1 The objection that Prosper and Leo himself both speak of Rome as his, patria does not seem of sufficient weight to overthrow a tradition, which it is somewhat hard to account for the existence of. To a native of central Italy under the Empire, who had spent all his public life in Rome, the Eternal city was equally patria, whether it was his actual birthplace or not. At the same time there is no evidence that Volaterrae any more than Rome or any other Italian city can claim the honour with certainty.

2 Wilberforce on Doctrine On The Holy Eucharist, p. 246, quoted by Bright.

3 The chief error of Pelagius (=Morgan), who is commonly thought to have been of British origin, was, as is well-known, the denial of original birth-sin: see Article ix.

4 This is seen still more clearly when we remember how completely he held the Western, if not always the Eastern, Emperors in his power, and made them support and carry out his wishes.

5 The essential point in the Manichaean heresy (which took its rise in the far East) was the existence of two independent and conflicting principles: good, whose kingdom was light and the spiritual world, and evil, whose kingdom was over the elements of matter.

6 Leo the Great, p. 53 (S P C K ): this writer should also he consulted (pp 53 to 70), on the merits and importance or the Eutychian controversy generally.

7 Of these Renatus is said to have died at Delos on the way, and Hilarv is the future pope of that name. Julius of Puteoli must be carefully distinguished from Julian of Cos, who was also a confidant of Leo's.

8 What happened to Julius and Dulcitius is not known, though Leo does not express any disapproval of their action.

9 110 others voted by proxy in absence through their metropolitans (Gore).

10 Unpardonable in any case from one in his position, but especially so, if he was really connected with the church of Rome, as we have suggested, under Zosimus, in whose time the confusion, already existing then, was completely cleared up: see Gore's Life, pp. 113 and 114. The Canon itself professed only to confirm one already passed in 381.

11 Styled "Magnus," like his great namesake, though with infinitely less good reason.

12 Life, p. 165.

13 Milman attributes the real initiation of the Papal theory to the imperious Innocent I., who held the See of Rome at the beginning of the fifth century (402-417).

14 Grimanus, from whom this Codex is named, was Cardinal of S. Mark, &c., in the 16th century.

15 That is to say, it upheld the Gallican opinions; and so it was condemned and put on the Index in 1682. But being too valuable a work to be altogether suppressed, Benedict XIV. enjoined the issue of (4), which rebutted and rectified Quesnel's false deductions in its notes and excursuses.

1 It is to be supposed that the letter of Septimus, bp. of Altinum, was sent with this letter. See Lett. XVIII. n. 3.

2 Viz. Members of the minor order as they are now called, subdeacons, exorcists, &c.

3 It has been the rule at least since the council of Nicaea (325) that the clergy should stay in the church (or "diocese" as we should call it) of their ordination, cf. Canons of Nicoea xxi.de his qui Ecclesias deserunt et ad alias transeunt, and xxii. De non suscipiendis alterius Ecclesioe clericis.And we often kind Leo insisting on the observance of the rule.

4 Iiscientiam: the general reading being scientiam, the sense of which is not clear.

5 Sacerdotum: I am in doubt as to what this term here includes, think it probable that all ranks of the clergy were to be summoned. The words sacerdos and antistes in early ecclesiaslical Latin very often mean the bishop (episcopus) specifically rather than the presbyter (sacerrdos secundi ordinis), because it was the bishop who offered the "sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving" (i.e the Eucharist),and the presbyter only in his default; but the term sacerdos does certainly often include the presbyters and also the deacons (sacerdotes tertii ordinis) when In connexion with the priests and bishops, and it seems likely that the whole body of the clergy of the province would be summoned to the synod: see Bright's note 110: also Bingham, Antiq., Bk. 11., chap. xix., §§ 14,15.

6 Superbi (proud): the epithet is well chosen and not a random one: for pride and presumption are at the root of the Pelagian views as birth-sin and baptismal grace: perfectionism is little in accordance with Christian humility.

7 For the same sentiment cf. Prosper, de ingratis, v. 188.


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