LEO THE GREAT

LEO THE GREAT, Pope of Rome, theologian, St. (?–461). Pope from 440 to 461, the epithet “Great” is genuinely deserved. It derives in good part from this pope’s contribution to the Christology of the Council of Chalcedon (qq.v) in 451. Leo’s Tome (q.v.), essentially the reissue of his earlier letter to Patriarch Flavian of Constantinople in 449, constituted the ground of the Council’s dogmatic definition of Christ as “one person (hypostasis) in two natures (en dyo physesin),” human and divine. Leo’s other contribution, even more controversial (in the East), was his repeated insistence on a very high view of the Roman bishop as successor to St. Peter and very much the supervisor of the Christian oikoumene (q.v.). His objections, for example, to Chalcedon’s elevation of Constantinople (q.v.) to second place in the hierarchy of churches as “new Rome” (Canon #28) remained a point of irritation between West and East until their mutual schism (q.v.) in the 11th c. More positively, one must also reckon with the pastoral and liturgical sense of this great church leader, an aspect of his character that emerges most clearly in his homilies on the Christian feasts (q.v.), few of which are available in English. His handling of the invasions of the Huns and Vandals accrued prestige to the office of the papacy (q.v.), along with the acquisition of jurisdiction of the Western provinces.