FOREWORD.

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IV. Documents of the Fathers concerning certain dogmas of the true faith.

1°. The letter of St. Leo the Great to St. Flavian of Constantinople, so discussed by the Orientals but so little known, the famous Tomos document/letter (ܛܘܡܣܐ), seemed to us very worthy of being presented to our dear Syro-Chaldeans. We provide: 1° a translation that we made from the Latin text (633—649); 2° the reproduction of the Syriac manuscript K. VI, Vol. 4, 17°, pp. 201—216 of the Propaganda referring to the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, which is an incorrect and incomplete translation of the Greek version of St. Leo's letter and the citations of the Fathers that the holy Pope joined to it. We had them photographed and we reproduce them as they are, so that the reader may compare the two translations of the Tomos (697—705).

We will allow ourselves to add here that it is known today that the doctrine of the Tomos is drawn from Tertullian, and that its drafting is due to the learned pen of Prosper of Aquitaine (¹), a Frenchman, secretary to St. Leo.

2° Our readers will see with pleasure the heresiarch Nestorius proclaim in the face of all the churches of the Orient and the Occident, and that after his deposition, the prerogatives of the See of Rome, and applaud without restriction this letter of St. Leo the Great (649—652).

The very authentic extracts that we provide here are taken from his own book entitled: Commerce of Heraclides of Damascus (²). This book, written in Greek, is lost, one

(¹) Gennadius, de Viris illustribus On Illustrious Men, chapter 84.       (²) See p. 649.