Leontius

Leontius, theological writer, born at Byzantium, flourished during the 6th century. He is variously styled Byzantinus, Hierosolymitanus (as an inmate of the monastery of St Saba near Jerusalem) and Scholasticus (the first “schoolman,” as the introducer of the Aristotelian definitions into theology; according to others, he had been an advocate, a special meaning of the word scholasticus). He himself states that in his early years he belonged to a Nestorian community. Nothing else is known of his life; he is frequently confused with others of the same name, and it is uncertain which of the works bearing the name Leontius are really by him. Most scholars regard as genuine the polemical treatises Contra Nestorianos et Eutychianos, Contra Nestorianos, Contra Monophysitas, Contra Severum (patriarch of Antioch); and the Σχόλια, generally called De Sectis. An essay Adversus fraudes Apollinaristarum and two homilies are referred to other hands, the homilies to a Leontius, presbyter of Constantinople.

Collected works in J. P. Migne, Patrologia Graeca, lxxxvi.; for the various questions connected with Leontius see F. Loops, Das Leben und die polemischen Werke des Leontios von Byzanz (Leipzig, 1887); W. Rügamer, Leontius von Byzanz (1894); V. Ermoni, De Leontio Byzantino (Paris, 1895); C. Krumbacher, Geschichte der byzantinischen Litteratur (1897); J. P. Junglas, Leontius von Byzanz (1908). For other persons of the name see Fabricius, Bibliotheca Graeca (ed. Harles), viii. 323.