you to hold the first place, inasmuch as your see is adorned with many priviledges. I have been condemned without trial. But I await the sentence of your Apostolic See. I beseech and implore Your Holiness to succor me in my appeal to your fair and righteous tribunal. Bid me hasten to you and prove to you that my teaching follows in the footsteps of the Apostles.” (Theodoret to Pope Leo, Ep. 113).


“The great foundation of the Church was shaken, and confirmed by the Divine grace. And the Lord commanded him to apply that same care to the brethren. ‘And thou,’ He says, ‘converted, confirm thy brethren.’”(Tom. iv. Haeret. Fab. lib. v.c. 28 (A.D. 450))


“‘For as I,’ He says, ‘did not despise thee when tossed, so be thou a support to thy brethren in trouble, and the help by which thou was saved do thou thyself impart to others, and exhort them not while they are tottering, but raise them up in their peril. For this reason I suffer thee also to slip, but do not permit thee to fall, thus through thee gaining steadfastness for those who are tossed.’ So this great pillar supported the tossing and sinking world, and permitted it not to fall entirely and gave it back stability, having been ordered to feed God’s sheep. ” (Theodoret, Oratio de Caritate in J. P. Minge, ed., Partrologiae Curses Completus: Series Graeca).


“The whole world, dearly-beloved, does indeed take part in all holy anniversaries, and loyalty to the one Faith demands that whatever is recorded as done for all men's salvation should be everywhere celebrated with common rejoicings. But, besides that reverence which today's festival has gained from all the world, it is to be honoured with special and peculiar exultation in our city, that there may be a predominance of gladness on the day of their martyrdom in the place where the chief of the Apostles met their glorious end. For these are the men, through whom the light of Christ's gospel shone on you, O Rome, and through whom you, who was the teacher of error, was made the disciple of Truth. These are your holy Fathers and true shepherds, who gave you claims to be numbered among the heavenly kingdoms, and built you under much better and happier auspices than they, by whose zeal the first foundations of your walls were laid: and of whom the one that gave you your name defiled you with his brother's blood. [Romulus was the traditional founder of Rome. He murdered his brother, Remus.] These are they who promoted you to such glory, that being made a holy nation, a chosen people, a priestly and royal state 1 Peter 2:9, and the head of the world through the blessed Peter's holy See you attained a wider sway by the worship of God than by earthly government. For although you were increased by many victories, and extended your rule on land and sea, yet what your toils in war subdued is less than what the peace of Christ has conquered.” (Sermon 82).


“But I await the sentence of your Apostolic See. I beseech and implore your holiness to succour me in my appeal to your fair and righteous tribunal.” (Letter 113 to St. Pope Leo the Great).


With these and similar arguments, they attacked the vacant mind of the emperor and persuaded him to expel Athanasius from the Church. But he, having discovered the plot, withdrew and went to the West. The Eusebians had falsely accused Athanasius to the bishop of Rome (just then Julius was shepherding that church). He therefore, obtying the law of the Church, summoned the accuselrs to come to Rome, and called the devout Athanasius to trial. And he, accepting the call, set out at once ; but the false accusers, seeing that the lie would easily be detected, did not go to Rome. (Church History, Book 2).


“Twenty-six years I have been a bishop ; I have undergone countless labours ; I have struggled hard for the truth; have freed tens of thousands of heretics and brought them to the Saviour, and now they have stripped me of my priesthood, and are exiling me from the city. They have no respect for my old age, or for my hairs grown grey in the truth. Wherefore I beseech your sanctity to persuade the very sacred and holy Archbishop Leo to bid me hasten to your council. For that holy see has precedence of all churches in the world, for many reasons; and above all for this, that it is free from all taint of t heresy, and that no bishop of false opinions has ever sat upon its throne, but it has kept the grace of the apostles undefiled.” (Ep. 116, to Renatus thepresbyter [A.D. 449).


“Dioscorus is turning the see of blessed Mark upside down ; and this he does, well knowing that the metropolis of Antioch possesses the throne of the great Peter, who was teacher of blessed Mark, and first and leader of the choir of the apostles.” (Epistle 86, to Flavian).


[Quoting Luke 22. 31, 32.1 "For as I ", he says, " did not despise thee when tossed, so be thou a support to thy brethren in trouble, and the help by which thou wast saved do thou thyself impart to others, and exhort them not while they are tottering, but raise them up in their peril. For this reason I suffer thee also to slip, but do not permit thee to fall, [thus] through thee gaining steadfastness for those who are tossed." So this great pillar supported the tossing and sinking world, and permitted it not to fall entirely and gave it back stability, having been ordered to feed God's sheep. (Oratio de Caritate).