A new history of ecclesiastical writers containing an account of the authors of the several books of the Old and New Testament, of the lives and writings of the primitive fathers, an abridgement and catalogue of their works ... also a compendious history of the councils, with chronological tables of the whole / written in French by Lewis Ellies du Pin.

LEO II.

AFTER Agatho's death, Leo II. was chosen in his Room. Constantine the Emperor, hearing of his Election, did immediately write a Letter to him, set down in the end of * 1.1 the 6th Council; but Leo was not ordained till August, in the year 682. After the return of John, Bishop of Porto, one of the Legates, whom Agatho had sent to the Council. And some believe, his Ordination was put off till August, in the year following: But it is not likely; for in May, of this year, he did examine and approve in a Synod, the Acts of the 6th Coun∣cil; and in the end of the same year, sent them into Spain. He died the year after, viz. June 28. 684.

The Emperor's Letter directed to Leo, wherein he acquaints him, That the Council hath confirmed Pope Agatho's Doctrine, and what was done in the 6th Council, is in the Acts of that Council. Baronius pretends, That these two Letters are Supposititious, but his Conje∣ctures are grounded only upon false dates a 1.2, added by some Latin Author, and wanting in the Greek Original, or upon Anastasius's false Chronology.

Besides these two Letters of Leo II. there are four more that were sent into Spain about the Affair of the 6th Council, the definition whereof was sent into that Kingdom by Peter, No∣tary of the Church of Rome. The first is directed to all the Spanish Bishops. He acquaints them with what was defined in the general Council, and exhorts them to receive its Definiti∣ons. He recommends the same thing in particular, to a certain Bishop called Quiricus, in the second Letter. In the third, he exhorts an Earl, named Simplicius, to endeavour the main∣taining of that Doctrine. And in the fourth, he relates to King Ervigius, how the Faith of the Church was confirmed and explained in the 6th Council, and the Hereticks condemned; and exhorts him to cause all the Bishops of his Kingdom, to receive and subscribe the defini∣tion of that Council. Baronius would bring these Letters also into doubt, because Honorius's name is found therein among the Bishops condemned; but these Conjectures are so weak b 1.3, that it is not worth the while to answer them.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Leo II.
• a 1.2

  False dates.] In the Title of the 1st. Letter it is said, That it was sent in December, Indict. X. Agatho was then living; but they must set down some other Month, for it was delivered in June, Indict. X. It is known, That these Titles, before the true Inscriptions, are added. The second Let∣ter hath no date in the Greek, and the date in the Latin is visibly false. In the Body, there is mention made of the X. Indict. of June before; which agreeth very well with our Hypothesis. Leo was chosen in the beginning of 682. Indict. X. In June he receiveth the Acts of the Council, and the Emperor's Letter; he was ordained in August following, and he writes an Answer in the begin∣ning of the next year, Indict. XI. A••••stasius hath turned all top••y-turvy. He says, Agatho was yet living in March 632. that the holy See was vacant one Year, seven Months. If that be true, Leo was not ordain'd Bishop till October, 683. which cannot be made out. Baronius endeavours more-over to bring into suspicion of Falshood, Constan∣tine's Letter to Leo, because he says, That he had written of that Matter to Agatho; which is not true, says Baronius, because the Emperor's Letter was not directed to Agatho but to Donus. But it is very easie to answer, That this Letter was written to Agatho, because it was he that received it, and answered it. That which troubles Baronius most of all, is, That Honorius is anathematized in Leo's Letter; but there is no reason for it.
• b 1.3

  Conjectures are so ••eak.] There is but one of any difficulty, namely, that it is said in these Let∣ters, That the 6th Council was finished in the IX. Indiction. But the words of the Letter are not to be understood thus; it is meerly said there, That the Question about the M••nothelius was ended in a Council held at Constantinople in the 9th Indict.