A Penitent Blogger
He wasn’t from the big city
he was relatively young, and he was only a deacon, but Leo was the bishop’s “go-to” guy.
Leo could do it all: helping with thorny theological problems, administering church matters, and even acting as a diplomat on trips to help churches in strife-torn lands.
Leo was on one of those trips when the word came that the bishop had died and that he had been chosen to be the new bishop. He came back, was consecrated, and hit the ground running.
Leo faced a number of challenges, inside and outside the Church. Yet he always remembered his primary duty was pastor. His sermons were so magnificent, they became widely published. He also worked to improve the organization of the Church and to continue helping churches in strife-torn lands.
At one point, this strife seemed about to spread to Leo’s own city. At the center of the strife was an exceptionally violent man, the epitome of barbarism, whose name was already legendary. The civil government seemed so powerless to stop the threat, they even begged Leo to help.
Leo went out and talked to the man face-to-face. The man who was terrorizing the civilized world turned away and spared Leo’s city.
Meanwhile, the Church throughout the world was struggling with mistaken ideas that had become popular even among churchgoers: ideas that denied original sin and the need for God’s grace, that confused the human and divine natures in the person of Christ, and even a form of paganism that posited the existence of an evil creative force equal to God.
Leo was a mighty champion of Christian truth not only within his own diocese but throughout the world. A great council of the Church was convoked to deal with some of these problems. Leo was unable to attend, but he sent a letter that clearly set out the truth of the Christian faith. When the letter was read, the bishops at the council stood up and exclaimed, “Peter has spoken through Leo!”
Leo died on this very day in the year 461, having proved to be a very worthy successor of St. Peter as Bishop of Rome: a great teacher of Christian truth and pastor of souls, who successfully faced down heretics and even the great Attila the Hun.
Later centuries would refer to him as Pope St. Leo the Great.
Leo could do it all: helping with thorny theological problems, administering church matters, and even acting as a diplomat on trips to help churches in strife-torn lands.
Leo was on one of those trips when the word came that the bishop had died and that he had been chosen to be the new bishop. He came back, was consecrated, and hit the ground running.
Leo faced a number of challenges, inside and outside the Church. Yet he always remembered his primary duty was pastor. His sermons were so magnificent, they became widely published. He also worked to improve the organization of the Church and to continue helping churches in strife-torn lands.
At one point, this strife seemed about to spread to Leo’s own city. At the center of the strife was an exceptionally violent man, the epitome of barbarism, whose name was already legendary. The civil government seemed so powerless to stop the threat, they even begged Leo to help.
Leo went out and talked to the man face-to-face. The man who was terrorizing the civilized world turned away and spared Leo’s city.
Meanwhile, the Church throughout the world was struggling with mistaken ideas that had become popular even among churchgoers: ideas that denied original sin and the need for God’s grace, that confused the human and divine natures in the person of Christ, and even a form of paganism that posited the existence of an evil creative force equal to God.
Leo was a mighty champion of Christian truth not only within his own diocese but throughout the world. A great council of the Church was convoked to deal with some of these problems. Leo was unable to attend, but he sent a letter that clearly set out the truth of the Christian faith. When the letter was read, the bishops at the council stood up and exclaimed, “Peter has spoken through Leo!”
Leo died on this very day in the year 461, having proved to be a very worthy successor of St. Peter as Bishop of Rome: a great teacher of Christian truth and pastor of souls, who successfully faced down heretics and even the great Attila the Hun.
Later centuries would refer to him as Pope St. Leo the Great.
posted by Penitens | 10:07 AM
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