Pope Leo's 28th Letter (the Tome) versus Pope Leo's 35th Letter - Would the impact have been different?

[Zekariya]

Most of us are familiar with the Tome of Pope Leo I. Do you (Catholic or Oriental Orthodox) think that Pope Leo I would have made a better impact on what would become the Oriental Orthodox had he used Letter 35’s wording instead of or with the Tome?

Letter 28 (The Tome), Pope St Leo I of Rome
“For each “form” does the acts which belong to it, in communion with the other; the Word, that is, performing what belongs to the Word, and the flesh carrying out what belongs to the flesh; the one of these shines out in miracles, the other succumbs to injuries. And as the Word does not withdraw from equality with the Father in glory, so the flesh does not abandon the nature of our kind.”

"[Christ said,] Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have:” that the properties of the Divine and the human nature might be acknowledged to remain in him without causing a division, and that we might in such sort know that the Word is not what the flesh is, as to confess that the one Son of God is both Word and flesh."

Letter 35, Pope St Leo I of Rome
"Therefore neither was the Word changed into flesh nor flesh into the Word: but both remains in one and one is in both, not divided by the diversity and not confounded by intermixture: He is not one by His Father and another by His mother, but the same, in one way by His Father before every beginning, and in another by His mother at the end of the ages: so that He was “mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” in whom dwelt “the fulness of the Godhead bodily:” because it was the assumed (nature) not the Assuming (nature) which was raised, because God “exalted Him and gave Him the Name which is above every name: that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ the Lord is in the glory of God the Father.”

[emphasis mine]

 

[Inego_de_Loyola]

Both of these are contained in one of my favorite prayers, The Athanasian Creed:

Quicunque Vult (Athanasian Creed):
If anybody wants to be saved, first of all it is necessary that they hold the Catholic Faith.
Because unless everyone keeps this Faith completely and purely, without doubt they shall not be saved.
And the Catholic Faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity, neither mixing up the Persons, nor dividing the Substance.
For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit.
But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, is all one, the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal.
What the Father is, that is what the Son is, and also what the Holy Spirit is.
The Father was not created by anyone, the Son was not created by anyone, and the Holy Spirit was not created by anyone.
The Father is beyond our understanding, the Son is beyond our understanding, and the Holy Spirit is beyond our understanding.
The Father is eternal, the Son is eternal, and the Holy Spirit is eternal.
And yet they are not three who are eternal, but one who is eternal.
And they are not three who are beyond our understanding, nor three who were not created by anyone, but one uncreated, and one beyond our understanding.
So in the same way the Father is Almighty, the Son is Almighty, and the Holy Spirit is Almighty.
And yet they are not three Almighties, but one Almighty.
So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God.
And yet they are not three Gods, but one God.
So in the same way the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, and the Holy Spirit is Lord.
And yet they are not three Lords, but one Lord.
For just as the Christian Truth forces us to acknowledge each Person in and of himself to be both God and Lord, so the Catholic Religion forbids us to say there are three Gods, or three Lords.
The Father is from no one, neither created, nor begotten.
The Son comes from the Father alone, not made, nor created, but begotten.
The Holy Spirit is from the Father, neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.
So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits.
And in this Trinity none is before or after another; none is greater or less than another;
So that in all things, as was said before, the Unity in Trinity and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.
Whoever wants to be saved must thus think of the Trinity.

Furthermore, it is necessary to everlasting salvation also to believe correctly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For the right Faith is, that we believe and confess, that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Human;
God, of the Substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and Human, of the Substance of his Mother, born in the world;
Perfect God and perfect Human, continually existing as a rational soul and human flesh together;
Equal to the Father, as God; and inferior to the Father, as human.
Who although he is God and Human, yet he is not two, but one Christ;
One, not be changing the Godhead into flesh, but by taking the Humanity into God;
One altogether; not by mixing up the Substance of God and Human, but by uniting them in one person.
For as the rational soul and flesh together in one person is one human, so God and Human together in one person is one Christ;
Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead.
He ascended into heaven, he sits at the right hands of the Father, God Almighty, from whence he shall come to judge the living and the dead.
At whose coming all persons shall rise again with their bodies and shall give account for their own works.
And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting; and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.
This is the Catholic Faith, without which there is no salvation.

(BTW this prayer is where I truly learned the place of Mary, as it makes clear that he is of one substance with the father in his divine nature, and in a similar manner of one substance with his mother in his human nature.)

 

[Zekariya]

(BTW this prayer is where I truly learned the place of Mary, as it makes clear that he is of one substance with the father in his divine nature, and in a similar manner of one substance with his mother in his human nature.)

I agree that Mary has a special place being the Theotokos (Mother of God).

Just to be clear for the other readers… Substance/essence refers to that which is common. Hypostasis [Person} refers that which is individual. The Trinity is three Hypostases [Persons] in one substance/essence. When Christ is said to be consubstantial with the Father, it means that Christ shares the Divine substance/essence. When Christ is said to be consubstantial with Mary, it means that Christ shares the human substance/essence. This is also shown in the definition of Chalcedon:

“… consubstantial [coessential] with the Father according to the Godhead, and consubstantial with us according to the Manhood…”
Source: ccel.org/ccel/schaff/creeds2.iv.i.iii.html

In Christ, the substance/essence of God is united to the substance/essence of man without mixture, without blending, without mingling, without confusion, without alteration, without division, without separation.

 

[Apotheoun]

Most of us are familiar with the Tome of Pope Leo I. Do you (Catholic or Oriental Orthodox) think that Pope Leo I would have made a better impact on what would become the Oriental Orthodox had he used Letter 35’s wording instead of or with the Tome?

Letter 28 (The Tome), Pope St Leo I of Rome
“For each “form” does the acts which belong to it, in communion with the other; the Word, that is, performing what belongs to the Word, and the flesh carrying out what belongs to the flesh; the one of these shines out in miracles, the other succumbs to injuries. And as the Word does not withdraw from equality with the Father in glory, so the flesh does not abandon the nature of our kind.”

"[Christ said,] Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have:” that the properties of the Divine and the human nature might be acknowledged to remain in him without causing a division, and that we might in such sort know that the Word is not what the flesh is, as to confess that the one Son of God is both Word and flesh."

Letter 35, Pope St Leo I of Rome
"Therefore neither was the Word changed into flesh nor flesh into the Word: but both remains in one and one is in both, not divided by the diversity and not confounded by intermixture: He is not one by His Father and another by His mother, but the same, in one way by His Father before every beginning, and in another by His mother at the end of the ages: so that He was “mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” in whom dwelt “the fulness of the Godhead bodily:” because it was the assumed (nature) not the Assuming (nature) which was raised, because God “exalted Him and gave Him the Name which is above every name: that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ the Lord is in the glory of God the Father.”

[emphasis mine]

Yes, I think so, because Letter 35 is a more accurate representation of the incarnational faith of the Church than is the comment found in the Tome. The Tome is open to a Nestorian interpretation, while the statement in Letter 35 is not.

 

[Zekariya]

Yes, I think so, because Letter 35 is a more accurate representation of the incarnational faith of the Church than is the comment found in the Tome. The Tome is open to a Nestorian interpretation, while the statement in Letter 35 is not.

Those are my thoughts as well.