LEO II, SAINT

born , Sicily died July 3, 683, ; feast day July 3, formerly June 28 pope from 681 to 683. Leo was elected about December 681 to succeed St. Agatho but was not consecrated until Aug. 17, 682, because of a delay in confirmation by the Byzantine emperor Constantine IV. He ratified the decision of the sixth ecumenical Council of Constantinople (680) to condemn monothelitism, a heresy concerning the will of Christ, as well as the conciliatory policies of Pope Honorius I (d. 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.