The cause of the faith, in which the Christian salvation consists, compels me to labor with much solicitude, fearing lest the wickedness which ought to have been amputated in its beginnings should, with the passage of time, become both more obstinate and more widespread. For although the most clement emperor has directed to us such writings as would demonstrate his solicitude for the peace of the universal Church, yet the bishop of Constantinople himself, and those who consecrated him, apart from what pertained to the ordination of the new prelate, have indicated nothing to us concerning errors suppressed or renounced;
as though in that Church no scandal, no offense had arisen, or as though the merit of the ordained man was not chiefly to be demonstrated from this very point, if he had taught things foreign to himself that are adverse to the catholic understanding. Lest therefore—as is wont to happen among distant regions—the examination of the truth should tend toward excessive delays, our brethren and fellow-bish—
—ops Abundius, and Asterius, and also Basil, and Senator, presbyters, most approved men, we have directed to the most pious prince with sufficient instruction of the paternal authorities. Whom we desire, dearest brethren, to be aided in all things by your diligence and solicitude, so that the impiety which by blind daring has proceeded into deadly precipices may no longer have power to deceive the simple;
since with a more suitable medicine we desire that aid also be brought, through the remedies of correction, to those who have either fallen through inexperience or been led astray by terror. And therefore you, who are justified by faith, because you love the catholic truth and have been instructed by the Holy Spirit concerning the singular sacrament of human salvation, labor together with us, and with all the devotion you can, strive that, falsehood being destroyed and the solidity of the faith defended, we may enjoy the secure peace of God throughout the whole world. Given on the sixteenth day before the Kalends of August, in the consulship of Valentinian Augustus for the seventh time and of Avienus, most illustrious. — 4. Quesnel placed the following letter, which lacks a chronological note, in the first place among the letters of the year 451, after letter 75, written to the same Faustus on the sixth day before the Ides of November of the year
450. But letter 75 was composed when, by the favor of the Lord, the liberty of catholics had greatly increased, namely after the death of Theodosius, who had patronized the Eutychians. But the letter now to be subjoined was written when some human consideration, or some fear, could restrain from the open defense of the truth: whence the pontiff, spurring the spirit of Faustus, says, 'I exhort your blessedness, that you be not confounded concerning the Gospel of the generation of the Lord Jesus Christ'; which presupposes Theodosius still living. Hence before the death of Theodosius, which fell at the end of July of the year 450, or at least before the notice of his death, which reached Leo before he wrote letter 75 on the sixth day before the Ides of November, the following letter seems to have been given. 2.
In the Chalcedonian collection, from which alone we have this letter, it is copied as chapter 6, after Flavian's letter which is among the Leonine letters number 22, and before letter 28, given on the Ides of June of the year 449, from which it may seem to have been composed about that time. But since the author of the Chalcedonian collection did not everywhere keep an exact order, as is clear from other documents, the place assigned to this letter in that collection ought not to compel us: especially since the first words of the letter, 'It is always pleasing to me to address your charity,' indicate that a commerce of letters had long passed between Leo and Faustus, which seems to have begun from the outset of the Eutychian cause.
Among the letters which have come down to us, the first to Faustus and the other archimandrites is letter 32, given on the Ides of June of the year 449. Then another to the same, namely letter 51, written from the Roman synod on the Ides of October of the same year; and this is the first after the Ephesine robbery, when, with Theodosius patronizing them, the violence and unbridled power of the Eutychians became known. After this follows letter 61, to Faustus and Martin, composed on the 17th day of March of the year 450. Since in this letter Leo mentions their letters transmitted to him at the same time in which he had given letter 51—as we noted in note 48 (Col. 871, note m) on letter
59—it seems established that these letters of Faustus and Martin, then received, were the first after the Ephesine robbery, and that letter 61 was the first letter which he sent to the same men after letter 51, and therefore, fearing lest this letter 51 might perhaps have reached them, he added on this first occasion a copy of it to letter 61 itself. Hence the following letter 72, in which the holy pontiff replies to other, later letters of Faustus directed through Parthenius, was not to be placed before letter 61.
Since, moreover, from what has been said, it was delivered while Theodosius was living, or before the notice of his death, but the certain day and month are unknown, we have placed it at the end of the letters which were given while Theodosius lived, yet in such a way that we can only affirm it to have been composed between March and November of the year 450. 3. We believe that the original Latin of this letter is wanting: for the Latin text, which we have from the Latin manuscripts of the Chalcedonian collection, seems to be a rendering from a Greek interpretation: whence, besides some things foreign to Leo's style, the chronological note is absent, as it is lacking in all the letters of the same collection which were rendered from the Greek. Hence we have given the first place to the Greek interpretation, which supplies the place of the original.