Leon of Ḥarran (late 8th or early 9th cent.) [Melk.]
Melkite theologian and synkellos to the bp. of Ḥarran in the late 8th or early 9th cent. Leon was a disciple of Giwargi of Maypherqaṭ (Martyropolis) and, like his teacher, advocated a Chalcedonian christology. He authored a Letter to his friend Bp. Eliya, with whom he had discussed christological matters previously in Ḥarran. This Letter is known only through Eliya’s reply, which preserves several fragments. In the Letter, Leon requests Eliya to make known his reasons for converting from a Chalcedonian to a miaphysite christology. He outlines his own theological position and poses several specific christological questions, to which Eliya responds.
Sources
- A. Van Roey, ‘La lettre apologétique d’Élie à Léon, syncelle de l’évêque chalcédonien de Ḥarran. Une apologie monophysite du VIIIe–IXe siècle’, LM 57 (1944), 1–52.
- A. Van Roey, ‘Trois auteurs chalcédoniens syriens: Georges de Martyropolis, Constantin et Léon de Ḥarran’, OLP 3 (1972), 125–53.
- A. Van Roey, Eliae Epistula apologetica ad Leonem, syncellum Harranensem (CSCO 469–70; 1985). (Syr. with LT)