Leo II, Saint

▪ pope

born , Sicily

died July 3, 683, Rome [Italy]; feast day July 3, formerly June 28

      pope from 682 to 683. He promoted church music (he was an accomplished singer), opposed heresy, and maintained good relations with Constantinople.

      According to the Liber Pontificalis (“The Book of the Pontiffs”), Leo was “a man of great eloquence, competently versed in Holy Scripture, proficient in Greek and Latin, and distinguished for his chanting and psalmody.” He was elected pope about December 681 to succeed St. Agatho (Agatho, Saint) but was not consecrated until Aug. 17, 682, because of a delay in confirmation by the Byzantine emperor Constantine IV. He received the acts of the sixth ecumenical Council of Constantinople (680), sections of which he had translated from Greek to Latin so that they could be understood in the Western churches. He ratified the council's decision to condemn Monothelitism (Monothelite), the heresy maintaining that Christ had two natures but only one will, as well as its condemnation of the conciliatory policies of Pope Honorius I (reigned 625–638). Because Honorius had not directly denounced Monothelitism, Leo called him one who “by unholy betrayal tried to overthrow the immaculate faith.” During Leo's pontificate the see of Ravenna, having in 666 been freed from the pope's jurisdiction by the Byzantine emperor Constans II Pogonatus, was again made papally dependent, by order of Constantine.

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