E05330: John Moschus, in his Spiritual Meadow, recounts stories which circulated in Alexandria, Constantinople, and Rome about *Leo I (bishop of Rome, S00423) and his letter to Flavian of Constantinople against Eutyches and Nestorios. He is said to have laid the letter on the tomb in Rome of *Peter (the Apostle, S00036), so that Apostle corrected it in his own hand. Moschus also recounts a dream vision of Leo I endorsing the efforts of Patriarch Eulogios I of Alexandria (580-608) on behalf of Chalcedonian Orthodoxy. Written in Greek, probably in Rome, in the 620s or 630s.

John Moschus, The Spiritual Meadow, 147-148

147. Moschus heard this story from Menas, abbot of a monastery outside Alexandria, who had heard it from Eulogios I, Chalcedonian Patriarch of Alexandria (580-608). During a visit to Constantinople, Eulogios met the Roman archdeacon Gregory (probably the later Pope Gregory I the Great, 590-604) from whom he heard that, according to a legend of the Church of Rome, when Pope Leo the Great was writing his letter to Flavian of Constantinople against Eutyches and Nestorius, he placed it in the tomb of Peter the Apostle and prayed requesting Peter to correct the letter.

Καὶ μετὰ τεσσαράκοντα ἡμέρας ὤφθη αὐτῷ ὁ ἀπόστολος εὐχομένῳ, καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ· Ἀνέγνων καὶ διορθωσάμην. Καὶ δὴ λαβὼν τὴν ἐπιστολὴν ἐκ τοῦ τάφου τοῦ ἁγίου Πέτρου, ἀνέπτυξεν καὶ εὗρεν χειρὶ τοῦ ἀποστόλου διορθωθεῖσαν.

'Forty days later the Apostle appeared to him as he was praying and said: "I have read it and I have corrected it". The pope took the letter from Saint Peter's tomb, unrolled it and found it corrected in the Apostle's hand.'

148. This story was recounted by Theodoros, bishop of Derna in Libya. While he was serving as secretary (synkellos) to Eulogios I of Alexandria, he saw three times in a dream vision Pope Leo I coming to Eulogios, in order to thank him for his struggle on behalf of his letter against Eutyches and Nestorius (the so-called 'Tome of Leo'). Eulogios' efforts had been acknowledged and appreciated by Leo, the Apostle Peter, and Christ himself.

Text: Migne 1865 (PG 87.3). Translation: Wortley 1992. Summary: J. Doroszewska and E. Rizos.