MONOTHELITISM
507
MONOTHELITISM
Martin kidnapped at Rome, and taken a prisoner to
Constantinople. The saint refused to accept the
Ecthesis, and after sufferings, many of which he has
himself related in a touching document, he died a
martyr in the Crimea in March, 655 (see Martin I,
Pope). St. Maximus (662), his disciple the monk
Anastasius (also 662) , and another Anastasius, a papal
envoy (666), died of ill-treatment, martyrs to their
orthodoxy and devotion to the Apostolic See.
While St. Martin was being insulted and tortured at Constantinople, the patriarch Paul was dying. "Alas, this will increase the severity of my judg- ment", he exclaimed to the emperor, who paid him a visit; and Constans was induced to spare the pope's life for the moment. At Paul's death Pyrrhus was re- stored. His successor Peter sent an ambiguous letter to Pope Eugenius, which made no mention of two operations, thus observing the prescription of the Type. The Roman people raised a riot when it was read in Sta. Maria Maggiore, and would not permit the pope to continue his Mass until he promised to re- ject the letter. Constans sent a letter to the pope by one Gregory, with a gift to St. Peter. It was ru- moured at Constantinople that the pope's envoys would accept a declaration of "one and two wills" (two because of the natures, one on account of the union). St. Maximus refused to believe the report. In fact Peter wrote to Pope Vitalian (657-672) profess- ing "one and two wills and operations" and adding mutilated quotations from the Fathers; but the ex- planation was thought unsatisfactory, presumably be- cause it was only an excuse for upholding the Type. In 663 Constans came to Rome, intending to make it his residence, on account of his unpopularity at Con- stantinople, for besides putting the pope to death and proscribing the orthodox faith, he had murdered his brother Theodosius. The pope received him with all due honour, and Constans, who had refused to confirm t he elections of Martin and Eugenius, ordered the name of Vitalian to be inscribed ou the diptychs of Constan- tinople. No mention seems to nave been made of the Type. But Constans did not tind Rome agreeable. After spoiling the churches, he retired to Sicily, where he oppressed the people. He was murdered in his bath in 668. Vitalian vigorously opposed rebellion in Sicily, and Constantino Pogonatus, the new emperor, found the island at peace on his arrival. It does not seem that he took any interest in the Type, which was doubtless not enforced, though not abolished, for he was fully occupied with his wars against the Saracens until 678, when he determined to summon a general council to end what he regarded as a quarrel between the Sees of Rome and Constantinople. He wrote in this sense to Pope Donus (676-78), who was already dead. HissuccessorSt.Agat ho thereupon as.sembled a synod at Rome and ordered others to bo held in the West. A delay of two years was thus caused, and the heretical patriarchs Theodore of Const anlinnfjlc and Macariusof Antioch assured the emperor tlial the pope despised the Easterns and their monarch, and they tried, but unsuccessfully, to get the name of Vitalian removed from the diptychs. The emperor asked for three representatives at least to be sent from Rome, with twelve archbi.shop.s or bishops from the West and four monks from each of the (!reek monasteries in the West, perhaps as interpreters. He also sent Theo- dore into exile, probably because he was an obstacle to reunion.
The first session of the Sixth (Ecumenical Council t«ok place at Constantinople (7 Nov., (iSO), Coiistan- tine Pogonatus presiding and having on his left, in the place of honour, the papal legates. Macurius of .\n- tioch was the only prelate who stood up for Monothe- litism, and he was in due coursi^ condemned as a here- tic (see Macarius of Antioch). The letters of St. Agatho and of the Roman Council insisted on the deci- sions of the Lateran Council, and repeatedly afBrmed
the inerrancy of the Apostolic See. These documents
were acclaimed by the council, and accepted by
George, the new Patriarch of Constantinople and his
suffragans. Macarius had appealed to Honorius; and
after his condemnation a packet which he had deliv-
ered to the emperor was opened, and in it were found
the letters of Sergius to Honorius and of Honorius to
Sergius. As these were at best similar to the Type,
already declared heretical, it was unavoidable that
they should be condemned. The fifth council had set
the example of condemning dead writers, who had
died in Catholic communion, but George suggested
that his dead predecessors might be spared, and only
their teaching anathematizeii. The legates might
have saved the name of Honorius also had they agreed
to this, but they evidently had directions from Rome
to make no objection to his condemnation if it seemed
necessary. The final dogmatic decree contains the de-
cisions of the five preceding general councils, con-
demns the Ecthesis and the Type, and heretics by
name, including Honorius, and "greets with uplifted
hands" the letters of Pope Agatho and his council
(see Honorius I, Pope). The address to the emperor,
signed by all the bishops, declares that they have fol-
lowed Agatho, and he the Apostolic teaching. " With
us fought the prince of the Apostles, for to assist us we
had his imitator and the successor to his chair. The
ancient city of Rome proffered you a divinely written
confession and caused the daylight of dogmas to rise
by the Western parchments. And the ink shone, and
by Agatho, Peter spoke; and you, the autocrat king,
voted with the Almighty who reigns with you." A
letter to the pope was also signed by all the Fathers.
The emperor gave effect to the decree in a lengthy
edict, in which he echoes the decisions of the council,
adding: "These are the teachings of the voices of the
Gospels and the Apostles, these are the doctrines of
the holy synods and of the elect and patristic tongues;
these have been preserved untainted by Peter, the
rock of the faith, the head of the Apostles; in this faith
we live and reign." The emperor's letter to the pope
is full of such expressions; as for example: "Glory be
to God, Who does wondrous things. Who has kejit
safe the Faith among you unharmed. For how
should He not do so in that rock on which He foundc^d
His Church, and prophesied that the gates of hell, all
the ambushes of heretics, should not prevail against
it? From it, as from the vault of heaven, the word of
the true confession flashed forth," etc. But St.
Agatho, a worker of many miracles, w:is dead, and did
not receive the letter, so that it foil to Si. Leo II to
confirm the council. Thus \v:is I hi- East united :i,gain
to the West after an incoiiiplcir liul (IrplDi-ahje schism.
It would seem that in 687 .Justinian II bc-lievod that
the sixth council was not fully cnfon-i'd, I'or he wrote
to Pope Conon that he had as.scinlilcd the papal en-
voys, the patriarchs, metropolilans, hisliops, the .son-
ate and civil officials and representatives of his vari-
ous armies, and made Ihem sign the original acts
which had recently been discovered. In 711 the
throne was seized by Philippicus Hardanes, who had
been the pupil of Abbot Stephen, the disciple "or
rather leader" of Macarius of Antioch. Ho restored
to the <liptychs Sergius, Honorius, and t lie other here-
tics con(iemne<l by the council; he burned the acts
(but privately, in the palace), he deposed the Patri-
arch Cyrus, and exiled some persons who refused to
subscribe a rejection of the council. He fell, 4 .June,
71.'i, and orthodoxy was restored by Anastasius II
(713-15). Pope Constantino had refused to recog-
nize Bardanes. The intruded patriarch, John VI,
wrote him a long letter of apology, explaining that he
had submitted to Bardanes to prevent worse evils, and
asserting in many words the headship of Rome over
the universal Church. This was the last of Mono-
thelitism.
The chief ancient authoritieETTdr our knowledge of the Mono-
