Leontios of Byzantium

Leontius of Byzantium (Greek: Λεόντιος, 485–543) was a Byzantine Christian monk and the author of an influential series of theological writings on sixth-century Christological controversies. Though the details of his life are scarce, he is considered by some a groundbreaking innovator in Christian theological reflection for having introduced Aristotelian definitions into theology.

Problems of identification

The identity of Leontius has been a matter of controversy for scholars. For many years he was considered to be the same person as Leontius of Jerusalem, but now a clear identification may be made between the two. The first scholar to identify and challenge the ambiguity of the writings that come down to us under the name of "Leontius" was Friedrich Loofs in 1887, arguing for a single author of the corpus leontianum. That hypothesis influenced scholarship until the publication of Marcel Richard's 1944 article Léonce de Jérusalem et Léonce de Byzance, which aimed to distinguish two figures among the works which had formerly been attributed to a single person. Since the publication of that article, Richard's conclusions have been accepted by all scholars writing about Leontius.

The attribution of various works to one or the other Leontius is widely accepted. Richard identified Leontius of Jerusalem as the author of Contra Monophysitas and Contra Nestorianos, while assigning to Leontius of Byzantium the three books Contra Nestorianos et Eutychianos, the treatise against Severus of Antioch known as Epilysis, and the Triginta capita contra Severum. For a time, it seems he was also a member of the so-called community of "Scythian monks."

According to Cyril's Vita Sabae, Leontius was a monk of the Lavra of St. Saba near Jerusalem,

Contra Nestorianos et Eutychianos, against the two extreme positions of Eutychianism and Nestorianism Dialogue against the Aphthartodocetists, against those who Aphthartodocetism of Christ's human nature Contra Nestorianos, another work against the followers of Theodore of Mopsuestia Epilysis, also called Solutio argumentorum a Severo obiectorum, a work against the arguments of Severus of Antioch Epaporemata, also called Triginta capita contra Severum, another work against Severus